day 10 on the road

Day 10

I took a photo of this bear proof trash can with this spray painted saying on it: “Every day is a gift.” I took this photo because at this time I sure do not feel that way today. Not every day in our lives are bright and sunny. In fact for many people each and every day is or can be a struggle. Today for me it was a cloudy day. For real it was a cloudy day but metaphorically it was cloudy too.

It started the night before when we stopped for the night. The place we stayed outside Watson Lake was expensive. There are not a lot of choices in Watson Lake as one hotel went out of business. For a hotel to go out of business in Watson Lake I can only assume it must have been really bad for there is a lack of places to stay for travelers moving along the Alaskan Highway.  One of the other hotels was shut down as they were doing a complete remodel project. He only rooms they had were non-adjoining with one queen size bed.  We ended up outside of town at a place whose family came to the area around the gold rush. Now if you know anything about the gold rush the ones who struck it rich were not the miners and panners but the merchants. I think they learned from their family who settled there how to make money. They charged for everything. The room was overpriced and most things in the room did nto work. The room was basically clean except for the shower. It looked like the people who stayed there before us took a baby moose into the shower to give it a bath. I have never seen that much hair in a shower even when I was in the process of losing mine! We ate at their restaurant and I got a 90.00 bill! Now I have to say as we moved deeper up the Alaskan highway prices we noticed were going up. For a time we noticed about a 25% increase of what you would normally pay but now it seems all bets are off. Realize this if you travel the route someday; this is a long way from standard delivery lines so costs to get goods are more and also they have a very short “tourist” season to make a living. Gas will go from 1.35 to 1.60 a liter where most of the places before you entered the Alaskan highway were between 1.15 and 1.18 a liter. The place we stayed had all kinds of hidden or unexplained charges. I was charged for water, Faith was charged 5.00 for sharing a meal with Michelle. Grace received 3.00 off her 15.00 spaghetti for a ½ portion size. David’s grilled cheese, no side meal cost $10.00 plus a drink. I talked to the owner about these things and it went nowhere. I was shocked and felt taken advantage of so when I woke up this morning you can say I was still not in a good mood and started with a cloud over the day.

As we traveled down the road the scenery calmed me down a bit. The issue with the Yukon though did not get better.  We stopped in a small town on a Sunday about an hour outside of Whitehorse to see if by chance we could find a mechanic on duty somewhere. I found a garage and happen to see a guy out in the yard working on his own car. He was very nice and I apologized for bothering him on a Sunday. He listed to me drive by him a couple times to se if he could hear the noise. He then asked me to turn on the 4 wheel drive. I hit the button and then pressed on the accelerator. Ouch!!!! That rattle was a loud grind and the truck lurched in a very abnormal way. He crawled under the truck and checked the transfer box (I think that is what it is called). The seal was leaking bad and he put two quarts of fluid in it. He told us to try and get to Whitehorse if we could and sent us on our way.

We arrived under the cloud of major repairs Sunday night. A word about Whitehorse if you have a family of 5 you have to get a suite or two rooms if you stay in the city limits due to an ordinance that will not allow more to stay in the room than there are beds to sleep in. We had found a nice place to stay outside of town and as usual David crashed on the floor with a sleeping bag.

It is hard to see “everyday as a gift” when you know you have problems ahead. I cannot do it on my own. I need the Holy Spirit to remind me I’ve been blessed to be a blessing. I truly have been blessed and I truly want to be a blessing to my kids and those I meet. May the Holy Spirit answer that prayer.  Monday I know would result in looking for and trying to get service for a transmission issue. I have heard the nightmare stories about costs and time to get things fixed. I was bracing myself for the worst. Sometimes when it is hard to see a certain day as a gift it is good to remember that the gift is not always about you but what you might give as a gift to others. I tried probably not in the best way to help show my kids how to handle a difficult problem. They are always watching and learning from us as parents. How we handle things they will likely learn from us and handle them in a similar way and that can be good or bad. I needed to be reminded that we made it into Whitehorse without a catastrophic mechanical failure, the kids were safe and there was no accident, we had a roof over our heads and food to eat. We also had each other and as I wrote the previous day a promise from Psalm 100. I will deal with tomorrow when it comes.

Have a good night!

The Ritchie’s whose motto is: “You never know what is going to happen in the life of a Ritchie!!!”

9th day on the road

We left Toad River Lodge and continued our journey North. We figured we should be able to make Watson Lake area that day with little problem and still not push Michelle too hard as she is still recovering from here illness. After breakfast a local mechanic checked out the her truck and was unable to identify what the rattling was. One thought was the catalytic converter was beginning to break loose. He felt we were safe to head down the road and so we were off.

 It was a great day on the road. The night before we got on the road we were treated with some great "God-Light" and a rainbow. The day started off by heading to Muncho Lake. We could not get a good photo of it but if you look on line there are some great photo's of this lake. The water is incredibly clear and with a sand bottom the water takes on a Caribbean blue that is just unable to be captured in paint. There are a few weed patches and that give a vivid green contrast to the blue and shallow white sand bottom. It was really hard to drive by this lake for I understand it had great fishing!! As we were passing the lake we were treated to another stone sheep grazing along the road. 

Down the road we went and out of the twisty turnings roads with steep inclines and sharp long descents. The road as it wound through the mountain passes becomes more gradual and you can see further ahead of you as you are driving. The trees changed to from a mixture of pine and aspen/ birch to many more pines and a few other trees marking the landscape. Rock and fields of gravel and boulders left over from years of winter thaws or maybe a long melted glacier are replaced with more sand. As the landscape changed we noticed big holes in the sand where all the grasses had appeared to be dug out. A little further down the road all was made clear. 

You got it, a buffalo! It was so awesome seeing this guy standing grazing on the road. Then we saw another right beside the truck on the opposite side of the road. 

We drove a while down the road and were celebrating seeing these awesome animals on the trip. It could not get any better we said to each other as we stopped for lunch.

It couldn't get better until....

....we ended up driving through a herd of about a 125 of these animals. Big males grazing or facing off to each other, nursing mothers, babies laying in the sun on the side of the road- what a moment! We told the kids soak this in because you may never see anything like it again and even if you do most kids never see anything like it - EVER! What a great day back on the road and the day was not over. 

Psalm 100:3 reminds us the Lord had made us, and we are his people. Cannot help but think of those buffalo on the road. Some were fighting a bit. They were tending to their young. They were eating and sleeping all the while with little care, life was passing them by on a busy road. To be like that in our own families and allow God who says we are his and he has made us- trusting those words. Not easy but a good thing to strive toward. 

A little further down the road I saw we were going to have no problem hitting Watson Lake for the night and had an extra hour or so to burn since we agreed no night driving. We pulled off on a side stop for a dip in the hot springs. 

Now a couple of things to clear up right now:

1. You will not see photos of me because I would not want you turning into a pillar of salt or even to throw up when my bod hit the screen. Trust me the world is safer without those photos!

2. I put Michelle's photos up because she is cute and she does not know how to add or delete them. With knowledge comes privilege!!!

3. The water was too hot at the top pf the springs so everyone was down river a bit. They had a nice pebble bottom and even benches to sit on in the water as well as beside the water. 

4. Men should not wear speedo's!!!! There was a very nice older gentleman from another country who came out of the changing room and there was a collective gasp about the place. 'nough said about that!!!

That was not quite the end of the day as we did see a mother bear and her cubs. They were shy about getting their photo taken and it so happened a few miles down the road we saw another mother and cubs who were not shy. We also saw a big boar (male) black bear but it was too dark to get a photo. 

We stopped in Watson Lake for a quick photo op with the forest of signs. They come from all over the world and it is pretty funny to see the creativity of people who hung them here on the outskirts of Watson. 

Have a great day everyone. God bless you all and thanks for the prayers. As of today we have had good weather and roads. The only issues besides Michelle being sick was a broken windshield in my truck from a trucker going a little fast and throwing grave, a side light on the trailer with a rock hole in it and Michelle's Yukon getting hit with a piece of wood from a passing log truck with no real damage. We continue our journey with cooler weather now. It is not getting much above 65 during the last couple days and I finally turned in my shorts for pants for the evening and morning hours are in the 40's.   

Love Jesus!

Love Others!

The Ritchie's!

  

8th day on the road to Alaska, August 2011

Day 8

The 8th day we rested some more from the drive and allowed Michelle to sleep and rest. As I said in the post yesterday her fever finally broke and she is feeling better and ready to get on the road. I will have a local mechanic look at the truck today before we get on down the road. I have not been driving the Yukon until yesterday when I took the kids up the road to Muncho Lake and heard a rattle I did not like. It is hard to tell if it is something from the cartop carrier or the canoe shaking doing down the road but I will have him give a listen and see what he thinks. 

On the road to Muncho, we saw 3 or 4 caribou. All were smaller and had antlers. If you did not know both male and female caribou have antlers so do not assume if you see one with antlers they are male. 

The drive to Muncho lake was different as the weather was not sunny but overcast and threatening rain. Some of the mountains were clouded over and every once in a while the sun would pop through giving a God light effect on a mountain side. The local people told me they have already had snow falls here this summer that covered the ground but of course melted away. They are busy prepping for winter and run the lodge until late October when most of the people stop traveling through here. 

Lots of RV's and motorcyclist on the road here. I met a guy yesterday over breakfast who takes a month off every summer and rides all over the mountains. He told me we made a mistake n not going up through Montana and the Rocky's. He said it is a great bucket list trip. He went from Alaska to Duluth MN and up to Thunder Bay and was on his way back this year. 

The kids found a nest of swallows and kept bugging the babies. Mommy bird did not like the attention and kept dive bombing the kids. It got me thinking that even though the kids were good for me they wanted their mom. No one can replace a mom's love and protective wing for her babies. I love my kids and my wife. I thank God for the presence every day in my life. 

God is always watching over us. I found out yesterday an old friend and mentor is watching over us as well. Thanks Dale and Ruth for tracking us down at the lodge and calling here to make sure we are well. No cell phone service but we have internet. Your friendship and prayers as well as all who are reading this- your thoughts and prayers are appreciated as well!

The Ritchie's