Hello Everyone,
After two days of beautiful driving in Banff and Jasper National Parks we arrived in Dawson Creek, mile zero for the Alaskan Highway. You can see Ruth and I in front of our "big rigg". Actually we have yet to see anyone traveling lighter than we are. Indeed we have seen many RVs pulling vehicles much larger than our Vibe. We are glad for the small vehicle here in Canada. Gas is $1.30-$1.50 which sounds good until consider that it takes 3.8 liters to get one gallon. Yes, we were just under $6.00 a gallon. But that wasn't our biggest sticker shock in Canada. The first six pack I purchased in Calgary was $11.60, that seemed like a lot until the next one in Dawson Creek cost $14.00. Right now we are in Skagway and I was happy to see gas was only $4.69 and we are happy to be getting 36 miles per gallon.

The Alaskan Highway has been a thrill. It has gone from pretty to spectacular and back to merely pretty over and over. There have also been surprises. Along the road we have seen sheep (pictured), caribou, bison, and red fox a coyote and a dead bear. Road kill comes large on the Alcan. We were also in for surprises. Pictured is a hot springs we stopped and visited. It was lush and tropical and felt great after a long day of driving. Just north of Skagway we drove by the "world's smallest desert" another surprise given our northern latitude.

The drive into skagway was spectacularly beautiful. We are glad to reach our destination. So far we have driven just under 4,000 miles since leaving Liberty. It has been 3,000 miles from Wisconsin to skagway. Tomorrow we meet Cheryl's family to scatter her ashes and then the next day we hike the historic Chilkoot Trail with our friend Steve. The trail is 33 miles long and rises about 3,500 feet. It will take us 5 days and then we will ride a train down. More about that next time.