Civilization, Finally (Friday, July 24, 2009) Departing Chicken, AK, at 8 AM, we got back on gravel, and finally hit some pavement about 5 miles towards Tok (sounds like Coke). The 80+ mile drive was on pavement interspersed with gravel, but no washboards.

We stopped a couple of times to take pictures, as the snow-capped mountains finally started appearing. We arrived in Tok about 12 noon, and thought we were in a large city; even our cell phones worked again. The highways were smooth and wide. A free DIY RV wash was included with our fill-up of cheap gasoline ($3.239 per gallon), and we sprayed and brushed the RV and Saturn several times to remove the dust and mud. We were fortunate as we had no significant damage to the Saturn thanks to the Protect-A-Tow; others in the caravan were less fortunate and require new paint jobs and windshields! Upon arriving at the RV park, we toweled both the RV and Saturn with microfiber towels, removing more grime, vacuumed and washed all the compartments in the motorhome, cleaned it on the inside, and vacuumed the Saturn. Famished for lunch, we ate out one of the few times on the trip. Kay washed clothes while I read email and sent out the latest journal entry. We were so glad to be back in civilization. After getting everything clean, including ourselves, we relaxed a bit, went to another restaurant (Fast Eddie’s) for a great dinner with Richard and Virginia Raikes, our tail gunner team. The Raikes are a great, unpretentious couple from West Virginia who have RV’d extensively; this is their 4th trip to Alaska. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on the road just before arriving in Great Falls, MT. They are a Christian couple, and among many other things, add calmness and stability to the caravan; we couldn’t do without them. Upon returning to the RV park, we lined up for the pancake toss. The object is to throw a pancake into a 5-gallon bucket from about 15 feet; one gets two tries and a bucketed pancake gets you a free breakfast. Neither of us was successful! Another game played is for wives to attempt to throw a pancake in a bucket husbands hold on top of their heads. This was pretty hilarious. Our wagon master and his wife competed, but didn’t win.

Day 2 in Tok, AK (Saturday) Despite not winning the pancake toss, breakfast was included in our caravan package and featured, of course, all-you-can-eat pancakes, fruit, juice, coffee, biscuits, gravy, pork sausage, and reindeer sausage. The reindeer sausage was like smoked sausage, but somewhat spicy, and very tasty. After breakfast, we made several phone calls, and did a driving tour of Tok. We were so glad to be in Tok after the Yukon Territory and Chicken, but in reality, there’s just not much in Tok beyond several gas stations, a small grocery store, a few gift shops, and a visitor center, and we were able to stop at them all! In the afternoon, the caravan “visited” Mukluk Land, an amusement park. It is really nothing more than a junk yard. They did include skeeball, and Kay was the big winner of the whole caravan, winning a ballpoint pen. After a brief rest, caravan members went out to dinner at the same great restaurant where we ate the evening before. We rushed back to the campground to try our hand at the pancake toss (we didn’t really rush). Kay came close, and I won a free breakfast on his first toss, winning a miniature pancake as a token for breakfast. Tomorrow, we drive to Fairbanks for a 6-day stay.

Our Recommendations for Tok, AK When in Tok, eat at Fast Eddie’s. It is a great restaurant, a bit expensive, but offers huge proportions. The halibut is great. Arriving in mid-afternoon or before, a night in Tok is sufficient before heading to Fairbanks, some 200 miles down the road. Mukluk Land is not worth the time to visit, let alone any entrance charge!

Kay’s Take Donald forgot to mention that we ordered an appetizer of fried mushrooms after seeing a sample at another table. There were four of us and we could only eat half of the plate. It was a platter and it was filled and piled high with fried mushrooms. They were lightly battered and delicious! We have eaten halibut three times in the past two days and it is wonderful! I’ve decided to go halibut fishing with a gang from our group out of Valdez, I think. I hope to bring back some of my catch! Back to the pancake toss at the RV campground.

The funniest part was after the regular, open toss the leader asked for two volunteer couples. The husbands held the buckets on top of their heads (they could bend over still holding the bucket and also move their heads R or L) while the wives tried to toss a pile of pancakes into the buckets. It was a hoot! The crowd laughed and cheered, hooted and hollered! We go to bed at ‘night’ and it’s as light at 11:00 p.m. as it is at home at 7:00 p.m. I’m gonna take a picture to post of when we go to bed. It’s never really dark; it just gets dim light like dusk for a few hours. I like this park really well – very clean restrooms; reasonable rates for laundry use, and a nice area for group meetings/picnics/pancake toss and/or ice cream and pie. Speaking of pie, for desert tonight I ordered a special fruit pie that had raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, apples, and rhubarb in it. It was wonderful! Yeah, I know – miles to walk that off!!! We haven’t hiked any the past few days; maybe we’ll have some time in Fairbanks.

Campground Sourdough RV Park and Campground was the nicest in which we have stayed for a couple of weeks. It has consistent 30 amp electricity, good water, sewer, and wi-fi at the office. The pull-thru sites are among trees with plenty of space in between. The campground food is expensive, but there are alternatives such as Fast Eddie’s. They do have a small, but good, gift shop. We’d definitely stay here again.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 13,321.1
Beginning Time: 8:00 AM Alaska DST
Ending Mileage: 13,401.5
Ending Time: 12:30 PM Alaska DST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 80.4
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 4,010.0

Top of the World Highway (Thursday, July 23, 2009) We have heard war stories about traveling the Top of the World Highway. They are true! We crossed the Yukon River via ferry at Dawson City right after breaking camp at 6:15 AM, traveling on the Top of the World Highway. It began innocent enough, alternately changing from pavement to good gravel to pavement, etc., with sure enough “top of the world” views. Then, it became gravel, followed by washboard gravel. In some places we drove between 5 to10 mph. Kay handled the height, without guard rails, really well, trooper that she is. I was white knuckled every time we hit an unsuspecting wash-boarded stretch. Finally, as we neared the Canada-US border, the road changed to good pavement for several miles, and we reached the pinnacle of the highway about a mile from the border. We crossed without fanfare, with only a few questions and a passport check by the US Border Patrol. Then, the road got really bad. The US/Alaska maintenance doesn’t quite match Canada/Yukon Territory maintenance. In several places, the road was only a single lane, and one didn’t dare get off the shoulder for fear of tipping over. We finally reached Chicken, AK, at 12:30 PM, Alaska time (one hour earlier than Pacific time), traveling 110 miles in 7+ hours, where we set up for the night at Chicken Creek RV Park.
Back in the USA Even though I’m of partial French Canadian ancestry (my mother’s maiden name was Malott); we’re so glad to be back in the US where the language is English only; no French. Of course, we’re moving in the direction of Canada with the inclusion of Spanish on all of our packaging, signage, etc. Will our road signs be next?
Beautiful Downtown Chicken, AK It was a great feeling to be back in the US, despite the friendliness of Canadians. We met with the other caravaners at 2 PM and toured the old town of Chicken, established in the late 1800s, when a major gold discovery was made on Chicken Creek.
Many of the original buildings are still standing, including the schoolhouse made famous by the book, Tisha, about Anne Purdy’s life teaching there in 1927.
Rain, Again After the tour of Chicken, we napped for an hour or so, and woke up to a few rain drops on top of the motorhome. The intensity increased and we had a steady downpour for about an hour and a half. This was a welcome rain as the roads and RV parking sites were dry and dusty; an added benefit was removal of mud and dust from the Saturn. Our caravaners enjoyed a Welcome to Alaska dinner prepared by our wagon master’s wife, Jean Potteiger, featuring chicken tetrazzini, green beans, and strawberries, pound cake, and whipped topping. The meal was excellent! After dinner, we walked to the other RV park in Chicken, Goldpanner Gift Shop and RV Park, watching folks pan for gold, walking past the Pedro Dredge, and perusing the gift shop. Tomorrow, it’s back to real pavement and civilization as we travel to Tok, Alaska, for or a couple of days.
Our Recommendations for Chicken, AK Everyone should visit Chicken at least once; enough said!
I was glad to have traveled the Top of the World Highway, and would “probably” do it again, despite the wear and tear on the motorhome. Kay, on the other hand, said once was enough, and, “Never again.” It is not for the faint of heart, and one should be prepared for very rough roads and driving conditions.
Kay’s Take The Top of the World Highway was much overrated in my humble opinion. You are traveling in wilderness over the tops of a beautiful mountain range, but the condition of the roads is horrible. We may have had decent paved/dirt roads for a total of 10 miles of the 110 miles we traveled. It kind of reminded me of Push Mtn. Road back home but much higher! I think it’s a man-thing: conquer/traverse the Top of the World Highway when you go to Alaska. No sane woman would take a vehicle, much less a motorhome on such a road! I think every bone in our bodies rattled and I’m majorly surprised that every screw holding our motorhome together held up under that beating. One of the big rigs had a flat tire on the trailer that he was towing his car on behind the RV. We think he ruined the tire driving on it as a flat the last few miles before arriving at Chicken. I would never drive this road again! Brutal, would be an understatement!
Campground Chicken Creek RV Park was a gravel lot, with 20 and 30 amp electric only sites. It really didn’t matter as the voltage was too low to safely operate most RV appliances. Wi-fi was advertised, but not working! It’s only half-step above dry camping.
Driving Statistics

Beginning Mileage: 13,211.5
Beginning Time: 6:15 AM PDST
Ending Mileage: 13,321.1
Ending Time: 12:30 PM Alaska DST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 109.6
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 3,929.6

Much Ado About the Roads (Sunday, July 19, 2009) There were two caravans staying at Pioneer RV Park at the same time, both were traveling the same route today, and the other caravan was departing this morning at 7 AM. Consequently, we departed early to buy gasoline and get ahead of the crowd—it was a mistake. First, no gasoline stations were open before 7 AM, and second, most of the other RVers were in a much bigger hurry than us, and most passed us on this leg. This was a long leg, some 334 miles, and much to our surprise, several miles of washboard gravel. Of course, there were frost heaves, but they were insignificant compared to the gravel roads. This was also one of the worst Sundays in which to travel north to Dawson City as Dawson City was wrapping up their very popular music fest, and the traffic heading south were full of folks in a hurry to get back to Whitehorse. Consequently, much gravel was thrown by oncoming traffic. Two windshields in our caravan were damaged by the same oncoming pickup truck. Fortunately for us, we suffered only a tiny scratch in our windshield where that same pickup threw a piece of gravel, bouncing it off our windshield. Quite distressing was being passed ny another RVer—a Fleetwood Southwind, towing a Chevrolet, with Florida handicap license plates—traveling about 60 mph on gravel. He missed our mirrors about 12 inches and threw gravel everywhere. He’s an idiot, and hopefully, we’ll not have to deal with him again; he threatened several other RVs and their passengers by his reckless actions. The Yukon has been a bit of a disappointment for us in terms of animal sitings—we only saw one fox today on the whole way up to Dawson City. We did stop and take a picture at Five Finger Rapids on the Yukon River.

As we approached Dawson City, we were amazed by the gold dredging tailings; there were miles and miles of them as high as could be piled. We arrived in Dawson City about 4:30 PM, filled up with expensive gasoline, found our parking spot for the next 4 days, cleaned the inside of the motorhome, rinsed the dust off the Saturn, and had dinner. Kay played cards with some other caravaners, and I went to bed early after a stressful day of driving.

PS: The Frantic Follies last night in Whitehorse were a hoot. We really enjoyed the singing, dancing, story-telling, and funny jokes. We’d definitely do it again.

Dawson City, YT, Day 2 (Monday, July 20, 2009) Dawson City is a unique Klondike town, located at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers, and retains much of its character with gravel streets and many restored buildings. It has been designated a Parks Canada National Historic Site. Because of the music festival, it was still teeming with young folks, and made more crowded by two RV caravans. Our first stop was at the Dawson City Museum in the old, restored government building. It features artifacts from the post-ice age through the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. After lunch, we visited the Robert Service cabin and heard a great one-hour biographical interpretive program with sketches of Service’s life and recitations of several of his poems; another well-done Parks Canada program!

Next was a visit to Jack London’s cabin which was a bit of a disappointment after the great interpretive program regarding Robert Service. We walked several of the streets of Dawson City, admiring the old buildings, both restored and near dilapidated, returning to the RV Park for a restful evening.

Dawson City, YT, Day 3 (Tuesday, July 21, 2009) Happy birthday, Carma. This morning saw us off to the Danoja Zho Cultural Centre, providing insight into the Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation People. This was an OK trip, and we learned about the customs and culture of this First Nation people, and their integration into European Society brought on by the Klondike Gold Rush. The tour leader, Tish, was the great granddaughter of Chief Isaac, the most respected chief of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in Trof; Tish made bannock bread for sampling, the highlight of this program. After lunch we drove to the Midnight Dome, a high mountain, perfect for viewing Dawson City, the Yukon River, and the surrounding area.

Last evening, we saw people parasailing off this mountain. Bonanza Creek, where most of the gold panning was and still is occurring, was obvious by all the tailings. After descending the Dome, we drove along Bonanza Creek, seeing all the claims, old and new machinery, Dredge No. 4, and current panning operations. Neither of us panned for gold. In the evening, we visited Diamond Tooth Gertie’s saloon, dance hall, and gambling casino, primarily to see the cancan girls. As it turned out, the 30-minute program featured singing by a female playing the role of Gertie and a male counterpart, with the 4 cancan dancers dancing between songs. All were very good; the female singer had a great voice, and the cancan dancers were excellent. Diamond Tooth Gertie’s is owned by the city of Dawson, and leased by the Klondike Visitor’s Association. All proceeds are used to promote the Klondike. It is the oldest casino in the Yukon.

Dawson City, YT, Day 4 (Wednesday, July 22, 2009) Happy birthday, Dick. The men in our group cooked breakfast this morning, with a menu of scrambled eggs, monkey bread, bacon, sausage, and pancakes; I was elected to make and flip blueberry pancakes. It was a fun event, followed by a speaker from the RCMP—a lady officer! She was very informative, telling us of her career, the multitude of responsibilities assigned to the “Mounties”, and stories of their activities in the remote north.

This is our last full day in Dawson City; tomorrow we enter Alaska via the Top of the World Highway, gaining yet another hour since Alaska is on Alaska Daylight Savings Time. Consequently, there is much trepidation because of crossing the Yukon via the ferry, and horror stories about road conditions. Much of the Top of the World Highway is gravel, very high and sinuous, absent guard rails, and has soft shoulders that cause some RVs to tip over. Several of the other RVers are having panic attacks, but we’re pretty much taking things in stride. After seeing RVs disembarking from the ferry, all without towed vehicles attached, we did remove the tow bar from the motorhome to prevent it from dragging and being bent or torn up. Several of the big rigs are leaving tonight to avoid an early morning crossing (they are crossing tonight to get it over with, more than likely). I drive so slow that everyone passes us anyway, so we’ll be among the last to leave.

After readying the motorhome for the expected worst leg yet, most over gravel, we headed downtown to see a short play in the Grand Palace, followed by a film which chronicled the last paddlewheel boat’s (SS Keno) journey down the Yukon from Whitehorse to Dawson. Parks Canada has done a great job in providing interpretive programs in Dawson City, and the city as a whole can be considered a Canadian national historic site.

Our Recommendations for Dawson City, YT Dawson City is one of the neatest towns we’ve ever visited, and is definitely a town for walking. We definitely recommend visiting the Dawson City Museum, and just walking the streets of town. While we didn’t know about it, we would have purchased a 3-event Parks Canada ticket which would have allowed us to do 3 activities for the price of 2. Our 3 would have included a walking tour of the town, a visit to Dredge No. 4, a visit to the old restored Commissioner’s residence, or the short play. As it was, we did not do the walking tour, the dredge visit, or the Commissioner’s residence visit. Also, the Robert Service program was great, and well worth the time. A trip to Midnight Dome is also a must do. We’re glad we came to Dawson City, but having said that, we probably wouldn’t do it again because of the wear and tear on the motorhome and car, but who knows?

Kay’s Take This is a really interesting area and it’s admirable that the community is restoring so many buildings preserving the spirit of the Klondike gold rush and the stories of that era. These folks were definitely independent pioneers to survive winters of 40+ below and summers of high 80’s. One fun event was Tuesday night at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s. This is the only ‘gambling’ hall in the Yukon Territory. The show was excellent—the main madame had a wonderful mezzo soprano voice and the dancers were fantastic. They were better than the dancers with the Rockettes we saw in Branson at Christmas. The young man who played the ‘feller’ had a good voice also. The place was packed during the show – downstairs and upstairs in the balcony. I hit the slot machines as usual and in 30 minutes or less had won $36. We did carry two of our RV ‘neighbors’ from the caravan to the show also. They are traveling without a ‘toad’. Another funny incident: I was waiting on a certain slot machine and began talking to two ladies, one of whom was on the machine I wanted – she was losing pretty quickly. They were fun and asked where I was from after visiting for awhile. Turns out they were from Flippin, AR!! (about 30 min. from us) They were on a land excursion with Holland America after doing the inside passage via cruise ship. What a small world is really is! Go figure! Oh, yes, today is Dick Todd’s birthday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DICK!!

Campground Bonanza Gold RV Park, Dawson Creek, YT, is pretty typical of RV parks in the Yukon—gravel parking pads, with decent electric, water, sewer, cable, and wi-fi, though the wi-fi is sporadic. We opted not to use the showers or bathrooms. I would stay here again, but would first check out Downtown RV Park where everything is within walking distance.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 12,877.6

Beginning Time: 7:00 AM PDST

Ending Mileage: 13,211.5

Ending Time: 4:30 PM PDST

TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 333.9

CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 3,820.0

Well On Our Way (Wednesday, July 15, 2009) After a couple of good days in Watson Lake, we departed early Wednesday morning, 7:00 AM, driving towards Whitehorse, YT. Animal sightings were far and few between, with only a black bear being seen. With about an hour left to go before our arrival in Whitehorse, it began raining once again, but quit just before our pulling in to Pioneer RV Park. With decent wi-fi, we immediately read and sent email messages, and I sent updates to the journal. We also had decent cable TV, so caught up on U.S. and world news.

Whitehorse, YT, Day 2 (Thursday, July 16, 2009) A good night’s sleep was had by all, at least us, despite near daylight 24 hours a day. The caravan had a planned activity this morning–a bus tour of the Whitehorse area. We saw Miles Canyon, took a tour of the Klondike II, and drove all of the downtown area. The Klondike II is a retired paddle wheel boat that plied the Yukon River in the 1930s, 1940s, and part of the 1950s. It’s about the length of a football field, and was very interesting.

We also enjoyed the driving tours of Miles Canyon and downtown Whitehorse. Upon returning to the RV park, we had a lunch of leftovers, and headed back into town to take care of some business regarding my late dad’s estate. Despite what we thought was going to be an impossible task, a graphics company printed our MSWord file, the Coldwell-Banker real estate office staff notarized the document, and Kay was able to post it, via airmail, back to the US; we were only charged for the posting!

We were then off to do some walking/hiking on the many trails along the Yukon River, but first finding an interesting open market in one of the many parking lots (their open market was similar to our farmers’ market). The 7+ mile trek along the river just about did us in, with recovery coming only after a mediocre meal at Boston Pizza and an 8-minute hot shower (you have to pay $1.50 for the second and subsequent 8 minutes). Reading and journal writing filled out the rest of the evening.

P.S. It’s almost 10 PM and the sun is shining very brightly! We have to darken the motorhome to assist our sleep systems.

Whitehorse, YT, Day 3 (Friday, July 17, 2009) Our morning started with a boat trip up Schwatka Lake through Miles Canyon. Schwatka Lake was formed when the Yukon River wad dammed at Whitehorse in 1958, for hydropower. The portion of the trip through the very narrow part of the canyon was fascinating because of the rapids, but otherwise, it was just a boat trip on a lake! On our return to the RV park, we stopped by the Beringia Centre, a museum representing part of Russia, Alaska, and Yukon Territory that was not covered with ice in the last Ice Age. Several replicas of mammoth and other large animal skeletons were displayed. Their feature display was a Yukon Horse, actually a preserved Yukon horse skin, leg, etc. that had been recently discovered by a gold miner. This horse supposedly lived some 28,000 years ago. The museum was good, and at least served to educate about the Beringia, but not something we’d readily do again. And, to preserve her youthful appearance, Kay got a color and cut at a local beauty shop, wrapping up the day.

Whitehorse, YT, Day 4 (Saturday, July 18, 2009) Are we ever glad that daylight doesn’t keep us from sleeping. It’s quite interesting to see the sun still in the sky at 11 PM, yet looking outside, no one is moving about. Today is catch-up day for us, seeing all the things we wanted to see, but have somehow missed. We began with a hike guided by staff from the Yukon Conservation Society, taking us from the suspension bridge over the narrow gorge at Schwatka Lake to Canyon City and return.

While waiting in the campground, we saw two foxes, the animal kind, running around the parking lot; neither appeared to be afraid of humans. The hike along the lake was quite interesting as one of our guides was of First Nation origin and told us of uses of many of the plants along the trail. One of the interesting things we learned on the hike is that “ladies” of the evening were referred to as Good Time Girls. Hmmm. After this 5.3 km (about 3.2 miles) hike, we drove to the downtown area of Whitehorse for a guided walking tour. It was a rehash of our bus tour on Thursday, but more detailed. Then it was off to the Transportation Museum of the Yukon. We particularly liked the old trucks and planes from the World War II era. The world’s largest wind vane is on the grounds of the museum, an old DC-3; it is balanced so well that a 2 mph wind will move it. We drove back to the motorhome for some rest, and then we’re off to the Fancy Follies late tonight. Tomorrow, we have a long travel day, some 330 miles, to Dawson City, Yukon Territory.

Our Recommendations for Whitehorse, YT We did a lot of things in Whitehorse, and most were worthwhile. Here’s how we rate them, best to worst. The Klondike II is definitely worth seeing, as was the long Centennial walk/hike. We also enjoyed the hike sponsored by the Yukon Conservation Society. The Yukon Transportation Museum was worthwhile, we feel sure the Fancy Follies will be good, and the downtown guided walking tour was also good. The Beringia Museum was OK, but we wouldn’t do it again. Also, the bus tour was OK, but it’s our opinion the driver/guide seemed to have a chip on his shoulder, and lacked credibility, and we wouldn’t do it again, though we did learn where to go on our own. Also, we wouldn’t do the cruise on Schwatka Lake again.

Kay’s Take I took a chance on a strange beauty shop and hairstylist because I was afraid that I would take the scissors to my own hair! Also the gray was coming back strong. That’s what happens when you have healthy hair and it grows so fast. Back to Whitehorse history. One of the fascinating things we learned was that they decided to restore the paddleboat Klondike and use her as a ‘boat museum’. But, she wasn’t seaworthy any more and a bridge had been built over the river too. How did they move her approx. 3 miles from her current spot to the other side of the bridge at the town park on the river? They moved her down the main street of town using soap (Palmolive, I think) and grease, with skids under her and 4 bulldozers pulling her. It took them 3 days! They had the pictures to prove it. Unbelievable!! They hired some engineers to help them figure a way and the engineers told them it was impossible. What did they know? Hehehehe! The Klondike was almost as long as a football field and going down the street she filled up the entire area to the sidewalks. We’ve had a really good time here and enjoyed most of the activities. My feet are ‘sore’ this afternoon so I’m loafing around before the follies.

Campground Pioneer RV Park, Whitehorse, YT, is not great, but good. It’s slightly better than the average in which we’ve stayed since entering Canada. Our sites have electric, water, sewer, cable, and wi-fi, though the wi-fi is sporadic. It’s a gravel lot, which is OK, but has some pools of water and mud left over from Wednesday’s rain, including where we unhooked our Saturn—thank goodness for Crocs. The shower rooms are adequate, but tend to pool water an inch or more deep because the drains are insufficient.

Driving Statistics

Beginning Mileage: 12,612.4

Beginning Time: 7:00 AM PDST

Ending Mileage: 12,877.6

Ending Time: 3:30 PM PDST

TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 265.2

CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 3,751.3

A New Day Yesterday was a tough day, but we always wake up with an optimistic view of the world. Because we have a short travel day today, Monday, we opted to have a big breakfast, and depart a little later in the AM. Finally, we experienced a night with no rain, which made breaking camp much easier. We departed the campground at 9 AM, and stopped for two black bears, a grizzly bear, a fox, Cranberry Rapids Overlook, and near Contact Creek Lodge for gasoline. The roads were much better than yesterday, but we still drove about 45 mph, arriving in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, at 1:30 PM. Over the next couple of days, we will cross between British Columbia and Yukon Territory 5 times. Watson Lake is a nice, but small town. After setting up the motorhome, cleaning it on the inside, and washing the Saturn, we walked to the Sign Forest and Visitor’s Centre. While we had heard and read about the Sign Forest, it boggled our minds with over 66,000 signs. We saw several from Arkansas, but missed Jerry and Ann’s. Our sign goes up tomorrow. The Visitor Centre was informative, with a good slide presentation, good displays, and very useful travel information. We opted to eat out tonight, but finding a decent place to eat in Watson Lake proved challenging. The “hotel” where we ate had a limited selection, but the food was good. Tomorrow, we see the Northern Lights Centre, and have a special speaker.
Watson Lake, Day 2 (Tuesday) Sunlight at 5:30 AM! It’s hard to sleep when the sun is shining so brightly, but we’re not complaining after so much rain. The laundry facilities at this particular campground are much less expensive than just about anywhere we’ve been in the last couple of weeks, so today was laundry day, and as a bonus, good wi-fi is available while sitting in the laundry room. While Kay was doing laundry, I downloaded the bank statement, paid bills, repaired the door on the motorhome, and balanced the checkbook. We’ve just about converted everything to internet banking, so as long as we have access to the internet, we’re OK. After a busy morning, we hiked the 3 km (about 1.8 miles) around Wye Lake, a small lake in Watson Lake. Despite using OFF, the mosquitoes ate us up! We also drove to the historic Watson Lake – Yukon Airport, a key facility during World War II and the building of the Alaskan Highway. While Watson Lake has shopping and other necessities, we’ve begun to realize that we’re in the Yukon Territory.
Kay made crock pot soup overnight, and it made for a good lunch. We met the group at the Northern Lights Centre for two videos in a large dome-shaped theater, one on astronauts, and the other on the northern lights, i.e. aurora borealis. The group adjourned to the Sign Forest where our caravan sign was hung, with our names on it, right about “…the Yukon…” in the center of the sign! The ladies of the caravan decided we should have a cookout this afternoon for dinner, and I volunteered to flip burgers. Side dishes were brought and we had a great time, followed by our travel meeting, and then a guest speaker who had grown up here, operated her own business, and ran the Visitor Centre. She gave us a wonderful, detailed view of life and culture in Watson Lake. High lights of her talk included a discussion of curling, winter weather, and tanning a moose hide. We returned to our coach at 9:30 PM, ready to travel to White Horse tomorrow.
Caravan Adventures The caravan adventure went much smoother this leg, and our campground is excellent. We were able to get in our sites upon arrival, though we did stop for a half hour outside of town waiting for the wagon master to OK proceeding into town.
Our Recommendations for Watson Lake, YT The Visitor’s Centre, Signpost Forest, hike around Wye Lake 1, and Northern Lights Centre were all worthwhile.
Kay’s Take I gave this campground my highest rating! The ladies’ bathroom is immaculate; showers are very nice and wide with seating available! They even supply a hairdryer. Best ones yet. I filled out a Good Sam Evaluation on them and mailed it with some postcards I sent to the kids at the Canadian Post Office near us. We’re having a hamburger grill/potluck tonight at the campground along with a speaker from the area. We’re heading to Whitehorse tomorrow and will stay there a few days. Then we will head north to Dawson City, the famous gold rush city in the Yukon. We’ll be there a few days; drive to Chicken, Alaska and we’ll be in Alaska for almost a month. The scenery is beautiful every mile! Wish you all were here with us!
Campground Downtown RV Park, Watson Lake, YT. We had all services in a pull-thru site including electric, water, sewer, wi-fi, and cable, plus an RV wash. The laundry was clean and among the least expensive yet. The restrooms were immaculate and second best of our entire trip, only exceeded by 7th Ranch in Garryowen, MT. We definitely would stay here again.
Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 12,483.9
Beginning Time: 7:00 AM PDST
Ending Mileage: 12,612.4
Ending Time: 1:30 PM PDST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 128.5
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 3,220.9

Road Work After yet another rain last night, we departed Fort Nelson about 7:45 AM on Sunday, July 12, 2009, heading west across the upper Canadian Rockies. We stopped at Tetsa for large cinnamon rolls about mid-morning, and continued slowly as road work allowed. Several times we were delayed for quite a few minutes, the longest being some 20+ minutes, and traveled over gravel for several miles. One’s view of road conditions is relative to at least two factors—what they’re used to, and how fast they drive. We have driven some pretty poor roads in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Montana, and I’m a slow, conservative driver, so for us, the roads are not too bad. Of course, they’re not a piece of cake, either! Some of the big rigs drive like there’s no tomorrow. Maybe they don’t care if they ‘tear’ up their rigs. Also, when they drive like a bat outta you know where, they miss all the animals and sites off the road. Why did they come?

Lots of Animals We had rain much of the drive today, but despite the weather, we saw lots of animals including two moose, several caribou, several stone sheep, lots of bison, and several black bears.

The drive along Muncho Lake was wonderful, with beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife. If traveling alone, we would have spent a couple of days here. Regrettably, we had camera problems today so there are few animal pictures, despite some great opportunities. Strawberry Flats was a very neat provincial park on Muncho Lake where we would have loved to stay. There are sites right on the lake!

Caravan Adventures The verdict is still out on this caravan. It was very well organized, but thus far, has been poorly executed. Several of the big rigs (40 foot +) have had problems delaying their arrival in camp, and they tend to get the larger pull-thru sites with better power supplies (30 amp or 50 amp electricity versus 15 to 20 amp for the rest of us) as they need lots of power to run all the niceties in their motor homes . That means the rest of us get what’s left over, or at least that’s my impression. Actually, they have to have the larger pull-thrus because of their length, but as an added bonus, they tend to get the better power supply as well. And today, we, along with over half the caravan, waited an hour and a half for the “wagon master” to arrive to assign camp sites. Unfortunately, the campground had changed owners, the previous owners had not left our reservation, and everything was topsy turvy. Finally, a couple of the ladies took things in their own hands and assigned the sites themselves. Of course, we ended up with one in which the power supply didn’t work at all. The RV park maintenance man did some work on the breaker box, and we finally ended up with variable 15 amp power. Consequently, I did not attend tonight’s meeting as the meetings seem to serve no purpose—a carryover from days as a bureaucrat attending many purposeless meetings! We did walk over to Liard Hot Springs for a wonderful soak in hot sulphur-laden water, and a brief respite from the mosquitoes. The electricity went out again, right in the middle of baking pizzas. I started the motorhome generator and finished baking while Kay sought repairs at the office. While we were eating, a First Nation woman who apparently owns the campground brought the relative young maintenance man down to fix the breaker—he was so drunk he could not walk by himself, and she had to physically support him—but he did fix the breaker! Amazing! Alcoholism is a huge problem among First Nation people (that’s Canadian for Indians). There was also a ‘local’ buffalo that seemed to adopt this RV camp area and the locals called him ‘John’. (that’s Kay’s son-in-law’s name too). John was a HUGE buffalo and he was very close to our RVs just munching the grasses and minding his business. Kay didn’t stay outside very long!

Our Recommendations for Liard Hot Springs, BC First, Muncho Lake is incredibly beautiful, and has lots of animals. We’d like to have spent more time there, and were advised to do so by our friends and Alaska travel mentors, Jerry and Ann. Also, if in the area, definitely visit Liard Hot Springs and take in a soak. The price is $5 per person for a day pass, and it does make one feel better.

Campground Liard Hot Springs Lodge and RV Park, Liard Hot Springs, BC Electric (variable, supplied by generator) and water. The pull-thru spaces allowed us to stay hooked-up to our Saturn, about the only plus to this campground. We would opt to stay in one of the provincial parks if in the area again, even if it meant dry camping, or drive in to Watson Lake, YT.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 12,295.7
Beginning Time: 7:00 AM PDST
Ending Mileage: 12,483.9
Ending Time: 1:30 PM PDST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 188.2

CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 3,092.4

On the Alaska Highway, At Last At last, we are on the Alaska Highway, headed north to Alaska. We departed Saturday morning about 7 AM, and stopped for fuel about 20 miles into the day to top off our tanks. This particular section of the highway is similar to good two-lane highways at home, except with wider shoulders. There were some rough spots, but again, not to dissimilar from home. We drove by the visitor center at Fort St. John, but it was not open, so we continued driving, stopping up the road for HUGE cinnamon rolls—and they were good! It was an uneventful travel day, for the most part, but we did see two solo black bears and a sow with two cubs. We were so close to the sow and two cubs that Kay was ready to roll her window up to avoid personal contact! This part of British Columbia is marked by oil, gas, and timber resources, and there are oil and gas businesses everywhere. Just before arriving in Fort Nelson, we crossed the Muskwa River, lowest point on the Alaska Highway at an elevation of 1000 feet. Arriving in a warm, sunny Fort Nelson, we again filled-up with gasoline, drove to the West End Campground, and then toured the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum. As an aside, we’re now on Pacific Daylight Savings Time.

Our Recommendations for Fort Nelson, BC The Fort Nelson Heritage Museum was definitely worth seeing; otherwise, Fort Nelson doesn’t offer much for the tourist.

Kay’s Take For the most part I included my take in the other journal entry for this leg. One aside, the mosquitoes here are definitely competitors with the ‘East AR mosquito population’. Danger to be outside without Off Defense! We did find another rig from AR as we were walking the campground. Of course, I stopped and talked to them. They were from the Russellville area.

Campground West End Camp Ground, Fort Nelson, BC. Electric, water, sewer, cable, and wi-fi. Tight, austere parking, but adequate. There were better sites, but our caravan was parked in back-to-back spaces, forcing most of us to unhook our tow vehicles. Wi-fi wasn’t good. We would stay here again, IF facilities were not available at Muncho Lake, a bit farther north.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 12,014.4
Beginning Time: 7:00 AM PDST
Ending Mileage: 12,295.7
Ending Time: 1:30 PM PDST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 281.3
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 2,902.

Rain, You Gotta Love It Because of the constant downpour, I never left the motorhome from the time we filled with gasoline in Jasper on Tuesday, cloudy but no rain, until stopping for a rest break this morning, Wednesday, some 24 hours later, and Kay only exited once to make sure we didn’t hit anything pulling out of the tight camping space—one of the advantages of a self-contained motorhome. It continued raining until just before we pulled into Northern Lights RV Park in Dawson Creek, BC. The drive today had the most ascents and descents yet, with some long 8% grades, and among the most severe we’ll experience the entire trip. Consequently, our speed was about 50 mph, and the resulting mileage pretty good at about 10 mpg. I spotted a black bear on the north side of the highway just after passing through Grand Cache, one of our few animal sitings for the day. On the drive, a front-end loader was in front of us for a short distance, and we were wondering what he was doing on the highway. We passed him and in the next mile we knew. There was a pretty big slide off the mountain because they had had such a huge amount of rain—over a foot of mud, rock, and debris on the road. They had an emergency crew on the road and we drove over the mess. The water was still raging down the mountain after we passed.

We stopped in Grand Prairie, a city of about 50,000, to top off the gasoline tank, and find Costco. The Costco adventure included driving through town, not finding Costco, finding a place to turn around, and driving back out of town towards Alaska. As luck would have it, on the highway towards Alaska, we spotted the Costco but did not stop, filled the gasoline tank, and returned going south to shop at Costco, only to find they didn’t have any of the items we wanted, then headed back north. After leaving Grand Prairie, we saw several elk ranches, and either a caribou or reindeer ran across the road in front of us, as we entered into British Columbia. The rest of the drive into Dawson Creek was uneventful, except that the rain stopped just before we arrived! Several of the other caravaners had washed or were washing their motor homes, but we opted not to—it’s just going to get dirty again! Our site was relatively level, we hooked up electric, water, and sewer, and Kay washed clothes while I cleaned the inside of the motorhome after several days of rain and cold. The RV Park had great wi-fi, so we read emails, caught up on the news, and posted the last 3 legs of the pre-rally trip. We had our introductory “Explore the Yukon and Alaska, 2009, Caravan” meeting in the evening, which included a pretty decent dinner. Five new folks attended that had not been on the pre-rally trip. As a side note, one of the couples, in fact the one we followed the first day or so, broke down near Grand Cache with a water-logged filter, and their diesel pusher was pouring smoke with little power. They limped in to an Esso plant, called a mechanic who was supposed to show up at 4:30 PM, with the intentions of ordering and having over-nighted a new filter since one could not be obtained locally, including Edmonton. When it arrives and is installed, they will catch up to us in Dawson City tomorrow afternoon. The “tail gunner” motorhome stayed with them.

Day 2 in Dawson Creek, BC (Thursday) It rained again last night, hard, and temperatures cooled considerably—highs today were only in the 60s. Our day started with yet another meeting, this time to hear a spiel from a representative of the Dawson Creek tourism group. She did a great job introducing the area, and especially the Alaska Highway. We heard from the stranded couple; the mechanic never showed up! They were too late in ordering the new filter, so will order it this AM, hoping to arrive tomorrow. After the meeting, we had an early lunch of leftovers, and took off to see the sights in Dawson City.

There are at least three Mile “0” mileposts, and we had photos taken at all of them. Of course, the original was run over and destroyed by a drunk driver. The 1,500 mile Alaska Highway was constructed under the auspices of the US Army Corps of Engineers in only 8 months through wilderness, muskeg, tundra, with many river crossings, and in temperatures ranging from -70 to 90F during 1942. I was and remain quite proud of a wonderful 31+ years with the Corps, and commented that they could still do work like this if all their encumbrances were removed. We visited the Alaska House, viewing quite well-done displays regarding building the Alaska Highway, and saw a great PBS video chronicling the construction. With lots of daylight left, we drove the first few miles of the Highway to an old original section of the Alaska Highway, crossing the historic curved (9%) wooden Kiskatinaw River Bridge (531-feet long, about 100 feet above the water surface, and a carrying capacity of 20 tons); this bridge is the only original timber bridge built along the Alaska Highway that is still in use today. It is a civil engineering landmark, recognized by both ASCE and their Canadian counterpart. Kay commented that she didn’t realize that the ALCAN highway was built during those first few months/first year of WW II when we were getting our seats kicked by the Japanese. They had even invaded the Aleutians where her Dad served. So the push to build the highway was for national security but also a way to boost morale for the war effort—we were winning in the wilderness against all odds. Quite a story! Also 3 black battalions distinguished themselves on this gruesome front. It’s a very impressive story. We wandered around downtown after visiting the Alaska House and found many murals depicting former days in B.C. and in Dawson Creek. They were huge, fitting entire building walls, and were wonderfully done. Kay thinks the Arts Council sponsored them. We really enjoyed them and will be including several pictures/videos in our log.  Richard and Virginia (our tail gunner), and Ron and Hazel (the stranded folks) finally limped in late this afternoon. This could make a great story in and of itself. Suffice it to say, a trucker stopped by on each of two different runs with offers to help, and the last time made a stopgap filter using a T-shirt and duct tape, allowing them to limp in to Dawson Creek; “duck tape” the greatest invention known to man!

Day 3 in Dawson Creek, BC (Friday) There was no rain last night, but it is in the forecast. We saw everything in the Dawson Creek area we wanted to see yesterday, so today was a “catch-up” day for us. Kay washed clothes and made a huge pot of chicken spaghetti. The Riffels got the parts to repair their motorhome, repaired it themselves, and are now ready to head north to Alaska. We had a group picture made at the Visitor Centre Milepost “0”; we’ll get a digital copy from someone. After a brief stop at Walmart, we returned to the campsite, had lunch, and readied the motorhome and car for tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) trip to Fort St. John. We will have another meeting tonight at 9 PM to discuss our travel day tomorrow. Oh no, it’s started raining, thundering, and lightening, and the forecast calls for rain the next several days.

Our Recommendations for Dawson Creek, BC We may not have done everything there was to do in Dawson Creek, but we pretty much covered the town. First and foremost among our recommendations is the Alaska House, and while there, the PBS video on building the Alaska Highway. We also recommend a walking tour of the City Centre. This area is the location of one of the historic mileposts, and contains many historic buildings, including the Alaska House. Most of the alleys have recently painted murals on the building walls which are really neat, and there are interpretive signs at various locations in the area explaining the historic sites. Also worth a stop is the Visitor’s Centre, for photographs of the other historic Mile “0” marker. While staying in Dawson Creek, it’s definitely worth a 17.3-mile drive up the “new” Alaska Highway to see the wooden Kiskatinaw River Bridge on a section of the “old” Alaska Highway.

Campground Northern Lights RV Park, Dawson Creek, BC. Electric, water, sewer, cable, and wi-fi. Tight parking, but adequate. We would stay here again.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 11,786.1
Beginning Time: 6:30 AM MDST
Ending Mileage: 12,014.4
Ending Time: 12:00 Noon MDST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 228.3
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 2,622.9

On Our Way North It rained most of the night, with a wind blowing directly at us off the glacier. We awoke Tuesday morning to 40 degrees, and a cold motorhome. After coffee, and nothing else planned at the Icefield Centre, we quickly made the bed (yes, we make it every day), withdrew the slides, pulled off the leveling blocks, and headed towards Jasper, AB. We saw three deer along this stretch of road. Clouds hung on the mountains, creating beautiful scenes, particularly reflecting off the many lakes along the highway.
Athabasca Falls, at about 100 feet high, was roaring, and the “pot hole” formed by the falls over time was ground smooth. We saw a cow elk just before our next stop, the town of Jasper.
Jasper is a small, RV-friendly town with lots of parking along the highway. It could have been the early hour, and perhaps these were workers for the shops and cafes, but all we saw were twenty year olds; very few people older than 30. After lattes and pastry, we filled up with gas ($1.022/liter) and headed towards our campground for the night, Pierre Grey Lakes Provincial Park (PP). It began raining shortly after leaving Jasper, and we opted to stop at Safeway at Hinton, AB, for some groceries, including makings for chili. On the way, we spotted a coyote jump up under a tree for a bird and begin eating it, and a big horn ram just running alongside the road. The road from the turn-off near Hinton to Pierre Grey Lakes PP was a somewhat remote, two-lane highway; parts had been recently paved while the remainder was pretty rough—preparing us for the Alaska Highway. Just after getting on this road, we made the longest and steepest ascent yet. Despite this road being a wildlife corridor, with elk and caribou both inhabiting the area, all we saw was a single whitetail deer. We missed the turn into our campground loop, but were able to drive to the end of the campground road and make a turnaround. Fortunately, our site was a rugged pull-thru, because it continued raining thru the afternoon and evening. We never exited the motorhome.
Kay’s Take I made homemade chili when we got to our campsite, though there was no Rotel to be found in Safeway in Alberta, Canada—what’s the world coming to! Donald uploaded photos taken during the day. I also bought a roasted chicken and deboned it so I could prepare Carolyn King’s Chicken Spaghetti in a day or two – probably at Dawson Creek as we will be there three days. The rain on our motorhome is quite similar to rain on a tent. It is very comforting and soothing. Imagine, we’ve been without TV, phones ringing, etc. for almost 10 days. What do we do in the evenings? Donald works on his computer; I read; we walk when it’s not bad weather. Tonight, I gave myself a pedicure and painted my toenails and performed some other feminine care necessities not to be mentioned. Ha! Well, tomorrow we all gather at the ‘real’ starting point of the Alaskan Highway, Dawson Creek, British Columbia. That’s Mile “0”! We will have traveled approx. 3,000 miles just to get to that point. Incredible, huh? And besides, we’ll stop at a Costco in Grand Prairie, Alberta, for food items, and in honor of our friends, the Simanks! It was fun being in Jasper today. That was my favorite place we stayed on our honeymoon. It’s just a great little town with lots of shops, quaint, western, more like the real Canada with a gorgeous river running beside it. We saw the little chalets (cabins) we stayed in when we were here. Good memories!
Campground Pierre Lakes Provincial Park, AB. This was a fairly rugged campground, with pull-thru sites, no hook-ups, and free firewood (too bad it was raining).
Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 11,615.7
Beginning Time: 6:50 AM MDST
Ending Mileage: 11,786.1
Ending Time: 2:00 PM MDST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 170.4
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 2,394.6

One of Our Most Scenic Drives The Icefields Parkway has special meaning to us as we spent our honeymoon here in 2000. The scenery is breathtaking the entire route. Much has changed though; seems like lots more people and traffic, and the consequential effects. We departed Lake Louise Campground at 7:30 AM for an early start, hoping to increase our odds of seeing animals along the Parkway route. We’re not sure it worked, as we saw one male deer, in velvet, and a black bear, our first for the trip; regrettably, we were unable to take photos of either. We arrived at the Icefield Centre, parked and somewhat leveled our rig, and headed for the building housing the interpretive center, ticket sales, and shop. Despite rain, we took the bus, then the special “Ice Explorer” to Athabasca Glacier; amazing!

Though still early afternoon, we “retired” to the motorhome for the day, catching up on journal writing, downloading photos and videos, and copying files to the external hard drive.

Kay’s Take Thank goodness Donald knows how to ‘dry camp’. There’s a large parking lot with about 25 RVs spending the night here at the Columbia Icefield Center. No electricity, just battery power (inverter) and/or the generator. I had cooked some meat last night to use in a casserole after we grilled some burgers. Ray Minardi had given me a recipe. It is kind of like a jambalaya but it also has cabbage in it. I mixed it all up and cooked it this evening after ‘my nap’. A hot supper is just the ticket for a cold, rainy day. Donald thinks we may get close to freezing weather up here tonight. Donald went to the RV group evening meeting to go over the next day’s travel to Grande Cache, Alberta. That will be our last night in Alberta. The next day we travel to Dawson Creek, BC, the official start of the ALCAN Highway. The further north we go, the longer we have daylight. I am staying up much later than my usual 9:00 p.m. these days! Hehehehe! Oh, yes, out of 18 motorhomes, only about 5 of us are dog-free. All the rest of these folks have/are traveling with their dogs – big ones and small ones. One RV has two dogs!

Campground Columbia Icefield Centre (RV Parking Lot) This was dry camping on a sloping parking lot, and the cost was $10.80 Canadian. We were comfortable and able to test our equipment (batteries, propane appliances, etc.)

Driving Statistics

Beginning Mileage: 11,527.7
Beginning Time: 7:30 AM MDST
Ending Mileage: 11,615.7
Ending Time: 10:30 AM MDST
TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 88.0
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 2,136.2