We were so glad for the good rest and to be on the road at a decent time.
Next stop. Fort Nelson British Columbia.
One of the great things about my car is that we can easily change it to Metric. After the first day we got use to driving over hundred and seeing the speed limit of 110.
As we were making our way through Rockies in BC we stopped at a little village called Pink Mountain for fuel which costed us $7.36 a gallon. UGH! It was -22 F so I stayed in the car while Jed braved the cold. He is so good to me. I was able to take a quick picture of Pink Mountain Village but was surprise to not see Pink... just more white snow. When we come back through here in the fall, Ill see why they call this place Pink Mountain. I can just imagine really pretty pink flowers everywhere! Maybe we will have to come back in the spring!
The weather was fairly decent and the roads varied from snow covered to dry. At least they keep them plowed. One thing I found annoying was the many FROST HEAVES along our journey. I get car sick if I read but these frost heaves weren't making the long drive any easier.
One thing we notice as we went further North, everyone was driving a pickup or SUV. They even had big gas/diesel tanks in the back for their long excursions. We wonder what the natives thought as they passed us in our little white Pontiac without studs :)
We kept praying that we would make it there alright.
One of the few reasons why we made it to Alaska safe and sound! Jed was such a good trooper to drive nearly the entire way. He was always alert and attentive to the traffic, weather, and wildlife that we encountered on our Journey North. I hope I made the ride enjoyable, for all I remembered is I kept telling him to slow down even though he was going 40 during those slick parts around the mountains and complaining about how my back hurt. Not once did he complain about driving, or being tired, or going out in the cold to start the car or gas up. He always made sure that I was warm, safe, and happy.
HE is my HERO!
What a long night.
Temperature was 30 below, so we left the car running all night because we were afraid that it would freeze and Jed got up every 2 hours to check on it. Some vehicles in the hotel parking lot were left running while most were plugged in. We wrestled with the idea most of the evening while conversing through text to our dads to seek wisdom to a foreign concept. Leave the car running.... will that hurt it? .... What would we do if it froze? Is our coolant good for this weather? While all this was happening we found out that our cabin motor stopped working, which meant we had no warm air blowing in the car. So windows started freezing up through the night. Jed was a trooper and tried to find a solution to the problem and would get under the hood in the subzero weather, freeze, and come in to warm up only to be discouraged because we didn't know how to fix this. Meanwhile I stayed in the warm hotel overwhelmed with feelings of despair, regret, and helplessness.
Long night indeed.
A vivid memory that I will never forget and always cherish, one that confirms to me that I dearly love Jed and am so happy to be with him, is this..... I sat in the hotel crying and pleading with the Lord that everything will work out. That we would get the car fix and be able to continue to Alaska. I pleaded for the strength to continue and more importantly I pleaded that Jed would be ok and would be able to bear this burden with ease. I so desperately want him to be comforted about this whole situation and to get some sort of rest this evening. I know how hard he will and can try to make sure that I am completely taken care of but I only wanted him to find rest from all this. Jed came into the hotel room, beaten down and discouraged, on the verge of breaking. We just looked at each other. We didn't know what words to use. Jed takes his shirt off to get ready for bed. Finding that his shirt was extremely static ( which Jed is not a fan of static) and without words or body language hinting his frustration, he simply crumbles the T-shirt up several times to get the static out. And to our dismay, he says, 'So thats how you get rid of static'. I burst out laughing and there was a faint smile on Jed's face. We embraced each other, Jed said, 'Im glad you can find something funny in spite of all this'. And I cried, telling Jed that Im happy to be here with him, even with all that has happened to us.
Morning came only to continue with our distress. We struggled with the idea of going on to Whitehorse with the motor fan not working which would mean us drive in the cold and constantly wiping the windshield so it doesn't frost over. Or the other option would be to pay to get it fixed and another hotel night and then be a day behind.
After going to Al's auto and chatting with him, we decided that it was too late to go on, knowing that our option of getting stranded in the wilderness and not being warmed, we stayed.
Through this experience we have been humbled and grateful. Humbled to where we realized to ALWAYS rely on the Lord and not just in times of need. Humbled to where we have each other and we will get through anything together. Grateful to where we are so lucky to have made it this far with good weather and road conditions. Grateful that the car problems happened in a town where we could seek help. Grateful that the damage wasn't super extreme where we would need to find another means of transportation. And especially grateful for family to always be there to help out and give the constant support and wisdom.
Glad things worked out the way they did. Not a fan of all that snow even though it is pretty. I feel like much more goes wrong with snow than heat.
ReplyDeleteGlad you take these experiences in stride and find ways to learn, that can be hard to do, at least for me.