July 23, 2012                      Day 45/60                            Johnson’s Crossing to Nugget City/Northern Beaver Post

The boys joined the grandparents for cinnamon buns for breakfast. I am trying to watch what I eat so I had cereal. I managed to get a picture of Rick in his “beekeeper” outfit as he disconnected us. I heard chirping from a nearby tree and found an empty nest and sound coming from a hole in the tree a little smaller than a tennis ball. I think it may have been a baby Arctic squirrel. I couldn’t see inside and didn’t want to disturb it too much. However, I took a picture.

The drive on the Al Can was pretty uneventful up until lunch. We passed pretty rivers and lakes. I saw an Arctic hare cross the road, a couple of squirrels tangling with each other in the highway (if their mother knew they were playing in the street, there would be trouble), and lots of ravens 9some of them hanging out in the road too).  We stopped for lunch at a non-descript gravel pullout with bear-proof trash cans. The Milepost claimed there was a trail to the river but we were on a bluff above the river, a meadow was encroaching on the slow-moving river, and it looked buggy. We didn’t even look for the trailhead.

Not long after hitting the road again, I saw a three-colored black bear walking in the grass on the left side of the road. We didn’t have time to get a picture but it looked like it had a bad bleach job on the top half of its body, brown in the middle band, and a black underbelly.

A little while later, Mom radios that there is a black bear leaning against the guardrail. We are going too fast to stop in time for a picture but we see a huge bear sitting upright with its back against the post of the guardrail. Mom’s theory is that we may have missed the cub she was nursing. I think she was winded from climbing up a steep hill and sat to enjoy the view and rest a bit before moving on. We will never know and didn’t get the award winning photo to put in a caption contest either.

No rain today. Actually, I forgot to mention that there was no rain yesterday either. It is great for the views, but it is getting hot. By 2 Pm, it was already in the 80s. We were faced with stopping early but having at least electrical (and therefore, A/C) and water but no sewer or continuing on for another 90 minutes and having no amenities for the night. We opted to stop early. There is nothing here, but we have cool air. This is good for all of us, but especially Rick who is not feeling well. It may be too many nights with poor sleep due to my coughing and now my snoring. I have to say in my defense that I am not usually a snorer. It could be the strange bed and the cough I am getting over. I plan to try Breathe Right Strips as soon as I can locate some. There is no guest room to banish myself to. However, I am willing to consider the sofa.

The boys and I ate a simple dinner alone, leaving Rick to have cereal when he woke from his rest. Mom and Mike have been in their trailer since we finished checking email in the Wi-Fi spot and looking around the store. The boys are enjoying unlimited (but without Internet) electronics and I am reading a book. I finished one already on this trip and hope to get through another this week. I have had little time to read for pleasure this past school year and am way behind on books.

We have no phone service so, of course, sometime during the day when we did, I got a voicemail. Now I can’t check it and it is driving me crazy. I hope it is someone who doesn’t realize I am not back yet, someone offering me a job and willing to wait a day or two for my answer, or other good news.