Lots of bears!

Day 18 Monday, July 2. Fort Nelson to Tetsa River. Distance 75 miles. My distance 38 mi. My total distance 1289 mi.

Look at this great shot of a grizzly bear just to the side of the road where Bob and I were climbing today! He turned around to look at us, and I snapped it. This was the first of four bears (the others were black bears) that we saw near the summit of a long climb today.

The day started with me buying a new tire in Ft. Nelson. Bert and Rick did laundry at the campground, and Bert even visited the museum. Then they took off, while I stayed until the RV was ready and then went shopping for some groceries and, most importantly, beer. I caught up with them at the 37-mi lunch stop. It was certainly a great weather day! Bert, the next driver, rode 14 miles and then turned around and went back to get the RV. Here he is after he turned around and was heading back:

Bob, Rick, and I climbed all the way to the summit. Along the way, at Mile 351, you can see that not all roadside establishments can make a go of it along the Alaska Hwy.

We had wonderful views on the way to the summit, and from the top. We saw snow-capped peaks of the Rockies off to the west, and lush valleys below. Here's a picture of Bob arriving at the summit:

On the exciting and fast descent, we did apply the brakes to watch this black bear. Here's Bob taking its picture:

Just a mile farther after we saw this bear, our nice pavement ended for nine miles of bad. It was VERY bumpy and gravely, and I had to slow to about 7 mph. Even then it shook my brains and arms and made my neck sore. It seemed like it would never end. I hated holding the brakes on going downhill to keep my speed real slow. Nine miles of rough gravel seems forever. Finally it ended and we had smooth sailing the final miles to our campground.

The mosquitoes are back. Right now I'm typing this blog on a picnic table near the campground office to get better Internet service than we were getting on the motorhome. I'm wearing long pants, long sleeves, and my mosquito net, and they are buzzing all over me and landing on my only exposed skin - my hands.

This campground is pretty rustic. They generate their electricity with a generator, which they turn off at 9:00; it just turned 9:00 and sure enough, it just shut off and it's finally quiet. So, we will revert to the batteries on the RV for overnight. It's forested and pretty, though, so I shouldn't complain. Rick made a super chili dinner, with a toss salad. Five hungry bikers go through bags and bags of chips and cookies every day too, for snacks. Good night, and I'll continue to hope for Internet service.

NOTE: It is now the next morning. When the generator went off, so did the WIFI so I could not post last night. I missed it by only a few minutes. I had to wait until 7 am to get back on the Internet, so I will post now. It's a beautiful morning. The mosquitoes are still swarming me as I type this. Bert is making pancakes for breakfast as we speak.