The Long and Winding Road South to Campbell River

As I am making my way south from Anchorage to the Lower 48 on the "Where's the Flamingo" International Tour I was invited by my friend Russ' house to stop in and spend a few days.  Now to "stop in" I had to travel through one large state (Alaska), one large Canadian Territory (Yukon), one large Canadian Province (British Columbia), a 1.5 hour ferry ride and a 2 hour drive from the ferry terminal to Russ' house.  So as we southerner's say, I "do drop in" on Russ and his lovely wife Rose for about a week to visit.  

I met Russ online about 14 years ago on a gaming website where we quickly became friends after playing and chatting together for three years finally had an opportunity to meet, oddly in the Seattle airport on our way to a convention in Las Vegas.  I was arriving from Anchorage and Russ flew in from Edmonton Canada where our flights arrived about 20 minutes apart so I met him at his gate and we made our introductions and during the two hour layover found the Seattle taproom and had our first pint together with another friend who flew in from Oregon.  Our real life friendship carried over from our time online playing and chatting about many things.  Our kids were growing up, there were health issues in both families going on during that time and the time spent playing together kept us out of any possible trouble.  During part of this time period I will confess that I did spend more time than I should have online gaming.  Over the years a group of friend meet in different places around the country for a long weekend of fellowship, laughter, catching up on families or work while having some great meals and drinks together.


I left Anchorage at 8:00 am on Sunday morning driving through Glenallen, Tok, to the Canadian border at Beaver. Originally I had planned to stop in Destruction Bay on Kluane Lake in the Yukon but when I arrived in the early evening (7:55 pm) there was still light outside, everything was frozen (lake) so I decided to continue to Haines Junction about an hour away.  I needed fuel and was going to find a place to park for the night but found a self service gas station in town at 9:05 pm, refueled and fixed something to eat and continued to drive toward Whitehorse.  I found a rest area with several trucks and a camper about ten miles before arriving in Whitehorse so decided it was time to stop to sleep as it was just after 11:00 pm.  The temperature was 37° as I fell asleep after my first day driving 710 miles.

Awoke to temperature of 28° and started driving at 8:30 am into Whitehorse looking for somewhere to get a cup of coffee.  Nothing was open and I decided not to drive down the hill into the "downtown" part of the city along the river and continued to drive toward Watson Lake.  Several miles out of town had an moose/vehicle collision incident (previously blogged).  Saw many animals on or near the roadway during this stretch encountering multiple small herds of Caribou, a few moose, several foxes, and eagles along the way.  I stopped in Watson Lake for fuel, lunch, a phone call and pictures of Placido Flamingo and the Sign Forest. It was sunny and warm as I backtracked to Highway 37 south into British Columbia.  I would drive climbing into the mountains up to Dease Lake along a stretch of road approximately 60 miles with the burnt land from a forest fire.  It was in an area the lakes were still frozen but eerily alone with the burnt landscape and contrasting conditions.  

This stretch of road, 6 hours of driving I did not see anyone, another vehicle going in either direction and climbed up over gnat pass summit 3911 ASL (1192 meters) into snow for several hours and upon decent into cloudy overcast for awhile.  Past Bell River II where there were two helicopters parked used for heli-skiing and hauling mining equipment and supplies into the remote mines.  I did see one vehicle refueling but no people as I drove by.  I arrived in Meziadin Junction to refuel about 6:35 pm seeing my first sign of people in this very small native village.  After leaving saw several black bears along the roadway as i continued to drive to Smithers, BC pulling into a rest stop at 9:40 pm.  Second day on the road = 830 miles.


The start of day 3 I awoke to freezing rain on the windshield and windows and looked at the weather forecast for the days intended route.  I had planned to drive from Smithers to Prince George and continue east to Jasper Alberta and spend the night at Lake Louise.  Get up the next morning drive through Banff and west to Kamloops and stop along the way to Vancouver to camp.  My only problem was snow was expected all through the area and snow chains were required so I changed my route from Smithers, Prince George, Lake Williams, Thompson River gorge and stop for the night before going into Vancouver.  I stopped in Abbotsford BC at 6:00 pm got a room for the night for a much needed shower and good nights sleep.  It was raining and the temperature was 42 degrees.   Three days on the road, 2250 miles. 

I wanted to make the 10:15 am ferry from the terminal in Vancouver (tsawwassen) so I left about 8:15 am for the hour drive.  It was raining and 44 degrees so I wanted to make sure I was early but the weather cleared along the way by the time I paid and stopped in line to board the vessel.  it was sunny and 55 degrees so it was nice not having to wear a jacket or sweatshirt this morning.

I met a man in the vehicle behind me who lived half the year on Victoria Island in Nanaimo and the other half the year up north where I had driven from around Whitehorse.  We talked and he was curious about the road conditions as he would be traveling back north the next week.  He saw Placido and wanted to know the story behind him sitting in the passenger seat of my rig.  Another man in the vehicle next to me started talking about where I was headed and where he came from in Portland Oregon.

We shortly loaded the ferry and departed on time at 10:15 am for the one and a half hour sailing to the island.  It was nice being on the water again seeing the sea birds and the mini-white caps on the waves as we crossed from the mainland over to the island.  The ferry had several nice large seating areas, a small cafeteria, bathrooms and upper outside deck all the way around the vessel to sit, site see or enjoy the sun.  I went down to my vehicle and took Placido up on the upper deck for some photos and talked with a few curious people about what I was doing and where I was going.


Nanaimo was starting to rain as I exited the ferry but after a short drive north it turned sunny until I arrived at the house.  I arrived on Wednesday afternoon in Campbell River British Columbia about 1:30 pm and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening talking with Rose and Russ.  

Rose headed off to bed about 9 and we stayed up until after 1 am talking and having a few beers catching up on things since our last meeting in Orlando last July.

After four days of driving 2,250 miles through varying conditions, tragedy, spectacular scenery, introspective pondering about my life, my loves and dislikes I arrive to what I find a welcoming home, a truly beautiful small town by the ocean with many things to see and do with a great friend.  I'll write about the Campbell River Experience in my next posting.

"Just when I think I'm near the end, I always see the road a-bending. I wonder what's around the bend.'' - Charles Kuralt

Comments

Unknown said…
Love reading about your adventure! Stay safe...looking forward to the next one!

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