Hits and a Few Misses

Hits:

1.  Still happily married after 24/7 for 4.5 weeks!
2.  Great "get along" with friends and family, except for (see Misses).
3.  Friendly Canadians, RVers and most Alaskans.
4.  Of the 7 or 8 trip high points, each one was uniquely special.
5.  Best "you had to have been there" -
      After dinner and drinks (Alaskan beer and Bill's wine selection), John was asked where North Pole was.  Considering that we were in Fairbanks, his answer cracked us all up: "It's just a little south of here."  And yes, we did stop there for a picture when we left south out of Fairbanks.
6.  Weather--better than we hoped and prayed for.  In 4.5 weeks, it rained twice during the day and we dressed warmly for fishing and the bus ride in Denal.
7.  Out of the five days within sight of Denali, we saw it three.  The visability when we flew around it was crystal clear and the air was smooth.
8.  Safe travels - see "misses" on Alaskan drivers.
9.  From simple picnic lunches on a quiet beautiful Lake Kluane in the Yukon to a Mexican seafood rstaurant on the Homer Spit (Bill picked the wine here, too), eating was fun, spectacular and generated a little guilt (back to South Beach, asap!).
10.  Enjoying in-depth conversations on food, of course, job challenges, kids, church, politics and trying to answer the great question of life:  "How can we do this all the time before our hair turns grey?"
11.  Seeing your daughter have the same ear to ear grin when she caught the 30# halibut on Cook Inlet that she did when she caught the 9" trout at the "10 cents an inch" pond in Lake City 17 years ago!
12.  Having my mom (Gary's) have successful breast surgery, get hearing aids, move to Warm Friend and to continue to recover from the death of my dad, which went pretty smoothly thanks to kids and siblings.
13.  Kids that moved into our house and did a major remodel of the kitcen, took care of the dog (and cats), mowed the grass and all that other home ownership stuff.  And they did a great job in the kitchen!  Thanks Anna and Kurt!  Thanks, Leah, for making sure Tucker got lots of love!
14.  Long hours of day light--you just naturally do more in a 20 hour day light day (see "misses" for some with sleeping difficulties).
15.  A four hour new experience on the SS Badger from Manitowoc to Ludington, allowing Gary to review, relax and write.
16.  Driving through all the small towns across the US and Canada and seeing the mosaic of things that make up life - from old guys doing morning coffeee at a McD's in B.C. to little Wisconsin towns with two Catholic churches, plus a Lutheran. It gave us a feeling of. . .what? .....patriotism, connectedness, all God's children or something like that.  They also made me homesick for Holland, MI! 

Misses:

1.  Expressways - numbingly boring, especially after the Alaska Highway.
2.  Three campgrounds with gross bathrooms.
3.  Having to deal with the grey water tank on the camper.  The group went for a hike around Beyers Lake while Gary gave an enema to the camper!
4.  The dichotomy that exists when a group decides 8:00 departure means just that to some of us (guess who) and to others, 8:00 is a concept, starting point, moving point in space, depends-on-what-time-zone-my-body's-in, a plus or minus (always plus) goal to shoot for.  It should be noted, though, that collectively we never missed the bus, boat, plane or good times.
5.  On the drive back, seeing RVers headed up and feeling jealous.
6.  Frost heaved roads, dirty dusty roads (although sometimes the gravel was smoother than the ashphault) and construction delays.  (Did you know that 93.6% of all flagmen are flagwomen and that in B.C. the the Yukon, 68% are natives?)
7.  Even after being gone four weeks, being disappointed when the campground didn't have an internet connection.  (Gary mostly succeeded in keeping his mind off work.)
8.  Smoke in B.C., Yukon and Alaska from forest fires that greatly reduced visability and sometimes burned your throat.
9.  Not enought time to do more depth on what we saw and more side trips on what we didn't. 
10.  Alaskan drivers who figure following a RV gives them the right to ignore yellow no passing lines.  They must all be good Christians because they have a lot of faith that there's nobody coming at them on the other side of the hill or curve.
11.  Gravel campgrounds are a little mess that becomes a dusty big mess when inconsiderate RVers go too fast.
12.  A few of us needed blindfolds and taped skylights to get a good night sleep.
13.  When the sleepee tries to sleep when there's a snoree, it's a miss to the non-sleeper (the snorer is a sleepee and doesn't care.).  The morning after the word was that there was a husband and wife snoring tag team in two part harmony that could be heard from two campers over.  Earplugs solved this miss for some.
14.  Progressive trip memory loss or "PTML" after a while.  We could not remember the name of the campground we stayed at two nights ago, we couldn't remember the town, state or province, and barely remember whether it was the US or Canada.  Gary, and John can remember, however, the waitress at lunch in Talkeetna and the fish stew in Homer - go figure and fish!

 
WE DID IT, AND DIDN'T WAIT UNTIL WE'RE IN A WALKER!

Next one in 3 to 5, sign up now and get the discount. 

 

End of the Journey

Sunday, July 18 - We started out at 9:30.  Yesterday was such a long, hard day I couldn't get moving very early.  The trip was pretty uneventful; lots of farms.  However, thirty miles out of Min/St. Paul we came to a complete stop.  We were certainly hoping it wasn't going to be like this all the way into the city!  It was a thirty minute stop and go because of an accident.  At 7:30 we arrived at St. Paul East KOA.  Being that it was 80 degrees, we went swimming right away, then had fish--surprise--for dinner!

Stats:  535 miles; 60 gals; 8.8 mpg; 61 mph; 8.75 hrs

 
Monday, July 19 - Headed out at 7:30 and went through our first hard rain of this trip.  It rained for quite a while.  In fact, from listening to the radio, we thought we'd have rain all the way home.  However, we were in the sunshine by afternoon.  We decided to take the SS Badger to Ludington ferry tomorrow.  We stopped in Oshgosh to go through the EAA Museum.  The airshow is next week, so we didn't have any crowds.   At 5:00 we arrived at High Cliff State park on Lake Winnebago.  It's a nice park, definitely on a cliff.  It's all limestone.  There's one shower house for 112 campsites with pit toilets.  There were trails you could take, which we did some.  When we arrived, there was a sign for no swimming because of the green algea bloom--which stinks like the manure farmers put on their fields--only worse.  We didn't smell it in the campsite because camping is up on the cliff.   We really appreciate Michigan state parks!  We had to pay extra because we were non-residents, and also extra for electric!  Had a nice steak dinner at the camper and a relaxing evening--first one for some time!

Stats:  302 miles; 29 gals; 10.3 mpg; 51 mph; 6 hours

 

Tuesday, July 20:  Headed out to Manitowoc at 9:30.  Our ferry left at 1:15.  We walked around town a little, then went on the boat.  We watched the kids back up our truck/camper onto the boat; it was one of the last ones boarded.  We also saw one tour bus and two semis backed in--by the drivers, not the kids.  Right on the button, 1:15, we were off.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm.  And the water was a smooth as glass.  We had lunch then sat and enjoyed the trip.  It is a four hour trip to Ludington.  And right on the button, at 6:15, we were docked!  It was a wonderful trip.  We're glad we did it.  We were home in Holland by about 7:30!  We made it!

Stats:  144 miles (50 on ship); 14 gal; 10.3 mpg; 45 mph; 3.25 hours (plus 4 hrs on ship)

 
TOTAL TRIP STATS:  

9,448 MILES; 928 GAL; 10.1 MPG; 51 MPH; 182.5 HOURS

Day 23 -27(Tuesday, July 13, 2004):

Day 23 (Tuesday, July 13, 2004): 
We all started out about 8:30, headed for the North Pole to take picture for Maryellen’s CHEER group (cardiac health group).  It was at times comical, at times frustrating and sometimes heated, but we finally took the time (thanks, Sandy, for asking for directions) to find the welcome sign to the North Pole.  A group picture was taken and we think it looks pretty good, Maryellen!
11:00 – we arrived at Delta Junction (end of the Alcan) after taking some time to view the Alaskan Range Mountains and the pipeline suspended over Tanana River.  We had pictures taken and said our goodbyes.  Frieswyks, Sandy and Ryckbosts are headed toward Anchorage to return their motor homes and return home on Friday.  The VanderVeens are headed down the Alcan to Dawson Creek. 
Laurel has been trying to see a moose the whole trip.  I hope she was successful.  Laurel, ten minutes down the Alcan we saw a mamma and baby moose on the side of the road!  We thought about you!
There were a lot of forest fires around Tok.  We could see them burning and we also saw where they had been.  What an eerie feeling that was, driving through burned out forest!
We had dinner in Destruction Bay and arrived at Congdon Creek Yukon government campground at 9:00 (we lost an hour).  Rustic, with bear warnings.  Apparently the berries that bears like are abu;ndant around here from mid-July-September.  Needless to say, Zach and Ren slept with us in the camper!
 
Stats:  446 miles; 41 gal; 10.9 mpg; 54 mph; 8.25 hours
 
 
Day 24 (Wednesday, July 14, 2004)
9:00 – headed out again, another beautiful day.  However, the smoke is obstructing our view of Lake Kluane with the mountains in background.  We actually got lost getting out of our campground.  It was set up in circles, and as usual here in Canada, there were no signs indicating the exit.  We got a good laugh out of it, and we eventually found our way out of the paper bag!
Came across lots and lots of road construction.  The road was dirty, bumpy, and slow driving.  We arrived in Whitehorse around noon and ate at our first McD’s!
Saw some wild life today-a black bear that bounded away when I peeped the horn.  There was an antlered moose in a pond, drinking, that would have been a beautiful picture, but we didn’t see it soon enough because it was just as we rounded a curve; couldn’t back up!
We ended our day about 7:30 at Coal Creek Campground.  No electricity out here, so they had a huge generator going.  It was by the Coal Creek and Laird River junction and we walked down by the river after dinner to skip rocks!
 
Stats:  526 miles; 49 gal; 10.7 mpg; 57 mph; 9..24 hours
 
Day 25 (Thursday, July 15, 2004)
8:40 – starting our last day with Zach and Ren.  We say a LOT of wildlife today and some beautiful country!  This stretch of the Alcan we haven’t driven because we took the Casiair Hwy on our way up. 
Right away we came upon a herd of buffalo on the side of the road and walking across the street in front of us.  Got some great pictures.
We stopped at Laird Hot Springs, where you walk a boardwalk into the woods to the hot springs.  Zach, Ren and Mickey went swimming for about 30 minutes while Gary stayed at the camper reading his book.  He’s not into sitting in hot water!  And it was HOT!  Parts of it were even too hot for Ren and Mickey, which is pretty hot!
On the road again, we came across stone sheep on the highway.  Lots and lots of them—with babies.  You could actually touch them, they were so close.  Of course, the road was narrow, going through the rocky mountains.  Stone sheep are indigenous to the mountains of northern BC and southern Yukon Territory.  They are darker and somewhat slighter than the bighorn sheep found in the Rocky Mountains of Yukan, Alaska and Northwest Territories.
We hit construction again.  We waited 10 minutes for the pilot car and then it took about 30 minutes to get through the construction.  Very muddy, ugh!
This section of the Alcan takes us through the mountain ranges of Sentinel and Stone.  It’s probably the most beautiful country we’ve seen (although I thought the Keystone Canyon on the way to Valdez was the best).  The road took us around Muncho Lake, with its deep green and blue waters.  The colors are attributed to copper oxide leaching into the lake.  It drains the Sentinel Range to the east and the Terminal Range to the west, feeding the Trout River.
Once out of the mountain ranges, we had straight road, but it went up through Trutch  Mountain Bypass.  The road was rerouted in 1987 around Trutch Mountain to eliminate the steep, winding climb to Trutch Summit.  There’s an Historic Milepost 148 that commemorates Suicide hill, one of the most treacherous hills on the original highway, noted for its ominous greeting:  “prepare to meet thy maker.”  We are finding that we’d like to come back when we have a lot more time and take some of these little side trips to really get the feel of this highway.  We’re making them in our Milepost book, so we remember!
We arrived in Fort St. John about 8:00 and stayed at the Rotary RV Park, which was like home.  Very clean, with friendly Rotarians!  We walked over the the Pub for dinner and waited almost an hour for our food!  Gary doesn’t wait very well and wanted to say something, much to the dismay of Zach and Ren!  The food was good, but late.  We got back to the camper about 10:15 and were ready for bed.  One thing we noticed is that there was actually a sunset (behind the mountains) and it was dark, almost!
 
Stats:  463 miles; 43 gal; 10.7 mpg; 54 mph, 8.5 hours
 
 
Day 26 (Friday, July 16, 2004)
10:00 – had breakfast at McD’s!  Had to say goodbye to the kids.  They had to rearrange their trunk and backseat to get all their stuff back in their car (we had some of it). Renee is excited to be headed back to Houston.  I think she’s tired of living out of the trunk of her car, not knowing when she’ll get a shower!  They’re going down the west coast for a while, to Vancouver/Seattle area.  Then they’ll head straight for Houston.  Mom hated to say goodbye, knowing it will be New Years before we see them again, unless we fly out in the fall, which we usually do.  But, it was great fun having them along.
Gary and I are headed for Dawson Creek, the end (or beginning) of the Alaska Highway.  It’s another unbelievably beautiful day.  One the way, we could see fields and fields of what appeared to be purposely planted ragweed!  I asked the woman at the info center in Dawson Creek what it was, and she said it’s canola!  There’s acres and acres and acres of it—beautiful yellow fields. We had our picture taken at the Mile 0 marker, then went down the street to the original Mile 0 marker, which is in the middle of the street at an intersection.  We just took a picture of it. 
Now we are on the East  Access Highway, headed for Edmonton.  Lots of prairie, certainly a different feel than the mountains.
We had lunch at Williamson Provincial Park on Sturgeon Lake.  Lake was warm; kids swimming.  We even considered going swimming.  80 degrees, no bugs.
9:00 arrived in Mannville RV park with a truck wash.  We drove this puppy in and gave it a wash.  Looks better, but needs a good bath when we get home.
Paying $2.34 for gas up here.  The odd thing was the closer we got to the source of the oil (Alaska) the more expensive it got!
 
Stats:  519 miles; 52 gals; 10 mpg; 61  mph; 8.5 hours
 
 
Day 27 (Saturday, July 17, 2004)
Headed out at 7:30 and ended our day at 9:00!  It was a long day.  Saw lots of fields of canola;  Just shy of the border in Canada we went through some strip mining.  I can see why people don’t like it; they dig up all the land, make a mess, then did nothing about it!  It looked terrible.  Travelling the Des Lacs River valley was very picturesque  with rolling hills, cattle and again canola.  We went through and around the Des Lacs Wildlife Preserve.  Didn’t see wildlife, but the land was beautiful.   
We are glad to be back in the good ole US of A!  Won’t be long now, and we’ll be home. 
 
Stats:  660 miles; 74 gals; 8.8 mpg; 61 mph. 10.75 hour 
 

Day 21

Day 21, Sunday, July 11
We left our campground about 8:30 to make the 20 minute trip back down the mountain to the dump station and the visitors center. We could see Mt. McKinley beautifully from our campground and took lots of pictures. At the visitors center we took a small walk around Horseshoe Lake, where we found evidence that a bear had been there a little before us. However, we saw no bear—and much to Laurel’s dismay, no moose!
At 10:00 we headed out of Denali for Fairbanks. We stopped at the Denali sign for group pictures. Mickey was stung by a bee under the arm just as we reached the sign. You won’t be able to see it, but she was holding a bag of ice in these pictures! We stopped for lunch at a pullout on the road from which the Milepost said we could see Denali from the south—NOT!
We arrived at Fairbanks at 2:30. This campground is better than most; there’s always gravel, but we have grass and trees and it’s by a river. However, there is the noise of boats on the river and airplanes from the airport across the road (I should say highway). But we have water, electricity, showers and laundry, so we’re happy! Renee made room in their car to take Sandy and Mickey to the store for badly need groceries. Thankfully, the store wasn’t far from the campground, because we had groceries in every nook and cranny in the packed trunk, on the floor and in our laps for the short ride home! Everyone had dinner on their grills tonight, which was very tasty. While waiting for Gary’s ribs to grill (about an hour), we had some stimulating political discussions. Zach and Ren are camping with Republicans and we worked hard at discussing the issues and not the political parties. It was a heated, yet loving, discussion!!!
Before we went to bed, we surprised Diane with a Boston crème pie with 51 candles on it! Her birthday was three days ago, when we were in Denali, with no bakery. We sang Happy Birthday and she blew all her candles out!! We also are camping with the Hop family in this campground! Mickey wore her Holland, Michigan t-shirt and ran into someone from Zeeland! Small world!

Day 21 stats: 132 miles; 11.3 gal; 11.8 mpg; 48 mph; 2.75 hours
-mickey

Day 22 – Monday, July 12
The older generation of this traveling group decided to do a tourist type excursion today while the younger three went up towards Chena Hot Springs for a long hike.( Chena is the area that is currently burning – and they saw alot of it and five moose) The excursion was a riverboat trip down two of the rivers here in Fairbanks. It did not take long for us to realize we were joining and even older generation of folks for this tourist trap type trip. I just did some pretty fancy alliteration . Even though we were clearly outnumbered in years, we all enjoyed the trip. It was very informative on the native Athabascan culture, gold rush days, and a stop at the home of Iditarod winner, Susan Butcher. She wasn’t home today, she is up north checking on her other home which is in the fire area.Last year”s rookie winner, Jessie Royer , explained training the dogs etc., and gave a demonstration. It gave us a new appreciation for what the race means to the locals in both the ways of sport and their economy. At the end of the ride we had a float plane take-off and land for us. It waws all part of the hokeyness – but fun nevertheless. We came back to camp, had lunch, and went our separate ways for the afternoon. Ragman and Dr. Tooth, as we affectionately refer to each other on the walkie talkies, went to the University Of Alaska Museum. Flyboy(can you guess who that is?) went to check out the town and local airport. He and Mickey also saw a moose! Bill and I, and John and Laurel, were intellectually inspired at the museum. We heard a short talk by two native boys on the culture and games kids play in the villages. The two also gave a demonstration of some of the types of games they do here at the native Olympics held in two weeks. We also sat through a lecture on the Aurora. Too bad they are only visible here in Sept. and March. The museum told the story of how the natives and Japanese Alaskans were treated during WWII, and their placements in interment camps. I(Diane) was not aware of that fact, or that the Japanese bombed Alaska., and took 42 Aleutes , along with one English teacher, captive. They were sent to Japan. Enuff of the brain food. Tonight we went for our last dinner together as tomorrow we part ways with the VanderVeen group. We went to the old pump house which was used in the gold rush. It is located by the Cripple Creek stream, which according to the guide this morning on the boat, was a mother load! It is now 11:00 in the evening and I am getting ready to sign off . It is still bright outside. In fact, I am sitting outside to type my latest epistle. We have had a wonderful time together and wish all of us traveling mercies as we part and continue different paths home.
Diane

Day Nineteen (Thurs 7/8)
We headed out of Talkeetna at 8:30 AM after Sandy had her picture taken in front of the “Welcome to Beautiful, Downtown Talkeetna” sign. She wanted a picture wearing her Running Circles t-shirt. Traveling north on Parks Highway, we turned into Denali State Park and met up with Zach and Renee. They camped at Byers Lake Campground in Denali State Park the night before. John, Laurel, Bill, Diane, and Sandy hiked around Byers Lake looking for moose. We saw grouse in a tree and trumpet swans in the lake. It was cool but humid so we were tired by the end of the walk. Zach, Renee, and Mickey hiked with Bob and Lois Chambers to the first bridge and back to the parking lot. Gary spent his time dumping and unplugged the black water in the trailer. Yuck!
We had lunch at the campground.
We arrived at Denali National Park at 4:00PM. It was kind of confusing at the entrance. We stopped at the Riley Creek Mercantile and bought groceries – the store had little selection and was expensive. Water cost $3.69 f or a gallon. We also went to the Visitors Center and found out about our campsite. No shopping because we had to race to Savage Creek Campground and get our pick of the campsites. There are 34 campsites and we are taking three. We could not find three together but we were on the same road and close to the bathroom. Yeah| We had a community dinner at VanderVeen’s camper. We had chicken fajitas, salad and Renee’s cooked halibut cheeks. Derek gave us a recipe for Poor Man’s Lobster – boil halibut cheeks with brown sugar and when they float to the top it is done. It actually does taste like lobster.
After dinner we listened to a ranger talk by Ranger Cody (female). She told an Athabascan (native Alaskan) tale about how Mt. Denali (McKinley) was formed. Ask any AKroadtrip person and they can tell you the tale. Cody was a good storyteller – very expressive. We went to bed early because Gary has us booked for a 6:30 AM bus trip to Eielson Visitors Center. Luckily for us it is light that early in the morning (actually it is always light – but 6:30 is early!!!)

Day Twenty (Friday 7/9)
The Eielson bus arrived at Savage River Campground at 6:30AM and we were ready to go. Cars are not allowed past Savage Creek so taking the bus was the only way to get to Eielson and see Denali (Mt. McKinley). Our bus driver was Peter and he was very informative. He also had good eyes, a good pair of binoculars and was able to spot animals. We did not see any animals on the first part of the trip and Peter kept saying, “Yesterday, I saw most of the bears on the trip back.”
We saw Dall sheep really high on the mountain cliffs. They looked like white dots. Peter said that Dall sheep gather in nurseries – males separate from females. We saw a lazy wolf lying along a riverbed. He was scraggly and grey. We also saw two groups of caribou. One group was a silhouetted on a ridge. Another caribou carcass was lying in a riverbed. A wolf had killed it yesterday. The biggest find of the day was three grizzly bears moving along a ridge. Grizzly bears are usually alone or with a mate. It was unusual to see three together. Peter thought that it was one male and two females.
We stopped at Teklanika and Toklat on the way to Eielson. When we arrived at Eielson Visitors Center it was very cold and rainy. We could not see Denali at all because of the clouds. It was a typical day for Alaska but a little disappointing for us. We had our lunch at the center and headed back on the bus. Many in the group slept on the trip back. Zach, Laurel, John and Sandy got off the bus at Savage River to hike on the Savage River Loop trail. We hiked to the bridge and then decided to hike up to the ridge. Higher up on the ridge we had a beautiful view of the river. After we came down from the ridge we met two ladies from Hamilton, Ontario who spotted Laurel’s Calvin College shirt. They were CRC – small world. The entire bus trip was about 7 hours. It did not seem that long because of the beautiful scenery and the well-timed stops.
Mickey and Renee went to the Mercantile for a shower and to check on the binoculars that VanderVeens had left on the bus. No luck!

Day Twenty-one (Saturday 7/10)
After sleeping in until 8:30 Zach, Renee, John, Laurel, and Sandy went to the entrance of Savage River Campground to try and catch a ride to Sanctuary River. We did not have tickets for the bus so we had to depend on the generosity of the bus driver. Zach talked to the driver of the first green bus that came and got us a ride to Sanctuary. The trailhead was not at the Sanctuary Campground and luckily the bus driver knew this. We were going to go to the campground but she dropped us off at the trailhead.
We started our hike at 11:00AM. We only had to “bush-whack” for about five minutes until we found open ground. “Bush-whacking” means going through willow trees that grow closely together. Bears love to live in these trees so we talked loudly as we went along. We hiked about an hour up Primrose Ridge until we came to the base of the peak of Mount Margaret. The climbing was not terribly difficult. We had lunch at the top of the ridge in a secluded area where the wind was not blowing as much. After climbing up the rocks to the top of Mount Margaret (Laurel saw the geological survey marker), we headed east on the plateau at the top of the ridge. The ground was very spongy. It was covered with moss, rocks, grass, and flowers (yellow buttercups, purple flowers, and whitish gentian flowers). At the base of the rocks at the top of Mount Margaret we found fur from a Dall sheep. The fur is white, soft and about three inches long. No wonder the sheep can tolerate the extreme temperatures on mountain ridges.
Our plan for our descent was to head to the ridge that we climbed yesterday and come down at Savage River. However, when we reached the ridge that we could see from the plateau we discovered that it was not the Savage River ridge – it was a higher ridge. We walked along the top of the ridge for about thirty minutes trying to find the easiest way down. One side looked steep and rocky and the other side would require a lot of bush-whacking. We opted for the bush-whacking route because Zach could see a trail that we could reach with minimal bush-whacking. While we were surveying the ridge we saw a marmot and Renee cornered four ptarmigan. She took a fantastic picture of one of the ptarmigan.
The first part of our descent was down rocks and shale. It was steep but not terribly difficult. Then we entered the willow forest – a lovely place but I wouldn’t want to build a summer home there. We talked loudly, sang songs, and tried to stay close together. We came upon fresh bear scat in the willows and talked louder. Hopefully, we were not too much of an inconvenience for Mr. Bear. The willows grow closely together on the rocks so we had to break branches and “bush-whack” our way down the mountain. The descent was steep and we could not see where we were placing our feet. We held on to the trees and slid down the mountain. We could not see which direction we were heading either. We tried to stay south along the ridge so we could find the trail. Amazingly, after about fifteen minutes of bush-whacking through the willow forest we came out on the trail. We think that the trail we found was forged by dall sheep and used by humans. We had to go through more willows but the trail was well-worn and easy to follow. The last portion of the descent was a breeze compared to our adventure in the willow forest. We were very happy to be standing on level ground at the Savage River Bridge. Our toes, knees, feet, and legs were sore but we were satisfied with our hike. We feel that we accomplished a truly Alaskan feat in traversing over a mountain and through forests without a map or a trail. We caught a bus back to the campground, packed up our shower necessities, drove to the mercantile for a shower, and had pizza at Lynx Pizza on the Denali strip. It wasn’t exactly the steak or big hamburger that Zach and Renee wanted but it filled us up.
Zach and Renee also met up with Ben Visser. They ate dinner together and talked about Egypt.
On our way along Park Road back to the campground we saw Denali (Mt. McKinley) for the first time since we arrived in Denali National Park. It was a clear and sunny night – you can only say that this far north. Denali rose like a snowy fortress above the mountains that surround it. Denali had a necklace of clouds and seemed dressed for the special occasion. It was a fitting end to our day of hiking and exploring Denali National Park.
Journal Entry by Sandra Brewer

Vander Veens and Ryckbosts took an “older people” hike! We hiked around savage river. It’s about ½ mile in to the foot bridge and ½ mile back around the river. We did, however, continue to go “further up, further in” and met up with many ground squirrels and a couple of marmots, one that scared Di because she came up a little hill and there it was! She scared it toward the foot bridge and it actually followed a man across the bridge. It was the funniest thing. But the best part was seeing a Dahl sheep at the top of the ridge, standing like a century against the sky. He was magnificent. Gary actually got a great picture of him before he wondered off. We all went back to have lunch. Gary tried out our outside shower, which actually worked quite well. Mickey considered doing the same thing, but Gary used up too much of the water supply. So she, Di and Bill went the twenty minute drive back to the showers at the entrance of the camp. Vander Veens (Gary) left the binoculars on the bus from yesterday and Mickey went to see if they had been turned in. No luck. While we were gone, Gary took his nap. By the time we returned, the BIG hikers showed up not much later and we all went to dinner, which Sandy told you about. It truly was spectacular to see Mt. McKinley last night. What a sight! What a creative God we have!!
--mickey

Day Nineteen (Thurs 7/8)
We headed out of Talkeetna at 8:30 AM after Sandy had her picture taken in front of the “Welcome to Beautiful, Downtown Talkeetna” sign. She wanted a picture wearing her Running Circles t-shirt. Traveling north on Parks Highway, we turned into Denali State Park and met up with Zach and Renee. They camped at Byers Lake Campground in Denali State Park the night before. John, Laurel, Bill, Diane, and Sandy hiked around Byers Lake looking for moose. We saw grouse in a tree and trumpet swans in the lake. It was cool but humid so we were tired by the end of the walk. Zach, Renee, and Mickey hiked with Bob and Lois Chambers to the first bridge and back to the parking lot. Gary spent his time dumping and unplugged the black water in the trailer. Yuck!
We had lunch at the campground.
We arrived at Denali National Park at 4:00PM. It was kind of confusing at the entrance. We stopped at the Riley Creek Mercantile and bought groceries – the store had little selection and was expensive. Water cost $3.69 f or a gallon. We also went to the Visitors Center and found out about our campsite. No shopping because we had to race to Savage Creek Campground and get our pick of the campsites. There are 34 campsites and we are taking three. We could not find three together but we were on the same road and close to the bathroom. Yeah| We had a community dinner at VanderVeen’s camper. We had chicken fajitas, salad and Renee’s cooked halibut cheeks. Derek gave us a recipe for Poor Man’s Lobster – boil halibut cheeks with brown sugar and when they float to the top it is done. It actually does taste like lobster.
After dinner we listened to a ranger talk by Ranger Cody (female). She told an Athabascan (native Alaskan) tale about how Mt. Denali (McKinley) was formed. Ask any AKroadtrip person and they can tell you the tale. Cody was a good storyteller – very expressive. We went to bed early because Gary has us booked for a 6:30 AM bus trip to Eielson Visitors Center. Luckily for us it is light that early in the morning (actually it is always light – but 6:30 is early!!!)

Day Twenty (Friday 7/9)
The Eielson bus arrived at Savage River Campground at 6:30AM and we were ready to go. Cars are not allowed past Savage Creek so taking the bus was the only way to get to Eielson and see Denali (Mt. McKinley). Our bus driver was Peter and he was very informative. He also had good eyes, a good pair of binoculars and was able to spot animals. We did not see any animals on the first part of the trip and Peter kept saying, “Yesterday, I saw most of the bears on the trip back.”
We saw Dall sheep really high on the mountain cliffs. They looked like white dots. Peter said that Dall sheep gather in nurseries – males separate from females. We saw a lazy wolf lying along a riverbed. He was scraggly and grey. We also saw two groups of caribou. One group was a silhouetted on a ridge. Another caribou carcass was lying in a riverbed. A wolf had killed it yesterday. The biggest find of the day was three grizzly bears moving along a ridge. Grizzly bears are usually alone or with a mate. It was unusual to see three together. Peter thought that it was one male and two females.
We stopped at Teklanika and Toklat on the way to Eielson. When we arrived at Eielson Visitors Center it was very cold and rainy. We could not see Denali at all because of the clouds. It was a typical day for Alaska but a little disappointing for us. We had our lunch at the center and headed back on the bus. Many in the group slept on the trip back. Zach, Laurel, John and Sandy got off the bus at Savage River to hike on the Savage River Loop trail. We hiked to the bridge and then decided to hike up to the ridge. Higher up on the ridge we had a beautiful view of the river. After we came down from the ridge we met two ladies from Hamilton, Ontario who spotted Laurel’s Calvin College shirt. They were CRC – small world. The entire bus trip was about 7 hours. It did not seem that long because of the beautiful scenery and the well-timed stops.
Mickey and Renee went to the Mercantile for a shower and to check on the binoculars that VanderVeens had left on the bus. No luck!

Day Twenty-one (Saturday 7/10)
After sleeping in until 8:30 Zach, Renee, John, Laurel, and Sandy went to the entrance of Savage River Campground to try and catch a ride to Sanctuary River. We did not have tickets for the bus so we had to depend on the generosity of the bus driver. Zach talked to the driver of the first green bus that came and got us a ride to Sanctuary. The trailhead was not at the Sanctuary Campground and luckily the bus driver knew this. We were going to go to the campground but she dropped us off at the trailhead.
We started our hike at 11:00AM. We only had to “bush-whack” for about five minutes until we found open ground. “Bush-whacking” means going through willow trees that grow closely together. Bears love to live in these trees so we talked loudly as we went along. We hiked about an hour up Primrose Ridge until we came to the base of the peak of Mount Margaret. The climbing was not terribly difficult. We had lunch at the top of the ridge in a secluded area where the wind was not blowing as much. After climbing up the rocks to the top of Mount Margaret (Laurel saw the geological survey marker), we headed east on the plateau at the top of the ridge. The ground was very spongy. It was covered with moss, rocks, grass, and flowers (yellow buttercups, purple flowers, and whitish gentian flowers). At the base of the rocks at the top of Mount Margaret we found fur from a Dall sheep. The fur is white, soft and about three inches long. No wonder the sheep can tolerate the extreme temperatures on mountain ridges.
Our plan for our descent was to head to the ridge that we climbed yesterday and come down at Savage River. However, when we reached the ridge that we could see from the plateau we discovered that it was not the Savage River ridge – it was a higher ridge. We walked along the top of the ridge for about thirty minutes trying to find the easiest way down. One side looked steep and rocky and the other side would require a lot of bush-whacking. We opted for the bush-whacking route because Zach could see a trail that we could reach with minimal bush-whacking. While we were surveying the ridge we saw a marmot and Renee cornered four ptarmigan. She took a fantastic picture of one of the ptarmigan.
The first part of our descent was down rocks and shale. It was steep but not terribly difficult. Then we entered the willow forest – a lovely place but I wouldn’t want to build a summer home there. We talked loudly, sang songs, and tried to stay close together. We came upon fresh bear scat in the willows and talked louder. Hopefully, we were not too much of an inconvenience for Mr. Bear. The willows grow closely together on the rocks so we had to break branches and “bush-whack” our way down the mountain. The descent was steep and we could not see where we were placing our feet. We held on to the trees and slid down the mountain. We could not see which direction we were heading either. We tried to stay south along the ridge so we could find the trail. Amazingly, after about fifteen minutes of bush-whacking through the willow forest we came out on the trail. We think that the trail we found was forged by dall sheep and used by humans. We had to go through more willows but the trail was well-worn and easy to follow. The last portion of the descent was a breeze compared to our adventure in the willow forest. We were very happy to be standing on level ground at the Savage River Bridge. Our toes, knees, feet, and legs were sore but we were satisfied with our hike. We feel that we accomplished a truly Alaskan feat in traversing over a mountain and through forests without a map or a trail. We caught a bus back to the campground, packed up our shower necessities, drove to the mercantile for a shower, and had pizza at Lynx Pizza on the Denali strip. It wasn’t exactly the steak or big hamburger that Zach and Renee wanted but it filled us up.
Zach and Renee also met up with Ben Visser. They ate dinner together and talked about Egypt.
On our way along Park Road back to the campground we saw Denali (Mt. McKinley) for the first time since we arrived in Denali National Park. It was a clear and sunny night – you can only say that this far north. Denali rose like a snowy fortress above the mountains that surround it. Denali had a necklace of clouds and seemed dressed for the special occasion. It was a fitting end to our day of hiking and exploring Denali National Park.
Journal Entry by Sandra Brewer

Vander Veens and Ryckbosts took an “older people” hike! We hiked around savage river. It’s about ½ mile in to the foot bridge and ½ mile back around the river. We did, however, continue to go “further up, further in” and met up with many ground squirrels and a couple of marmots, one that scared Di because she came up a little hill and there it was! She scared it toward the foot bridge and it actually followed a man across the bridge. It was the funniest thing. But the best part was seeing a Dahl sheep at the top of the ridge, standing like a century against the sky. He was magnificent. Gary actually got a great picture of him before he wondered off. We all went back to have lunch. Gary tried out our outside shower, which actually worked quite well. Mickey considered doing the same thing, but Gary used up too much of the water supply. So she, Di and Bill went the twenty minute drive back to the showers at the entrance of the camp. Vander Veens (Gary) left the binoculars on the bus from yesterday and Mickey went to see if they had been turned in. No luck. While we were gone, Gary took his nap. By the time we returned, the BIG hikers showed up not much later and we all went to dinner, which Sandy told you about. It truly was spectacular to see Mt. McKinley last night. What a sight! What a creative God we have!!
--mickey

Day Sevevteen (Tues, 7/8)

Day Seventeen (Tues, 7/6): To add to last night—Derek grilled about 20 lbs of halibut, some marinated in Italian dressing and fresh veggies, some in lemon juice and seasonings. It was sooooo good! We also had fresh fruit salad, lettuce salad, wild rice, sautéed baby carrots…mmmmm! We all had fish for leftovers later, of course.
Now, today: We headed for Talkeetna around 9:00 a.m. Ren and Zach were heading out on their own and will meet us tonight. We made a stop at Ninilchik, a quaint Russian town on the bay. Took pictures of the active Russian church with cemetery in the yard. It’s a local fishing community; very old.
From there we headed to Big Game Alaska, a wild life reserve for injured animals. We saw a bald eagle, black bear, bison, moose and there was a grizzly, but he didn’t show up. He has a lot of acres to roam, so he stayed away from us.
Ryckbosts and Frieswyks headed for Talkeetna while VanderVeens dropped Leah and Derek off in Anchorage for their flight back home. (Frieswyks and Ryckbosts got separated by traffic in Anchorage. Frieswyks said they’d go slow and wait for them to catch up. Laurel said they went up an off ramp and back down the on ramp; up an off ramp and down an on ramp, etc., until Ryckbosts passed them, then Frieswyks had to catch up to them! It was comical!) We dropped them off at 4:00 and their flight didn’t leave until 11:30 p.m. So they checked their bags, took a cab and went downtown and caught the movie, Spiderman 2. Then had dinner and went back to catch their flight (Mickey found this out by calling home on Wednesday!) They hated to go home, but they were in good spirits. Derek fell in love with the place!
On our way to Talkeetna, because it was such a beautiful, warm day, we had a great view of Mt. McKinley. We started seeing it when we were 166 miles away from Denali Park! Such beauty!
We all arrived in our campground within an hour or so of each other. Another gravel parking lot, but this one at least has trees! However, there is a railroad station in our back yard, with an airport just beyond that! There aren’t as many trains, however, as there are in Holland, and they aren’t as long and the engineers aren’t as obnoxious on the horn!! We walked downtown for dinner, which is a five minute walk. We sat out by the campers for a little while—it’s warm and no bugs. God is Good!!!

Seventeenth day stats: 348 miles; 30 gals; 11.3 mpg; 47 mph; 7.5 hours
-mickey


Day Eighteen (Wed.7/7) We started off our day bright and early with a walk over to the airport to catch our planes for a trip to Denali(Mt.McKinley). Gary arranged the trip for all of us (except for Zach and Renee) last night. Upon arrival, because of the condition of the skies, sunshine and no wind, we all decided to not only land on the glacier, but to circle the mt. so we could see both the north and south faces. The north face has the tallest icewall in the world. The splendor and wonder of God’s world is almost to much to absorb on one trip. We all had a blast! And Di handle the heights and small plane like a pro. On the return from the mt. our plane spotted four moose. The aft. Was spent leisurely strolling the streets of Talkeetna-all two of them. We also took a path down to the Susistna River. It is really murky from the glacier run0ff. Bill took me out for a gourmet dinner tonight for my birthday. Any time I don’t have to cook while camping I considered it gourmet. Café Michele(that is really the name – Mickey did not get roped into making my dinner!) made the best salmon filet and espresso cake. One of the highlites of my day was standing in line for restroom with Laurel. They are combination restrooms and showers- rather private compared to the barrack types in most campgrounds. The door opened and out stepped an older lady – I turned to step in and walked right into her husband – who was in there with her. You had to see their faces to know how funny it was. They looked like a cat caught with the mouse! We laughed all the way back to our campers. Never to old to enjoy a spouse I guess! It is now a little down time looking a our digital pictures on the camper T.V. and the VanderVeen computer, writing in our journals and getting ready to move on to Denali Park in the morning.
Journal entry by Di Ryckbost

Day Nine +

Day Nine (Mon, 6/28): 8:30 a.m. Headed out toward Anchorage; not sure where we’ll head for the day. Had two construction zones that cost us about half hour; really not too bad. The Alcon is not the greatest. Lots of dips in the road, some gravel, hills, turns. Can’t do much more that 50-55 most times. Lots of smoke from the forest fires. Visibility stinks; missing lots of mountain views.
2:30 – split from Zach and Ren at Glennallen. They’re headed toward Anchorage—didn’t want to do as much driving today. They will probably stop at the huge state park just outside Anchorage. We’re headed to Valdez. We’ll meet up with them at Embassy Suites tomorrow, where the gang is staying on Wednesday night.
The road to Valdez is beautiful. The smoke is gone and the view is great. Mountains all around. Stopped at Worthington Glacier, where you can walk right up to it. Cold and beautiful!
Arrived in Valdez at 5:00. Camping choices are between a graveled parking lot or a graveled parking lot. Think we’ll go with the graveled parking lot called Bear Paw! Went to dinner, walked around town. Ran into a couple from Grand Rapids!! (Mickey had on her Holland Michigan shirt). Hoping to get this on the net tonight.


***Addition: Valdez was a most beautiful place. The mountains in the valley were so very green. No tall pines; just what looks like green bushes, though they are small trees. The green looks like the green I envision seeing in Ireland—some day!

Ninth day stats: 346 miles; 31 gals; 11 mpg; 50 mph; 6.75 hours
-mickey




Day Ten (Tues, 6/29): 8:30 a.m. Headed back to Glennallen. There’s still snow along the highway at Thompson Pass. The waitress at breakfast told us there is road construction halfway to Anchorage. Have to follow a pilot car and the wait is 30-45 minutes! When we reached the construction, we only had to wait about 10 minutes before the pilot car showed up. The construction is 9 miles long and it’s at 35 mph! Unfortunately, the 9 miles of no stopping was the most beautiful 9 miles so far. We went through a valley where you could see Matanuska Glacier, but all the viewing areas were either gone or being used by construction crew. It would have been a perfect place for pictures.
Passed Victory Bible Camp, where Mardi has worked (I think this is how she met Warren, who was on the same work crew).
Arrived in Anchorage at 4:00; met up with Zach and Ren and had a late dinner with them. They had been in Anchorage the night before, but unable to camp because they got in late and couldn’t find the camping that was supposed to be in the national park. They did the wash, saw a movie and were ready to move on tomorrow. We planned to meet up with them at Seward.

Tenth day stats: 308 miles; 28 gals; 10.8 mpg; 48 mph; 6 hours
-mickey

Day Eleven (Wed, 6/30): Our first down day. Gary’s getting grease and oil; camper wash. I’m washing clothes, cleaning camper. Zach and Ren headed to Hope where they planned to camp for the night. Gary’s been to the airport three times to pick up the rest of the gang. First he picked up Frieswyks, put them at the bar and went to get Ryckbosts, who came in about an hour after John and Laurel. Couple hours later he went to get Sandy. At 10:30 p.m. we went once again to pick up Leah and Derek.
Motorhomes won’t be ready until tomorrow afternoon, so the Vander Veens are headed out in the morning and we’ll meet up with everyone in Seward.
-mickey


Day Twelve (Thurs, 7/1): After getting a little lost getting out of Anchorage, we headed out to Seward. Derek and Leah are very excited! Wondered through the little village of Hope; the campground is pretty nice. Anna and Kurt stayed here on their honeymoon!
Had lunch at Primrose USFS Campground on Kenai Lake.
Arrived in Seward around 2:00. Passed Zach and Ren going in the other direction for a 3-4 hour hike. Good thing we came early. We didn’t have reservations here and the town is hopping!! Big 4th of July weekend. Stayed next to a stream with red salmon , which was fun to watch. But it’s another gravel parking lot. But it’s also the only place in town. Saved two spots for the motorhomes and Zach and Ren pitched their tent behind us. Rest of the gang showed about 7:30.
We are pleased and surprised at how this little camper can accommodate 6 adults at any given time!!!

Twelfth Day stats: 179 miles; 16 gal; 11 mpg; 40 mph; 6 hrs.
-mickey

Day Thirteen (Fri, 7/2): Took a boat sightseeing tour today. There was a bald eagle sitting on the post in the water on our way out, and he let us photograph him. Saw orca whales right away. They served a lunch on this boat, and we were tables 1 and 2. Someone got sick on the deck above us, and our window view was not pretty for a while. The crew cleaned it up as best they could. Unfortunately, we noticed it when we sat down to eat!! The lunch, by the way, was excellent: rice, baked salmon, prime rib, salad, sour dough bread, and dessert (we were last for dessert; they started with number 31! Just like church!)
The day was cool and cloudy, but lots of fun. We boated around a bird sanctuary where we say puffins and other birds, as well as sea lions and otters. Got back around 7:30. Everyone was pretty tuckered from a great day. We had dinner at the camper and then Gary and Mickey walked the water, past all the campers. We now know what Alaskans do for long weekends—everyone camps!
-mickey



Day Fourteen (Sat, 7/3): On our way to Homer, we stopped at the Seward Sea Life Center for an informative hour and half self tour. Made it to Exit Glacier for a ranger tour by 11:00. Some in the group were going to take the longer, more strenuous hike, but it turned out to be longer and more strenuous than the Milepost said! It is a 7.7 mile hike, 8-9 hours and 1,000 higher than expected! Gary and Mickey actually tried this hike when they were here seven years ago, and we didn’t finish it—we were in over our heads!
Had lunch in a picnic are just outside Moose Pass.
4:00 came upon stopped traffic. Had the radio on and heard that there was an accident and there was a two hour delay! Derek and Leah got out and walked for a mile before we caught up with them in the truck. We’d stop; move a short distance; stop again. Diane and Mickey got out once too. One of the homeowners had walked to the accident and was walking back and talked to Derek and Leah. There had been a truck that sideswiped a truck camper, which made the truck camper go into the other lane and hit an SUV. There was one fatality. We found out that the accident had happened 2-1/2 hours before we got there. We were stopped 3 miles from the accident scene. Took us 1-1/2 to go three miles. We saw the cars; looked nasty.
Finally arrived in Homer an hour later. Went to the Spit to check out The Salty Dog Bar, but it was packed. So we went downtown to Alice’s (at 10:30---it’s never dark here!!). Got a feel for the local flavor!

Fourteenth day stats: 191 mi; 16.3 gal; 11.7 mpg; 39 mph; 10 hours
-mickey


Day Fifteen (Sun, 7/4): The Vander Veens went to Church of the Nazarene. Renee grew up in this denomination. We had a beautiful few of the mountains during the service. Small, very friendly church.
Our campground had a free fish fry at 2:00. Bring a dish to pass, the provided everything else. It was very good. And they gave away door prizes! Derek won a t-shirt; Mickey won a photo album; Diane won a fleece hat!
The seven elders went on a hike, which took us a while to find at first. We had to drive to the place, the Calvin & Coyle trail, and it was not easy to find! We went a half mile through “rainforest” and got to a deck where we were hoping to see moose, but didn’t. We then went to the Spit and got a drink at The Salty Dog. We then had dinner at one of the local places and had the best dinner so far. The crab legs were huge and yummy. Bill had ribs and chicken. He found whole jalapenos in the sauce on his ribs. He wondered why his lips were numb! Finally saw the sun at 9:30 p.m.!
Ran into the “younguns” going for hamburgs on our way back to camper. Big day tomorrow!
-mickey
Day Sixteen (Mon. 7/5): Zach, Renee, Derek, Leah, Gary and John went fishing;
Diane, Bill, Laurel, Sandy went kayaking; Mickey stayed home, drove the kayakers to and fro, did wash, updated the journal. (Pretty boring, huh? Actually, it was very nice!)

Here’s the scoop on the fishing: 21 caught; kept 12; 160 filleted. Really rough ride, 4-5 foot waves; sea otters, puffins, volcano, salty Capt. Dave, no one barfed. Renee caught the biggest fish—she was the fisherwoman!! Looking forward to Derek’s culinary touch tonight for dinner. Fisherpeople left at 7:00 a.m., got back at 3:30. Sending 85 pounds back with Derek and Leah.

Here’s the scoop on the kayaking: Left at 10:00, got back at 3:30. Lunch provided on the island they kayaked around. The weather was perfect. Saw otter, sea lions, harbor seal, dolphins, and numerous eagles. Came back a little tired, but was great fun!
-dictated to Mickey

Day 5,6,7,8,9

Day Five: Headed out at 8:00 a.m. Zach and Ren slept in camper last night. Ren loved being warm and dry; Zach loved being inches away from bathroom. Zach is longer than the bed, though!
Paralleled Fraizer River, a beautiful valley drive. Stopped at an internet café in Prince George to get caught up on some emailing. Paid $2.70 US per gallon of gas!!
Arrived at Telkewa Provincial Park at 5:00 for the night. It’s 90 degrees! Beautiful little park, on the lake. Gary went swimming. Had a relaxing evening. Saw our first bald eagle while eating supper in the campground!
Also, saw a bear on the side of the road—I mean, RIGHT THERE! Unfortunately, neither of us could find our cameras! He had a mouth full of veggies!

Fifth day stats: 465 miles; 42 gals; 10.9 mpg; 56 mph; 8.25 hours
-mickey

Day Six (Friday, 6/25): Another beautiful day, 65 degrees at 8:30 a.m.!
10:15 – arrived at Cassiar Highway (37)—going north to Alaska. Stopped for gas at junction. Met a couple from PA. He “prepped” their minivan—storage bins, foam to sleep on, if necessary. It was the most ordered and neat packing we’ve ever seen. Zach and Ren thought they should have bought a minivan!
Hwy 37 is a long, winding, bumpy, beautiful road. Took 37A to Stewart-Hyder, for sightseeing. Bear Glacier is right next to the r oad; beautiful blue ice.
1:45 – arrived in Stewart, BC. Drove across border to Hyder, AK
MADE IT TO ALASKA: 2,862 miles, 300 gals; 9.5 mpg; 55 mph; 50 hrs!!
Decided to stay in BC; campground was much nicer. Hyder is known as the friendliest little ghost town – and ghost town it is! Although, Stewart wasn’t much busier, it certainly had move life. Gary and I walked to town; Zach and Ren took a hike. Mickey shaved Gary’s head tonight, much to her dismay. But he likes it! Had dinner at the Pizza place—Ren had liver and onions!! And it’s still hot out.

Sixth day stats: 221 miles; 20 gals; 11 mpg; 47 mph; 4.75 hrs
-mickey

Day Seven (Sat, 6/26): Had to pay for showers, but they were the best ones so far!
9:30 A headed back up 37A to 37 (Cassiar Hwy) Reached 37 about 10:30. 2003 map shows some gravel, some paved road. The first section was all recently paved and good traveling. But we did cross some rough gravel patches further north. Stopped for lunch at Kenaskan Park. There are forest fires on the Alcan. Some parts of the Alcan were closed going south (we heard). Good thing we took the Cassiar.
Stopped for gas in Dease Lake; paid $2.85 US per gallon! Ouch!
Stopped at one tourist place, Jade City. It’s a jade mine with a gift shop. Mickey bought some jewelry. She told Zach she could have spent more time and money in the place!
We haven’t had traffic for miles and miles. And when we do, it’s going south. It’s almost like this is a road that’s a secret! However, 37 is a very difficult road to drive because of all the ups, downs, twists and turns.
Arrived on the Alcan at 6:00! Stayed at Watson Lake, in an RV park that was basically a dusty parking lot! But it had free RV wash and internet access, and we were tired. Did go to store—food is expensive! A 12 pack of diet Coke was 9.00 CN! We’re drinking the free cold water!

We are one day ahead of schedule. Thinking of checking out Valdez. We’ll see how far we get on the Alcan tomorrow. We heard that the forest fires are next to the road, and some part of the road was closed, but expected to open tomorrow.

Seventh day stats: 409 miles; 37 gal; 11.2 mpg; 50 mph; 8 hrs
-mickey

Day Eight (Sun, 6/27): Headed up the Alcan around 8:00 a. Watson Lake, where we stayed last night, has the Sign Post Forest. People from all over the world on their way to and from Alaska put various signs up, such as street signs, yield signs, city signs, homemade signs. It is amazing! As of 2002, there were 49,800 signs (who counts those things?)
Have been traveling through smoke from forest fires all day. The news says there are 440 forest fires around BC, and we’re driving through all the smoke. Missed out on some great views because of it. Gary was excited—he saw a sailboat on Marsh Lake in Yukon Territory.
The road from Whitehorse to Alaska was bumpy, patches of gravel, road crews, and bumpy!! Very bumpy!!
7:20 arrived at Beaver Creek, twenty miles from the border. Ate at Buckshot Betty’s. Saw first moose on way to border—big one, too.
8:00 (time change) – IN ALASKA!!! 3,854 miles!
Staying at Border City RV Park—gas is $2.11 gal—wow!

Eighth day stats: 579 miles; 55 gal; 10.6 mpg; 55 mpg; 10.5 hours
-mickey


Day Nine (Mon, 6/28): 8:30 a.m. Headed out toward Anchorage; not sure where we’ll head for the day. Had two construction zones that cost us about half hour; really not too bad. The Alcon is not the greatest. Lots of dips in the road, some gravel, hills, turns. Can’t do much more that 50-55 most times. Lots of smoke from the forest fires. Visibility stinks; missing lots of mountain views.
2:30 – split from Zach and Ren at Glennallen. They’re headed toward Anchorage—didn’t want to do as much driving today. They will probably stop at the huge state park just outside Anchorage. We’re headed to Valdez. We’ll meet up with them at Embassy Suites tomorrow, where the gang is staying on Wednesday night.
The road to Valdez is beautiful. The smoke is gone and the view is great. Mountains all around. Stopped at Worthington Glacier, where you can walk right up to it. Cold and beautiful!
Arrived in Valdez at 5:00. Camping choices are between a graveled parking lot or a graveled parking lot. Think we’ll go with the graveled parking lot called Bear Paw! Went to dinner, walked around town. Ran into a couple from Grand Rapids!! (Mickey had on her Holland Michigan shirt). Hoping to get this on the net tonight.

Ninth day stats: 346 miles; 31 gals; 11 mpg; 50 mph; 6.75 hours
-mickey