Going Rogue

On our way out of Ft. St. John we did our normal routine of getting gas and stocking up on drinks. The 2 young kids working the gas station started a conversation with us about where we were from. One stated that he could tell we weren't from around "here" b/c of the way we talked. We told him we were from the states and were moving to Alaska. I asked him if he had ever been to AK and he said "once for 5 minutes and he was scared b/c there was a gun store right over the border." The other clerk replied that she lived in the states for 2 years and she too was also scared b/c the store she worked in (in the states) had a gun under the counter. Andy and I both thought this was very funny.

The scenery changed somewhat today, and if it was possible we may have seen even more RV's than the day before. What we noticed was, A LOT less farms and A LOT more trees. However the trees we very tall, extremely skinny, and less furry than the one's we were used to seeing.

All the sudden the sky turned black and it looked like rain but, it was actually bugs hitting the windshiled. Then we saw what looked like snow on the shoulder and in the median. We realized it was freshly fallen hail. Next we noticed an overturned SUV on the other side of the road. Obviously we had missed a hellacious storm, thank god. It did rain some but nothing like what we think happened.

We are now in Ft. Nelson, BC and noticed a SUV with a Virginia license plate. Turns out that the family of 6 (including one's mother) are in route to Anchorage with the U.S. Air Force. They had been staying at the same hotels as us except for they were one day ahead of us and had to take and break and are spending two nights here in Ft. Nelson. We learned that there are hot springs on our way to our next stop. We can not wait to jump in and relax our muscles. I can only imagine what NASCAR drivers feel like after a race.

As far as the rest areas, they have been downsized to almost Port o potty status along the 2 lane road; which is sometimes lined/marked and sometimes not lined.

The distance is getting shorter but the price of food and drink is getting MUCH higher. The family of 6 we talked to bought a pound of balogna and is was $22 canadian dollars, which is roughly $21 US dollars.