Seward, Alaska

Fish anyone?

We made the trip from Whittier to Seward on Tuesday.  We stopped along the way to hike around a lake and to fish in a couple of others.  I did catch a fish but I'm not telling how big it was.  It was small.  This part of Alaska is our favorite.  The mountains, glaciers, streams and lakes give you the feeling you are driving in the midst of a National Geographic Magazine.  Everywhere you point the camera, it is stunning.

A cruise ship snunk in while we were sleeping.  I don't know what they will do in Whittier all day.  There are about 4 restaurants and a gift shop in town.  You can see all of it in about one hour.

Seward is another waterfront community.  It is named after the senator who pushed for the purchase of Alaska.  Back then it was known as Seward's folly.  Who would pay all that money for nothing but snow and ice?  Alaska turned out to be one of the richest places on earth.  Seward had the foresight to see that.  The Russians would like to have it back.  Remnants of the Russian culture are everywhere.  It is an ingrained part of Alaska as inseparable as snow and ice.

One unusual thing about Alaska is that all the beautiful waterfronts aren't covered with condos and high priced hotels.  I guess the season is too short to attract enough business to support those ventures.  The chamber of commerce in Seward has made the entire waterfront an RV campground.  We are lined up here for about a mile along the waterfront.  We have a million dollar view for just $15.00 per night.  There are bike paths all over town so it is easy to get around.  The path runs right in front of our RV between us and the water.  We sit up front watching the birds, sea otters, boats and people passing by.  It is cheap entertainment and it never gets boring.

I think the sea otters are employees of the city.  They swim back and forth in front of the campground all day long.  They lie on their backs cracking clams.  They they roll and spin and look at you like they want your approval.  They are real hams for the camera too.  They stay just feet off the beach so you can get a good shot.

Buddy takes a swim.

The weather is colder than our winter most of the time.  Alaskans tell us this is normal summer for them.  The occasional sunny warm day is much too warm for them.   Today it was in the mid 50s most of the day.  Tonight it may go down to the upper 30s.  We came here to escape the hot Florida summer.  We accomplished our task.  The odd thing is, we are actually getting used to it.  When the sun comes out it does feel too hot.  A guy with a parachute just when by on water skis.  The chute is pulling him along.  We aren't ready to get in the water yet.

 We when down to the docks last evening when the fishing boats came in.  They caught hundreds of halibut, rock fish, code and salmon.  We would like to go on a fishing trip but we don't know what we would do with all that fish.  Our freezer is the size of a large shoebox.  I have done the next best thing.  I am fishing from shore in front of the motor home.  Two guys fishing out there earlier caught a couple of nice halibut and a silver salmon, also known as coho.  They gave me the rest of their bait as they were leaving.  They showed me how to rig up my pole.

I stood out there fishing at low tide as the tide started coming back in.  I was on a large rock.  In just a matter of minutes my rock was surrounded with water.  There are warnings about how fast the tide comes in here.  A fisherman could get stranded.  I am a believer.

Kenai Lake

We will stay here for several days.  Then we plan to go over to Soldotna and the Kenai River.  The red salmon are supposed to start running in a week or so.  I would like to give it a try.  The fishermen are lined up shoulder to shoulder along the riverbank.  The fish swim by in thick schools.  The object is to snag one in the mouth.  They are not interested in eating when they go up to spawn.  You can only catch one if you snag it but the rules are you must snag it in the mouth or you have to throw it back.  The rule is strickly enforced.  

View out our window.

Pioneer Park

We visited Pioneer Park in Fairbanks today.  Pioneer Park is maintained by the Pioneer Club of Fairbanks known as Igloo #4.  The Pioneer Club started around the turn of the century.  You had to have been in Alaska before 1888 to be a member.  The first club was in Nome.  It later admitted other Igloos.  I suppose to be a member today you must be able to prove your ancestors were pioneers in Alaska.

The Club has preserved many artifacts of local history and they are on display at the park.  We spent several hours touring the facility.  They have fully restored the Nenana.  It was the largest paddle wheel river boat to serve the Nenana and Yukon Rivers.  It was a vital link for the wilderness settlements along the rivers.

They also have displays and artifacts from the gold mining days in early Fairbanks.  Mining was a very difficult life.  Looking at old photos of miners, it is obvious that comfort of any kind was nonexistent.  Those gold seekers had to be more enthused about finding gold than I would have been.

Darlie saw this washer and now she wants a new one.

The park has a miniature golf course, railroad museum, airplane museum and a native art center.  Admission is free.  Donations are accepted at some of the displays.  The airplane museum has a fare of $3.00 for adults. They have reconstructed an old settlement that would resemble a mining town.  There are dance halls, churches and stores of various kinds.  Some of the buildings are actual buildings that have been brought to the site and reconstructed.  For those in campers, you can camp in the parking lot for a fee.  They also have a dump station but no other services.

Dog sled for freight 

We are camped in a state recreation area in the city tonight.  It is on the banks of the Chena River.  I walked down to the stream with my fish pole to pass some time casting a lure around.  The river has grayling in it.  You can only catch and release them.  That takes some of the thrill out of fishing.  I didn't catch anything but I did have a rather large fish follow my lure up to the bank.  They tell me in a couple more weeks the salmon will be running.  They tell me I should fill my freezer.  That won't take long because our freezer is just a bit larger than a pack of cigarettes.

This is a foot powered dentist drill.  You would have to be really liquored up to let the doctor work on you with this thing.

Buddy is shedding really bad.  Everything is covered with hair.  She is having a good time though.  We put up with it because we love her.  It rains about once an hour.  The ground is always muddy.  She tracks in all kinds of crap.  It is impossible to keep this place clean.  It is also very cool.  Our daily highs are only in the 50s.  We rarely see the sun.  When you do, it is only a quick flash and it is gone.  It feels warm though.  If it would clear off I think it would be 75 or 80.

A major ground cover here is the wild rose.  They were all in bloom a week ago.  Now the rose hips are turning a deep burgundy color.  Rose hips are used in jams, jellies, herbal tea and can be eaten whole.   They are high in vitamin C.  Some claim they have healing power for various aliments as they have antioxidants in them.

We many stick around here for another day.  Some people camped right across from us tonight are from a place in Florida called Cape Coral.  What a surprise it was for all of us to find out we are neighbors.  We have met several people from Florida but none who live so close to us.  They told us about a city of ice or something that we just have to go see.  We will get directions tomorrow and check it out.

We Made It

This is a father’s day I will never forget.  We made it to Alaska today.  We were both so excited to see that welcome sign as we crossed the international border.  A young man from Saul Palo Brazil was standing in front of the sign taking photos of himself.  He said it had taken him 50 days to drive on his motorcycle to Alaska.  He was very excited.

Cape Coral to Alaska in 27 Days

Saul Palo Brazil to Alaska in 50 Days

We took photos of each other by the sign and the international border.  You can’t appreciate our jubilation because you didn’t ride the last 100 miles of the highway in the Yukon.  It took us four hours from Haines Junction.  We couldn’t drive much over 25 to 30 MPH much of the way.  There were huge frost heaves, holes and other hazards I don’t know how to describe.  You can’t count on the little markers that are posted to point out frost heaves.  The biggest ones often had no marking at all.  I learned to spot them by watching the lines on the highway.  If they got wavy up ahead that meant there were heaves up ahead.

Notice the frost heave just ahead.  If you are going 50 mph here you are going to break something.

Some of the road was completely torn up, pavement and all.  Miles of it, in fact.  We came across a couple from Arcadia, Fl. stopped along the road just north of Beaver Creek.  They had just entered the hazardous zone from Alaska.  They didn’t drive this road coming up.  I think they took the ferry.  They hit a huge frost heave and broke the tow bar on their pickup truck and the tailgate dropped causing them to almost lose the motorcycle sitting in the back of the truck.  Their eyes were as large as saucers.  They were very shaken by what had just happened to them.  They almost lost the truck and the motorcycle.  He said the tow bar was holding by a thread when they stopped.  His wife was going to drive the truck to the nearest town in hopes of fixing the tow bar.

He asked me how much farther this type of driving went to the south.  I said 100 miles.  He looked at me in disbelief.  They had just entered the bad area and thought this must be the worst of it.  We thought it was pretty easy going at this point but didn’t tell them that.  We didn’t want them to collapse right there.

The road is bad but the view is beautiful.

We saw people driving way faster than they should the entire way.  We also saw the tow truck picking up one motor home and the guy that does welding in another place.   The road can fool you.  It looks good in many places.  The frost heaves are not really apparent unless you are looking for them.  The lady from Arcadia said she hit her head on the ceiling when they hit the heave that did them in.  We passed it a short distance later and I have no doubt it nearly catapulted her through the roof.  We had been driving slowly and we were bouncing around like the ladies in the cancan line at the Frantic Follies in Whitehorse.

We heard the story of another guy with a brand new motor home who hit a frost heave way too fast and ripped the cabinets right off the wall.  You can do some real damage on this section if you aren’t careful.

But let me say this.  The entire highway through Canada was in better shape than any of the interstates in the U.S..  They are very well maintained.  Except for the last one hundred miles the Alaska Highway is a pussy cat.  The reason the last bit is so bad is due to the type of terrain it traverses.  It is made up of gravel and glacial deposits that hold large quantities of water.  It freezes and thaws and that isn’t good for the road up on top.  Engineers and scientist have been trying to come up with a paving method that would hold up for many years but to date nothing they have tried has worked.  We saw one area that looked like another experiment.  They had dozen of pipes sticking up out of the ground like stacks possibly to ventilate the ground under the highway.  If it worked, it would be a very costly remedy.  It would take millions of these things to line the whole 100 miles.

I can’t tell you the excitement to see our first 35 MPH speed limit sign.  After 6 days of reading everything in kilometers seeing that first sign of America was sweet.  Our next joy came at the first gas stop.  It was just $4.50 per gallon for cash.  That is more than a dollar a gallon less than what we had been paying.  

There is one long stretch from Ft. Nelson to Watson Lake where there are only little outpost gas stations.  We only hold 40 gallons so I set my driving limit at 200 miles to have a safety margin.  We can go between 280 and 320 miles depending on our fuel mileage at any given time.  The distance between these two places is right at my limit.  That meant I had to fuel up at an outpost in between to be safe.  It is a long walk through empty land with bears everywhere.  I wouldn’t want to be running out of gas.

I had to pay $192.9 for a liter of gas at the outpost.  That figures to be $7.33 Canadian per US gallon.  That doesn’t include the exchange rate which would make it more like $8.00 per gallon.  Most places we paid $5.50 to $.6.00 per gallon.  Americans whine about $3.85.  

Everything in Canada is expensive compared to the US.  We think it is bad at home because we don’t know what others are paying for the same goods and services.  Even taking away the disparity dollar, the cost in Canadian is high.  Our friend from Saul Palo agreed.  Canada was the most expensive place he traveled through.

I picked up a few, "I drove the Alaska Highway and Survived",  bumper stickers today.  I earned them believe me.  That last 80 miles was terrible.  Many people bust hitches, springs, axles and all kinds of things on that stretch.  Years ago the whole highway used to be that bad.   We are in for repairs ourselves.  We will probably be a couple of days at least.  They have to fly parts in to this area.  We are talking remote.

We met some nice folks along the way and we are still having fun.  This photo is an example of Alaskan lawn ornaments.  The sign reads, "Alaska Beautification".   Most people seem to have a large collection of junk vehicles to decorate their lawns.  

Teslin, Yukon

It’s raining.  It has been most of the night.  At least we slept well.  Darlie covered our bedroom windows with thick heavy blankets to keep the light out.  We were in bed at eight.  We were both worn out from lack of sleep.  I slept right through until seven.  How sweet it is.

The weather up here is very fickle.  As you travel along, you run through cold showers where the temperature drops dramatically.   Then in a few minutes you are in bright sunshine with temperatures in the 70s.  You can get sprinkles anytime.

The Sign Forest at Watson Lake

This RV park is supposed to have wifi but the signal is very weak.  It would probably work if I went up to the office.  I am not going to do that in the rain.  So far, the parks we have stopped at have had very good wifi.  This is the first where it has been unsatisfactory.  

We are in Teslin, Yukon.  The RV park is right on a lakeshore.  They have full service such as fuel, propane, laundry, restaurant, motel and even a museum on local history.  The campsites are nothing to write home about but they are adequate.

We were so exhausted when we got here yesterday, I decided to take Darlie out to dinner to avoid the chore of cooking and cleanup.  There wasn’t much on the menu other than an assortment of sandwiches and a variety of huge hamburgers ranging in price from $9.99 to $16.99.  On check in, the young woman told me they had a chicken dinner special beginning at five o’clock.  We opted for the chicken dinner special.  It came with one side; French fries, potato salad, garden salad or broccoli cheese soup.  Darlie took the soup and I took the fries.  

Our dinner arrived in short order.  I had a huge plate of home cut fries with three pieces of fried chicken perched on top.    The chicken was a scrawny little thing.  He was probably doing all he could to survive on the tundra when they came along and removed his head to feed a Yankee tourist.  I felt sorry for the little guy but gobbled him down with little guilt.

Darlie said the soup was delicious.  The chicken was a bit greasy but it sure tasted good after being on the road all day.  Besides, were we tired and this was not time to complain about the food.  You have to consider where you are in the world.  There are no supermarkets or big restaurant supply companies.  This is Mom and Pop country where they try to feed you and treat you with down home hospitality.  They were very gracious and friendly.  Though I may jest about the meal, I don’t mean to demean these people.  They offered us the best they have in this remote part of the world and we enjoyed it immensely.

It is time to get Darlie up.  We need to get on the road for Whitehorse and beyond today.  We have been five days since arriving in Canada and it looks like we have the better part of two more to make it to Alaska.  Some of the worst road is just ahead of us.  I don’t expect to make very good time once we hit the area of frost heaves and broken pavement.  The reports we are getting say it is very bad and we have to go very slowly.

The Teslin area is beautiful.  The Teslin River is very large passing right through town.  The surrounding landscape is dotted with lakes of various sizes.  All are reported to have a large variety of fish for the catching.

I was visiting with a local Tlingit native this morning.  He said the best time of year to see wildlife near the highway is in May.  Last month the caribou were standing in the road like cattle.  This time of year they have moved on up into the mountains where they will birth their young.  We visited for sometime about his youth and various jobs he has held up here.  He told me of running his trap lines in the winter months and how game seems to be scare this year.  As we were parting ways, he turned to me and wished me a happy father’s day.  I had forgotten what day it was let alone that it was father’s day.

We are in Whitehorse right now.  Darlie is in the drugstore looking for something.  Whitehorse is a historic village and capital of the Yukon.  Dawson City had held that honor until so many people moved away from there.  Whitehorse is home to the SS Klondike, one of the old riverboats used in the gold rush days.  You also can be entertained by the Frantic Follies.  Both of which we have done when we were here in 2003.  If you are traveling up this way, be sure to put Whitehorse on your list of places to stop.  The Alaska Highway bypasses downtown so be sure to go through town.  

SS Klondike

The Alaska Highway

It rained very hard all night.  It felt good snuggled down in a deep pile of blankets listening to it beat on the roof.  We awoke to still more rain and fog.  When I went to put our doormat away, I found a large group of earthworms had taken up residence there during the night.  They were promptly evicted.  Darlie thought I should put some in some coffee grounds in case I wanted to go fishing somewhere.  Try explaining that to US Customs when we enter Alaska.  Oh, That's just our worm farm.

Visibility was only a few feet at times as we made our way through the mountains on Rt 40.  I have found Canadian roads to be very good and well marked.  I also like the fact they make frequent use of guardrails.  Something not found very often in the lower Rockies in the States.

Not a great photo but you get the idea.

This whole area is moose habitat.  We tried to keep an eye out for them as they cross the road frequently in this area.  Hitting a moose would put an end to our trip.  We saw a dead cow and a young bull moose along the road but no live ones showed themselves.

Gas prices in Alberta are the lowest in Canada.  We have been  paying $112.9 to $121.9.  That translates to approximately $4.29 to $4.63 in Canadian dollars per US gallon.  With the exchange rate it will be a bit more in US dollars.

In British Columbia we have paid $125.9 to $131.9.  That translates to approximately $4.78 to $5.01 Canadian per US gallon.  We are told we will be paying as high as 150.9 per litter further up the road.  That translates to $5.78 Canadian per US gallon.  We Americans complain too much about fuel costs.  Our prices are bargains to Canadians.  Their economy seems to be buzzing along just fine even with the higher gas prices.  I think we are fed too much poop from Washington.

When we got to Dawson Creek, BC today, we wanted to stop at the marker for the beginning of the Alaskan Highway for a photo op.  A nice young lady jumped out of her car and came over to volunteer to take our photo for us.  She has been living in Alaska for sometime and is now moving back to the lower 48.  She had several kids in the car.  We sensed she had some marital problems which were her reason for leaving Alaska.  She was headed back to family.  We will remember her and her family in our prayers tonight.

Now only another 1500 miles or so and we will be in Alaska

While visiting with her she gave us a road report.  She said the road is horrible up around Haines Junction towards Delta Junction in Alaska.  She said we would have to go very slowly with the motor home.  There are big holes and mud everywhere.

Learning to live with mud is part of the experience in driving to Alaska.  It rains a lot up here this time of year.  Someone told us to pack all our old towels, blankets and bedspreads for the trip.  They would come in handy to cover everything when we got into the muddy areas.  This has proven to be very good advice.  We have everything covered with old towels and sheets to catch as much of the goo as possible.  We have towels on the floor over the carpets.  They are easily changed daily and washed with the laundry later.  Buddy is getting used to having her feet wiped before she comes in.  At first she didn't like it much but she has learned it is going to be the routine.

We are camped in Fort St John at a Rotary Club campground on Lake Charles.  It is a very neat well kept campground.   But for those who are interested, there is a Walmart in about every town of any size all along the way.  It is just like back home.

It stays light up here nearly all night.  We are getting close to the longest day of the year.  I will have to take a photo at 3:00 AM to show you how light it is.  Darlie puts blankets over the windows so she can sleep.

Jasper National Park

Today we continued our drive through Banff and Jasper Parks.  We stopped at Lake Louise.  It is heralded as one of the most scenic areas in the park.  It did not disappoint.  The beautiful emerald green water stretched to the base of a mountain blanketed in heavy white snow.  Hundreds gathered along the shoreline for group photos.  Others just stood looking in awe.

Lake Louise

Shortly after leaving Lake Louise, we turned on to Rt 93 for the trip up through Jasper National Park.  Jasper has a whole different feel than Banff.  It is wild and remote.  Little traffic is on the highway.  We saw moose, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats and a black bear ran across the road right in front of us.  We saw more wildlife here in a few hours than we did in Yellowstone in two days.

This is a spectacular park.  You can only take so many photos of stunning snow capped peaks, mountain streams and emerald colored lakes.  Around every bend in the road is a new vista more stunning than before.  Small glaciers hang from many peaks.

Crow's Foot Glacier

  

We stopped at the Columbia Icefields.  There you can walk right up to the base of the Athabasca Glacier.  Words cannot describe this experience.  Our Glacier National Park has a few of the small glaciers like you see on many of the peaks here but it does not have what I would call a real glacier.  Athabasca fits the description perfectly.  

Athabasca Glacier

We continued on through Jasper the rest of the day.  After leaving the park in late afternoon we turned on to Rt 40 to Grand Prairie, Alberta.  The road is very good most of the way.  You are in remote woodlands.  Logging is the major industry in the area.  Little signs of habitation are evident from the highway.  You really feel alone in the world.

We stopped to watch a cow moose with her calf munching grass along a stream.  Darlie got some good close up video.  

Jasper Highway View

We made our camp in a municipal campground in Grande Cache, Alberta.  This small town was the site where the trappers in the early 1800s would store their beaver pelts until they could transport them out for sale.  They build stilt structures to store the pelts in.  They were called caches in French meaning a storage place.  It is raining tonight.  We feel cozy and warm in the old bread truck while listening to the rain on the roof.

Purple Vetch

I have to say at this point, driving to Alaska is the greatest RV adventure of all time.  This can’t be beaten anywhere in the world. The northern Rocky Mountains are beautiful beyond description.  I can only imagine what the next few weeks hold for us as we explore the great north country of Canada and Alaska.

My Relief Driver