April 22nd, 2014

Some days you get a bit bored of driving so you mess about.....
We did see a bear ! Yes we did. Its early for them and they are mostly still sleeping, so, in your face African lions. Although the lions did sleep a lot they wern't hibernating they we just avoiding us. We also saw a thing. Its one of the things....Moose, Caribou, Deer, Elk. We think we know which one. Do you ? Of course it could be none of the above.

On route 37 up into the remote Canadian areas we only happened on a few good places to camp. Most were snowed in and so helpfully the plough had piled snow accross the entrances to all of them. They were closed of course but we could have got in had it not been for the massive piles of snow. We did find one, as you can see. We also came across a Motel who gave us a free room. They also wanted to feed us but we wern't sure if it was free so we resisted the offer having been bitten by the have a "cup of tea" offer before. On that occasion we were landed with a $8 bill + tip for a terrible cup that was offered we thought for free. You live a learn. However we do think they we offering free food to us but anyhow we'd had a huge lunch. At breakfast we settled for toast and I left them something even though they didn't ask for any money. The tea was Julies favorite and they gave us 3 full boxes of it as it didn't sell ! So we now have enough tea for another year on the road. At least Julie does.

All the way along the road i've wanted to go onto the ice but its too late in the season. The lakes are stunning covered in Ice and snow but i bet they are just as good in summer sunshine. We also missed the Northern Lights last night due to the lights in Walmart. We will hopefully see them tonight. Its on my bucket list and it must be ticked off !!!!! damn it !!!! The night before they were meant to get really good but the motel was in a valley and they say they can't seen them so we didn't even try. Maybe we should have taken a walk in -10c to look for ourselves. It doesn't get dark until 11pm and even then its light. We need to seen them soon as soon it will be daylight all night almost.

The Kiwis are on there way back from Deadhorse and have finished their trip. Their 8-12 months on the road turning into a year and a half. You meet some really great people on the road and then some others that let you down. Will and Rochelle got us spare parts and delivered them to us in Bolivia. They wern't quite a fast as Fed-Ex but the service was free ! Thanks again guys.

I read the other day about using a candle to light a fire if the wood is wet so I gave it a try thanks to Dollarama $1 candles. It works and saves using BBQ lighter fluid which is much more expensive. According to the web the candle flame burns hotter than a match and as it lasts much longer the fire lights faster. Not sure how it would work in a force 9 gale....I also use a couple of BBQ briquettes to help it along. You could carry them in a small bag in your pack if you were camping out. You only need two. Of course a litre of lighter fluid is much better and doesn't really get affected by wind but the mushroom cloud can be seen from space.