Day 10 -- Southward ... and a little bit Eastward

onward and southeastward

Summary:

• Drive from Fort Liard, NT to Dawson Creek, BC
• Distance travelled: 665 km
• Time on the road: ~ 9 hrs or so
• Regrettable Decisions: (0)
• Winningest Decisions: (1)
• my AirBnB selection for the evening
• Wildlife Seen:(5)
• Bear
• Bison
• Moose
• Grouse
• Hawk

Liard River ... Random fact of the day, it flows northward

The day started with my utterly and completely confused ... turns out that the Northwest Territory is in a different timezone than BC ... who knew?  I mean, why isn't there a sign or anything?!?  When my alarm went off this morning and I was SUPER EXHAUSTED ... I thought it was just due to the dream I had of being attacked by not one but two bears (long story).  After over caffeinating myself on too-strong coffee (seriously, worse than my Navy days!), I wandered around Fort Liard for a bit then got on the road.  The drive south from Fort Liard to Fort Nelson was full of bears ... seriously 5 separate instances at least.  Luckily for me, my dream did NOT become a reality as the bears on that route are super shy and run away when a car comes ... I mean they dart ACROSS the highway IN FRONT of the car ... but they still run away.

random photo while driving

MOOSE! (literally what I yelled)

Today was a rainy gross kind of day.  Perfect for me to try to put some kilometers behind me and make some eastward progress.  Most of the drive looked like the above, mountains in the distance with pavement in front of me and raindrops on the windshield.  I did have the fun adventure of coming around a corner at 80 kph to find this guy in the middle of the road ... fortunately the brakes on the CRV work and the moose was not victorious today ... sorry Mr. Moose, you'll have to find something else to talk about with your Moose friends ... no American roadkill for you today. 

He posed for this rendering

I did have a fun little stop at Sasquatch Crossing ... cute and just the right amount of kitchy.  But mostly today was just driving.  

I made an AirBnB selection while in Fort Saint John ... I decided to press to Dawson Creek and hole up there for the night.  Based on price more than anything, I picked a place just outside of Pouce Coupe; just a room in a nice little farmhouse with a sweet family.  Upon my arrival, the host, J, could see that I was frazzled and weary from my trek.  After showing me to my room, she offered me a glass of wine and settled me into the comfy chair in the sun room.  And then we preceded to have a wonderful chat about all sorts of things.  J and her family are quite amazing and are they type of family that remind you that there are still really good people out there.  Not only have they adopted and raised special-needs children but also have a non-profit to help those in need in their community.  I honestly feel privileged to just have had to opportunity to chat and share some wine with them.  J challenged me to get to know me without all the trimmings (job, success, etc.) and all I can say is that I'm trying, J.  I'm trying.

Off to bed now ... heading to Jasper tomorrow for a few days.