We drove the 255 miles today to Laird Hot Springs through some more forests and then some breathtaking mountains. The day was filled with wildlife. First a moose and her calf, then a Canadian Lynx, then some Big Horn sheep and their kids, and a herd of buffalo and their calves, and two bears wrestling along the road, and finally some cute squirrels. The 5 hour drive was beautiful.
Laird Hot Springs campground was full and we had the option to pay for a spot in the overflow lot. Nope, just paid to use the hot springs, then used their picnic area to bbq some chops and potatoes for dinner. We used iOverlander to find a spot, but the past few days the trees and lack of cell service hindered calls, etc. So we found a top of the mountain spot with amazing views.
We left Oscar at the vet to be cremated and will be back to pick his ashes on the way back down. We had planned two nights in Grande Prairie but after saying goodbye, we fueled up, filled the fridge, and headed to Dawson Creek to Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway to start the next section fresh.
We took the tourist pictures, walked the pups around downtown, and then visited the museum. We found a nice R.V. park just outside of town and got the planned laundry done and headed to bed early. Neither of us had much sleep last night.
The night was rainy and windy but Howie was quiet and warm. We headed out first thing in the morning up the Alaskan Highway. The highway to Fairbanks is 1525 miles. The route we are taking is 1200 miles to Dawson City. So it’s not a quick run, considering the top speed is 100KPH (62mph). We are doing 200-300 mile chunks. Today we headed to hit Prophet River Wayside Park, about 225 miles.
There is a whole lot of forest on this highway as well as some recent forest fires. One from last year was massive and took out an entire valley for 30 miles. Pretty sad.
We arrived around 4 and made camp. There was a family from Mexico camping there with a YouTube link so I looked them up. They were live broadcasting. At the time so I sent them a note we were camped next to them and would say hello. David and Ixchel are Mi Casita Nomada and they have been traveling since 2023. I talked to them for about 20 minutes and we wished them well. We may run in to them again.
Some other campers at this site were dressed up in some strange outfits and hanging from a board between trees, so I had to ask. The group were training for skydiving and extricating themselves from trees. They were getting on a plane in the morning and skydiving into a remote river location and then rafting down the river.
We later took the pups for a walk and relaxed for the evening. I found some raspberries and wild strawberries near the Prophet River. We miss Oscar and both went to sleep around 9 and slept a full 11 hours. Tomorrow is Liard Hot Springs.
This is a sad post to write. This morning, July 8, 2025 at 11:18 AM local time Kathy, Maggie, Zuzu and I bid farewell to our travel buddy, Oscar.
Oscar was born in November of 2011 in Queen Creek, AZ and I picked him up at the end of December to his new home. Oscar and I bonded immediately and he hung out in my FJ while I was at work. Oscar’s trademark was riding on the dash of the FJ, a love for him that started when he was a pup just to keep him from crawling under the seats.
Oscar grew fast and soon moved to Colorado with me and my former spouse and spent the next 7 years traveling on my dash throughout the Rocky Mountains and Midwest. He never disliked the cold up there and enjoyed the streams and forests as well. He always loved riding, road-tripping, camping, or just a quick trip to the store (on the dash, of course).
In 2019 he moved with us back to Arizona and set up shop in Mesa. He loved walks, burying bones in the sand, and just hanging out with his people (really anyone). He moved again in 2022 to Coolidge after my spouse and I divorced and quickly enjoyed the construction area that eventually became his back yard.
The past several years he transformed into a lovable old man that enjoyed meeting everyone, being in spaces with people, going on morning and evening walks, endless treats at the grandparents house, and always wanting up on the FJ dash on trips to the store.
Oscar set out on this PanAmerican Highway trip with us on June 2 and was having a great time at every stop, meeting people, exploring the more than 25 parks, and of course the smells, always bopping along. After enjoying a couple of great nights in Jasper NP where he curled up next to us at the fire, wandered the campground, we headed toward Grande Prarie, Alberta, Canada. Oscar’s last stop.
We arrived in Grande Prairie around 7pm and let the pups out for their bathroom break and Oscar had some blood in his stool. We were concerned, but back in the room he ate and drank normally. But he declined a walk. The night was a long one for him. In the morning we took him to a vet who drew blood samples, gave him an IV, and we found out his body was shutting down. The vet was incredible with him He passed just before lunch. He was 13 years 9 months and lived a great life
We spent two nights at Willcox campground. The second day we visited the Alabaster Glacier and the very busy visitors center. We enjoyed two nights of campfires, hanging out, walking the dogs, and just being in the forest.
On the 7th we checked out and did a long day of driving into Jasper and then on to Grande Prairie. Along the way we got to see some great waterfalls, an Elk merging through traffic, a herd of mountain goats, and a moose. We stopped in Hinton to fuel up, feed the pups, and have lunch, and then we took the scenic drive north.
We had planned to stay two nights in a hotel in Grand Prairie to be able to clean up and get some laundry done. So far the trip has been great, but Grande Prairie would be a place we’ll always sadly remember.
WE woke up to the rushing sounds of the Elbow River along our campsite. The dogs got a walk down the pathway and we had a nice French toast and eggs breakfast. Today we headed towards Banff, and stopped for about 4 hours, walked the dogs, did some window shopping, and had lunch there.
The town of Banff is absolutely gorgeous, if anyone has ever been there, it’s kind of like a cross between Aspen, Colorado, and a beautiful Bavarian village. There are tons of stores along the main street, and the buildings are just gorgeous. At the end of the road there is an administrative building and gardens and we took a nice stroll around there. They were beautiful pavilions made with knotty wood poles as well as others constructed with local stones. They had planted most of the flowers, but we’re still working on some of the beds. It was absolutely gorgeous.
We had lunch at a little pizza restaurant where they advertised something special about a 72 hour dough. We ordered an appetizer and a pizza, and it turned out one was a small pizza, and the other one was a large pizza. The pizzas aren’t cut, but they serve the pizza with a set of scissors so you can cut it yourself. The large pizza was a combination of a local sausage, potatoes, and a local mozzarella. It had a pesto sauce and olive oil rather than a red sauce, which was absolutely delicious. The smaller was a local cheese and pesto.
Somehow, on a busy Saturday, we had managed to get a good parking spot that allowed us three hours of free parking. We headed back after lunch to let the dogs out and walk again. They were treated with some leftover pizza crust. They also approved.
We continued on towards Jasper, and traveled the Icefield Highway. The views in this glacier valley were absolutely gorgeous. We stopped a couple of times to take photos, investigate some waterfalls, and found this really cool stream that was fresh from the glacier and was milky white from the dissolved solids. A little further down the road there was a bear walking along the road, so we stopped, took some photos and videos. Sean was looking to camp down the road from the bear, but we decided to go another hour and ended up at a campground called Wilcox Campground. They were plenty of sites available, free wood, and amazing views. We sat out by the fire for the evening and just as we closed everything up to go to bed it started raining. Perfect! We are going to do another day here.
I got up this morning in order to hike the shoreline Trail that will get you to the US/Canada border. I was planning to get up at six, but managed to get going around 7:15. It turns out it’s 5 miles from the campground, so I got back right at the time we’re supposed to check out out of the campground. It was a beautiful hike, though, with the first portion being through the forest fire section from 2017, and the second portion through the native fur forest. All along the way, the flora on the fourth floor was waist high.
I was a bit sore after the 10 mile hike, but Kathy had the camper packed up and all we have to do is get ready to go. We filled up water and then stopped at the Prince of Wales Hotel at the top of the hill. It’s a very beautiful building, built like a Swiss chalet. We stayed in the campground though. Howie is very comfortable.
We only did 170 miles today. We are just west of Calgary camped on an Indian reservation, the Tsuu T’ina Nation, along the Elbow river. Apparently some folks in the tribe are trying to build a business. The place is a bit sketchy, we hope there are no bears because the trash cans are 55 gallon drums. Again, go Howie. Zuzu does like it here as it’s not a typical campground. It’s more like a forest road with picnic tables and trash cans along the way. But she is able to get out and run. The nearest camper to us is a couple hundred yards away. A little further down the road there are three teepees set up. I wanna go down there and take a look, but there’s a bunch of dogs barking so I think someone actually lives there.
Tomorrow we will be heading into Banff national Park in Canada. Banff and Jasper are right together so we’re gonna go through both of those and take in the sites. We will check and see if we can get a campground although everything online seems to be booked. Of course Waterton Lakes was also booked and I drove up to the window and he said yes we have a site, so hoping it’ll be that way tomorrow. The Canadians have made it illegal to sleep in your car outside of the campgrounds and in the towns, so you kind of risk it if you pull off on the road somewhere. So much for the frontier
Kathy and I are having a really good time seeing this beautiful land. We’re gonna be working our way up to Dawson Creek and Watson Lake, which is where the alaskan Highway starts. It’ll probably be four or five days before we get there.
This is the picture of the campground on Indian reservation.
First, we want to wish my parents a happy 57th anniversary.
Today we crossed into Canada. It was a fairly quick crossing at the border. We show our passports, show the dogs vaccinations, and a nice gentleman inquired where we were going we said Alaska, Canada in the next couple months he said have a nice trip.
From glacier national Park, Waterton national Park is about an hour and 20 minutes away. It was a very quick drive, and we stopped first at the campground, and managed to get a spot for the night. Amazingly, it was only C$27 for an electric hook up site. After the conversion, it’s about $20. The food and drinks here, however, make up the difference.
Kathy and I did schedule a boat ride to the US port of entry in the very northern portion of glacier national Park. It’s a beautiful hour boat ride out there when we get to see the international order, and hopefully sponsor wildlife. There was a stamp station up there, so Kathy got another glacier national Park stamp at the Goat Haunt visitor’s center.
We I’m not decided we’re gonna stay here another day, but I’m planning on doing a hike in the morning when I get up, hoping to make the US border.
Today we like to do a shout out for Sean’s parents. Happy 57th anniversary.
Today was only a couple hours of driving. I managed to get the same campsite reserved for two nights at glacier national Park, in the St. Mary’s campground, on the east side. It turns out we were in the handicap spot because if you don’t reserve the handicap spot ahead of time, they open them up each day and if nothing else is available, you’re allowed to reserve them. We got to the campground around 12:30, dismounted Howie, and just kind of lounged around for the afternoon. It kind of surprises me the campgrounds are full because they were probably 10% of the spots that still were open by the time I took the dogs for a walk about 8 PM.
The next morning we got up and since we were on the east side, we were able to drive the going to the sun Road and down the other side into Epcot campground in glacier national Park. Such a beautiful drive, although a bit scary from time to time. There was a warning about campers and RVs on the road because of the low overhangs.
We had another lazy afternoon, which actually got a little bit warm, in the low 80s. A storm blew in with a bit of lightning, and sprinkled a little on us, but most importantly, cooled everything off. So far, Howie is doing great, and the electrical is working fabulously.
Tomorrow we get Howie back on the truck and head to Canada.
We got moving from camp and headed towards a town called Anaconda where Ram had indicated a dealer could change that pesky fuel filter. Dee’s Ram service was awesome. They said they could change it in 30 minutes, and we proceeded to remove Howie in their parking lot from the Ram. They said it might be after lunch since it was now 11:30, so Kathy and I took the dogs to the park a block away. The dogs were enjoying the park, Maggie rolling in the grass, Oscar snoozing in the shade, and Zuzu smelling the smells and testing how far she could go before Kathy called her back. Dee’s called at 12:38 and said it was done. Holy cow.
We loaded Howie back on, a procedure we have gotten down to 15-25 minutes by now, and we grabbed McDonalds for lunch before heading north. The day would head us toward Glacier National Park, although I couldn’t get camping reservations for the night.
We stopped in Helena for groceries and supplies and dropped some stuff we don’t need at goodwill. A couple of hours later we found a nice camp for $10 with water and dump in a city called Choteau (Show-tow).
The past several days have put us over budget with the tuck maintenance, groceries, supplies, and fuel. We ended the month $467 over budget. But looking at it, $400 was due to vehicle maintenance and service, which we shouldn’t have for another 10k miles. So we have done well.
Tomorrow we have to get propane, dump the black water, and then head to Glacier. We have a reservation for one night but I’m going to try the first come first serve campground when we get there to see if we can get a site tow two-three nights. Then it will be crossing into Canada and sending a couple of days at Waterton National Park.
No pictures today except of the campsite. And I’m now caught back up with the travel blog.
We sadly had to leave Jake and Monique’s place and head east to visit another spot in Kathy’s National Park book. It was a two hour drive through Missoula and towards Butte to a town called Deer Lodge. We made it at about 2:30 pm and were lucky enough to catch the 3 pm tour.
We were blown away at this national historical site. It is so well preserved and is still an actual working cattle ranch, one of two in the National Park System. If you are in the area, stop by this place. It is incredible. Instead of going into details, here’s a link to the history. https://www.nps.gov/grko/index.htm
The tour of the home is amazing and the guide was so informative of the history and characters. After the guided tour we walked the grounds, buildings, and exhibits until closing time. We could have spent the day here.
We headed a few miles south to a wild camp area and set up for the night near a rushing stream.
