The Road Less Travelled: We Have Miles (more) To Go Before We Sleep

Just prior to departure, Ethan is NOT happy that the rain has washed away his artwork.

Day 1 : 385 mi.
Well, we're off! We finished packing the Alaska van Wednesday morning and we hit the road. Before we left the boys painted "Alaska or Bust" all over the back windows. Too bad the rain washed it off before we had a chance to drive down the driveway.

Our drive to Ottawa was uneventful - although Ethan described it as 'painful' in his travel journey. I wonder how he will describe the 8 hour drives we are planning for the Yukon?

In Ottawa the boys got on a flight alone for the first time. They did great and had a blast. They tell me they stayed awake and watched movies the entire time. They called at 1:30 in the morning to say that they made it safely and were with Uncle Frank and Aunt Carole. Let the fun begin!

Tim and I continued our jouney once the flight finally pulled away from the gate at 9 pm. Being the planners that we are, we did get chains for the van as we anticipate some snowy weather on the trip- however we did not anticipate needing to use them in Ontario! We actually didn't need to get them on the van, but we did drive through a snowstorm going from Ottawa to Deep River, Ontario. We called it a night in Deep River, and good thing we did. We saw 6-8 inches of snow on the side of the roads the next morning.

Day 2: 375 mi.
We had a nice easy 8 drive to Sault Saint Marie where we had a wonderful time with the Morphet's (Anna's FA, uncle and cousin Scott). As usual, when we are with the Morphets, we drank too much wine and had a lot of laughs. Seeing Barb and Scott jam, Barb on the guitar and Scott on the drums made it a perfect evening.

Day 3: 793 mi.

Early the next morning we were back on the road again. Tim and I have really enjoyed our drive so far. We took a small road along the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was great to be driving along the Great Lakes and then numerous smaller lakes in Minnesota. The landscape changed dramatically in North Dakota with wide open spaces. We could see forever along the horizen. We had no idea how extensive the flooding in North Dakota was. We drove for mile after mile with water lapping the edge of the interstate. As you looked accross the horizon you had the impression that you were looking at another Great Lake, except that every now and then you would see a tree or the tops of fence posts. The interstate going up to Winnepeg was closed because of the flooding. The detour brought us aong more farmland on higher ground and finally to the small town of Winkler,Manitoba where we stayed the night.

We understand from our daily calls with the boys that they are having a blast. They have been to a 3D movie, a huge indoor waterpark at the famous West Edmonton Mall, shopped at a toy store, ate crab legs, went to their favorite Vietnamese restaurant and went quading (4-wheeling, for those non-Canadians) with Uncle Mike. Could it get any better?

Day 4: 672 mi
Yesterday we drove from Winlkler to Loydminister, Alberta - only an 11 hour drive. The landscape didn't change except for two or three times when the road curved for a small lake. The praries go on and on with minimal changes in elevation, very few trees and not even a lot of towns, which made for easy travel. We have been pleasently surprised with the Alaska van. We were hoping it was going to get 10 miles to the gallon, and so far we are averaging over 14 mpg..

We have travelled nearly 2300 miles thus far and have many more to go before we sleep under the midnight sun of Alaska.