Drove from Edmonton, Alberta to Jamestown, North Dakota today. It was long.....going on a thousand miles and over 15 hours with the border crossing and wait at the North Portal near Minot, ND.
Some totals for the trip- we have driven around 8200 miles and are still about a thousand miles from home. 8200 / averaging 17.8 miles to the gallon is approximately 460 gallons of gas so far.
High price for gas in the US has been 6.39 a gallon in St. Marys, Montana (east side of Glacier) and in Canada it was 2.19 per liter in Watson Lake, British Columbia (×3.78 L to gallon). The lowest prices have been today on our way back, 3.99 a gallon in Jamestown, ND and 1.53 a liter outside of Edmonton, Alberta.
Robert has driven a few long stretches and is getting better. My dad at 78, still does pretty well driving a several hour stretch. I drive the most and am the navigator. I try to take harder shifts where driving is more stressful or difficult, like in the mountains, heavy fog, rain, construction or traffic since it is easier for all of us when I do.
The warmest it has been on our travels was today near YellowGrass, Saskatchewan which holds the record as location of Canada's highest temperature- 114 in 1937- only 82 f there today!
On the other end of the thermometer, we visited Snag, Yukon, the site of Canada's coldest recorded temperature, -81f in 1947- it was around 50 degees when we drove through on the Alaskan Highway, about 25km SE of the Alaska border.
It has averaged in the 50-60f degree range with a low of 34f. We definitely did not pack enough warm clothes for this summer vacation and have had to do laundry a few times. Today was the first day I was able to take off my jacket as the day progressed. Many others will remember this as a hot summer, not us! I am not complaining about that at all- I can always put more clothes on, harder to take them off and keep cool- it's good and bad right?!
Almost every time we threw the kayaks in we had jackets or sweatshirts on. I will mention we were kayaking in several glacier lakes so the coolness makes sense!!
We kayaked in Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine in Glacier National Park in Montana, Moon Lake, Lake Valdez, Blueberry Lake, and Robe Lake in Alaska, and Muncho Lake in British Columbia. Other times we (mainly I) wanted to kayak, but faced water that was too rough and unfamiliar for us to navigate. Along with the cold temps, we played it safe as there was no room for errors! It was great to have the kayaks ready and available to go at anytime- so definitely worth bringing them!
We should be able to make it home late tomorrow.
Bittersweet to think the end of our adventure is so near; when you say there are 1000 miles to go it feels like there is so much time left. Kind of like the time I have to spend and enjoy with my guys....... 😢
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