Fort Smith British Columbia to Hay River British Columbia 177 miles
We ate oatmeal we brought with us for breakfast along with tea and coffee. Rob loaded the car and then tried to start the car while Connie brushed the dragonflies off the radiator. Must have been at least ten big ones. The car started after several tries so we are good to go. Rob texted Carla to say we had left her place. We went to the gas station we used yesterday but it is closed. A resident was filling and he said a Petro station was down the road a little ways. We should see a sign. The sign was further down the road than expected and the station didn’t sit on the main highway. The place was busy however. Connie tried to add the station to Gas Buddy but couldn’t find the way to do so. Back on the highway headed back to Hay River when Connie realized she had forgotten the thermos we use for drinking water. Since these are so nice and fit in our holder we turned around. When we arrived back at the apartment, Rob tried numerous times to call Carla to say we had left something. Shortly after ten she called saying she just woke up and would be there shortly. By 10:15 we are truly on our way. Sights are the same as yesterday just in reverse. The skies are cloudy but only one small rain shower. By the time we reached Hay River the skies were mostly sunny. We saw the lone bull bison again. This time he was laying on the opposite side of the road. One of the shifty ones. 15-20 miles later a herd of bison were standing all across the road. They didn’t seem the least bit interested in moving. Rob tried honking both horns but they didn’t even look up. We turned off the car and waited about 20 minutes for them to clear one lane. We drove by very slowly and without incident. Even further down the road was another smaller herd but they were in the grass between the road and the trees. Eventually we saw two more lone bulls. Traffic is extremely light today. We didn’t see hardly any cars or trucks. We ate lunch at one of the trash stops. We did not go dumpster diving for lunch. Lots of mosquitos, dragonflies, flies and bees. No wonder the bison’s tails were always so busy. When we got close to the turn onto the highway to Hay River, Connie used Google to get directions to the hotel. It showed 169 miles. Oh my gosh what else could go wrong today? Where is this hotel that gave an address of Hay River? We are about 10 miles from town. We pulled into the gas station we had used before. One of the same guys came out to talk. He said the motor inn was in town about 5 minutes away. He made our day. We took a short rest after getting to the hotel. Then out to the grocery store to get supper and breakfast. The store had Kirkland toilet paper for sale just inside the door. Where is the closest Costco? Up on high shelves the store had lots of different antique household and farming items. The bakery section was surprisingly large. After supper Rob changed the points in the car and tweaked the timing. Forgot to mention that the license plates in the Northwest Territory are in the shape of a bear.
Spoffords Travel 