Kreider Khronicles

Bright and early this morning we hit the road. Well not right away, we needed coffee. So we went to the most Canadian place for coffee, Tim Hortons. Also got breakfast wraps which were the bomb.

As we keep driving through Northern British Columbia the scenery really starts to change. A lot more snow on the ground than before and different animal signs along the road. One cool this is that they push the snow really far off the road so there is no change you can get stuck on the side. There is also a lot less cars on the road. Mainly tractor trailers and you only seem them sporadically.

Around 9:30 we entered the county of the Northern Rockies – opportunity at its peak. As we continue to drive we come up on several construction zones. It appears they doing storm water management. They brought out the big guns equipment wise.

Since everything is still snow covered and for the most part frozen, people take their snowmobiles right out onto the rivers. Well as people up here call them snow machines. As we go over bridges if you look out you can see the tracks from the snow machines in the snow. Our first pit stop of the day was in Fort Nelson, BC for a fuel up and bathroom break.

Now we keep on trucking! Those animal signs I mentioned earlier were mainly for deer and moose, we just saw one that said Bison on the highway. This could get interesting. Also just saw two cars with Alaska plates. We are getting so close.

As we keep driving, we get closer and closer to the Rockies. They are breath taking. No picture can do them justice. Totally worth a drink along the Alaksan Highway just to see the Canadian Rockies. The snow covered peaks with the green pines scattered across make it such a beautiful view. I think snow covered scenery is 10x prettier. Just my opinion.

Made another quick pit stop around lunchtime to fuel up and hit the bathroom. Those animal crossing signs were no joke. I was mid-bite on my fluffer nutter sandwich when Benjamin goes “Oh Shit” and hits the breaks. I look over and there are sheep on the road. They were big horn sheep, just standing in the middle of the road. As we got closer they got off and started walking up the steep mountain. Crazy how they can do thar no problem.

Driving through the Rockies was like nothing either of us has done. Driving next to them was amazing as well. You look up on either side of you and it is just mountain. As we drove along the Rockies, we saw a moose and someone ice fishing on Muncho lake. Just like that we were out of the Rockies. 

What’s crazy about the roads is that sometimes you see a sign along the road that says “No Road Lines” so you could take up the whole road as you drive. Which we did at some spots because it was just us and the road going around turns. The roads are also incredibly nice for how far north we are. We thought the roads would be gravel. Thank goodness they aren’t. Don’t need to have another tire fall victim to a stone.

After some time, there was a sign that said “Drive with caution. Bison next 90km”. All coming back to that Bison on highway sign. Well things did get interesting. I have never seen a wild Bison. As soon as I said something to Benjamin he said look across the bridge there is some. That was a herd of 5. Then there was a herd of 4 right on the side of the road. As we kept driving we saw even more. And not just little herds, massive herds spanning both sides of the road. The last herd we saw there was one standing on one side of the road acting like it wanted to cross. As it started to move as we got closer, it changed its mind and walked along the road right next to the truck. The Bison were cool to watch. Some were nose deep in the snow trying to get the grass underneath. Seemed like they were using their nose as shovels.

At 3:50 we crossed into the Yukon or so we thought. We kept playing jump rope with the Yukon and British Columbia for awhile. As we drive there are these little, I mean very little town, more like rest areas along the highway. They usually have gas, motel and restaurant. A decent amount weren’t open so we had to time our gas stops just right. They do have signs saying check gas, x amount of kilometers till next open gas stop. One was called nugget city and had an RV park that is called baby nugget. This was the one of many that were closed. And they for sure closed, snow halfway up the doors.

As we continued to drive we encountered a small snow storm. Just a quick flurry mostly. Then it was sunny skies. Till it wasn’t. Hit another snow storm. We passed a big rig that was moving his hand back and forth in a it is okay motion. Not bad but not good. At first we weren’t sure what he meant. After getting through the storm we learned it was he probably meant we had a 50/50 shot of making it through the storm and not getting stuck. I am happy to report back we made it through just fine. Took it slow and threw the truck into 4 wheel drive. The second snow storm didn’t appear to be as intense as it was but it sure was intense. The temperature dropped from around 38 to 30 quickly, the roads became white. We did have something going for us. There was a vehicle in front of us so we had tire tracks to follow. Within 15 minutes we were through the storm. Now it was just sunny with flurries and the snow that was on the ground already started to melt. The temperature came back up and we took the truck out of 4 wheel drive.

That entire time we were in the Yukon. Then we crossed back into Super Natural British Columbia for some time. The road here wasn’t as nice. Trying to dodge pot holes so we don’t have another trailer tire situation. Which we didn’t but we passed a single axel Uhaul trailer on the side of the road with a blown out tire. We passed that and found any wood in the truck and knocked it. We made it through that section with no tires blowing out, which is amazing cause we also didn’t have any service.

By 7 pm we crossed back into the Yukon – Larger than Life. Our last province to drive through till the Alaskan Border! As we got closer to our stopping point the sun was peaking around the mountains to the left of us. It was just breath taking like everything else we have seen today. Within 30 minutes we made it to Teslin, Yukon were we spent the night at the Yukon Lodge. A cute small lodge with an amazing restaurant. Would eat there again. We meet the guy who had the uhaul trailer on the side of the road. He is traveling from Colorado to Anchorage Alaska. He said that was the second tire issue he had that day. Glad it wasn’t us! In total today we drove 707 miles. Tomorrow is Alaska or Bust!