Week Fifteen~Alaska Trip July 20-25

                            On the Alaskan Highway
We left TOK AK on Thursday AM. after fueling up the RV and the truck. We had a good days drive. The road to the Canadian border is not too bad, but once we crossed back into the Yukon Territory the road very quickly deteriorated. There were about 80 to 100 patches of loose gravel to drive over where they had been working on the road. Phil went over every patch VERY slowly because it was during one of these stretches that the $6000 rock was thrown up into the radiator. Once we were past the construction areas we quickly came upon the stretch of road that was so rough with frost heaves. To say that the road is horrible is an understatement. We stopped for the evening by the picturesque Kluane Lake, Horseshoe Bay. This has to be one of the most beautiful spots along the road. We enjoyed a quiet evening. We were very glad to have that stretch of road behind us.
Friday was another good travel day. We stopped at Whitehorse to fuel up again and waved to the Kenworth dealer where we had been repaired, and just kept on going! We had seen enough of Whitehorse when we were in the shop that we had no desire to stop on the way south. We drove almost to Watson Lake YK before we stopped for the night. Again, we found a lovely pull off to the side of the road, beside a river. We were almost to the Continental Divide. We had driven through a few showers along the way and we were treated to a lovely rainbow after supper.







Saturday we drove back to Watson Lake and pulled into the Visitor’s Center. We unhooked the truck and went to purchase a new can opener. I had replaced our really OLD one before we left home. Unfortunately the one I replaced it with was not very good, and it broke. We found a new can opener, good and heavy, like the one we have had for years. Sorry to say that the price on it was good and heavy too!!
We had come back to Watson Lake to see the planetarium show on the Northern Lights. The show was in two parts. One part was about the space program and it was excellent. It used the full planetarium  screen and was very close to 3-D in effects. The presentation on the Aurora Borealis was good, but not as colorful as we had expected.
Anyway, it was about 2:15 or so when we got underway again. We traveled back about 10 miles to go south on the Cassiar Highway. Right away we could see the millions of acres that had been lost to a forest fire this spring when we were traveling north. There is some green growing already on the forest floor, but many millions of tress and animals were lost. Later, down the road things were looking better.

About 4:00 PM we found a quiet rest area and pulled in for the night. Supper was ready for the second night in a row. We had fixed chili and put it in the crock pot before we started out in the morning. Using a small inverter off of the house batteries, it was all done when we stopped. What a treat. Yesterday we did beef stew and that was done when we stopped for the day. Phil talked to our fellow camper in the morning and discovered that they were from Ithaca NY.
On Sunday as we traveled our way down the road Phil abruptly slowed and pulled into the Petro fuel station at Dease Lake. I couldn’t figure out why?? Well, there were our friends, Paula and Tom Nankivell parked in the lot. We were all happy to see one another again. We invited them in and listened to their saga of the last few days. Unfortunately they had also picked up a rock on the wonderful Yukon roads and their radiator was leaking (Sound at all familiar?). There was a fellow in town that could help them, they thought, but EVERYONE in town knew that Charlie was ‘out camping’ for the weekend. Sunday had been quite rainy, so I guess Charlie had come home from camping early. He stopped and looked at their RV while we were there. He said he could take the radiator out but they would need to drive it to Saint George (600 miles south) for repair, wait for it to be repaired, drive it back (another 600 miles) and he would reinstall it. We figured the best case scenario, this was going to cost them about a week at least, plus a few good ole American $$. 
We wished them ‘Good Luck’ and headed on down the highway. Thankfully, eventually the road surface turned better and we had a good asphalt road to drive on. We spent the night in another wayside rest. On Monday we finished the drive to Stewart BC.

We found a good campground there with FHU and Wifi. We went across the border into Hyder AK for lunch. We ate at “The Bus” which had good local seafood.




After lunch we took a drive around town. Local home:





Local church by river.
As we were driving Phil did another of his quick stops and turn arounds (I am just along for the ride!) He had spotted an unusual tow vehicle for an RV at Camp Run Amuck. Yes, that is their real name.  Phil had a good time chatting with the owner. He has had this car as his tow vehicle for 8 years and it has been in all 50 states. He said he had sent it by train to Hawaii. :-) !
We proceeded down to Fish Creek to look for bears. We did not see ANY salmon in the river so we did not expect to see any bears. However, there was a cub wandering around. That was fun to see but the rangers were concerned for it because it appeared to be separated from its momma. Hope they find each other soon, as he was pretty small to be on his own.
We will be in Stewart BC for another day and then finish the Cassiar Highway on our journey out of Canada.

Just another note….I forgot to post the picture of one of the bears that we spotted on the Cassiar Highway. He was in the middle of the road and ran off to the side by the time we got to him. He stopped in the wildflowers long enough for me to snap this picture of him. Double click on the picture to make  it bigger.

Week Fourteen~Alaska Trip July 15-22

                                        Valdez
The trip to Valdez had some awesome views over Thompson Pass, down through Keystone Canyon. The trip back UP tomorrow should be interesting. We will be to the side, going up that three mile hill SLOWLY.
We have been camped out at Allison Point, which is about eight miles from Valdez, road miles. We can see the town right across the bay from here.
               This is from Valdez looking back onto Allison Point.
                       We have seen seals and otters in the water.
This camping area is provided by the town, mostly for fishermen. They are parked all along the road and in this area and only need to climb down over the bank to fish. They must do pretty well or there wouldn’t be so many people here. It has been pretty active here all weekend but it is starting to thin out as this is Sunday morning and a lot of weekend fishermen are heading home.
Valdez is a cute little town, quite clean and not nearly as commercialized as Homer or Seward. There are neat Visitor Centers and museums in town. There are also glaciers that you can hike to if you would like. We also went and found the original site of Valdez. They moved the town (all 52 buildings) in 1967. There was a bad earthquake in 1964 and then discovered that the town was located on the fault line, so they relocated the town four miles to the west.
There are about twenty waterfalls in Keystone Canyon. Some big, some small. This is one that you view driving out of town.
                               Top of waterfall up on the mountain.             Bottom of the same waterfall by the Visitor’s Center.                     Look to the right of the building for the waterfall.
We went out to dinner last evening because I really wanted to have some Alaskan King Crab legs before we left Alaska. They served a pound for $39.95 at the Totem Inn in Valdez. They were quite good. They were not fresh, as they are harvested in the winter. However, my stomach did not care!
Here are some pictures of the local housing. Not much to get excited about, a lot of double wide homes. I cannot imagine that they are warm in the winter, but they must have a way to have it work for them, because there are a lot of them, all over Alaska.
                                       This one is for sale….. 
             This is the second round house that we have seen.
Last, we stopped at the fish hatchery right down the road from us. There are a lot of salmon in the stream and a lot jumping.
Finally, Solomon Gulch, right across the street from the hatchery.
  We headed out on Monday after going intown to the local ATM. We want cash to pay for fuel through Canada, as the credit card charges quite a bit. It was a cool rainy day but the scenery back through Keystone Canyon and Thompson Pass was still something to see. There are many waterfalls all through that stretch of road.

We had a pleasant drive and stopped just beyond Glenellen for lunch. The rest of the ride from on the Tok cutoff was pretty rough. The first 25 miles was construction with a lot of gravel road and then the next 100 miles was lumps and bumps  caused by frost heaves. We made it to Tok by five and settled in. Phil was draining the fresh water tank because we were not happy with the last fill we had put in down in Seward. Our neighbor came knocking to tell us we were leaking water, so we got to chatting and invited them over for a glass of wine. They came to our place and then we went to theirs. They were very pleasant, new to full timing and RVing. They were headed back to the lower 48 on Tuesday.  They were anxious to get through Canada and back to the USA, as we all are.
The next day was COLD, 44 degrees, rainy and windy. We hunkered down in the morning and did not venture outside. Around 2 PM we did go across the road for a late lunch. We went back to Fast Eddie’s and had a great lunch. From there we went to the post office and grocery shopping. Any outside work that Phil had planned to do was put off until the next day, which is forecasted to be a nicer day.  We watched a DVD later in the evening and then climbed into a nice warm bed, thanks to electricity and a mattress heater. We keep getting emails from people saying how hot this summer has been and we have rarely seen temperatures as high as 70. I am afraid we will melt when we get to Wyoming in August!
So, we will be here another night and then head into Canada on Thursday. We will not have phone or internet unless we can pick up some wifi along the way. I will keep the blog up to date but may not be able to post it for a while. I’ll let everyone know when that happens.  I’m off to clean and do some windows….

Finish Week 13~Alaska Trip July 12-15

                           Still in Seward
We stayed at Stony Creek until Wednesday morning. We had been into Seward and looked around, made out reservations for the Fjords Boat Tour and taken some pictures.

We went just a short way from our campground to a weir and watched some salmon jumping upstream. It was really difficult to get a picture of them jumping because it all happens so fast! Phil did get some pictures of the salmon in the stream before the weir.
                  There is a nice waterfall right outside of town. 
Then we drove down the Exit Glacier Road to see the glacier.

We were also looking for a good spot to spend Tuesday night boondocking. Spots along the ocean were $15 a night for no services, one RV right after another. So, we found a lovely spot along the Fjords road to spend the night for free.
                                           Not too hard to take…….  
                                    View out the windshield.
So, Wednesday evening we took the 6 PM cruise out of Seward to view the glaciers, the fjord, and the wildlife.  Before we were even underway Phil spotted an otter swimming in the harbor. He was having a wonderful time.
We saw some eagles, orca whales, porpoise, and puffins. However, they were all so far away and swift moving that we did not get any pictures. However, the mountain and glacier scenery was just outstanding. The scenery alone made the trip worth while.
Even though we had dressed warmly we had to retreat inside about 2 and a half hours into the voyage! The view was not nearly as good from inside, but it was warmer!
When we were heading off the ship, the view of some of the boats was awesome.
     On Thursday we headed toward Anchorage again. We stopped and Phil did some shopping at both Wal Mart and Sam’s Club, then we headed on toward Palmer. We were lucky, our mail had arrived, so we did not need to stay over a day or two waiting for it. Continuing down the road we found another lovely spot for the night.
                                Can’t you see the water running…..
  On Friday morning we stopped in Glenellen to see if we could get internet coverage there, but it was very slow. So, we headed down the road toward Valdez. The first part of the trip was pretty unremarkable, but going over Thompson Pass and into Valdez had some breathtaking scenery. Photos don’t even begin to do it justice.
           The mountains just go UP AND UP from the road.
So, we are parked at a city park outside of Valdez. We can see the city across the bay. We will have to take a ride in town and see what mischief we can get into tomorrow. We will be here for the weekend.