Day 23

We're still in Anchorage. As Jan was getting dressed this morning, he noticed some of the screws from the roof repair are sticking out on the inside of the trailer. It looks pretty funny but he's not going to worry about it until we get home.

It was another day of sightseeing and was still cloudy & rainy. We went downtown (I only got Jan lost twice) to see salmon trying to swim upstream. There's a fishing site right in downtown Anchorage (Ship Creek) that's pretty popular. We even saw it featured on a travel show a couple of months ago. Those salmon were huge! We also visited an Alaska knife factory and bought a couple of knives (Ulus). Anchorage has a very nice parks and trails and a lot of people are out enjoying them. We went to a marsh area that's supposed to be a good wildlife viewing site but there were 2 buses of children there so I don't think the animals were too interested in making an appearance. We did see some geese & babies and ducks & babies. We went to another park and actually got to see a moose - and got pictures. That was pretty exciting!

We ended the day with a trip to the Safeway gas station and a stop at Costco. Woo Hoo!

Day 22

Jan spent the first half of the day working on the roof of the trailer. After a few trips to Home Depot and about 3 hours of work, we think/hope the leak is fixed and now we're not driving around with duct tape on the roof. At one point, Jan backed the truck up to the front of the trailer and I was supposed to be watching & directing. Well, I was looking at the ladder in the back and didn't notice I was letting him back right into the tongue of the trailer. Now there's a big dent in the back of the truck and I wasn't Jan's favorite wife for a while.

We went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant with Jerry & Nancy. Mexican food in Anchorage Alaska - we did not have high expectations. It turned out the restaurant was owned by Mexicans from California and the food was actually pretty good. Even though we are from Arizona, I did not inquire about their immigration status.

We spent the rest of the day sightseeing but didn't really get to SEE the sights we wanted to see because of the heavy cloud cover. Our favorite spot was a viewpoint on Flat Top Mountain. We could see the whole city and, had it been clear, we could have seen Mt. McKinley. It's supposed to be cloudy & rainy the rest of the week so we're not holding on to any hope of seeing the mountain.

Day 21

Jan wanted to go for a ride on the bike trail this morning but it was still raining. We took a quick trip to the Denali Visitor's Center - we realized the building we had gone to before wasn't the official Visitor's Center. This one was more like a history museum and was pretty interesting. We went back to the campsite, hooked up the trailer and headed to a nearby RV park where we had made reservations. We arrived there and found the place was a real dive (again, not like the advertisement). The four of us discussed the situation and decided we had seen what we wanted to see in Denali so we canceled out on the RV park and took off for Anchorage. We arrived around 4:30 and pretty much just hung out for the rest of the day. It rained off and on all night last night and all day today. We entertained a fantasy that we would get to see Mt. McKinley - we didn't. There's a lot to see around Anchorage so we plan to stay for a couple of days.

The duct tape job didn't work, the trailer is still leaking.

Day 20

I noticed something a few days ago - Nancy is usually wearing a button up, freshly ironed shirt. There's something a little sick about ironing when you're in an RV on vacation. I much prefer a wrinkled tee shirt with a lovely sweatshirt over it.

We left Fairbanks at 9:24 and headed for Denali Park. We made reservations in a campground at the park and arrived there around lunch time. It's a good thing we called ahead because all the park campgrounds were full by the time we arrived. Unfortunately, we only reserved one night and they didn't have anything available for a second night. We will have to move to an RV park outside Denali - kind of a pain.

Yesterday evening it rained and hailed really hard. Later that night I pulled out my sweatpants only to find that they, along with a number of other items, were soaked. Yipes! We have a leak! Jan's plan was to take care of it when we get to Anchorage. On the road today, we had about a 20 minute wait at a construction zone and Jan & Jerry were looking at the trailer, discussing the leak. Jan noticed a piece of the roof was loose and the wind was lifting it up as we drove. He grabbed the duct tape and taped the roof back together while we waited for the pilot car that was to take us through the construction. We now look like the Beverly Hillbillies! But that's okay, we've seen a number of homes in the back woods that could pass for junk yards - a duct taped trailer fits right in. Now if only I could get Jan to start wearing Dickie's overalls (they seem to be the rage here).

We took a 6 hour bus tour of Denali Park. We got to see a momma grizzly with 2 cubs, a herd of caribou, & a herd of Dall sheep. The park is absolutely beautiful (of course) and it was pretty exciting to see the wildlife. It was cloudy and rainy so Jan wasn't able to get any awesome pictures. He got some okay pictures but not the ones he had hoped for.

Day 19

We stayed over in Fairbanks so we could do some sightseeing and take care of mundane household things. Jan went for a long bike ride this morning while I went to Safeway to stock up. I would have gone on the bike ride but I handle a grocery cart much better than I do a bicycle.

Around 11:30, we went with Jerry & Nancy to see the Alaska Pipeline. It was pretty interesting and the structure is amazing in it's architecture. We left there and planned to visit an historic gold mining dredge but found out admission was $15.00 and that included lunch. We didn't want lunch and thought $15.00 was a little steep for touring a mining dredge. We parted ways with Jerry & Nancy so we could go to a viewpoint about 20 miles away and take some pictures. No pictures again - the trees and bushes are so thick & tall that you can't see the view.

We stopped at an old mining camp (which is now a lodge) and ate lunch. It was a really neat old building. On the way back to the RV park, we stopped at a Federal Parks Visitor's Center and got our golden park pass. It's one of the perks for being old. I'm writing this in the laundromat - my last task for the day

FYI - sunset will be at 12:48 am & sunrise will be 3:02 am. That's so strange to us.


Tomorrow we head for Denali Park.

Day 18

We took our time getting on the road because Fairbanks was only about 90 miles. It was a beautiful, clear morning and we were able to see 3 peaks in the Alaska Range: Mt. Hayes, Hess Mountain, & Mt. Deborah. They were pure white and absolutely breathtaking. I understand there are usually clouds hiding the tops so it was a real treat to get to see them so clearly. Jan and I stopped in the North Pole Visitor's Center (right before Fairbanks) and took some goofy pictures. I was hoping to go to Santa Claus House but we would have had to back track to do that. When you're hauling a trailer, it's not too convenient to back track.

We're in an RV park that's pretty good but doesn't look anything like the picture in "Mileposts". That picture shows RVs parked along the river with lots of space in between them. The reality is that we're squeezed in between other RVs and have to walk to the river if we want to see it. So much for truth in advertising.

We were all set up by lunch time so we took the opportunity to run some errands. We bought tee shirts at Fairbanks Harley Davidson (the farthest north Harley dealership so the shirts are special). We also went to an auto parts store so Jan could buy some electrical connections for some kind of repair to the trailer lights.

We ended the day by going out for dinner. Jerry & I noticed a restaurant menu sitting on the desk when we checked in and the food sounded so good. We were determined to have some grilled halibut or salmon for dinner - and we did.

Day 17

I need to back up to Tuesday in Dawson City. A ride across the Yukon on a small ferry is the only way to get to the road to Chicken (The Top of the World Highway). Jan inquired about the ferry when we went to the Visitor's Center and was told there were 21 RVs scheduled to go across on Wednesday morning - 2 tours. The man next to us at the RV park told Jan he was planning to get in line at 4:00 in the morning because last year he had to wait in line for over 2 hours. We hadn't considered that we might have to wait in line for the ferry!

It rained all night, Jan woke me up at 6:00 and told me to throw some clothes on because we were going to go get in line; we could eat breakfast while we waited. We quickly hooked up the trailer (record time) and made our way to the ferry dock. WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE! No line, no breakfast, no makeup (scary)! We stopped on the other side of the river and ate breakfast and I put on some makeup (didn't want to scare any wildlife).

The Top of the World Highway (highway is a very questionable term) is dirt and gravel for about 90 miles. It was still raining, the road was very muddy, and, to top it off, it was foggy. The reason we decided to take this route was so Jan could get some awesome pictures, especially a panoramic photo of Dawson City. So, we ended up driving 90 miles on a narrow, muddy, mountainous road in fog that was so thick we could hardly see the road in front of us and we didn't get any pictures. We were very happy when we finally got to Chicken - the road after that was paved. We bought tee shirts to commemorate our feat.

Remember the man from the RV park who was leading a tour? One of the RVs in his group slid off the road and ended up in a ditch sitting at a 45 degree angle. It was one of the big bus style motorhomes and he was towing a car. About an hour later, we encountered a tow truck headed in that direction. I have no idea how they were going to get him out but I'm sure it wasn't easy.

The border between Canada & Alaska is a few miles before Chicken - we were finally in Alaska! No more kilometers, no more strange money! We met up with Jerry and Nancy in Tok and we're very glad they didn't go with us - they would have ended up hating us for dragging them over that road. Not to mention the fact that our truck and trailer were caked with inches of mud. We stayed in Delta Junction which is the end of the Alaska Highway - now we will be on the Richardson Highway. I don't think any of you will be surprised that Jan popped for an additional $8.00 at the RV park so we could wash the truck and trailer.

Day 16

First thing this morning we went to Yukon Harley Davidson to buy shirts. They didn't have any good looking shirts in Jan's size, only camo shirts with skulls & crossbones and others equally as attractive. Needless to say, we didn't buy any shirts - it was disappointing.

We parted ways with Jerry & Nancy for today. We wanted to go to Dawson City which was about a 5 hours drive. They didn't want to spend the whole day in the truck so they went to Destruction Bay. We'll all meet up again tomorrow in Tok.

As I said, we drove for 5 hours to get to Dawson City but it was well worth it. We had rain off and on all day but that was okay - it washed off some of the mud from the last rain. The terrain went from farms and meadows to forests that were mostly Aspen trees with a few pines sprinkled in. Part of the trip looked kind of like the White Mountains with a lot of Aspens.

There are a lot of people on motorcycles and Jan is very jealous. He keeps talking about what a great motorcycle trip this would be and he's going to have to talk to the boys to see if they're up for it. There was a couple at the RV park on a Goldwing pulling a tent trailer. I was amazed at how big that tent was. Maybe the Harley guys could have the Goldwing guys pull tent trailers for all of them to camp in. I'm sure the Goldwing guys wouldn't mind at all.

Dawson City is an old gold rush town and they've done well in maintaining that history. A number of historic homes and buildings have been restored and are part of a visitor's tour of the city. Most of the streets are still dirt. As we drove in, we noticed strange piles of rock and sandy dirt that just did not fit in with the landscape. It turns out those piles are the tailings from the gold mining. Dawson City is also where the Klondike & Yukon Rivers come together - beautiful.

We drove past 3 RV parks on the way in to town but rejected them because the RVs were all parked so close together. Well, we ended up in the last one in town and it looks more like a parking lot than an RV park. Our trailer is 28 ft. and we're parked in the middle of huge trailers and bus style motorhomes. We look so tiny. We are totally amazed at the number of RVs traveling through Canada and Alaska. We don't encounter a lot of them on the road (so far) but the parks sure are full. We also noticed we run into the same people from park to park.

Tomorrow we're heading for Chicken, Alaska - it should be interesting.

Day 15

I need to make a correction - the pine trees are Lodgepoles, I have no idea why I called them Logpoles. Forgive me, I'm old.

We heard a number of stories about the condition of the Alaska Highway but have found that it's really a pretty good road. The road crews appear to be on top of the frost heaves and repairs have been done or are underway. The rough spots are also well marked with signs. We've been pretty impressed.

Another thing I've neglected to mention is the number of hours of daylight - there are a lot of them. We go to sleep in the light and we wake up in the light. Fortunately, I don't have any issues with going to sleep so it's not a problem. It's just so weird. Today is the longest day of the year - I think Jan said there were supposed to be 21 hours of daylight - I don't know, I was asleep.

We got on the road at 8:32 and drove past lakes that looked like mirrors, meadows with streams running through them, and snow capped mountains in the distance. Along the way we met a couple traveling on motorcycles. They're from Vancouver and plan to ride as far north in Alaska as they can, head to the East Coast of Canada & the US, down to the South, across to the Southwest, down through Mexico, and end up at the bottom of South America. They plan to take 2 years to do it. Boy, do we ever feel like wimps - a mere 2 months and only to Canada & Alaska.

We stopped for the day in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon. We stayed in a nice RV park but pretty crowded. We went out for dinner and there were no empty tables so a man invited us to share his. He was from British Columbia and was in town on business. He and Jan must have visited for an hour and a half solving all the world's issues. We stopped at Walmart to buy ice - they don't sell ice. Who ever heard of a Walmart that doesn't sell ice?

Day 14

We left the Tetsa River RV park at 8:42 and continued our journey with the goal to end our day in the Yukon Territory. We began the day with the rolling mountains & thick forests, made our way through the end of the Northern Rockies, and ended with rolling mountains once again. The Northern Rockies portion had really rugged mountains and peaks. In that area we got to see Stone Sheep mamas and their babies. The scenery changed back to rolling mountains and forests and that's where we got to see a herd of bison pretty much up close & personal, but not as close as Mr. Picture Taker Jan, he wanted a nice close up (and he got it).

As we were driving through Northern BC, it dawned on me the logpole pine trees were really healthy looking - no pine beetles. As I was admiring the green trees, we came around a curve face to face with the remains of a forest fire that happened last year. It went on for miles and even destroyed an entire mountain.

Tonight we are at the Baby Nugget RV Park in Nugget City (the RV park is Nugget City) in the Yukon Territory. It's pretty expensive as far as RV parks go plus they charge for everything - a shower is $1.00 (or 1 Loonie in Canada) for 2.5 minutes. I'm glad I have my own! Jan also had to pay $5.00 for WiFi but it's worth it (it's been free in most of the parks that offer it).

Believe it or not, it was actually hot here today. I was of course wearing jeans and long sleeves because we ARE in the Yukon and had to change into shorts & a short sleeve shirt. Jerry & Nancy even turned on their AC.

I reported earlier that the speed limit signs just had a number - well - I have noticed that in British Columbia the speed limit signs have a km/h under the number. I didn't want to mis-speak (like a politician).

Day 13

I forgot to mention the best part of our bike ride in Dawson Creek. We saw a beaver swimming down the creek with a good sized tree branch in his mouth. We followed it for a little while but the creek took a turn and we decided not to keep going. I was just really eager to get back on the bike.

Today was a day to put on some miles so it was spent driving. But that's not a bad thing, driving here is really amazing. We left Dawson Creek at 8:34 and our goal was to get at least as far as Fort Nelson. We made it to Fort Nelson at 2:30 and decided to keep going since it was so early. The drive today was a different kind of beautiful - rolling mountains covered with thick forests. Everything was so lush & green except for the logpole pine trees that have been ravaged by pine beetles (I'm assuming they're like bark beetles). The forests in Montana, Alberta, & British Columbia have really been hit hard - it's pretty sad. We also saw a couple of bears just strolling down the road today.

We stayed at the Tetsa River Services & Campground and it was pretty hilarious. The park is nothing like the description in our "Mileposts" book. We were parked side by side on a large cement slab next to an old (really old) tack building with construction supplies piled on one side. The price included water & electricity but we couldn't locate the hookups. It turned out the electrical plug was under one of the eaves on the tack shed and the water was around the back of the shed - we would have needed a 50 ft. hose to reach it. There were also piles of old horse manure all over our parking slab. On the good side, the surrounding forest was very pretty, the price was only $25.00, the people who ran it were very nice, and, most importantly, the woman made huge homemade cinnamon rolls that were absolutley divine. I do have my priorities.

Day 12

We spent the day hanging out in Dawson Creek. We went to the Museum and learned all about the building of the Alcan Highway and the history of Dawson Creek. Jerry & Nancy went exploring around town and Jan & I went for a bicycle ride on the Dawson Creek Trail - the trail started near our RV park. Now, mind you, I haven't even ridden my bike in a number of years so I'm pretty bad. I rode it a little at Utah Lake but I wasn't riding WITH Jan - he RIDES, I mosey. I felt kind of bad for him because he kept having to stop and wait for me. I told him that at least his eyeballs got a lot of exercise because he rolled them a lot. I actually lived through the experience (thus I'm able to write this blog entry) and if nothing else, I'm a good sport.

Our grandson video called us tonight so we got to talk to and see Joshua, Delaney & Lisa. Video calling is so cool!

We plan to head out early tomorrow morning and start making our way to Fairbanks.

Days 4 thru 11

We are finally in a park with WiFi! Those parks are few and far between, in fact, we've been without phone service a number of times as well.

On Thursday, June 10th, we drove out of Idaho into Montana. We were so excited when a park ranger directed us to a scenic drive to take us to Helena (we love the scenic drives) but the scenic drive turned out to be no fun at all. What the ranger didn't know was that about 6 miles of the road was under construction, which wouldn't have been too bad except we ended up in a really bad rain & hail storm. Our clean truck & trailer are now grossed out.

Friday, June 11th - We followed the Missouri River through beautiful mountains and canyons. We stopped in Great Falls to buy some groceries and to see the Great Falls. Unfortunately, the exit we chose to find a store took us right into downtown - crowded, narrow streets - not good when you're pulling a trailer. It was freezing cold, too. Today we crossed into Canada and stayed at a park in Milk River.

We've been kind of amused at the road signs in Canada, eh. The speed limit signs are white with a black number, that's it, just a number (not to mention that the numbers are metric). Jan was disappointed that 110 did not mean miles per hour. They also have a lot of signs that have pictures - no words. Like some stick people with binoculars means a scenic viewpoint, a picture of a traffic lane with what looks like a garbage truck means watch for trucks entering the highway. I'm a little disturbed at the one that has a black man holding a shovel in a pile of dirt -could it be some sort of racist jab at our president? Someone should call the ACLU (or would that be CCLU)! Or maybe it just means "men working".

Saturday June 12th - On to Banff via Calgary. The traffic in Calgary was awful but the scenery was awesome. We also made the mistake of driving into Banff trying to locate the Visitors Center - it too was jam packed with people & cars and the streets are very narrow. We went to a Provincial Park to camp but our trailers wouldn't fit so we wound up at Lake Louise RV Park. Our camp site was great - the Bow River went right behind us. Jan got to take a long bike ride, which he really enjoyed. We saw some bears along the road while we were driving. The only negative at this RV park was that it was also across the street from a very active railroad track. That train was lovely to listen to at 4:00 AM.

Sunday, June 13th - We stayed an extra night at Lake Louise so we could visit Lake Louise and Moraine Lake as well. Both lakes are crystal clear, surrounded by snow capped peaks. We ate lunch at the trailer and then ventured on to Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park. We were told there was a nice stroll around the lake that would take us about 2 hours - we decided to do it. Well, only half was a nice stroll and it took longer than 2 hours. We were pooped! A stop at the Natural Bridge (the Kicking Horse River eroded the rocks to form a bridge) and then back home.

Monday, June 14th - On to Jasper via the Icefields Parkway. We saw a big horn sheep just sitting by the road, Jan took pictures of a grizzly bear by the road, too. Beautiful, awesome, breathtaking - none of these words is adequate to describe this area. Majestic snow & glacier topped mountains, beautiful lakes and rivers, rugged peaks - amazing. We stopped at Athabasca Falls - they are so forceful you can feel the ground shake - beautiful as well. A mother elk and her baby came right through our camp today.

Tuesday, June 15th - We stayed over an extra night so we could go exploring around Jasper. We went up to the tram but didn't ride it - it was cloudy & freezing, there's no way I was going to the top of the mountain. Jasper is a quaint and cute little town - nothing like Banff. We drove to Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake where we ate lunch at the Lodge. Along the way we got to see 2 black bears (crossed the road in front of us), 3 deer, & an elk with thick velvet on his antlers. A female came through camp again tonight but she didn't have a baby with her. Jan got to take another long bike ride and saw a huge male elk.

Wednesday, June 16th - We drove Scenic Route 16 from Jasper to Prince George then on to Whiskers Point Provincial Park for the night. We were camped on McLeod Lake - very pretty. The Provincial Parks are great places to stay, they are well maintained and very inexpensive.

Thursday, June 17th - We arrived today in Dawson Creek British Columbia - mile 0 for the Alcan Highway. It's been an exciting day - I did laundry (lots of it) and went to Walmart for groceries. Strange Walmart - no produce or meat. We did go out for pizza - that was good. Jerry & Nancy want to stay here tomorrow which means we will head for the Yukon on Saturday.

Days 2 & 3

Tuesday morning and I already failed at writing down the time we got on the road! We left Priest Gulch at 9:30-ish. We started out on Highway 145 to Telluride (another beautiful drive), made our way to Moab, with our goal to make it to Provo Utah. Along the way, outside a town named Norwood, a deer walked right out into our lane. I was yelling "Deer! Deer!", Jan was hitting the breaks (a truck pulling a trailer does not stop on a dime) and that crazy deer just stopped and stared at us. Jan honked the horn and luckily the deer ran off. As I was sitting there near heart failure, Jan looked at me and said "You should have taken a picture". I told him I was much more concerned with not killing it, grabbing the camera never occurred to me. He's a man with a new camera - he wants pictures of everything. We rolled into Provo around 4:30 and stayed at Utah Lake State Park. The park is right on the lake and we were surrounded by all kinds of birds - pretty but very noisy birds. We were awakened during the night to the sounds of what we thought was rain but we were wrong, it was the automatic sprinklers watering our truck & trailer. It actually did rain later but we had a good laugh over our "sprinkler bath."

This morning we left Provo at 8:48. Our goal today was to meet Jerry & Nancy in Idaho Falls. As Jerry & Nancy were making their way to meet us, one of their trailer tires clipped the end of a ladder that had fallen in the freeway. It caused a blowout which, in turn, damaged the plumbing for their stove and some of the electrical wiring. They spent Monday in Reno waiting for their trailer to be repaired. Our drive today was uneventful, just more beautiful scenery. We arrived at the Snake River RV Park around 4:00 - Jerry & Nancy arrived about an hour later. We're all excited for what's to come and will head for Montana tomorrow.

The day finally arrived! We thought we were pretty much ready to go on Saturday but there was so much that had to be done at the last minute that we really worked our tails off. It took me 3 1/2 hours just to load the food! I have a lot more food than space.

We left the house this morning at 9:42. For those of you who have followed Jan's annual motorcyle trips, you know that Al Contreras reports exact times and mileage - I'm not doing mileage. We had to stop in Chino Valley for ice so we really didn't get on the road until 10:12.

We stopped for lunch at the turnoff for Sunset Crater - we figured lunch in Flagstaff would be much cooler than lunch somewhere on the reservation. I know some of you will groan but I think the ride across the reservation is fascinating - not the houses - the landscape. The scenery is constantly changing and most of it is really beautful. As for the houses, the residents have certainly come up with a lot of uses for old tires!

We ended the day at Priest Gulch, an RV park between Dolores and Telluride, right on the Dolores River. It's really a nice park. By the way, I'm wearing a sweatshirt!

I'll write again the next time we have WiFi!