While we were traipsing around in “no internetland” last week we crossed a big milestone. On August 1st we marked the completion of our fifth year on the road. FIVE YEARS! Five years of bumping down the road, always being surprised with what’s around the next bend. After milling around the Eastern half of the country (more or less) for four years, we finally broke the Mississippi River Force Field and made it to California! Along the way we marveled at the Rocky Mountains, helped Lara settle in her new home in Waco, TX, discovered the beauty of the Southwest, traveled (almost) the length of California (and still managed to avoid LA), drove up the beautiful Oregon Coast and (as you know) made it all the way to Alaska. As Sowers we were blessed to have worked at a college in Arkansas, a K-12 school in Arizona, and a variety of camps and conference centers. We’ve been able to connect with friends from long ago and relatives that we haven’t seen in 30 years. Truly, this has been an amazing year. All together we’ve driven over 9800 miles in the motor home. (Last year we only did 3450 miles.) Of course, our Alaska Adventure has accounted for almost 5600 of those miles! Total miles since we left the parking lot of First Baptist Church on August 1, 2004? 34,500.
Here is a map of our general travels in the Lower 48 –

Map of Year 5 – lower 48

Then there was the drive north to AK (Fairbanks)

Then south of Fairbanks (Denali) and our trip back to the lower 48 through Calgary, Alberta.

Just as we were setting out on this great adventure, Tim McGraw had song out called Set this Circus Down. These are the words – (and of course you have to imagine Gary singing it to me )

Sometimes this road, it just keeps winding
Round and round and back again
But you’ve always kept me smiling
Over every hill, round every bend
Baby you’re the one smiling with me when the sun comes up
I got the wheel, you got the map and that’s enough

And we go rolling down this highway
Chasing all our crazy dreams
I’ve gone your way and you’ve gone my way
And everywhere in between
One of these days we’ll find a piece of ground
Just outside of some sleepy little town
And set this circus down

Sometimes I lie awake just thinking
Of all the horizons we have seen
And as another day is sinking
I thank God you’re here with me
‘Cause baby you’re the one laughing with me when the sun goes down
Living on faith and holding on tight to the love we found

And we go rolling down this highway
Chasing all our crazy dreams
I’ve gone your way and you’ve gone my way
And everywhere in between
One of these days we’ll find a piece of ground
Just outside of some sleepy little town
And set this circus down

Five Years. If you’re not surprised, I want you to know that I am! And I don’t think we’re ready to set our circus down just yet!

Do you remember the episode of Little House on The Prairie where Pa and Almonzo are both taking a load of goods to Sleepy Eye (or maybe it was Mankato) and they decide to make a race out of it. They both think they have a short cut or new way to go – and of course it backfires on both of them. Well, that’s how our day went Friday.
After a lovely morning at Fort St. James (a restored Hudson’s Bay Company trading post), we were headed to Prince George, BC and Ness Lake Bible Camp. We had stopped there on our way north and were planning to stop there for a couple of days on our way south. Since we were coming from a totally different direction Gary was busy checking for any shortcuts that might work. His GPS showed a road that looked like it would cut about an hour off the drive and even my map showed the same road. The problem I saw was that it was a dirt road. Now we’ve done a lot of dirt roads over the last couple of weeks so that didn’t really concern Gary, but I was definitely leaning towards staying on paved roads. When we came to the intersection we saw three big tractor trailers coming out. “See – I knew it would be a good road!” “Hmmm, maybe it’s just paved back to the factory.” say I. “We’ll be fine, “ the driver said, and turn we did. It was paved for a good part of the way (until the giant lumber mill), but then even the dirt road was in good shape. We got a little nervous when there was a “road narrows” sign, but still, it was better that some of the Alaskan roads we had traveled. It wasn’t until we were headed down a little hill toward the river that we began to get worried. This would have been a great short-cut except for one thing.

No Bridge.
And it didn’t look like there would be a bridge down this way either.


So much for the shortcut!
We did eventually make it to Ness Lake Bible Camp. We were warmly welcomed and even invited to join them for dinner. These are really good folks! Camp is in full swing here and we are planning to stick around to help out for a day or two.

Saturday was Barkerville Day for us! Since our whole trip south has had a Gold Rush flavor to it, it just seemed right to spend the day at this restored Gold Rush community. It was kind of like a small scale Williamsburg, but with a must more rustic feel. These were the lives of folks making their living out of finding gold in the gravel and banks of the nearby streams.

This picture has a deserted look to it, but it really was quite a bustling place, with stage coach rides and costumed town folk and lots of activities going on. We thoroughly enjoyed our day there!

OK – if you’d like to catch up on some of the pictures of our recent travels, I’ve finally had a chance to get them uploaded -
Day 9 – Saturday - Finishing up the Top of the World Highway – chores in Whitehorse – and part of the way to Carcross.

Day 10 - Our day in Skagway and Dyea. A beautiful drive down to Skagway and then an interesting day in town.
Day 11 - Our Drive All Day Day. We covered over 400 miles – and loved the abundant wildflowers along the way!
Day 12 - Our detour to Stewart and Hyder. No bears at the Fish Creek Bear Viewing area, but we saw glaciers, salmon and a toaster museum and took a lovely walk out the boardwalk over the tital flats that used to be the harbor in Stewart!

Day 14 - Day 14 – A real change in the scenery! And a giant Fly Fishing Pole!

Day 15 - Fort Saint James, and the rest of the way (short cut included) to Prince George and Lake Ness Bible Camp.

Saturday, Day 16 - Fun in Barkerville (and fun with the sepia setting on my camera!)

And that brings us to Day 17 – Today! Sunday, August 9, 2009. Worship. Rest. Visit. No pictures. Phew!

Today is Wednesday, August 5th. Really. We’re in Telkwa, British Columbia which is about half way between Prince Rupert and Prince George. As I write, that is really where we are. We’ve splurged for one night at a campground that offers wifi -yippee! Bad news, though, is that it doesn’t allow uploads and downloads. SO—–even though I have plenty pictures (and maps even) to share with you, those will have to wait for another day. I didn’t want the opportunity to go by though (that would be the ability to do at least a brief post) without giving you a quick update.
Let’s see….we talked about Dawson City, right? That really was a fun town! Day 9 we made it to Whitehorse, did our laundry, filled up with diesel, and did some marketing. The big event on Day 10 was a drive (truck only) to Skagway. We had driven to Skagway back in May to catch that amazing cruise down the Lynn Canal, but hadn’t really “done” the town. Today it is all about cruise ships (and jewelry stores it seems), but once upon a time it was the main starting point for the stampeders during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. Since we had just been in Dawson City (where the gold actually was), and had been to the Klondike Gold Rush Museum in Seattle, WA (where most of the stampeders left the lower 48 from), it was very interesting to see (and get a better understanding) of just what the Gold Rush was really about. And how hard it was. I found the information about the famed Chilkoot trail – and the “golden stairway”- to be most interesting. Because not only did those men (and some women) have to climb up that pass once, but since they all had to carry a year’s worth of supplies (between 1000 -2000 lbs.), they would have to do it over and over again – between 30 & 40 times. If you haven’t a clue what I’m talking about (I didn’t until we did this trip) – here is a little information on wikipedia -Chilkoot Trail. Don’t miss the picture at the bottom of the information, along with the list of just what they had to bring. There were Mounties at the top of the pass checking them all in. (Oh, and the “golden stairway” was only a small part of the 33 mile trek to the head of the Yukon River.) Yep, we found Skagway to be very interesting! Plus, it was a gorgeous drive to get there (even in the drizzle)!
The next day – Monday the 3rd (Day 11) was a drive day. A drive-all-day day. We covered over 400 miles – our “most miles covered” day since we left for our Alaskan Adventure. We are driving home a different way that we had gone north. There really are only two ways to cut through British Columbia to get to Alaska – either the Alaska Highway (we did that northbound) or the Cassiar Highway (our southbound route). The Cassiar is more wilderness and goes through some fabulous scenery. There were less “points of interest” along the way, and maybe it was ’cause we were traveling alone, but we just kept driving. We found a nice little pull-off to call home for the night and enjoyed a good night’s rest. AND – it even got dark!

Tuesday (yesterday!) we kept on the Cassier until we came to the turn off to Stewart (BC) and Hyder (AK). These are two neighboring towns that had a boom mining era, and are now basically trying to make it on tourism, but without the cruise ships. Hmmmm. The one big calling card in Hyder is the Fish Creek Bear Observing station. It was a beautiful drive there – past glaciers and through canyons, and the bear area was very interesting. However, all the bears must have been napping because even though there were salmon galore, we saw no bears. Sigh. Still, it was a good day!
After our little detour we finished up the Cassiar Highway and picked up the Yellowhead Highway (which actually starts on the coast at Prince Rupert and goes all the way to Winnipeg! We stopped in the town of Smithers for the night (free parking at the local mall!), and were delighted to find out that our traveling buddies were just down the road a piece in Telkwa! We joined them today (Day 13) and we are all parked in a row at a lovely little campground with water and electric and cable tv and wifi (sorta!). (Quite a change from our roadside parking spots!) We spent a little time in the cute little town of Smithers, shared a yummy dinner meal and then had one last Sluff game (The girls won. Of course.) We’ll part company again tomorrow and don’t expect to catch up with them again so this has been a lovely bonus for our ride home.
So that brings us up to date! It’s been a great trip so far – breathtaking scenery, interesting history, and fun side trips
And soon, I hope, I’ll be able to share pictures to prove it!
Here are maps of the Yukon Territory and British Columbia that might help a little with just where we’ve been and where we’re headed (Prince George, BC).

Friday, July 31, 2009
Dawson City, Yukon Territory

We actually pulled into Dawson City on “Day 7” – but it made more sense to just keep DC as its own separate entry. One of the “adventures” of getting into DC is crossing the Yukon River.

Since there is no bridge, the territory runs a small ferry. I mean small. I mean like once we drove on, it was full small.

I’ll try to post some video of our “drive across the Yukon” – (uploading the video not going so well – sorry!)
But Dawson City – what a great little town!

DC was where the Klondike Gold Rush started. Dawson grew from being a bend in the river to a town of 30,000 once word of the gold strike got out. Of course once everyone got there and realized that all the claims had been, well, claimed they didn’t all stay. The minus 40 degree winters might have scared a couple away too. But for those who remained, Dawson City became the bustling hub of activity (and civilization – they had all utilities just about from the beginning of its existence) in the Yukon Territory.

(circa 1900)

(July 31, 2009)
In fact, it was the capital of the territory until 1952 when roads replaced the river as the main means of getting supplies in and the gold out and the state offices moved to Whitehorse. Today Dawson City is still that frontier town – dirt streets, boardwalk sidewalks, and many original storefronts.

Farsighted town leaders made sure that no golden arches would spoil the Gold Rush feel of the community. Gold mining is still the number one industry in town. Tourism is number two. We didn’t concentrate too much on the gold mining (after all, Gary had his big gold find back there near Moose Pass), but certainly enjoyed all of the history of the area. We took in a great walking tour of the town,

a tour of the Commissioner’s Residence,

caught several videos about the gold rush, mining, and the town, heard an talk on Jack London (author of Call of the Wild (among others) who was one of the 1898 Gold Rushers) at the Jack London cabin (moved from the bush to the outskirts of town), walked around the Y.O.O.P. cemetery (that would be the Yukon Order Of Pioneers)

and enjoyed a fun Can-Can show at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s.

(and because Gary was doing all the planning for that, we managed to do it all in just over 24 hours. We even slept!) Dawson City was a GREAT stop!
Side note -
This is a picture of the Yukon as it runs in front of Dawson City. It’s where the Yukon and the Klondike Rivers join together. Interesting how they aren’t quite co-mingling at this point!

We left town in the early afternoon, heading south with Whitehorse (still the capital of the Yukon Territory) in our sights. We knew we wouldn’t make it (it was over 300 miles down the road), but we figured we’d drive until we were tired. We drove about 4 hours. The views were pretty obscured by the smoky haze,

but we did stop at this pretty Gravel Lake. Apparently (according to the sign) it’s a big stopping over place for waterfowl in the spring and late summer. Guess in late July they are already where they want to be and haven’t yet begun their journey south.
The Big Black Flies, on the other hand were very friendly.

We parked for the night at a pull off by this little creek where the smoke didn’t seem too bad.

I didn’t do too much exploring because the mosquitoes there hadn’t seen any fresh meat lately and they had quite a welcoming celebration upon our arrival. But it was nice and peaceful , and even though the smoke found us by the middle of the night, it had cooled off enough to close the windows and turn off the fan.
Day 8 – Dawson City to Crooked Creek Bridge – 118 miles. Fun town, hazy views, peaceful nights.

(Real time update – 8/1/09 – 7PM Pacific time -We made it to Whitehorse and after spending WAY TOO MUCH $$ at the laundramat, Gas Station (you don’t even want to know that one!) and the grocery store, we searched out some wifi. We were striking out (even the library let us down) and decided to just grab a Quizno sandwich and call it a day. Email and blog would just have to wait a couple of days. While Gary was over getting the sandwich I checked for any available wifi – and much to my surprise there was some available from the nearby Staples (we were in their lot!). I was glad to be able to do this quick update before we head back into the wilds tomorrow!)