June 19 to 23, 2006.

June 19, 2006

Before I start today's blog, I would like to go back to yesterday and show you my campsite.

A nice car that went by in the campground.

For the campground, like I have said, I was at the Lion's park and they told me to go and get a site and they would come by and collect.
2 days later, not a soul came to collect.
Oh well. Free camping!
Here is a picture of the small creek by the campground.

On the way to Dawson Creek, there was a small trail that went to "Teepee Falls".
A 6 km return trail.
In the beginning, I saw the creek and taught that it would not be a very nice fall.
Surprise! The fall was not too bad.

The roads are very nice in BC, but there were lots of hills.
Dawson Creek information center had very a nice and knowledgeable staff. I asked about a campground with internet and they recommend 3 of them...

I took the "Mile 0" which was a Good Sam Park and saved me $3 per night with free internet and showers.

I took off on my bike and went downtown, took the obligatory picture of the "Mile 0" of the Alaskan Highway.

I even had a beer in the "Alaska Inn".

Next to the campground there was a Museum, I told myself that after a beer I would go.
Well! The rain came and I could not go.
I stayed inside and surfed the net.
If the weather is nice tomorrow I will go and see the museum.
Useless information:
About those trucks with diesel engines... In a campground, at about 5 pm, you would think this is a truck stop... The noise, the stink...
Can't wait until tomorrow morning when they all leave... At the same time... Oh, the noise.
More to follow...

June 20, 2006

I don't know why, but at 6:30 am, I was wide awake! Could not get back to sleep...
Oh Well!
The museum does not open until 9 am.
A pot of coffee and I surfed the net.
By 9 am, I was at the museum and I was not disappointed.

The museum's name was "Walter Wright Pioneer Museum" and it represented the 1940's just as the Alaskan Highway was to be built.
Really nice museum, I spent 1 hour 45 in there.
On my way out of Dawson Creek, I stopped to get some food and beverages.
I finally got out of Dawson Creek at 11 am.
Few minutes later I was in Alberta.

With the time change, it was 12:10 pm.
The roads were nice, but flat and boring as you can see from the pictures.

Few hours later I needed a break so I stopped at Girouxville and visited the museum.
Not bad at all, everything was inside.
If I remember right, we used to have one of those!

My dad had a backpack like this one, he used it for hunting (Now it is Jérémy who uses it for hunting).

I stopped in Slave Lake for the night, went to the info center...
It was abandoned, like in ruins!
I checked the Alberta campground guide and it said that if you take highway 88 there are a few.
Well! I followed the indication for one and got lost, on top of that, it was a marina and a restaurant, could not find it!
Back on 88. On my left there was one, I liked the name, "Roland On The River" (My brother's name is Rolland).

This was mostly for seasonal campers.
But there was a little spot for me by the river. $20 with power and pay showers.
The showers were not very long...
$3 if you took a fast shower.
Took the bike downtown Slave Lake.
On a Tuesday night at 7 pm, it was dead.
Back at the campsite, showered and updated my blog.
I think I will be in Cold Lake tomorrow night...
If I do not find anything interesting on the way...
We will see...

June 21, 2006

It was 9:30 am and my nose was pointing east. The highway from Slave Lake to Cold Lake was good but boring.
I stopped in Athabasca and visited the park by the river.
WOW!

I never realized how important the Athabasca river was to the development of the North-West.
A very nice little town with lots of activities in the summer.
I will come back!!!
On my way to Cold Lake.
I finally got home at 3:30 pm.

After a trip of over 6000 km.
I will confirm that in the next few days!
In my next update, I will give you my impressions of the trip, the good and the bad.
Also, all kinds of useless detailed information.
I was very happy to be back, but at the same time, I was sorry it is over...
Until next year... Maybe.
Where?

June 23, 2006

Guess where I was?
Camping!
Like I did not have enough of the motorhome!
Let's go back in time.
Wednesday evening and I was relaxing...
I emptied the motorhome, chocolate I had a lot of dirty laundry. I did something I never did before, I washed/cleaned the underside of the motorhome.
I must have removed 50 pounds of dirt and rocks.
Unbelievable!
Thursday, I cleaned the inside, I could not believe where the dust got into.
Once the inside was done, I attacked the outside compartments.
WOW!
Not very airtight, so much dust inside the compartments.
I ended my day by washing the outside.
A short day that started at 9 am and finished at 9 pm.
Pfiou!
Michele had Monday and Tuesday off so we went camping for a "long Weekend".

Here are some of my thought, opinions and some kind of conclusion of my trip.

When I got home on Wednesday, a young boy we know came and asked me what I had liked the best on my trip?
I was stuck for a few seconds.
Then I said "The People, the landscape, the length of my days... Everything"!
His next question was, how long were you gone?
Again I had to think. I kind of lost track of time during my trip. When I looked back, it seems like it was only one long day, but I was gone for 23 days.

Alright! Here we go...
    I loved the first day on the road but did not like the last day on the road.
    I loved the information center, some were not worth my time.
    I loved the museums, a few were not that good.
    The people I meet, except one couple.
    I love the people of the NWT.
    I should have taken more pictures (you only have seen a few).
    I did not like the diesel pick-up truck and their owners who let them run for 30 minutes for...?
    In some campgrounds, it sounded like a truck stop. I think they liked the sound of it. Or they are too old to hear them!!!
    You probably notice that I did not walk or biked as much as I said I would!
    Most of the sights I visited were close to the road!

My Blog!
I love doing it for this trip. I spent a lot of time writing/creating my blog, but at the same time, it gave me a chance to "relive" my day.
I was surprised at how many people followed my blog !!!
Internet! Very easy to connect on the road, but a few places in the middle of nowhere. From the "Café Java Roma" to the little town's information centers, the house in Fort Smith where I connected for "Free".
The quantity of garbage I had every day! I will change my ways and be more aware of packaging (I am mostly talking about water bottles).
I love that by just slowing my speed by 10 to 15 km/hr, I could save so much in gas for just a little trade-off in time on the road.
If I was to do it again I would do it at the end of August, early September. Less bugssssss!
OK!

When I looked back, I could not believe I was gone for 23 days.
WOW!
My days were so full, to see falls, to walk 5 or 6 km, to drive 300 km or more, see bison on the roads, bears, moose, foxes, etc. All in the same day...
When I looked back at the pictures, I had taken during the day, I could not believe it was all from the same day. Last night I read my blog for the first time since I left. It took me a long time to go through because so many memories were coming back to me...

All this to say... I loved my trip.
I have learned a lot on this trip, about me, about "fulltiming" and about "time" and how it can change...

Here are some numbers!
The first numbers are from this trip, the numbers in brackets are from my trip to Quebec last summer, just to compare...

I traveled 6084 km (6145 to Québec and return).

My driving speed was 80 to 90 km/hr (100 to 105 Km/hr).

Average price of gas, $1.171 per liter ($0.908).

Best fuel consumption, 13 miles per gallon or 21.54 L/100 Km (10.5 miles per gallon or 26 L/100Km).

Worst fuel consumption, 9.8 miles per gallon or 29 L/100km (6.9 Miles per gallon or 41.4 L/100km).

Total cost of fuel $1795.00 (2438.00).

WOW!

Just by slowing down, I saved $688 even if I paid $0.26 per liter more for fuel!

I sure hope you liked this blog!

Myself, I discovered the work involved and the satisfaction of doing a blog.

This is my last entry to this blog...

Thank you for reading it...

As for the next blog... Who knows!