June 01- 03 (3 nights, Missoula, Montana USA)
It is Friday, we left Mammoth Hot Springs @ 8 am. We wore layers of clothes as it was about 38 degrees. The temperature got warmer as we approached Missoula. We checked in at Jim and Mary's RV Park in Missoula about 1 pm and, it was 78 degrees. Our original plan was to stay in Missoula one night as a rest stop on the way to Coeur d'Alene. However, we liked the RV park and its surroundings , so we decided to stay two nights. On the second day, we planned to visit Glacier National Park, about three hours drive from Missoula. Later, Sim learned that there was a Farmer's Market on Saturday in downtown. She suggested we should stay three nights instead of two, so we could go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and Glacier National Park on Sunday. So Missoula turned out to be a 3 night stop instead of 1.
June 2
As planned, we went to the Farmers Market in the morning. Sim bought some known vegetables and for the first time unknown Morel mushrooms. She has never thought twice when it comes to trying new vegetables. Right away after we got back from the Farmers Market, she fried up the Morel mushrooms up for lunch. They were quite good.
June 3
As planned, we went to Glacier National Park. It took a good two and a half hours to get there. We could not drive beyond about the middle of the park.
We wanted to drive the Road to the Sun highway but Logan pass was closed due to winter storm damage. The Ranger said we could ride our bikes up to the pass, and it would only take about 5 hours up and 1.5 hours back as it was all uphill. We passed. We walked as many trails as we could.
There were lots and lots of Cedar trees. The only animals we saw were mule deer.
We had lunch at the McDonald lodge. Sim ordered an appetizer for her lunch. It was wild game sausages including reindeer, buffalo, and venison; with three different homemade sauces. It was an impressive and delicious dish. There were huckleberry goods and products every where. So we were tempted to try something since we had never tasted huckleberry before. We tried huckleberry ice cream, and it tasted somewhat similar to blueberry. It also looked like blueberry. I was beat by the time we got back to the RV park as the temperature reached 80 degrees. Sim took a nap half the way home.
June 4 10 ( 7 nights Spirit Lake, Idaho USA)
We arrived at Sherry and Guy's home in Spirit Lake, ID down a dusty gravel 2 mile road.
Guy says it helps keep the neighborhood population down. I say it is dusty and dirty and impossible to keep a car clean living here. No matter, they like it. Guy's new John Deere tractor was being delivered, and he was being checked out on it by the delivery man. It was raining off and on so we did not get to play with the tractor until the next day. We finally got to play with the tractor and moved a pile of gravel from the driveway to the back yard. Guy got lots of attachments for the tractor and we tested the chipper out but not the grader or the snow plow.
We were impressed when Sherry showed us to the room where we would be staying for a few days. The bed sure looked pretty with nice pillows and comforter. And there also was, a notepad, two bottles of water, cheese crackers, and fragrant lotion. We felt like we walked into a five star hotel. Our room had a nice view of pine trees, birds, squirrels and bird houses.
The weather was rainy and overcast for a few days so we spent time inside and helped out with hanging stuff on walls and getting their home theater set up. One evening we drove 40 minutes to one of Guy and Sherry's favorite restaurants for some game dinner. The restaurant had interesting decoration. There were all kinds of animal heads hanging all over the walls and life size stuffed ones as well. Some of them looked pretty intimidating. The food was pretty good, although I could not tell the difference between elk and venison.
We again drove 40 minutes to a Farmers Market on one morning.
We bought some vegetables and homemade bread, and the bread didn't disappoint us a bit. Everything seemed to be about 30-40 miles away, at least to major shopping and dining. We spent a week at Guy and Sherry's place and it was a nice break from living in the RV. Every day we watched the deer, the birds and squirrels visit. They were numerous and fun to watch from the house and yard. We introduced Guy and Sherry to the game of Mille Bornes and had some lively games in the evening. It was Sim and Guy vs Sherry and me. Sim and Guy beat Sherry and me soundly. Everyone had fun, especially Sim who was ecstatic to give me the L sign. (Loser)
On one cold and dark night while we were in the hot tub, we observed stars and tried to figure out what they were, then we saw a moving light. Guy and Sherry said it was probably a satellite. So Guy checked the satellite schedule and it sure was. Pretty cool. So now we know why Guy and Sherry love their place. They have their own zoo and are remote from the chaotic city life.
June 11 12 ( 2 nights Oroville, Washington USA)
We left Spirit Lake and headed into Washington towards the border. We wanted to stay on the US side one night to get ready to go into Canada. I had read that you needed to get a special certification from your vehicle insurance company to show Customs so I wanted to do that before we crossed. I researched the requirement a bit more on the Internet and found information saying it was not necessary, so I did not do anything. We have two books for RV campground information: Trailer Life and Passport America. Most of the time we chose the RV park from Trailer Life. However, this time we picked it from Passport America because our PA membership was going to expire at the end of June. It was about fifteen miles to the RV park from where we were. We drove and drove from town to the middle of no where, and the road turned to an unpaved one lane road. Sim looked at me with puzzled eyes, and I thought umm... But, we had to continue on the road because there was no turn out or turn around spot for our rig. We kept our eyes peeled looking for the RV park address. When we saw a number that was near to the RV park address, we felt relieved. Well, the number either skipped or our eyes were too tired and we missed the address. So, we gave up as the sun was going to set soon. But, still we had to continue driving because of the U-turn situation. Finally, we spotted a wide entrance to someone's property. I quickly turned in there with no hesitation. We could not make a U-turn so had to unhook the jeep and back out the rig. While I was unhooking the jeep, I accidentally somehow locked the jeep, and the key was inside the jeep. Guess what! the spare key was also inside the jeep. Great! Our solution was breaking the window that would cost us the least to repair. Bam, bam..... and one small window was gone. We used all purpose duct tape to seal the window. When it came to the situation, Sim was calm and collective which helped me a lot. It was indeed an adventure, but definitely not the one we wanted.
We spent a couple of nights camped on the river in Oroville before we crossed into Canada. It was a nice RV park.
Sim was not impressed with the Oroville people whom she encountered. She didn't sense friendliness from them, and they stared, really stared, at her. We went to use a fax service in town. No customer service ethic whatsoever. We were charged TWO dollars for a ONE page document. What a rip off. We were ready to go except the darn Jeep was acting up again. It felt like it was in 4WD all the time. I finally got it out off 4WD by backing up fast and hitting the brakes. Don't know what is going on but it is not looking good. We crossed into Canada and at the border after answering a lot of questions about the ownership of the vehicles and whether we owned or carried any guns, we were on our way. No questions about vehicle insurance at all.
June 13 15 ( 3 nights - Chilliwack, BC Canada)
We drove across Canada heading west. Chilliwack sounded like a nice place to stop and it was only an hour from Vancouver, one city we wanted to visit while in this part of Canada. We found an RV park just off the highway that was in a grove of trees and was quite nice.
June 14
We decided to go to Vancouver Island the next morning, and we had to get up at 5:00am to catch the first ferry in the morning.
Well we did not factor in the slow roads and the morning traffic. We had to settle for the second ferry to the island. The ferry ride was fun, the weather good and the scenery pretty nice.
On the island we stopped at the first small town and walked the downtown area, got some dollars changed into Canadian dollars and visited the waterfront. Back in the car we headed for Butchart. Gardens. This is a must see tourist attraction on the island. A lady named Butchart wanted to beautify an old quarry that her husband had used in his cement business, by planting a few flowers and trees.
Well, many years later that small beautification project turned into 15 acres of stunning gardens of various themes, including a rose garden with a 1000 varieties, a Japanese garden, and huge lawns with ponds and fountains.
We had some lunch at the gardens and then headed for Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia. Victoria was pretty neat. They have a beautiful waterfront with a nice walkway where vendors set up stalls and street performers entertain the tourists for tips. The old parliament buildings are beautiful and there are several old hotels with very interesting architecture.
After finishing the self guided tour around town, we needed to sit down and rest. Sitting at the waterfront park without ice cream would be no fun, so we had some special Canadian chocolate ice cream. After that, we headed north on the island. Our original plan was to go all the way to the north end of the island but realized that would take at least two full days on the island. We ended up going only half way to Nanaimo. We spent the night in a cute little motel and had dinner at a seafood restaurant (Nauticals) recommended by the motel owner. The restaurant had the all time number one vote in town by the locals. But, compared to many restaurants in the U.S., we found Nauticals rather bland with less than outstanding taste.
June 15
We got up early and went to town for breakfast. Found a small place that looked good and went inside. It appeared that there was only one person working as the waitress was running pretty hard to serve the dozen or so people wanting to eat.
After breakfast we headed for the ferry terminal. Nanaimo also has a ferry terminal so we decided to take the ferry back to Vancouver from here. The ferry ride back to the mainland was scenic and uneventful. It was only when we landed that things got interesting. We all went back to our cars to disembark and waited and waited and waited. We finally got out of the car to see what the hold up was. One of the tour buses was stuck on the unload ramp. The rear of the bus was too low and bottoming out on the ferry.
We watched along with the other drivers as the ferry workers tried to drive wood under the rear wheels, jack up the bus and finally in desperation, tried to raise the rear of the bus with a forklift.
It was pretty funny seeing 4 guys jump on the back of the forklift trying to keep it on the ground as the driver tried to lift 15 tons of bus with a 1 ton fork lift.
After 30 hilarious minutes, they finally got a BIG truck and put a chain on the front axle of the bus and just dragged it up the ramp until it was free.
We were on our way. We drove to downtown Vancouver and parked in Chinatown.
>
Sim had found a couple of markets she wanted to shop at via the Internet, so we walked into Chinatown to find them. The Vancouver Chinatown is quite large and has all the shops you would expect. It amazed us to see many varieties of fresh Thai fruits like rambutan, mangosteen, durian, and four different kinds of Thai mangoes. We haven't seen them in the U.S. We bought some fruit and vegetables and headed back to our campground.
June 16
The drive to Williams was pretty. The road followed a river and lots of trains were coming and going along the way. Sim wanted a picture of one of the trains but by the time she got the camera turned on and a window opened the shot she wanted was long gone. Williams was just a rest stop for us so we did not do any touristy things there.
June 17 -18 ( 2 nights Prince George, BC Canada)
We got to Prince George on a rainy afternoon and pulled into the RV Park.
It was Fathers Day and we heard there was a party going on in town so we headed downtown to see a Car Show and the Party. They had lots of food and lots of cars on display.
The next day we drove around town and found a bike trail.
We unloaded the bikes and rode the bike trail along the riverfront for about 5 miles.
It was still cloudy overcast and cool by the riverfront so we called it a day for biking at least. We headed over to the Art Museum with some free tickets we had picked up at the Visitors Center on the way into town. It wasn't that big a place so it only took 30 minutes to walk through the whole place.
It had a lot of art that we did not understand.
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.
We prepared the coach for departure in the AM and decided to get fuel on the way out of town in the morning. I had checked the Internet for the cheapest fuel prices in Canada and Prince George was the cheapest town on our way. Now cheap is of course relative. Fuel is not cheap in BC. BC to some means Bring Cash. Diesel in Canada is cheaper than gas, but it is still $4.00/gal and Prince George has the cheapest fuel until we get to Anchorage.
June 19 -20 ( 2 nights Smithers, BC Canada)
On the way to Smithers, I stopped for a break and got out to do my usual walk around to check on the Jeep and the coach. When I got back to the Jeep there was white smoke coming out from under the hood.
It smelled like burnt fluid and after checking everything, I could see nothing so we drove on. We stayed at the Riverfront Golf and RV Park. Yes they had a golf course, But they had had so much rain, the course was still too wet to play all of it.
Only 6 holes were open. We parked next to the Sixth Hole fairway, and I did get out a few balls and hit some sand wedges to the green. We were going out to some waterfalls when I noticed a noise coming from the front of the Jeep. It sounded serious so I took it to a mechanic to see what was going on. Turns out I fried the front differential. Somehow the gears got engaged as I was pulling it and the fluids boiled and then stuff started to break. We ended up having the front drive shaft taken out, and it is now wrapped up and in the back of the Jeep. We have no 4WD but it can be towed and driven as is. We will get it put back together right when we get back in the lower 48. We found Smithers folks were very friendly and gave us extra miles for their service. We had breakfast at one small bakery with home made goodies after dropping off our jeep. We liked the atmosphere, the food, and the service so much that we went back to have lunch on the same day.
June 21 ( 1 night Hyder, Alaska USA)
We left Smithers and headed for Stewart/Hyder up the Cassiar Highway (37). Hyder is actually in the US.
The paved road ends in Stewart, BC and there is a short dirt road just across the border into the town of Hyder. Hyder is famous for its bear viewing. They have actually built wooden platforms for the people to walk out and watch the bears feeding on Salmon as the come back up river to spawn. No bears, too early as the Salmon were not running. We did however see a pair of black bears on the side of the road to Hyder. I hit some kind of bird on the road. It just sat there as I was coming at it. I fully expected it to fly off as I got close but it did not, and I could not move out of my lane. An explosion of feathers was all I saw in my side mirror as we drove by. Luckily, Sim didn't see when I hit the bird, or else she would feel bad for a while. She doesn't like to see animals get killed (her Buddhist conscience) We saw our first glacier in Hyder.
It was pretty amazing to see one up close. The blue color was really cool looking.
June 22 ( 1 night Iskut, BC Canada)
This was a one night rest stop.
Someone on RV net said this was a beautiful place and they were right. Set in a valley with a small lake the views of the mountains and lake and valley were spectacular. We walked to the lake but did not stay long as the mosquitoes were plentiful and hungry. Mountain View Campground was very nice and reasonable. It was one of the neatest campgrounds.
June 23 ( 1 night Watson Lake, YT Canada)
We headed up the road in the morning. This was the part of the road that I was dreading.
Sections of the road, miles in length, were gravel. Now gravel is not too bad if you go slow, and I am OK with that. It is the people coming in the opposite direction going 45 or 50 on the gravel that you have to worry about. They throw up rocks and gravel that can do serious damage to your paint and windows. We got to Watson Lake, found a place to park and headed over to the Sign post forest. For those of you who don't know the story, a young soldier was given the job to repair a sign post that had been knocked down by a bull dozer. He repaired the sign post and this homesick soldier added a sign with his hometown and the rest is history. There are now tens of thousands of signs from every corner of the world.
June 24 25 ( 2 nights Skagway, Alaska USA)
The road to Skagway is worth the side trip and a must if you are here in Alaska.
The road drops from 2000ft to sea level in about 15 miles down through steep canyons. Waterfalls, glaciers, and rivers with rapids all tempt you to stop, marvel and of course take pictures. The town was very busy, and we were lucky to get a spot in one of the three RV parks in town. We were parked right in front of the railroad tracks where the tourist trains go by every morning, afternoon, and evening. The trains take tourists up the canyon through White Pass and back again. We drove it so saw no need to see it by train. Skagway is a Cruise ship town, and there were 3 ships in port while we were there.
We ran into Roland and Linda in their Foretravel at the park.
We first met them at the Bodega Bay Foretravel rally back in 2006. They were on their way down, so we spent some time with them getting some ideas about were to stay and what not to miss at the places we were going.
The town of Skagway is small but fills up fast when the cruise ships arrive. The downtown streets were packed with shopping tourists. It was overcast and very windy during our stay, so we didn't go hiking as planned. However, we made three walking trips to town for window shopping. We loved the atmosphere and the old town flavor. Skagway has done an excellent job of restoring and keeping the buildings as they were at the turn of the century.
June 26 ( 1 night Congdon Campground, Kluane Lake, YT Canada)
This is a state run campground. No host or ranger is on site.
You just pick a spot and put your money in a envelope. The campground has no hookups, but it does have free firewood, so I built a Mexican campfire.
For those of you who don't remember the Mexican campfire, it is a stack of logs that diesel fuel is poured on and lit. It took a few tries, since I had no way to split the logs, but I got it going.
I realized after I pulled into the campsite that I could not get out without scraping the side of the coach with tree branches.
Sooooooo, I got out my trusty saw and started trimming a tree or two. Luckily no one came by and we got out of there without any damage to the coach. State and federal campgrounds are inexpensive, but they don't do much tree trimming to accommodate big rigs. In the morning when we were leaving, a huge owl flew right by us and landed on a camp sign. I got out to get a picture and the owl let me walk almost right up to it before it flew off. Sim said it was the biggest bird she had ever seen.
June 27 28 (2 nights Tok, Alaska USA)
Tok is the town
everyone has to go through to and from Alaska when driving.
The are 7 RV parks here, and it is the Car/RV Wash Capitol of the world. After driving the road from Watson Lake to Tok, everything needs to be washed. We choose the Sourdough Campground and first on the agenda was a wash for the Coach and Car. Well, water with pressure was $2.00 for 5 minutes. So I got a bucket of soapy water and climbed on the roof of the coach and went to work. $8.00 later I still did not have the coach clean and a line was forming behind me. I decided that I would drive dirty until we got back in the States.
June 28
Sourdough has full
hookups and the setting is quite nice.
The owners really go out of their way to make you feel at home. They have a laundry, a gift shop, restaurant and provide entertainment every evening. The entertainment is provided by the owners playing and singing some original tunes about Alaska. And then there is the famous pancake toss that everyone enjoys. Ken, one of the owners, MCs the pancake toss and his banter during the two hours of tossing is hilarious. I tossed a pancake and actually got it in the bucket and won a free sourdough pancake breakfast that Sim and I enjoyed the next morning.
June 29 July 1 (3 nights, Valdez, Alaska USA)
Valdez is known as Mother Nature's Favorite Playground. We agreed with that. You turn left, right, back, front, and standing there are magnificent Mother nature creations.
Its scenic byway is astonishing. Emerald Lake, Wrangell Mountains, Worthington Glacier, and many more breathtaking views can be seen from Richardson highway. We pulled into Valdez and headed for the city campground that is out of town a bit on Airport road. The sites are big back ins and the the price was right. When we were in Skagway, Roland had told us about a cruise they had taken in Valdez aboard the MV Lulu Belle.
We stopped by their office and arranged to go on a cruise the next day. The boat leaves at 2:30 in the afternoon and we arrived, dressed warmly, with food and water at 2:15. On the ride out we stopped to watch sea otters, humpback whales, Stellar sea lions, harbor seals, and eagles. We went over to the massive Columbia Glacier. Our captain took the boat right up to the glacier through a field of ice bergs.
We took one bike ride in Valdez. We started in town and headed for the other side of the bay to the Pipeline storage facility. We did not make it all the way, but did stop by a nice river for lunch and a short break before heading back to camp.
Valdez is the terminus for the Alaska Pipeline. We didn't really get to see much of the Pipeline as most of it is underground here, but there is some to see. And security is pretty tight here as well, so you can't just wander over to the pipeline to take pictures. Valdez is another cruise ship port as well. There were two or three ships in port during the time we were there.
Every time we went to the small boat harbor, we saw people who had caught salmon and halibut. Sim drooled every time she saw the fresh fish, and hinted that fishing is fun and I should go fishing. She grew up on an Island, so she ate fresh fish every day back home. She doesn't consider fresh frozen fish as fresh. Her standard of freshness is cooking the fish right after it is caught. I guess I will go fishing soon.
As planned, we went to the Farmers Market in the morning. Sim bought some known vegetables and for the first time unknown Morel mushrooms. She has never thought twice when it comes to trying new vegetables. Right away after we got back from the Farmers Market, she fried up the Morel mushrooms up for lunch. They were quite good.
We wanted to drive the Road to the Sun highway but Logan pass was closed due to winter storm damage. The Ranger said we could ride our bikes up to the pass, and it would only take about 5 hours up and 1.5 hours back as it was all uphill. We passed. We walked as many trails as we could.
There were lots and lots of Cedar trees. The only animals we saw were mule deer.
We had lunch at the McDonald lodge. Sim ordered an appetizer for her lunch. It was wild game sausages including reindeer, buffalo, and venison; with three different homemade sauces. It was an impressive and delicious dish. There were huckleberry goods and products every where. So we were tempted to try something since we had never tasted huckleberry before. We tried huckleberry ice cream, and it tasted somewhat similar to blueberry. It also looked like blueberry. I was beat by the time we got back to the RV park as the temperature reached 80 degrees. Sim took a nap half the way home.
Guy says it helps keep the neighborhood population down. I say it is dusty and dirty and impossible to keep a car clean living here. No matter, they like it. Guy's new John Deere tractor was being delivered, and he was being checked out on it by the delivery man. It was raining off and on so we did not get to play with the tractor until the next day. We finally got to play with the tractor and moved a pile of gravel from the driveway to the back yard. Guy got lots of attachments for the tractor and we tested the chipper out but not the grader or the snow plow.
We bought some vegetables and homemade bread, and the bread didn't disappoint us a bit. Everything seemed to be about 30-40 miles away, at least to major shopping and dining. We spent a week at Guy and Sherry's place and it was a nice break from living in the RV. Every day we watched the deer, the birds and squirrels visit. They were numerous and fun to watch from the house and yard. We introduced Guy and Sherry to the game of Mille Bornes and had some lively games in the evening. It was Sim and Guy vs Sherry and me. Sim and Guy beat Sherry and me soundly. Everyone had fun, especially Sim who was ecstatic to give me the L sign. (Loser)
Well we did not factor in the slow roads and the morning traffic. We had to settle for the second ferry to the island. The ferry ride was fun, the weather good and the scenery pretty nice.
Well, many years later that small beautification project turned into 15 acres of stunning gardens of various themes, including a rose garden with a 1000 varieties, a Japanese garden, and huge lawns with ponds and fountains.
After finishing the self guided tour around town, we needed to sit down and rest. Sitting at the waterfront park without ice cream would be no fun, so we had some special Canadian chocolate ice cream. After that, we headed north on the island. Our original plan was to go all the way to the north end of the island but realized that would take at least two full days on the island. We ended up going only half way to Nanaimo. We spent the night in a cute little motel and had dinner at a seafood restaurant (Nauticals) recommended by the motel owner. The restaurant had the all time number one vote in town by the locals. But, compared to many restaurants in the U.S., we found Nauticals rather bland with less than outstanding taste.
After breakfast we headed for the ferry terminal. Nanaimo also has a ferry terminal so we decided to take the ferry back to Vancouver from here. The ferry ride back to the mainland was scenic and uneventful. It was only when we landed that things got interesting. We all went back to our cars to disembark and waited and waited and waited. We finally got out of the car to see what the hold up was. One of the tour buses was stuck on the unload ramp. The rear of the bus was too low and bottoming out on the ferry.
We watched along with the other drivers as the ferry workers tried to drive wood under the rear wheels, jack up the bus and finally in desperation, tried to raise the rear of the bus with a forklift.
It was pretty funny seeing 4 guys jump on the back of the forklift trying to keep it on the ground as the driver tried to lift 15 tons of bus with a 1 ton fork lift.
After 30 hilarious minutes, they finally got a BIG truck and put a chain on the front axle of the bus and just dragged it up the ramp until it was free.
We got to Prince George on a rainy afternoon and pulled into the RV Park.
It was Fathers Day and we heard there was a party going on in town so we headed downtown to see a Car Show and the Party. They had lots of food and lots of cars on display.
We unloaded the bikes and rode the bike trail along the riverfront for about 5 miles.
It was still cloudy overcast and cool by the riverfront so we called it a day for biking at least. We headed over to the Art Museum with some free tickets we had picked up at the Visitors Center on the way into town. It wasn't that big a place so it only took 30 minutes to walk through the whole place.
It had a lot of art that we did not understand.
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.
It smelled like burnt fluid and after checking everything, I could see nothing so we drove on. We stayed at the Riverfront Golf and RV Park. Yes they had a golf course, But they had had so much rain, the course was still too wet to play all of it.
Only 6 holes were open. We parked next to the Sixth Hole fairway, and I did get out a few balls and hit some sand wedges to the green. We were going out to some waterfalls when I noticed a noise coming from the front of the Jeep. It sounded serious so I took it to a mechanic to see what was going on. Turns out I fried the front differential. Somehow the gears got engaged as I was pulling it and the fluids boiled and then stuff started to break. We ended up having the front drive shaft taken out, and it is now wrapped up and in the back of the Jeep. We have no 4WD but it can be towed and driven as is. We will get it put back together right when we get back in the lower 48. We found Smithers folks were very friendly and gave us extra miles for their service. We had breakfast at one small bakery with home made goodies after dropping off our jeep. We liked the atmosphere, the food, and the service so much that we went back to have lunch on the same day.
The paved road ends in Stewart, BC and there is a short dirt road just across the border into the town of Hyder. Hyder is famous for its bear viewing. They have actually built wooden platforms for the people to walk out and watch the bears feeding on Salmon as the come back up river to spawn. No bears, too early as the Salmon were not running. We did however see a pair of black bears on the side of the road to Hyder. I hit some kind of bird on the road. It just sat there as I was coming at it. I fully expected it to fly off as I got close but it did not, and I could not move out of my lane. An explosion of feathers was all I saw in my side mirror as we drove by. Luckily, Sim didn't see when I hit the bird, or else she would feel bad for a while. She doesn't like to see animals get killed (her Buddhist conscience) We saw our first glacier in Hyder.
It was pretty amazing to see one up close. The blue color was really cool looking.
This was a one night rest stop.
Someone on RV net said this was a beautiful place and they were right. Set in a valley with a small lake the views of the mountains and lake and valley were spectacular. We walked to the lake but did not stay long as the mosquitoes were plentiful and hungry. Mountain View Campground was very nice and reasonable. It was one of the neatest campgrounds.
Sections of the road, miles in length, were gravel. Now gravel is not too bad if you go slow, and I am OK with that. It is the people coming in the opposite direction going 45 or 50 on the gravel that you have to worry about. They throw up rocks and gravel that can do serious damage to your paint and windows. We got to Watson Lake, found a place to park and headed over to the Sign post forest. For those of you who don't know the story, a young soldier was given the job to repair a sign post that had been knocked down by a bull dozer. He repaired the sign post and this homesick soldier added a sign with his hometown and the rest is history. There are now tens of thousands of signs from every corner of the world.
The road drops from 2000ft to sea level in about 15 miles down through steep canyons. Waterfalls, glaciers, and rivers with rapids all tempt you to stop, marvel and of course take pictures. The town was very busy, and we were lucky to get a spot in one of the three RV parks in town. We were parked right in front of the railroad tracks where the tourist trains go by every morning, afternoon, and evening. The trains take tourists up the canyon through White Pass and back again. We drove it so saw no need to see it by train. Skagway is a Cruise ship town, and there were 3 ships in port while we were there.
We first met them at the Bodega Bay Foretravel rally back in 2006. They were on their way down, so we spent some time with them getting some ideas about were to stay and what not to miss at the places we were going.
You just pick a spot and put your money in a envelope. The campground has no hookups, but it does have free firewood, so I built a Mexican campfire.
For those of you who don't remember the Mexican campfire, it is a stack of logs that diesel fuel is poured on and lit. It took a few tries, since I had no way to split the logs, but I got it going.
Tok is the town
everyone has to go through to and from Alaska when driving.
The are 7 RV parks here, and it is the Car/RV Wash Capitol of the world. After driving the road from Watson Lake to Tok, everything needs to be washed. We choose the Sourdough Campground and first on the agenda was a wash for the Coach and Car. Well, water with pressure was $2.00 for 5 minutes. So I got a bucket of soapy water and climbed on the roof of the coach and went to work. $8.00 later I still did not have the coach clean and a line was forming behind me. I decided that I would drive dirty until we got back in the States.
hookups and the setting is quite nice.
The owners really go out of their way to make you feel at home. They have a laundry, a gift shop, restaurant and provide entertainment every evening. The entertainment is provided by the owners playing and singing some original tunes about Alaska. And then there is the famous pancake toss that everyone enjoys. Ken, one of the owners, MCs the pancake toss and his banter during the two hours of tossing is hilarious. I tossed a pancake and actually got it in the bucket and won a free sourdough pancake breakfast that Sim and I enjoyed the next morning.
Its scenic byway is astonishing. Emerald Lake, Wrangell Mountains, Worthington Glacier, and many more breathtaking views can be seen from Richardson highway. We pulled into Valdez and headed for the city campground that is out of town a bit on Airport road. The sites are big back ins and the the price was right. When we were in Skagway, Roland had told us about a cruise they had taken in Valdez aboard the MV Lulu Belle.
We stopped by their office and arranged to go on a cruise the next day. The boat leaves at 2:30 in the afternoon and we arrived, dressed warmly, with food and water at 2:15. On the ride out we stopped to watch sea otters, humpback whales, Stellar sea lions, harbor seals, and eagles. We went over to the massive Columbia Glacier. Our captain took the boat right up to the glacier through a field of ice bergs.