Grand Funk

The snow changed to rain and we had a late departure to Edmonton, the capital of Alberta.  Our views outside are the same as North Dakota or Western Texas.  Lots of grain silos, oil pump jacks, and train tracks.  By the time we reached the capital, the sun was shining with 60 degree temperatures.  Our next overnight stop is Grande Prairie, Alberta.  About 80 miles from the beginning of the Alaskan Highway.  We decided that 5 days was long enough to go without dumping our dirty water tanks, recharging our batteries, and showering.  It’s not as gross as it sounds.  We do KimChi baths.  It’s what Shadow calls wipe downs.  I can’t help thinking what my Dad always says about bathing, “Wash and far down and possible, wash as far up as possible, and don’t forget about possible.”  5 days really came from hiking.  It’s the amount of food we carried to our next stop on the Appalachian Trail. 

So far we have had cell phone signal (I paid and extra 15 bucks for 1,000 minutes through Canada), but we are limited to WiFi hotspots for other information.  When we started planning this trip every website and every person we talked to about it all said to buy the MilePost book.  We waited for the 2014 edition to come out and bought it.  For our route, the book didn’t apply to us until Edmonton.  I must say that it is full of information.  It’s college textbook size listing every pull off, road crossing, and town along the way including gas stations and resupply options.  We called the RV parks listed for Grande Prairie to see if they were open.  Most places open between May 1st - 15th.  One place intrigued us advertising hiking trails.  I called to find out more information.  She said that they indeed had hiking trails, but did not recommend us using them right now due to a grizzly bear that has been hanging around!  When we hiked the Rouge River trail in Oregon a couple of years ago Judy saw her first black bear on the trail.  She took off chasing that bear down the trail and into the woods.  Luckily she survived and from then on her trail name has been “Bear Bait”.  This whole drive North had made Shadow and I feel like we are chasing Winter, where the Grizzlies are just waking up and looking for a fresh southern recipe snack.