Mother
Nature gave us kind of a hard day at the office.
The Route
Today’s route was simple … drive north on the Alaska Highway and
stop at Fort Nelson 233 miles later.
About the Day
Today’s story began last night. It rained all night.
We awoke to a gray, rainy, 37°F
morning. Carol discovered a leak in the rear vent fan and some wet spots on the
bed. We dried things as best we could, laid out some plastic bags for temporary
protection and headed out.
We stopped for breakfast at The
Shepherds Inn just north of St. John. The service and our meals were
excellent. They served phenomenal homemade bread.
 |
| The Shepherds Inn is a treasure in the middle of nowhere |
The temperature dropped to 30°F and the rain switched to snow while we were in the restaurant.
The engine check light came on when we left the restaurant. Since
there was no one to diagnose the problem, we decided to drive on to Fort
Nelson. Unknown to us, the Durango’s monitoring system had reported the problem
and sent us an email describing the problem and offering possible solutions. We read the
email when we got to Fort Nelson, closed the gas refill door tightly and the engine
check light went out. Isn’t technology wonderful?
We spotted forest fire damage shortly after leaving The Shepherds Inn.
 |
| The snow will soon hide much of the fire damage. |
The weather got worse quickly. We drove nearly 200 miles in this stuff.
 |
| The snow looked pretty at first. |
 |
| There wasn't much traffic. |
 |
| This view gets a bit tiring after a 100 miles or so. |
The Durango’s outside temperature sensor froze and began displaying errant temperatures (like 122°F). It resolved itself when we got out of the freezing snow.
The trailer got plastered with snow and slush from passing semis.
 |
| The Airstream met its first snow |
We saw very little of the scenery today.
The Campground
We’re staying at Triple G
Hideaway RV Park. It’s very well run, offers the basic services and has an
excellent restaurant. Carol picked it from the two available in the area. Lots of
RVers have pulled in all afternoon. They obviously agree with Carol.
Now what?
We had rain, a leak, an engine check light, snow, bad driving
conditions, and a frozen sensor today. What else? Well … we ran out of propane
while getting set up in Fort Nelson. Everything was endured or resolved except the fan leak.
Looking Ahead
The route to Watson Lake takes us over the highest elevation on
the Alaska Highway. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be much like today with
the possibility of worse driving conditions. We’re going to stay in Fort Nelson
another day hoping for warmer weather.
Our new plan becomes:
Watson Lake, YT on Monday
Whitehorse, YT on Tuesday and Wednesday
Dawson City, YT on Thursday and Friday
Return to the US in Alaska on Saturday
No comments:
Post a Comment