CJ & Autumn Miller

Friday we drove from Edmonton, Alberta to Dawson Creek, British Columbia. We have been covering so many miles every day that we can't keep up with all the time changes. Every night we look at our hotel alarm clock & change our wrist watches appropriately. My iPhone has been on airplane mode with roaming off ever since we crossed into Canada, so it is no help.

The weather in Edmonton Friday morning was very chilly & cloudy, but no snow, so we were very thankful. We drove south of Slave Lake mid-day & took a look around. It was funny for me to realize it was still mostly frozen, but I better get used to that sort of thing. Lake Clark is just beginning to thaw. As we drove through McLemnon, Alberta we noticed a long pier so we pulled over to check it out. It turned out to be a bird watching walk & Teco was excited. We saw some good looking birds through viewing binoculars & it began to sleet on our walk back.

When we arrived in Dawson Creek we had to shop around for a hotel a bit. The town was bustling with oil roughnecks & most hotels had no dog rooms left. We ended up with a really classy place at Best Western. We had a hearty dinner at Tony Roma's attached to the hotel & decided we were going to be on vacation for the night & enjoy our good fortune. The hotel had a huge indoor water slide & hot tub & for some odd reason CJ & I were the only guests interested. We alternated hot tub & water slide rides & acted like kids comparing splashes. It was more than a great way to spend a Friday night!

Total Driving Time: 9 hours

Thursday we departed Saskatoon in the rain and spent the whole day on Hwy 16. Midway through our drive the rain began to turn to snow! It was already very windy &  it proposed quite the driving challenge, but no worries, CJ is the man. We laughed together in the car about how we loaded up the UHaul in Virginia wearing flip flops & now we are looking for our hats & gloves. We are definitely driving north.

The terrain today gradually turned to rolling hills with beautiful river valleys. More trees appeared on the horizon & we started to feel like we were covering some ground. We saw a herd of buffalo after crossing the Alberta border & CJ thinks he saw a glimpse of an elk in the woods.

We arrived in Edmonton, Alberta today around 3:00 & checked into another Comfort Inn. If we stay twice at a Comfort Inn family hotel before Saturday we get a free night, so I'm all about that. Hotels are expensive in these parts & certainly aren't anything to write home about. While navigating through Edmonton we spotted an outdoors store, so after getting settled into our room we took the Subaru off the trailer & went shopping. The store was huge & awesome - I got a pair of Mountain Khakis for $10 & CJ bought a new hat. My hunger induced crankiness was kicking in so we went in search of food. We had greasy Dairy Queen for lunch (it was either that or A&W), so we needed to compensate. We ventured into Canada Superstore for some health food & brought back carrots, broccoli, yogurt, juice, soy nuts & two cases of Cliff bars. Yummy dinner for us & snacks for tomorrow!

We received news from Alison (my Port Alsworth e-mail informant & soon to be friend) that her & her husband will be moving out of the blue house May 7th/8th weekend which is a whole month earlier than we expected! This may really change our plans, so it is a little scary, but it is great. CJ will now have a place to sleep the nights he flies to work before we officially move in & we will have a place to store our things as they are flown into Port Alsworth. Thank the Lord. We also heard from Dwayne King & made plans to meet him & Caroline at milepost 1 of the Alaska Highway (in Dawson's Creek) Saturday night. If all goes as planned we will finish the rest of the trip with the Kings. They even offered for us to sleep in their motor home at night. What a blessing they are!

Snow is forecast for the morning here in Edmonton. If necessary, we will delay our departure time until the weather is more desirable. Please pray for our safe journey.

Total Driving Time: 7 hours

Wednesday was rather drab. The scenery was the same, the weather was the same & we were getting bored. We traveled through the flat plains of Manitoba to the flat plains of Saskatchewan. The road was so straight you probably could fall asleep at the wheel & still manage... Not that CJ did that! 
We spent the night in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It was funny how crowded a city can get all of the sudden. We went immediately from passing more tractors than cars to being tight in 4 lanes of traffic. It was chilly & misting heavily. We wanted to walk to a restaurant, but we braved the traffic again due to the nasty weather. We did find a nice sushi place for dinner, so that was the highlight of our day.
Total Driving Time: 8 hours

This morning we took Teco on a long walk around the neighborhood & left the Twin Cities around 8:30am. I admit, I slept for a good portion of our first leg until we stopped for a bathroom break. I had a craving for smoothies which landed us in a mall food court in Fargo, ND. I talked to my parents on the phone & they proceeded to tell me about how my great grandpa Schweigert owned 10,000 acres in Fargo as well as the first Ford dealership West of the Mississippi. They lost everything in the Depression & I guess that is why I've never lived in North Dakota.
Mid day today we arrived at Canadian Border Patrol. They asked us a bunch of questions about why we were moving, what was in the UHaul & how many states we have lived in. CJ filled out paperwork on our guns & everything went smoothly. We crossed into Manitoba & have been reading signs in French & English ever since.
Our original plan was to spend the night in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but from the looks of it the place was a hole. The streets were way too tight to maneuver comfortably so we continued West. Tonight we are staying in a Super 8 Hotel in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. We ate dinner at Boston Pizza & bought a iPhone radio transmitter for the truck... we need some good tunes!
We landed near here in the C-182 for Canadian sectional maps last year. We were laughing about our memories of this area today in the truck. We befriended a sick cat at the Brandon airport FBO that had eaten rodent poison & noticed ridiculous amounts of groundhogs scurrying around the runway. There is an overpopulation of groundhogs here, no joke. We've seen tons already & CJ tripped on one of their holes. So, quick summary of Manitoba: Expensive, Flat & Groundhog infested.
Total Driving Time: 8 hours

Today we said our goodbyes to the Millers and continued our trek to Alaska. We left early to provide time for a visit with Jeremiah, Christy's boyfriend, in Wheaton, IL. CJ drove our UHaul contraption to Jeremiah's house & we walked around town with Teco & ate outdoors at a sandwich shop. It was our first time to meet Jeremiah seeing as Christy started dating him in Bulgaria. We enjoyed our time with him very much & gave him an open invitation to visit in AK.
Midway through our trip in Wisconsin we got hit by a large wild turkey. Yes, it flew right into my passenger side window & scared us to death. We thought for sure there would be turkey & dressing all over the bikes & kayak in the back, but there wasn't. It caused no damage, so praise the Lord!
Monday night we stayed at Comfort Inn in Minneapolis, MN. I saw the Twins stadium from afar & was all excited about the Mall of America. CJ wasn't as excited about a giant mall, so we went to Caribou coffee instead. It was probably a better choice considering we are trying to consolidate. Back at the hotel we celebrated the day's end with fancy crackers & fresh Wisconsin apple garlic cheese.
Total Driving Time: 10.5 hours

We have arrived at the Miller's house on the lake & they have graciously allowed us some time for rest & recuperation. Their view of rest is very active & to tell you the truth, many of my muscle groups are pleading for mercy. Jordan (CJ's Marine brother) has been our personal trainer in the mornings. He set up a cross-fit gym in his garage complete with monster tires & climbing rope.  
The weather has been sunny & cool. We tested out our new-to-us tandem kayak & it floats! Plus, it is a great arm workout. We are in search of some paddles to take to AK.
Because of some scheduling complications with Dwayne, we are extending our time in Michigan until Monday. I am great with that. I think we will sift through our stuff in the UHaul again today & try to consolidate even more. Anyone want free stuff?

Saturday CJ & Nate managed to puzzle all our belongings into a 10 ft. UHaul truck & the Subaru. After dinner & some goodbyes we hung our Alaska or Bust sign in the back window of the Subaru & trailered it behind the UHaul. I fell off the trailer that night loading the kayak onto the Subaru & CJ attached the mountain bikes up top as well. We probably look like the Beverly Hillbillies, but we are loaded! We slept on the wood floor in sleeping bags that last night & unplugged the fridge. The house was empty, clean, and echoing. We departed 650 Keezletown Rd. Sunday morning at 4:30am.  CJ backed the truck out of our driveway in the dark & I got a text message from our pregnant friend Christine that said she was praying for us. The baby must have been on her bladder. We wished we hadn't boxed up the coffee maker.
Our route to Michigan was adjusted so we could have lunch with Grandma & Grandpa Sizer in Cincinnati. Aunt Joy, Uncle Kevin, Ashley, her boyfriend Brad & Grant met us there for lunch. It was great to have Grandma's cooking instead of fast food & even greater to catch up with everyone. After lunch we proceeded to Kalamazoo, MI to spend some time at Mike & Pam's house & see Luke & Jordan.
Total Driving Time: 16.5 hours

CJ picked up his rifle in Michigan while we were visiting at Easter. We realize we might have a real need for it in Alaska & accuracy could be an advantage to our health & livelihood. After a day full of packing & cleaning our home we took a break to do some shooting practice with Gabe & Elizabeth at the family dairy farm. It was a beautiful place & a beautiful day for that sort of thing. We brought Teco along & the poor dog literally jumped in my lap the first few times the gun was shot. We'll have to get her used to that. At sundown Gabe treated us to dinner at Ham's & then back to our house to clean the guns. While the boys were doing that Elizabeth made us a sign for the back Subaru window... ALASKA OR BUST! 

Thursday was our last small group before the big move & our friends there made it special. We shared a meal at Rus & Sally's house & discussed the views of the Mennonite Church. We were sent off encouraged & blessed with prayers. On the way home we were so thankful to be a part of this group & for the valuable relationships we have built with them in such a short time.

Papa Mike swung by & picked us up in the Meridian Saturday morning for a quick weekend with the family. Pam hosted an Easter feast at the house Sunday, so we were able to see lots of Mortons & Millers in our short time & explain our crazy move to Alaska.