Apr 28, 2013 - Hunkered down -Day 5

Don't get used to these entries, y'all. Once we get out Watson Lake, YT and especially after we start work...the entries will not be so frequent. Yes, you read that correctly! We're STILL in Watson Lake, and we have lots of time on our hands...thus a blog. While we're trying to keep our spirits high, it's getting to be more of a challenge everyday we're still here. We force ourselves to go out for a walk, look at the snowpacked Alcan hiway, talk to folks/truckers at the fuel stations who are travelling and discuss road conditions. Not good...

Apr 27, 2013 - The Forest thru the trees

In 1942, the US Army was building the Alaska Hiway from Dawson Creek, BC to the Alaska boarder. Soldier and engineer, Carl Lindley, was a bit homesick...so he suck up a mileage sign w/ the distance to his hometown (Danville, Illinois). Then someone else posted a mileage marker - and here we are today w/ over 72,000 signs, license plates, and notices. The forest was full of snow as you might notice in the pix, but we enjoyed the perimeter trying to take in all we could of this landmark. Today the temps rose above freezing and many rigs from...

Apr 26, 2013 - Still snowed in

The Alcan Hiway is frozen. There is an inch of ice under the 5" of snow which fell last night. This combination ='s: we're not moving anywhere by road today! Fortunately, everything this small town has to offer is w/in walking distance. Walked to breakfast this morning, and will walk to the library this afternoon. Folks are very friendly, especially our Scottish campgd host, Archie. We were really enjoying his company this morning as we paid for another day in his campgd...but then he told us there is another 8" of snow coming. Well, don't...

Apr 26, 2013 - AlCan Highway mile 612

Watson Lake, Yukon is a town of one-ies and two-ies. There's an RV cmpg, a good size groc store, a bank, PO, library, a 'department store,' then 2 restaurants, 2 motels, 2 gas stations and 2 tow truck drivers that work when they want to work. The dept. store is housed in a log building from who knows when, and it also has one or two of everything. We had to go buy an ice scraper today as we have no idea where ours is at the moment. So after a hearty breakfast at Kathy's, we snapped a photo of the AlCan, sans traffic. Almost all drivers have...

Apr 26, 2013 - Harrowing day from Rancheria to Otter Falls, YT

Date: April 26, 2013 Tonight’s Location: Haines Junction, YT (Otter Falls) Mileage: End - 17327 Start - 17043 Total Miles for the day: 360 Weather: heavy snow gave way to hazy sunshine and flurries Temperature: start 25º High 28º Wildlife count: Year List: 193 Birds: Gray Jay, Junco, Snow Bunting, Rough-legged Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Mountain Blue-bird, Tundra Swan, Northern Harrier Now there are 3 couples of us at Rancheria, one couple from corporate America, and the other couple are Nomads and active United Methodists. We all...

Apr 25, 2013 - Snow Day

Date: April 25, 2013 Tonight’s Location: Rancheria, YT Mileage: End - 17042 Start - 16967 Total Miles for the day: 75 Weather: heavy snow Temperature: start 33º High 32º Wildlife count: none – too much snow Year List: 192 Birds: Gray Jay We slept in at Watson Lake, with the idea of allowing the small snowfall that we walked home in last night to melt a little. However, while we were having breakfast, the snow began again, but just flurries. All of the weather forecast models indicated there would be flurries with less than a cm of snow....

Apr 24, 2013 - Journey over the Canadian Rockies

Date: April 24, 2013 Tonight’s Location: Watson Lake, YT Mileage: End - 16967 Start - 16642 Total Miles for the day: 325 Weather: partly cloudy with sun breaks till noon, then drizzle Temperature: start 34º High 41º Wildlife count: Pine Squirrel, Woods Buffalo, Caribou, White-tailed Deer Year List: 192, Life list: 341 Birds: Raven, Canada Geese, Bald Eagles (4), Golden Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Gray Jay (lifer) We were up really early this morning, as the rain/snow was not supposed to begin till after noon. Soooooooo, after a beautiful...

Oct 20, 2012 - Planning to Plan

The reality of finishing this term is fast approaching now that it is mid-Oct. and the next few weeks are going to fly by. With Christmas done and not returning to YC for 6 months, the prospect of going first to AU and then some spring-summer Rv'ing is really appealing. AU looks right now to be some time in Tasmania and then over to Perth and the west coast ... going as far north as the monsoon season will allow. For now, maps, options for accommodations and transportation and some general scouting to see what has to be on the todo list.

Sep 24, 2012 - Back in Whitehorse!

We traveled from Skagway back to the Alaska Highway on the South Klondike highway - another stretch of road with the most amazing scenery. We crossed back into the Yukon and it was time to get the truck serviced so we came back through Whitehorse where there is a GM dealer to do the job. One night and half a day and we were off again headed down the Cassiar highway through Northern British Columbia.

Sep 19, 2012 - Beaver Creek, Yukon Canada

To get to Haines we have to go back into Canada. First the Yukon, and also British Columbia. We traveled through Canada's Kluane National Park and Wildlife Preserve before getting back into Alaska. Although we won't discriminate about the scenery - it is wonderful, the roads are not. Canada's roads seem to have more frost heaves than Alaska's. All through Alaska the bananas have been riding and swinging freely in their mesh bag and surviving quite well. Today, we're back in Canada and, well, LIQUID BANANAS all over again! Worse, upon...

Sep 8, 2012 - Day 71

Drove from Haines Junction to Baby Nugget RV Park near Watson Lake with a stop at Wal-Mart in Whitehorse, YT. It rained overnight and was cloudy when we departed the campground. We saw the third Quonset Hut Church in Haines Junction, Our Lady of the Way. Our stop in Whitehorse was at Wal-Mart for groceries and fuel. We then passed through Jake's Corner, Johnson's Crossing, Teslin before reaching Baby Nugget RV Campground,about 3 hours down the road, near Watson Lake. After passing Jake's Corner, we saw a red fox that was crossing the road,...

Sep 7, 2012 - Day 70

We started our southerly journey back down the Alaska Highway to Haines Junction, YT. After refueling with both diesel and propane, we stopped at Fast Eddy’s for breakfast before getting on the road. As we left Tok, the weather was great. As we approached the Canadian border, we passed the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge. Our first town on the Canadian side was Beaver Creek. Beaver Creek is home to Buckshot Betty's Restuarant among some other buildings. One of the other buildings is Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, a church that was made out of an...