After travelling over 6000 kilometres, using enough petrol (gas) to trigger an oil crisis and spending more time in a tent than a Bedouin on holiday we finally made it home to Lloydminster.
THUMBS UP:
* To our wonderful neighbours who ensured the house and gardens were safe, secure and well looked after; despite thunderstorms, tornado warnings and stray skunks.
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| Eugene, Elaine, Michelle, Brad - neighbours from heaven. (Absent from the photo are the amazing gardeners; Amy, Stephen and Jaycee.) |
* To spectacular scenery and friendly, abundant wildlife.
* To the wonderful hiking weather.
* To the Walker family's camping gear - a tent that is water proof, sleeping bags that are warm and a stove that makes even my cooking edible.
* To Yukon Camp sites – free wood, fire rings, water, clean, tidy and cheap.
* To the long, long days –reading by daylight at 11.00 pm, (get to the camp site in the evening and still plenty of sunlight to set up the tent, eat supper and check the map to see where we are)
* To petrol at 99.4 cents per litre (Courtenay, Vancouver Island.)
* To free camp sites in Alaska and Alberta – with free fire wood, fire pits and toilet paper.
* To our Jeep Cherokee, 2000, sport – Over 5100 kilometres only a hole in the muffler, two windscreen chips and worn winter tyres (and that was with my driving!)
* For not having to use our screen tent, (the swarms of mosquitoes we had heard about must have also been on holidays).
* To the friendly, helpful and well equipped visitors centres, (flushing toilets, WiFi, free coffee).
* To paved roads in places that would only see 100 vehicles a day in summer and the nearest town is 250 kilometres away.
THUMBS DOWN:* To petrol at 196.6 cents per litre (Muncho Lake, BC).
* To the occasional Canadian weather of 2c nights and summer showers.
* To the odd, mad driver who insisted on overtaking despite the solid yellow line, curves and crests (and they were driving a tour bus!).
* To the mosquitoes and black flies who forgot to go on holidays and who would hang around despite "Jungle" strength spray.
* For having to wait nearly half an hour for the pilot vehicle to escort us through the inevitable road works on every major highway.
We have had an experience that will be with us for life.
We hope in the future we will have the opportunity to explore the hundreds of amazing places we drove past and said:
"Wow, look at that, we will have to check that out when we come back".
