Thoughts so far

Three days so far, the majority of our time has been spent in the van and I wish I could say the same about being on the road. Though the last two nights that we planned on pushing through for a long day of travel we have run into stalling problems. Now I am sitting in the parkinglot of a "Fas Gas" in Fort Nelson, watching the sun slowly make its way unto setting. My mood has evened out from the earlier frustration of yet again being prematurely halted by a flat tire when there are hundreds of miles that I had hoped to cover today. I must remind myself of the merit of what we have covered so far, 1200 miles logged from Eagle River and the most remote and isolated areas of the Alcan already behind us. Ah! What magnificence of nature we passed through, I felt as a man soaking in a tub of warm clean water unable to absorb it all who's skin begins to wrinkle. Passing through unending forests of vivid green on the winding road, each turn revealed yet another flood of viridian beauty that my eyes could not seem to take all in. Passing down through gentle valleys dotted with small fields that seemed lonesome sentinels ever threatened to be overtaken by the forrest surrounding. What secrets it must hold my mind is tantalized as yet more mountains rise to caress the clouds with their snow capped peaks. There the world felt old and new all at once, A bastion of solitude. So many pass through yet so few inhabit these lands enticing yet wild and undaunted. Again we pass a lake of pristine waters shimmering in the diffused sunlight making its way through the sheet clouds. Then up and further up our road took us to a land where it seemed winter never left, the trees grew smaller nigh almost unto shrubs all washed in a dusting of snow that fell softly yet incessantly upon us. Just before the I doubted that the ascent would stop we crested the pass and the vista then was truly breathtaking. From our snow capped position upon the world we could see so far and wide this land of wonder. Down far below a great lake lay still as if dreaming in endless sleep surrounded by mighty rock rising up to form the base of still more mountains and mountains beyond, painted all be the varying shades of the green trees, more pale at the base where the aspens were still fresh budding though towards the top the hue became more subdued as of those who had long weathered the wind and cold protecting their fainter kin below, yet tall and proud they stand unconquered and unwaning as their color turns to ember-green in the touch of the sun. To come to a town after this was jarring(though so short a time spent in it yes) the metal structures and irritating signs, all I long for was to chase the sun to the southern lands and yet fate had something else in mind for us as it so often does. So here I am, an old lesson still to learn, patience and appreciation for all that is laid before me. I will be old and stooping into the grave when I at last learn these things it would seem but some light of it still has shone through the fog of my mind today. I hope also that you could share in some of my awe and joy at the sights and majesty of nature from what I can only feebly now reflect in writing. Till next time my dears, the restlessness of my mind is now quelled and so I sign off.
PDTL