When the adventure really began.

Day Three- June 13th, 2011.

On the morning of day three, Sean and I woke up very early. I just couldn't sleep any more. Sean and Autumn shared one bed while Emelia and I shared the other. It is important to note that, you will learn why in a bit.

One thing that Sean had to do every morning was corral the cats. Penelope, check. Pepper, check. Prince, uh oh! We could not find Prince! We started tearing through the room trying to figure out where the cat was at. Once we had looked everywhere, we even started looking outside. Trying to figure out if maybe I had slept walk and let him out of the room. I knew a few hours earlier I had seen Prince, so I had a feeling he had to be in the room somewhere, unless there was some secret whole in the wall that he managed to escape from.

I started pulling EVERYTHING off the bed Emelia and I slept in. Blanket, sheets, mattress, box spring. We lifted up the frame of the bed. No Prince. I was getting ready to do the same thing to the next bed when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed in the bathroom, a giant gap below the sink. I knew instantly that Prince had crawled into the plumbing area beneath the sink. Sean had to tear some things apart, but sure enough, we found Prince.

We were so relieved the cat hadn't gone missing that another cat was overlooked.

We packed up our vehicles and got on the road at 740 AM. About two hours later, Autumn started asking for Roww. Sean asked me if I had it, I said no. I hadn't seen Roww all morning. Now we have come to the awful realization that Roww was left behind at the motel or even worse had fallen out on the side of the road. Autumn was so distraught. She cried herself to sleep. Sean explained to Autumn we'd find Roww and that Roww was just going to take a different route than us. I felt sick to my stomach all day. I was so worried.

We drove.

Day three
An oddity in Canada, random stop lights on the side of the road. Who needs a flagger, just put up your own stop light. The good thing about those lights, the wait is usually only 3 to 5 minutes.

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We drove.

Forest Fire
Sean and I noticed the smell of a forest fire long before we got to it. We stopped at a junction city (I think Junction 37, but not sure on that) and asked if the forest fire was causing delays on the route. They acted as if that was a strange question, but I didn't have any radio signal. If the fire was near the road, how would we know? They told us that as far as they knew, the forest fire was not causing any problems. We drove. That big cloud in the center is a cloud of smoke.

Burned forest
I always have mixed feelings when I see burnt forest. On the one hand, it destroys. It ruins homes for the critters and creatures. On the other hand, it makes room for new growth and is a necessary part of the forest evolution.

Smoke
More smoke.

What wildlife did we see this day you ask?

Profile
A red fox. We know because it cussed a lot.

I am a fox
Excuse me mam, can you pass the Grey Poupon?

Not pictured was the moose that ran along the side of the Jeep. Autumn thought that was pretty cool.

Ice
We did see ice/snow still.

Serene
I thought this area was very serene.

We ended up staying in a town called Bell II. We stopped at 615 pm (so 10.5 hours of driving that day). We did 445.6 miles. Our hotel:

Bell II Lodge
The Bell II Lodge was very nice. I want you to take a good look at the front of this place. Sean, Emelia and I stood outside with about a billion mosquitoes thanks to Autumn bottom. Autumn and I were in the room; I had the hotel key in my pocket. I look out the window and see Sean trying to carry Emelia and some suitcases. I tell Autumn we should go help her dad. She says OK. I get about halfway down the stairs when Autumn turns around. I don't think much of it, I have the key in my pocket. Autumn runs up the stairs, goes into the room, slams the door shut and throws the dead bolt. CRAP! The dead bolt.

We use the key in the door, it doesn't open nor does it work in the dead bolt. The mosquitoes are now surrounding us. A few minutes go by. I feel my blood pressure going up. Sean starts telling Autumn, "You open this door right now. You are going to get a spanking." I'm thinking to myself, I would never open the door if my dad was standing outside threatening to spank me. This isn't going to work. I go over to the hotel office with Emelia and tell them our three year old has locked us out. She proceeds to hand me the room key. I show her that I have my key. It doesn't work in the dead bolt. They are dumbfounded. She tells me this has never happened before and she doesn't have a key to the dead bolt. She calls the manager. Someone is on the way to help us.

I'd say another 15 minutes goes by. We start to head back towards the room when the office lady tells me, Sean and Autumn are walking towards us. I told her that Autumn better be crying. She gets this huge smile on her face and says, "Oh yes mam. She sure is crying." I secretly giggle. Autumn looks really sad. I ask Sean how he got her to open the door. Apparently, he told her we were all leaving and going to Georgia without her. That was enough to convince the girl to open the door! That is also the reason she was crying.

Back to the lodge.

Grassy roof
Grassy roof. During peak season, you can get a massage in that building. The lodge also provides helicopter rides to snowy peaks so that you can ski.

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I think the girls were just happy to have a place to stay. I managed to call the YK Motel and speak with the lady at the desk. I tell her about Roww. She starts describing Roww and tells me the house keeper found her in the bed. DOH! I give her Jim and Phyllis' address and proceed to thank her profusely for not throwing it out and mailing it to us. Finally, a wave of relief. Roww was not lost, just a long way from home.

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I was happy for two gigantic beds. Can we just stay here from now on?

The Jordan's.

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