Alaska

Our trip to Alaska

THE ALASKAN JOURNAL

(The following entries were originally sent as emails to friends & family.)

7/1/98 8:10 a.m.

Finally, the day is here for Alaska. We left Bend last night @ 5 p.m. in an electrical storm, for PDX. Marc is exhausted & in pain with his knee. Starting mileage is 7100 on the truck.

At Onan dealer to get the generator fixed; then Tri-West, then open road. Rainy.

4:50 p.m.: Free camp about 30 miles south of Spokane. Old road between two ranch parcels. Old guy came by & said it’s ok to stay. Scott Bar, a former WA state senator & owner of everything the eye can see from here. Just this one ranch is 10,400 acres. This old man has never married and doesn’t know who he will leave things to; was telling us he might donate it all to a college. Skitter was out 15 minutes & caught a mouse. Pizza for dinner.

7/2/98 8:20 p.m.

Waiting for dinner to cook in another free camp. We made it as far as 30 miles past Cranbrook, BC on Hwy. 95. Mountains are getting much larger; heading for Banff—another three hours down the road.

Marc checked this spot on the scooter—labeled “Johnson Lake” on a very small sign on a dirt road off the highway. Meadow, pines and quaking aspen with a small pond. Everything is very green. He's upset, no satellite (we’re in a hole).

Had a heck of a day crossing the border @ Kingsgate. Got denied by the young, twerp of a girl because we had the guns, even though we told her we had called ahead to get the procedure. As they turned us around to recross the US border, we told the story to the US guy and he said we should try talking to the Canadian supervisor. Mr. Carr graciously listened to our story, “reinterpreted” the transit statute & let us through. Whew!

Day capped off when we shop for some beer to cool off & find out it’s $40 a case! We say no thank you.

7/3/98 4:25 p.m.

I woke early, Marc slept in, poor tired baby. Cloudy but warm enough. Great scenery! Big lakes and big mountains. Saw Columbia Lake, headquarters of the Columbia River. Nice resort area around Radium Hot Springs. Spotted one black bear and one female moose in Kootenay Park. Pulled in to Johnson Campground near Banff—one spot big enough and Marc aced it in like the champ he is. Heads popped all over to watch that feat! Fired up the generator and fired up the bread machine. This is a great scooter riding camp, so we did a little of that this afternoon and went on a really unique hike along the river on catwalks that hang out over the water. Amazing!

Kootenay National Park, BC

Canadians don’t have the big RVs that we Americans do. In fact, many seem to be rental units. We figure the cost is probably pretty prohibitive for them. Diesel has been $1.89/gal. their price, but the exchange rate right now saves us 43%. We haven’t shopped anywhere yet (except that liquor store) as I brought tons of groceries, and glad I did, as I have a hunch this is a very expensive country.

Our rig gets so much attention everywhere; it’s really comical, some people’s necks about get whiplash looking.

Parks aren’t too crowded so far. Spectacular scenery, that’s for sure. Endless wilderness; a feast for the eyes. Marc is finally relaxing and getting into vacation mode. We’re taking our time. Tomorrow will be the town of Banff.

Marc hiking Johnson Canyon along the catwalk

7/5/98

Yesterday was too terrible to write about. Everything broke. Primarily the sewer system & washing machine drainage. Then M broke the dryer also. Today we came 75 miles out of the way to Calgary to an RV place to buy parts. Thankfully they were open! We are parked in a dead end cul-d-sac & M is trying to make the repairs. This will set us back 2-3 days @ least since we have to backtrack. It’s semi-cloudy and about 70 degrees. This looks a lot like eastern Montana after dropping out from the Rocky Mts. by Banff.

Marc at the Empress Hotel, Banff, BC

7/7/98 8:59 p.m.

Had to spend yesterday in the same place after running around Calgary for all sorts of parts. The washer still leaked all over—M had to go to Calgary twice. Totally fed up!

We started early this a.m.—it was light by 4 a.m. and we needed water so we backtracked to the camp @ Johnson Canyon to fill the tank. Then we headed up #93 & #1 for Jasper Park. Glaciers all over the place & quite a few steep grades. M bought a new trailer brake & it’s working much better than the old one. We had lunch @ the face of a glacier @ 6500 ft. elevation in the Columbia ice fields. The sun was out but wind whipping, so chilly. Mountains are just awesome. People come up all the time to talk about our rig.

Columbia Ice fields, Jasper National Park, BC

Saw elk, another black bear and moose today. And mountain goats; got some good pics of them right by the road. Highway is ok but very heaved; we had to go 45 mph in some spots bouncing down the road.

Need to change the generator oil but it’s $4.00/liter! M said it could wait at that price! We still haven’t had to buy a lot; it’s so expensive here.

We’re almost to Prince George; found a dirt road & gravel pit “free camp” about 2 miles from the highway. Big moose tracks all over. M is finally feeling better after all the problems w/the trailer but he’s zonked. It now stays light until 10:30 p.m. & he can’t sleep well. We try & take a nap @ our lunch stops & run the generator for an hour to keep the electric freezer frozen. Generator is finally doing great—it’s a miracle to have out here in the deep woods. We run everything. We bought the off road diesel for it in Bend at 60/cents/gallon so it’s cheap power; especially since the diesel here in Canada is now about $2.00/gallon! M thinks we’ll have enough to last for almost the entire trip. Every time we free camp we run about $3-4 in diesel as compared to the $25 camp fee at commercial camps. If there’s a cheap way to do something, my husband will figure it out, but hey, it gets us down the road a lot further for less money!

It’s Rachael’s birthday today; I’ve thought of her all day. We’re going to try & call tomorrow morning on the cell phone as we go through Prince George. Then on to Dawson City—the official Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway!

7/10/98 about 6:30 p.m.

Sun is up early (about 4 a.m.), so am I. We’re on a pullout outside of Ft. Nelson, BC (a very ugly town) after doing a 12 hour day yesterday. Topography was really different, mostly rolling small spruce forest or all hardwood forest. Road getting worse & quite dusty in the construction spots (lasting sometimes 10 miles). Endless streams of RVs and trucks. Saw another black bear.

This part is hard work. The road is just endless & there’s nothing out here. Not even electric poles by the road. Scenery suppose to improve today, although we’re looking at another week & 1357 miles to reach Anchorage! Diesel is now about 54 cents/liter (3.79 liters to the gallon); we last paid 48 cents. Stood @ the Mile 0 post in Dawson City yesterday. Sort of the THING TO DO. Old town, pretty farming area—canola fields all yellow. Sunny day.

Marc at Milepost 0

7/11/98 6:57 p.m.

The last two days have been great. We pulled into a commercial camp yesterday before noon so we could hook up to water & sewer to do laundry. Wrote letters, baked bread, did an ironing, cut & colored my hair. Marc occupied himself with washing the rig of dirt grime about two inches thick & talking to the floatplane pilots & drooling over “their rigs”. They watch for smoke from wild fires and fly people out to remote fish camps.

Muncho Lake is pretty in a very stark sort of way. Big (mostly barren, above tree line) mountains surround it & copper particles are suspended in the water, so it’s a vivid hue of blues & greens. Had heavy rain for two hours (it was so romantic sounding on the trailer roof) between the sun. Rode the scooters for 10 miles.

Float planes from RV camp, Muncho Lake

Pulled out about 8:30 a.m. under cloudy skies, & scenery just got better all day. Crossing in to the Yukon (finally) we started seeing vistas typical of Alaska—far off mountains and densely forested valleys filled w/rivers and creeks. Stopped @ the Watson Lake sign forest & really enjoyed it. Visitors from all parts of the world steal & leave all sorts of signs, so you try & look for your town. We didn’t see Bend, but saw Gresham, Pendleton, Sacramento, Roseville & 50,000 other cities. Dieseled up @ 59.9/liter, $161 Canadian to fill up. (Had several guys come up & whoop-de-do over the truck). We still haven’t stopped for groceries really, but the fresh food larder is getting low (lordy, I can hardly wait to see what groceries are going to cost…)

Watson Lake sign forest--see your town?

Tonight we’re off the highway (about 80 miles from Teslin) on another dirt road overlooking forested hills by a creek in a huge clearing. We have Jimmy Buffet CDs playing & Marc is mixing up his famous margaritas to go with our taco dinner. Ah, heaven! The vacation is getting better—I think we’ll really like reaching Alaska. We definitely have the bug juice out here though; for the first time the mosquitoes are quite thick and so are the black nats, which bite just as hard!

No one who has not attempted this would truly understand it. The road is so endless and there’s just nothing but wilderness. You end up passing and repassing the same RVs and everyone waves—it’s like a camaraderie built on surviving this endless highway—you and the truck drivers are all in it together. Passenger cars are definitely in the small minority; there’s hardly any here. And believe me, you see every type of RV ever made and all ages. When cars break down, if they are old, they are just abandoned by the road because the tow charges are so high it doesn’t pay to try & bring them back to civilization. I wouldn’t trade this life experience for ANYTHING.

7/13/98 5:32 p.m.

Quite a change in the weather; had rain last night and today and much colder. Headed for Skagway this a.m. with the intention of riding the White Pass/Yukon train, but changed my mind when it was going to cost $160 to have the views cut off by fog and clouds. Saw much of the pass area anyway by road. What rugged country those gold miners covered.

Skagway had some interesting old buildings from the 1899s but the whole town is one long shopping district for the cruise ships. Two huge ones were docked today and town was jammed. They have the easy way of seeing Alaska…

7/14/98 4:40 p.m.

Marc felt like he had the flu last night so he slept in this morning with a headache. We left Carcross (almost all native Indians, about 200 population) headed for Whitehorse. Whitehorse is the capital city of the Yukon & looked very clean & prosperous by Yukon standards. We had to stop for some groceries (finally) & what sticker shock! A can of Campbell’s soup (at home 69 cents) was about $1.77. Cheese & yogurt were outrageous (no dairies close) & so were potatoes, being $9.00 a 5 lb. bag!

Train depot, Carcross, Yukon

One of our books told us about this government camp—Congon Creek on Kluane (Kloo-aw-nee) Lake & our spot is truly an unbelievable eye popper. I’m sitting outside about 50 feet from the lapping waves and the expanse of the lake is before me—about 10-15 miles across. The Kluane Wilderness Park Mountains arc to the west rising to 17,000 feet with glaciers pouring down their sides. I told M I could have a cabin & live right here with this view forever & he said “yeah, until winter”. There’s nothing like this that we’ve seen before with so little population. Even in this camp, no one is even within sight of our rig. (Footnote added later: on the drive back from Alaska, as we passed this campground, we noted “Closed due to bears” signs.)

Camp on Kluane Lake.

We’ve noticed a lot of RVs headed back & figure they were the first up in May & June for the early salmon run. Now the second contingent is coming! I think we will finally cross the border @ Tok tomorrow; which is in Alaska proper.

The funny part of the day: M spotted a comical fabricated mosquito feeding off the back of a dead dummy along the highway and just had to turn around for a picture. Well, he ended up swinging too wide in the picnic turnaround area, swiped a six inch in diameter tree with the welded back bumper of our rig & chopped the darn thing right in half so it proceeded to hit the top right corner of the trailer. Knocked off the light, but no major fiberglass damage, only scratches. We left in a hurry with that Yukon park services tree lying right in the road. Are the Duskes having fun yet?

This is life size. See why we just had to turn around for it?

7/15/98 5:45 p.m. Alaska time!

We’re about 20 miles outside of Tok in a large gravel clearing screened by thick trees from the road. There were some nice mountains today but also mostly those little teeny spruce forests that are the only thing that can grow in the permafrost. Tok is entirely a RV service town. We found a Texaco so topped off since Anchorage is still 338 hard miles away.

Scenery is improving; we’re about to climb mountains again. Road extremely rough today; went 35-45 mph. Now it’s the same on this road (a different highway) only absolutely no shoulders. Passing RVs almost hit each other’s mirrors.

7/16/98 7:45 p.m.

What a ride we had today! Poor Marc; he said that the “pucker factor” was quite high! One of Alaska’s “major” highways & it was narrow, no shoulders, frost-heaved to death & had long gravel (as in rock) sections. In a 40-mile section we saw four vehicles pulled over with shredded tires. Add to that about 15 or so 10% downhill grades where they used absolutely no guardrails and you have our day! Some sections we went 10 mph on. Man, these Alaskans like things rough!

Glacier view on way to Anchorage.

We finally hit our first freeway since WA about 20 miles outside of Anchorage. We’re on the outskirts in a very nice RV park in the overflow lot because they didn’t have room for us. We were out of water or would have went to the Fred Meyer parking lot here, which we’ve heard via the RV telegraph, allows you to free camp. Tomorrow we’ll go there & stock up on groceries and get our prescriptions. What this park did have that we get to use is the connection to the Internet to do the email! I feel sorry for you folks getting so many messages all @ once but it couldn’t be helped. Juno wasn’t operative throughout Canada; hell, half the towns in the Yukon don’t even have electricity, so we just couldn’t send it off.

So, we’ve finally made it, after driving 3582 miles. Tomorrow we conquer Anchorage.

Footnote: A noted Alaskan souvenir: moose turd dingle berries, which they shellac & make into earrings. I kid you not! They also place them on top of swizzle sticks. I was hootin’ about how “who on earth would buy moose poop?, but you know what? If I see them again, I’m going to buy some—who would believe it if I don’t?!! (Email me your Christmas orders…)

Footnote 2: One old guy in a motorhome was coming down the gravel road towards us & was really hauling, throwing gravel everywhere. Well, as he went by we noticed that he had left the side door to his basement storage wide open and as he & his rig were bouncing down the road he was proceeding to lose all his important stuff—like his hose, a dishpan, God knows what. We laughed liked little kids in hysterics thinking it couldn’t have happened to anyone who deserved it more. A cardinal rule up here on the gravel roads is that you’re considerate & don’t speed; otherwise everyone around you ends up with a broken windshield.

7/18/98 5:30 a.m. Impression of Anchorage

We’ve spent the night in the Sam’s Club parking lot along w/about 150 other RVers too cheap to pay for a camp. We’re on our way out to the Kenai with Seward as today’s destination. It’s only about 150 miles away and we’ll get an early start so should be a cakewalk!

We spent yesterday mostly at Fred Meyers, stocking up on groceries, hooked up illegally to the fire hydrant so I could do laundry (naturally my husband is the only one I know besides a fireman with all the attachments & tools necessary to do that), and rescuing a little girl.

She was riding bikes with some friends and fell and hurt her kneecap severely. Marc got her some ice and asked if we could call her mom to come and get her. Well, they had no phone; he reached a neighbor, who after 30 minutes still hadn’t come to pick her up. We ended up calling the police twice and the neighbor again, and finally the derelict dad showed up about an hour later. Right after that the policeman showed up who said he’d check it out. Apparently, we were in a rotten section (we haven’t found the good one even yet) of this town and there are a lot of abusive-type situations that go on. We were just absolutely amazed that the parents weren’t more concerned. Then the stupid guy had the gaul to ask Marc if he should take the girl to the doctor’s to get x-rays—he’d rather not as he’s not working and has no money. I thought M would punch him out! This little girl is out there where her parents had no idea where she was, getting badly hurt, and she’s only going in to third grade. We were blown away & M was steaming. He can’t stand to see children or animals abused in any way & to imagine the way this nice little girl must live bothered him all day. What would have happened to her if we hadn’t been there?

Our impressions of the way Alaskans live: rough. Since we crossed the border most of the housing we’ve seen reminds us of being on a very poor Indian reservation. Even here in Anchorage (& we drove through a lot of it), it’s a lot of poor white-trash apartment complexes and ticky-tacky old houses that look like they were built in the 1950s. But the worst is the mobile homes—they’re all the old 8-10’ wide metal ones that are rusted to death, usually with some type of shack attached to the side. M says he now knows where all the old metal trailers come when they die in the lower 48.

Grocery prices weren’t as bad as we expected and we can actually afford beer and wine again! Hard liquor is actually cheaper than Oregon. Gas is $l.15 for unleaded. Dairy products are still expensive; makes it hard for us cheese lovers. But oh man, the seafood—unbelievably fresh salmon of different kinds, halibut, and giant king crab legs. We had sockeye salmon last night & was it ever good!

We met a nice guy in the camp the other night with a Freightliner pulling a Hitchhiker who was from Crooked River Ranch (north of Bend). He’s actually sold his place recently since he’s been full timing for three years & loves it. He & M talked trucks for the better part of two hours “my dog’s bigger than your dog…”! He’s headed for the Kenai as well so we may see him again. You keep seeing some of the same RVers later down the road. Well, hard to lose them up here I guess since there are only about five highways in the whole state. (Footnote added later: Indeed we did see this fellow again the following year at the Chico Escapade; he’s a fellow SkiP).

Looks mostly clear today; weather suppose to improve through the weekend. It’s been cloudy & about 65. Great day for travelin’.

7/19/00 7:30 p.m.

Waiting for spare ribs to cook for dinner after a great day in Seward. Awoke late to sun, so we decided to take the Kenai Fiord Park boat tour from 1-5 p.m. Saw fantastic scenery, had calm seas, a fun Captain. Saw lots of sea birds, including puffins, cormorants, baby gulls, four bald eagles, a herd of about five mountain goats, 10-15 Stellar sea lions, one otter, and the thrill of the trip, a humpback whale.

Claudia at Seward boat harbor.

Seward has been a lot of fun for us on the scooters. It’s small, with slow traffic and they are a great way to get around here. Everyone is always commenting on how cute they are and what a great idea. It almost gets embarrassing between that & all the guys that come up to look Marc’s truck over. We scootered out to where the road ends to a fishing area the first day we were here and some guys came in with a bunch of salmon and just gave us this large silver—probably about 10-12 lbs. Enough for steaks for six dinners! Needless to say, we had it fresh last night, & had trouble believing the generosity of a strange Alaskan. Would that happen in the lower 48? Doubtful…

Marc's first free silver salmon!

The setting here is unsurpassed. The city charges $8/night to park right next to the pebbly beach; at high tide the water is about 10 foot from the back of the trailer. Because we’re so long, our slide with the dining table and the back bedroom are back behind the other RVs, so we view the whole Resurrection Bay with no obstructions to the view of the water, all the boats coming and going and the glaciers. I’m in love!

Seward is a quaint place with lots to do. A fine museum, a sea-life research center and the library plays a film of the 1964 9.2 earthquake every day, which destroyed much of the town. Those are on the list tomorrow since it’s supposed to rain. Even though it’s busy it doesn’t have that solely-for-the-touristas attitude that Skagway had.

The Kenai Peninsula has been the prettiest so far. So many hikes and trails and the timber is much larger. There must be about 500 RVs parked all along the shore here. We are now experiencing about 18 hours of daylight with sunset at about 11:15 p.m. and sunrise about 5 a.m. It’s become hard to go to bed before midnight since activity still goes on; most people sleep in and get late starts—10 a.m. in not uncommon!

7/22/98 4:15 p.m.

We got in to Ninilchik Beach about 3 p.m. yesterday. Managed to snag the first entry spot in a narrow shelf beach government campground with about 15 spots. It’s the only spot we’d fit in to! It was raining steadily and windy all day yesterday, that’s probably why we got this spot because today it’s full. Cook Inlet, out the window, was entirely without a view, but today there have only been clouds and very little rain and the ceiling is high enough to see all the big volcano mountains across the inlet. Another incredible view…on a clear day it must be staggering….

This is a clamming beach and we’ve just managed to hit the four best days of low tides, until Friday. We got up early this a.m. & hit the beach with about 150 other diggers out for razor clams. It took us about an hour to get the hang of it and then we started having real success. I spotted and toted the bucket, M heaved the shovel! Great fun but hard work! After cleaning (again, M’s chore, since I will cook them) we have about four pounds of meat in two hours’ digging. These are big clams—about 6.25 inches long! These are the kind you tempura fry for clam strips (tonight’s dinner. Yum); tomorrow we’re going to have crock-pot Manhattan clam chowder which will simmer all day while we’re out again. We’re going to can tomorrow’s haul. The limit is 60/day.

Marc not only had to do the digging, I made him clean as well!

Lots of people here from Oregon—met some from Newport just newly retired. The tide change is quite substantial; we were able to go out about quarter to half a mile. Lots of locals come down just for the low tide dig then leave. Coastline here very pretty; I love it. I keep saying this gets better & better & it does. Smell of salt air and the gulls crying; another spot I could live at. I know the rest of the U.S. is sweltering & we’re in long pants & shirts—it’s about 55-60 degrees. I think our hottest day this summer was 68 or 70 in the Yukon. All of this part of Alaska has actually had much more rain than usual—they’ve usually had 12 days of sun in July and so far there’s only been two. We could have told them that; once the Duskes come to town hauling our “rain cloud” around behind us.

We’ve really been enjoying ourselves but are turning in to slobs. Don’t know what time it is or what day of the week it is half the time. Stay up till it gets dark, which is about midnight, so we sleep in, something M never did. Decide that day if we feel like moving to another spot down the road or staying put. Seeing lots of comical things that happen to the tourists and RVers who don’t know what they’re doing.

7/25/98 2:10 p.m.

We’re in Homer since yesterday, where once again we were finally able to check email this morning. No one in the Northland seems to understand the concept of modern communication and we’ve had a devil of a time getting the use of a phone line. M paid the computer store in town five bucks for a one-minute call to get out today.

View across Cook Inlet near Homer.

Homer sits in an idyllic setting which reminds us a little of Bend with the Cascades rising up, only here the mountains are longer and they rise from the sea and sit directly across the inlet. We took a drive to where the road ends and where many of the people seem to live (on the hill) and the views are so staggering there’s just no way to adequately convey the scope. It’s an area of about 10,000 people and much boat and fishing activity since this is where the majority of the charter boats go out. It’s also the former home of local celebrity, Jewell, and still home of Tom “We’ll leave the light on for ya” Bodett.

View from the hill outside Homer.

The homes here look more prosperous, like it’s a retirement community, but it still seems incongruous to us to see what looks like a $2,000 tin mobile home on a $200,000 ocean front view lot. Actually, we saw a sign, 20 ocean view acres were selling for $200,000, but the land, views, & setting is so choice these would be $million plus lots in CA or OR.

We had a little sun yesterday, but the weather has been really crummy today and very cold (45) so we’re amusing ourselves inside with the heater going. We’re camped on the Spit, that sandbar which juts five miles into the bay and is filled with other dirt-dog campers, Rvers, and fisher folk. M wants to take pictures but it’s too dreary to do today. I do get to look out at the ocean however, so things ain’t all bad.

On the Spit, Homer

We have found out a little more about life here on the Last Frontier. Alaskans for the most part (other than outdoor recreation) have it pretty rough. Jobs are very scarce and the pay really isn’t any higher than Oregon yet everything is way more expensive to buy. Almost all housing is really substandard compared to what we’re used to. The state of all the highways (except for a small section by Anchorage) is abominable and every secondary road, even in towns, is usually dirt (or mud depending upon whether it’s raining that day). They do like their firearms here—every single road sign is shot to hell, some so much so that you can’t even read them, which makes it hard for folks like us trying to find their way around. But then again, maybe that’s what they have in mind, now that I think about it!

Halibut charter catch

A small world story: At Ninilchik Beach we met a Russian Orthodox commercial fisherman (named Nick) from Oregon who had grounded his boat at low tide by mistake. Well, one of Nick’s best friends, who had just caught the noon flight back to OR & had actually been right there, is the sheetrock contractor on many of Tri-West’s jobs and had worked for Marc at Government Camp. Marc had missed seeing the guy by about five hours and was flabbergasted that out in the middle of nowhere, Alaska, he’d almost run into someone he worked with! A whole lot of OR commercial fisherman are up here; however, the state just stopped all commercial salmon fishing because of low numbers. Nick had just spent $50,000 on a boat and now must go back to OR. It’s funny they stop the commercial guys and yet sport fishers and locals can either snag or even dip net for the salmon. Needless to say, the commercial guys are really furious and they really don’t like the Oregonians coming to fish “their” waters.

Oops! Nick's boat needs more tide

7/26/98 4:35 p.m.

This morning we moved back up the Peninsula about 15 miles to the Anchor Point area where there is a series of camps along the Anchor River. We have a perfect spot to let the girls (our cats) roam and we’ve had a lazy day napping, reading, & scooter riding the area. Ocean view lots (1.5 acre) are for sale here for $70,000 and a couple of grand homes have been built. It’s very pretty but still cloudy and cold. We’ll stay here two days, M may fish the river or go on a charter, weather is supposed to improve.

7/27/98 5:40 p.m.

Oh, what a beautiful day! Awoke to sun, which decided to stay around for most of the day. When the fog moved in, being the slobs that we’ve become, we took a nap and it was sunny again by the time we woke up. We’re in a wonderful camp about 1/3 mile from the ocean and one block from the Anchor River. The spot sits a lot by itself, camp is quiet and the kitties are getting their fun hunting. Lots of lush grass, ferns and wildflowers here under tall cottonwood and spruce trees.

Slidehole Campground, Anchor Point

Before we left the Homer Spit, we happened upon a group of Alaskan natives who had been dip net fishing and “insisted” we take @ least one of their 70 salmon. I told M he’s the only fisherman who pays $100 for a license & will probably have more salmon given to him than he catches! This was a sockeye (red) & it’s baking right now in a tomato-parmesan recipe I found.

The Duskes ended up with that big fish he's holding

Last evening we rode around and watched them fish the river, which is more like a stream. They’re catching Dolly Varden (Brook trout family) coming in from the sea. So today, while M had his nose buried in a terrific book (Point of Impact, Stephan Hunter—can’t put it down or it brings tears to your eyes to do so it’s so good kind of book) I scootered down to buy salmon eggs & M some waders. They had his size and the guy there said, “Where’s your partner in crime—the other scooter?” I swear, everyone notices those darn scooters! Anyway, thus outfitted, M went out to fish for a couple of hours and got one dolly. Then I decided it looked like so much fun I too, needed waders and a fishing license.

So I’ll end this in suspense; will the dollies be in this evening for the Duskes? Regardless, this is the place to see bald eagles; six were working the river today.

7/28/98 6:40 p.m.

Another picture perfect day in the Slidehole Campground. Really lazy today; haven’t even gone fishing yet. Marc’s just returning from Homer where he went to buy two 55 gal. plastic drums to hold water. That should allow us to really stay out without running out.

I took some great pics today it was so clear, and we grilled the volunteer camp hosts about their “job” & how one goes about getting the positions. Sounds like a great way to go once we’re full timing. They’ve been in the same spot every summer for 6 years and have their boat & ATVs and go fishing every day. Met some other full timers originally from Prineville who are thinking of buying a Travel Supreme so gave them a tour of ours.

We got skunked on the dollies. I hooked a good one but didn’t land it, the wiley little devil; had great fun though until 10:45 p.m. with the sun still up. There were about 20 guys fishing and only one other woman; I guess it’s a “man thing” up here….Neither M or I have ever used waders before & it’s a strange sensation to actually be out where the fish swim right by your feet.

7/30/98 4:55 p.m.

We’re near on to spending our second night in Soldotna in the Fred Meyer free camp. Needed groceries and to do laundry and then figured since Fred’s had fresh silver salmon we’d buy it to smoke and can. Smoker wasn’t working too well, so some of the canned will be smoked flavored. Freddie got a load of silvers in yesterday and it’s less than $4/lb. Marc can’t pay the charter fee and fish for them anywhere nearly as cheaply. There’s a spot near here where they’re supposedly catching reds, so we may try our luck at that (bank fishing) later or tomorrow. It will close soon; they’re having a very poor run this year and have already closed all commercial fishing and also many of the rivers and they stopped the dip netting. Big controversy over the above; these communities live and die on the salmon run.

Have met some great people here. Every old geezer in the lot has to take a gander at the truck and everyone figures we must be full timing to have “a rig like that!” This Fred Meyers even has a dump station and some have parked here for eight weeks for free.

Baby moose wanders right through the Fred Meyer parking lot, Soldotna

8/2/98 6:12 a.m.

Can’t believe it’s already August! I think we’ve got a major change in plans. We had a heart to heart last night and Marc is really feeling frazzled and wants to head for home.

I’m mightily disappointed but can understand; he’s the one having to do all the driving and setting up and breaking down of all the camps. Hauling this whale around can’t be easy! Plus, he popped his bad knee out and has been in excruciating pain for the last three days. The main problem has been that he has been away from home for so long, and he’s been so stressed out from working 7 days/wk for so long, that he said he really wants to just RELAX and spend some time at his home. For those of you who have never done it, traveling extensively and being on the go every day can take its toll and tire you out! It’s not like going to one spot for a week and staying put. He said the idea of how far we are from home right now is just daunting to him. I guess with all the traveling he’s done in the past two years for his work, this is just like another job!

He also feels pressed that we’re under a time gun, having to be back by a certain date. This is a very tough place to drive to and try and see and fit everything in in the space of six or eight weeks. Sounds like a lot of time, but when it takes almost two weeks just to get here, it doesn’t leave a lot of time for relaxing.

Once he awakens this morning, I think we’ll be heading out towards Anchorage & will probably backtrack on that terrible highway to Tok, since it is the quickest route out. That will take us two days since Anchorage is about 200 miles from Soldotna and then Tok another 350.

I, of course, could continue to stay and travel all summer. Being in a new place every day doesn’t faze me in the least, but getting home earlier than expected will allow us to spend some time this summer with Rachael before she has to start school.

We’ve enjoyed Alaska for the vacation experience it offers and may come again once we’re more “retired” and can take all the time we want and not feel pressured. Most of the people we’ve talked to are in that position; there’s not been anyone our ages whom we’ve talked to who has done this on a break from work. And if we never get here again, we have at least seen and experienced more of Alaska than the majority of folks….

8/4/98 9:20 p.m.

It’s another gravel pit free camp outside of Teslin, Yukon on the way back. Right after we pulled in, three motorhomes did the same. This is the first time on the whole trip that has happened. Last night’s pit stop was really nice—it had grass and tree cover and the kitties literally made a killing on mice in the grass underfoot.

The scenery somehow seems better coming this direction; but then again, all this part was cloudy and rainy before and the last two days have been gorgeous sun.

Still morning in the Yukon

Kluane Wilderness area again was the high point; it’s awesome. The Yukon actually has as much scenic value as Alaska (except for parts of the Kenai Peninsula). The days are uneventful however, it’s just head the mule for home.

Footnote: A lot more of the Tok cutoff, that miserable road between Anchorage & Tok (360 miles, two days) was ground to gravel, getting prepared for resurfacing, so it was very slow going and many delays. At one stop we talked to an old Alaskan sourdough flagman who lives out in the woods and has an outhouse for a bathroom. He said the moose are such a problem in winter that he has to carry his gun to go to the outhouse. Since his driveway is plowed free of snow the moose settle in there and charge him whenever he comes outside. He usually manages to jump in his truck ok, but one day the moose kicked in his tailgate and killed his dog. He said that riled him, so he shot it; it was the third one that winter! M asked “How much meat?” & he said “Oh, an easy 600 lbs.” He said he went to Carolina to the stock car races once and the heat “Nigh on to kilt me. But you should have seen the women there, they weren’t wearing nothin’ but these little bikinis.” On parting, M said, “What do you guys do all winter up here?” & he said, “Drink beer and ride snow machines.” M & I laughed all day at this vestige of true Alaska!

Footnote #2: Marc’s reflection: He’d probably never drive here (to Alaska) again. Too much drive time getting there, through stuff you don’t want to see, that has no access anyway. There’s the highway and that’s it! He said for the mileage covered we could have seen ALL the USA. Ah, but the adventure!

8/6/98 5:51 p.m.

Waiting for potatoes to bake, then barbecued tri-tip out here in our gravel pit. Leaden skies with rain this afternoon and cold, probably 58-60 degrees. We had rain all night last night as well, but it’s always pleasing to hear it on the trailer roof. Not pleasing what it did to the road, however. You should see the rig; mud that sticks like cement up to the windows!

This is our second day on the Cassiar Highway; a very scenic road from hell. Not too bumpy from the frost heaves, since most of it sits below the Artic in BC, but a lot of gravel surface and the truck windshield is paying the price—four broken divots. Marc is upset.

This highway is only about 500 miles long but will take a full two days or more of driving to traverse. Very little traffic and the towns are all just Indian villages. There’s a big forest fire somewhere and all yesterday we died from the smoky air and couldn’t see any distant mountains. Today was better and for quite a stretch we drove through old growth forest—the huge coast kind (we’re about 100-150 air miles from the coast) that’s 250 years old. Now we’re in to a lot of clear-cut because of bark beetle infestation.

Along the Cassiar Highway, BC

Footnote: M & I marvel how Canada & Alaska have all these pristine rivers and lakes (it’s beyond comprehension how many; like every several miles) and there’s never a soul near them and most don’t even have any access to the water. Just totally wasted as a recreational resource. We’re in the middle of wilderness and drive for mile after mile with no human presence and we end up having to free camp in old gravel pits because there’s no roads or access by the lakes and rivers. It’s a shame that no one can enjoy this country except from the main highway! What’s wrong with this picture?

We did have a nice camp last night tucked away back down a trail from a litter barrel turnout that ran along “Beady Creek”. Moose turds all over the place told us we’d better stay inside the trailer though. How thoughtful of the Canadian government to provide us with a litter barrel for our morning garbage dump!

Free camp along Beady Creek, BC

So far we’re in to Canada about three days and haven’t spent any money. Marc’s trying to make it most of the way through without buying fuel, food, or camp fees. He’ll never forgive them for what happened about the guns. Fortunately, the gal crossing back in didn’t give us any problems. We gassed up just at the border and we hold 185 gallons of diesel—we’re loaded up and truckin’!

8/10/98 8:30 a.m.

Made it home to Bend in record time I’m sure! Arrived last night at 11:30 p.m. after a grueling day that started at 6:30 a.m. from Kamloops, BC. It started with a very slow section of highway for about 100 miles because of all the resort development and retirement villages now along Okanagan Lake, which stretches 100 miles. It looks a lot like the Napa Valley with lakes added, except for the pine trees up on the higher mountains. They grow tons of fruit and grapes for wine there, so there’s veggie stands about every 50 feet. Traffic is as slow as the Napa Valley also! Towns looked very prosperous and that’s where all the really nice Canadian homes are—huge with outstanding views of the lake.

Much of the Yukon and the Cassiar Highway already showing signs of fall; it was incredible. For instance, at Kluane, the ice breakup on the lake isn’t completed until June and here it was the first week of August and the trees were already turning yellow. That whole area has tons of birch and some aspen mixed in with the spruce, so it’s much more like a Midwestern or eastern forest than what we see here in the West.

So, we traveled 7006 miles to Alaska and back and arrived safely home to tell about it! And Claudia says, “When’s the next adventure?” .