Day 5 Friday 12/08/2017.

I am ashamed to say that I forgot what happened yesterday afternoon 76 years ago.  While I was picking my way through the Canadian Rockies yesterday, 3000 of our brothers in arms died 76 years ago. Yep. Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. “A day that will live in infamy” except that it is largely ignored these days.  Like we remember the Twin Towers, our parents, grandparent and great grandparents remember where they were on that day.  Instead of nuking Iran, iraq and Afghanistan, the Progressive buffoon, George Bush, decided to engage in a land war that killed more Americans than the destruction of the Twin Towers.  3 nukes and there would be no Taliban, al Queda or anyone else that would ever do that again.  Instead we’re bogged down in a war of attrition as bad or worse than Vietnam in many ways. I was a peripheral participant in that stupidity as I was in the Navy.   Like Vietnam we never brought the full force of the American military to bear.  Anyway, all of you need to thank your lucky stars that there were real men back in 1941-1946 instead of these whiny, pantywaist millennials.
Left the Liard River Lodge at about 6:30 AM and finished my trek across the Canadian Rockies, mostly in the dark.  Because I don’t see well in the dark I crept along at 35-40 mph until daylight at about 9:00.  My only complaint about getting old is that my eyesight is so damn bad.
The food at the Liard RL was very good and the rooms were very modern and clean. They, however, weren’t cheap.  The potato salad was far better than mine. The mushroom soup was a little different.  They left the woody stems on and they weren’t cooked tender. The soup was tasty but the stems had to be spit out.  I ate everything but the stems.
Went out to start the truck and put some of my gear back into the truck at 6:00. AM.       The temp was 9 degrees. After gathering up the dogs and the balance of our possessions we left for Watson Creek. The oddest thing all day was the varying temperature.  At one place it was zero and 30 minutes later down the road it was 45.  The highest temp all day was 49.  It kept fluctuating like that all day.  It was one of the top ten weirdest things I have ever seen.  When I arrived, after dark in Dawson Creek, it was 42 degrees.  The young lady who checked me in at the RV park cautioned me to be careful because a lot of the snow had melted over the last several days and was now 2 inches of ice on the walkways.  I walked across it to get to the office.  I guess people assume that gray hair means STUPID.
Sleeping on a mattress in the cargo trailer has not been a problem at all except when the little propane heater failed and the dog water became ice.  I got a new propane heater and the three of us are snug as a bug in a rug.  Right now both dogs have been fed, walked and are sound asleep.  I’m about to get my second shower in as many days.
This trek across Canada with only Suzy and Gandy as companions has been very nice so far. Of course, we’ve had some minor difficulties.  Mostly things
have gone smoothly except that it keeps getting dark before I get to my daily goal/destination.
More than one person has remarked that I must be a fool to drive the 4600 miles from Homer, Alaska to Live Oak, Florida by myself. They, apparently, do not recognize the fact that God takes care of fools and children.  I’m in good hands and I don’t mean Allstate.
Before Connie became ill we did things.  After she became ill we did almost nothing except go out to eat and then even that became impossible.  An active mind and body needs some adrenaline input and for nearly ten years I had little or none. I loved my wife and during that almost ten years I was rarely more than twenty minutes away and in the last two years I was by her side or in the next room. The move to Alaska and this solo return trip are cathartic.  Driving on the ice at 60 mph satisfies my need for a little bit of danger. Just knowing that one stupid move might bring death is both scary and exciting.  Not many people my age get to do anything more exciting than go to the mailbox.  I have been blessed with good genetic material. I kicked a 40 somethings ass twice at arm wrestling at the Thanksgiving dinner Summer and I attended.  I’m really strong but then again odor isn’t everything.
Because the RV park I’m camped at tonight is not close to anything my dinner consisted of Fritos, Nacho cheese and roast beef sandwich slices as I had no bread. I got enough to eat.
Tomorrow I intend to be in Edmonton as the truck needs to be serviced and I’ll be getting a late start.