So the second day I drove to Laird Hot Springs, and on the way between Watson Lake and there, were a herd of buffalo, and one big horn sheep, and our first time of waiting for construction! When we got to Laird we got out walked to the hot springs looked around and walked back. I was not going to take 4 kids in there and then drag them out 30 minutes later screaming at me because they didn't get enough time to swim, and it was raining. The walk was good for the kids as it was about 1/2 a mile round trip and we were not going to pay $5 per person to get in for such a short time. I hope to stop there in March on our way home so that we can enjoy it with the kids and stay the night at the lodge or something. So I drove for a little longer before I had to take a break. Leesha drove for most of the day so I could sleep and Shelisa took care of the kids needs. We made it to Fort Nelson by 3:30 and about 4:30 I took over the driving again so Leesha could get some sleep. We arrived in Fort St. John at 8pm and we stopped and had dinner at the nicest McDonald's I have ever been too. They had lounge chairs with a fire place to sit by, and the kids play area was a jungle fort theme. Next time we go through I will be sure to take pictures. The kids up to this point had been pretty well behaved. There were occasional outbreaks of screaming by the girls over something silly, and Mason had an hour of screaming because he was ready to get out of the car and eat, but overall they were much better than I had anticipated! After dinner Leesha and I loaded up on energy drinks and coffee in preparation for the night driving ahead of us. We left Fort St. John about 9:30pm and I continued driving. We had been through many places where the road construction had been but they were on the finishing stages of the projects. The problem with this was that we usually hit these construction areas at night and there was one thing missing....road lines!!! Canadians I guess do not know about the reflective markers that you put down until the road lines are painted on...but ya, black outside due to clouds and smoke, and black on the road don't make for a good combination! So that was one big obstacle of driving at night, the other was the smoke or rain that was around. In British Columbia they had over 300 fires going and all that smoke was blowing into Alberta, and it was thick which made it hard to see as well. With all the energy drinks I had (2 5 hour energy drinks, an amp energy drink, and coffee) I only made it another 3 hours before I had to switch with Leesha. ( Shelisa was really not feeling well at and so we told her to just sleep so she would feel better....She was such a big help during the day with the kids and I really really appreciated it) Leesha also had the same drinks as I did so she could be alert and able to drive, and I tried to sleep, tried being the key word! Even though I could not keep my eyes open to drive I could not turn my head off to sleep, and so it was very unrestful, and not too much of it. Leesha drove until 4am and was getting sleepy, so I told her to find a place to pull off and we would all just rest for a little while. We sat there for 5 minutes and just stared at each other before we laughed and decided to keep going, because the energy stuff would just not let us sleep. I took over, and found out we were still on Alaska time, so it was actually 6am, and we were 60 miles from Edmonton.
looking out from the boardwalk walking to Laird Hot Springs
Big Horn Sheep
Shelisa is still smiling :)
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