The Alaskan Marine Ferry

Had some time to kill after we left the RV park, so decided to go to Chilkoot Lake where we heard there was a momma bear and 2 cubs fishing there.  It was not long until we were blessed to see these three wild animals fishing.  Fishermen reeled in their fishing line and left their fish catch for the bears, spectators dawned their cameras and cautiously started taking pictures.  What a sight to stand and watch these powerful animals fish.  Momma caught the fish and cubs tried to steal it with quite growling sounds from both the mom and cub.  Finally the cubs won out and it was not until the 3rd catch that mom got to eat.  Then they moseyed (sp) across the parking lot back into the woods.   Later that afternoon, Paw Paw was talking to an amateur, professional photographer and all of a sudden I heard him say "Wow bear, wow bear!"  The oldest cub, followed by the youngest cub,  was walking straight in front of him and just 6' from the coach window before slidding down backwards into the lake.  Momma had already entered the lake further up the parking lot.  Watched them fish a while and decided to go to ferry station.  As we were leaving, mom and cubs were walking down the road eating berries and the cubs wrestling.  Now, the second experience was the hour ride to Skagway from Haines on the Alaskan Marine Highway Ferry.  IT WAS HUGE!  The lower deck was a parking garage for probably 18 RV's and well over 30 cars and motorcycles.  Then there were 2 decks of cabins with lounges and a cafeteria, then the upper deck lounge.  The trip took about an hour through the fijords and was absolutely spectacular.  Got a picture of the ferry at night, but it was not very good.  We are off to Whitehorse, Yukon and will be headed down to Jasper and Banff National parks and THEN back into the USA.  Not sure about internet service as I will be at the mercy of the RV park provider AGAIN.  Love ya'll and enjoy the pictures of the bears.  We sure did enjoy watching them. 

Rainy Haines

Very cold and rainy here in Haines today.  We decided to just rest and do laundry.  Tomorrow we will head to a state park here in Haines where we have heard that the bears are feeding on migrating salmon.  Don't know what we will see, but going to give it a whirl.  We will then go to Skagway on Sunday via ferry.  The temp did not reach 60 and it was a bit chilly last night.  But one good thing is that the bay is just beautiful to watch the tides and the clouds on the mountains.  Kids --  the salmon was mailed today so you should receive the middle or end of next week.  Hope you enjoy.  Love ya'll and will try to post tomorrow evening. 

Haines, Alaska

Drove to Haines today and plan on staying until Saturday morning when we will take the ferry to Skagway.  We are staying at Oceanside RV Park right on the Bay.  We watched two Bald head eagles fishing from the docks.  On our way from Haines Junction we saw 4 brown bears right on the side of the road (picture).  Coming into Haines we saw two fish wheels (picture)on the Chilkott River.  It was really interesting to watch how it worked to catch the salmon.  Will visit the local museum and town tomorrow.  Love ya'll and will touch base tomorrow evening. 

Chicken, Dawson City, Whitehorse, Haines Junction

Alot has happened in two days.  We decided to travel to Chicken, Alaska after hearing that the Taylor Hwy was pretty decent.  There were sure a lot of whop-de-do's (frost heaves) on the way.  Chicken is pretty remote.  100 miles from no where.  There are two RV parks, 2 cafes, 3 gift shops and one bar - all in a very small area.  Chicken was a gold mining area and still is to a certain extent.  After talking to a local there, we decided to go ahead and drive the Top of the World Highway into Dawson City, Yukon Canada.  There are not enough adjatives to describe the 108 mile drive.  You litteraly felt like you were on top of the world mountains and could see forever.  What a ride.  In the middle of this highway is the Boundry Crossing from the US into Canada.  Paw Paw decided to get fisty with the border patrol person (will share with you when we get home) and I thought we would have our coach searched or worse detained.  Just a little excitement to make things spicey.  Then, when you decended into Dawson City we got a ferry ride across the Yukon River.  If that was not enough, when we were approaching the other bank of the Yukon, there was a bull dozer creating a road for us to drive off the ferry on.  Pulled into Dawson City and what a surprise.  This town has kept it's 1800 charm in tact.  The roads are gravel and the sidewalks are boardwalks, just like they were back in the goldrush days.  The buildings - oh my were they beautiful and very well kept up.  They sure have preserved their charm.  I declare if there were no cars and everyone was in 1800 period dress, you would think you were back in that time period.  Traveled the Klondike Highway the next day and passed nothing until the half way point where there was a grocery, gas station, hotel and RV park.  Amazingly, today (7/27), we traveled the other half and saw nothing until we hit Whitehorse.  Stopped there to have a tire problem solved and then moved on to Haines Junction.  Saw a big, brown bear along the road.  Tomorrow we travel to Haines, Alaska where I hope my air card will work again. Then off to Skagway and then to Jasper and Banff.   Sorry for not posting before now, but internet service in the Yukon is very spuratic and does not work well and my air card charges $20/mg if I use it in Canada.  I have service on my cell, but the calls are dropped, so I can not call out.  Glad everyone is well.  Miss everyone, but having a great time.  So glad we decided to do this.  The traffic has not been bad and the RV places have not been full.  Will post again tomorrow in Haines or when I have service. 

Love ya'll. 

Tok

Left Valdez in the clouds with rain.  Was so hoping to see the Keystone Canyon in the sunshine again, but lo it was still beautiful in the haze of the clouds.  Went to see the end of the Alaska Pipeline that terminates in Valdez and also a fish wier where the salmon are  migrating from the ocean. The Solomon Gulch Fish hatchery is the returning home of 320,000 pink salmon and 200,000 silver (coho) salmon.  The hatchery takes the eggs of these salmon and hatches them to release next Spring to guarantee that there is enough Pink and Silver Salmon for the commercial fisherman, the sport fisherman and also the residents of Alaska.  They do the same proceedure in Seward at the Big Bear Lake Fish Wier (hatchery).  The Tok cut off road to Tok had nothing on it not even a gas station.  Makes for a long day of driving.  We are staying at the Tok RV Village.  Ate at Fast Eddie's - Yum Yum.   Any restaruant named after a special Son in Law had to have good food.  Came back to the RV park and washed the Rv since we drove over 24 miles of muddy gravel road construction.  Then the RV park had a free night of music.  It was really great, the lead singer sang with Doc Watson and then there were two young musicians.  It was a welcomed surprise evening.  Of course, it was all topped off with ice cream cones.  Thought we would be heading to Haines, but have decided to go to Chicken since we heard the road is in pretty good shape.  We will determine whether we go over Top of The World highway into Dawson Creek after we hear how that road is when we get to Chicken.  We have heard horror stories about damages incurred while driving that road, but the views are supposed to be worth it.  I think we will have one more day in Alaska, but once we hit Canada we will have to rely on their wifi for postings on the blog.  My cell phone is Canada equipped so if you need to call you can.  I heard on the news a piece of tidbit for all you educators out there:  The Anchorage school system is beginning to register children for the new school year.  Would you believe that in that school system there are a total of 90 different languages spoken?  English, Spanish, Inuvit, and Samoan are the top languages.  Here is the picture of the snow along the road that has not melted on top of Thompson's pass (2360').   Chatterbox, check your private email.  Love ya' ll

Valdez

Thought maybe we made a mistake to come down to Valdez as the drive was a boring, barren drive UNTIL we hit the Worthington Gacier.  It was huge.  Then we drove down and hit the Thompson Pass (2683ft).  It is not very high above sea level, but what scenery God provided us with.  Words cannot describe it and the pictures do not do it justice.   Saw the Alaska pipeline and it does terminate here in Valdez.  Here are a few facts about Valdez that are amazing:  1.  Prince William Sound is surrounded by the Chugach Mountains, the tallest coastal mountains in North America, rising from sea level to an elevation of 7000' ande is the most heavily glaciated mountains in the Northeast.  2.  The average rainfall is 64" and the average snowfall just in Valdez is 325".  3.  The average snowfall in Thompson Pass is anywhere from 600 to 900 inches of snow. How's that for facts?!  We saw snow that was 3 feet thick by the road that was not anywhere thawed. The picture at the right shows the poles that mark the edge of the road - they must be at least 15 - 18' high.   Apparantly the salmon are beginning to run here and we will go to see them swim upstream from the sound tomorrow morning.  Oh,  we almost ran out of gas because there were no stations along the road.  Had to empty one of our emergency gas cans that we carry just to get us into Valdez.  Tomorrow we head to Tok and then to Haines.  Love ya'll and will keep you posted.  Glad GJ95 is home safe and sound. 

Kenai Peninsula to Palmer

Stayed at Russian River Campground last night. The drive into Anchorage is beautiful as it skits the Cook Inlet.   Drove today to Wasilla to tour the Ididarod Home base and then to Palmer to tour the Muskox farm.  These muskox are domesticated primarily for their down which is hand combed and given to the Native people coop to knit into garments for income.  None of the down is sold, either in fiber form or spun form.  Each muskox can yield between 4 to 6 lbs of down.  The muskox we saw weighed from 100#'s to over 1000#'s.  Their feet are huge.  The babies are so cute, but they were mostly sleeping as they had just had their lunch.  We then traveled to just this side of Glennallen at a beautiful RV park by the Matanuska Glacier.  Boy is it impressive.  I will have to send pictures of the glacier tomorrow as my camera battery went dead.  We hope to get to Valdez tomorrow for a day or two.  Love ya'll.  Congratulations to our new Design Engineer in the family.  It took a long time getting there, but well worth all the stress. 

The Homer Spit

What a day.  The temp was 66 with a cool breeze and the sun shining and we were on a small 4.5 mile spit in an Alaskan fishing town for the day.  What more could you ask for!  Caught the trolley at the RV park, had lunch at Captain Patties that had  a view of the bay and then walked the boardwalks.  Did you know that the Time Bandit from the TV show, Deadliest Catch, is docked in Homer, Alaska?  How cool!  I have never seen such exquisite handmade jewelry, totem poles, and fossilised bone and ivory.  The designs are just beautifully created.  Saw the Salty Dog Saloon bedecked with all the $1 bills stapled everywhere.  Did you know that Arlo Guthrie (Alice's Restaurant creater) visited the Salty Dog?  Just a little tidbit that I KNOW ya'll could identify with - HA! HA! HA!  Tomorrow we will be leaving Homer and heading to Portage Glacier, through Anchorage again, and on to Haines and Skagway Alaska.  Let me know who wants Salmon shipped to them, as we will be getting the salmon in Haines.  Just giving ya'll time to think about it.

Homer Alaska

This is a beautiful sea port.  If you look at the map it is a peninsula set back in a bay where the aleutians begin.  Across thge bay are tall, snow and glacier covered mountains. It is amazing that we ar 115 feet above sea level and the mountains are still snow covered.   Just beautiful.  We were fortunate to have the last site in the campground that overlooks the bay.  How beautiful.  Today we are taking the trolley tour around Homer and hope to eat lunch at Captain Patties, out on the spit. It is 67 degrees, but with the wind blowing it is much cooler.  Thank goodness the sun is out.  We have been very fortunate to have had only 1 or two days of rain the entire time we have been gone.  I am sending two pictures:  1st one is the mountains at the beginning of the Aleutian Islands and the 2nd is the bay at Homer.  Love you guys.  Smile pretty for those movie cameras, and I am sure the kitchen cabinet painting can wait a while longer. 

The Russian River

The Red Salmon have finished their run up the Russian and the bears are waiting for the pink salmon to make their run any day now.  Thank goodness they waited for us to get off the trail.  Yesterday we fished for a few hours, but did not catch anything.  We hiked the Angler's trail  today along the river hoping to find the Russian River Falls.  Saw lots of bear scat and heard of a mom with cubs fishing in the river.  Well after 2 miles in we decided to turn back. Never did find the falls.   If a bear would have approached us there was no place for us to back up to because the trail was sooooo rocky and dangerous.  There was a spot where I had to slide down on my bottom and then when we turned around, I had to crawl up the mountain (my knee has really been bothering me and the trail was slippery), sooo I sure was a site to see.  Then the Ranger posted this bright pink poster after we returned to our coach ---  humm.mmThe river is beautiful and we are so thankful for generators and internet air cards to enable me to post this info.  Hope all is well.  Chatterbox, practice being a lady in a dress and walking in those stilettos (sp).  Hope all is well with everyone.  I know school begins soon and ya'll are in preparation for that  We are off to Homer tomorrow for 2 days - One for laundry and the other to walk Homer.  Love ya'll.

Relaxation

Today we enjoyed the scenery.  It was nice to sit still and view the glacier topped mountains.  Tomorrow we leave Seward and hopefully head to Russian Creek State Park.  The sites are first come first serve, so will not know if we get a site or not.  Also, if we do get a site we will have no services, so will be out of communication for a few days.  Will let you know when we come back to communication when we head to Soldotna.  It was good to talk to Mothership today and hear that GJ95 is doing well and will be home on Wednesday.  Ya'll take care and we miss ya'll and love ya'll. 

Seward, Alaska

Traveled to Seward today.  Beautiful ride out of Anchorage along the Cook Inlet.  It was mountainous all the way to Seward.  Stopped to see the Portage Glacier and also the Exit Glacier.  Also saw this huge ocean liner in the port of Seward.  The Alaska Railway Station is right around the corner from the ocean liner and will take you to Anchorage, Denali, and Fairbanks.  Missed the red salmon run here into Bear Lake.  The rest of the salmon will not run until the end of August.  The streams are so muddy, we are not sure we will beable to fish. We shall see when we travel to Homer, on the other side of the Kenai. 

Anchorage

What a day we had.  Boarded bus #15 and traveled downtown Anchorage to the People mover station.  Guess what was right across the street?  The Oomingmak Musk Ox CoOp.  What an interesting shop.  All the products sold there are made from Quivit and knit by Natives all over Alaska.  They purchase all the Musk Ox down that is combed from the 40 musk oxen from the farm in Palmer and when they have 600 #'s they send it (of all places) to a mill in South Carolina that handles fine down like Quivit and Cashmere (there are only a few in the US).  Then it is distributed to the Native knitters, both men and women to knit.  They are paid by the stitch ( # cast on and # of rows knit) for the scarves, hats, headbands or gloves.  Beautiful workmanship.  The headbands are double knitted.  Most of the Quivit that is sold in Alaska is produced in Canada.  Found some great Artic lace pattern books.  We then went to the Alaska Museum.  What a great place.  The gift shop had books, quivit, and hand made items of Alaska - the jewelry is beautiful.Some of the paintings just took your breath away.  The Alaksan History part was amazing.  The clothing and beading was beyond words.  Nothing was wasted from the hunting kills of the seals and whales.  Even the intestines were dried and sewn together to make waterproof jackets used to keep them dry during hunting in boats.  Don't have a clue where we will be going tomorrow when we leave Anchorage, except that it will be somewhere down the Kenai peninsula.  Love ya'll.

Anchorage, Alaska

Headed to Anchorage today.  It was very cloudy in the morning which masked alot of the mountains.  The sun finally came out late afternoon.  Was able to get our prescriptions filled at the Anchorage Walmart, so we are good to go.  Nothing special to report.  Found Mountain View Sporting good shop - It had everything - nice store.  Also, found the Far North Yarn Company.  Had a lot of heavier yarns and some beautiful Mountain Colors yarn.  Virginia, get ready, I have an order of Mountain Color yarn for you to order.  Far North had some Quivit, but not much.  Went to the Ulu Factory to see how the Alaskan curved cutting knives were made. These knives were used to clean the inside of the fur skins.  Today they are used on a special wooden cutting board bowl to cut veggies, etc.  It was really tan interesting place.  Tomorrow we will tour Anchorage by bus ( the bus stop is right across the street from the RV park).  There are a few museums that we want to visit.  Friday, we will probably travel down to the Kenai peninsula to hopefully do some fishing.  We have heard that the salmon are slow to arrive.  Will sign in tomorrow evening. 

Talkeetna, Alaska

Have you every wanted to go to a spot that was on Food Network?  Well, unbeknowns (new word) to us, we ate lunch at the West Rib Pub & Grill where Man vs Food was filmed.  They made the Seward Folly Burger famous.  It is 2 one lb caribou burgers, Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, 8 slices of bacon, sour dough bun, their special sauce and french fries.  It is huge.  We had to do something to make the day sunshiny, because it rained all day.  We are off to Anchorage for 2 days tomorrow to tour the Ulu factory, the Anchorage Museum and the Far North Yarn Store.  Found a real nice yarn store in Palmer today.  Her Quivit was very expensive so decided to get some Crystal Palace silk sock yarn instead.  Also, decided to wait to go to the Musk Ox farm until it stops raining.  Hugs and Kisses to everyone.  Miss ya'll.

Savage River - Denali Park

Took the day yesterday to do laundry and let Paw Paw rest.  Today we made up for it as we started early morning taking the shuttle to Savage River.  We hiked a little over 2 miles.  We saw ptarmagin moms & dads with their chicks right on the trail.  After we returned to the trail head, we walked up the road to see the 3 bull caribous in the river.  Paw Paw got a good picture, but my camera just did not have a beefy enough telephoto lens to get them.  These guys were big and beautiful.  Rode back to the visitor center to have a bite to eat (lunch & dinner), then walked to the Wilderness Center to watch a film on Denali.  Finally made it back to our modest home.  We will be leaving in the morning to Palmer and Wasilla (hopefully the musk ox farm) and taking in Takeetna to hopefully see a clearer Mt McKinley on the way.  Dad picked up a great Alaska History book for all you history lovers to read.  Love ya' all.  We are keeping our eyes open for that illusive Big Foot.  We have been very fortunate to have 4 days without rain.  It has been cloudy and windy, but no rain.  All good things must come to an end as they say

we are to have rain tonight and tomorrow.

Denali Dog Mushers

Yesterday we hiked and then went to the Dog Sled Kennels here in Denali.  They use dog sleds in the winter to move building equipment, supplies and any food to the interior winter camps.  It was really interesting to hear the Ranger talk about the necessity of these dog mushers.  Also, some of the iditerod mushers work there in the winter so they can keep their dogs trained and in shape. The dogs are Alaskan huskies breed for their stamina, long legs, and heavy coats. The dogs went wild when they started to hook them up to the dog sled.  They just could not wait to go to work.  After the dogs were attached to the sled, they did a run around the sled run.  Man, could these dogs run.  We were told that when the sleds were loaded that they loaded 50# per dog and an average of 8 dogs ran the sleds.  That is amazing.  We will be here until Tuesday morning when I think we head to the Wasilla/Palmer area before heading into Anchorage.  The salmon are late running this year because of the rains, but hope when we get to the Kenai peninsula (south of Anchorage) they will be running.  Love and miss ya'll. 

Denali Park

What an experience!!!  The only way into Denali is by bus - a 4 hour, 8 hour or 11 hour ride.  We decided on the 8 hour ride to Eielson Visitor Center.  The weather was partly cloudy and we left the visitor center at high 60's and  by the time we were at Eielson the temperature had dropped to the low 50's.  I am so glad that I layered (3 layers) and wished I had one more layer.  They tell you to make sure you take a rain jacket, hat & gloves, bug repellent, and snacks.  I sure wish I would have had a fleece jacket.  The scenery is spectacular.  The roads are very much like our mountain roads.  When you think of Alaska you think of very high mountains and high elevation.  Well, tree line here is 3000'  and the highest point on the road into Eielson was 3983'.  Yes--  the mountains around Denali are very high and Mt. McKinley is over 20,000'. Another amazing thing is that the creeks swell to over 6 feet during the ice melt and are now just a mear 12" or less, but you can see the entire large creek bed.   We were disappointed that McKinley was cloud covered, but our guide said that it only shows itself maybe once every two weeks.  We saw quite a few grizzly bears (thank goodness Paw Paw has a telephoto lens), Dall sheep, snowshoe hares, marmots, caribou (one came right up the middle of the road towards the bus) and itsy bitsy ground squirels.  We also saw a ptarmigan and here clutch of little ones crossing the road.  We are intending on hitting some of the hiking trails today, but I am going to have to visit the bookstore again (what a place, especially if you love books).  The visitor center is amazing and has some of the resident artists works displayed.  The beaded mukluks were amazing.  Chatterbox,  there was a moose puzzle that was broken down into puzzle form.  Each piece of the puzzle was magnitized and showed what that part of the moose was used for.  What a teaching tool. 

Denali

Decided to leave Fairbanks today and head to Denali.  Would you believe that yesterday I was able to reserve 4 days in Denali's Rielly Campground?!  Went in today to see if we could get another day and there were no openings.  Boy do we feel blessed!!!!!!  I may and may not get any posting done for a few days, but hopefully when I do post next, I will have some stunning pictures to share.  It was quite confusing to figure out the many bus tours they have into the park, but finally decided on one and will begin our bus journey tomorrow at 1 pm.  We have not seen too much traffic since we arrived in Alaska, but decided everyone is in Denali.  The canyon where all the hotels are is just bustling with activity.  I will say that from all we have heard that tourism is down due to the economy and gasoline prices.  The highest we have paid for diesel was in BC and it was $5.45 a gallon.  Average prices are around $4.35 per gallon. Finally got to shop at Safeway - what a grocery store.  Was low on many items so decided to stock up since we will be in the wilderness for 4 days. Was unable to stop at the yarn store in Fairbanks as it did not open until 11 am. and we were long gone down the road.  There are 2 in Ancorage that I hope to get to and then the Musk ox farm in Palmer.  There are also a few in Haines and Skagway. Love ya all.  Looking forward to sighting my first grizzley bear.

Alaska

Finally made it to Alaska!  We stopped to see Santa in the North Pole.  Oh he was a jolly ole' sole and he said he was keeping an eye on each and every one of you!   We are in Fairbanks and think we will be here one more day.  We want to take in some of the sites and also check in with a client here in Fairbanks.  Then we will head to Denalli.  Hope we can get reservations.  The road system is much better - so it was a much nicer trip.  Customs has been a breeze to go through (we heard stories about all the trouble we would have).  Looking forward to finding another yarn store here in Fairbanks.  My cell phone service is intermittent, but do have service in large cities.  My air card is another story.  Stopped to day to get the low down on all the fishing regulations, as we intend on wetting our fishing line down in the Kenai.  Miss ya'll. 

Almost to the USA border

We are at Beaver Creek, Yukon about 33 miles from the US border.  Had construction all day with 20 - 30 minute waits before we could follow a pilot car.  They chip and seal their roads here and the dust and gravel were pretty bad.  Will cross the border tomorrow morning.  Mothership - give GJ95 a big hug for us and tell him that all our love and prayers go with him on his big trip.  Was glad to hear about Tia J accompanying him.  We send love to ya'll and can't wait to return to the USA tomorrow.  Hopefully there will be some familiar things like:  no more km and true mile markers and possibly some greek yogurt.  Will post tomorrow as I will be able to use my air card as long as I have service. 

Whitehorse

Drove west to Whitehorse.  Saw some beautiful country.  Stopped at a First People museum and found these totem poles.  It was a small museum and I am sure in time it will grow and improve.  Stopped at my first yarn store in Whitehorse.  Found Quivit and quite a few original designer patterns for 1 skein of quivit.  Well, I just had to get some.  It was a small, but very nice yarn store with mostly nicer yarns, along with Mission Falls yarn.  The quivit was really nice sport weight yarn.  Will be anxious to see what the Muskox farm will have.  We are looking at trying to make it over the border tomorrow unless we decide to stary here to visit what is available in Whitehorse (capital of the Yukon).  Can't wait to get to an American grocery.  Have not seen any Sasquash yet, but we are keeping our eyes peeled with anxious anticipation.

The Yukon

Left Toad River RV early this morning.  The color of the river was a light turquois/gray and so clear and clean.  The Alaska Hwy is an amazing road.  When you think of the speed limit (100 km/62 mph), a 2 lane road, semi's, buffalo, caribou, stone sheep, bears, no guard rails and a 7 mile lake right beside the road - WOW!  We saw black bears and buffalo right beside the road.  Thank goodness non of them decided to cross the road.  The scenery was spectacular.  We are just north of Watson Lake, BC in the Yukon.  Saw Sign Post Forest (began in 1942 by  US Army Engoineer who erected a sign bearing the name and distance of his hometown in Danville, Ill - There are over 65,000 visitors who followed suit.)  We also stopped at the Northern Lights Center (not worth the $$$) that is dedicated to the history, folklore and science of the Northern Lights. We will head to Whitehorse and have decided to by pass Dawson City for the time being and head into Alaska by way of the Alaska Hwy.  No cell phone service.  Hope we have service in Alaska.  Love ya' all and hope everyone is well.  We are both doing well. 

Alaska Hwy

Wow!!!  What a day.  Finally, no wind to contend with and mountains to see.  They look very much like our mountains except they are mostly pine and white birch instead of hardwoods. We traveled 425 miles today and very glad we did.   We are staying at Toad River RV and have the river right at our back door.  As soon as we pulled in there was a moose feeding in the river.  Wished I had a Canadian Fishing license... I would be out on that river right now.  This morning  we passed the Sasquach Crossing -- Thought Fred might be interested in that!!  As we were decending Stone Mountain we ran into these Stone Sheep.  Also saw a black bear by the road.  We are getting closer and closer to our Alaskan goal.  Hope Squirrel survived Crowders Mountain.  Mothership and Jammer --  tell those young'ns that the North Pole is getting closer! 

British Columbia & the Alcan

THE WIND!!!! We have had wind forever. The flat lands were a large suprise for as long as we have had them.  It would not have been as bad had we had wind from the west or east.  Instead, we have had wind from North or South hitting us broadside - and it has not been just a little wind - it's been HUGE winds.  We are anxious to get rid of the wind.  Our high temps have been low 70's and our low's have been around 45. Chatterbox would certainly need two pairs of long underwear to be warm.  Went through some interesting towns, like Beaver Lodge (thought you would like the beaver picture).  Saw fields of yellow canola which is a big industry here for canola oil.  Also, oil and cattle are big industries.  I think every town along the way has a casino.  Drove by Mile "0" of the Alaskan Highway and will begin the 1422 miles/2288km from Dawson Creek, BC to Delta Junction, Alaska tomorrow.  It is a two lane road, so we are not sure what to expect with traffic.  We will travel to the Blue Bell Inn in Ft. Nelson tomorrow and hopefully we will begin to see some mountainous terrain.  Cell service has been good and so far internet through the RV parks has been good.  Cannot use my air card until I arrive in Alaska.  All I have read, though, says that cell service is unpredictable.  We shall see. 

 Love ya'll.