Day 4 long, boring but over with

Real quick, forgot to mention on day 3 that I spotted a cow and her calf by the highway and when we turned around to take a pic the calf was bedded down and Jeff thought it would be better with him up so he started making moose noises. Well apparently they thought it was as horrifying as I thought cuz the calf and cow took off in the brush before I could take a pic. Thanks honey, next time keep your animal calls to yourself. But I am moving to Alaska so I'm sure I'll see many more moose to snap pics of.
Well this one will be short and sweet. Today we really pushed it so tomorrow we only have 5 hrs left of our 60 hr drive... we went 640 miles in 14 hrs, yes way long. The last 4-5 hrs we could only go 55-60 mph due to construction ever so often but mostly due to terrible roads. My brother in law warned us of this but man you have to experience it to truly understand the meaning of frost heaves. They are dips and all sorts of bumpy terran, I seriously got so car sick and that never happens with me. It felt like a massive 4 hr roller coaster. In fact it got so bad, it tore off one of the fenders on our trailer. Freakin ridiculous but over with. And to top it off, it was some of the most ugly country ever. Straight marsh land, yes saw my third moose, no bull yet just cows and a calf. We pulled into Tok, Alaska and found a much better place than last night, thank heavens. We plan on waking up, enjoying the town then hitting the last few hrs of our journey on the Alaskan Highway.

The tallest peaks in Canada seen here. The Glaciers were beautiful, too bad pics done capture the true beauty.




Just something random at Haines Junction. Represents the glaciers and wildlife seen in the area... moose, caribou, wolf, bear, dall sheep

This is Dall Mountain, apparently it is covered with hundreds of Dall sheep in the winter. I could only imagine how amazing it would've been to see one. And since we were so high up in elevation, this lake is glacier runoff as well.

Spotted this moose at Moose Lake... She wasn't into pics and would only pull her head out of the water briefly but not long enough to catch a decent shot


Hello Alaska, wish you were this warm with blue skies all year!!!

The drive got so long and boring KO wanted to help Jeff drive to lighten the mood and bring on some laughter

Day 3, So glad it's over with...

Well Day 3 started off pretty good and ended TERRIBLE. To start off we went 565 miles in 12 hrs. We slept in and hit the road around 10 am. Canada kills you on gas and hotels, gas for 1 L (metric system) was 1.21 making it 4.84/gal with a truck that holds 24 gal totaling $116 every 3 hrs, YIKES!!! it sucks having a truck and trailer at this point, how the heck Canadians can afford it is besides me. Canada continues to amaze me with how beautiful it is with lakes around every corner. So I started to take pics of all the wierd signs along the highway, some very cool with great outcomes, others you can use your imagination to guess what it means...


Wild horse sign... didn't see some til day 4 but when Jeff did his bear hunt in Canada, he saw them everywhere

So the first 4-5 hrs of our day was pretty much the same, just the long treterous Alaskan Highway and the green scenery. Mid day at the highest peak on the Alaskan Highway we watched an amazing lightening storm... 5 min later we were in this not so amazing storm, lightening striking all around us and thunder shaking the whole truck and the road we drove on. The rain came down so fast we could see NOTHING. I wanted Jeff to pull over but that would put us in major danger with other drivers. I just knew we were going to get hit head on with a diesel or plumage into a dang Moose or something. I was crying, dogs whinning and shaking, and Jeff white knuckles on the steering wheel with head as close to the windshield as he could get trying to see. It ended within 10 min and I just prayed for all the motorcyclists headed southbound that they would be safe. (The comment my dad made to me before I left town just wouldn't leave my head, "Trish be careful, people die on long trips like this!" Thanks Dad!) Jeff even admitted this was worse than he has ever seen. Then the skies cleared up and were blue the rest the trip.
We saw some amazing wild life though, some pretty expected, others by complete awe and amazement.

Stone sheep off the highway. They were beautiful, and we spotted tons across the way up on the rocky cliffs

Caribou crossing... these signs were everywhere and we almost missed our only chance to see one alive cuz I was too busy taking pics of the river and Jeff about clipped him with my rear view mirror. We got so close I could've petted him

This water was so blue this pic doesn't do it justice. It is straight glacier runoff water making it clear, gorgeous and I can only imagine freezing "A" cold


By the end of the day, we saw at least a hundred buffalo, some traveling in groups blocking the highway and some traveling alone along the side of the road. What amazing animals. They are so calm and easy going but lazy as ever


Had to capture this.. the dogs would growl at them but after seeing so many they just enjoyed it as much as we did

So do you think this signs means we saw a Bear? I know I'll be seeing many in Alaska, but not in British Columbia? Oh but while we were looking for Buffalo, across the creek we spotted one, a beautiful Black Bear walking through the brush. It was amazing to watch it for a little bit before it disappered in the trees

Hello Yukon Territory and good bye. You were boring ugly and had no excitment. All your hotels were full and gas stations were way too far apart. Your smokey filled skies from a fire burned my eyes and was miserable to drive in. My only smile was for this pic and the fact that driving through you was a must to reach our final destination.

The prettiest part of the YT was this... Mucho Lake. Soooo calm, flat and clear. Too bad the smoke filled skies ruined the beauty.

This is how we ended our day... worst experience ever!!! After having every hotel/motel full we drove up the road to this place... full of bugs, spiders, and dead moths in the sheets. No keys to the doors, they are left wide open in the day but being rainy cold and way too late to drive on the highway we had no choice. Luckily I had sheets in the truck we through on the bed. I just cried myself to sleep I was so uncomfortable and extremely tired from way too much driving.

Day 2 The journey continues...

Wow, what an adventurous day... 12 hrs and another 800 miles. We both slept so good last night, so did the dogs. They didn't even wake up once, which is rare. So we woke up to a flat tire on our trailer but no worries, being so prepared we have a portal pump in the truck, DONE! Unlike yesterday, we drove through some amazing country today. Canada is beautiful, I just couldn't believe it. It's a very country feel, lots and lots of farming and ranch style homes every 10 miles or so. Its nice to see so much open land, unlike Utah. Its very very green with beautiful yellow pastures. There are HUGE rivers everywhere with ginormous trees. Loved loved loved it! We didn't stop as much today, but the 12 hour drive went super quick, we would've kept going except for the fear of driving in the night with deer and moose on the road! The dogs did good in the truck again, except for KO peeing on the driver seat. I kid you not, I get out of the truck run in to the restrooms, run out to let them out and the accident was done, but again no worries, with some water and a rack to soak it up and (being prepared again) the upholstery cleaner I got it all taken care of, DONE! We drove through beautiful Calgery and Edmonton and Grand Praire then reached the British Columbia border drove through Dawsons Creek and decided to end the day in Fort St. John. Just crossing the BC border, there were moose crossing signs everywhere, can you believe it! So I was on the look out for a moose and not five min later Jeff spotted one... I was having a fit! First moose of the trip... DONE! Then pulling into Fort St. Johns after advising Jeff to slow down (no fun calculating kilometers to miles) and of course we get pulled over. The officer was super friendly and laughed that we were up here clear from Utah. So we got a warning since it would be a pain to pay for a ticket. He clocked us going 91 in a 70 (aka 55mph in a 45 zone). First encounter with the funny dressed Canadian cops... DONE! So overall a very successful and an amazing day.


KO loves sleeping right on the center console just waiting for one of us to roll down our window so he can stick his head out!!! Chewy just enjoys the backseat to himself.


Are there such things as a dog model, we sure could use some extra cash to pay for this road trip, ha ha ha!

Day 1 of our drive to Alaska

Well today was the first day on our 5 day drive to Alaska and it went pretty smooth. We had a wonderful breakfast at my in-laws then hit the road. We traveled around 700 miles in 12 hours, but let me tell you it sure didn't seem that long. We bought a nice DVD player for the truck and just enjoyed watching shows and visiting... and no, we are not sick of each other yet, it was actually very nice to just sit and talk and not have to worry too much but the drive. The dogs did absolutely amazing. They slept almost all day (which means they won't be sleeping much tonight when I want to sleep) and we let them run and play at every stop. Our truck did amazing, kept a steady 75 mph with hauling a trailer and you would never even know we were pulling something. So, not much left to say, but Montana was extremely boring to drive through, hopefully Canada will give us more to look at.

This pic was taken as we were driving through Butte, Montana. Yes this is a statue of Christ on top of the mountain (and it was huge, I zoomed in really close with my camera)... it was so crazy to see, prob the most entertaining part of our drive yet!

Time in Utah County

So we got out of St. George safe and sound... 4 hrs down, 52 more to go. We've been spending a few days in Utah County with my family, then we will spend a few days with Jeff's in Tremonton before we take off on our journey. While up with my family, we were able to relax, celebrate Amanda's 21 birthday and her baby shower and just enjoy the time together. Amanda's shower went very well, I think her and Scott are going to be expecting this baby sooner than they have planned. Amanda is exactly 36 weeks but with stress tests twice a week and her baby platueing in growth and her not being able to retain water in her sac, this baby will be here before we know it!!! She has loved being pregnant and she looks so stinkin cute!!! I'm sad I won't be here for her delivery and the babies first few months but look forward to daily skyping! Hopefully by the time this child does arrive, Scott and Amanda can agree on a name so she isn't stuck with "Baby" forever :)


Not only did we sing and celebrate Amanda's birthday at the shower, but we were able to go out to Olive Garden and enjoy a very nice dinner with the family. She wasn't happy we told them it was here birthday, but since when does the birthday girl get to decide when people sing to her!!! I hope she had a wonderful birthday and I'm so glad she decided to spend her whole day with the fam.




Today the fam got together and packed up all the leftover food from the shower and we headed up American Fork Canyon to enjoy the weather and have a little picnic. It sure was fun to just relax, watch the dogs run around in the water and to just be together on a Sunday afternoon. (Conner was with us too, i never get pics of him cuz he is always wondering for some reason)




And to top of our Utah County stay, Nikki and Tipper blessed little Lexi. I'm so glad they were able to do it while we were still around. Tipper did such a good job and it was nice to say one last good bye to Josh, Sheridan and the kids before they headed back to St. George. And yes, I finally got a pic with my little niece, for crying out loud I've held her so much but have never got a pic with her. She will be so grown when we come back in christmas, it just makes me sad.