So, it was a wet one, once again and we were well into the #wilderness by now folks… We woke up in a #turn-off near #Topley,BC in #BritishColumbia,Canada…
We planned on driving through BC all day today hoping to see some moose, bears or any nature… We had quite a bit of time to make up, so we were both happy to get some major distance accomplished on a rainy day…
The daylight was definitely in our favor and there were some amazing sights to see… We were all so happy to be in #Canada for the first time… #TheTravelingMac couldn’t wait to get into the #YukonTerritory…
All I really know about #TheYukon is what I learned as a kid from the claymation version of Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer… lol… Remember Yukon Cornelius? He’s a #prospector who is obsessed with gold and silver… He guides Rudolph through the Yukon territory, so he can get back to the North Pole and guide Santa’s sleigh…
So, my knowledge of this area is very pathetic, to say the least… I guess the gold rush is what started the settlement of #BritishColumbia… But it wasn’t Americans #prospecting up here… Queen Victoria, the Queen of England at the time, wanted England’s shores to hit the Pacific and used the gold rush in the mid 19th century to explore and colonize the area…
We made a stop in #MoriceTown,BC which was obviously a #Mining area at one time… You can tell by the neatly carved out ridges along the hills, which make their way down like steps until they reach the water… the ridges aren’t as defined now but you can see where they once were…
And that’s how a lot of towns and even cities formed out here, along the #WestCoast… Someone would strike it rich and the word would get out that there was a lot of money to be made in that area.. So, every Dick, Harry and Jane would make their way out to that town hoping to strike it rich…
Well, when you have a ton of people all huddled in one area, there are needs that need to be made… And with gold being struck almost everyday, there was plenty of money to be spent… I don’t know if anyone knows this simple piece of economic knowledge but when you have a bunch of people and money in one area, businesses start to pop up… merchants who don’t like the odds of striking it rich, go with a more secure way of making money… And that’s providing food, housing, clothing, guns, horses, and so on for the #GoldProspectors…
Prosperity formed a lot of our cities and towns in America… For example, trade formed the city limits of Boston by using its convenient ports to bring in goods… Actually Boston was a horrible place for a city because it lacked a lot of land… But the port was so famous and popular they had to use landfill to create a larger piece of land to expand a city on… 60% of Boston is landfill… The city was more than half of its size, compared to today…
And like it or not, the cocaine trade built the skyline of Miami, FL… Miami was known as the city for retired people to go and live the last years of their life… If it wasn’t for the illegal drug trade in the 70’s and 80’s, Miami wouldn’t have the skyline and success it has today…
(I had to take some pictures of my Ravens… There are a lot of Ravens up in the Canadian area… I always thought they were attracted to warm weather… I guess I was wrong…)
That’s exactly why I am very weary when something has a lot of money behind it… Because I know well enough from history, its blatantly clear actually, that money creates greed… From that greed comes competition… That competition escalates until it explodes into theft, killing, slavery, authoritarianism… Look throughout history… It never ends well when money and power get in the way…
Why? Well, if you really want to understand it all just watch a movie called #TheTreasureOfSierraMadre… It’s an old famous #HumphreyBogartFilm that explains greed perfectly and the results of such demented thinking… And guess what he is searching for folks… You guessed it… gold! Oh how convenient…
Why do we choose to ignore this blatant lesson over and over again? It’s pretty simple… You make your life about power and money, you’re not going to make the right decisions when it comes to humanity and this earth because you are too obsessed with making more… It’s a disease like alcoholism… There should be greed addiction groups, just like we have sex addiction groups… I don’t even trust myself with money and power… I know what it does to me… No one is above it… The only person who was, got nailed to a cross for opposing it…
I’m not religious at all, but I love the story of Jesus and do believe he was a good man who had a message that we still haven’t learned today… Why do you think the Romans and the Jewish wanted Jesus executed? Because he was peaceful and giving people hope? Because his thinking was not aligned with theirs? No… They killed him because they were afraid they would lose their own power and face… They claimed it was because he was dangerous and creating chaos when really what it all boils down to is control…
And if you think any of this has changed over the last 2,000 years then I have a bridge for sale, just for you… If the religious really think the rich are supporting and helping their cause then they need to go back and read some history again… How many times are we going to relearn this stupid lesson… I know we need trade to survive and to thrive as humans but we don’t need to worship it and definitely don’t need to hoard money to the levels of billions and billions of dollars…
I know, I know, I keep on bringing this up but I do this because I believe it is such an important, urgent lesson to convey at this certain time in history… We now have a business man, who is all about money, running our country… This man only knows money, has had money all of his life and only knows a life where he is in control… It may sound like a business man would be good to run a country, bringing it wealth and prosperity but that’s not the reality folks… If you believe this then you are not paying attention to history or realizing how a business man thinks…
In business Trump is a king! Nothing short of it! He has the final say when it comes to his company and anyone who disagrees with him he just gets rid of… This is why most businessmen are so unethical and corrupt because the business model doesn’t allow you to be weak and serving… The business model fears its competition because that is almost all that can destroy it… The only thing the business thinks of is the bottom line… It doesn’t care if one employee has enough money to eat or that Jane now has cancer… All it cares about is making money and keeping in business… Well, a country can’t run this way and we have seen many, many countries run like this… They are called dictatorships, monarchies, oligarchies…. What ever they are, its all authoritarian rule…
With the new media and technology that is advancing at a rapid rate everyday, this is when we have to be the most alert and careful… this is where the big companies are getting so rich and powerful that they are starting to act like monarchies… They are already acquiring land and showing no loyalty to any country because they are profiting off of every country… They are like rogues who infect our systems using our conflicts with each other to make more money and sell more of their products… We are in a very dangerous time folks… This is why I won’t shut up about it… I will not be one of the silent that gave the world over to the already controlling rich and powerful… Over my dead body and I mean it!
So, on a lighter note… lol… driving through #Gitwangak,BC my trusty navigator let me know about some famous, old #TotemPoles made by the #GitwangakTribe… They used to be erected at a lower location but floods forced them to move the #totems to higher ground…
A famous Indian fortress was used to protect this area… The tribal clan would retreat to this area when they were being raided and Gitwangak was never taken over by invaders… The clan still lives here today…
The totems were magnificent even though they were damaged from a huge fire years ago…
It was a nice peaceful drive in the rain…
It definitely was not boring… Almost everywhere you looked there was something to see…
There were a lot of small towns in the middle of nowhere… Most of them were little Indian towns where tribes live today…
I love this picture above with an old steeple right next to a newer church… The old steeple almost looks like a fortress… Or maybe it is a fortress bearing a cross…
Then we stumbled upon another set of totem poles…
They looked like old, rotted out trees from afar…
But as you got closer you could see the detail… I can imagine these totem poles were extremely beautiful when first erected…
The detail even today is apparent… The carvings represent #tribal #ancestors, beliefs, legends, lineage and events…
We did cover quite the distance today…
We slowly started to go from a wetness…
To a snowy atmosphere… But luckily none of that snow was down here…
But there is a huge chance we could get hit with some snow on our way up… Another possible obstacle we may have to tackle… But then again, we were hit with some pretty horrible luck at the beginning of this trip… So maybe the law of averages will play out in our favor… I know I am keeping my fingers crossed!
But for now, the drive was very laid back and stress free as we soon made our way up the #CassiarHighway… We weren’t north enough to hit permafrost and the roads were pretty straight forward, for now… But the rough part of this trip was not long away…
You know you are heading into the back country when you start crossing bridges built for only one…
#TheMillenniumFalcon was running perfectly with no problems so far…
Even my check engine light was off… It was on the whole ride up here… Then I got that oil change and now its off… Go figure…
You can see a big semi heading towards us in the picture above… This is how most people lose their windshields…
These Semi-trucks hurl down the road, kicking up all kinds of gravel and rocks… And all of that comes whirling towards your vehicle and when you are passing each other at around 50 mph, if any of those rocks hit your windshield, there’s a good chance you are going to hear a loud pop as you watch your windshield form a spider web pattern right before your eyes… A new windshield may be covered with your car insurance but when it comes to an RV, you have to pay a deductible… So, it becomes a little bit of an extra cost…
You can see it snowed recently in the picture above… Glad I missed that storm… lol…
This was the first day that I felt everything seemed to be panning out and we were actually going to make it to Alaska… The only thing that would make this day totally complete, was seeing some #WildLIfe…
And then wouldn’t you know it! From far away, #TheTravelingMac noticed a tiny black dot that was moving…
Poor Tracey, who was nice and relaxed, enjoying the ride, suddenly gets jolted by screams of excitement from her #pilot…
Folks, I have never seen a #bear in person! This was my first #BlackBear! I have been trying to get a close look at one since I started this new way of life…
Better later than never… Two years later, I finally got to see my bear… And God was he a mighty looking creature!
He/she was howling for some reason, as he made his way over to short trees and nibbled on their leaves… He probably just recently came out of hibernation… So, this was a very special time for the bear, as he/she tries to pack on some needed weight and maybe even find a mate… That’s if it isn’t a female and already has some cubs… who knows… You know if its a male, he’s just trying to pack on some pounds so he can get a little needed action… wink, wink…
We sat and watched the black bear for like 10 minutes… He was just walking around, happy to be out and about, going through his everyday life…
And somehow in this vast, ever changing world and Universe… In a moment with in the billions and billions of light years in time… three tiny creatures met on the side of the road….
They met at an important time in their lives… The bear getting ready for a free, warm summer of mating, eating and getting ready for next winter… Tracey and Dan traveling to Alaska for the first time, hoping to make enough money to get them ready for next the winter…
Why did they meet at this certain place at this certain time… No one knows… The Traveling Mac got to see his first black bear… And maybe the black bear got to see his first traveling human…
It’s hard to imagine that this meeting has no meaning in this ever vast Universe full of all kinds of mysteries and lessons… Since people choose to believe in God, which we have no idea who or what that god is… I’m going to delude myself with the notion that every small occurrence has meaning… Because if I do really respect and believe the laws of the Universe, then its hard to believe that the things that build it up, no matter how tiny and insignificant they are, have no meaning considering they are the guts of the god I believe in…
We stayed at a #pull-off next to a small pond a hundred miles from #Iskuit,BC… It was almost two in the morning and we went to bed with the light still on… I’m starting to enjoy traveling this way…
