The American West

Date: 7/15/13                                    Time Zone: CDT

Location: Paducah KY

Travel Leg of journey: 38                        Day of journey: 73

Miles traveled today:  485                        Miles traveled since departure: 11,136

Percentage of travel completed: 101%

U.S. states visited today: KS, MO, IL, KY

Critters observed today: 1 fox [four legged]

Nancy & I have always loved to travel. And traveling by car or our motor home has been a frequent mode of ours. We have ventured to the most distant parts of all four corners of the US, and virtually everywhere in between. And on this trip we went to the very end of the westernmost numbered road in the US, a road in Homer Alaska that is very nearly on the same latitude as the Hawaii Islands! 

Homer AK nearly due north of Hawaii

After all this travel in our great country, I have reflected on it, and have an opinion [imagine that] that I would like to share: there is not much of our land east of the Mississippi River that is worthy of visiting more than once. Out West is where it’s at! For there, you have towering mountains, many that are snow covered year-round. There are raging rivers, high plains, the Grand Canyon, deserts, vast forests, mysterious rock formations and even rumbling volcanoes. And then Out West there is the western flavor to good old Americana: cowboys and, yes, Indians, what is left of Route 66, gold mines, ghost towns and old Spanish architecture. Just consider our last jaunt through The West. We crossed the border into Washington and passed over the bridge at the majestic Grand Coulee Dam. The road opened into a vast expanse of farmland, wheat fields as far as the eye could see, more wheat fields than Iowa cornfields. But this may not be fair to Iowa, for out here there are rolling hills. And once at the crest of a hill, someone has moved the horizon back, and you can actually see a much greater distance. The wheat fields of Washington soon became the fields of future McDonald’s French fries, as the vastness was now filled with endless potato plants in Idaho. We spent the night in Coure D’Alene ID and started east on

I-90. This mountainous road leading toward Missoula MT may be the loveliest stretch of highway that we have traveled in the US. [This is interesting, since the previous highway to be so characterized by us is also in Idaho, US 93 from Butte to Sun Valley]. Montana brought us more open space views, big sky, with fields of cattle, not crops. Farther on we entered Utah with its Great Salt Lake off to the west, and traveling eastward from Salt Lake City we passed through the mining region and into high desert, then open dry deserts near the fabulous canyon lands and Moab. Eastward still into Colorado, we passed through towering rock canyons formed eons ago by the Colorado River alongside I-70. Then onward and upward into the Rocky Mountains, where our 400 HP engine had her tongue hanging out by the time we crested the 11,000 foot pass at the Eisenhower tunnel entrance. And down we drove into the flat lands of eastern Colorado and Kansas with still more farmland. It is about here every time that I start getting bored as I drive, as the terrain remains essentially unchanged and uninspiring for hundreds of miles. But then, there is something really weird about I-35, which we recently crossed, the Interstate highway running north-south and dissecting the country. We have crossed it many times and it is nearly the same effect wherever we have crossed it, whether near Dallas, Kansas City or Minneapolis. It is as if the Master Artist has painted the landscapes on the west side of I-35 in brown tones [all the way to the west coast], but then on the east side, has chosen a green palette for His works for the remainder of the travel. But, entering the land of green trees and grass is very nice indeed. So, if you have not yet driven much Out West, you should surely put it on your bucket list. And enjoy the ride.

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Out of Canada

Date: 7/14/13                                    Time Zone: CDT

Location: Topeka KS

Travel Leg of journey: 37                        Day of journey: 72

Miles traveled today:            495                        Miles traveled since departure: 10,651

Percentage of travel completed: 96.8% [we are exceeding our estimated milage]

U.S. states visited today: CO, KS

Critters observed today: eagles, bison, 1 lot lizard [truck stop hooker]

Our Recent Travel

The beautiful scenery that we have observed on this journey exceeded our wildest imaginations. In Alaska we traveled the Seward Hwy from Glennallen to Palmer, said to be the most scenic in Alaska. It was gorgeous, following a glacier fed river at the base of snow-covered mountains that held several glaciers. And in British Columbia, we found, by accident, beautiful Stewart BC. We had targeted Stewart as a convenient stopover on our way south, and had never heard of it before. Stewart lies at the head of a 90 mile long fiord right across the river from southern Alaska. The area has very steep mountains and 20 glaciers, many feeding the river that empties into the fiord. Resident black and grizzly bears were said to await the annual salmon run to gorge themselves, though we saw none while there. The next day we traveled Rt. 37 south toward Vernon BC, which is considered by many the most scenic road in BC. In my opinion, BC wins this beauty contest hands down. We passed more snow covered mountains and dozens of lakes. Many of these outrageously blue lakes were over 20 miles long with no houses, cabins or piers on their shores, or boats plying their waters. Absolutely pristine in their unspoiled solitude. As we moved farther south we encountered high desert regions surrounded by more mountains, surprising to us this far north. Then more, longer lakes and quiet, upscale communities that blended into the landscape quite well. The road along the lake south of Vernon was built up on the mountainside, allowing travelers great views of the lake and surrounding areas. This design also permitted campgrounds and recreational facilities to be sited along the lake edges, away from the traffic noise of the road, a win-win situation for travelers and recreational enthusiasts alike. Nearer the US border we passed through beautiful wine and fruit growing areas. My favorite winery name: Dirty Laundry Vineyards. When we finally reached the US border, we were challenged by US Customs officials as to what articles we may be bringing back into the US. They boarded our motor home for inspection. Their own cupboards must have been bare, for the female agent went straight for the refrigerator. She confiscated our only lemon, and a lone plum. She had the audacity to tell Nancy that she needed to clean out her crisper! Another agent confiscated our firewood, no doubt for their campfire later that night. So off we went, back into the “lower 48” as Alaskans refer to it. It was a great feeling to be back. We rejoiced in the facts that we had cell phone service almost continuously as we rode on, and in the smooth roads of our first encounters with Interstate highways in weeks, which made our travel so much easier.

Glacier Hwy near Stewart AK

                                               

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Out of Alaska

Date: 7/9/13                                    Time Zone: PDT

Location: Vernon BC

Travel Leg of journey: 30                        Day of journey: 64

Miles traveled today:            381                        Miles traveled since departure: 8513

Percentage of travel completed: 77.4%

U.S. states visited today: BC

Critters observed today: [since last post] too numerous to count

Our Recent Travel

Greetings. It has been almost a month since my last post. A lot has happened, and a lot of miles traveled since Anchorage on 6/15. This post will attempt to catch up on some of the happenings. Our daughter Jessica, husband Joe, Declan and Cormac arrived and visited some attractions around Anchorage. We then went south into the Kenai peninsula, Alaska’s playground. We stayed a few nights in Seward where we went on a whale watching boat tour and saw a humpback whale, along with otters, seals, eagles and Nancy’s favorite, puffins.  We visited Exit Glacier near the coast. We then traveled to the town of Kenai and stayed at a park overlooking Cook Inlet. Jessica and Joe went Salmon fishing and caught 7 nice fish that all enjoyed for our dinners. These are NOT farm raised salmon!

We also took a flighseeing trip on a 7-seat airplane to an island noted for grizzly bears. As we approached, we could see bears on the shore and in fields beyond the trees. Our pilot landed right on the sand/gravel on the beach and we walked a couple of hundred mosquito-infested yards to a broad meadow. We saw a total of 10 grizzly bears while on the ground, not counting cubs. At one time we observed 8 bears from a distance of 200 to 400 yards away, playing and eating the grass and roots from the soft ground. We also flew over a recently active volcano and an adjoining glacier before returning.

Flightseeing for Grizzlies

                                           

The Daly’s ended their visit with us in Cooper Landing [CL] to the north. Flash forward to the tag team match. Our son Stephen, his wife Dona, Ramsey and Oliver joined us in CL for a few days there. We took a raft trip down the Kenai River and saw numerous eagles and jumping salmon. We then went to the southernmost part of the Peninsula, to Homer. The road there is the most western numbered highway in the U.S. We took a water taxi to an island to go on a hike. This didn’t work out as intended, however. After leaving the beach and entering the woods, we were absolutely swarmed by mosquitoes. And, please don’t tell this, but not one of us carried insect spray that day. On a hike. In Alaska. We all thought that the others had some, but did not.  Nancy didn’t go because she knew she would be a whimp. The young boys could not cope with this problem, so Stephen took them back to the beach while Dona and I trudged on, swatting all the way. We were rewarded by coming to a beautiful lake at the foot of a massive glacier. The lake was filled with icebergs that had either calved from the glacier, or were left over from the winter’s freeze and floating free. We re-entered mosquito country to return to another beach for pickup by the water taxi. Later that day, Dona and Stephen left on a 2-night kayak excursion to a remote island and stayed in relatively mosquito-free yurts both nights.

Swatting Mosquitoes

                                              

Icebergs on glacier lake

We then all left in the motorhome for more exploring. For Nancy and me, this was the start of our return journey as we were moving northeastward, then south in the direction from which we came. We spent a night in Glennallen in a wilderness RV park and suffered with no electrical power available from the park. In the summer in Alaska however, you do not need lights to see at night, so we made out ok. We then spent a night in Tok AK.  The boys were treated there to a wonderful ride in a dogsled, they were so thrilled! Then 2 nights near Whitehorse. There we were surprised to find that the park did not offer any water to the camp sites. But with 60 gallons of water on board, I thought we could make it. Wrong. We ran completely out of drinking water the last morning. I carried water from a faucet near the office to use for flushing. We then left to spend 2 nights in Skagway AK. There we enjoyed the quaint little town and the 4^th of July. All but me went on a train excursion on the White Pass railway and enjoyed spectacular views of the pass and some mountain goats. I took the opportunity to take a short walk on the Chilkoot Trail which was used by the gold mine seekers looking for the Klondike gold strike in 1897. The Manns caught a ferry from Skagway to Juneau for their return flight home. While in Juneau, they did a bear flightseeing tour of their own and got to see grizzlies catching dinner. These were NOT farm raised salmon. Nancy & I stayed an additional night in Skagway before really getting started on the long trek home.

Mush!

                                              

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Observations

Date: 6/10/13                                    Time Zone: AKDT [Alaska Daylight Time]

Location: Anchorage AK

Travel Leg of journey: 18                        Day of journey: 35

Miles traveled today:            49                        Miles traveled since departure: 5505

Percentage of travel completed: 50.04%

U.S. states visited today: AK

Critters observed today: moose

Some observations on the long road North to Alaska.

Most of these are since our crossing the U.S. border what seems like ages ago, but was only 5/16/2013.

Signs:

Bridge Sign in Yukon: Tongue River

Business sign in British Columbia: Pet B&B [Bed & Biscuit]

Town sign in Alberta: Entering SEXSMITH

Road sign for bridge: Slippery When Frosty

Sign in Laundromat in Dawson Creek BC:

                                  

Study that one closely. We first thought that this Senior Home group had wild, late parties, going from 8:30 to 12:00. Until we read what was listed for the party meal.

Pulp Non-fiction:

Our RV neighbor in Whitecourt, Alberta was a manager at the largest privately-owned pulp manufacturing plant in the world. It is a huge operation, on a scale that I have seldom seen in the U.S. They take forest growth, which there is lots of up here, everything from full trees, to branches, to bark, and shred, grind and pulverize it down to the cellular level. They then liquefy this mass and chemically treat it to create 151 different pulp product compounds. These compounds are shipped all over the world to make paper products ranging from cardboard, to toilet tissue, to photographic paper. These compounds are compressed into large dense blocks similar to solid concrete for ease of handling and shipping. Who knew?

Sports:

Alaskans and Canucks participate in most of the sports popular in the U.S. Baseball is big up here now. The annual Midnight Sun baseball game is played in Anchorage on the longest daylight day of the year, June 21. The game starts at 10:30 p.m. There are no lights at the stadium. Here is a photo of our motor home taken on May 31 at 11:45 p.m. [no flash]:

Denali NP, 11:45 pm May 31, 2013

                                   

Salmon and halibut fishing is just getting under way now and is very popular with locals and out-of-towners. Fishermen from all over the world come here in the summer to catch their limits, flash-freeze and dry-ice pack the fillets, and return home. We have never tasted salmon so good as the fresh ones caught up here.

Hockey is huge here, at all levels. I heard on radio that they were having training on Saturday at the high school for the “proper way to body check”. Heck, I thought body checking was easy, and needs no formal training, something guys do when some attractive woman comes into the RV Laundromat dressed in her LuluLemon spandex tights. Turns out, it body check training was for young hockey players to learn the proper way to body block [check] on ice.

Animal-human interactions:

There are LOTS of wild animals up here and they often cross paths with people, especially those in vehicles. 90% of the game animals that we have seen while driving, except for in Denali, have been before 9 a.m. Since we have been here a grizzly bear has been killed by a car, and a moose severely injured a woman who came between the cow and her calf. Another cow moose was shot inside Denali N.P. when she charged a man and his family. So far in 2013, 214 moose have been killed by vehicles in the Wasilla-Palmer area alone. In today’s paper were photos of moose with their calves in local public parks, and one of a moose laying on someone’s lawn enjoying the cool and drinking from the irrigation sprinkler. Farther north, in an effort to boost the moose population the game resources people came up with a brilliant idea. Bears and wolves kill about 90% of the young born each year to caribou and moose. So the game folks killed 89 bears [8 grizzlies] in an area as a preemptive strike for the future moose population. Shame on them! I think these folks have taken a page out of the operating manual for Planned Parenthood.

Mosquitoes:

We were forewarned about the mosquito problem up here and have come prepared to deal with it. So far, we have been blessed with very few mosquito problems except in shaded areas, which they prefer. See photos below of one WalMart store with its products for insect control. One entire aisle from end to end, and another aisle plus island displays, at a different locations in the same store.

                                   

Weather:

We have been blessed also with weather. We have had almost no rain since entering the state, very unusual here in early summer. Although the locals don’t call this summer. They have spring [June], summer [July} and fall [August]. The rest of the year is winter. The first town that we stayed in upon entering Alaska, Tok, is considered the coldest inhabited place in North America. The lowest recorded temperature there is -71F. So far here in the central part of the state, there have been 15 days when the daily high reached 70F. Last year they had none.

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Denali

Let's race!

Our recent travel Glenallen-Denali-Wasilla

Date: 5/30/2013                                    Time Zone: AKDT [Alaska Daylight Time]

Location: Denali National Park AK

Travel Leg of journey: 17                        Day of journey: 24

Miles traveled today:            352                        Miles traveled since departure: 5249

Percentage of travel completed: 47.7%

U.S. states visited today: AK

Critters observed today: mystery small mammal, porcupine

Today we traveled the road considered by many to be the most scenic in Alaska, the Glenn Highway from Glenallen to Palmer. It certainly was the most scenic roadway that we had seen so far, and that is saying a lot. We passed more snow-capped mountains, frozen and ice-free lakes, and rivers raging like a teenager’s hormones from the continuing snow melt that is flooding rivers throughout the state. The streams and rivers are called “bank full” when in this stage. We passed debris that had been carried by the torrents: whole trees, the roof of a small structure, an entire shack placed precariously on a small ice-encrusted island. We saw our first glacier, then several more along our way. Alas, the critters were not as impressed as us, as most stayed in hiding all day. We skirted the major towns of Palmer and Wasilla and then took the Parks highway north to Denali National Park, the largest in North America. We soon had glimpses of the majestic Mt. McKinley in the distance almost 80 miles away from us. It is massive. On clear days it can even be seen in Anchorage, 130 air miles from the peak. We passed through the small village outside the park, already starting to become crowded with all of the tour buses, mostly from cruise ships, disgorging passengers for extended trips into the park. The village was a typical national park clustering of gift shops, outdoor adventure outfitters, ATV rentals, kayak stores and aerial sightseeing tours. I went into one, The Fur Gallery, thinking it was a topless bar, but quickly became disappointed at the offerings there.

We stayed in a small park outside town that offered good wifi, TV and cell phone service, the basic food groups for RVers. We dropped anchor here for 4 nights to relax and see the park.

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Date: 6/2/2013                                    Time Zone: AKDT [Alaska Daylight Time]

Location: Denali NP, AK

Travel Leg of journey: 17                        Day of journey: 27

Miles traveled today:            n/a                        Miles traveled since departure: 5159

Percentage of travel completed: 46.9%

U.S. states visited today: AK

Critters observed today: see below

Today we ventured into Denali National Park. We both had wanted to see this massive place in more detail, but were a little intimidated by the length of time the trips take. No personal vehicles are allowed beyond the 15-mile mark. So to see more, you must use one of the tour buses available. We chose one operated by the park service that went to the 66-mile mark, an 8-hour roundtrip. We lucked out and had an excellent driver/narrator who really knew the park, and her job, after 13 years of doing this. This trip turned out to be perhaps the best investment in time of our whole trip! The critters here are plentiful and not shy. This is due to the Park Service mission statement here to keep the wilderness wild. We were instructed on how to help do this by not speaking above a whisper when stopped to view wildlife, and to not expose body parts out of the windows. And even not to eat any snacks at the rest stops so as not to expose the critters there to an easy supply of food or even crumbs. It didn’t take long to start seeing the spectacular critters here. We had already seen 3 huge moose hanging around the visitor center browsing on the newly budding trees. They can easily strip a small tree in minutes. And they need lots of trees since the top out at about 1500 lbs. We also observed the following beautiful creatures:

1 porcupine

18 caribou

6 moose

3 ptarmagin [a grouse, the AK state bird]

31 Dall sheep

1 tundra fox

1 snowshoe hare

5 grizzly bears

The grizzlies drew the most awe and were the most spectacular; 2 sows with their cubs in 2 separate settings. There are an estimated 600-800 grizzlies in the park, but few black bears. The grizzlies prefer the tundra areas where they browse on grass, roots and small mammals. They occasionally are treated to large mammal carrion. These great animals max out at about 600 lbs., far less than the 1000 lb. plus weight of the grizzlies near the coast of Alaska that feast on migrating salmon throughout the summer. We were thrilled with our experience in the park. To have come all this way and not take this opportunity would have been something we would have regretted later, for sure.

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Date: 6/3/2013                                    Time Zone: AKDT [Alaska Daylight Time]

Location: Wasilla AK

Travel Leg of journey: 18                        Day of journey: 28

Miles traveled today:            207                        Miles traveled since departure: 5366

Percentage of travel completed: 48.8%

U.S. states visited today: AK

Critters observed today: moose

Today was a short jog back to civilization in the Wasilla/Palmer area. It was all we could do today to not act as if the views along the way were anticlimactic. We had seen such stunning landscapes and animals as never before, that this may prove hard for us the rest of the way. We are about halfway into our planned mileage for the trip. Denali was as far north as we plan to go. We now will settle down here and in Anchorage to prepare for visits from our children, Jessica and Stephen, and their families. We plan to explore more of this great state with them and enjoy even more interesting activities. This blog will continue, but less frequently for a few weeks.

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Backcountry

Valdez small boat harbor

Snow covered pass to Valdez

Moose trying to outrun us

Our last journey

 

Date: 5/28/2013                                    Time Zone: AKDT [Alaska Daylight Time]

Location: Glennallen AK

Travel Leg of journey: 15                        Day of journey: 21

Miles traveled today:            137                        Miles traveled since departure: 4897

Percentage of travel completed: 44.5%

U.S. states visited today: AK

Critters observed today: moose, elk, eagle, caribou [deceased]

Today was a short drive through beautiful mountainous backcountry. Come to think of it, all of Alaska is backcountry. Everything here is rustic, the towns, buildings, houses and most vehicles. Some of the houses of the less fortunate would be mansions in Appalachia. I take back what I said previously about no road kill up here. We came upon our first, 2 caribou freshly hit by a vehicle. The road kill advance cleanup crew had just started their task. An eagle and a raven were trying to get to work, but were fighting over the choice cuts. There seems to be quite a market for antlers here from what we see on the roadside signs and newspaper ads. Perhaps the golfer Vee-jay Singh has traveled here? Roadside “antler powder” businesses are occasionally passed. The RV park here is small and quiet and operated by local Indians [known as First Nations] and they are quite friendly. Temperatures here this week get into the upper 70’s in the day. This warm spell has been quite sudden. A week and a half ago it was snowing and temperatures were 19F. This has resulted in a massive snowmelt. The streams and rivers are full and raging, and this has caused major flooding in other parts of the state.

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Date: 5/29/2013                                    Time Zone: AKDT [Alaska Daylight Time]

Location: Glennallen AK

Travel Leg of journey: 16                        Day of journey: 22

Miles traveled today:            262                        Miles traveled since departure: 5159

Percentage of travel completed: 46.9%

U.S. states visited today: AK

Critters observed today: moose

Today was a side trip in our car down to the port of Valdez. We encountered more mountains today than ever. We were amazed at the majestic snow capped peaks with still larger peaks beyond looking over the shoulders of those in the foreground. We crossed a high pass with snow everywhere. There were numerous waterfalls, some spectacular due to the melting snow. Valdez is a small town surrounded by mountains that reach down almost to sea level. There was still so much snow around town that the RV parks had a difficult time housing RV’s due to the snow in the parks. The town was completely relocated in the late-60’s as a result of the devastating earthquake and tsunami of 1964. So there were few decrepit buildings here. And we were among the very few tourists. All of the boats that normally handle whale- and glacier-watchers and fishermen were still in the harbor. We visited 2 museums here and had lunch at the Fat Mermaid café. Although there are 7 glaciers around Valdez, it was difficult to see much of them from the roadways. We caught glimpses of the Alaskan pipeline, but were not able to get close to it. Tomorrow we are off to Denali National Park. We had to adjust our planned route as the Denali highway has been closed due to river flooding and rock slides. It pays up here to check the AK DOT road condition web site frequently.

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At-last-ka

Date: 5/27/2013                                    Time Zone: AKDT [Alaska Daylight Time]

Location: Tok AK [rhymes with “spoke”]

Travel Leg of journey: 14                        Day of journey: 21

Miles traveled today:            385                        Miles traveled since departure: 4760

Percentage of travel completed: 43.3%

U.S. states visited today: Yukon Territory, AK

Critters observed today: moose elk, free-range horses, black bear

It is hard to believe that each day brings more spectacular views than before. Beautiful lakes [some frozen, some completely clear of ice], forests and snow capped mountains were the features today. This is the day that I have dreaded. The roads in northern Yukon get worse by the mile. The frost heaves are no longer about 6 feet across; they are more like that of a humped back whale. Or a pod of them. We dodged them all day and our average speed decreased accordingly. But, we never experienced the miles of gravel/dirt surfaces that I had expected. The armor plating that I added has helped a lot, though I did find pebbles and rocks imbedded in the bubble wrap; one was the size of a half-crushed ping pong ball, but no damage was found. As soon as we crossed into AK, the roads improved remarkably. We finally spotted a police car. Or thought we had. A marked white squad car was parked along the road in Destruction Bay YT. But as we got closer, we found that it was a full-size painted police car outline made out of plywood! We finally spotted an AK state trooper in Tok to break our string of 1839 miles without seeing one. There is no road kill up here. First of all, there are very few vehicles this time of year. Then, I think the transportation departments up here hire the larger critters to take care of their road kill management duties for them. We have seen few eagles so far. We think that most are yet to migrate this far north.

Tok was a welcome sight indeed. Not much here but a crossroads, but the RV park is great. Cell phone coverage, wifi, and again, cable TV! The park leaves all the water faucets dripping 24/7 still, as the ground is still frozen and they don’t want the water in the pipes to freeze. I feel like we have arrived at last. Well, almost. Today is the first day that this part of AK has seen 70F [reached 78F here] since last July 17. Tomorrow we hope to get mail at the post office in Tok; we had it forwarded days ago and hope it is waiting for us in general delivery. Then we are off again for Glennallen AK to stay overnight and do a day trip in the car down to Valdez AK. Nancy can take over the driving then for a welcome change.

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