It is such a good thing that I was on bear watch today. This mom and three cubs was grazing by the highway, eating some of their 20,000 calories a day, mostly vegetation. They grazed and paid us no mind. I was driven to serious whimpering! Three of them had to poop while we were watching. No wonder. Their diet sounds like the old Pritikin health plan, where you ate about a bushel of raw veggies every day.
Dad requested the historic hiway bypass at Mile 17 over an original wooden bridge, the only one still in use from the 1942 construction of the Alaska Highway. It is 531 feet long. A little wierd driving on a wooden deck. Dad tiptoed over it, but the kamakazee RV driver in front of us didn't even slow down. He had one of those 40 foot diesel pushers with a tow vehicle behind. You could hear him using the engine breaks as he roared past us down the 6% downgrades.
We also crossed the Peace River Bridge, another big deal. This river needed a bridge right away during the war, because the ferry across the river could only take so many trucks per hour. After two bridges washed away, the army built a suspension bridge that lasted until 1957. The current bridge was completed in 1960, and it has a metal grate desk. There was a work crew spraying primer on it when we crossed.
We took a lunch break at Shepherds Inn, where mom and dad had buffalo burgers served by a young girl from Germany, and I stayed in the RV. Mom was not going to clean my feet again after our first stop where a water truck was driving around turning the dusty road to mud. She says she is going to have to mop the RV tonight because of the tracks of my paws.
Dad wanted to stop really early, but there was that mud thing at the first campground, and then Lub and Abners was a ghost town. A first nation guy with a headband and tie dye shirt came along on his bike, and he said, "Sure, stay anywhere, but there's no water, and the electric pole just fell down, so there's no charge." "Hey, you guys are from Texas? I named my kid Dallas. I love the Cowboys." I could not wait for Dad to get out of there. Just too wierd. You should have seen the guy's house. Vines were growing inside the window.
So despite not wanting to come this far, we are in Fort Nelson tonight. Tomorrow is Muncho Lake, a highlight of the Alaska Hiway, and then the Laird Hot springs. Once again, give me gold over hot, but whatever makes Mom and Dad happy, I vote for. Wildlife viewing is supposed to really pick up. We saw moose signs all day, but they like to come out at dusk. Do you really think we are going to be driving the RV around at 11 at night?
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