Down to Dawson Creek and on to Beaver Lodge, AB

We left Sikanni River RV and had to immediately wait for the pilot car to get on the highway as the road crew started right there. We headed down the highway without any animal sightings. We did another cinnamon roll tasting at the Shepherd Inn and decided these were the best of the 4 or 5 that we tasted! We stopped for fuel at Dawson Creek where we had started our ALCAN Highway experience on Sunday, August 5th and traveled 3818 miles on the round trip. We were back in Dawson Creek Tuesday, August 28th.

Leaving Dawson Creek, we headed down the road into Alberta and lost an hour--Leigh and Herb are on their right time zone. We headed for Beaver Lodge, AB and you will see the big beaver statue that is in the center of town. We were spending the night at some friends of Leigh and Herb and had a delightful time and an excellent dinner.






After breakfast we headed down the road to Edmonton, AB. However driving through Grande Praire a rock hit the driver's side of the Howard's RV and put a big circular crack about at eye level which was quite devastating! Fortunately we made it the rest of the way to Edmonton and are staying at the Glowing Embers RV Park. It is a large park with about 300+ sites most of which are full. It is close to the West Edmonton Mall which is the huge mall with amusement parks, 100 restaurants, wave pool, skating rink and much, much more.

The day was cooler than yesterday and the wind is blowing!


Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Mucho lake and Sikanni River

We left Teslin, YU in a drizzly rain that lasted most of the morning. We were planning to stop at Watson Lake for some souvenirs. The store didn't open until noon so we fixed lunch in front of the library. Leigh and Marilyn went shopping at the variety store and then the grocery store. We were pleasantly surprised at how well stocked the grocery store was.
We were fortunate to see a couple of herds of wood bison right off the road and a black bear went scurrying across the highway as well.
We stayed at Muncho Lake RV park that was right on the lake which backed up to a huge mountain. A float seaplane took off from the neighboring RV park in front of our park


The highlight of the morning after leaving Muncho Lake was seeing a family of Stone sheep alongside the highway. They are brown in color and even though they are part of the mountain sheep family, they strongly resemble a mountain goat. They let us photograph them and then quickly scurried off the roadside.


We traveled over more twisty, curvy, newly graveled roads and later in the morning when stopping for a break and leg stretch was the dripping of antifreeze from the back of the Howard's motorhome! Since being warned from the beginning of our trip about rocks and radiators, we knew this wasn't a good sign. We were about 60 kilometers from Fort Nelson, so Herb got there as quickly as he could. We were directed to the radiator shop and sure enough - a rock through the radiator. We purchased Wayne's Leak Stop and antifreeze and back on the road where we headed to our nights lodging at Sikanni River RV park.
We had a wonderful pork chop dinner and it was a great way to celebrate Herb and Leigh's anniversary. It is getting warmer and after three weeks it looks like we can all start wearing shorts again!




Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Back to Teslin

We got to see this at the side of the road on our way to Teslin, YU.
We stopped early after we had a yummy cinnamon roll at Johnson Crossing just before Teslin.







Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Trip to Skagway, Alaska

We decided to take the train to Skagway on the original narrow gauge tracks. From our RV park we took a bus down to Fraser,BC and caught the White Pass Yukon Railway to Skagway. The train has a very colorful history. Gold was discovered in the Klondike on July 17, 1897 at Dawson City. At the time gold was discovered, the stampeders had to go up the Chilkoot Trail several times to get their 1000 pounds of supplies or a year's worth of food which was required by the Canadian Government. This was done under brutal conditions! The decision to build a railway was welcomed! The "railway from Hell" was organized in April 1898 and construction began May 28, 1898. The railway starts at sea level and goes to 3000 feet at the summit in 20 miles. The original route went to Carcross. The stampeders would bing their supplies to Carcross/ Bennett Lake and then start the 550 miles down the Yukon River. They would build rafts or if they had the money, they would take the steamship to Dawson City (2 days down from Whitehorse). The railway has changed its uses several times in its life and it went to diesel power in 1954. It now runs as an excursion railroad. We had a good ride with sunny skies which turned to cloud and low fog, but as we went down we escaped the fog. We stopped and picked up some hikers. We had to go through US Customs. We had a little time in Skagway and there were two ships in as well. We caught the bus and came back. We had to go through Canadian Customs which took a bit longer.

Our bus driver gave us his views on many things about the Yukon, BC and even the US. He liked living in the Yukon, but liked some of the old ways better. He pointed out some elusive Dall sheep up on the side of the mountain.

When we got back to our RV Park, the Commemorative 70th Year ALCAN Convoy was also staying and the campground was very full of army trucks and jeeps! We enjoyed dinner out and decided to do some grocery shopping which turned out to be an adventure with many empty shelves! Saturday morning we decided to wash some of the dirt off the motorhomes and car. In this part of the world winter is in the air.




Moose hood ornament and the one next to this one was "bullwinkle"

Note to Harry and Jay: Bill drank a couple of tall ones at the Bonanza in Skagway to you.

Leigh- Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

White River to Whitehorse and beyond

Staying at the White River RV park was quite awareness building. University students studying geology in a summer internship program have been exploring different sites to find minerals that can be mined. They are staying at the campground and each day take a helicopter out into the Yukon wilderness. Eight hours later the helicopter picks them up and brings them back. They started with 59 students at the beginning of the summer and now they are down to 9. What a great experience when you are young.
We met the park owners son and were amazed that he will soon be going back to Vancouver to spend his senior year at a private boarding school. Basic education goes to the 6th grade in the Yukon. If students want to continue their education, they must go to a boarding school in Whitehorse. Many complete their schooling at the 6th grade level.
We continued traveling over the permafrost laden road and were treated to seeing a black wolf along side of the road. Herb and Leigh experienced a loud thud under the motorhome thinking it might be something serious! After stopping for a break, the mystery was solved. The UW license plate was no longer attached to the front of the motorhome. Needless to say, turning back over that piece of road was not going to happen.

We made it to Whitehorse in the afternoon and did chores such as Bill getting the motorhome oil changed and Herb washing that little white car again. Marilyn fixed another wonderful dinner and we are ready for our adventure tomorrow.

Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Looking forward to the road once traveled

"On the road again, just can't wait for the permafrost again." Well, maybe it isn't quite like Willy Nelson's version, but today was the beginning of traveling back over the frost heaves and permafrost troubled highways. We started our days adventure at our campgrounds restaurant, with a wonderful breakfast, giving us the energy that we would need for the day. Two different types of forests were our early sights. Well drained soil and south-facing slopes support tall, dense forests. In contrast to cold wet flats, resulting in stunted bad crooked black spruce. They also get a fungus called witch's broom, where thick, ball- shaped tangles of spruce branches and needles clustered close to the trunk of the tree. We hope that Loni is enjoying some of these facts!
We met the Alcan Hwy at Tok. How Tok got its name is a mystery. A couple of views are that it rhymed with poke or it is short for Tokyo. It is a busy little town.



These are Mt Sanford, Mt Drum and Mt Wrangell. These are
in the 10 highest peaks in Alaska,

Not needing to stop for lunch, we continued to view three mountain peaks. Mount Drum in the middle, Mt. Sanford to the left, and Mt. Wrangell to the right. We made it to the Alaska border and thought it would be a good idea to take a farewell picture. Well, so did three other tour busses! We hurried to be the next group in line to get photographed, as Bill did the camera honors.
We have now made it through Canada's customs with little difficulty and on to our patchwork of good highway going bad with frost heaves, potholes, and pavement breaks. One would think we were at Cheyenne Frontier Days as contestants as we buck along the Alcan highway.
We end our day's journey at White River RV park which is 1168 on the historical mile markers. It 's 10:00 p.m. and it's still daylight!




We say goodbye to Alaska (note the tour busses in background)

Leigh - Marilyn
Posted on my iPad

With heavy hearts we are starting to head home

We have had an amazing time on our trip, but it is time to head our rigs on the long journey toward home. We left the City of Kenai on the Kenai Penninsula today. School started today in many places in Ak. There were still many fishermen in the ri ers fishing, some rafters and a few RVs heading south on the Penninsula.
It was a beautiful, sunny day with some clouds in the sky.
Bill and Marilyn saw three Dall sheep way up the mountain as we came back into Anchorage. Leigh and Herb bought diesel at one place and Bill and Marilyn found Costco. They got fuel and did some restocking and met up with Leigh and Herb on the road that was to be the one we journeyed on today. It is called the Glenn highway and they were setting up for the Alaska State Fair in Palmer, AK which starts Thursday and runs through Labor Day. This highway cuts north across Ak, but misses the section that includes Fairbanks. This is probably our last full day in Alaska. Another border crossing into Canada and the Yukon.
The scenery was again outstanding and overwhelming! On one of our stops, we saw a juvenile bald eagle eating a fish. Even though it was juvenile, it was huge! Another beautiful site was the Matanuska glacier. It seems ingredibly large, but it also looks to be about half the size it has been. It is in the Chugach Mountains. It is 27 miles long and 4 miles wide. It is the start of the Matanuska River which flows to Anchorage and into the Cook Inlet. It is right near our campground for the night. We are suppose to see Dall sheep from here, but haven't yet. It is getting dark about 9:30. This is almost an hour earlier than when we started.

Matanuska Glacier



Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from


Reflection of mountain in the lake


my iPad


Matanuska Glacier

Our wanderings from Homer to Kenai (thee road less traveled)

We left Homer early Monday am to head to Kenai, which is the largest city on the Kenai Peninsula. We had fog off and on throughout our drive, so we could not see the Cook Inlet, which was directly to the west of us. We arrived at our RV park, the Diamond M Ranch and by now it was pouring. They say that it hadn't rained here for 3 weeks, and from the looks of the big puddles, it had been raining for quite some time.
After settling in for lunch and taking a little time off, we set off for our adventure for the day - looking for the farthest point west that one could drive to. We drove and drove. Bill said, "It just doesn't look like it did 25 years ago when I was here!". We followed the Funny River Road to the end. By now, it was the Unfunny River Road since we had no idea where we were! We eventually made it to the ocean and declared it to be OUR farthest point west.


Back into the car to head back to the RV's on what we thought was the right way back.......not! While going way too far out of the way, we did see the best looking moose grazing along the roadside. We decided, through the use of Bill's phone that we needed to turn around. We back tracked about 16 miles and there was the Diamond M. By now Marilyn and Leigh were in hysterics, since they had said long into the return that we were lost!
Dinner was pretty late, but the adventure had been a great appetizer. Kea was a little concerned by the time we got back - his evening walk was much delayed.

Leigh - Marilyn


Posted from my iPad

Our days in Homer

Our day on Friday in Homer was spent looking around Homer to see the sights and get our bearings. Bill and Herb had signed up for a halibut fishing trip on Saturday so we needed to see where they needed to be at 6:15 am. We also went out for a great Halibut dinner to guarantee that they would catch some of their own. While we were at dinner, the boat company called and said they didn't need to be there until 6:30 am.

We got up and took the guys to the boat, then did laundry, etc. at the RV and then went to check out the Farmer's Market. Everyone seems to come to the market! The vegetables looked wonderful, the flowers were gorgeous and the crafts were interesting ,too! After the market, Leigh and Marilyn found a bakery/coffee, restaurant and got a tasty treat and latte. We then headed to some local shops to look around. A Holland America ship was in port so the town was a beehive of activity. Just as we got back to the RV they called to say they were back from fishing and yes, they did catch fish. It started to rain just after they got back.

We decided to stay Sunday in Homer. The rain stopped and it was a nice day! We had to pick up the fish which had been frozen for them. Leigh and Marilyn did some shopping on the Homer Spit and Bill and Herb were happy to while away some time at the Salty Dawg Saloon.

Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Leaving Denali and heading to Homer

We left Denali National Park after experiencing its beauty and grandeur. One of our missions for the day was to visit Talkeetna, to fill Marilyn's Northern Exposure small town desire. After traveling over many miles we finally arrive as well as the train delivering the cruise ship passengers! Needless to say, there was not a parking spot for RV's, so our efforts went in vain, and we turned around and headed ourselves down the road to Wasilla. As you know, this is Sarah Palin's town, and no we didn't see her and really weren't looking for her either. We were seeking a Wal-Mart and after enjoying our shopping there so very much, we decided to stay and enjoy watching all the other RVers. We ate our dinner and without power said goodnight so we would be ready for our travels down Alaska Highway 1.
We saw trumpeter swans, iditarod cabins, and the beginning of the Aleutian Island chain. We are staying at the Oceanview RV park and we have a wonderful view! After checking in we were excited to see our first bald eagle and a covey of ptarmigan. We are looking forward to 3 days of sight-seeing, deep sea fishing, and shopping!



Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my


iPad

Our 3rd attempt of our 1st Fairbanks adventure

We stayed at a campground outside of Fairbanks, which actually was located in North Pole, Alaska. We enjoyed all of the Santa sights and Marilyn and Leigh had a hard time on deciding which ornaments would look best on the tree. Santa only had 4 reindeer to view and even Santa needs a rest with Sunday and Monday off for relaxation. Bill and Herb were quick to go and find a car wash to get that Honda looking white again.
The afternoon was spent traveling around the Fairbanks area. We were especially impressed in seeing the Alaskan Pipeline. What an engineering feat! It travels both above and underneath the ground, depending on the animal crossings that need not be disturbed. The pipeline is raised to keep the permafrost from melting and liquefying. We also saw Gold Dredge 8 and the original mining area which had an interesting variety of homes, from trees growing out of roofs to very expensive mansions.
Sometimes the Wifi is not too reliable or the signal is not strong enough to get our blogs out to you.
Our pictures for this blog have been rejected twice, so we hope to show you in person one of these days.


Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Denali National Park - Mt, McKinley (Denali means - the big one)

We are putting our two days at Denali National Park in one blog.
We are having amazing weather--bright, sunny, pleasantly warm and beautiful!
After we checked in yesterday, we went into the park and picked up our tour tickets for today. We then drove the 15 miles that you are allowed to drive without a special permit. As usual, we were looking for animals and eagle-eye Marilyn spied a moose just before getting off and turning around. The moose was at the stream bed. After looking around a bit at the turnaround parking lot, we could not find the moose anywhere.
We couldn't see Mt. McKinley because the clouds had come in and covered it.
We returned to our RV's and had dinner and relaxed. The campground isn't too busy as the season is slowing down and the leaves are in the beginning of changing color.
Bill and Marilyn lined up a pet walker for the time they would be gone on the tour.



look closely and you will also see Mt. McKinley


We pulled out of the RV park on Tuesday morning to get to the Denali Wilderness Access Center to catch our tour bus. We chose the 6 hour tour from the many choices that were available throughout the day. Our tour was a 106 mile round trip on paved bumpy road and the rest was on a NARROW graded gravel very high passageway. Early on, we were able to view Mt. McKinley and we stopped several times to get photos before the mountain clouded over. We did see 7 grizzly bears, one of which was chasing a caribou. He didn't catch it, but he continued wandering around. We were worried about 2 hikers, who were not too far off becoming his meal! Besides the bears we saw 6 caribou feeding in the big open fields. Part of the bumpy roads were due to culvert re-construction. We bounced over 114 new culverts and that was only one way!



Ice cream was the treat for the day after the tour followed by a bowl of hot chicken chili. All in all it was one great day!
Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Sunday's Fairbanks Adventure

Our Sunday morning started very leisurely with brunch of eggs and cinnamon rolls, and cleaning up. We headed into town to check out getting fuel in the morning and arrived early at the Discovery Tours for our paddle boat steamer trip. When we got there our next door neighbors from the RV Park were also going.
The Paddleboat Steamer, Discovery III was getting set up for us. It can hold 900 guests. We chose the third deck up called the Texas Deck, and sat out in the open area at the front, Twenty paddles were turned by hydraulic motors and needed only water that was 39 inches deep to navigate the Chena River. We saw homes of all sizes, shapes and conditions.
On our trip we saw the 1950 float plane take off, land and take off again. Our next encounter was visiting the Susan Butcher winning iditarod and Alaskan legend who won a total of four years with her lead dog, Granite. Sled dogs are Alaskan Huskies, bred for endurance and speed. They are well cared for and get to do what they love most RUN!
We stopped at an original Athabascan Indian Village and they showed how they prepared salmon for the dogs, how they tanned the various animal hides, some of the men's hunting jacket, maiden dress, and a winter parka with a sun hood of wolverine fur around the face because it kept the frost away from the face and timber wolf for the rest of it. We saw reindeer who were trying to get the velvet off of the antlers. One of the Athabascan guides explained the challenge of the old ways and living in the modern world.
After our fun adventure, we went back and had a great steak dinner and are looking forward to heading toward Denali tomorrow.





Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Hurrah! We reached Alaska

Today we crossed into Alaska after almost two weeks crossing British Columbia and the Yukon. We bypassed Dawson City and the Top of the World Hwy. It was reported by some other travelers it had taken them 4 1/2 hours to go 108 miles.
We saw some great scenery again today and started seeing The Alaskan Range and the Wrangell Mountains. It has been a beautiful sunny day! There were many lakes beside the road and Bill saw two trumpeter swans and then Bill and Marilyn saw 2 more.
We ate lunch on Dot Lake near a pretty little church.

We finished the Alaskan Hwy. We met more convoy vehicles going south to meet the main convoy. The rain has continued on and has left our rigs in need of a good washing. One would never know that the little Honda trailing Herb and Leigh was once white!

We are staying at the North Pole for 3 nights. We'll see about visiting Santa tomorrow
Leigh - Marilyn



Herb in Alaska and Marilyn in Yukon

Posted from


my iPad. Dot Lake Church






Circular bridge on Alaska Hwy


Fireweed found all over Yukon and Alaska

Whitehorse to Beavercreek, B.C.

As we leave WhitehorseThursday morning, we reflect on the very entertaining Frantic Follies that we saw last night.



The most surprising part was Herb's surprise guest appearance. He was chosen from the audience to remove a garter from one of the can can dancer's leg. He made us proud, as he took the garter in his teeth and successfully removed it! He is now an honorary member of the Order of the Garter. This was certainly not in his comfort zone, but he handled it well and was glad to go back to his seat!
We left the campground in pouring rain and drove through it most of the day. We realize how fortunate we have been in traveling in good weather. The highway wound around the Kluane Ranges. These are an unbroken chain of mountains to 8000 ft with ice fields showing through the clouds every so often, and interrupted by a few glacier fed rivers and streams.
Frost heaves! We are believers now. Anything that causes the permafrost to melt will cause the ice-rich soil to liquefy, and liquid soil has little strength and will settle or subside. This process wreaks havoc on the drivability of the road surface by creating washboards and huge immediate dips. We had to take a break from traveling 20 mph or less, so stopped at a rest stop where it was freezing cold and watched our first wildlife of the day.




Ducks swimming in the Pickaxe Lake.
We are ending our journey in Beavercreek, Yukon. It has turned out to be a beautiful day and we will be eating our dinner outside. Tonight the sun will be setting about 11:00 p.m., but after our exciting day none of us will be up to see it!

Leigh - Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

Watson Lake to Whitehorse, Yukon

Our trip started with a visit to the sign forest @ Watson Lake


We drove from Watson Lake through beautiful mountains and huge lakes. Our trip wove in and out of British Columbia and the Yukon six or seven times before we finally got into the Yukon. Before Watson Lake, the Canadian Rockies finished and yesterday we were in the Cassiar Mountain Range. We had a little bit of rain. We went through the town of Teslin and had lunch at the Tlingit Native Center. They had carved totem poles in front and were carving some canoes.



Totem Pole @ Teslin Native Arts Center

We stayed at the Pioneer RV Park just outside of Whitehorse and decided to stay for two nights. By the time we got to Pioneer, the sun was back out, but cooler. These campsites are tucked back in the forest so are very nice! We found mosquitoes here though. The convoy caught up with us the second night.
Today we went in to Whitehorse to look around and stopped at The Canyon, saw some seaplanes, drove around Whitehorse, had lunch and toured the SS Klondike steamship that started in 1937 and finished in 1955. It took a day and a half to go to Dawson City, 4-5 days to come back to Whitehorse on the Yukon River. The 1st class ticket was $35 and you got to eat in the dining room with tablecloths and assigned times. If you paid $25 you were down on the freight deck and who knows if you got to eat.
SS Klondike that traveled the Yukon River



Tonight we are going to the Frantic Follies Revue.


Leigh & Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

A Day Full of Sightings

We got another early start on the Alaskan Hwy. Today we were lucky to see live animals--our first was a moose. We celebrated by eating cinnamon rolls at the famous Testa Lodge!



1st moose




Testa Owner and Marilyn after cinnamon rolls

Our next sighting was of 4 caribous--2 mommies and 2 babies,then we saw 3 Stone sheep ( first cousins to the big horn sheep) and then we saw three herds of Wood Bison. Plus a bull that rolled in the dirt.




Our final sighting was a convoy of 1942 military vehicles that are making a 70th Anniversary Run of the Alaskan Hwy. The vehicles were built in 1942. We not only sighted them, we spent the night with them at The Downtown RV Park at Watson Lake, Yukon.





Stone Sheep




Wood Bison






Convoy of 1942 Military Vehicles

It gets light about 4 to 4:30 and stays light until 10+pm

Leigh and Marilyn
Posted from my iPad

We reached Mile Post 300

We are trying to stick to traveling 300 miles a day. We got on the road earlier this a.m. and began winding thru more beautiful mountains.


River coming into Taylor



The historic mile markers from the original Alaskan highway are found here and there. It's a shame that most of them are gone! We stopped at the historic Kistatinaw Wooden Bridge. It is the original 531ft.curved structure and still in use today, even though we had to go off the road to drive over it.


Kistatinaw Wooden Bridge from original Alcan
Our lunch break was taken at Pink Mountain Buffalo Inn parking lot. It gets it's name from the local foliage, when red barked willows give the mountain a pink color in the morning sun. We all four got our chairs out and began eating outside the motorhomes and it seems we always seem to attract visitors, who are interested in what we are doing and where we are going.
We keep looking for wildlife. They say there are 70,000 moose in B.C.. Unfortunately we saw four today, all had been hit and laying alongside the road. One bear did manage to scurry across the highway, but only Leigh and Herb were able to see him.
We made it to Fort Nelson, Triple G Campground and have a head on view of Hwy 97. Fort Nelson up to 1950 did not have running water or electricity. They were considered pioneer status. The main industry used to be fur trapping, but now it is oil. We are now traveling in the Canadian Rockies and amazingly they look like the Rockies that we are used to.
Kea has had a good trip so far and made a REALLY good friend from San Francisco!



Till our next blog......
Leigh and Marilyn





Posted from my iPad

Oregon to Dawson Creek

We have put many miles on before we met Herb and Leigh. We met them in Wenatchee, Wa. We had a beautiful campground on the Confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia in the midst of apple, cherry, pears orchards as well as grapes and wine grapes vineyards. We continued traveling up the Okanagan Valley to Kelowna, BC passing all kinds of fruit stands with no room for our big motorhomes. The border crossing was not too bad. We met some friends of Leigh and Herb who had us over for dinner. We had a great time!




These are in Kelowna, BC at the Apple Orchard RV Park. We wound our way to Cache Creek through the mountains with abundant rivers and lakes. No rest stops!
We stopped at Brookside RV park in Cache Creek with interesting neighbors and when we left the next morning we found a very nice RV park a few km down the road. We continued through the mountains to Prince George. Leigh and Marilyn finally started to learn how to use the Milepost Mile by Mile hwy log. We did find a few rest stops that day. We ate lunch at the info center.




We spent the night at Blue Cedars RV park in Prince George. We were checked in by a very efficient 12 year old or so young man. The next morning we finally found a bank that we could drive to to get some Canadian Currency. Our day continued through the lakes, rivers and the Rockies








We drove to Dawson Creek to Northern
Lights RV Park and decided to spend two nights.
Leigh and Marilyn
Posted from Marilyn's iPad

Dawson Creek @ Mile 0 of the Alaskan Hwy

We are officially starting on the Alaskan Hwy and will soon be in the Yukon Territory. It is 1523 miles to Fairbanks, ALaska. We are putting on about 300 miles a day.
- Marilyn
Posted from my iPad








This highway was built in 1942 to get the troops from the US/Canada. This Milepost was rebuilt in 1947 after it was destroyed.