STARR TREKS SATURDAY 6/13/15
Last night we drove along the streets of “downtown” Stewart, searching for an internet signal. We finally got to the grocery store people tole us about — we had to physically go inside, but they had tables set up for guest internet users, which was nice. There was even a bowl of delicious looking cherries on the table— I figured they were complimentary, so I grabbed one— and it was plastic!! oh, well. Even with “good” internet, it was slow going checking email, and I cannot attach photos to my journal at all. It is so lovely here with the patchy snow on high mountains, long trickling waterfalls everywhere, pine & aspen trees, rivers that are kind of a milky green color from silt. We went walking around the RV park after we got home— there was a path over a little suspension bridge — Larry said he was not going to cross it— this was a very little bridge — so I crossed (my only concern was running into a bear, so I made a lot of noise), and there was the Bear River with thousands of daisies and other wildflowers— lovely (he finally crossed that bridge!). We popped into the office and chatted with the lady there— she used to own the park, and had sold it to Steve. Steve was on his way to Jamaica(!!) where he has a house— maybe he has another source of income than this RV park. Anyhow, the lady grew up in Stewart— her dad worked for the mines— she looked in her late 50’s or early 60’s. We watched a little fuzzy cable TV in the RV, and went to bed early after a stressful (the car), then wonderful day at the Salmon glacier — it was well worth the trip over here. It is the 5th largest glacier in north america.
This morning we woke up early -it was about 38 degrees outside, but we were plugged in, so ran the RV heater and little space heater — we were nice and warm. Larry went into the bathroom, then came out and said he had a phone wifi signal in the bathroom — it buzzed in his pocket!! We had no wifi in the living room/kitchen, but had a “Hotspot Pot!!” I went to the back in the bedroom, and it worked pretty well in there too. So I checked my email (still not speedy) and got caught up on my Words with Friends that I am so addicted to. We just do not realize how electronically spoiled we are in the US! Anyhow, we got the car and brake device hooked up with no issues and we are hitting the road. We may make it to Watson Lake, Yukon if we drive a long day —350 miles.
We got to see Bear Glacier again on the 37a spur, then stopped for gas at the junction to the Cassiar Hwy R 37. Larry appreciate that the gas station was pretty new and clean, and he has been happy the whole trip that the stations do not seem to be gouging travelers. It was cloudy and drizzly for the first 300 miles — just enough to need to run the windshield wipers and smear the bugs. Some parts of the highway were under repair, but it was not as bad as we feared it would be— the last half has no center lines or shoulders. We passed several little communities— Bell 2, Iskut, Dease Lake (the lake went on for about 30 miles, then turned into the Dease River). We stopped for lunch (inside the RV) at Lake Eddontenajon(!). The names here remind me of towns and lakes in Hawaii as far as spelling and the number of letters! We finally got some blue sky and sunshine as we approached Jade City.
Jade City has a population on 50. It has one business that specializes in jade products. The jade is mined from the nearby mountains — 1 million pounds per year — their ad says the Cassiar mtns supplies 92% of the world’s jade — here I thought jade was mined in China! All the polished jade items in the store were very pricey — we got our free cup of coffee and free wifi, so we sat out in front for awhile to check email. There were a lot of big chunks of rock with jade in them, plus had an area where people were slicing and polishing the jade. There were some medium sized unpolished chunks on a table— when the guy who worked there wet them, they looked like pretty jade, but when dry, just looked like greenish rock.
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| cassiar highway-- not our favorite |
We were sunny in Jade City, then got into rain again, and gravelly roads that were being repaired. We finally go to the junction of the Alcan HWY 1, and it started pouring. We had to drive 15 miles to Watson Lake where all the signposts were. We drove about 400 miles today— longest day ever. The weather actually improved in those 14 miles, but they were doing road repair and it was lousy gravel again. When we got to the City RV park in “downtown” Watson Lake, Larry was very crabby. We got in with no trouble with no reservation, but the cost is high— $38 in American Dollars. We were too afraid do camp without hookups, since it has been chilly. We should have put the car cover that we purchased on the car for the Cassiar— it was covered with mud & rocks, and we have at least one good ding on the windshield— we will use that cover from now on. Larry continued to be very crabby as we got hooked up and he took the car over to an area where he could rinse it off good. I made supper (we have not really eaten out since Seattle), and opened a bottle of wine, so that helped Larry’s disposition considerable. We decided to just stay 2 nights here after such a long driving day— not ready to drive about 265 miles tomorrow to Whitehorse. Larry wanted to just turn around, go to Banff and Jasper and go home(!), but he mellowed out. We came over to the visitor center where we are allowed 15 min of internet time each(!) — looks like a ice museum that we will check out tomorrow. We decided to go to church in the morning, and get laundry done and rest up, and see the few things here there is to see— the Signpost forest— we didn’t bring a sign, but are sure we will find a sign from Alamogordo somewhere in the posts! It is sunny now, and Larry actually got hot washing the car.
I continue to miss internet a lot, but we actually have phone service, so we will call our kids on Sunday as usual.
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