NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, and into FL

My last morning in Gunnison, Colorado I awoke to an inch deep puddle of water between the refrigerator and the steps leading up to the bedroom. Sniffing the water gave me the minor good news that it was fresh water (it could have been a whole lot worse). I immediately disconnected from the campground water, cleaned up the puddle, and then turned on the various sinks and shower one at a time, pumping from the holding tank. No more water seemed to be coming in and that too was good news. I found an RV repair facility in Santa Fe, New Mexico which is a few hours south on my intended route and made an appointment. The drive through the canyons south of Gunnison was magnificent. None of the grades were difficult, traffic was very light, and every bend seemed to provide a view more beautiful then the one before. Eddie, at Complete RV Care, was very friendly and accommodating. I arrived as he and his technicians were about to have lunch and they invited me to join them. The meal consisted of perfectly roasted chicken, refried beans, quesadillas, nice hot roasted whole jalapenos, chili sauce, ice cold delicious well water, and great conversation. After lunch the technicians quickly discovered a cracked elbow joint on the water intake from the outside connection, They also found a heater vent hose that had broken free from its connection, and a separation on the underside of the front of the rig itself. I can't be sure but I'll bet it's all the result of the tractor hitting the rear of the RV. Complete Care's total charge was only $89. I joked with them that the repairs must have been free 'cause lunch was worth the charge by itself.


It was late by the time the repairs were completed so I decided to finally stay at my first Walmart. Over three years of full timing and I'd never boondocked at a Walmart. The Albuquerque, New Mexico Walmart was just a little over a mile off the route I'm travelling. I found a quiet spot in the back of the parking lot near a motorhome already parked. I bought a couple of items and asked the manager if I could stay overnight. She said sure and gave me a look like why are you even bothering to ask. I cooked a light dinner, watched a movie on TV and had a quiet nights sleep. Heading south out of Albuquerque it became very smoky. It was so smoky that at times I could barely see a car or two in front of me. The smoke lasted for about 50 miles, the result of wildfires. Once past the fires it was a beautiful blue sky. As I turned into the Lo-Hi Ranch of Loners on Wheels in Deming, New Mexico I felt like I was coming home. I'd only been here once before and that was over six months ago. Still, this is a very comfortable place to hang out. While I only stayed a week, I managed to get a few things done and enjoy the time. I got my truck serviced, finally toured the local museum, enjoyed the Saturday night dance, had a great time visiting the "Pink Store" in Mexico, and relaxed sitting out, chatting with other RV'ers. Every day was in the mid-70's and every night was in the 50's. Southern New Mexico sure is pretty this time of year although I wouldn't want to be here in July or August.


My one Walmart experience was pretty good so I'm actually planning a second one. Driving all the way through to the San Antonio, Texas area from Deming, New Mexico is to far for me. I found a Walmart Superstore in Fort Stockton, Texas which is pretty near halfway. There was one RV already parked so I pulled up nearby and went into Walmart to let them know I'd be staying overnight and pick up a few items. When I got back to my rig there were three more RV's parked in the same area. A light supper, a movie, and another quiet night. As I left the Ft. Stockton area on I-10 I saw a huge fireball off in the distance. As I got closer I saw a tractor-trailer blazing in flames on the far shoulder heading in the opposite direction. The police were only allowing traffic in my direction to use the far shoulder even though the fire was about eight lanes away. As I passed, it felt like I was passing a furnace. I don't know what was in the rig but both the tractor and trailer were partially melted. I sure hope no one was inside when it went up.


The campground seems to be a bit out of the way. So far most of the Thousand Trail parks have been a little off the beaten path. Full hook ups, an open site for my sat. dish, and a sparkling clean pool and hot tub, what more can you ask for!! There are lots of little deer throughout the park. If I walk near them they run away but for some reason they aren't afraid of vehicles stopping by them. The deer graze and even sit within a few feet of the RV's. This is the fourth Thousand Trails park I've stayed at and so far they all seem more like state parks than RV campgrounds. All the parks have been quite large, hundreds of acres. The sites have also been large with more than enough room for the biggest rigs and lots of trees and ground between sites. All the parks have had swimming pools, although the park in northern California had closed the pool for the season. The parks are different from the private campgrounds I'd become accustomed to but may prove all right for a change of pace. It is really hot in central Texas! It's mid-October and several days were in the 90's with the other days in the mid to upper 80's. Even the nights were in the upper 60's. I sure am glad for full hook ups 'cause the a/c has been running almost 24 hours a day. I enjoyed the pool and hot tub every day and toured a new town for me of Boerne and went back to one I'd been to earlier in the year and enjoyed, Bandera, "The Cowboy Capital of Texas"! While in Boerne I explored the Cibolo Nature Center. It's about 100 acres adjacent to the town park. Several trails meander past forest, streams, grass and marsh land. I was dripping wet after a couple of hours of walking around in the near 90 degrees. Still, it was a peaceful day. Bandera is, well, it's Bandera. The cowboys may drive pickup's but you've never seen so many Stetsons. The Frontier Museum has an incredible eclectic collection ranging from Mt. St. Helen's ash, a shrunken head, an ostrich egg, and lots of the usual western/frontier stuff. The saddle collection is awesome. Did you know that their are over 2,000 patents for different styles of barbed wire? The museum "only" has about 100 examples. For those reading this who know me well you'll smile at my experience getting a haircut. As usual, the barber and I had a conversation while he was cutting my hair. However, since there was no one waiting when my cut was done the barber and I continued our conversation. For almost an hour, over coffee, we solved most of the country's problems.




The drive to Beaumont, Texas was a combination of easy driving through the Texas countryside and high anxiety driving around San Antonio and Houston. I may have grown up in a big city but I'm sure getting to dislike them now. It's hard to believe I spent so many years commuting through crazy city driving. For those who haven't yet enjoyed some of the rough Alaskan roads just take a drive from Beaumont, Texas to New Orleans, LA on the I-10. You will get to experience some of the bumps and washboard roads famous in Alaska. I've got to find a way around this section of the I-10 for future travel.


As Thomas Wolfe once said, "You can't go home"! Returning to a familiar place is never the same as you remember it to be. I had been looking forward to returning to New Orleans and enjoying another Sunday brunch at "The Court of the Two Sisters". There was a tour group at the restaurant and it was packed. While I did get a seat pretty quick it was very noisy, I could barely hear the jazz group, and the buffet just wasn't the same when it took so long. The food was still incredible and the jazz music was nice, what I could hear of it anyway, lol. It was a beautiful day and fun walking around the French Quarter and people watching. The continuing drive on I-10 in Louisiana was more horrible road. However, the I-10 in Mississippi and Alabama got significantly better than Texas and Louisiana had been. The Florida campground is about two miles off the I-10, far enough to get away from the road noise. The site was sandy which made for a very level area and pretty quiet when other vehicles went by. The process of getting my Florida license was pretty easy. The local sheriff's office comes right to the campground to complete a vehicle check and complete the DMV form, a very nice public service. The deputy who came by to do my vehicle check was wearing an airborne bracelet similar to mine. Turns out it he served in Iraq and the bracelet was to honor his dad who actually served in the same unit I did, just 20 years after me, dam I'm getting old, lol. The deputy stayed around for a little while after his check of my vehicles, we chatted about the differences in the military over the twenty years from my service to his dad's and the additional twenty years from his dad to his service. It's a different world in so many ways. You can't go home 'cause the home just isn't the same one you'd remember. Well, I'm now a Florida resident!

Back in the USA - WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, & CO

Port Angeles is the end of my Alaskan adventure and the start of the rest of my life, full time RV'ing! Hanging out in northern Washington for a week lets me collect my mail after four months since the last time I had it forwarded. I'm convinced this part of the country has the best Dungeness crab and had been looking forward to it. Wouldn't you know, the crab season doesn't start until October. Not a single restaurant was serving fresh caught local Dungeness crab, boo, hoo hoo! One of my disappointments on the Alaskan adventure was not seeing Kodiak Bears. Who knew I had to come to Northwest Washington State to see them. In the little town of Sequim, WA is the Olympic Game Farm. Here I not only got to see Kodiak Bears but actually feed them as well (not from my hand, lol). This game farm, started by Lloyd Beebe in 1942, was used exclusively by Walt Disney and his brother Roy, to film many of their wildlife movies such as Grizzly Adams. Lloyd Beebe trained and directed his animals, including bears and cougars, to "act" in the films. With the passing of Walt and soon after Roy Disney, the game farm inherited many of the props used in the Disney films and opened to the public. I arrived early in the morning and thought the place was deserted. The tour takes over an hour and as I was finishing, the line up of vehicles entering had the whole road blocked. This is one busy place. By the way, the Kodiak Bears actually sit up and wave their paws at you, it's quite amazing.


While in the Port Angeles area I also stopped in at a Washington winery and hiked a little in the Olympic National Forest. This is a pretty part of the country with lots of similarities to the Maine Coast. The drive to Westport, WA is quite pretty winding along the bays between Seattle and the west coast of Washington. I wanted to take my usual break after about 90 minutes but couldn't find a place to pull over. As the miles and minutes wore on my "wanting" to pull over began to be much more of a "need" to pull over. Finally, I was less than 2 miles from the camp ground when my bladder screamed out loud, "stop now"!! I felt like the proverbial little kid who, when they say they gotta go, they mean they gotta go this instant! Without giving TMI (to much info), I made it but don't want to go four hours without stopping again (lol). As I pulled into the campground yard, there was Drew waving to me. He arrived a bit before me and could barely fit into the site given him. As he was moving to a different site I went to check in. The first site given me was ridiculously tight with no room to even open my slides. The second site was a little better. Drew and I renewed our friendship and conversations as we strolled around the marina area. The Blues Festival goes for three days with 15 separate bands, vendors, and a beer garden (nice!). The opening act was fantastic and set a high standard for the following ones. All the acts turned out to be fantastic. The first two days had perfect weather. Not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky, temperatures in the upper 70's to low 80's, with a great sea breeze blowing in from the harbor just behind the RV park. The last day, Sunday, the temperature dropped into the mid-60's with a sky full of clouds but still no rain. Three highlights of the festival for me were; the opening act of "Blues Bentley Band", Claudette King, daughter of BB King, and Lee Oskar. It's great to see anyone at the top of their game and watching and listening to Lee Oskar play harmonica is witnessing a true artist. Over the three days there were five other harmonica players in the various bands. The last gig of the last day was a harmonica blow-off. Each of the other five players were very good in their own style. But when Lee Oskar played you just knew he's in a totally different class. He autographed a CD of his recording for me. When we chatted we found some common ground and I got a hug. It was a great way to end the Blues Festival. The park cleared out the next morning including my new friend Drew. I enjoyed our conversations and hope to see him again.


I found an RV store for my annual maintenance a little southeast of Portland, Oregon. They were very accommodating. I was hoping for an appointment early enough in the morning so they could complete the work in one day but not so early that I'd have to start driving in the middle of the night for the 4 hour trip. My 10 am appointment was a good compromise. It took all day and into the next morning to complete the brakes, reseal the roof, clean & seal all windows, replace the waste valves, plus a few other minor fixes, and wash & wax the rig and truck. They had water and electric hookup and it was a quiet night. I almost didn't recognize the RV or the truck. All the dirt and grim from the Alaskan adventure was gone, the RV and truck looked almost brand new.


They recommended a park just a few miles down the road and actually on the base of Mt. Hood. The park is an Encore Resort and apparently the only one that is also part of the Thousand Trail Resort system. I'd read and heard lots about Thousand Trails and think it may be worth it for a full time RV'er. Anyhow, I ended up buying into the system. I got to stay at the Mt. Hood resort for free and John & Judy, the husband & wife sales people even treated me to a prime rib dinner. The resort is nice with a full gym, Jacuzzi, pool, and restaurant. They even have a pretty view of snow capped Mt. Hood. I tried out my new Thousand Trails membership, making reservations for a park with an address in Bend, Oregon. Driving there proved "interesting"! The park is actually in Sunriver, OR which explains why I couldn't find it in Bend. By the time I realized I was lost it was after 5pm and the Thousand Trail reservation phone was closed plus I didn't have any local phone number for the campground. I wandered around for about a half hour till I saw a sign for the town of Sunriver. My GPS liked the address and I was back on track. The park is quite large, about 100 acres. I was disappointed to learn they don't have any sewer hookups, water & electric only. Also, the park resembled a state park with heavily treed sites so no satellite reception. Still, it's a quiet park with a pretty outdoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, little village area with a well stocked convenience store. Lots of forest fires all around me these past few weeks. Several nearby campgrounds have been evacuated. All I've seen is some smoke. The northwest has been extremely dry this summer.


The place I got my solar system from, Wholesale Solar, is based in Mt. Shasta, CA, right on my current heading. I stopped at a quiet little nearby park and went into the town of Mt. Shasta the next morning. Lucky me, there were four empty parking places right in front of their in town shop. I wonder if I have to put money in all four meters, lol. Most of the office staff came out, taking pictures of my rig with their system on it. I got a few more stickers to add to my growing collection already on my rig. They gave my system a quick check up and I was on to another quiet nearby park. When I made reservations at the Thousand Trails park off I-80 near the Nevada border they asked if I have any respiratory problems. More nearby forest fires with lots of smoke blowing over the campground. I made the reservation anyway since the park is in a good location.


On my way to the Thousand Trails park I finally christened my RV :=(!!!  While driving south on I-5 in the pouring rain, a tandem tractor trailer blew by me. The posted speed is 70mph except for anyone towing anything where the speed is 55mph. In the pouring rain I was going between 50 and 55mph. The tandem passed me and three cars in front of me when I saw one of his trailers go one way and the other trailer go in a different direction. I began hitting my brakes before the cars in front of me. Even with ABS braking I didn't want to mash the brakes down for fear of jack knifing so I began pumping hard and easing up. Somehow I managed to stay in lane and stopped about a foot and a half before hitting the car in front of me. Unfortunately, the tractor trailer behind me didn't stop as fast. He tried to move to the right shoulder but it was to narrow and he hit the right rear of my rig. The first thing I saw as I got to the back of my rig was my roof ladder impaled in the tractors radiator and the tractors wrecked front bumper. My ladder was gone, my rear bumper was mangled, my right rear stop & turn signal light was destroyed, there was a rip in the skin on my rear wall, and my right side rear quarter panel was mangled. While the tractor driver was apologizing I went inside my rig to see if there was any damage. The right rear is where all my electronics are; TV, stereo, DVD, etc. Absolutely no damage! This could have been a whole lot worse. No one was injured and, all things considered, I don't seem to have a lot of damage, no glass broken, no mechanical damage, no electronic damage. The I-5 is a mess with the tandem strewn all over the road. The California Highway Patrol was amazing! They were on site within minutes, had a giant wrecker hooking up to the tandem within about 15 minutes of the accident, and had one lane cleared less than a half hour from the start of the mess. By the time I was waved forward I already had all the truck drivers info and a claim number from my insurance company. My exit was the very next one (why couldn't it have been the prior one, lol). I pulled in for fuel and saw an RV camper shop next door. I was able to get a new bulb and light cover for my right rear turn signal and brake light. Popping it on the light worked!! When I got to the campground I used some gorilla tape to cover the break in the rear skin and protect it from rain. This next morning I found what seemed like a decent RV repair shop in Reno, Nevada about an hour up the road. I also got hold of the trucking company, sending photos to the repair shop and the trucking company. By end of day I had some good news and some so-so news. The good news was an email from the trucking company assuming responsibility and agreeing to pay pending an acceptable repair quote. The so-so news was the repair shop telling me the work could take up to two weeks, what with ordering parts and getting a go ahead with a financial commitment. I don't have two weeks as I'm on my way to visit my son in Colorado and it's already getting icy on the 12,000 foot passes at night. Oh well, let's see what happens when I get to the Reno shop on Monday morning. It rained on and off most of the weekend. Still, I managed to get out and explore a little of Tahoe National Park. This is a beautiful area of northern California with pretty forests and deep canyons. On Monday morning the repair shop in Reno began assessing my rig and getting an estimate done even before the insurance adjuster showed up. By the time the adjuster came by the trucking company had already received the repair shops estimate and was contesting it. My insurance company actually had an approved repair cost higher then the shops so I gave an okay to proceed with the repairs and will let my insurance company recover against the trucking company. The repair shop was able to get all the parts shipped in within a couple of days except the RV ladder. I stayed at a nice campground in Reno for three days, exploring the town. I only had to spend one night in a hotel and the repair shop was able to fix my rig in two long days. As far as accidents go this was about as good as it could have been. Reno seems like a nice little city. They don't get the extreme heat of Las Vegas and they even get a little snow. The one full day I had waiting for my RV repairs I drove to Virginia City, less than an hour away. I looked all over trying to find Ben Cartright (of Bonanza fame for those of you to young to remember). Virginia City is a town almost frozen in time. The store fronts are all from the 1800's and the wooden boardwalk sidewalks complete the picture. To bad they paved the roads. Today there are almost as many bar/gambling joints as "junk" shops selling tourist stuff. Walking around town I could picture ranchers wandering in on horses. The road into town has beautiful views of the surrounding hills and valleys. This is pretty country. In the two days my rig was tied up being repaired I managed to; tour Virginia City, the Nevada historic society & museum, the planetarium, and even a movie. The Paramount RV Repair shop had my rig back by closing on Friday. They really took out all the stops to have it done as promised. Now I have two very long days ahead to make up the lost time and see my son in Gunnison, Colorado.
I left the Reno campground as the sun rose at 6:30am and pulled into the campground in Draper, UT, just south of Salt Lake City about 5:30pm. This was a very long day of driving. The day got a bit longer when the campground didn't have any sites, not even room for me to boondock for the night. They told me that the Camping World right next door usually let RV'ers stay in their parking area overnight so I pulled in! A light dinner, a movie on TV and a quiet nights sleep. The drive to Gunnison, Colorado was really beautiful. Magnificent canyons and only a couple of not to bad grades getting over the mountain passes. The campground was beautiful, overlooking the Blue Mesa Reservoir with the canyon walls behind it, and lots of Aspen and Spruce trees through out. My son gave me a tour of Gunnison, a cute college town. He drove us to Crested Butte for a great dinner and a walking tour of another cute town. This is a very pretty high desert area. We took a short hike which left me panting. The second night I cooked dinner in the RV using the last of the halibut I'd caught in Alaska. It was great seeing my son and spending a few days with him. I'll see him again when he fly's to Florida to spend Christmas through New Year's with me.

British Columbia

The road from Skagway, AK to Carcross in the Yukon has an 11% uphill grade. While I knew my truck would pull the RV up with no problem, I did expect to be crawling along, holding up traffic. I was pleasantly surprised to get up the grades at "almost" the speed limit. Then again, the speed limit was only about 25 mph, lol. The drive is pretty with some deep gorges and glacial streams. Carcross was a surprise. It's actually a cute little town with a great bakery. I stayed a couple of days 'cause it's fairly close to Whitehorse (less than an hour's drive). I had opened a Canadian bank account at the beginning of this trip but want to close it before I would have to check that pesky box on the tax return that asks if you have any foreign accounts (lol). While in Carcross I walked around what they say is the smallest desert. The Carcross desert is about 640 acres while the desert of Maine is only about 40 acres. I guess the little one in Maine is actually smaller. Then again there is probably some technical definition that I'm missing. After walking around them both they both sure seem like deserts to me. From Carcross I took the Tagish cutoff up to the Alaskan Highway. The cutoff saved me from driving my rig back through Whitehorse and cut off about 150 miles of pulling my rig. It turned into a good road with some more nice views. I stayed at the Baby Nugget cg near the intersection of the AlCan and the Cassiar. This allowed me to get an early start with a full tank for the Cassiar. It also let me meet "Toby"! Mitch & Ellen are RV'ers who travel with their pet Toby who just happens to be a Shetland pony! I've seen people travel with big dogs but this is definitely the biggest! Ellen says Toby is great to pull her up inclines when hiking. She simply holds his tail and up she goes. Another amazing sight! The Cassiar Highway is said to be pretty rough for the first 120 to 140 miles and then great the rest of the way. Don't believe it!! It is the roughest paved road I've travelled this entire trip. The first 145 miles was tough to stay at 40 mph. The road is so narrow that mirrors on large RV's and trucks actually touch when they pass each other. There is no shoulder, steep drop offs, some wash boards, and lots of deep pot holes. It ain't a fun drive! I stopped to take a break at some road side shacks called Jade City. This place is amazing. They mine jade from the surrounding hills, over a 100 tons a year. Below the jade miners there are several active gold placer miners. Two different kinds of miners sharing the mountain in a very profitable way. I finally made it to Dease Lake in British Columbia. I was exhausted. I filled up (at over $6 a gallon after all conversions), had an early dinner, and thought of hitting the sack early. My short stroll around the little RV park, just for some air and unwinding, got me to meet Linwood (Lynn) and Melissa. They are a cute couple from San Antonio. He's a retired Air Force flight engineer and she's a nurse. Lynn has travelled the world and we were able to reminisce about sights, sounds, and smells from all around the globe. It was an enjoyable way to end a tough day. The drive on the lower part of the Cassiar was barely any better than the upper part. The road is better paved and a little bit wider. However, it was still not as wide as roads in the lower 48 and had several sections torn up by construction. Also, there are three places with 8% to 10% grades, up and down, that included near hairpin winding roads, two of them narrow dirt and gravel. This is not a road for the faint of heart. There were several sharp turns where I am very glad and lucky no one was coming from the opposite direction. I stopped for fuel and a break at the Bell II Lodge. I had thought of getting a bite for lunch but the flies were so thick I could barely stay out to fill the gas tank. Forget food, I'm otta here! Just when I was sorry I took this tough road I got to the valley heading into Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK. This is beautiful! Once off the Cassiar the road was great and the views are spectacular.  Within minutes of getting into the RV park called Camp Run-A-Muck (how could you resist such a place?) I met Bob & Elaine, and Bruce & Colleen, my neighbors on the sites on both sides me. Once set up, which took awhile as my neighbors and I chatted, I drove the three miles down the road to see the bears at Fish Creek Recreational Area. The site is part of the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the United States at 17.2 million acres! This site is said to have lots of black and grizzly bears grabbing salmon in the early evenings and mornings. The park, part of the national park system, has a boardwalk viewing area where supposedly the bears can't get in and us tourists won't bother the bears either. While I didn't see any bears this first evening, I did bump into Lynn & Melissa who I'd left this morning at Dease Lake. They camped on the Stewart, BC side and I'm on the Hyder, AK side. We chatted a bit and agreed to meet in the early morning to try the bear viewing again. In the morning Lynn, Melissa, and I got together and so did the bears. One particularly large grizzly became a very photographed fellow. It's amazing to watch the salmon literally run away as the bears slowly stroll through the creek bed. When the bear swats his paw to get a fish he rarely misses. Those bear paws move at near light speed, a blur that suddenly has a large salmon. One black bear charged the boardwalk and almost had some tourists wet their pants (lol). Another black bear was casually walking around the parking area and kept tourists real alert. After almost an hour of taking lots of photos and lots of conversation with Lynn & Melissa they asked me to join them as they drove about 30 miles to the Salmon Glacier and beyond. The road was a narrow, gravel road with several sections recently cleared from avalanche activity. Lynn's F350 dually had no problem with the road. Apparently he and his wife often go down unmarked dirt roads just to see what's there. The road wound through countless waterfalls and glacial streams. Really beautiful views. About 20 miles into our drive we came upon Keith Scott. Keith had set up his van with lots of signs advertising his self made videos and post cards. Keith has been hiking and camping through out this area for over 30 years. The photos he has made into post cards are beautiful. His videos obviously took a lot of time and patience to capture the wildlife. I'll enjoy these videos for many years. After 30 miles the narrow gravel road finally ended. We walked around a little, took some photos, and headed back. On our way back a pack of river otters, over a half dozen, ran in front of Lynn's truck. It was an amazing sight. It reminded Lynn why he wants to install a video cam on the front of his truck. Lynn, Melissa, and I got together again for dinner and to watch me keel over when I got "Hyderized"! Getting Hyderized meant downing a generous shot of something very, very strong. The bar wouldn't say what was in the drink but I can say it was strong. It tasted like the most potent whiskey you could imagine. Somehow I survived.




I've been feeling a little melancholy since heading out of Alaska and even more so now. About 100 miles out of Hyder I seemed to be back in civilization. The roads seemed like "regular" roads. Farms began to appear alongside the road taking the place of the magnificent mountains and deep gorges I'd been seeing for the past several months. Small communities appeared every few miles. No longer was I in some remote place hundreds of miles from anywhere and anything. It's still about a week of driving to get into the lower 48, but it already looks like I'm there. The cg in Ft. Telkwa is right on a river with record trout fishing. What attracted me to this cg was an RV wash and a sauna. After about an hour of scrubbing and power washing my truck and rig most of the mud and dirt was off and I was exhausted. After another hour in the sauna and then a very hot shower I was again relaxed. A quiet evening with a pretty view of the river. Next day I cleaned the RV some more, did several loads of wash, and enjoyed the sauna again. When I got out of the sauna, there was Lynn & Melissa. They stayed in Stewart/Hyder an extra day to let the smoke clean. There had been severe forest fires along the road I drove yesterday, so severe the road had been closed. I got through okay but they decided to wait one extra day. We chatted a bit and went to a very nice steak restaurant in Smithers, a few miles from our cg.


The next day I drove a little further than I originally wanted to but managed to get past the town of Prince George, taking a bit out of my next drive. The cg in Hixon was a quiet little family place. The folks on both sides of me came over to welcome me and say "hi". It was so pleasant, right after setting up I went and extended my stay an extra day. The two days went fast alternating sitting by each of my neighbors campfires chatting into the evenings. My next drive began easy enough with a planned stop at a Walmart about two hours away in the town of Williams Lake with thoughts of several camp grounds a couple of hours past that. The Walmart became an interesting stop when my GPS took my down an unfinished road. The road was a steep, narrow grade with a big sign saying "No Trucks"!! I managed to pull far enough into a driveway to enable me to make a broken "U" turn. Not a fun thing on a narrow road pulling a trailer. None of the cg's appealed to me and I just kept driving. Next thing I realized I was close enough to Whistler to make it. I had skipped two initially planned stops and driven for almost 10 hours, definitely a record for me. This is a record I didn't want and really don't ever want to break. The last 100 to 150 miles of my drive was along a narrow, winding mountain road with great views but a tough drive. The road had several sections torn up for construction. I also had several very steep grades going up and down where I was in 2nd and even 1st gear! This was really not a fun drive. The cg in Whistler claimed to be a resort. I wanted to stay a few nights but they only had a site for one. The site was okay, but definitely not worth anywhere near the $50 it cost!! I had fond memories of Whistler, pristine, pretty views. Over the past 30 plus years this place has become a tourist mecca. Lots of little village like developments with condos all over the place. The village itself is made of upscale boutiques, restaurants, and lots of junk shops. The drive to Vancouver was a continuation of the winding, narrow mountain road. Great views, but lots of steep grades. At least there was no major construction. I may have grown up in a city (New York City) but I really don't like driving through them. Vancouver was absolutely not fun driving through! I have no idea how I made it without a scratch on the rig or truck and without killing at least one of the idiots who constantly cut me off. The cg is a real trailer park that is part of a very active water park. At least it's close to the Victoria ferry. Victoria is still the pretty city I remember from years ago. It sort of circles a little harbor with a walking path completely around it. There are lots of little marinas and a very active seaplane terminal. The cg I pulled into, while the sites are a little short, is very cute. In addition to the RV park they are also a marina and have lots of houseboats. The road was to narrow for me to back into my site so two RV'ers had to move their vehicles. The one opposite me, a long termer, was a little nasty, who fortunately must have worked in the area and so I didn't see much of him during my stay. Drew, camped next to me, not only was pleasant and understanding, he helped guide me in. He and I got to chatting a little each day, very enjoyable conversations. He's from Calgary and has been spending his winters in Lereto Mexico. It's a little town about two thirds down the Baja Peninsula and the western shore of the Sea of Cortez. He maintains a blog called "LivingLereto" which you may want to check out. Drew is also taking the ferry to Port Angeles, WA only a few days after me. He's going to a blues festival that sounded like fun. I guess that will be my stop after Port Angeles. I think Victoria has almost as many people on bikes as in cars. It's a very friendly, easy city to get around with cute little water taxis available to take you from one part of the harbor to another. I took a water taxi into the city one day and walked back. It was about 45 minutes to walk completely around the harbor. The Hippo tour was fun. In some US cities they call this a Duck tour. It's a huge bus, with open side and a canopy top, which, after a tour of the city, drives into the harbor and becomes a boat. If you've never taken one of these I do recommend it, it's kind of cool. The museum was having a special exposition on Vikings, including an IMax film about their lives and explorations. I hadn't realized how many recent discoveries have been made concerning Vikings, several as recent as 2008 and 2009 which are still being examined. I really like Victoria with it's flower gardens all over the city, very clean, and a very mild climate pretty much year round.


Heading for the ferry to Washington I suddenly had weird feelings. Being a full time RV'er I'm always home but returning to the lower 48 is giving me a "feeling" of going home. It's a strange feeling since I'm not heading anywhere but another campground. I guess most folks have a similar feeling when they return home from say a vacation. I enjoy travel through Canada but definitely "feel" the United States is home. I'm looking forward to getting my mail after almost four months without it. I'm looking forward to travel through the Pacific Northwest. I'm looking forward to lots more adventures. However, I'm also a little sad that my Great Alaskan Adventure is now at a close.

Alaska

Top of the World Highway is not a road to fear but it sure is one to take your time with. Of the 65 miles on the Yukon side, about 10 miles are paved and most all of the journey has magnificent scenery. Of the 45 miles on the Alaska side none is paved and several areas have hairpin turns with no shoulders. As I came around the last hairpin about 10 miles out of Chicken, Alaska, suddenly in front of me is a tandem tanker tractor-trailer at a full stop. Apparently he saw my white RV through the trees and I never saw his dark grey form. If he had gone just a few feet further into the turn, one of us would have been backing up on this steep, narrow turn. ... and it wouldn't have been him. I stopped along side to thank him. He makes this run almost every day and has long ago learned to be on the look out for us nutty RV'ers. There are some nice views on the Alaska side, very different from the Yukon side. I had about 8 miles to go on a fairly steep uphill section just before the end of the Top of the World road when I saw what at first looked like a biker down on the side of the road. As I slowed I saw a very strange sight. A guy who looked like a left over from the hippie 60's with peace signs all over him pulling a modified wheel chair with a horse-like harness that he slung over his shoulders. I stopped to make sure he was okay and asked if he wanted me to pull him up the hill. He said he was fine, appreciated my offer, but his journey wouldn't count if he accepted a lift. We chatted for a few moments and I continued on to Chicken, Alaska. In the morning, as I walked out to explore this very "large" town, there was the walker, just getting up to continue his journey. Scott is from Vancouver. He set out several months ago and is on his way to Fairbanks. He just turned 60 and has already walked about 1,500 miles of his more than 2,200 journey. We chatted for quite awhile as we marveled at each others journeys. Chicken has basically three little shops: a bar (but of course), a small café, and a great gift shop run by Cindy. The touristy things to do are check out the gold dredge (much smaller than the huge one near Dawson), mail at least one post card from the post office (I mailed a few and chatted with the post mistress a bit), and of course see the chickens (the sign says they're attack chickens but I doubt it). As I was heading out, there was Scott already a couple of miles out of town. I stopped to wish him a safe journey. One of his wheel chair wheels was a little loose. He asked if I had any rope. I gave him some bungee cords and lashings. We chatted a bit more. It's amazing how some folks won't drive off the beaten path and here's a 60 year old guy not only walking but dragging a wheel chair. There are lots of amazing folks out there.


Tok, Alaska is a lot smaller than I expected. I only stayed overnight and didn't bother to unhook. I did walk around, exploring the two visitor centers and local grocery. The drive to Fairbanks felt like I was on an interstate. The road was my first fully paved one in a while. The campground I had wanted to go to in Fairbanks was booked solid. My second choice was okay but kind of tight sites. In fact I couldn't even fit in the first site they gave me. The cg was very friendly and moved some reservations around to find me a larger site. Fairbanks isn't a pretty city but there sure are lots of things to do and see. While in the area I; took a flight above the Artic Circle, enjoyed the 4th of July festivities, roamed lots of museums, took a paddlewheel cruise, and enjoyed the Chena Hot Springs. The Artic Flight was interesting. We flew to the town of Coldfoot and then drove to Wiseman (population 12) in the foothills of the Brooks Mountain Range, one of the most remote places on earth. Jack, who was born and grew up in Wiseman, gave a tour and talk about living in such a remote place. It's really amazing especially when you compare how you and I live. The views from the air are incredible. There's no way to take photos of these views. They are far to vast to capture. Thousands of miles of emptiness. On the way up we had to taxi back to the boarding area when our pilot couldn't get an indicator light to go off. I'm not sure why I had faith in this Alaskan bush pilot, somehow I wasn't as concerned as a couple of the other passengers. On the flight back the wind and clouds picked up and the little plane was buffeted all over the sky. One gal needed her barf bag and a few others were holding theirs in their hands. I must admit I was a little queasy and was glad I hadn't eaten since early morning. One of highlights for me was chatting with a former force recon marine. He pointed to my airborne bracelet and said he also had one. We hugged each other with only his wife understanding. We chatted a little and hugged again when we parted. Our meeting seemed to put me in the right mood for the upcoming 4th of July festivities. When the plane landed my stomach was still a little queasy. I skipped lunch and went to the Auto Museum to walk around and let my stomach settle. The museum was amazing! They have about 80 vehicles from the late 1800's to the very early 1900's. This was the age of cars with beautiful wood and brass fittings. Back then cars were works of art. Almost every car in the collection is maintained in running condition. Throughout the year they actually rotate the cars, driving them around Fairbanks. I was amazed at the technical innovations present over 100 years ago. Did you know that many of the cars back then got 30, 40, and even 50 mpg? One car engine had a post combustion cylinder that burned the exhaust a second time substantially lowering emissions. Another car had a switch on the drivers armrest such that if your arm fell off, the car would automatically stop. The museum is well worth the time if you're ever up this way.


Pioneer Park had a moving celebration for the 4th. The US Army Artic Warrior Band played the patriotic music I was hoping for. One unique ceremony they did that I'd never seen before was a salute to the 50 states. They had a color guard holding each of the 50 state flags. As a guy and gal alternated naming the states and saying the state motto, the individual flags were held high and a three gun salute given. They presented the flags in the order the states joined the union but saving Alaska for last (instead of Hawaii). Of course Alaska got a rousing cheer. The whole event only took only a few minutes and was quite moving, At one point while some politicians were talking, the entire crowd began yelling "look, look an eagle". Just over our heads a bald eagle was slowing circling. This was the second time I've seen an eagle fly into 4th of July ceremonies. It is definitely moving. While at Pioneer Park I also visited the Alaska Air Museum, Pioneer Museum, and about 20 original old trapper cabins that had been relocated to the park. The day was a perfect 4th, in the low 70's with not a cloud in the sky. The next day I took the paddlewheel cruise up and down the Chena River. It was way to touristy for me but still interesting and a nice day. The cruise included almost non-stop narrative about Fairbanks, the Chena River, Paddle Boats, and the Athabascen First Nation Indians. As part of the cruise a float plane takes off and lands next to the boat. The pilot is piped through the ships loudspeakers giving information on planes and Alaskan bush pilots. The ship stops next to the Susan Butcher dog sled area while Susan Butchers daughter, Tekla, is piped through and gives a talk and demonstration of the famous dogs that have won the Iditarod four times! The ship then docks at a replica of an Athabascen village where we get off and are given a series of lectures about First Nation life. Lots of interesting info on a beautiful sunny day that hit 93 degrees, yes 93 in Fairbanks! My day at the Chena Hot Springs was great. It began with a scenic drive and several moose along the way including one very large bull. The springs are managed as a resort with lots of activities going on. I took two tours, one of the Ice Palace and another of their power plant. The Ice Palace is incredible with ice sculptures that are hard to believe are hand carved. They even have four themed rooms that can be rented as hotel rooms (not heated or the rooms would melt). My appletini served in a hand carved glass made of ice was delicious. The ice chapel conducts a couple dozen weddings throughout the year. The power plant is interesting, a combination of geothermal and solar supplies most of the resorts power needs. They also claim to have the largest, most northern greenhouse where they grow all the vegetables and herbs for their restaurant. After the tours I took an ATV ride through the nearby forest. It's so pretty up here. Didn't see any animals, I guess the ATV noise kept them away. I did stop at the largest beaver dam I've ever seen, more like a beaver hotel. The indoor naturally heated swimming pool was nice, the Jacuzzi hot tubs were great, and the natural outdoor hot spring was fantastic. After a few hours of alternating between the hot spring and Jacuzzi I was so loose and relaxed I could barely stand. A long hot shower and a leisurely walk around the grounds completed a great day.


The drive to Denali was pretty and easy. The first campground I stopped at near Denali National Park was full so I drove a little further to Cantwell, just south of Denali. Dennis, a workcamper, and Eileen, the owner, were great. The site was a little tight but it was a full hookup pull through so I'm not complaining. The cg set me up with several tours including; about 15 miles of white water river rafting down the Nenana River, ATVing, and a ski plane on my next stop which circles Denali and lands on a glacier. The river rafting was fun and pretty as we paddled through canyons on icy water that barely 14 hours earlier had been part of a frozen glacier. I got to chatting with three college kids, two gals and a guy. Turns out they are going to school in Colorado, the same one my oldest son teaches at. When I told them my sons name, coincidence of coincidences, they all know him, have taken his classes, and spoke highly of him. It's said this is a small world but it's stuff like this that proves it. On the ATV's we rode along the sandy, gravel ground left by the retreating glaciers. Very scenic and lots of fun driving through the mud holes (lol).


It was a fairly short scenic drive to Talkeetna. On the way I stopped at the Alaska Military Memorial. It was very moving as I read the citations for the four Medal of Honor winners from Alaska. Trevor, the owner of the Talkeetna cg was very helpful. As I was checking in I asked him about stuff to do in the area. He said if I hurry and park there is a train tour leaving in a few moments. Within about 10 minutes of first pulling into the cg I was checked in, parked and walking toward the train. This is said to be the last "whistle stop" train in the entire United States. When rural trains first began running they didn't have scheduled stops. They would instead stop where ever someone wanted to get off. If you were travelling in a remote area you could flag down a train and they would stop for you. While I was waiting for the train I struck up a conversation with Nathan. He looked like a typical woodsman, long hair, long scruffy beard, and obviously dressed for outdoor work. Turns out he is a marine biologist with Alaska Fish & Wildlife. He lives outside of Fairbanks and works manning fish wheels along the Susitna River. He and his crew work two weeks on and two weeks off, catching, tagging, releasing, and monitoring the salmon runs. We chatted for about an hour till he got off at the ghost town of Curry where they have their camp. Fascinating to hear about his work. The train rode about three hours out to Hurricane Gulch and then back. The train goes through canyons and along the Susitna River for views that are not accessible by any other means. Along the route we had great views of Denali in all her glory. We also saw a family of trumpeter swans. Did you know that trumpeter swans mate for life? Also, when one swan dies the other usually dies within a few weeks. The next day, for my glacier ski plane ride, I was given rubber over boots to wear when walking on the glacier. The little plane took off in a drizzle, flew to 10,000 feet and headed right for Denali. The clouds kept shifting back and forth and we only saw bits and pieces of "the high one" which is what Denali means in the First Nation Athabascan language. Denali may only be 20,073 feet high as compared to Mount Everest at 29,029. However, Everest starts in the Himalaya's with its base already at about 15,000 feet above sea level. Denali has its base at only about 2,000 feet above sea level. That makes the actual climb of Mount Everest about 14,000 feet and a climb of Denali about 18,000 feet. Denali is said to be the highest mountain on earth to climb. Go know, I never knew! By the way, landing in a ski plane on a glacier is a very smooth, very cool landing. When checking in for the glacier plane I met Paris. At first she looked to be barely a teenager. She was actually born and grew up in Talkeetna, one of the few native Alaskans I've met As we chatted she mentioned she was starting her second masters degree this coming fall. Paris speaks most romance languages, has travelled quite a bit and lived in several countries. She will be living in China for the next three years while in an immersion course in Chinese. Like me she is a vagabond, only at a much younger age. Who knows, maybe she'll become one of the younger RV'ers around. Talkeetna is a very cute little town with lots of shops and walking paths. They were having an open air craft market with lots of interesting "stuff". I chatted for a while with Dave who does really pretty pen and ink drawings. Dave is retired navy, having served mostly on destroyers. We chatted about life for quite awhile. Monica was selling homemade peanut brittle in the adjacent stall. She's from Tempe Arizona, visiting her sister who lives in Talkeetna. I don't know what kept her interested and talking with me but I couldn't stop looking at her and her twinkling blue eyes. By the way, both the cayenne cashew and the jalapeno peanut brittle were great too. Maybe I'll stay around here a little longer (lol). The next day I took a five hour Jet boat tour up the Susitna River to Devils Canyon. Devils Canyon is a class 6 rapids that people have twice tried to raft and so far has never been successfully ridden. Our jet boat comes up to the canyon from down stream and the 1,000 hp motors are then able to hold it in an eddy for us tourists to take photos. I've rafted the 26 miles of class 5 rapids on the Gauley River and can tell you Devils Canyon makes those class 5's look like a calm stream! Awesome!! While riding the jet boat up stream the captain drifts past the various fish wheels so as not to disturb them with a wake. There at the second fish wheel I spot Nathan and yell "hey" to him. He points me out to his girlfriend who was in the skiff with him. The captain of the jet boat found it amazing that anyone would meet someone one day and then see them again 50 miles up river in this wilderness.
It was a very short, easy ride to Anchorage. That is except for going through the town of Wassila which seems to have all the stop lights in the entire state on the main road through town (lol). I hadn't heard anything good about the campground; very tight sites, dirty, unfriendly, etc. The cg seemed clean with sites no tighter than most others I've encountered so far in Alaska. The work campers in the office were very friendly and in fact we chatted a bit before I parked. Once parked I drove off to find a Ford dealer to get my normal 5,000 mile service. The dealer had a wait of several hours so I made an appointment for a few days later. Anchorage may be the largest Alaskan city, but at about 300,000 population it's still small enough to get around pretty easy. During the few days in Anchorage I; toured the Native Heritage Center, the Anchorage Museum, took the trolley tour of the city, saw the shows at the Tap Root, Sourdough Mining Restaurant, & Northern Lights Theater, got my truck serviced, and even roamed the weekly outdoor market. The Native Heritage Center was great. It's more like a village with representative dwellings of many types of houses constructed throughout Alaska. They had music and native dancing, and about an hours tour talking about native life from the tundra, to coastal areas, to inland living. They spoke of migration patterns, and life before and after the "white" man's arrival. The Anchorage Museum is huge encompassing about four floors on almost a full city block. They gave over an hour's tour with lots of details of Alaska which also included a lot on the 1964 earthquake. The trolley tour was conducted by a very interesting young guy, the grandson of the first federal judge of Alaska and a native Alaskan him self. The hour tour was non-stop information in a light hearted, joking manner that was very enjoyable to listen to. The Sourdough Mining Restaurant was interesting. The food was good but the real hit is Dusty Sourdough, a character right out of an old western novel who played music and told great stories. The Tap Root is a one of a kind, not to be missed adventure. There is no way to describe the hysterically funny show. It's called "Whale Fat Follies" and is a roaring musical spoof on anything and everything Alaskan. There was a great bass player, incredible drummer, the leader and narrator on keyboard, a guy providing hysteric visuals on flatscreens visible throughout the darkened, packed restaurant, and the stars, a guy and gal in more costumes than I could count, dancing and playacting non stop. Everyone was laughing, loudly applauding and cheering. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so much. This is a not to be missed show when in Anchorage. The Northern Lights production of "Aurora" was a high definition presentation and narration of the Aurora Borealis. The light show is definitely beautiful and mysterious. It makes me almost want to come to Alaska in winter. Than again, rather than endure 40 to 50 degree below zero temperatures I think I'll stick to the presentation in high def.!! I was pleasantly surprised at both the cost of servicing my truck and the service details. For only $48 they changed the 7 quarts of oil, filters, rotated the tires, topped off the washer fluid, changed the wipers, and inspected the entire vehicle. I was very surprised that the air filter wasn't totally filthy after well over 500 miles of dirt and gravel roads. I love my Ford (lol)!! Since I was in Anchorage on Saturday I walked over to their combination farmers market and craft show. It's incredible the size of the vegetables!! Squash and zucchini that were well over a foot long. They say it's the length of the days', the amount of sun light. The vegetables are beautiful.


It's a pretty drive from Anchorage down the Kenai toward Homer. As I got close to Ninilchik I could see three of the four active volcanos; Mount Redoubt last erupted 3/23/2009, Mount Spurr last erupted in 12/1992 to 1/1993, and Mount Iliamna whose last eruption was prior to Europeans arrival but does produce constant plumes of sulfuric gases. These three snow capped volcanic mountains, along with Mount St. Augustine which last erupted 3/27/1986 are part of what is known as the "ring of fire" and four of the 130 active volcanos in Alaska. May they hold off blowing their tops for another few months (lol). My stay at Country Boy cg in Ninilchik was a little hectic. Over the few days I went on a float plane salmon fishing trip, halibut fishing, sea kayaking, a play "The Odd Couple", and exploring the towns of Homer, Soldotna, and Kenai. The two fishing trips were experiences but for very different reasons. The float plane salmon trip had an incredible bush pilot who seemed to enjoy showing us his flying abilities. When we saw some moose he immediately swooped down at almost the level of the bulls huge rack so we could see them "up close". When we saw a brown bear with three cubs he again swooped down. The bear and cubs seemed to enjoy us as they reared up on their hind legs staring at us. Surrounding the area are several glaciers which of course our pilot swooped so low I thought he was landing on them! Once landed on the lake we were met by a skiff and it's pilot who took us to the mouth of a stream where the salmon are spawning. The salmon are so thick we were able to see them from the plane. In the little skiff it seemed we could just reach in and grab them which is exactly what the bears were doing not 30 feet from us. There is a three fish limit and the three of us in my boat hit the limit within 30 minutes, incredible! The plane wasn't coming back for a couple of hours so our skipper took us around for some bear and waterfall viewing. We went into this one bowl-like lake that was the result of an extinct volcano. Beautiful clear water with only us and some bears enjoying it. My halibut trip was quite different going out about 15 miles in a 28 foot boat and 5am! The seas got real rough real quick hitting 6 to 8 foot swells. My stomach couldn't take it as I gave back my light breakfast of a few strawberry's and raspberry's (a very colorful sight). With my stomach in a knot I still managed to get the first halibut. After reeling it in I went back to my spot on the rail heaving what was left of my innards. About the time everyone else got their limit of two, I pulled in the last fish of the day for my limit. About all I could manage when we finally got back on shore was a tiny smile and "...well, that was fun"! It gave everyone a nice laugh. I think that's enough ocean fishing for me for quite awhile. The three little towns on the west side of the Kenai are cute and about 75 miles apart in total. they all have lots of restaurants and "junk" shops which seem to do great business even at incredible prices. A fish plate that in most of the lower 48 would go for about $12 to $15 cost $30 and that didn't include the Moose Drool beer at $7 (still, I couldn't resist trying a beer called Moose Drool. It was a thick, dark brew that was great). Chuck, the cg owner, said there were two art gallery's just down the road that weren't to be missed. He was right! The first one, the smaller of the two, was started by a guy, Ben Firth, originally from Pennsylvania. He, his wife, and eight kids are now all artists. Most of the art is pen and ink but they also have some beautiful cravings. The middle daughter, Sara, shared many family stories with me. The second and larger gallery is truly incredible. Norman Lowell and his wife Libby began homesteading in the area in 1958 having moved up from Iowa. Norman hand built his first log cabin which is still on the site of the quite large gallery. He has been a prolific artist for well over 50 years. Even since being declared legally blind two years ago, he has continued to paint scenes of the Alaska he obviously loves. Libby showed me her beautiful garden around their home. They are a very cute couple. When she and I returned after about 20 minutes of her showing me around the gardens, he said he missed her and obviously meant it. She calls him "father". After my extreme sea sickness a couple of days ago I can't believe I'm now going sea kayaking for six hours. I must be nuts! Marie, who was born and grew up here in Homer and is now a junior at Vasser was our guide. While this is only her second season as a kayak guide she obviously knows this area very well as she provided lots of info to the six of us. There was a young couple from Seattle who kayak lots when back home. Robin and her sister Kay are up from Arizona. Robin is an avid kayaker who reluctantly convinced her sister to give it a try. Alan couldn't convince his wife to go so he and I were the only ones in single kayaks. A humpback whale breached about 30 yards from us. Lots of sea otters and harbor seals were playing all around us and seemed as curious about us as we were about them. There were lots of bald eagles with one grabbing a fish just in front of us. This is only my second time kayaking on the open sea. The first time was in Bar Harbour, Maine so I guess I have officially kayaked from the Atlantic to the Pacific (lol). It was a beautiful day and a great adventure. Before leaving Homer I attended the local playhouse and saw "The Odd Couple". I saw this play on Broadway almost 40 years ago with the leads played by Walter Matthau and Art Carney. There was no way the Homer version would match those two actors but it was still a fun evening.
The town cg in Seward is right on the waterfront and has electric and water. This is a cute little town in a snug little harbor. After setting up I went into town to book the Kenai Fjords cruise. I'd heard lots of great things about the 8 hour cruise and wanted to see for myself. As I was booking the cruise, next to me is Alan from my kayaking out of Homer a few days ago. He and his wife are going on the same cruise. It surely is a small world. The cruise really is great and I highly recommend it to anyone travelling through Seward. The captain and crew were friendly and had great eyes spotting lots of wildlife. We saw many humpback whales, orca's, porpoise, sea loins, seals, sea otters, and more types of birds then I can remember. The boat came within about 1,000 feet of a huge, calving glacier. I've seen lots of glaciers on this trip and even landed on one, but I'd never before watched them crack and slide into the water. The sounds of the glacier were eerie. The cruise included a light lunch, I had a salad anticipating the dinner buffet. For dinner we stopped on an island where the cruise line maintained a lodge. We had a fabulous buffet included salmon and sirloin, all cooked to perfection. I sat with Alan and his wife with two young couples at the table next to us. One of the young couples, Matt and Donna, are high school teachers from outside of Denver. This is one of several bicycle vacation they have taken over the years. They enjoy packing up tent, sleeping bags, and camping gear, loading it on their bikes about spending their summer's riding around. This trip is 50 days of biking the Kenai peninsular. Back home, whenever Matt has the time, he hikes the 14k'ers throughout Colorado. He has done all 53 of them, an incredible feat! I can't believe how fast the 8 hours flew by. The Sea Life Center was also a great visit. They have what they claim to be the largest aviary with the deepest pool for the sea birds to dive in. Most of the birds were born at the sea life center and so aren't afraid of people. They come right up to you. I'd never seen so many different varieties of puffins.
I had thought to stop overnight in Palmer, AK on my way to Valdez. It was still so light out and I wasn't tired so I drove on. As I came into a winding valley with magnificent snow capped peaks on my right and green mountains on my left with mountain sheep on them, I see a huge glacier between the snow capped peaks. As I'm admiring the view a pretty little cg appears as if by magic. Stopping for the night it was still light enough to use their telescope to enjoy watching the sheep roam the high peaks. They are Dall Sheep, the ones with the big, curved horns. They are sort of easy to spot on the mostly green mountain but were too high up to get any good photos. Fascinating to watch as they climb along narrow crevices so high up. The Matanuska Glacier at 27 miles long and 4 miles wide is the largest glacier accessible by road. It is expanding by about a foot a day and gives an incredible view from the cg. The next morning, almost immediately after turning onto the Richardson Highway heading into Valdez, the scenery was incredible. High, snow capped mountains on both side with water falls all along the 117 mile road. The entire length of the road seemed to go down hill, pretty steep in some parts. I must have appeared to be drunk winding through Keystone Canyon barely able to stay in my lane. The views are spectacular! Valdez is a nice little town about 10 to 12 blocks square. I happened to arrive during their annual Gold Rush Days celebration, a full four days of music and events. It was kind of funny walking around town carrying a commemorative glass wine goblet, people watching lots of others doing the same thing with many in Mardi Gras get ups that rival New Orleans. There were 19 places in town serving many different wines, most pretty nice, plus munchies and lots of music. I was amazed at how many people in town I recognized and who remembered me. There were the three gals from Radio Shack where I bought a cable, the guy and gal who were ahead of me in line the day before signing up for the wine tasting, the gal from the visitor center who I chatted with two days earlier, two gals from the sea kayaking adventure I went on a couple of days before, and a coast guard guy and his family who just moved to Valdez and I got to talking with a few days earlier. All these folks don't even count the half dozen from the cg I'm staying at. Small towns are amazing. The sea kayaking was interesting. Not as much wild life as I saw kayaking in Homer. The water was murky and there is a definite smell of petroleum, very mild, but definitely there. Two of the three museums in town have large exhibits on the March 1964 earthquake and the March 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The people of Valdez probably aren't fans of the month of March (lol). The earthquake destroyed the old town, now a tourist attraction a couple of miles around the harbor from the newly rebuilt town. The oil spill is a real sore topic. Only two of ten animal species almost wiped out from the oil spill have recovered in the 25 years since the ship went aground. Exxon didn't settle easy with anyone. Even after the court settlements, Exxon continued appealing. There are still cases in court after all this time. I was told if I ever went to the nearby town of Cordova not to even mention the word "Exxon". Old time residents may shoot anyone even associated with the company. The approximate 120 miles of the Richardson Highway, the only way in and out of Valdez, is both picturesque and the worst paved road I've ever driven. Parts of the Top of the World road seemed smoother than this one. The next 120 miles of the same road heading into Tok wasn't much better. The views sort of make up for the horrible road. It seemed strange that the worst parts were the lower portions and not the parts through the canyons where rock slides and avalanches do occur. It was kind of melancholy heading into Tok, knowing that this was where my Alaska adventure began about 5 weeks ago. About 30 of my RV neighbors are all on an Adventure Caravan. I had met several of them in Valdez and at various rest stops over the past week or so. A couple of them are members of Escapees and I got some hugs. About a dozen of us sat out for a happy hour of sorts. This caravan also came over Top of the World and all agreed that the road is not as bad as some say. Most of the caravan is made up of some pretty big motorhomes, including two 45' Prevost's (these things start at $1.2 million). There is even one couple pulling a 43' 5th wheel with a Freightliner tractor!! I was going to use the cg's power washing on my rig and truck but it was raining in the morning. I guess I get a free wash instead. As I drove through all the construction between Tok, Alaska and Beaver Creek, Yukon I was glad I didn't bother using the Tok cg power wash. My RV and truck are again covered with dirt and mud. Oh well, they look like they've been doing lots of travelling, which they have. The Beaver Creek visitor center stamped my Yukon Gold Passport and saw I already had over 20 stamps. That qualifies me for the 5 oz gold drawing so they took my form and entered it. I haven't heard back from my Northwest Territory diamond entry yet but I did win $250 from the Alaska North magazine drawing :=)!! That pays about 1/4 of one months gas expense, lol.


Driving through a beautiful valley with the Kluane mountains all around is an incredible route. The Destruction Bay cg sits above Kluane Lake, the largest lake in the Yukon. From the cg you see these magnificent snow capped mountains all around. The cg water well goes down 165 feet to get the pure glacial water beneath the 160 foot thick permafrost. The water is delicious, cold and pure! The same group of Adventure Caravan'ers are in this park tonight also. They had a prearranged dinner buffet followed by entertainment and I was able to join them. Our host, Loren, played guitar, sang and told great stories. He kind of sang a poem he wrote about the Kluane region of the Yukon. His love for the area really came through. He was a terrific host, the home made roast, salad, and several sauces and dressings were delicious. Lots of hugs and goodbyes' from the caravan'ers. They are driving to Skagway in the morning and I'm heading to Haines. I'll eventually take the ferry from Haines to Skagway and may catch up with them there. It seemed kind of strange that the US border crossing is several miles past the actual border. Seemed weird to cross an international border with absolutely no one caring. The road to Haines is another very nice drive, both the road and the views. The Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains are just to the right of the Haines road. This mountain range includes Mt. Logan, the highest mountain in Canada at 19,551 feel. It also includes Mt. St. Elias, the second highest mountain in both Canada and the United States at 18,008 plus 19 additional mountains over 14,000 feet including Mt. Bona which, at 16,521, is the highest volcano in the United States. This mountain range straddles the US and Canadian border and is way beyond my ability to adequately describe it's beauty!!! The town of Haines is really cute with lots of well kept, old buildings. The cg is the prettiest I've seen in all of Alaska with lots of flowers planted all around the cg, nice large grassy sites, and right in town so no need to drive. Three very interesting museums in town; the Hammer Museum, the Sheldon Museum, and the American Bald Eagle Foundation. Can you imagine a museum devoted solely to hammers? They have about 2,000 hammers, some really strange and some really old. One hammer is claimed to have been used to build an Egyptian pyramid. The Sheldon Museum is a collection of "stuff" collected through a fascinating lifetime by Steve Sheldon. Born in Ohio in 1885 he traveled extensively from age 16. He worked at darn near any occupation you could think of and collected "stuff" from all his adventures. His wife Beth joined in his collecting focusing mainly one First Nation artifacts. The museum is quite eclectic and interesting. The Bald Eagle Foundation nurtures and cares for dozens of injured birds, mainly raptors like eagles, hawks, falcons, and even some owls. It was amazing to see and interact with several live birds. Did you know that bald eagles can take a baby lamb?  During my few days in Haines I also took a raft trip through the Bald Eagle Preserve and a jet boat to Juneau. All five of us on my raft tried to count the bald eagles. After only a few minutes into a three hour trip we had already passed 50 and gave up counting. Bald eagles were all over the river, in trees, on the river bank, standing in the shallows. It's amazing to see so many in the wild. The salmon spawn in the very shallow river where the eagles are able to grab them as they swim by. It was like being in a National Geographic Film, incredible!! I couldn't leave Alaska without visiting the capital, Juneau.  When I went to book the jet boat to Juneau I was told I got the last seat. Apparently a caravan from Skagway, the first stop on the boat, booked almost the seats. Turns out it was the folks I'd sort of been following the past several days. It is a small world! The jet boat takes about 2 1/2 hours to get to Juneau where the cruise ships take all night. The jet boat also takes lots of detours to see humpback whales, orcas, sea lions, seals, and lots of glaciers and waterfalls from the glacial run off. Once at Juneau, we were met by a tour bus which took us around the town and out to the Mendenhall Glacier. This is one huge glacier! the visitor center provided a short film and lots of information on glacial life cycles. By the end of the day I was happy and tired. The sea air blowing for about five hours helped provide a great nights sleep (lol). The ferry to Skagway is the size of a small cruise ship. They directed me and my rig into a full "U" turn on the vehicle deck. That's almost 50' of truck and RV going in a full circle, to give you a sense of the size of the ship. At the RV park there were my new friends in the Adventure Caravan. It's strange that I've now camped with them, unintentionally, at four cg's plus shared the jet boat cruise to Juneau. I've spent almost as much time with them as with the group I started out with. We sat around sharing stories about nutty RV drivers we've seen along the way. From the stories told there seem to have been three rigs that went over the side on the Top of the World Highway this season. Two were coming into Alaska and one was going into the Yukon. No one apparently was seriously injured although all three rigs were pretty much destroyed. No one seemed to know much about the rig leaving Alaska. Both of the ones coming in were large motorhomes. Both of them were in caravans. Both were driven by guys. One was apparently going between 40 and 50 mph when most of us only go about 20 mph on that road. He tried to pass another RV and slid off the road. The guy in the other rig, also going much to fast, apparently slammed on his brakes to swat a fly and slid over the side on the muddy dirt and gravel road. A few of us went to the Soapy Smith "Days of 1898" stage show together. The show tells the story of Soapy Smith, a con artist who kind of ruled Skagway for about 9 months between 1898 and 1899. They tell the story by reenacting with music, can-can dancing. It was very nice and became a real hoot when they took one of the caravan'ers I was with up on stage, got him into a dress and basically embarrassed the heck out of him. While I was laughing I was also glad it wasn't me, lol. I drove out the Dyea road, about 10 miles out of Skagway on a winding, hilly, narrow dirt road. Dyea was once a gold town of about 30,000. Today it isn't even a ghost town. About all you see are remnants of where the town had been. People go to see the brown bears feeding on the streams and boggy flats around the area. It was a pretty day with lots of fresh air and a nice stroll but no bears (boo, hoo, hoo). Oh well, I've seen lots of bears. Skagway, while a cute town, is way to touristy for me. This is a regular stop for the cruise ships and there were three in port while I was camping here. This little town seemed more like Times Square at New Year's Eve! The locals have trouble driving through town with people crowding the boardwalk sidewalks and the streets. It's almost comical! Other than a couple of museums and the Soapy Smith show, the rest of the town is restaurants and "junk" shops. I'm glad I came and saw Skagway but am also glad to be heading out.


When I first planned this trip I thought of it as a "once in a lifetime" experience. Now I've kind of fell under the spell of Alaska. While I've been here almost six weeks and almost 5,000 (just in Alaska), I've only seen a small portion of this state. It's incredibly beautiful here. Neither words nor pictures do it justice. Who knows, I may return one day.

Yukon Territory

The last of the Liard Highway wasn't too bad, about 25 or 30 miles after leaving Ft. Liard I came to the border with British Columbia and a nicely paved road the next 110 miles to the Alaskan Highway. I turned east for several miles to get to Ft. Nelson which of course I'll have to retrace when I head out in a few days. Having seen the town on google maps with Jacques in Ft. Simpson a few days ago I felt almost like I knew this town. I pulled into the visitor center to check it out and ask where a tire place was. The two gals were very friendly and we ended get chatting a little. The tire store is about a half mile further, down a side road (this isn't the biggest town you'll ever see, lol). Kal's Tires is doing a booming business with RV'ers and several trucking firms. The good news is they have some pretty good tires in stock. The bad news is I can't just leave the RV and it will be about two hours before they have a bay open for me to get into. No problem, with the RV trailing behind me I drove to the airport to return the tire Jacques had lent me. The hanger he directed me to was down a narrow dirt road that I wasn't sure had a way back out. No problem again, I drove to where he asked me to leave the tire and backed all the way back down the road. I can't believe how easy the 5th wheel has gotten to handle. I took a different road back to the tire store, checking out the town. Upon arriving I settled in to read a book while I waited. Lucky me, they already had an open bay and they took me almost immediately. I had thought to stay two nights at the Triple G cg, get some wash done and chill out a bit. The gal checking me in told me there were 49 rigs in three caravans scheduled to leave the same day I was thinking. She suggested maybe I wanted to leave a day before them to get ahead. It took me only a moment to ask for three nights and let the road jam get ahead of me.


After setting up and starting a wash load I went back to the visitor center to use their WiFi. While chatting with the gals at the desk, two couples asked the staff about the Liard Highway. The staff didn't know much about it so I chimed in. Next thing I knew I was sharing my experience with the Mackenzie and Liard highways with a small group of fellow RV'ers. When they finally left the staff jokingly asked if I wanted a job at the center, lol. The next morning I walked over to the Historic Society Museum which is just down the road from the campground. I didn't know what time they opened but saw lots of "stuff" outdoors so I got there about 8am. Turns out they don't open until 10am but I decided to wander around the grounds to see what there was to see. Lots of very cool old cars and trucks plus two interesting monuments; one noting the 300 mile marker of the AlCan and a second simply says "Least We Forget". As I was taking some pictures and admiring the exhibits I suddenly noticed a strange old guy coming up behind me. He's about 5"10', wearing coveralls and baseball cap from the museum, and he has a very long scraggly beard. With a smile he says "hi" and we introduce ourselves. Marl Brown is the owner of the museum and he came in early driving his 1961 Morris Minor. I share my amazement at his outdoor collection and that seemed to get him going. It's still almost two hours before the museum opens but he gives me a private, very detailed tour. We enter his auto barn and the sight almost literally blows my mind. There are about 20 antique vehicles, all in running condition. Plus, everywhere you look, even the ceiling of the barn, has tons of other interesting stuff. Marl took the full two hours to show me every vehicle and tell me lots of fantastic stories. When his staff finally arrived about 1 minute before 10am, he and I joked about today's generation, heaven forbid they would arrive to early but leaving before quitting time is okay, lol. He said he's be back in a bit but had to run an errand. I thanked him and said good by but he joked that I'd probably still be there when he got back. I went into the main building of the museum thinking it was just the office where I'd pay the admission now that his staff had arrived. Wow, was I wrong!! The building is packed with tons more antique artifacts. One of the kids set me up with my now third video of the AlCan construction. Marl has the video set up in a make shift airplane hanger. This was the best video by far. It had the oldest, most original film footage plus it also added the story of the civilian widening and straightening of the highway after the original military construction. The video lasted for a good 40 minutes but never got boring. Marl showed up a few minutes after the video ended. He and I went through his main museum which I found fascinating. He told me very few of the RV'ers staying in the cg visit his museum. Of those that do stroll over, most never see the video or rarely stay for the entire length. Most glance around the room, look at their watch and run back to their RV. As we're talking, the people who went into the next video showing after mine leave after only about 15 minutes. Marl says "hi" to another museum visitor who, as if choreographed, looks at his watch and says he has to leave to catch his caravan. Marl and I laugh at the foolishness of most people looking at a destination rather than the journey. I ended up at the museum and out buildings for about 4 hours. If you ever get to Ft. Nelson, you gotta stop in and see Marl Brown. If you do, be sure to ask him about the time he auctioned off his beard to raise money for the town Historical Society and his beard sold for over $10,000!! He is a certified character!
The Alaskan Highway heading west into the Yukon Territory has some pretty views, lots of black bear, bison, and some mountain sheep by the side of the road, and several steep grades! I took a break at Muncho Lake. While there I looked for either a lake cruise or a float plane sightseeing. Neither was available. I got lucky at the Liard Hot Springs and snagged the last site. There was nothing to do to set up, I didn't even unhook the rig, simply backed in and set the brake. About a 10 minute stroll through the woods over a boardwalk brought me to the hot springs and hanging gardens. The gardens consist of some wild flowers growing around a lovely little waterfall which flows to the hot springs. I've been to about a half dozen different hot springs but all the others flowed into a constructed pool or large hot tub. The Liard Hot Springs have been kept as natural as possible. The park constructed steps to help you walk in and a few benches under the clear hot pool. There is barely any order, just a mild sulfur smell. If you prefer to soak in water a bit hotter simple stroll closer to where the water enter the pool. If you prefer your soak a bit cooler simply stroll in the other direction. I thoroughly enjoyed about an hour in the pool, then a walk up the hill to see the hanging gardens, and then back for yet another hour in the spring. What a great place.
Archie, at the Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake seemed to enjoy that I immediately recognized his Scottish accent and have even traveled and knew something of Scotland. The RV park is across the street from the Northern Lights Center and one block away from the Signpost Forest. After setting up, I walked to the forest and hung the sign I had made back in Great Falls, MT. The approximately 18 by 12, white metal sign simply says "Our dad drove all the way to Alaska and all we got was our name on this sign"! At the bottom it has the names of my sons. My challenge to them is to someday find "their" sign!! The Northern Lights Center is actually a planetarium. They show a double feature; Black Holes, and Aurora. Both are very interesting films, the first obviously about the black holes of outer space, the second about the Aurora Borealis. I know the aurora is mostly seen in the winter months but I sure hope to at least get a glimpse. The visitor center was again very helpful. They were really interested in my route plans and provided lots of info on things to do and see along the way. Anyone heading this way should definitely stop in and collect booklets with discount coupons on fuel offering .03 to .05 cents off per liter (that's about .15 per gallon!!). The campground is across the street from a little lake that has a walk going all the, the approximate 1 1/2 miles around. Along the walk it has several interpretative signs and view areas. The lake and marsh area are home to lots of birds, butterflys, and colorful dragonflies. It was a pretty walk. I also drove about 12 miles up the Campbell Highway. This was the route I had intended to take when leaving here. The folks in two visitor centers, plus some other RV'ers have all advised not to. The road is apparently not only very rough gravel, but also very narrow with lots of logging trucks. In addition, the forest is said to come almost to the edge of the road and so there aren't any pretty views. The short stretch I drove with just the truck was paved but did have several logging trucks barreling toward me. Okay, I've been talked out of heading up the Campbell. Also, the visitor center showed me a way I can go on my return so as not to retrace the path all the way from Whitehorse to Watson Lake. While checking out the Campbell I stopped at the Watson Lake airfield. It's right by the lake and it's a big, beautiful lake at that.


It was only a couple of hours drive to Teslin. This is a nice stop. The campground is right on the lake, has great fuel prices, a nice restaurant, and even a little museum. A short walk across the Alaskan Highway is the George Johnston Museum. Laura gave me a private tour as I enjoyed listening to her lilting voice, an enjoyable mix of Canadian and Scottish. I learned of this little known man, a native Tlingit Indian who took he liked the name George Johnston and also liked taking pictures. He developed his own photos, not much choice back in the 1920's. One day he was visiting Whitehorse and decided he liked and wanted a brand new model T. His friends, and apparently even the car dealership, thought it a bit strange since there weren't any roads even near his village in Teslin. George bought the car anyway. He and some friends then cleared a few miles of forest so he could drive his car. He then charged folks $2 for a ride. He used the money he collected to pay the same folks to help clear more forest to lengthen his ever growing road. The road build by George is now the stretch of Alaskan Highway that runs through this area of the Yukon. The photos he took over a 20 year period document and really give one a feel for what life was like before there were roads. It's a great little museum. A couple of miles down the road is a Tlingit Heritage Center. They had just made a fresh batch of bannock and a pot of coffee. I'd been wanting to try this northern Canada dish for several weeks now since I first heard of it. It was very tasty, warm and golden brown. It looks like a puffed up muffin. It's basically fried dough, lol. The Tlingit Indians trace their heritage back about 3,500 years. It is believed when the first people migrated across the Bearing Sea from what is now Russia they split into two groups. One headed inland across the Yukon, Northwest Territory, and eventually further south into the Americas. The other group, the Tlingit, followed the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean and settled along what is today the Alaskan Panhandle. Sometime in only the last couple of hundred years they began expanding their traditional hunting grounds, exploring rivers further inland, and trading with the first "white" trappers and eventually the Hudson Bay Company. I find it fascinating to learn about human migration, other cultures, and changing patterns of society. I watched a movie in the heritage center about the season of "two winters". The Tlingit oral history tells of a year that had two winters and no spring. Geologists and archeologists have now shown that this corresponded to the volcanic eruption in the Philippines in 1816. The ash cloud was so huge it apparently blanketed the sky as far east and north as Alaska and the Yukon.


Since leaving Dawson Creek almost a month ago and the RV'ers I started with, I've not only been on my own but have not been making any reservations at any campgrounds. Upon getting into Whitehorse, the first campground I stopped at was full. Not a single open site. However, the second campground I tried did have a site and discount fuel for campers. Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon and a huge city of about 25,000. They even have traffic lights, lol. I happened to arrive on Aboriginal Day with the Heritage Center having lots of events and free food. The elk stew was delicious! As the capital, there is lots to do here. Several museums, an original paddlewheeler, the SS Klondike. a wildlife preserve, and the nearby Takhini Hot Springs. While in Whitehorse you must see the Frantic Follies. This show is an absolute hoot. They mimic an old vaudeville show from the 1890's; girls in fishnet stockings prancing around and high kicking their long legs, another gal in a beautiful 1890's gown singing some old songs, plus the gals and guys doing really corny skits. They picked a few people from the audience, dragged them on stage and embarrassed the heck out of them. Thank you, thank you for not picking me!! While in Whitehorse I also explored the SS Klondike, a paddlewheel of the type that used to carry passengers and freight up and down the Yukon River. The copper mine museum was also interesting, it played an oral history of the Yukon mining operations as I rode on a train going past various restorations. Do you know the word "Beringia"? I didn't until I went to the Beringia Museum. That is the name for the subcontinent that existed during the last ice age. The huge glaciers that covered much of North America caused the waters to recede. This is what created the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, called Beringia. The museum was quite interesting, documenting the various mammals, fauna, and geography that existed both during the ice age and since. It was interesting to discover the relationship between miners and archaeologists. Lots of fossils were discovered during the mining operations. There is also a great transportation museum next door to the Beringia Museum. They have lots of neat planes, cars, and trucks from the early days of Yukon exploration. Many of the cars and trucks were found wrecked and abandoned and have now been restored. While in the area I "had" to go soak in the Takhini Hot Springs and tour the nearby Yukon Wildlife Preserve. The wildlife preserve is on 750 acres and includes most of the animals found in the Yukon (no bears). This was my first sight of a muskox herd and artic fox. The preserve takes in injured animals and try's to restore them to the wild. Many of the animals become so dependent on humans due to their injuries that they remain in the preserve.
The drive to Dawson City began on a great road, one of the best of far. That quickly changed into one with lots of "whoop dee doo's". I wanted to stay overnight in Pelly Crossing but the campground appeared deserted, run down and no one around. I toured the First Nation Heritage Center, filled the fuel, and kept heading toward Dawson City. The Gold Rush cg is right in town and did have a site. Wow, are these sites tight. As I pulled in my new neighbor gave me a compliment in that they usually enjoy laughing as they watch 5th wheels pull in these narrow sites. I didn't even give them a chuckle when I pulled right in first shot :=)! I guess three years on the road helped with something. The roads must have been even worse than I thought! The sliding draw under my sofa had broken the tracks. No way to fix it! Oh well, the draw still fits under the sofa but will no longer slide in and out, such is life. Dawson City has lots to do and see. More museums than can be toured in the few days I'm here. The showing of "A Klondike Home Companion" was nice. It had three different musical acts, intermixed with lots of funny skits preformed my two local radio DJ's that many in the audience knew. The playhouse was the Palace Grand Theater which is a fully restored historic building from the late 1890's. The Midnight Dome is actually a long, winding road that leads to the top of a hill overlooking the city. It is said that the sun doesn't set from this vantage at this time of year. I didn't stay all night to find out but enjoyed the vistas. Dredge #4 was about 12 miles down Bonanza Creek Road. This is where all the gold fever started in 1896. The dredge is the largest in the world and the tour is well worth the drive. The town has lots of interesting shops and is fun to just stroll around. Other than the one main street, none of the other streets have been paved. You walk on sidewalk board walks and cross the muddy corners carefully just as was done in the 1890's. There are still about 40 active gold mines in the area. One of the miners periodically donates a bucket of his "pay dirt" to the city museum for their mining demonstrations. At the one I went to they mined, melted and showed us nearly two ounces of gold!! At today's prices the museum got about $2,700 from just this one demonstration. That's a generous miner! Anyone coming up this way has got to stop in at Diamond Tooth Gerties for a show and a drink or two. The shows consist of a really great singer alternating between four can-can dancers. The singer and dancers come into the audience and interact. If you embarrass easy, better not sit up front, lol. I went to two of the three different shows they had and found my head inside one of the can-can dancers dresses at both shows (;=} Two guys found themselves on stages wearing dresses and dancing with the girls. You'll get exhausted just watching these very energetic girls dance. At one of the shows I sat with a couple, Jocelyn and Al, who just completed the Yukon Canoe Challenge. They paddled from Whitehorse to Dawson City in a mere 57 hours. Now that's incredible! Years ago I did the "General Clinton Canoe Race", 70 miles on the Susquehanna River from Otsego to Bainbridge, New York. I could barely stand after only a few hours of paddling. I can't imagine what these guys must be feeling after 57 hours, really remarkable!  I spent a few hours with a local First Nation Indian, touring the Yukon and Klondike Rivers in his skiff. We went to the local village of Mooseslide, we toured his winter camp a few miles down river, and we toured his cabin on an Dog Island in the middle of the Yukon River. He showed me his "fishwheel" from which he can catch over 1,000 salmon in a season. He needs so much fish just to feed his sled dogs! My guide began pointed out a series of caves across the river from Dawson City when a guy emerged from one of the caves and waved to us. It was "Dawson Bill"! He's been living in the caves for about 18 years. He fishes, hunts, or grows almost 100% of his own food, trading the excess of what he gets for other things he may need. Now that's a simple life, strange, but simple! The day before I was heading out I walked over to check out the ferry crossing the Yukon to get to the "Top of the World Highway". The RV line up was over four hours long. The day I left I packed up and got to the line at 6am! There were a couple of cars there but I was the only RV and got right on. The drive to the Canada/US border crossing was 3 hours and I got there just as they opened the border. Still, I had almost and hour's wait with the vehicles already there. Once across, it was another two hours to get to Chicken, Alaska. It took about 5 hours of total drive time to go the 110 miles. I've heard almost every RV'er who has been brave enough to drive this road talk of busted windshield and blown tires. It was pouring rain for the last part of my drive on the winding, narrow, steep, dirt, and gravel road. I stopped several times to take pictures and marvel at the incredible views. Going slow and easy and didn't have any problems as I left the Yukon Territory.

Northwest Territory

A new sticker for my RV map of states and provinces visited, Northwest Territory! I arrived about 5 minutes before closing. The managers of the 60th Parallel cg and visitor center, Eric and Vi, are fantastic people! they gave me a quickie tour and some literature on the territory, told me to feel free to park for free in front of the center, and invited me into their house! We sat around having coffee, telling stories, and looking at pictures of their home further north and their annual vacations to the Baja Peninsula of Mexico. In the morning they had fresh coffee waiting for me and a more thorough tour of the museum. They are a great introduction to the Northwest Territory. As I drove further north I stopped at the twin waterfalls of Louisa and Alexandria. It's amazing the volume of water that cascades over every minute of every day. Absolutely beautiful! The young kid at the Hay River visitor center had the door locked and was napping. He heard my knock and sleepily opened the door. It doesn't seem that there is much to do in this little town but I guess I'll have to wander around and see for myself. The cg is at the southern end of The Great Slave Lake. It's a huge lake, one of the largest and deepest in the world. It's June and the lake is still frozen with what appear to be icebergs floating a ways out. The local museum is a long walk from the cg but didn't have any signs facing the road I came down so I missed it and ended up at a dead end with some municipal workers taking road measurement. I worker I asked where the museum was turned out to be the museum docent's dad. The two teenagers staffing the museum gave me a very detailed, personal tour. They were obviously proud of knowing many of the local artists who paint, carve, create some very beautiful art work. I found a father/son who are establishing a private cg (as opposed to the territorial one I camped at). Their location is down a rough road which is off a dirt and gravel one. We chatted a bit and the son agreed to take me out ATV'ing along the lake shore and into the woods. He wanted to see the results of a major fire which burned several acres of the forest. It was lots of fun driving the ATV, equipped with larger tires than I was used to, over the many logs which accumulate along the lake shore. At times the logs were so huge the only way around was to break through the shore ice on our ATV's and go around. This was a very cool ride and different from other ATV'ing I've done. I went to the nearby Dene First Nation village to check it out. The young girl was very friendly and began showing me their various artifacts. When I asked a few questions she wasn't sure about she got the museum direct, Raymond Sonnafrere. He and I seemed to hit it off and we spent about two hours just chatting about life. Turns out he's the son of the current Chief of the Dene. He then took me for a ride around their village and gave me the names of the local chief's in the villages I was planning to visit. What a great afternoon I enjoyed.


The ride to Ft. Providence was only a couple of hours. On the way I took a short dirt road to the village of Kakisha where I met Chief George Simpson. He and another resident of this small village were working by a very pretty lake. The three of us stood around chatting a little. He shared with me that the village does have a gas pump but it's broken and they're waiting for parts. He also told me that they would normally be out fishing for the great pickerel in the lake but unfortunately the ice machine is broken so they wouldn't be able to keep the fish they would catch. Ahhh, the problems of a remote village (lol). I stopped again at the Lady Evelyn Falls. They are yet another waterfall along this route which is called "The Waterfall Route", lol! These falls were equally as impressive as the twin falls of Alexandria and Lousia earlier on this route. I caught a photo of them with a rainbow as well ;=)! The ferry across the MacKenzie to Ft. Providence is now gone, replaced by a bridge. Incredible views from the height of the suspension bridge, ice floes moving up the mighty MacKenzie. Just over the bridge I saw my first bison, three of them grazing by the river. The Ft. Providence Territorial cg is pretty sitting right along the river. Peter and his sister manage the cg but unfortunately told me they were completely full due to a bicycle race in the area. He was going to let me stay in an overflow area when another camper suddenly had to leave a day early. I got the site for free ;=)!! The drive to Yellowknife was absolutely incredible with bison along the road most of the 200 mile drive. At one point I saw a cloud of dust coming toward me and began to slow down. As I got closer I saw that it was a mini-stampede of about 25 to 30 bison. I came to a full stop as they roared from one side of the road to the other. I managed to get from photos of them as they charged past on my driver side. Absolutely magnificent! The road to Yellowknife is mostly a pretty good one, until the last 40 to 50 miles when the "whoop dee doos" began in earnest. Whoop dee doos are dips in the road that play havoc on cars and trucks and can darn near wreck an RV if you are going to fast. I slowed to about 30 mph on the 55 mph road. When I set up at the cg "stuff" was all over the floor of my RV. Fortunately, nothing broke. The Yellowknife cg was again by a little lake which even has a beach. Many locals play volleyball on the beach along with picnics and some fishing. The visitor center had a nice museum and video about the area and also let me use their WiFi. The center sits next to another lake with a trail around it and a large First Nation Cultural Center on the other side. Yellowknife is a fair sized city of just under 30,000. I discovered I've gotten less fond of cities and actually felt crowded. Kind of funny for a kid who grew up in New York City, lol! While in the area I drove to the end of the Ingram Trail. This is a very rough dirt and gravel road which leads about 20 miles or so, basically into a wilderness. At first I was surprised by the number of vehicles on this road, especially the number pulling row boats and other small craft. Over the 20 or so miles I bet I passed almost 50 lakes!


On my ride back toward Ft. Providence I again saw lots of bison, even though none stampeding. This time I actually had to pay for my site, oh well. The cg had a free barbecue for everyone which was great. I never did find out what the event was. Based on the number of bikers I guess it had something to do with their race. I thought the MacKenzie Highway was all dirt and gravel but it was actually paved and some of the best road I've been on. That is for the first 20 miles of so, then it got real rough, living up to its reputation. As rough as the road is I just slowed down and made sure to pull as far over as possible, coming almost to a full stop, whenever another vehicle passed in either direction. Most other drivers do likewise. Sambaa Da Falls Territorial Park is managed by Raymond and his wife Mavios. They came out to greet me as I drove in. Mavios gave me a tour of their little museum and Raymond let me pull into the park the wrong way so his water hose could reach my RV fill port. I marveled at all the knowledge Raymond has of the territory, rivers, falls, and especially wildlife. Mavios shared that outside of Northwest Territory he is referred to as "Rain Man" instead of Raymond. I took the two short hikes along the river to the two waterfalls, one upstream and the other downstream. This is yet another spectacular area! After another almost hour of rough road I came to the even rougher side road to Jean Marie River, a Dene village about 17 miles off the tough MacKenzie Highway. As I started down the road I realized it was barely more than a bull dozer track covered over by poured gravel mixed with a liquid calcium. At times the road was so soft my truck and RV would literally slide. The ruts and dips and bumps were incredible. Two small bridges over creeks were nothing more than planks and scared the heck out of me as I drove my combined nine tons over them. The 17 miles took about an hour. When I arrived my truck and RV looked like someone had intentionally caked them in dirt and mud! The village people are all Dene First Nation. It's a quaint little village right on the MacKenzie River. You can access Jean Marie by small boat, a short dirt airstrip, or the road I came down. They did have fuel (thank you, thank you) which is actually much less expensive than the rest of the territory since the First Nation is exempt from some fuel taxes. Their campground is a grassy field near the river with some picnic tables but no hook ups. Coming down the "road" (if you can call it that) I got a flat on the RV. The Dene road crew workers, without my even asking, showed up with a heavy duty jack and helped me change the tire. They came by later with some fresh caught pickerel and we had a picnic. It was very interesting to chat with them, that is until the bugs were enjoying us more than we were enjoying the great outdoors (lol).
The drive back out the Jean Marie road wasn't any better than the drive in but at least no second flat tire. After my side trip the MacKenzie Highway seemed like a super highway. I was surprised to find that the road is paved from the junction with the Liard Highway to the Ft. Simpson ferry. It was a pleasant change. The ferry crosses the Liard River going to the Ft. Simpson Island. I was the only one out of my vehicle chatting with the deck hand. He told me a little about the rivers, the island, the town, and where I should be able to get another spare tire. Once off the steep ferry embankment, the few miles into town was paved road. The cg is again right on the river, near the confluence of the Liard and MacKenzie Rivers. The are awesome rivers, almost a mile wide with very swift currents. Immediately after setting up the RV I went to the visitor center. They were very friendly, calling the tire shop and one of the two float plane operators in town. Simpson Air had a charter leaving for the Nahanni Park Preserve in a couple of hours, but they wanted "a lot" for the couple of hours flights. I also really needed to take care of getting a new spare tire before getting back to perhaps the roughest part of the MacKenzie Highway, heading to Ft. Liard. The tire shop didn't have any in stock but could get some if I ordered it in the next couple of hours. They could then order from Hay River and a truck could arrive by the next mid-day. On my way back to my RV to get the exact tire specifications I passed the second float plane operator, Wolverine Air. On a chance I stopped in. François and I were discussing possibilities for a flight when Jacques, the owner arrived. He is a 6' 4" gregarious, very friendly guy. He and I seemed to hit it off immediately. In minutes, we were sitting at his computer looking at google maps and telling each other stories of the many places we have travelled to. He and his wife enjoy RV'ing to the Las Vegas area. Jacques himself has truly travelled the world. He and I were in the Far East within a few years of each other. We have both also travelled extensively through Central and South America. We both have broken our right collar bone on motorcycle spills. It was incredible the number of coincidences we had. Lots of stories of people, places, and especially food. After a couple of hours I said I had to get to the tire store on time to order my tire. This of course prompted the story of the flat. I finally left and went to the tire store. As I was ordering the tire Jacques shows up. Of course as one of the major business owners in town everyone knew him. He asked the store not to place my order, telling me he had lots of trailer tires he could lend me. He has an airplane hanger operation in Ft. Nelson, where I'll be going in a few days, and I can drop off his tire there. I follow him back to his float plane operation, we load a tire in his truck, he drives me back to my RV to make sure it's the right size (it was). We left the brand new tire with the sticker still on it at my RV. While driving back to his shop he gets a call from François that they have a flight to Wrigley about to leave. Jacques asks me if I'd like to go (did he really need to ask?). In minutes I'm aboard with François at the controls and we're flying over the immense wilderness of the Northwest Territory. We fly up the MacKenzie River for about an hour, with a side detour over some incredible buttes. In every direction, as far as you can see from 3,000 feet in the air, there is wilderness, no town, roads, nothing right to the curve of the earth. There are so many lakes I doubt that they've all been explored or named. After landing at Wrigley for the errand we fly back along the eastern edge of the Nahanni Preserve. The preserve is over 11,600 square miles, that's larger than the entire state of Massachusetts!!! The mountains, called "The Unclimbables" are spectacular. The huge waterfall, the Virginia Falls, are about 300 feet high! This is an absolutely incredible land. When we get back, I find Jacques short handed in his effort to move two river docks about a half mile downstream. I insist on helping him. Five of us spent the rest of the afternoon moving and resetting the two docks he uses for his float planes. Two of his employees were on land using a truck to hold the docks in place. Another employee was on the docks, one at a time, throwing and securing rope lines. Jacques drove and maneuvered his boat while I threw, caught, and secured the rope lines from the docks. It was a beautiful day with a light breeze. Everyone else was working and I was having a great time (even if they said I was also working) :=))) After all our efforts, Jacques invited everyone back to his home for drinks and a barbecue. Tor already had a date. François was late for a baseball game. That left only Adrian and me. Jacques wife is just as incredibly nice as he is. It stays light out almost all night so it was after midnight before I realized what time it was. Before leaving Ft. Simpson I stopped by to say good by. Jacques insisted that I use his power washer to clean my truck and RV. I truly hope we cross paths again. I've met some great people in the Northwest Territory.
The ferry ride back was still a cool experience. As I got closer to the Liard Highway I began thinking that it couldn't be too bad after the MacKenzie Highway and especially the crazy road of sorts to Jean Marie River. My first concern as I turned onto the Liard Highway was the big sign and warned against any vehicle over 4,500 kg. For those not familiar with the conversion, that's a little less than 10,000 lbs. My truck and rig combined are over 18,000 lbs!! The RV by itself is about 12,000 lbs! Just when I'm wondering about the mess I'm getting into, a tandem fuel tractor/trailer approaches coming off the Liard. Oh well, if he can do it, so can I. Anyhow, the only road around adds about 1,000 miles. What the heck, here goes! The first several miles weren't to bad going about 40 mph. Just when I thought it would be okay, if a little slow, the road went to washboard and I dropped my speed to 20 mph. This is going to be a long drive. The scenery is very pretty and I passed lots of black bear. After only about 5 hours I finally got to the town of Ft. Liard. During the entire time only one truck passed me from the other direction and no one passed me from behind. Also, there wasn't a single cross road. This is real wilderness! The town is a small First Nation Dene village right on the river. The visitor center had a little museum of sorts and lots of local crafts. They had fuel (thank you, thank you), a small grocery store (I treated myself to an ice cream), and the campground on the river is actually free!! I was somewhat tired from the long drive on dirt and gravel. A little reading and an early last night in the Northwest Territories. Tomorrow I'll re enter British Colombia at Ft. Nelson.