Last week winter arrived. It started last weekend (weekend before this most recent one, 11 days ago - Sunday). I had been admiring the fall colors (and took a picture of them that I need to post) and about an hour later the snow started to fall. The Sunday snow didn't stick. But the stuff that fell later that week did. On Thursday it snowed all day and it stuck and accumulated. I worked late that evening (til 8pm) and it was quite dark when I headed home. The side road by my library was pure ice. I fishtailed some on that road (nothing major, but enough to keep considering if I should be getting snow tires). It was cold, snowy, and dark. And I had my second panic moment since I moved here. It was something along the line of oh my heavens, I moved to Alaska, was that a monumentally stupid thing to do? What was I thinking? It's October 9th and it's snowing, and dark, can I handle this? I was starting to panic, but I took a deep breath, drove myself home, and drank some hot cocoa. I talked myself down. Remember you love Alaska, it's beautiful, you're making good friends, your church is a wonderful group, a family, this library is the best you've ever worked at in terms of staff support, you love it here, this is just a bad day. I was feeling much better my bed time and when I woke up in the morning, I was chipper again.

Since then, for the last week, it has snow almost every day. No huge accumulation, mostly it's been melting, but constantly snow somewhere in sight. Cleaned off my car a few times. I need the clamp covers for my shoes (explanation in dealing with snow in another post). It's pretty and fun. The roads are kinda treacherous since it is that snow/melt/freeze/melt/freeze/snow some more cycle that results in ice and black ice. I went to a thing on Monday morning and there was a car accident. An hour later, same intersection, accident is cleared up and a new one has taken its place. I've seen two other accidents this week. My storytimes have dropped from an average of 76 people (with 4 to 10 turned away, the room only holds 75 by firecode), to 25 to 35 this last week. Apparently they don't want to drive in the snow (come on people, you live in Anchorage!). I expect as winter continues and we get more adjusted to it, the numbers will come back up. People just weren't mentally ready for winter. I know I wasn't. But I am now, mostly. There's still some surprise when I see the snow, a vague sense of unreality, but it's fading.

My microwave got replaced. Actually I am impressed by how well I survived (for almost three weeks) without it. (And yes I realize that isn't that long). As Tim mentioned he does, I used a tea kettle for hot water, primarily for my morning oatmeal and for tea/cocoa. The stove and toaster oven covered everything else nicely. My only complaint is the toaster oven is not as good at all-the-way-through heating without drying out leftovers as a microwave. But all in all, life without a microwave is doable.

When I logged onto my bank's website, the intermediary screen before you get to your account was a letter from the bank president assuring me that in no way, shape or form will my bank fail. That was rather the opposite of reassuring. And a good indicator of the general state of our economy and the fear level of our citizens. I'm also so sick of this election that I'm avoiding watching The Daily Show/Colbert Report just because I can't deal with any more of it. ..lesigh..

There are other things I would like to post about and a ton of pictures to share, but now I will sleep.

7 days, 71:52 hours of driving, 6 states, 5 provinces, temp range -33 to +32

After being in Anchorage for 3.5 days, I can tell you about our final leg of the journey up to here.
Saturday, our last day, began in Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory, Canada. It was really cold as we were up and packing the car. We took a later start to wait a bit on the sun. Little did we know how cold would it be all day long. Packing the car, I came into the hotel room just gasping for breath. Mom asked what was wrong and I had to confess that the air was so cold it was hurting my lungs to breathe it. The temperatures would continue to fall the rest of the day. The lowest we saw was -33 (Fahrenheit), but most of the day we hovered around -23. We were really excited when we drew closer to Anchorage and found temperatures climbing above zero. However the weather was clear - no blowing snow.

The road kept getting rougher and narrower, but it was clear skies and no blowing snow, so we persisted. We learned about frost heaves which cause the road to buckle and be really rough, not to mention have huge bumps that could launch you airborne. They're easy to spot because the highway-taking-care-of-people flag them with sticks and orange ribbon. Mom was pretty scared when we saw a sign that said "leaving 911 service area". I didn't have the heart to tell her that most of the miles we had driven were out of cell phone range or probably didn't have much 911 service to begin with. However there was internet and cable everywhere on the journey (everyone had satellite dishes). Of course we could also go 2 hours without seeing another vehicle.

We crossed the border into the United States at 12:45pm (AK time) on Saturday. While we love international travel, we were so happy to have this symbol that our journey was almost over, we practically cried. Question and Answer with the border guard:
Border Guard: What was the purpose of your visit to Canada?
Me: To drive through to get to Alaska.
BG: Did you buy anything other than fuel for the vehicle while in Canada?
Me: thinking: He probably means things we would carry over with us, not things we consumed there like food or lodging. Well the only thing I'm carrying over is one (small individual) bottle of diet pepsi that I'm halfway through drinking, I don't think that counts... No.
BG: Are you bringing any animals with you?
Me: Just one pet cat.
BG: Does the cat have all its shots?
Me: Yes, do you need to see the health certificate?
BG: No, if you have it, that's fine.
Me: thinking: Why the hell did I waste an hour at the vets and $44 to get the certificate if no one is going to ask to see it, but just take my word?

But they let us back in the US after a few more questions and looking at my vehicle's title and bill of sale (since I'd lost the temporary tag).

The last stretch was just beautiful. And we suspect the part coming into Anchorage was beautiful, but we couldn't see it due to darkness (night). The road would wind between sheer mountain cliffs and around others. Just incredible. At one point Mom yelled MOOSE!. (At least we got her to stop just yelling - ANIMAL!) The road had no shoulder, so the trees were maybe 8 feet from the road, and the moose was perhaps four feet from the cars. I veered slightly to the center (going down a hill, around a curve, on a slick road, stopping was not a good option) in case Ms. Moose decided to go for a walk, but she patiently stood on the side of the road and watched us drive by.

I'm in Anchorage. I dropped the cat off at a vet's to be boarded since the hotel is not cat-friendly and it is easier to move in without her underfoot. I have a new place to live. I'll have to write more about all that, and upload more pictures later on. I started a little move in last night, but not much and spent the night at the hotel. Today is move in more day, get Alaska drivers license day (required before starting work), so on and so forth. Mom leaves tonight. I'll be at my new place - not sure yet about internet, but I can always take myself to the library with free wireless.

Thank you all for your prayers and support during this trip. We know God was guiding us or we could never have made it safely. The scenery was an amazing reminder of His glory and power. At one point Mom and I were so overwhelmed by the beauty that all we could do is sing one of my favorite hymns: This is my Father's World and so I leave you (for now) with those lyrics as they just sum up what I saw on this trip.

This is my Father's world
And to my listening ears
All nature sings and round me rings
The beauty of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

Mom and I arrived safely in Anchorage last night (Saturday). I was far too tired to post yesterday. We took it easy this morning followed by some looking around town, stores, and apartments today. I'll post about the whole adventure very soon I hope.

Or at least I'm out of clever title entries for the journal. We drove about 437 miles today. There are so many things that make driving hard. The road looks fine on a map, but it is fairly windy around mountains. There has been constant snow, packed snow on the highway, blowing snow, it's just amazing. We've been in whiteout with little visibility. And horrible blowing winds. The last 20 miles I was only doing 20-30mph and fighting for every inch of road. We were driving around this lake called Kluane Lake. It was just awful, incredibly awful. The truckers we talked to over dinner (and road repair guys) said that we're allowed to drive anywhere so long as we stay on the road. We sort of stay in the middle only getting over when passing another car or truck (about once or twice an hour). Just pick your favorite rut, tire track, or vaguely clear patch, and go. The yellow line in the middle is merely a suggestion, just stay in between the two outside white lines. We simply couldn't drive any farther tonight. We're also hampered by the lack of sunrise. We've been trying to get up early and get going, but it isn't even worth it with no sun until 9:30am.

I put up pictures here on my photobucket. I'll try to put up a full view of them and some explanation later. It's beautiful, but repetitive beauty.

Jane Austen cat has learned how to open up her carrier. She let herself out while we were paying for the hotel. Mom had to jump in the car quickly to catch her so she wouldn't jump out of the car (into the two feet of drifted snow - that would've been a shock). Mainly we open her carrier and she crawls a bit to see how things have shifted (the overnight bags we take in get repacked slightly differently every day), and then she settles in her carrier, or in this little nook by purses and bags she has found. From her nook she can sleep, see out the windshield, it's high perched up and snuggled between some bags. I've been leaving the nook free for her and she seems very content. She's getting used to this routine of travelling. Sometimes I wish I were doing as well. I'm tired, stressed, and sore. It's okay, but not an ideal situation. Thank heaven for Aleve. Mom and I have gotten better about switching drivers more often rather than just at lunch and each taking a half day. It's easier to do your half day in shorter shifts. Whoever isn't driving either crochets, or takes photos, or naps, or reads the Milepost about coming road conditions (curves, steep grades, bridges, etc).

We're stopped in Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory, Canada. The hotel has internet (again - we've had amazing luck with the internet), rooms, and a restaurant that makes a pretty good monte cristo sandwich. The farther north we get, the more pronounced the accents. We try very hard not to chuckle when they say "eh" or call us "luv" or any of those things. And they try very hard not to chuckle when we say "y'all" or mispronounce every name of every town.

The scenery (when we could see it) has been beautiful, but far too often we are only seeing white fog. We are now up to four moose spotted. They remain hard to photograph though. Seen lots of bison - though less today. Mom and I don't even think we have seen a moose in the zoo. However the scenery is repetitively beautiful. Overall we drove 437 miles today and have 543 miles or so left before Anchorage. But the roads and weather are so bad, we're not sure we can make it. But we really really really really really really really really want to.

We have seen only one person who was not white (he was Black) in all of Canada. (With the exception of the members of the First Nations - Native Americans). I pointed this out to mom when she wanted to order Quesedillas about 2000 miles from Mexico.

My car is so dirty and snow covered you can not even tell there is no tag on it. Before I picked up the Jeep they had installed an Engine Block Heater in it. The last couple of nights there have been plug ins at every hotel room. I raise the hood, get the plug in, get my extension cord (which I was smart enough to make a special trip to Target to purchase before I left Kansas) and plug in the car. It keeps the oil from freezing, makes it easier to start your car in the morning. I've yet to have trouble starting my car, but this is easier on the car (and as a fun by product severely reduces your carbon emissions because you idle the car for less time and it warms up faster). Actually we've been going down mountains so much today that our gas mileage has been the best of the trip.

To keep me going those last 25 miles, we started playing the abc memory game. You know the one from when you're a kid, I'm going camping and I'm taking... you say that then an item starting with an a, the next person says what you said and adds on an item with the 'b'. The point is to get to the end of the alphabet without forgetting anything. Here is our version:
( I'm going to Alaska and I'm taking... )

We're in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada. Google that. It's really really really far north. The pretty part of the world continues, unfortunately most of it is often hidden behind a snow cloud. We didn't drive as far today - only 319 miles. The problem is that there really isn't anywhere else to stay for the next 300 miles and 300 miles was too much farther for us to go today. Lots of places are closed, but those that are open have wireless internet! We finally saw wild animals today. There were deer grazing by the river. And then bison, lots of bison. Wild bison roaming free, grazing by the side of the road. The first group we saw really excited us and then we saw so many more we were rather numb to them. And then right at dusk, we saw a moose! Sadly by the time mom got the camera, the moose was but a blur.

Driving continues to be a struggle. The road was snowy today and snow continued to fall all day. Mom has a lot of fears about driving, particularly in something that even slightly resembles mountainous. Her fears are phobic - to the point of hysteria. So we drive slowly. Top speeds today were 52mph, but we average between 30-40mph most of the time. It can be a bit frustrating because even when I drive I slow down for her. I'm worried about how long it will take for us to drive the rest of the way. I would like to get to Beaver Creek, YT, Canada tomorrow and then to Anchorage the next day, but I am not sure that will happen. There is no one else on the road except my mother and I and the big rig truckers. A lot of the hotels and gas stations we've passed have been closed, but there has been enough open for us to get service. Though the first place we stopped for lunch was closed and we had to drive another 40 minutes for lunch. But I got a buffalo burger.

Jane Austen is funny and growls when she hears people out in the hallway. Mostly she has been doing okay. She likes being in her carrier - it is a "safe place". Mom and I have been doing okay as well. The most testy and crabby we got was yesterday when we drove for too long. I've been frustrated with her fears and slow driving though I try to understand and she is working on her trust issues with my driving (I'm a really good driver) and the weather. My entire body is cramped up, especially my back and my neck, from the driving and being in the car. I'm just so sore.

I lost my car tag. I had a 30 day tag on it and I went through a lot to make sure that it wouldn't expire until I had a chance to get it tagged in Anchorage. I kept saying I didn't want to get stuck in Canada with an expired tag. Well since it was a temporary tag it was that thick cardboard stuff. It must have fallen off. I was worried about that, and considered pulling it off and taping it to the inside of the back window, but the back window is so black that wouldn't work. If it fell off when I was still in the plains that would explain the comments the border agent made. I'm really stressed about not having the tag. I am terrified that they will give me a lot of trouble at the border getting back into the US. I have all the paperwork for it, including the tag stuff.

Just a lot of things to pray about, the weather, travel conditions, road conditions, my ability to be patient with my mother, my lack of an apartment, my cat's health. We keep saying "the Lord protects ships, children, and fools" and thus he is watching over us.

We're still in Canada, but we're making really great progress. We're in Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. We've now been in four Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia) - only one left to go! Yesterday was the longest hardest day so far, though it wasn't the most miles. We drove 652 miles, but a lot of that was in blowing snow, curvy roads, steeply graded roads, and after dark. We were really tired and sleepy. Really crabby. Mom and I have been doing well traveling together, but last night was the most crabby we'd been and we were about ready to kill each other.

Here we are far enough north that even though we are driving straight West, the sun is very far to the south. It's interesting how it just stays at our left hand all day long. The weather got up to 32 F and it felt so balmy we were running around in just our sweatshirts and jeans. We're so far north the Canadian weather channel doesn't cover it.

In Edmonton as we left yesterday morning, we saw our first highway sign that said "Alaska" and we turned to follow that highway. We almost cheered. Last night, right before we got to Fort Nelson, the Garmin Nuvi GPS gave us our first estimated time of arrival. That GPS unit (which is one of the best things we could have brought along) only gives you a time of arrival if you're within 24 hours (driving time) of your destination. We hadn't seen the time before that and we did a little cheer. When we went through Dawson Creek (which yes made me laugh) it was the official start of the Alaskan Highway. They have a monument to mark "mile 0" - along the highway they use their mile marker as an address - and we stopped and took my picture by the marker. The marker is in the middle of the intersections and I rather suspect that the Canadians were laughing at me. Oh well. I always like taking the goofy tourist picture because who knows when/if I'll be back there, and who cares what random strangers whom I will never see again think about me.

It was really exciting to get on the Alaskan highway. We're over halfway by a good bit and will hopefully be there on Saturday. It's hard to be in the car for so long, my back and neck are just sort of permanently cramped up. However yesterday we finally left the plains (which are nice but rather repetitive) and hit the "pretty". We got some great pictures, especially descending into the Peace River Valley (a 10% grade - the worst on the highway, Mom handled it better than I thought she would given her phobia about mountain roads). We're too tired to upload pictures now, they may all get uploaded in a batch in Anchorage.

We've seen lots of sign for Moose (and deer and caribou) but no actual moose. We did however see a giant fiberglass beaver and a giant lumberjack figure. Thank heavens for The Milepost which alerts us to all these things. (That book is also one of the most amazingly useful things we have, well worth twice what I paid for it.) We got pictures of all of it. We'd like to see some moose along the side of the road, standing still, and patiently letting us take pictures of them (which we will do from the car).

Jane Austen the Cat continues to travel very well. She wanders a bit around, but mainly just looks at the window and sleep. Yesterday morning she found a perch high up in the car on some stuff and happily sat up there for a while. She doesn't eat much, but does seem to eat and drink some every night. As I type this, she just threw up. Fortunately we're in the "pet friendly hotel" that put us in the room with tile floor and it was easy to clean up. I'll give her some anti-nausea pills (she's done this before) before we leave.

Hopefully we'll make it to White Horse tonight, but we don't know that we'll have internet. I'll update when I can. My cell phone is off (and has been for all of Canada), but I can turn it on in case of emergency.

Still no apartment in Anchorage, but I have faith that God will not leave me homeless in Alaska.

Our journey across Canada continues. Last night we stopped in Edmonton, Canada. We drove about 712 miles yesterday - that's a lot of kilometers. On one hand kilometers go by so fast that you feel like you're really moving. On the other hand, everything seems farther away in kilometers. And colder in celsius. And more expensive when buying gas in liters. I put fifty-five liters of gasoline in! Silly metric system. Our speed limit got up to 110 km/hr. That's a eensy bit better. Most of the morning we were in this blowing snow and white out conditions which made driving a bit nerve wracking. About noon it all cleared up and we had perfect driving conditions. Mostly we've seen just plains though we did see one or two pretty places. We think we enter the mountains and the pretty today. Maybe we'll try to get pictures uploaded, though it may not happen until saturday or sunday when we get to Anchorage. We've been pretty tired every night.

Yesterday we stopped at a Tim Horton's for mid morning coffee and pastry. All the Canadians I've known and other northerners (I'm looking at you talesofthecity) always rave about it and so I wanted to try it. It was yummy. That was our "Canadian Cultural Experience". Everyone has fun accents and I rather imagine they're amused by us (or bemused it is hard to tell from their faces but they're definitely some type of mused). We've also learned about Canada a few other fun facts. No one in this country takes the Discover Card. We wanted to use our Discover cards because it has no foreign currency transaction fee. Well that's because no one has ever heard of it and you can't use it. Also, Canadian ketchup tastes funny (even regular ole Heinz), perhaps it is a bit sweeter. The blowing snow makes snow devils instead of the dust devils we're used to in Kansas and Oklahoma. And when you're traveling, everyone is very polite and pretends to know where Kansas is.

Well gang, we're in Canada. People keep laughing when they ask where we're going and we say "anchorage". And they sort of ask why I would move to Anchorage in January. I am beginning to wonder that too. The weather has been relatively balmy in Anchorage (30 F) while very cold on the plains that we drove across. We drove today from Sioux Falls, SD to Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. It's a decent sized city, about 32,000 people, hotels with internet access. The temperature was very cold when we started (5 F) and dropped all day. At one point we got to NEGATIVE 3 to NEGATIVE 7 and stayed there for hours. It actually got warmer when we got into Canada. By the time we stopped for the day we were UP to 9 F. It was above zero, we'll take it. We heard one forecast for -34 and almost flipped, until we realized it is metric. Today has been a lot of converting in our heads.

Getting into Canada was interesting. The guy was interested in why I didn't have tags on my car (because I just bought it and don't plan to register it until I reach my new residence in Alaska). He didn't ask to see the health certificate for the cat. When he asked about weapons, he mentioned pepper spray and I said I had a can on my keychain (Dad gave it to me). They made me surrender the pepperspray before they let me in the country. Oh well, not a big deal. I got in and that was exciting. Manitoba looks just like North Dakota which looks just like South Dakota which looks just like Iowa. It is flat, farms, and packed or blowing snow. The dirt is really black in the Dakotas and that is your only difference. We drove past DeSmet, South Dakota (home of Laura Ingalls Wilder where many of the books are based). I had thought about stopping, but we really couldn't spare the time. Some other trip.

We made it about 650 miles today. We didn't get a very early start (something we plan to rectify tomorrow) and we got really slowed down when we hit Canada. Mom and I almost croaked when we saw our first Canadian speed limit sign and it was 100 km/hr. I glanced down at my spedometer at the little numbers that are km instead of miles and realized that is around 60-65 km/hr. That is 15-20 less miles per hour than we had been getting. It is sooooo frustrating because the road is straight, well paved, two lane divided, clear, and straight as an arrow. I could easily do 80 mph on it. Grrr! This may make my trip longer.

Jane Austen the Cat is doing well. In the mornings we let her out, she "explores the car" and then crawls into my lap to cuddle for a few minutes. Soon she is back in her carrier. Her carrier is propped up so she can see out the window and we'll leave the flap open so she can crawl out. She will poke her head out every so often, once maybe twice she'll climb out, but she always goes back to her carrier and just sits in it and watches out the window. When she is in my lap, she makes the truckers laugh. Mostly she just loves to watch out the window (same as at home) or sleep.

Bed now. Updates when I can. Photos when the scenery gets more interesting.

Packing was awful. I should have allowed myself more time because things kept coming up (like vet appointments, family in town, and taking the jeep to the dealer for service). However on Saturday (yesterday) my entire family (including the aforementioned visiting family) came over and helped me pack as did a friend or two. They are all angels. We ended up renting a truck for use in town to move the furniture. The truck was unloaded (rather quickly actually) this morning. Mom and I did last minute stuff with the jeep and then we hit the road by 1pm. We hit some nasty weather in Iowa and South Dakota. Blowing snow, but I was able to draft behind a semi for many miles and did okay. My jeep is unbelievably full and the cover of the car top carrier is starting to slip, so we need to look at that in the morning. We stopped to watch the finale of the Amazing Race (which was actually set in Alaska - very cool) and escape the weather. Not to mention our bodies are just exhausted. I've been so stressed I've barely been sleeping. Last night my dad wandered past the bedroom in my parents house I was sleeping in and noticed that I'd kicked the covers away and looked cold. So he went in to cover me up (he's a very good father). I'd been sleeping restlessly and I woke up (I kinda remember this) and started babbling about was I running late, give me just a sec, I'd get up, could I get anything, I'm sorry, is it time to go... I guess I woke up and did that for my mom later when she got up to go to the bathroom and I heard her. I was a little stressed (that's sarcasm).

The point is, I'm on the way. I'm 400 miles down the road (not bad for a half day) and I'm on my way. Tomorrow we enter Canada and I'm not sure about finding internet ready hotels. Probably will but we'll see. I'll update as I get a chance.

Alaska... Here I come!