Alaska, Finally !

Tuesday, June 29.
Palmer, AK

We were road weary and a generally a little bummed out on the final stretch Monday from Tok to Palmer, AK
Having slept in the van, continual rain for the previous 18 hours, and a frost heaved road that pitched and rolled so that we could only go about 45 mph, we could only think of finding a room and crashing for a while.
That stretch of road has (again) spectacular views of mountains and a huge glacier,

 (not the galcier)
 but our heads were down pushing on to a room. Also the van had developed a noise which had me concerned. Every trip includes a mechanical problem of some sort, but I'd hoped I had everything covered for this trip. I imagined the worst, of course.

We found a room which was quite nice, but in an inauspicious building.

I got the name of a local mechanic from a resident and gave him a call in the morning.
He checked it out and decided it was probably just the serpentine belt and pulleys that needed some attention and he could work on it the next day. Big relief. So there was no real problem, just a noisy belt which would have lasted a long time yet, but I'm getting it changed tomorrow anyway.

We then found a beautiful B & B in Wasilla with a suite of rooms across and on the same lake as Sister Sara's house.

Of course any visit to Wasilla necessitates a visit to check out her house so that was our next move.Our hostess told us how to get there. This is from her neighbor's driveway. Her property is beyond the board fence. The fence gets to the height of about 12 feet farther to the right.

This is their driveway. Also inauspicious.

Her house is not quite visible from our shore, but we can see Todd's float plane docked in front of the house. That's it in the middle of the pic.

On the way back to the b&b we experienced gelato (Italian ice cream) for the first time. Incredibly smooth and delicious.
It looked much better in the freezer when we were there.

Our Bed & Breakfast:

A day in The Yukon

June 27, 2010
( click on pictures to enlarge)

Watson Lake to Tok, Alaska

A lot of miles across the lower edge of the Yukon. Cloudy and drizzly. Not as many mountains, but still wild country. Our motel at Watson Lake was on the Alaska Hwy a little west of town. It was tough finding a room the night before since our cells didn't work, and there was only one spot in town where I could access wifi in order to use Skype. Skype only seemed to work one way. I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me. Finally I found a pay phone and spent a few quarters. When I checked in the lady said all the rooms in town were booked because of a big wedding. She didn't know who it was. She didn't have wifi because her computer was "busted".

In the morning the traffic on the Alcan was lighter than the county road in front of our house. A vehicle every half minute or so. Of course it was Sunday morning.

The fuel prices have been getting higher since Calgery. I'm running a spreadsheet with metric conversions to record the fuel ( 1 liter = .264172 gal or about 3.75 liter/gal). Fuel cost about the same when we crossed the border, but now is about $3.75 per gallon. We're getting about 20mpg.

Rain and drizzle all day, but not too bad. This is coming into Teslin, YT

We crossed paths several times with this
mid sixties wagon with South Carolina plates.

The only moose we saw was one Kernal lured up to us.
This one was as calm as if he were made of fiberglass.

Many uneventful miles to Whitehorse. A big city with a Walmart and a McDonalds.

When the Canadian dollar was worth $.70 these prices weren't too bad.
 A few more provisions and we push on.

FINALLY a real moose sighting. A cow off to the right, but gone before we could get a pic. At first impression it looks like a big horse. A couple of hours later a big Elk buck.

And a little later 2 more moose sightings. This is a cow moose with her calf next to her on the right.
They were wading in this lake about a 100 yards from the road. When we pulled up they started to leave.

I take some pictures just holding the camera out the window pointing it forward into the wind. Hence the antenna in the picture.

And a little break from all that healthy food we've been eating.












And now the push to the border. From Haines Junction, YT to Tok, AK (rhymes with oak) is about 300 miles. In that stretch there are about 3 gas stations and little else. The Alaska border is at about 200 miles.

About 9 PM Yukon time it starts to rain. It will rain steadily for the next 18 hours or so.
We get to the Alaska border at 2:56 AM Indiana time. With no real darkness and being 4 hours behind our regular schedule our biological clocks are a little screwed up. We are tired though and pull into a station to sleep a few hours (rain, rain, rain). We move on to Tok, AK by 8:30 EDT.

We now have cell and air card internet service for the first time in days.
A text to a few people. Garth wished us a happy anniversary.
It's our 35th! Imagine that!

We fuel and take another nap.
Then drag on over some of the worst roads of the trip (thanks Sarah) to Palmer, AK.
Milage: About 4075.

Watson Lake, Yukon Territory

Saturday, June 26
Entering the Yukon

As you can see my updates are being posted a few days late.
That's because free wifi is as scarce as the elusive moose have been for us so far.

The next morning we're off again heading north through western BC.

As anywhere, we hit construction. These guys were in a group of 3 trucks and an old school bus heading way up north to develop a gold mine claim. With the present price of gold, people here think things will boom in the next couple of years. I didn't tell them that the price of gold usually goes back down.

Hard to see, but this is our approximate route.

Stunning scenery all day.

Had to stop at a Jade shop. They mine it, cut it, then either polish it or ship it to Japan to have it carved and sent back here to sell. They're "real Proud" of their jade.

Kernal got a piece for a necklace.

I think these are mountain goats, as opposed to the fuzzy white ones that can really skip up and down the face of a cliff.I don't remember what those are called.

Getting closer...

Crossing into the Yukon Territory.







 Laundry time. Should we push on to the left and stink, or back track a little and spend a couple of hours doing laundry? As you know a woman's vote always constitutes a majority.

A small part of the 68,000+ signs in the signpost forest at Watson Lake.

It's probably there somewhere, but...

I couldn't find Middlebury





By then the day was shot so we found a room, planning a long day in the morning.


Not terribly impressed with Watson Lake. Kind of a grubby little town where they like to gouge tourists.

Stewart - Hyder

Friday, June 25.
Burns Lake, BC  to   Hyder, AK  to  
    Red Goat Lodge, BC

(click on pictures to enlarge)

This is the home of the nice people that put us up and fed us an excellent breakfast in Burns Lake, BC




















 
Then on west to through Smithers to Kitwanga where we fueled up for the stretch up rte 37 through the area
with "limited facilities" toward the Yukon.

Those are kilometers on the sign, not miles.
Our first bear sighting of the day came and went before we could get a good picture.
It's out there on the other side of the windshield somewhere.


More miles and miles of fantastic scenery which went on for hours.

We decided to check out Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK.

They are situated at the end of a fjord which is at the end of a pacific inlet about 100 miles upstream from the ocean. The mountains on each side are extremely steep but very lush with foliage of all kinds. It's hard to do the shades of green justice in these pictures.

Stewart, BC is at the end of the road as you go toward the coast. You drive through town and on into Hyder, Alaska which is at the bottom of the pan handle area of AK.

Hyder is significantly less developed and shall we say more "bohemian". It is land locked by a rugged coast with a population of about 100, so the US doesn't bother with a customs station. Below is a picture of the border crossing. Notice that the pavement ends at the border. The atmosphere is very much reminiscent of the show "Northern Exposure" A few misfits that value being removed form society.

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One of the more famous local eateries. Actually I had some excellent fresh halibut here.

 This about the first we started encountering the higher prices people pay "up here". It was FRESH seafood which is always expensive.

 

 

 

Then back across the border to BC.

 A Mounty cop shop.

We spotted a couple of bears later that day on our way north towards Dease Lake.

Our lodging for the night was at the Red Goat Lodge. Red Green or the McKenzie brothers might live in a place like this.

Actually the young lady that registered me looked like she could have stepped out of the lingerie section of the Macy's catalog. She did not however encourage the old man to stick around and chat.

This was our cabin. It only got a little darker that night than what this picture shows.

 I developed a scratchy throat and the beginnings of a cold. Fortunately I was able to take regular little medicinal sips from the duty free Irish whiskey I bought at the border. It helped a lot.