Paddle Faster… I Hear Banjos!!!

Day #14

Date: 08/03/11

Traveled: Ft. St. John, BC - Coal River, BC

Interstates: 

Miles Driven: 460

Hours on Road: 13

Weather: Sunny (65 degrees)

Well today we hit the road around 9am.  We knew starting out it was going to be a long day as we had a lot of ground to cover.  We left Ft. St. John with the ambitious hope of reaching Watson Lake which was over 500 miles away.  This would have probably been doable in a normal vehicle under normal conditions but not with 4 people, including 2 kids, in a truck pulling a 35', 14,000+lb camper.  As it were though we did make it to Coal River which is only about an hour and half away from Watson Lake.  After leaving St. John this morning we headed north for Ft. Nelson, which we reached in around 3-4 hours.  The scenery began to improve the closer to Ft. Nelson we got.  We stopped offer there to eat lunch, drop some postcards in the mail and to stop at the visitor center.  As luck would have it, the visitor center had internet which allowed us to check email and share an update on Facebook.  It was good to hear from all of you.  

After talking with a  couple of different people in Ft. Nelson we realized our goal of Watson Lake probably wouldn't happen.  However, both of them suggested we stop at the Liard Hot Springs to spend the evening.  So, we headed out in search of the Hot Springs.  It was after we left Ft. Nelson that the views and scenery began to improve once again.  After about 30 minutes, we began to ascend into the mountains which were beautiful.  Unlike the mountains of the prior days, these mountains were raw, with no trees of vegetation of any sort… just enormous chunks of rock and stone extending toward the heavens.  Let me also take just a moment here to say, for those of you who have seen the movie "Deliverance", this is exactly where it felt like we were at.  Civilization was no were to be found in between a small gas station every 100 miles or so.  We climbed and climbed and climbed some more until we eventually had a breathtaking view that allowed us to look at over all the valley floor below and the numerous mountains in the distance.  As we descended from one of the mountains, we came upon a large family of Mountain Goats walking around in the middle of the road.  Some were even laying down on the jagged rock ledges above our truck and camper.  Along the way we passed Muncho Lake and several other small lakes.  The picture of the boys taken by the water was taken at Muncho.  We continued on toward Liard and finally made it around the time it began to get dark (9:30PST).  Unfortunately, there were no camping spots available in Liard.  This was disappointing, especially for Robin, as she was really looking forward to the springs. 

Unsure of what to do, given that it was getting dark quickly and we did not want to be on the road after dark with all the wildlife lurking about, we decided to travel on to the next town, Coal River.  Along the way to Coal River, we saw 5 Black Bear, 1 Bison, 10-15 Moose and a Porcupine, all of witch were grazing on the side of the road.  Excited to finally see animals on our trip, this made up for the disappointment of not being able to enjoy the hot springs.  Also, along the way we got to see a beautiful sunset over the Liard River.    Once we made it to Coal River, everything was already closed, so we pulled in at a Rock Quary along the road and that is were we are camping for the night.  Below are the pictures and videos of the day.  We hope you enjoy!

Pics:

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g414/faithtothe49th/Traveling%20from%20Ft%20St%20John%20BC%20to%20Coal%20River%20BC/

Video:

Today's drive made me realize just how small we all as individuals are in the world.  Yes, most of us try to be somebody and strive to feel important all of our lives but when your driving through the Rocky Mountains, with 9000' mountains on one side, a huge river literally 5' from your car door on the other and no one around for hundreds of miles, it makes a person take notice.  In the grand scheme of life, our footprint is very small and as the scripture says, "life is but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow."  As for tomorrow,  what will your day hold… will you work to make a difference in someone else's life or just your own?  As for us, we are headed for Watson Lake to spend a little time and plan to visit the Sign Forrest while we are there.  I have a couple of old license plates I plan to let the boys hang up there.   If all goes well we hope to be in the town of Whitehorse by the end of the day.  If not, then we hope to get as close as possible.

God Bless & Safe Travels!

The Moores

PS - For those of you in the states who are upset about paying $3.50 for a gallon of gas, be thankful you are not in Canada where we are having to pay between $4.50 - $7.00 a gallon depending on our location.  :-(

Wishing we were in AK...

Day #13

Date: 08/02/11

Traveled: Hinton, AB, CAN - Ft. St. John, BC, CAN

Interstates: 16, 40, 49

Miles Driven: 370

Hours on Road: 9

Weather: Sunny (70 degrees)

Well we got a decent start this morning, getting back on the road around 9:00am.  We took the Big Horn Highway heading northwest toward the town of Grande Cache and then on north to Grande Prairie.  The views on this road were nice but nothing like those of the two prior days.  I guess you could say that we were spoiled by the previous snow covered mountains and glaciers.  Once in Grande Prairie, we continued west to Dawson Creek and then decided to go a little further into Ft. St. John.  Once we arrived here, we decided to call it a day.  We found a campground where Robin fixed supper and we caught up on laundry.  There were no videos of the day and only a few pictures.  Below is the link to those.

Hinton to Ft. St. John Pics:

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g414/faithtothe49th/Traveling%20from%20Hinton%20AB%20to%20Ft%20St%20John%20BC/

Tomorrow we hope to hit the road early once again as we have another long day.  We plan to be on the road about 8-10 hours and hope to make it to Watson Lake before calling it a day.  There will be more to come in the next day or so.

God Bless & Safe Travels!

The Moores

Glaciers… Glaciers… and more Glaciers!

Day #12

Date: 08/01/11

Traveled: Banff, AB, CAN - Jasper, AB, CAN - Hinton, AB, CAN

Interstates: 93, 16

Miles Driven: 400

Hours on Road: 8

Weather: Sunny & Breezy (55 degrees)

This morning we awoke around 8:30am and was on the road by 9:30 as we knew we had a long day ahead of us.  We would be driving to Jasper which we were told was around 2.5 hours away.  Little did we know that both the weather and the scenery were going to be so nice that it would end up taking us all day (literally) to get to our destination.  Within the first hour we spotted our first glacier with a beautiful blue and green lake at the bottom.  Bigger mountains with more snow and ice was the theme of the day.  We passed so many awesome views it's hard to explain.  I know I sound like a broken record in each of these last few posts but each day seems to give something just a little bit better than the last.  We passed numerous mountain ranges, numerous glaciers, and numerous lakes and rivers, each of which was just a little more beautiful than the one before.  I honestly can't imagine what it would have been like to visit this area and travel on foot or by horseback for the very first time ever... It must have been a tremendously breathtaking experience, I'm sure!

Eventually we made it to the Columbia Ice Fields, where we had tickets to take one of the Terarover Buses up to the Columbia Glacier.  Along the way we learned several pieces of information.  For example, there are only 21 of the Terarover Buses in existence today.  20 of the 21 are in use at the Columbia Ice fields with one other being used by a team of US scientist in the Antarctic.  Each of the large buses cost between 1.2 and 1.4 million dollars to build.  If you can imagine a cross between a School Bus and a Greyhound Bus… then take that and add a touch of Monster Truck and you have yourself a TeraRover.  These things were incredible.  We arrived at the ice fields and ate lunch in the camper before walking up to the Visitor Center.  Once there we boarded a Greyhound bus which took us up to the base of the glacier.  Once we arrived there we exited the Greyhound and boarded the TeraRover Bus, which took us up on the Glacier….  This was around 7500' above sea level.  This was breathtaking as we were walking around on a piece of ice that had been there for thousands of years.  On one side there was and "Ice Fall", which is similar to a water fall but made of ice… go figure. We walked around and took tons of pics and videos while the boys played.  After about 30 minutes we loaded the TeraRover and returned to the base of the glacier.  On the way down, the driver informed us that the mountain peak to our left was the only "tri-contenential divide" in the world.  This basically meant if you were standing on the peak of that mountain and poured a bottle of water out there, that water would run down 3 different sides and into all 3 of the different oceans bordering North America.  Once we returned to the base, we loaded back in the Greyhounds which took us back to the Welcome Center.  Once there we looked around the gift shop and then continued on our way toward Jasper.  

Again, the views continued to amaze as we had to make several more stops for pictures before arriving at the Athabasca Falls.  These falls were beautiful and the park they had created around them was fascinating as well.  We toured this area for about an hour, looking at the falls from several different angles and the varying rock formations all around the area.  Of course we took tons of photos here as well.  Once we finished up here, we were back on the road.  We contemplated continuing past Jasper and trying to make it to Grand Prairie, but decided to stop off and stay in Hinton instead.  So here we sit, camping in the parking lot of the WalMart in Hinton, AB, CAN.  Surprisingly enough, we are not the only one, as there are probably 30 or so more campers around us here.  Apparently "Dry Camping" as they call it, is more popular than we had thought.  Be sure to check out all of our pics and videos using the links below.  I will warn you in advance, we took over 450 photos today and shot numerous videos, so you may want to have a little time available when you start.  :-)  Hope you enjoy!

Photos:

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g414/faithtothe49th/Traveling%20from%20Banff%20AB%20CAN%20to%20Jasper%20AB%20CAN/

Videos:

Tomorrow we plan to head out on the Big Horn Highway and travel to at least Grand Prairie, hopefully much further though.  At this point the stops and the sites have been tremendous but we are ready to head to AK!  We'll be traveling long hours the next several days until we reach AK.

God Bless & Safe Travels!

The Moores

A View from the Top...

Day #11

Date: 07/31/11

Traveled: Banff, AB, CAN

Interstates: NA

Miles Driven: NA

Hours on Road: NA

Weather: Sunny & Breezy (70 degrees)

Well today got started around 9:30am for us.  We awoke, ate breakfast and were on our way to find the Sulfur Mountain Gondola.  On our way we came upon several more beautiful views. one of which was a large castle type building on the river which had been converted to a hotel.  At the base of the hotel on the river were the Bow Falls.  This was another fantastic site to see.  The large castle with the mountains in the background on one side and then the waterfall with another set of mountains in the background on the other side.  After that we continued on our way to try and find the Gondola but ended up getting a little lost.  Once we found our way, we drove through the entire town.  For those back home, imagine an upscale bigger version of Gatlinburg with large 7000'+ rocky mountains and flowing rivers all around.  

After the drive through town, we made our way over to the Gondola where the crowds were beginning to grow.  We finally found a spot to park after about 20-30 minutes.  Once we did, we made our way to the ticket booth line where we were approached by a gentlemen we did not know.  He asked if we were in line to get tickets for the Gondola, to which we responded "yes".  He then said he had bought to many tickets and handed us a ticket for the Gondola for free.  After that we went to the loading dock, where there were numerous families from all different countries.  We finally boarded the gondola and began our 6.5 minute journey up the side of the mountain.  This was a great ride as it gave us the opportunity to see some of the best views of the area… even better than those from the day before.  We spent several hours at the top of the mountain taking pics and seeing the different sites.  We then at lunch in the restaurant they had available there.  After this we headed back down the mountain which gave us another opportunity to see everything from the gondola.  Once at the bottom we loaded up and headed back down to town.  On the way we saw an elk grazing on the side of the road. Once we made it back down to town, we stopped to walk around for a bit and see the different shops.  There were lots of these, restaurants and other attractions to see here.  After a couple of hours of walking, we loaded up and headed to Lake Minniwanka.  This was rather large lake at the base of a mountain which had crystal clear/blue water.  On our way across the earth dam, there was an entire family of Mountain Goats in the middle of the road, which included two babies.  They seemed to be use to the tourists and would move out of the way of passing traffic.  Once we were across the dam, we stopped to take some photos.  While we were there, a couple of scuba divers came up out of the water in front of where we were standing.  This caught everyone off guard at first but after looking around, there appeared to be a lot of divers in the water.  After a few minutes by the river, we made our way back to town to fill up the truck and then back to the campground for the evening.  Below are the pics and videos of the day, we hope you enjoy them.

Banff Pictures:

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g414/faithtothe49th/Banff%20Alberta%20Canada/

Banff Videos:

Tomorrow we plan to travel from Banff up to Jasper where we will spend the night.  Once there we plan to take the Terarover out on to the Columbia Ice fields.  We are all looking forward to this!  We'll be sure to share pics and vids of this trip as well.

God Bless & Safe Travels!

The Moores

Made it into Canada… EH!

Apologies that we have been offline for so long.  But we are just now able to get a decent internet connection.  We'll be posting more updates from the past few weeks over the next few days.  Hope you enjoy!

Day #10

Date: 07/30/11

Traveled: Conrad, MT, USA - Banff, AB, CAN

Interstates: NA

Miles Driven: 350

Hours on Road: 8

Weather: Sunny & Breezy (75 degrees)

There is no doubt the past several days have been an incredible experience.  While traveling across the US, we have seen lots of sites and attractions that have been great.  We've enjoyed every second of it and can say that without a doubt we have been blessed to be able to do what we have done.  For this we are very thankful.  

Today we started out on our journey through Canada.  To say we were a little nervous about crossing the border for our very first time would be an understatement.  We spent the night prior, preparing all of our documentation, talking to the kids about how to answer, should they be asked questions and so on.  We awoke early this morning because we knew we had a long day.  We pulled out of Conrad around 9am and headed north toward Sweet Grass to cross the border.  As we traveled that way for the next hour, we reviewed the items we needed to pass and made sure we had them all one more time.  When we finally arrived at the border crossing, I approached the terminal slowly and handed the lady our information.  She asked where we were from, where we were headed and if we had any alcohol, tobacco or firearms.  I answered them all directly and she told us to have a nice day and just like that, our 24 hours of worry/nervousness had come to an end in a little less than 4 minutes.

Excited that we had made it across without incident, we traveled north just a few miles before stopping at the Alberta Visitor Center.  This location had a large life-sized T-Rex outside and of course the boys had to get their picture made in front of it.  They also had several rock formations the boys climbed on.  Once we went inside, there was a plethora of information available.  The ladies behind the counter were extremely helpful and provided us with a ton of information, once I explained where we were headed.  We continued north on Interstate 4 to Leatherbridge and then on over to Fort Macleod.  From there we took Interstate 2 to Nanton where we exited and went over to Highway 22 so we could avoid Calgary and it's traffic.  We continued North on Highway 22, and really all I can say about from this point all the way to Banff (where we are now) is WOW!!!  I've been blessed to call TN home for 35 years and no doubt TN is some of the most scenic and beautiful country on the Eastern side of the US but I must say that I have never before in my entire life seen anything as awe inspiring as the trip we made today though the Canadian Rockies.  Road after road, turn after turn, we were met with more and more beautiful mountains, some of them snow covered while others had beautiful blue rivers flowing at their bases.  

We are now in Banff at one of their campgrounds, where we were very fortunate to find a camping spot.  Little did we know that this coming Monday is a Canadian holiday and all the parks and campgrounds are packed.  This evening we pulled up to the entrance, asked if they had any spots left to accommodate us and they said yes, but only a few and we would have to share hook-ups with another camper.  After a little searching we found our spot and were set-up in about 20-30 minutes.  Now get this, literally standing outside the front door of our camper, I have a huge 8000+' snow capped Rocky Mountain directly in front of me, another one in the distance to my right and two more mountain ranges to my left and directly behind me.  It really is incredible!  The temp this afternoon was around 65-70 with a nice constant breeze. I grilled burgers in front of the camper while passing football with the boys and looking around at all of God's handy work.  Really I don't know what more to say other than WOW… God is so good!  Be sure to check out the pics and video of today's journey.  Honestly, I don't think either will do this trip justice but at least you will have something to view.

Pictures from Conrad, MT to Banff, AB:

http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g414/faithtothe49th/Traveling%20from%20Conrad%20MT%20to%20Banff%20BC/

Tomorrow we plan to explore the town and take the Gondola up the mountain to see even more spectacular views.  Then on Monday, we plan to continue north to the Columbia Ice fields where we will take the Terra Bus out onto an actual glacier for an hour and a half long tour.  From here we will continue on to Jasper where we hope to camp again.  I'll be sure to post a separate update on these experiences as well as I am sure they will all hold more fascinating views and experiences.

God Bless & Safe Travels!

The Moores.

Getting Ready to Cross the Border

Day #9

Date: 07/29/11

Traveled: Conrad, MT

Interstates: NA

Miles Driven: NA

Hours on Road: NA

Weather: Sunny & Breezy (85 degrees)

Well today was another rest and relaxation day.  We spent most of the morning sleeping in before deciding to take the boys over the large pool here in town.  We swam for a couple of hours before coming back to the camper to do laundry and get things ready for the following day.  We went out to eat for supper and stopped by the grocery store to stock up for the next several days.  When we returned, we noticed the camping spot beside of us had been filled with a new tenant, who as luck would have it, pulled up in their truck as we were getting out of ours.  We exchanged greetings and continued talking for a few minutes only to find out that this couple was actually on their way back to FL from AK after a month long tour.  We continued our conversation for at least 2 more hours as we exchanged information and stories about each of our trips thus far.  We then exchanged farewells and went back to getting things ready for our trip across the border. To our new friends the Cagwins, it was a pleasure to meet you and to get to share a little of our trip with you.  Safe Travels and God Bless on your way back home!

As previously mentioned we will be traveling through Canada the next several days.  We will not have access to phones service, except for emergency situations and there will be no internet unless we happen upon a campground that offers it.  With that being said, updates on our trip for the next few days will be sparse, if present at all.  We will have access to text messaging however, so feel free to text us if you need something.  Otherwise, we'll call and post updates when we make it to AK.  We also wanted to take a moment to say thanks to everyone who has emailed, called, texted and most importantly prayed over the past week+.  This has truly been an exciting time in our life, which we have enjoyed very much and which couldn't have happened without your love and support.  God has blessed us more than we could have ever imagined and we look forward to what he has in store in the future.

God Bless!

The Moores

In Awe of God's Creative Hand...

Day #8

Date: 07/28/11

Traveled: Big Timber, MT to Conrad, MT

Interstates: I90 & I15

Miles Driven: 260 Miles

Hours on Road: 10:30am - 5:30m

Weather: Sunny & Breezy (85 degrees)

Rapid City, SD and the drive to Big Timber, MT certainly had some amazing scenery but today's drive was really incredible.  We awoke around 8:30am and were on the road by 10:00.  We drove for quiet a while still enjoying the views and surroundings.  For lunch we stopped at a place off of I90 called Wheat Montana Farms and Bakery.  The food here was really good, as was evident by the number of customers they had.  They offered many different foods but there big tickets were there pastries and deserts.  They offered a wide variety of these too but we decided to go with the chocolate chip cookies and Robin went with the cinnamon roll.  Both of these items were as big as plates (no joke... check out the pics).  Once we finished lunch we headed north on Highway 285, this road was plagued with construction.  For 30 miles we set in traffic for 20 minutes at a time and traveled on gravel and pothole filled roads.  This wasn't much fun but this is really where the views began.  The fields were golden with wheat that was ready to harvest and the mountains were displayed as their backdrop.  We continued north through the mountains through a town called Bozeman.  This too was incredible as this very large town was surrounded by snow covered rocky mountains in every direction as far as you could see.  After this we ventured through the mountains of Helena, this was probably our favorite as we had tall rocky mountains literally 200 yards from us on the left and the Missouri River 200 yards on our right.  We were able to get a few pictures but due to the terrain and the fact we were pulling a large camper, stopping for more pictures was rather difficult to do today.  Once we finished traveling through this town, the land flattened as we approached Great Falls.  However, in the distance, you could see a single rectangular mountain in (pictured above).  This particular mountain reminded me of Ayers Rock in Australia.  From there we continued north though Great Falls and on to Conrad, MT.  The drive was long today but well worth it.  The views were amazing, at least to this small country family from a small country town.  If you ever get the chance to travel west, please do.  You'll see some incredible scenery along the way.   Below are the links to the pics and video of today.  We hope you enjoy!

Traveling to Conrad, MT Pictures:
http://s1100.photobucket.com/albums/g414/faithtothe49th/Traveling%20to%20Conrad%20MT/

As it sits now we are about 45 - 60 minutes from the border.  We plan to spend a couple of nights here as we get ready to cross the border into Canada.  We will travel through Calgary over to Banff up to Jasper during the first few days we are there.  Internet will be sparse so there may be a few delays in us sending out updates on our blog.  We''ll continue to write them and then post them whenever the opportunity presents itself.

God Bless and Safe Travels!

The Moores