{"id":887,"date":"2017-08-01T05:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T05:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/?p=887"},"modified":"2017-08-21T19:59:56","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T19:59:56","slug":"monday-july-31st-bison-bears-and-no-breakdowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/2017\/08\/monday-july-31st-bison-bears-and-no-breakdowns\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday July 31st: Bison, Bears, and (no) Breakdowns"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2017-07-31-hugo\"<\/a>
Happy 84th Birthday today Hugo! (Aug 1)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today we drove from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake, a distrance of 326 miles. Partly overcast as we left the city, we could see some dark clouds on the horizon,\u00a0lingering over the pass we had to climb.<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-fortnelson-watsonlake-map\"<\/a>
We drove from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The group was\u00a0only a few minutes outside of Fort Nelson when David and Ann spotted photographer Monicque Jacobs<\/a><\/strong>, who took pictures at Dalex Auto Service’s event on Sunday evening. That’s when Ann shouted, “Oh crap!”<\/p>\n

“What’s the matter,” David\u00a0asked.<\/p>\n

“I was supposed to let Monicque know when we were leaving the city…..,” … oops!<\/p>\n

Monicque, this is David & Ann’s\u00a0apology to you! Fortunately, Monicque is\u00a0a professional and was ready for the group to\u00a0exit.<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-convoy-wet-driving\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A slight drizzle started, then turned to full rain as they\u00a0climbed up the nearby pass. The speed dropped and road tightened into a snaking mountian road, climbing until they were surrounded by mist.<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-myst\"<\/a>When they\u00a0summited, they\u00a0took a break. Those that had Pacific Northwest Four Wheel Drive Association hoodie-sweatshirts lined up for a photo in the rain.<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-pnw4wd\"
PNW4WDA Hoodie wearers. It was a cold day on the summit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-summit-rob-stafford\"<\/a>
Rob<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2017-07-31-marcelo-luis-dario\"<\/a>
Marcelo, Daro, and Luis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"2017-07-31-jeeps-summit\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the next hour or so the rain fell as the group\u00a0motored along lakes, down ravines, and through countless forests. Unlike Sunday, traffic was much lighter, so Ann and David\u00a0took advantage of that by taking photos and video from the rear, the front, and while passing the convoy.<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-jeep-panorama-river\"<\/a>
Beautiful spot along the Alaska Highway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2017-07-31-team-gruson\"<\/a>
Team Gruson: Luis, Dario, Andreas, Marcelo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2017-07-31-marty\"<\/a>
Marty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2017-07-31-ron\"<\/a>
Ron<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2017-07-31-kevin-tom-emily-bill\"<\/a>
Kevin, Tom, Emily, and Bill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2017-07-31-joe\"<\/a>
Joe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2017-07-31-jim-fernando\"<\/a>
Jim and Fernando<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The convoy’s planned lunch stop for the day was world-famous Laird Hotsprings. Fortunately, the rain subsided by the time they\u00a0arrived. While most of the crew explored the hot springs, Hugo, Fernando and David\u00a0stayed with the vehicles to keep an eye on them. Some men from Alberta, possibly Amish, were looking at the jeeps with interest, so they\u00a0chatted for a while.<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-laird1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, a young couple with a van sporting Utah plates returned from the hot springs. As they backed their van and cargo trailer out of it’s parking spot, David\u00a0opened a conversation with them. The couple, Kevin and Jen, explained that they were from Salt Lake City and were touring North and South America with their van and a trailer with a sauna in the back. The simple reason for the sauna was, well, why not?\u00a0Hearing that, David asked the Vidals to join them\u00a0and provide some\u00a0advice. When finished, David\u00a0had them sign Patterson (which he forgot to photograph) and gave them a couple of t-shirts.<\/p>\n

After a quick lunch, Ann and David got ahead of the crew to take pics of the convoy as it. Someone had mentioned there were Bison with calves on the road 12 miles north of the hot springs. By the time we got there, the only thing on the road were motorcyclers who’d stopped\u00a0ON THE ROAD in the driving lane, next to the Bison. Meanwhile, Ann and David\u00a0parked far\u00a0from the herd, then walked back up\u00a0the opposite side of the road to take photos, giving the bison space. Next, David climbed the hill along the road to get a pic of the bison as the jeeps rounded a corner. Just as he\u00a0heard Bill’s voice on the radio, the cylers mounted and left. So, now the convoy crew had\u00a0the bison and road to themselves. There was even\u00a0great light!<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-bison2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As Murphy’s Law would have it, as soon as David spotted Bill in the distance, some tourist in a 40ft tall double decker (might be and exaggeration, but it was tall) trailer came to a stop\u00a0on the side of the road, right in David’s line of sight.\u00a0He\u00a0had the staging, the light, and the shot … but that was gone in an instant.<\/p>\n

There were several more herds of bison that the group\u00a0passed, all lazily hanging out in the grass on the sides of the road. From the hoof prints on the side of the road, it’s clear the bison used the road as much as humans.<\/p>\n

The remainder of the drive to Watson Lake was uneventful, except for crossing into the Yukon AND seeing one\u00a0bear, then another. David thought he had a photo of the bear somewhere, but\u00a0he couldn’t find it in time for this post.<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-david-ann-yukon\"<\/a>
Ann & David<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a great day of cruising with the group and enjoying each other’s company. All around, it’s a great bunch of folks.<\/p>\n

\"2017-07-31-driving\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tomorrow, the Vidals and Eilers will take off\u00a0early to special luncheon at a resort south of Whitehorse. Then, everyone will congregate for Hugo’s 84th birthday party, which is being thrown by Stephen Reynolds, a local Whitehorse citizen. It should be quite the bash!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we drove from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake, a distrance of 326 miles. Partly overcast as we left the city, we could see some dark clouds on the horizon,\u00a0lingering over the pass we had to climb. The group was\u00a0only a few minutes outside of Fort Nelson when David and Ann spotted photographer Monicque Jacobs,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alaska-or-rust-trip","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":894,"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887\/revisions\/894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deilers.com\/AlaskaOrRust\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}