Alaska Trip - Days 10-11

Monday, April 28
Today we did a rest day in Watson Lake, home of the famous Sign Forest, and it is truely a forest! It sits on close to an acre, added to yearly, is now over 70,000 sign. Started in 1943 when the highway was being built and a lonely, homesick G.I. put up a sign to his hometown in Illinois and thus started the forest. He and his wife came back 50 years later and rededicated the signpost forest and he was amazed at the growth of it.

When Pam went through here 35 years ago, it was only about 1/8th the current size.
Here are some pictures of the signpost forest:






After visiting the signpost forest and picking up a few groceries and a few litres of diesel ($1.429 ltr = $5.417 gln, highest price yet, welcome to the Yukon!) Since the Northern Lights Plantierium was closed, we spent the rest of the day resting, relaxing, and had a nice evening play Polish Poker. We have hooked them to that game!!!


Tuesday, April 29
One the road again heading for Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territories, 271.8 miles away. Saw some wonderful scenery of frozen ground, lakes, and rivers. This is a picture of the Yukon River, 3-4th largest river in North America.








Saw a Bald Eagle, Swans (either Trumpeter or Tundra, weren't close enough to tell the difference) more Caribou and our first Squirrel (Ground we think).







Roads weren't too bad, however, by another week or two they will be. The asphalt is broken in several places and although they are starting repairs as things defrost, more breakage and frost heaves will occur. Pity to the hoards coming up later in the year!!


Stopped at Nisultlin Trading Post to fuel up, had a discount card for $0.03/ltr off, and they were cheaper than in Watson lake. Paid $1.369 ltr ($5.182 gallon) and put in the largest amount yet (61.376 gallons or 232.31 ltrs) and felt like we should take out a loan to pay for it!!! Oh well, the Yukon scores again.

Held off for lunch to try Mukluck Annie's Salmon Bake that everyone who's traveled this road has told us about. CLOSED!! We're finding this alot with the touristy stuff. Oh well, that's what happens when you run ahead of the pack.

Stopped around 2 p.m. for the evening at Hi Country RV Park just outside Whitehorse. Paid for 2 nights as we want to do some sightseeing, at least there are stores here. There are 4-6 museums here, but of course, not open until Mid-May. ARGHHHH!!



Saw our first of many mosquitos, landed on Pam's arm!! It's so hard to imagine how they ever survive the winters, but they do, in hoards.


Just preparing us for the summer!






And the last picture of the day!!
Warm Snuggly Kitties on their beach!!



Sometimes I'd like to be a cat,
Eat, Sleep, Play, and necessaties
Nothing else to do
But let the humans wait on you!!

Alaska Trip - Days 8-9

Catchup of pictures from previous day

We're currently in Watson Lake, Yukon Territories, Canada for a day of rest, had two pretty rough days of travel. The super freeway occasionally became more like the old highway for small sections. Had to stay alert for the frost heaves more, got bumped around alot, (like being on a bucking bronco is more like it!) and a long day yesterday. Had planned to stop after 168 miles at a hot springs povincial park, but decided to push ahead instead. We have no cell service here at all (all the cities so far have had it, so this is a surprise) but the WIFI is okay and the park gives a great discount for people going up and back for working in AK. Really really nice of the owners!!!!

Watson Lake is where the famous Signpost Forest is, so will post pics tonight or tomorrow for the sightseeing around here. In the meantime, since the WIFI is good, decided to go on and post some of the pics from the last few days!! Enjoy!

Milepost "0" in downtown Dawson Creek

Alaska Hotel and Pub - Downtown Dawson Creek, right by the intersection that has the Milepost "0"

Rick, Pam, Jo, and Don at the Alaska Pub

inside the Alaska Pub, neat place!!!

Our friend Lois Hill, at the gift shop of the Dawson Creek Museum

The display area for the building of the AlCan highway inside the musuem. The TV in the center is showing a really good film about the making of the highway, telling alot of details that the PBS and History Channels didn't show. Very informative.

Sunday, April 26, Day 10

Left Fort Nelson this a.m. about 9ish again hoping to see more animals and we did!! Saw lots of Buffalo, both wild and fenced herds, Caribou, Rock Sheep, and hawks. Roads weren't too bad, but alot more intense watching as the frost heaves/potholes are not marked. Don took the lead today as he goes up the mountains a little faster (lighter trailer) than we do.

Saw lots of warning about animals, mainly Deer, Moose, and Caribou.

beautiful veiws of the Canadian Rockies

Jo, Don, Rick and Pam in from of Stone Mountain.
(Can you see why they call it Stone Mountain.)

Part of the Sawtooth Mountain Range.

Stone Sheep on the highway (not Big Horn Sheep)

Caribou cow, she was just standing by the side of the road until we stopped, once we moved one, she came right back up. Was licking up salt.

Wild Buffalo along the side of the road.

(Below - inside the Toad River Cafe/Lodge)

Another view of the ceiling full of hats! Over 7,400 now) Great way to insulate your roof!

Folded Mountain - this picture doesn't do it justice, you can literally see why they call it folded geology.

And lastly -

What the road giveth........

(downhills)

the road taketh away!!!!!???

(Uphill AGAIN!)

Alaska Trip - Days 3-7

Sunday - 4-20 - Day 3

Woke up to COLD COLD COLD!! 22 Farenheit and threatening snow again. We hit the edge of the Rockies today, had snow on/off all day, but clear roads. Stopped several times at rest stops to warm up the trailer for the cats, got down to 48 at one point.


Saw our first moose today!! Along one of the rivers, nice looking cow. Also saw Snow Geese, Elk, Magpies, and Beaver Trees. Ran into our first frost heaves today!!! Such fun, found out what will stay up and what won't.

(Frozen Lake)

At one of the rest stops alongside a frozen river. We're standing on about 4' of snow.

Snow, snow and more snow, but none on the roads.

Warning to watch for Moose and a sharp curve ahead. Yep, that's about 6' of snow.

Snow along the roadside that is taller than the truck!

Arrived in Dawson Creek with snow falling to stay at the Northen Lights RV Park. Cost si $28.50/night with Good Sam membership.


Call Lois Hill who lives here. Pam bought some Bengals from her in the previous life for our Cattery.


Drove 273.01 miles todaym, average speed was 40-50 due to frost heaves.

Monday, 4-21 Day 4


Rick was woke up about 5:30 from the sunlight. Sunrise is around 4 a.m. now and sunset around 9 p.m. so we covered his window.


Went to lunch with Lois, then went out to her house for dinner and to meet the cats. What beautiful Bengals she has!!! Four retired cats are in the house, with 3 in the large shop/garage. Had Moose roast for dinner, Rick's first time for Moose. What an awesome dinner and her house has a wonderful view of the farm area around them.


Stopped at a Canadian state liquor store, OH MY GOD!!! The prices are terrible, worse than in the state of WA or OR!!! 1.14 litre of Absolute Vodka wa $34.25 (Smirnoff was only a dollar less, so go for the gusto!)


Tuesday, April 22 Day 5

Don/Jo are still in Edmonton, can't get out due to snowy roads! His blackwater tank is frozen too, what a predicament.


Went and bought Antifreeze for our 3 holding tanks, did laundry ($4 for a double load) brought them home to dry as the price was $0.25 per 3 minutes. You can actually take showers at the laundrymat, $0.25 per minute!


The buffets in this town are not great and way overpriced for what they are! $9.95-$10.95 for lunch that should be around $5.95 at the most. Won't go back!


Lois and Ken came by with some Moose antlers for Rick to scroll. What a selection! They hunt every year and have found some that were dropped also.


Exchange rate today at a local bank was $25 US for $24.58 CND ($98.4/$1)


Wednesday 4-23 Day 6

Filled up today at $1.259 ltr (4.765 gallon) Diesel, and one 30# tank of propane was $.739/#
Drove 325.5 miles before filling, averaged 9.51 mpg


Paid for 2 more nights since Don/Jo will be in today. They will stay at Tubbies RV Park down the road as their bathrooms have water and they don't here. Until they get their blackwater defrosted, they have to use the facilities.


Finally were able to hook up water, the temp actually got up to the upper 30's today, but another storm is coming in tomorrow. Filled fresh water tank, dumped holding tanks, and took showers. We have been buying bottled water for ice, drinking, and of course, the cats. What costs $0.74 in WA (at WalMArt) cost $1.88 plue $.04 recycling and $0.20 deposit.


Don/Jo made it in finally, along with about 10 other Rv's coming in from Edmonton.


Don/Jo, Lois/Ken joined us for Rick's Enchiladas, and my Chili Relleno/Mexican Cornbread. So we drank, ate, and chatted


Thursday, April 24 Day 7

Snow AGAIN!!! All those people from Edmonton must of brought it with them! We paid for another day, Don/Jo need a down day after the stress and the steamer guy is coming to defrost their tanks for them (Costs $100, not bad really)


Went to A & W for lunch, would go back, was really good. Stopped downtown at the offical Milepost 0 and took pictures then went to the Alaska Pub for a couple of drinks, had alot of fun with the bartendress and some of the local color.


Friday, April 25, Day 8
Got up to Beautiful SUNSHINE and 32 degrees!!! Walked around in just a light sweater instead of heavy coats, snow boots, etc.


Went to the Dawson Creek Musuem today with Don/Jo and Lois came by to touch base with us again. Didn't realize that the plans for the Intercontinental Highway (Alcan Highway) were actually being debated for up to 10 years before the US/Canada decided to go forward with it after the invasion of American soil in AK. Watched a real interesting film about the plans, building, etc of the highway.


We're really looking forward to get on the road moving again tomorrow, hopefully nothing comes up again to delay us more.


Saturday, April 26 Day 9

Sunshine and clear skys, 34 at 7a.m. so off we go forward on our adventure!!! We hit the Alaskan Highway today from Milepost 0!!!


Didn't see much of wildlife today, lots scenery though!! Did see a Fisher (weasel family), Grouse, Red Tail Hawks, and Mule Deer.


This road is a super highway compared to when Pam came up with her ex 35 years ago!!! Curves have been straightened out, it's wide and very little to no rough potholes!!! What a major change!!!!


Stopped at Fort Nelson for the night, small town, of course, but very quaint. We definitely beat the rush in, had about 5-6 more rigs come in after we did. On to Laird Hot Springs tomorrow to hopefully stay for a day or so and soak out the soreness of the road!

Will post more pictures in the next couple of days as I can get WiFi as we go further north on our great adventure!!

Alaska Trip - Day 2 - Saturday April 19

Got up to 23 degrees and light dry snow so headed out about 9ish for our drive to Prince George. No as much scenery, but just as much, only different. More high altitude scenery, still winter up here, not as much blooming already to be killed off by the cold. At one point the thermometer in the truck showed 17 degrees!!!! Lots of headwinds today, with blowing snow, but it was so cold, it was a very dry snow, unlike what Seattle got today!!!!!

Stopped an Sintich RV Park around 3ish, waters not on yet, they still have a good bit of snow left over. Only hooked up electric again, but at least it was 50 amp this time!!! Trailer temp was down to 40 degrees, poor kitties were all curled up together and boy did Pam catch h#$* from them when she came in to turn on the heat!!!

Bought diesel again, it's actually cheaper the farther north we go, at least so far. Paid $1.223/Liter (122.73 liter= 32.73 gallon, price was $4.629/gallon) Traveled 275.8 miles - averaged 8.3 mpg due to 20 mph headwinds and more mountains to be climbed.

We're off to Dawson Creek in the morning, meeting up with Don and Jo either tomorrow or Monday, stay at Dawson Creek a couple of days, then on for our Northern journey.

Alaska Trip - Day 1 - Friday April 18

We made it out of the Seattle area, apparently by the skin of our teeth!!! Cam Goan reported that they had lots of white this afternoon!! We made it through the Canadian border with no problems, even though we (especially Rick) imagined every possible problems!!

The southern regions of British Columbia are beautiful, we ran along and than through valleys and canyons of the Cascades, lots of scenery!!! Here's some pics of our day.

Across the border, into southern BC. This was the first view of the Cascades from Trans Continental Hwy 1.

First rest stop north of the border, thought I'd show part of the mountains and the rig to show we're really on our way!

Mountain gap behind the rest stop, up close as I could get anyway.

Showing the snow level above us!

Yes, that's real snow!!!

Close up of that real snow!

View from the last rest stop before we came into Cache Creek, BC, for the first night's stop.

We arrived at the Brookside Campsite - nice campground with full hookups ($30 for large rigs such as ours), however, since it was already only 36 degrees at 5 p.m., we opted just to hook up electric since the water/sewer hoses would freeze during the night! Nice campground, good wifi for $2 a night extra. If you're coming up this way, we can highly suggest this campground.

Filled up in Monroe on Thursday at $4.339/gallon. Filled up again in Cache Creek at $131.9 per liter ($$4.99/gallon not back considering the cost in WA)

Total miles today is 295.3, average mileage since last fill up is 13.01!! That total is non-towing and towing combined for the total of 437.8 miles. since last fillup.

So a cold night, then on to Prince George tomorrow, hopefully, snow showers are predicted here tonight and possibly on the way tomorrow.

More when we can!!!

Rick and Pam (by the way, when it's this font, it's Pam posting)

North to Alaska - Finally!!

North to Alaska, here we go. We left this morning to go up to Cache Creek, BC for our first stop on the way north and thought I'd post one last post.

I failed to mention some very good friends that had us and other friends over for dinner and drinks the first weekend we were here and need to remedy that. Kim and Angie Davis, sons Chase and Austin, had us, Mike, and the Goans over for a wonderful Ravioli and salad dinner and socializing, then Mike and Rick surprised Pam with a birthday cake and gifts (actually it's April 30th, but since we won't be in the area....). It was also a surprise for Kim, Angie, Cam and Steve as Mike and Rick hadn't told them about it!!
Thanks again for the great evening of fun and socializing!! Sorry I forgot to get pictures, even forgot to take the camera, DUH!!

We've taught several people Polish Poker, had fun doing it, and manage to drink and laugh too much a couple of times, all in all really enjoyed our time in the Seattle area, other than the crappy wet weather, but that was just getting us ready for our travel weather.!!!!!

So off we go on our great adventure, we'll try to post as we go when we can get a WIFI signal. We do have the phones on an international plan so we can get phone calls, so won't feel totally cut off.

Pam and Rick

Hello from the damp/cold of the Seattle area!

Sorry we've taken so long to post, Rick isn't typing well due to his hand, and is always on the computer playing games!!!

Okay, for those who need to know, Rick fell in Portland and mashed up his left hand pretty bad (see previous post). The real story is he and our son, Ken, were badmouthing each other as men do and Ken challenged "You'll have to catch me first old man!" Needless to say the race was on. Ken zig and Rick zag and fell headfirst into the concrete curb outside of a marvelous pizza joint! Kim and I both thought he had hit his head, but thankfully he didn't (of course the concrete wasn't in great shape after Rick's hard head hitting it!) but apparently caught himself with his hand and left side.

The hand is doing great, slowly healing, but healing and he is using it a good bit.

We went to Ken/Kim's house the next day and had a great dinner of ribs and played cards (Yes, Jerry, we taught them Polish Poker!) and had a great visit with them.

Later that evening we even got Dylan (16 year old) to come play with us.













Dylan, Kim and Ken Gill


All in all, we had a great time visiting with family, went home tired, but full and rested, ready for our next day of travel to the Seattle area.





Travel to Seattle was wet and Pam had to drive as Rick's hand was still in the splint. No problems, but some beautiful snow on Tiger Summit neas Sammamish (Hwy 18 to I 90).


We got settled into Tall Chief WHR at Fall City and proceeded to have a couple of adult beverages!!





We decided to take a day trip to the Olympic Peninsula to visit friends there, so took a ferry over and back, relieving old times in the Great Puget Sound area, however, there have been a few changed since 9-11-01 Yes, that's a Coast Guard boat with a 50 Caliber Machine gun on front. One on each side of the ferry escorted us out a good distance from the ferry terminal.







Salmon Pens - yes this is one of the places where they grow those "farm-raised, color-add Atlantic Salmon" you can buy in the stores.


There were seabirds and seals all over the place waiting for that delicious escapee!!








Rick fell right back into the Ferry habit! When we first moved to the Seattle area, we lived in Bremerton and he took the ferry every day to work at Microsoft, twice a day!!







Once we got into Bremerton, we drove through beautiful country to Shelton, WA


Christi Hall, with Rea (4 yrs) and Roz (14 yrs) holding one of her great Savannah kittens. We bought our first Bengal from Christi and have remained good friends. (Joey, husband, was at work)


Hugs and great to see you Christi!!





Then on the road again to Port Orchard, WA

Dan and Leanne Landon, had a great dinner in their new home and relived alot of old times working at the Bremerton Shipyard (computers of course) when we first moved up to Seattle.




Dan, Leanne, thanks again for a great dinner and all the GREAT wine tasting!!




We caught the ferry back to Seattle, and again, arrived home tired but rested and glad to of seen faraway friends again!


The next couple of evenings were also spent visiting friends. Fall City is on the other side of the Carnation Valley from Monroe and of course several of our friends are in Monroe!! We also met others for lunch!



We met some old buddies at lunch one day!


Rick, Steve Goan, Jim Meredith


They all worked together at the Big M, Steve and Jim are still there in one capacity or another. Jim is the first Test Lead that Rick worked for at the Big M.


Great seeing you again Jim and enjoy your soon to come 4th retirement!





Steve and Cam Goan and the Himis (chihuahuas) ChiChi, Turk, and Jessie



We have stayed with Steve/Cam several times when we had to come for doctor visits for Rick, including 10 day in 2006 when he had the unexpected bypass! Cam drove down with Pam to Mount Shasta (9 hrs) to load and bring back the 5th wheel and cats! (11 hours back)


Thank you Steve and Cam for all the support you've provided for us over the years!




Mike Pozlusny (Poz) (hope I spelled that right) Rick hired Mike into the Big M many years ago and yes, he's still there also!!! Mike comes over to the rig regularly to visit and have dinner, work on the computer as needed, and just hang out!! If you've met him, you know what type of character he is!!!!

Hugs to you Mike!!!!













and Last but not Least, Pam has managed to get some beading done over the last couple of weeks, with help of course! (taken in Fallon, notice the sunshine!)



edited 4-18-2008