Monday June 17, 2019 - Drive day from Fort Nelson to Edmonton 1068 km

When I booked this trip I tried to check out flights to get home the same day and found that it was not possible.  It was going to take two days to get home, whether I flew from Fort Nelson or did the long drive.  So I thought, I will see more of the country taking the drive and avoid two days of tedious air travel with two flights each day.  So here we are in the van heading south with 1068 km to drive today.

Emily, Jill and myself along with Bruce in our bug-splattered van headed out at 5 am in bright sunlight (it does not get dark yet overnight up here) on a virtually empty highway heading south.  We drove  along the highway for hours alone on the highway.

We saw several bears on their own and some with little cubs.  There was a moose with a calf right on the highway.  The calf was all legs and looked so young.  We stopped several times to see what birds were about.  These included Common Redpoll, Black capped Chickadee, Alder Flycatcher, Varied Thrush and others.  But no Connecticut Warbler which we were hoping for.   We saw Red tailed Hawk several times,  Northern Harrier and many Common Ravens. 

Right now we have done 40% of the trip and Edmonton is 658 km away.  We have just gone through St John and it was a busy booming place for the OCTG and hydro industries.   The scenery is largely forest and we have had to pass several double and triple tractor trailers filled with softwood lumber.    Will post more later today about the rest of the trip.

The rest of the drive was fine.  Gradually hills and forests were replaced by level areas and then farms as far as the eye could see.  Rich greens meadows and cattle were seen along with horse farms or ranches.  Not sure what they are called here.  Around Grand Prairie the highway was twinned with two lanes in each direction so the traffic was fine all the way to Edmonton.  We did pass under an interesting trestle rail bridge just past Mayerthorpe heading south.  It is made of wood and it will be something to google later.  We saw Black billed Magpie, Rock Pigeon and Great Blue Heron.  These are birds we have not yet seen on our trip.

What does one do during a long drive?  We read, listened to music on the radio, and talked about stuff.  The time went very quickly.  It was sunny and warm and a good day for driving.  We did our seat rotations like we did on the birding tour, so no one got bored with each other.   This system works really well and everyone has a turn in each seat.  

It is 5 pm and Yay we have arrived in Edmonton!!  We gathered our stuff out of the car and double checked for anything left behind.  We said farewell to Jill and thanked Bruce for the 12 hours of driving today and the many hours of driving on the trip.

We are staying right near the airport and can see the planes take off.  There is a freight line about 100 yards away so I have seen several long freight trains come through.

We leave tomorrow for Toronto and then take a short flight to Ottawa and home.  It has been a fantastic trip!!  I am looking forward to home and family.