Monday, May 18, 2009 Day 8
We were huddled together this morning as we had our pre-drive prayer in the parking lot of the gas station with the snow swirling around us. It was COLD (like 27 degrees!). But we were ready. Our fuel tanks were full, we had picked up some odds and ends at the grocery store and we were ready to drive. And that really is all we did today.
But first – the conversation after we’ve filled up with diesel –
Gary – figure out how much diesel we got.
Me – OK – so I’ll add the two receipts together (we almost always have to do two fill-ups since they cut off before we’re really full.). Let’s see – 151.3 plus 11.71 liters – Ok – 163.41 liters. Now, I divide that by 3.8 – 43.01 gallons.
Gary – so how much is that per gallon.
Me – Well, if I take $140.06 (what we spent) and divide it by the number of gallons we bought (43.01) that gives us a $3.25/gal price.
Gary – what’s that is US dollars?.
Me – Hmmmm…let’s figure that the rate of exchange is 1.14 – so I take the 3.25/gal price and divide it by 1.14 – so we just paid 2.86/gal for diesel. And we bought 43 gallons. Does that sound right?
Gary – Yep – now what about MPG –……..
(Who knew this trip would involve ALGEBRA!)
Needless to say, we’ve been having an interesting time figuring our actual expenses. But even Canadians are somewhat conflicted. A fellow at Ness Lake said that even though he buys his gasoline by the liter, the cars are rated on MPGs. Go figure!
But on to our travels. As I said before – we left in the snow. It wasn’t sticking on the road, thankfully, but it was beginning to coat the trees.
It was pretty, but still. We weren’t very excited about the whole driving in the snow thing!
The only real “off the beaten path” event we did today was to drive on a short stretch of the original Alaskan Highway which included the only original wooden bridge still in use.
And it’s a curved bridge at that.
It even had wood decking. It was very neat – though we did go over it one at a time! 
It was just a quick diversion, and only a couple of miles (or kilometers) outside of Dawson Creek, but it was pretty interesting.
From that point on – it was pretty much road, road and more road.
Here are a some of my favorite road signs – all together in one place.
Not.
I don’t know how high your tolerance for “windshield pictures” is, so just let me say we crossed some amazing bridges –
Spotted some interesting “art” along the road
(that boy needs a jacket!)
Saw the trees change from deciduous
To Evergreen
And more Evergreen trees that I have ever seen in one place
And finally back to “trembling aspen” (honest, that’s what the Milepost said!)
And just after we crossed the Muskwa River bridge (the lowest point on the Alaskan Highway) we pulled into Fort Nelson.
286 Miles. Almost 7 hours of driving. A good day for a bunch of folks not really in a hurry! We settled into our campground and after we enjoyed a shared dinner the guys drove back into town to scope out the best place to fuel up tomorrow. Best place? $1.10/liter. This morning at Dawson Creek it was $.87/liter. (Ah, the beauty pain of supply and demand!)
Ouch. I know I don’t want to do the math on that one! Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotto do!
Here’s a collage of more windshield shots –
but if you’d like to see them in a slide show – check it out here!.
Tuesday Morning, May 19th – Day 9 (well, the beginning of it anyway)First of all – THE SUN IS SHINING!!!!! We haven’t seen too much of that lately, so it’s pretty exciting to us!
Next – The day’s schedule is kind of tentative – there’s a windshield nick (John & Rosie) we’re trying to get taken care of and Naomi was hoping to see a dentist this morning for a broken tooth (but apparently no dental problems here can happen until the 23rd!), so I’m not sure just how the morning is working (especially since I’m over in the laundry room doing this update!). We hope to get as far as Laird Hot Springs today – about 200 miles.
And it looks like we’ll be in provincial park tonight – no electric, let alone an internet connection. So I figured I’d better get this baby posted while I have the chance!
Hmm….is that our diesel rumbling outside the door?????
