A Canadian man drives a stranded American family 1,000 miles to Alaska

Martha Shade, CNN

Updated 0936 GMT (1736 HKT) December 10, 2020

Reunited: RCMP Cpl. Robert Drapeau stands next to Gary Bath, Lynn Marchessault, Payton Marchessault, Rebecca Marchessault and Tim Marchessault (l to r) near the US-Canadian border crossing.
Reunited: RCMP Cpl. Robert Drapeau stands next to Gary Bath, Lynn Marchessault, Payton Marchessault, Rebecca Marchessault and Tim Marchessault (l to r) near the US-Canadian border crossing.

(CNN)There's nice, and then there's Canadian-nice, which sometimes involves driving a total stranger, her two kids, a pair of elderly dogs and a cat named "Midnight" more than a thousand miles through a snowstorm to another country.

Dashing through the snow

It all started because Lynn Marchessault, her 13-year-old son Payton, 10-year-old daughter Rebecca and the family pets needed to get from Georgia to Alaska. Marchessault's husband, a staff sergeant in the US Army, is stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks.
    Payton and Rebecca Marchessault.
    Payton and Rebecca Marchessault.

    In a 4x4 and a U-Haul, eh?

    So Marchessault packed up all their belongings, bought a 4x4 truck that could handle Alaska winters, rented a U-Haul, and made plans for a cross-country family adventure during the balmy days of early fall.