We are currently on the side of the road about 20 miles from Ft. Nelson because we finally saw that there was cell service. The first night was pretty brutal. The campsite that we were planning on going to was mostly full, and although there was a spot left when we stopped the car, clouds of bugs swarmed us and the windows. We didn’t dare get out because there was just thousands and thousands of bugs. It was already late, and we decided to go try to find another spot. The second spot was just a pull out on the side of the road, and there were just as many bugs there. At this point the kids were crying said they wanted to go home and that this was a horrible trip right after they had said it was the best trip ever and it was just very emotional and pretty difficult for all of us. Ended up we ended up finding a rest area that had pit toilets and a picnic table and bear cans for trash. All the food that I had packed in the toe we tried to sort of repack while everyone was still hysterical and we slept there. Aside from lots of road noise, things were okay. By the time we got going the next day, it was about 1:30 in the afternoon. It was a really really hard morning where the kids had no idea what to do to help and I was pretty frustrated and not able to tell them very successfully either.

Going through customs was more or less a breeze, all our paperwork was in order they didn’t have any problems we had good answers to other questions about vaccinations and currency and who belong to who and there wasn’t any issues, they asked us to go inside while they search the car we use the restroom about 20 minutes later they said we were fine then the rest of us use the restrooms and we were on our way and it was beautiful. Hopefully I’ll be able to upload photos somewhere when we stopped to have lunch today at a restaurant with Wi-Fi.

The next site we were planning to go to had good reviews on the free campsites website, it was pull outs near the Watson lake airport and when we got there there are all kinds of signs up that said no parking and no overnight camping but it was already 9:30 and so we just again we’re going to look for another campsite, but honest but honestly the spot was so beautiful and so quiet right by the Lakeshore it was obviously a campsite there was a fire ring and everything and it was in the woods and nobody was around and so we stayed there anyway. Some birders came by the next morning and I apologized for parking there and explained that it was just too late to find another spot and that we didn’t know that the camping was restricted now and they said that it was fine they thought it was probably just to prevent people from partying there which there was no one so it was a great place to stop and I’m glad that it worked out because the kids had a good morning. The water was freezing but we all jumped in anyway and I used a little soap and cleaned up a little bit the kids wouldn’t get all the way in so I bribed them and gave him five bucks each to go and swim so they got a little bit cleaner.

We stopped somewhere and had burgers and quesadillas at some motel that I’ll have to say what the name is later it was a good burger in the quesadillas were good too it was some Lodge. Literally dick sorry about names but I’m literally dictating this outside the car in the middle of this huge stretch of highway just because there was one spot where there’s cellular.

Then we found a free campsite by toad River and we had a spot right by the river with a picnic table and there was a pit toilet, and by the way pit toilets in Canada are pretty darn nice. None of them have been dirty or are stinky or anything and they’ve all had toilet paper. We all had a good night’s sleep and got going in less than an hour and a half we figured out better ways to pack the van better and we’re getting a little bit better at setting things up every morning so that there’s more room inside and so that we have to handle less of our gear.

MEENY has been getting great mileage, I’ve gotten between 22 and 24 pretty consistently since we left Frazier.

We’re hoping to stop in fort Nelson in about half an hour to get some real cooked food and sit at a table and just kind of chill so it’s time to get back on the road and upload this now that my maps have downloaded.