Aug 7, Monday
Today dawned sunny, bright and fairly warm after the morning chill broke.
We left the river early this morning to take Jerry back to Anchorage airport. We stopped for breakfast at Gwin’s in Coopers Landing – this has rapidly become one of our favorite stops. The food is always good and the service cheerful and quick. Plus they make some of the best pancakes I have ever had!
We were sad to see Jerry leave….we wish he would have been able to stay a few more days, but we are glad for the time we had with him.
We met my brother for lunch, did a quick Costco run and the over to his house for the night. We are getting really good at backing that camper into his backyard! I bet he will be glad to see us head south. We picked his raspberries for him…well, I say we, but actually Al did most of the picking, I just ate them! Dick has loads of berries this year, I just hope they all ripen before frost. We froze some of them to take home with us…so we can enjoy them in the middle of the winter.
Aug.8 Tuesday
Back to the river today. It was another beautiful day. WOW – two in a row! We stopped at the wildlife preserve in Girdwood/Portage this afternoon on our way home. Saw moose, elk, caribou, musk ox, grizzly and brown bear, eagle, etc. I hate to see them penned up though.
The trip back to the river was uneventful, just beautiful weather and it was actually almost 80 degrees. I sat outside most of the evening just enjoying our view and the weather.
Aug. 9, Wed
Today I got to do my most favorite thing (not)…yup., you guessed it, laundry. Actually, the Laundromat I use in Sterling is very clean, well managed and there is an attendant there all of the time. Usually it is the owner who is there and we always have a good chat about the area. We missed a huge fire on Monday night..the old Sterling cannery burned. The fire department is labeling it as a suspicious fire….I guess the gossip is that the owner may have had the fire set. It has been a vacant building for a couple of years; after the cannery shut down it was used as a prefab builder for log homes..so there was plenty of sawdust for fuel for the fire. I am willing to bet this is the most excitement this community has seen for a long time!
It is cold, rainy and ugly again today. I guess it was too much to ask for 3 days of nice weather! We are ready to go home and hope we get some good weather. We are a little apprehensive of what we are going to find as far as gas prices go. After all of the nonsense of BP shutting down the pipe line, it is projected gas will be $5 a gallon in Canada. Great! It is interesting to hear what everyone around here has to say about the shut down….but the consensus is that BP has known for years there was a problem and didn’t do anything about it until now, when it can boost prices and gouge the consumer even more.
Aug 10 Thursday
We woke up to rain this morning…so what else is new? As much rain as this area has gotten this summer, it is a wonder anything could burn! Mold or rust yes, but burn?
We are packing today – my most unfavorite thing to do and I do it at least 3 times a year. I have the camper almost packed and Al is working on the trailer…I swear keeping that trailer neat and clean is almost impossible! And having to do it in the rain is not pleasant! We hope to leave here Saturday for Anchorage. The plan is we will spend the night there and then head to Valdez for a couple of days before heading south.
Locals are predicting an early winter here…snow by September…I want to be out of here soon.
Today another terrorist attack was foiled in London Heathrow airport….what has happened to our world? I don’t know why this has me so upset, but it does. Now we can’t carry on a airplane anything liquid or gel … which doesn’t bother me, I am one of the flying public that thinks you should only be able to carry on purses, laptops and ipods…not luggage. Not only do we have to remove our shoes during security checkpoint, now we can’t carry on a bottle of water. How sad this has become…and I am angry that our government can’t get this under control. WHY????? TSA asks you for your driver’s license, but how do they know it is real? It is so easy to get a fake ID so how do they know it is real????? We are at war and we should be ready to accept the inconvenience when flying….I personally don’t mind the extra security. Nuff said.
Aug 12 Soggy Friday
OKAY---so enough of the rain! I feel like a duck---web feet and all! It has rained constantly and hard since 8:30 last night…it is now noon and hasn’t let up AT ALL! I AM SICK AND TIRED OF RAIN AND COLD…I AM READY TO GO HOME! We are supposed to be loading the trailer today. Almost everything is packed with the exception of things we need for today and tonight. However, neither of us have any desire to go out and get the trailer hooked up and get soaked in the process. Loading won’t take long, if the rain would just quit for a few minutes! Even the cats and dogs don’t want to go out, which is unusual as Jose (aka Houdini) has been trying to get out on his own without the benefit of a leash, for the last 2 months! I think we are all fed up with wet, cold and gray! One good thing about rain here is while it is raining the mosquitos go into hiding…however, the minute it stops raining they come out in combat squadrons ready to attack!
Jennifer and Beverly are in New York City together for a few days and I sure do wish I was with them. They are having a great time sightseeing and shopping, however, I am not sure I could keep up with those two anymore! Poor Stephen will be exhausted when those two leave!
A little later in the day…….
I went into town to have a leak in the camper fixed…it seems to leak on my side of the bed and I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping in a lake. While they were working on the camper I downloaded my email only to find out my sister was in the hospital. Apparently she had heart attack like symptoms and our family with the history of heart problems we tend to take the symptoms seriously! After several tests that have came back negative and the doctors can find nothing wrong with her heart she is being released to go home tomorrow. Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago…so who knows what is going on! All I know is she is okay and nothing appeared on the tests….whew!
Beau is doing great. I have his meds cut down to one a day and he seems to be doing fine with it. I will take him to our vet when we reach Odessa and I will also call our vet in Tucson as well. He is very interested in playing ball again and is active as ever…and on the look out for moose! Schuster is still playing “mother hen” however.
It is now 8:30 p.m. and we had a about a 45 minute break from rain this afternoon and we got the trailer loaded so tomorrow all we have to do is the last minute things and hook up the trailer, plus I will have the cleaning task before we leave. Our nephew is going to winterize the trailer for us this year as my brother may want to use it for a few days later this month.
It is still raining like mad out and has most of the day. Locals are getting their boats ready…..and this rain can only remind me of the “Galoshes Please” story of a few years ago…quit laughing Nancy, Eva, Donna and Ted! I am so ready for sun and warm!
Aug. 12 Saturday
We woke up to rain, nothing new. However it was more of a "Seattle Mist" so we finished our last minute loading, got the trailer out of it's "storage" and finally got off from the river about noon. It rained all the way to Coopers Landing and then it was just cloudy into Anchorage.
Elmendorf AFB is having it's air show this weekend and my brother lives fairly close to base, so we were able to stand in his driveway and see the Thunderbirds pass over. It still fascinates us to watch them.
My nephew and my niece came over for dinner tonight and we said so long to them until next summer. We will leave in the morning for Valdez for a couple of days, then get serious about heading home. We would like to be home by the 25th or so.
It is raining again as I type this...and it is about 10:30 p.m. and it is getting dark outside already. When the days start getting shorter up here you can really notice it....there is still a lot of daylight hours, getting light about 4:00 a.m. but last month at this time it wasn't even getting dark....at all.
So we are "On the Road Again" tomorrow.......
Aug 13, Sunday Glenallen, AK
We made it this far today after leaving Anchorage around noon. We just took our time this morning and visited with Dick a little longer.
It was an uneventful trip to Glenallen over the Glenn Highway. The Matanuska glacier was spectacular as always…stopped and took a couple of pictures, but it was cold and rainy (so what else is new?) so we kept on moving. We got into the “Boardwalk” RV Park (Cortney, you will remember this one) and got set up, cooked dinner. Then I took the dogs for a long walk, came back and tried to get on the wifi system at the RV park, but it was down .
Aug. 14 Monday Valdez, AK
Woke up this morning to rain, as usual. This has been a soggy trip! We finally headed towards Valdez taking our time going down Hwy 4. Very pretty trip, following along the Alaska Pipeline. Saw two glaciers, the Worthington and Mile glaciers….and some beautiful water falls, two in particular were Bridal Veil Falls (wonder how many Bridal Veil falls there are in the world???) and Horsetail Falls. Drove through Keystone Canyon, which is very dramatic with the high vertical rock sides on both sides of the road. And Ted and Shirley, we found another “hill” that rivals the hill down to Skagway! Not quite as steep, but scary none the less. And yes, we have to climb out of here when we leave!
Arrived to something new….FOG! And of course, rain, rain and more rain! I know there are suppose to be beautiful mountains on 3 sides of this town, however, you couldn’t prove it by me as you can’t see anything!!! We are supposedly parked right next to Prince Williams Sound, but again, I can’t see it!
After getting set up we walked to town, which is about 2 long blocks away. There is a Safeway here, and not much else as far as stores go. A lot of gift shops and a few restaurants. We had lunch at Alaska Halibut Hut, and the halibut was good, but not great. Then we went to the museum, which had a lot on the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 and the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964 where this town was wiped out. The original town site of Valdez is 4 miles from where the town is now. Again, the entire town was moved to safer ground. There is a shop in town that shows a video on the earthquake and I sat through part of it. Al came back to the camper, I walked around town in the rain/fog just to see what was here. I sure wish we could see the mountains around us.
We scheduled a boat trip on Prince William Sound tomorrow. I can only hope the weather will be a little better.
Aug 15 Valdez
Rain, rain, more rain….72 hours of straight rain, no stop. Valdez is a warm water port so it is known for its boats, fishing and harbor…however; local boat builders are busy converting their shops into ark building! Good heavens, does the rain ever stop?
We went ahead and went on the shorter of the two cruises on Prince William Sound, even though it rained all of the time and we didn’t get to see the mountains. However we did see lots and lots of bald eagles perched in tree’s trying to stay dry (HA); Stellar Sea Lions; and three Orca’s that put on a wonderful show, We had a family, a big male (papa), a cow (mama) and a calf (baby) but no Goldilocks! The Orca’s stayed with the boat for over an hour. We also saw a lot of beautiful waterfalls (go figure!) however, on some because of the overcast we couldn’t see the top of them. We cruised around plenty of ice bergs as well…but couldn’t see Columbia glacier due to the rain/fog! We did see Shoup glacier on the way back to port but this glacier is way back in and we couldn’t get very close. We did hear a lot about the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and saw where it happened and what they have done to prevent another oil spill of that magnitude.
After we got back and took the dogs for a walk, we walked 2 blocks to town and had lunch at Ku Fung a pretty good Chinese Restaurant. And yes, it is still raining.
Aug. 16 Wed. Tok, Alaska
We left Valdez in the pouring rain, and it managed to rain on us most of the day. Up over Thompson Pass, back into Glenallen. We stopped for lunch in Glenallen and met a couple from Puyallup who were traveling in a camper just like us. They were pretty much ready to be home and out of the camper as well. We could only agree. We have noticed the leaves are starting to change colors on a lot of the trees and there is definitely a nip in the air of Autumn. Even the weather forecasters (guessers) say Autumn is on the way.
From Glenallen we took the Tok Cutoff.,..same road that had been destroyed by an earthquake a few years ago. On our way to Alaska a couple of months ago it was really bad with lots of construction and frost heaves. Well, some of it has improved…we had about 8 miles of new paved highway; 50 miles of old highway with all the frost heaves, etc; 20 miles of old road that had been patched and the patched portions were great, the other was horrible and 45 miles of gravel road under construction. It took us longer to travel the 45 miles than it took us to travel the previous 80 miles. The road from hell! Lots of delays, waiting for oncoming traffic on one lane roads, etc.
We arrived in Tok to a very strange site…sun! Yes, we had sun for a while this afternoon…long enough for us to get settled in our RV park and for me to take the dogs on a much needed walk and ball session.
Beau has had a little of a relapse, however I put him back on his full dose of Prednisone and he seems to be better today. I just hate keeping him on the Prednisone for any length of time. But he played ball as he always has tonight.
We will be heading into Canada tomorrow so our cell will be on, but I won’t be answering it. If you need to reach us in an emergency call Jennifer and she knows how to reach us. If not, we will catch up with you when we reach Odessa. We will be checking email however, so don’t stop emailing us! Aug 17 Thurs Haines Junction, YT
We left Tok around 10:00 this morning heading east and south….officially on the way home. The campground in Tok was very nice and the showers and restrooms were extremely clean.
The road between Tok and Haines Junction isn’t any better than it was last June. Frost heaves and lots of pot holes, patches, etc. The truck, camper and trailer didn’t fair any better going this way either. The trailer looks like someone picked it up and turned it upside down! When opening anything in the camper you watched for falling/flying objects…everything is scrambled!
We lost an hour today, so we didn’t get into the campground until 6:00 p.m. We are at the Kluane RV park and it is a nice park. Fortunately, we are parked right next to the office and laundry so I took advantage and did a couple loads of laundry. I think I am addicted to Laundromats! At any rate, we have great wifi service here and it’s free. Last night there was a charge for wifi…first time we have encountered that.
I took the dogs for a long walk this evening and didn’t have any trouble with mosquitos (I think they have had their fill of me!) however, I did encounter some nasty little black flies that take huge hunks out of you and hurt like crazy when they bite. Now I have a new enemy to battle! Whoopee!
SUN! We had sun all day and no rain! We did have some clouds, but the sun did our hearts good. I didn’t say it was warm however. Still have on long sleeves, jeans, socks and shoes! For those who know me well, know I hate socks and closed toed shoes…however they are a necessity here.
Critter count: 1 live squirrel, 1 squished squirrel and 1 bear
Aug 18 Friday, Watson Lake, YT
After leaving this morning we drove in beautiful sunshine most of the day. Roads were much better today. Stopped in Whitehorse for a quick trip to Walmart and had lunch at Pizza Hut. I drove for a while, then we stopped at Johnson Creek for a break and Al drove from there on as we had to cross a bridge that I definitely didn't like; it’s high and being worked on so very narrow. ULP…not my cup of tea.
Arrived in Watson Lake around 6:00 p.m. and I took the dogs for a walk and got a gazillion mosquito bites -- here we go again. Sunny, but cool and there is a definite hint of fall in the air.
Critter count: 1 moose and 2 squirrel
Aug 19 Sat. Ft. Nelson
We managed to make it to Ft. Nelson in one shot today…no delay’s in Toad River. Matter-of-fact we breezed right past Toad River, waving as we went by.
This part of the trip is always so pretty…and scary. We have Summit Pass to go over, very narrow, no guard rails, and lots of switchback curves. And the added hazard of Stone Sheep and Caribou on the road way. And they didn’t disappoint us…we saw over 30 Stone Sheep and one lonely Caribou, which I might add, is the ONLY Caribou we have seen this trip.
It is moose hunting season and we have decided the moose have packed their bags and have moved further into the woods, or have gone to Vegas, one of the two! We were talking to one of the highway construction crew today (as we sat and waited for “our turn” to go) and he said he hasn’t seen a moose in over a week…right after hunting season opened.
Roads are much better this stretch, however, lots of road construction and delays. But less frost heaves and pot holes as big as Texas. And the mosquitos are back in full force. I slept with one last night and have several bites today. Just as I was recovering from all the previous bites.
No television tonight…last night we were watching KHQ out of Spokane in Watson Lake. This RV park has no television, and the wifi is poor at best. I finally gave up trying to get on line. However, as I say that, we have really been fortunate to find wifi just about everywhere…and in places least expected!
Weather is beautiful today. Warm, sunny, bright with a few clouds……SUN!
Critter count: 30 Stone Sheep, 1 lonely caribou and plenty of mosquitos
Aug. 20, Sunday, Chetwynd, BC
Originally we had planned on going as far as Dawson Creek today…however, on our way from Ft. Nelson to Dawson Creek, we noticed this highway 29---cut off to Chetwynd and by passing Dawson Creek. It actually cuts off quite a few miles/kilometers as well. We said “why not?” So when we reached Ft. St. John we made a quick right turn on Hwy 29 and found ourselves on a beautiful drive. Very slow as the road is narrow and curvy, but oh, so, gorgeous! This highway took us right down along the Peace River and into Peace River valley. The leaves are starting to turn a bright yellow and beside the green fir and the beautiful river, it was a wonderful drive. We made a quick stop in Hudson Hope for fuel (it was actually cheaper here than anywhere else we have been!) Crossed the river and on to Moberly Lake and into Chetwynd. The road was actually very good, most of it recently paved, so it was a pleasure to travel on a smooth road. And the weather was glorious....and it was actually 83 degrees...off with the socks and long sleeves! yea!
We made a decision today to stay in a motel tonight and stretch our legs. We are staying in a new Days Inn and they gave us a suite for the price of a regular room! I have no idea why, they asked if we would like a complimentary upgrade and we jumped on it. I think we must have looked pretty bedraggled! The cats are staying in the camper tonight, much to their dismay, but the dogs are in our suite with us. And suite it is….complete with living room, kitchen (full), king size bed and a whirlpool tub that I am going to take advantage of very soon. We are watching the Seahawks smack the Colts and I am convinced Autumn is here – at least in northern BC!
Our plans are to be home by Thursday or before. If all goes well, tomorrow we should be south of Prince George, probably Clinton for the night and then Osoyoos the next night. We are so ready to be home for a few weeks. Even the animals want to get out and play and not be tethered to leashes!
I’m off to the whirlpool tub…………………………
Critter count: 8 deer
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