This is our adventure from Hinton KOA, Alberta to Fort St. John, British Columbia.
RJ: It seemed like we had hardly laid our heads on our pillows when it was time to start another day on the bike. It was a beautiful sunny morning; perfect riding weather.
We opted to take showers before heading off which ended up being well needed and quite refreshing since we had been on the road for several days. Consequently, we found out that the *one* towel we brought along wasn’t quite as practical or convenient as we previously thought. Shout out to Emmy for being a trooper and letting me use it first.
Feeling refreshed, we packed up the tent and took off on our way to Fort St. John. The road we took was marked as the “Scenic” route to Alaska, but we couldn’t help but laugh because it was chump change compared to the previous day of riding. Not to mention, the road was in terrible condition due to weather and road construction.
We were cruising down the road at a decent clip and I noticed a weird symbol on one of the orange road construction signs. It looked like a road at the bottom of a cup or something. I had no idea what it was, but just kept chugging along. Literally 30 seconds later, at the top of this hill, the road turns straight into gravel! We hit the patch at like 60 miles an hour!
After Emmy chewed me out for not being careful, I started to chuckle because I realized that the road sign was trying to show that the road turns to gravel lol. Anyways, lesson learned!
Around noon we stopped in Grande Prairie to cook some noodles in our Jetboil. Then we jetted across the street to the McDonald’s to work and blog. We were there for 4 or 5 hours, observing the different people go in and out before we left on the final stretch of the drive to Uncle Tim and Aunt Roz’s place in Fort St. John.
At Dawson Creek, we turned on to the famous Alaskan Highway. We pulled over to grab a few pictures and memorialize the moment in our heads before we carried on.
Right before 7pm, we pulled into Uncle Tim’s driveway. The drive was almost steep and full of larger rocks/gravel. Made for a slightly treacherous drive up to their house. Naomi and Aunt Roz had supper ready for us, vegan spaghetti!
If you know either of our families then you’d know that eating vegan is almost a sin. So, we were a bit apprehensive at first, but boy, it was quite enjoyable considering 100% of the ingredients were things you’d likely never heard of.
EM: After filling our bellies, we piled in the truck, dogs and all, and drove to their favorite little hiking trail. It was an awesome hike and the end of the trail led to a hilltop overlooking the valley and river below. The view was beautiful.
📷: Aunt Roz
📷: Aunt Roz
📷: Aunt Roz
📷: Aunt Roz
📷: Aunt Roz
📷: Aunt Roz
📷: Aunt Roz
📷: Aunt Roz
I found sage growing along the trail. It reminded me of my sister-in-law Whitney. I had to stop and take a picture for her.
We climbed back in the truck for a tour of the country side and stopped at a cute little church along the way.
📷: Aunt Roz
Aunt Roz praying fervently.
This church reminded me of a song we used to sing in school:
There’s a church in the valley by the wildwood
No lovelier place in the dale
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the vale
How sweet on a clear Sabbath morning
To listen to the clear ringing bell
It’s tones so sweetly are calling
Oh, come to the church in the vale
Oh, come, come, come, come, come to the church by the wildwood
Come to the church in the dale
No spot is so dear to my childhood
As the little brown church in the vale
Shortly after, we made it back to the house and grabbed a bedtime snack before crashing for the night.
Cheers!
~RJ and EM
June 21, 2018
Love the church in the black and white pictures! I was singing the song as you had written it!
Both of you are looking good. Enjoy!