OUR VAN LIFE TRIP TO THE ARCTIC DIDN'T START AS PLANNED
So heading up to Alaska bears are a thing! Bear spray! Bear bells and i've even picked up a horn! Oh my god! You are in grizzly bear country we're Marianne and Chris in 2018 we quit the nine to five and bought Trudy our camper van we are currently on an adventure to drive the circumference of the world. So we had a lovely day yesterday hanging out with Marianne's aunt Julia, thanks aunt Julia lovely to see you! She's giving us all the tips of the local shops so we've come down into Duncan because there's a few bits we need to buy, to get ready for our Alaska trip. Starting with a new charger for my GoPro because the GoPro that i bought has different batteries to my old GoPros. So heading up to Alaska bears are a thing! although so are mosquitos and flies I am ready! Bear spray, bear bells and i've even picked up a horn! So we've have got to fill up paperwork to get the bear spray.
That's your safety, okay - that glows in the dark. Oh okay, yeah it just slides straight back there's this little piece in there that hold it onto the trigger, and you don't need to shake it or anything, okay. You go for the eyes and the nose, okay. And watch for any back spray because it'll take you down very fast as well.
So make sure you're not doing it into the wind? which is an odd thing about bear spray because the bear is smelling you, it's because you're downwind! So the guy on the counter said that this is about the size of a real adult grizzly.... Oh my god! So the bear thing ......is a thing! We are armed with bear spray, we are armed with bear bells, mosquito spray! Next purchase done we got two 20 litre jerry cans for diesel just in case we end up away from a gas station, which is highly likely where we are going. So it's good to have that little bit of extra in the back. We have tape, two different types of tape to replace the ones that were stolen on the boat.
Grease for the hinge doors, I know we've had lots of comments about greasing them. we greased them but it hasn't worked very well, so Roger from our last harvest host told us to get some white grease, and he greased the doors for us and listen look ... there's no noise! So in case you're wondering if Canada has Walmart as well? Yes it does so we figured that because we're driving into pretty remote places, that we would stock up on food, because it's going to be cheaper here.
And get some dried goods some pasta and things, ready for the road trip. Bear country, bear country! Yes they are just as big as the American ones, food's right down the end that way! So what do you do when you've got loads of shopping? You come to a self-service checkout! But there's a lady with a very smiley face! And we have a trolley like that! But we got boom Chicka pop popcorn! So life is good! Which makes it the perfect time to tell you about the sponsor of today's video Surfshark vpn so if you don't know what a VPN is it basically stands for virtual private network it creates an encrypted tunnel which keeps you and your data safe whilst you're surfing online which is particularly important if you use public wi-fi like we do so often whilst we're on the road it's like having your own online security guard but there's more to Surfshark than just online security have you ever traveled to another country only to realise that you can't carry on watching the show you were watching whilst you were back home or even worse your kids can't but with Surfshark by simply changing your virtual location your computer thinks it's somewhere completely different in the world which unlocks content that wouldn't normally be available to you and surf shark is the only VPN company that allows use on an unlimited number of devices at the same time which means you keep the whole family happy and the very kind people at surf shark have offered tread the globe followers a very special discount you get a whopping 83 discount plus three months free to get started click the link in the description below and use the code tread the globe - back to the show! Well it's a bit dark this morning because it's 4.45 we're on the way to the ferry to get the ferry over to the mainland Vancouver, it's lovely driving this time in the morning because there is literally nobody else on the road so yeah it's uh 4.45 our ferry's at six from Nanaimo over to the mainland, we've had a good couple of days it's been nice it's a lovely town for those of you, who are who are saying you didn't see the island! We're coming back at the end of July is the plan to film the island. Welcome to Nanaimo it's a very nice looking city buses, trucks, vehicles there you go all vehicles there's a truck over there that says long distance specialist i might get a job there one day! I think you're doing quite well my sweetness. We're perfect timing, we got about half an hour until the boat 18 - thank you very much lane 18.
Okay so we're going up to the next stairway three deck three! That's easy to remember, see you later Trudy Did i lock her? I didn't - i didn't that's a good start there you go there you go she's locked! That's huge it's all the ones you're getting going to France So this morning is a very exciting morning for us because it's the start of our adventure from Vancouver island up to the Arctic Circle in Alaska, and what's mad is we actually lay in bed last night and looked online, and to put it into perspective for those of you back home, it's the same as driving from Calais to the border of Iran each way! This is why we subconsciously and actually no .... this is why we mentally plan these adventures in lengths, because the enormity! Calais to the border of Iran! That's mad i thought Turkey was a long drive so yeah we're aiming to get up there in the next 10 days to catch up with our friends. But it's a beautiful beautiful morning this morning. I'm not going to lie every time i see a log or anything floating, i think it's a seal or a whale or something and i start screaming like a child! I love it There's no wind cover on this GoPro, i just wanted to show you That is Vancouver City over there! But we are heading over to Horseshoe Bay over there! and then we're going to go up to Alaska! Right back to Trudy she should be down there if we've got the right staircase I think we are on the wrong side of the ship! We came down on the wrong side of the ship somehow! How does that happen?! Taking the lift? well I thought there were stairs? Yes there you go! We found a good old Trudy wow there you go we're just coming into port there that's a beautiful view isn't it i think so It is just stunning ! Right let's hit the road there's lots of that to come Marianne! Poor Chris - i keep telling him ... film it film it! there's going to be lots of trees and bears and everything coming up!
We've literally been driving for like two or three minutes and already the views are stunning snow-capped mountains there, the road today is just gonna hug the coastline here as we head up towards Whistler, I think we're in for a pretty amazing, epic, scenic, wild drive! This is part of the trip that i have been so looking forward to. Temperature wise is actually quite cool today, it's just starting to drizzle, we were lying in bed last night and we saw online that they forecast snow in Yukon today! Blizzards - the first ones this month - bonkers! Well it's a bit of a miserable day today, Oh we've been driving all day we've arrived in the town of Pemberton, it's a very pretty town but we're struggling to find somewhere to park up for the night. We've been to McDonald's and the petrol station they've said we can't park, so where better to go than the visitors Centre! So Marianne's just popping in to see if we can park here, and we'll be leaving bright and early in the morning, and we don't need anything so fingers crossed! Two very nice girls, I explained we were exhausted and that i have reached my limit of safe driving, so they said just pull up over there absolutely fine. I explained we're off-grid, we don't need water, electric, and we pick up litter if there is any around! and we'll take nothing and we'll leave nothing! And we're just going to leave in the morning and she said if that's the safest option, she said just help yourself! oh that's nice yeah cause i'm tired now, i'm not surprised love! good morning wow Chris was a bit rough last night, did we have fun with him being sick in a van! Being sick in a van is not good! I won't go into the details but let's just say it wasn't a good night! But yeah so today we're going to carry on driving north, we can't stay still for a day because we're not allowed to park up here, but we're going head north and try and see how far we can get today.
Marianne's driving anyway, so i'll just clock in with you guys and show you the drive on the way up, we're trying to get organised this is a little trashed this morning, yes this is what is looks like most mornings! Chris has just had some noodles to try and settle his stomach, he didn't eat anything at all all day yesterday, it wasn't a sick bug it was the other end! So he's had some noodles to settle his stomach, i'm just going to do the washing up, we've got potable water here so i'll make a couple of drinks bottles and have the Imodium to hand! There you go but yeah i was lying in bed last night with hot and cold shivers, and yeah it wasn't wasn't good! And i'm still feeling a little bit rough today but we'll take it easy We steamed up the windows making coffee, but the sun is trying to come out so it looks like we're going to have a much better day today, because it was rainy yesterday and we couldn't really show you a lot it was very dramatic but very very poor visibility Roll off the chocks my sweet! So the visitors centre where we parked, we noticed that they've got drinking water for campervans, so we'll fill up while we're here. Right let's start this monstrous drive! Pemberton it's a nice looking little town actually, sounds very British! But as Marianne reminded me we are in British Columbia so that's probably got something to do with it. This part of the trip has always been one of the most i'm excited about, going up to Alaska - it's a bucket list destination it is no mean feat, and it's just going to get more and more wild more and more deserted and more and more bears! But look the scenery is already fantastic! This drive's actually going to take longer than we planned because it's just so beautiful we keep slowing down! Look at that view! That is incredible! Coming up the mountain here these forests are so dense, I feel like we're entering jurassic park and i'm just waiting for the bears and all these wild animals to start coming out! You wouldn't expect necessarily to see so much snow, but these mountains are still covered in a lot of snow.
and i know that Steve and Karen our tribe members were saying that the snow this year in BC, has been a lot and it's not melting as early as it should, so there's still a lot of of snow to melt. Okay so we had to just come out i had to show you this! You are in grizzly bear country. Holy moly! i'm getting my foghorn ready! And i think we should unclip the safety thing on the the bear spray in the door.
Yes, we need to cut that cable tie so in an emergency we can spray it. Do you want to do that? carefully without spraying yourself! So bear spray is like really hardcore pepper spray, that you shoot at a bear if it's running at you or attacking you, but the best thing to do if you see a bear is leave slowly, don't run they can run 35 miles an hour believe it or not. So you don't want to start running and getting them to chase you.
The roads are generally pretty good, but you do have to keep an eye out for the odd pot hole, where the road's being washed away. Just to avoid any dodgy tyre situation you don't want to get a flat tire out here, that's for sure! And i love the way you can see these almost like mini glaciers where the snow has formed like a bit of a frozen river, coming down the side of the mountain there. Is that snow? it is - they must have had like an avalanche! Oh yeah wow look how much snow there is piled up there! All the way across the road! geez! Before we headed over to North America watching the van life channels, I had a vision of wilderness and a freedom to park up and enjoy it. But the reality is as you're driving around it's quite hard sometimes to find parking spots, and quite hard to find those really natural spots where there isn't loads of tourists, but this trip now that's exactly what we found. another thing you have to be careful of is coming around the corner and seeing rocks in the road we all know what happened when we hit a rock in Georgia Rock in the road! A bit of a drop down there now my sweetness - wow These roads are epic! On a previous video you asked me to share more views from the loo so ....
this is one of my favourites, which i will post on instagram! View from the loo! Look at that beauty! Petrol station let's fill up while we can, as we always say we've still got half a tank but you never know when the next one is. Diesel on this island We're just driving past the vineyard i did not expect to see a vineyard here i'm surprised that the grapes grow, turn left - 99 north, that's where we're going. And the road just keeps going on and on, look you can see the road hugging the side of the mountain here we've got another 306 miles to go today.
it's really quite a trek. And just around the corner the road turned to gravel, unexpectedly. we just had a little bump there! Right, we have stopped by a lake for a coffee and a pit stop. You are doing so well, he's not very well and he's still plowing on! I'm doing good, i'm doing good .... Right after a quick pit stop, a plain piece of toast for lunch for me.
coffee is made and we're hitting the road again! Are we good? I had a lovely lunch! We've just arrived in the town of ... 70 mile, there's the 70 mile motel, it's so funny that they actually call the towns by the mile on the road, so we're going to go through another one called 100 mile, and i think there's another 175 mile. Coming into a hundred mile house, I know that because we just passed a 99 mile motel We just arrived at Williams lake and looking online there is a visitors centre that lets caravan's park up for the night, and because we're absolutely pooped it's half too we've been driving for about six and a half hours, so i think it's time to stop okay well we couldn't park at the visitors centre because somebody dumped their waste a few weeks ago, so to all you van lifers out there - just naughty van lifers! dispose of your stuff responsibly! There's toilets everywhere! Good old Walmart Argentina Alaska- hey how are you doing? There's another lunatic like us! Nice to see you so we found Trudy's sister the multi-coloured bus! The exciting vehicle which means .... growing in the road? on the road ? and they are a lovely couple who have a son
and they started seven years ago traveling from Argentina and they're heading up to Alaska! How exciting is that! More crazy people! They're on facebook, instagram, and youtube - and i'll put a link in this video Check them out, this is just such a wonderful story. It's amazing who you meet at a Walmart car park really, yeah but we're going to get you to put your sticker on the van, okay? Perfect, yeah good job! there you go - high five! Thanks guys - we hope you've enjoyed this episode make sure you join us next time where we continue our journey north towards Alaska, and you want to see more check out this video right here.
2022-07-28 03:23
