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.