Well, today was pretty cool, because we took a little side trip to Hyder, Alaska, which is just next door to Stewart, B.C. It’s kind of a weird place in that you can only reach it by road by driving through Canada. There’s a road that veers southwest off of the Stewart-Cassiar Highway for about 37 miles to the town of Stewart in Canada. If you drive straight through Stewart, you will cross a tiny little border into Alaska, and the road continues a total of about 2.7 miles through the town of Hyder. And that’s where the road ends. The only other way to reach Hyder is via air or a body of water called the Ketchikan-Hyder Alaska Marine Highway.

Hyder is like a ghost town in the winter, apparently. We hardly saw any movement on the roads, and nobody stirred in the homes. It’s a summer town, and all the tourist attractions are closed for the winter. We saw houses and gas stations that were half-buried in snow, boats that had been iced into the docks by the harsh temperatures, a couple of people walking, one or two cars, and a few roaming pooches. It was awesome. Very nautical. In the summers, they get very few mosquitoes, and bears walk right down the streets. A movie called “Insomnia,” starring Robin Williams, was filmed there. I haven’t seen it, but I guess the main character was unable to sleep because of Hyder’s 24 hours of sunlight in the summertime. They say real estate is cheap there. Am I weird to want to buy?

Since we spent most of the morning exploring Hyder (and looking for internet), we got a late start on our 443-mile drive to Prince George. The road out of Stewart was closed until 1:00 p.m. for avalanche clean up, anyway, as it turned out, so it didn’t matter that we got a late start.

The road really cleared up just south of Stewart, so we made excellent time to Prince George. Not only did the snow and ice disappear from the roads, but we were able to see the ground for the first time since the start of our final leg. We were actually excited to see dirt. I know it’s weird, but we were dirt-deprived. Oh, and we also saw a bald eagle nibbling on a dead moose…fyi…

Tomorrow, we’ve another 450 miles to Vancouver. And after Vancouver, we re-enter the U.S. Cool! Time flies when you’re having fun. Talk to you later.
(N.O.)