Bunnies, Bears, and Bison (and bugs)

We made it to Alaska! Back to the land of wi-fi. The Yukon Territory is about at remote as you can get and still find some kind of civilization. If you ever wanted to disappear "off the grid", it would be so easy to do in YT.  Canada is beautiful but it's unbelievably expensive; both the gas and the groceries.  The grocery prices were double what we pay for things in the US and at one point we paid 5.93/gal for gas!  The cheapest gas was in Watson Lake at $5.45/gal. You should have seen the crowd there.  That guy was the most popular person in town!  We made it to Watson Lake and the Sign Post Forest.  The girls actually remembered it from when we were there five years ago with Granny. 

Sign Post Forest - Watson Lake, YT

We stayed the night at the Baby Nugget RV Park and finally got laundry done. Poor Jade had to "go commando"  It was actually kind of nice to spend the afternoon doing something as normal as laundry.  But that night we made a horrible discovery (the hard way) about our RV.  You cannot sleep with the windows open even with the screens closed.  The mosquitoes find there way in the gap between the window and the screen. (We are keeping a list of "design flaws" to send to the manufacturer when we get back - lol!)  There is no rubber gasket thingy-ma-jig between the screen and window when the window is open - go figure!  So after complaining about mosquitoes in my last post, I got a taste of just how bad it could be.  Suffice it to say that we ended up getting up at 4:00 a.m. for the second battle of the night to kill the little creatures and at 5 a.m. had to admit defeat.  We just got up and got on the road.  UGH!  We were all a little loopy that day from lack of sleep.  Thank goodness Jeff figured out the problem.  We also bought a huge can of insect spray and sprayed around the slides in and outside the RV.  Let's hope the carcinogens in the bug spray get the bugs and not us.

On our way to Whitehorse we were treated to an amazing site. A whole herd of bison crossing the highway

A herd of bison - there were probably 25 of them!

.  Unlike deer, moose and other animals that dart across the highway, these guys act like they own the place!!  They just saunter along and it's us that have to wait for them to decide to get out of the way - pretty funny.

We breezed through Whitehorse - the largest town in the Yukon Territory with 27,000+ people and again saw places we recognized like the S.S. Klondike - a sternwheeler that carried passengers and supplies on the Yukon River back in the late 1800s.  We continue to average about 250 to 300 miles a day and on some of these roads, that is a miracle.

Otter Falls - middle of nowhere - Yukon Territory

We stopped just west of Haines Junction at Otter Falls RV Park.  Talk about the middle of nowhere!!  But the folks there were really friendly and as long as we have water and electricity, we are Happy Campers!!  I asked the woman who worked there what brought her out to that area.  She was from Whitehorse, her last child had just graduated,and she needed something to do - so she said now she is a gypsy.  I thought that was pretty cool!  

Jade showing off the dirt.  It's worse than it looks!

Our journey from Haines Junction to Tok, Alaska covered THE WORST road we had yet to encounter.  There was one frost heave that sent the RV in front of us practically sailing.  He pulled off the road shortly after his encounter with that "bump".  Jeff said it probably scared the pee right out of him - had to make a bathroom stop - lol!  By far the worst stretch is about 40 miles before the Alaska/Canada border.  When we were at Otter Falls, we kept seeing these REALLY dirty vehicles going by and I told Jeff that didn't bode well for us.  They were coming from the direction we were heading.  We quickly learned WHY they looked so bad.  Apparently, they have yet to invent highway paving materials that can withstand the shifting of the permafrost.  You'd think with all our technological advancements, that would be figured out by now but NOOOOOOOO!  In a big rig like ours it almost makes you seasick with with swaying of the vehicle.  We've had a few times when Jade and Mya both looked a little green.

What I find really peculiar is that there are two border stations, one for Canada and one for the U.S. and there is a stretch of about 10 miles (of the worst stretches of road on the planet) between the two.  I called it no-man's land!  Why not have one building - save some money for road work - lol!  Between these two stopping points is the actual physical boundary.  

International Boundary between
Alaska and Canada

Who gets the job of
 mowing this path?

The International Boundary Commission cuts a 20 ft. swath of land to mark the boundary and it is responsible for keeping that up.  Pretty amazing to stand at that point and see this "path" stretch as far as the eye can see in both directions.  Rarely have I seen a physical demarcation of a boundary. It stretches from the Bering Sea south through the Wrangell St. Elias mountains. 

We spent the night in Tok, Alaska last night, had dinner at Fast Eddy's, and woke up this morning early to wash the road grime from the RV.  This is fire season in Alaska and the night before we arrived, lightning had started a fire about 16 miles outside of Tok.  The air is full of smoke and comes and goes with the direction of the wind. Tonight we are at the Tolsona Wilderness Campground - one of our old favorite camping spots.  The girls remember playing in the sand on the banks of the river.  Folks have told us that this year's mosquito hatch is the worst it's been in years and I think they are right.  Even covered in bug repellent they are swarming us. We just came in from a walk around the campground.  The bugs were all over us.  We need one of those decontamination units you see on TV shows.  A transition area between one area and another to keep the bugs out of here!!

 It's time to head to Anchorage and civilization.  Can't wait to see friends and family.  

Man vs. Mosquito

3:00 a.m. - "Mom, there are mosquitoes in my bed" (said with a whine).  Killed five, two with blood. Someone got bit:-( 

A survey of the windows turned up one screen not closed all the way.  Give them a 1/4 inch and they'll take a mile!!  

5:23 a.m. - "Mom, there is a mosquito in my ear!  It must have crawled inside.  It's buzzing in my ear!!" (said with a whine - different kid).  

Thought as I lay awake at 4:00 a.m.:  Is there anywhere on earth that doesn't require either sunscreen or insect repellent?

Watson Lake, here we come.  Got to find a laundromat

"Why didn't we fly?"

Yesterday we made our way from Prince George, BC to Charlie Lake.  Beautiful lake between Ft. St. John and Ft. Nelson.  We saw a pair of loons and two beavers who were very busy!!  Also ran into a couple from Dallas, Texas on their way to Anchorage.  They are sick of the Texas heat and moving to Anchorage.  He already has a job with the Anchorage School District.  

Jeff and the girls at Mile 0 of the
Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek

Jeff is doing all of the driving but he doesn't seem to mind.  I'm the navigator, reading the Milepost and filling in everyone on the historical significance of the area, which I enjoy.  When we reached Dawson Creek I recognized a few places from our trip down to Texas with Granny.  Told Jeff he HAD to have his picture taken at Mile 0.  

Today has been the longest so far - 384 miles which is why about mid afternoon Jade asked why we didn't just fly!!! The roads are narrow and winding and a couple of times we've gotten behind these overweight tanker trucks that we practically have to push up the hills in front of us!!  We climbed through Summit Pass and passed by Stone Mountain Provincial Park which is the campground that we stayed at on the trip to Texas. It's a fun stroll down memory lane.  

Jade asks, "why didn't we just fly?????" about 2:30 today (6/24).
Too many long, boring stretches and curving, winding roads.  

This is a Stone Sheep.  It looks like a Mt.. Goat but it is actually a sheep.  One of the slowest parts of the highway with long uphill climbs and very curvy highway - on our way from Ft. Nelson to Muncho Lake.

More trees, more highway.
The scenery rarely changes!

Tonight we are sitting in Northern Rockies Lodge RV park on the banks of Muncho Lake.  A pristine blue-green lake that reminds me of Kenai Lake in Alaska.  They say the color is from the copper oxide seeping into the lake.  Whatever it is, it's beautiful. I distinctly remember driving past here 5 years ago because the road is narrow, winding, and has no guardrails.  The lake comes right up to the edge of the road!

Tomorrow may be a shorter day.  We need to do some laundry so we might only go as far as Watson Lake.  Gotta stop by the Sign Post Forest:-)      One last game of UNO before bed.  It's been a LONG day.

Redundant Scenery?

Crossing into Canada - a soggy June 20th

Sitting in a 2-star RV park just south of Prince George in British Columbia.  It looks like a cross between a mobile home park and a RV campground!  Seems like we've left the rain behind for awhile.  It's really a mess in Calgary.  They evacuated something like 75,000 people.  Don't know if the road between Jasper and Banff is open yet or not.  The girls and I have been there before (when we drove to Texas with Granny) but Jeff hasn't seen it.  So I guess we might have to go that way on the way home.  Our detour took us southwest when we are trying to go North but we are headed that way now.

Traveling North into the Mountains

We stayed at a really pleasant RV park in Cache Creek last night and met a young couple from Fairbanks.  Jade and Mya played in the pool with Dannon and Ethan (5 and 2) last night.  Weather was perfect.  I could have stayed there longer but Alaska beckons.  This is the leg of the trip I was dreading because it's so long and as Jeff proclaimed today, "Redundant" -lol!  We've only been in Canada 3 days and already he's noticed that the scenery doesn't change much.  It's either mountainous with trees so close to the road, it's claustrophobic or it clears out a bit and we see pastureland.

t

They farm marshmallows in Canada!!!  These are actually
hay bales covered in some kind of plastic or fabric.

We did see a big black bear dart across the road yesterday though.  And a bunch of rodents that Jade is calling "those little brown things".  We don't know if they are prairie dogs or gophers or ground squirrels.  Need to google it and find out the difference.  We keep seeing signs warning of moose and deer (and one Badger crossing sign)  but haven't seen any yet.

Lunch on a lookout above the Frazier
River on our way to Prince George.

The guy that runs this RV park is kind of a "crab cake".  He asked if we had dogs and I said, "no, just two kids", and he said "Well, they probably shouldn't around too much."  So after dinner I told the girls that we need to get our eggs and run around and go egg all the tenants rigs:-)  That'll fix 'em.  He's probably just crabby because it's hot.  It's currently 92 degrees and it's 6:15 p.m.  What happened to the arctic cold??

Tomorrow we head to Dawson Creek (which is northeast of here).  We seem to be zigzagging our way north.  Then we'll head Northwest all the way.  Jeff is doing most of the driving.  He doesn't make a good passenger (his own words, but I do have to agree.  He starts giving driving advice - ack!!!)  We've been doing about 6 hours a day and that is plenty.  The girls are actually doing surprisingly well. They take turns sitting up in front with Jeff. We taught them all about the lines on the road and what solid yellow lines mean and dotted yellow lines, when you can pass, when you can't, etc.  They will be expert drivers by the time we are done:-)  I was eavesdropping on  their conversation this morning and Jade was giving Mya a lot of "big sister" advice about what it's like being a middle schooler.  It was really cute.  Jade said middle school is like a video game and you have to keep going, going, going, adapting or you die and have to start all over again - lol!!! An apt analogy from what I can tell!!!!

Time for our nightly game of UNO.  Sleep tight:-)

Rain, Rain Go Away

Just a brief update.  We were not able to take our planned route.  There is terrible flooding  in and around the Alberta province.  We drove to the entrance to Kootenay National Park and they told us the road between Lake Louise and Jasper is flooded and a number of mud slides are blocking the way.  Don't know when they will clear it.  We could tell by the REALLY swollen rivers we crossed that things were bad.  One of the rivers had even overflowed it's banks at the bridge.  We seem to be out of the worst of it but they is still more rain predicted.

We detoured northwest toward a town called Golden  and are headed today toward Kamloops and Cache Creek. This should get us away from the flooding.  So we are on the West Route to Prince George rather than the Central Route.

And yes, Canada's RV parks do seem to be well equipped with free wifi:-)  Hooray!  The gas, however, is 1.41 a liter. There's about 4 liters to a gallon so Jeff is estimating $5.64 a gallon!  ACK!  Good thing the RV is improving on the gas mileage.  They said that would happen as we broke it in.  So we are getting a whopping 7 miles to the gallon.  This is not an eco-friendly trip:-(

Here we go!  Hope the weather improves.

BRRRRRRR!

We made it!!  Mya wanted Subway.  GPS steered us wrong.
It was a 3 mile walk round trip.  Supposed to be two.  Jeff
doesn't even like Subway - lol!

Left Dillon, Montana (we loved it there) and drove just over 300 miles yesterday - mostly in the rain.  There's been a cold front blow through and it's hovering in the low 50s.  I asked Jeff if we could just turn around and go back now.  I forgot just how much I dislike the cold and rain.

Home in the Woods - Whitefish KOA

It is beautiful here just outside Whitefish, Montana.  We are about 50 miles south of the Canadian border. The entire area reminds me of Alaska.  We are in our last KOA for awhile. It's a pretty one tucked into the woods.  Lots of fun stuff for the girls to do if it weren't raining!!!  We even had some lightning yesterday afternoon, and wind, which just thrilled Jeff to no end.  This morning we got in on the free breakfast.  Yummy french toast, biscuits and gravy, and cereal, toast, bagels, juice, coffee.

Walking to Breakfast

Cool Toaster Contraption,
 you pop it in . . .

. . . it pops it out all toasty!

Jeff just said it's time to get busy so I guess that's my signal to hit the "publish" button and for us to get on the road.  We are headed to Lake Louise in Banff National Park.  We can't get reservations (you have to book more than a day ahead) so we are just keeping our fingers crossed that there is "room at the inn" when we get there.  It's not looking good for wifi access so this may be the last post for awhile unless I can figure out how to do this on my phone.  Don't know if that will work.

Oh - Alaska made the national news last night!  They showed all those pale Alaskan's hanging out at Goose Lake in Anchorage - apparently the heat wave continues.  Hallelujah!!!  We are keeping our fingers crossed that it is still toasty warm when we get there!!!  Ta Ta.

Goodbye Idaho, Hello Montana (Happy Birthday Mom!)

Our home in the woods

We are currently in beautiful Dillon, Montana and getting to relax!!  When we got here Sunday I told Jeff I just needed to stay in one place for a couple of days.  And what a great place to stay!  Bob, the KOA owner, is a hoot.  This is the best KOA we've stayed at on our trip.  (We are becoming experts on KOAs!)  This is a quaint little Montana town of about 4500 people and the weather is PERFECT.  We are at about 5200 ft in elevation so it's cold at night - around 50 degrees.  During the day it heats up to about 80 or so.  Locals think it's HOT but we thinks it's just right!  And there are trees here - big trees! And Eagles! I've decided I'm not a desert dweller.

We made our way from Green River, Utah up to Idaho on Saturday and stayed one night there in Lava Hot Springs.  It reminded the girls and I of Eureka Springs, Arkansas that we visited on our trip back from Iowa a few years ago.  It's located on the Portneuf River which is perfect for tubing.  The water is a bit chilly but the area also has the Lava Hot Springs which are anywhere from 102 to 112 degrees - so it's very easy to warm up.  We only stayed the one night but it's one of the places we plan to revisit on the return trip or on a future trip.

Jeff's first Brown Trout

We have been here in Dillon since Sunday.  We watched Game 5 of the NBA finals and what a game!!!  GO SPURS GO!  Tonight they play game 6 and we are hoping they win so we can head into Canada.  Otherwise, we'll have to wait to "cross over" until after the 21st:-)  Here there is a lovely heated pool with a slide that the girls have been enjoying, and the Beaverhead River "runs through it" and Jeff has had a chance to practice his fly-fishing skills.  He is out there now as I type this.  Yesterday he caught two Brown Trout - a species he's never caught before so he was thrilled.

We will head out tomorrow to the KOA in White Fish, Montana just this side of the U.S./Canadian border.  The MOST EXPENSIVE KOA on the planet. They charge extra for more than two people.  Seriously?!! $8.00 a kid.  What would they like us to do - leave them at the entrance and toss them a snack or two - geesh!  But the guy on the phone said "they will have a blast" - Jeff said they better - for the price we are paying. They better have great wifi too!  I think it will be a one nighter:-)

The Mermaids

The girls are still sleeping.  They like not moving every day too but Jade is anxious to get to Alaska and see everyone.  Mya is just happy if there is a pool.  We plan to walk into town today and maybe hit the SUBWAY for lunch.  It's only a mile from here.  Do a little exploring.  I could stay here a long time but it's time to get "on the road again".

Relaxing at the pool - Hooray!