Day 60 was our last planned drive as part of the caravan to Sintich RV Park in Prince George, BC. It started with Ricky’s last thump of tires. It was only 223 mile and with the good roads we made great time. With the photo scavenger hunt over, we had no planned stops so we only stopped for lunch and walks for Ty. Once we hit Prince George, we did stop at Walmart to stock up on food and supplies.
Continue reading “Prince George 09/06 – 09/07/2019”Telkwa, Totem Poles and Memories of 1966 09/05/2019
The time spent in Hyder was our last time in Alaska and once we left Stewart it was a push for 2 days of driving to complete our caravan’s journey. However, I think the drive to our next stop at Fort Telkwa RV Park was one of Randy’s favorite parts of this trip.
Continue reading “Telkwa, Totem Poles and Memories of 1966 09/05/2019”Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK 09/03 – 09/04/2019
We drove 243 miles from Dease Lake to the Bear River RV Park in Stewart, BC. Along the way, we stopped at the Bell II Lodge for lunch with Mitch and Kate and to get our scavenger hunt photo of where we ate on the Cassiar Highway. I get extra points in the competition since there were 4 of us in this crazy photo. Mitch took the point after lunch. This allowed him to radio back to us about a black bear along the road. Unfortunately, we could not get stopped in time to get a good picture. The bear took off up into the wooded bank on the side of the road, and we had traffic behind us with nowhere to pull over so we could not get any more photos of this particular bear. We didn’t learn until later than Brian and Diane did not have any traffic behind them so they were able to wait for the bear to come back down the hill. They were able to get a few nice pictures of the black bear. We also stopped for some photos of the Bear River Glacier that came down the mountain just on the other side of the river that ran along the road.
Continue reading “Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK 09/03 – 09/04/2019”Dease Lake and Bears in the Road 09/02/2019
When we left Baby Nugget RV Park, it was a quick 0.5 miles before we turned left onto the Cassiar Highway (BC Hwy-37 South) and back to narrow, bumpy, frost heaved roads. We passed gorgeous lakes such as Blue Lake and Simmons Lake. Randy was thrilled that he somehow spotted a black bear off of the road and was able to get the RV stopped in time to get a couple of photos. He flagged down the 5-wheel with the Adventure Caravan that was following us so he could get a photo and the bear could cross the road unharmed. I think the driver of the 5th wheel did not want to stop because he kept flashing his lights at Randy. He didn’t slam on his brakes until he saw the bear! Randy said the photo he got of the bear looking at him with some foliage in the foreground was his favorite photo he has taken on the trip. You can also really see the foliage starting to show their changing colors. Randy likes the black bears better than the grizzly bears. Unfortunately, later on our drive we missed the photo of a mama bear and her 2 cubs. Randy yelled “camera, camera, camera” but by the time I got the camera out, the sow and cubs had jumped back into the bushes. One disadvantage of the RV–its noisy!!
Continue reading “Dease Lake and Bears in the Road 09/02/2019”Nugget City 09/01/2019
It was nice to be back on decent roads, at least by Alaska standards. We traveled 255 miles on Highway-1 East toward Watson Lake to Nugget City, Yukon. Most of this part of the road, we had traveled before, but with the beautiful fall colors, it was a whole new experience. We stopped at Rancheria Falls for our scavenger hunt photo. I was glad we were one of the first to make this stop, as the parking lot was small. The falls were a quick 10 to 15-minute walk from the parking lot. Jim and Jane also stopped at the falls and joined us (and Ty) on the quick walk. It felt good to get out and stretch our legs; and the view was worth the short hike.
Continue reading “Nugget City 09/01/2019”Haines and Juneau: Eagles, Bears, Whales and Wildlife 08/27 – 08/30/2019
The roads after leaving Destruction Bay heading to Haines were much better than the last several days which made it a delightful 213 mile trip on the Alaska Highway and the Haines Highway. We had gorgeous views of the Kluane Range, Kathleen Lake, the Klukshn Wetlands and the Chilkat River.
Continue reading “Haines and Juneau: Eagles, Bears, Whales and Wildlife 08/27 – 08/30/2019”Destruction Bay and Tetlin Wildlife Center 08/26/2019
This section of the Alaska Highway to Destruction Bay was probably as bad or worse than the Tok Cut-Off. There were limited construction delays, but the roadway was full of potholes, unlevel areas and frost heaves. This road needs construction. I even posted on Facebook that an Alaska dance could be invented based on all the movement from the road; repeat hops for all the bumps in the road, sways to the left and right for the frost heaves, dips for all of the low areas in the road, slides to the left or right for all of the swerves to avoid potholes and a shimmy to finish the dance for the rough areas.
Continue reading “Destruction Bay and Tetlin Wildlife Center 08/26/2019”Tok; Second Stop 08/25/2019
The trip to Tok was a return to the Tok RV Village; however, on this trip we traveled the Richardson Highway to the Glenn Highway/Tok Cut-Off. The Cut-Off definitely saved on mileage but it was a road that had major construction, lots of frost heaves and took lots of maneuvering and concentration to drive the road to avoid the worse areas. And this is after major improvements have occurred over the summer.
Continue reading “Tok; Second Stop 08/25/2019”Valdez: Glaciers, Salmon, Sea Lions, Seals, Whales and Wildlife 08/21 – 08/24/2019
It took us a good part of the day to travel the 262 miles to Valdez and our access to the Prince William Sound. A little over half of the trip was on the Glenn Highway that had lots of steep downgrades with sharp curves. The last 120 miles was on the Richardson Highway where we passed the Worthington Glacier and drove through the Keystone Canyon. We stayed at the Eagles Rest RV Park in Valdez. The management at the Park had mixed up the caravan reservations so we had to move our spot. We had just gotten set up and started washing the mud and dirt off the Jeep and RV when Mitch and us were asked to move. They had promised another 2 travelers the spots we were on for Saturday so we were not very kindly told we needed to move NOW. Because we had someone coming to see our ShowHauler, we didn’t get to go out to dinner as planned, but instead just had a quick dinner about 8:30. It had been a long day by that time so we just called it a night.
Continue reading “Valdez: Glaciers, Salmon, Sea Lions, Seals, Whales and Wildlife 08/21 – 08/24/2019”Palmer and Belugas in Turnagain Arm 08/19 – 08/20/2019
We left Seward on the 42nd day of our Fantasy Caravan for the 167-mile destination of Mountain View RV park in Palmer, Alaska. The only planned stop we expected were for one scavenger hunt photo and for fuel somewhere along the way. The roads were good, except for a few miles of construction once we got to Palmer. The unexpected surprise while traveling along the Turnagain Arm heading towards Anchorage was seeing several beluga whales near the exit for the Portage Glacier. We were lucky that we were in an area with a wide shoulder so that we could get over to take a picture. There are not very many shoulders on this road, with only a few pull off spots. The belugas only surfaced quickly as they continued to follow the tide line up the Arm, while they hunted for food. Randy was lucky to get a couple of pictures. We did not see any other belugas as we continued our journey up the Arm to Anchorage.
Continue reading “Palmer and Belugas in Turnagain Arm 08/19 – 08/20/2019”