Trip to Alaska and West Coast

Destruction Bay ( Lake)

September 11, 2013 – We had wind all night but we stayed warm. It is partly cloudy and 48 F.  We decided to go to Johnson Crossing. It was closed. There is only one RV campground at Johnson Crossing. We hit an Alaska Chicken (Ptarmigan). It flew up right into the truck. It cracked our right headlight lens on the truck. It could have been worst; they look like they weight 4-5 lbs. Since Johnson Crossing was closed, we drove down the road to Teslin,YT (Yukon Motel and Restaurant and RV Park). It was only about 18 miles from Johnson Crossing on a beautiful lake. If there had not been a RV Site in Teslin, I guess we would have what’s called dry camped along the road/campground. There are recreation areas everywhere you can stop at overnight. They usually just provide bathroom facilities sometimes more. Also, there are city owned campgrounds which are available. It looks like everyone in Canada/Alaska owns a RV. Our trailer is fully self-contained with water, heat, cook top/oven and lights when not hooked to shore power. After we passed Whitehorse, we started to travel on the same road that we used coming up. It is amazing how in July everything was green and now in September the trees are gold for fall. Tomorrow we go to Iskut, BC. We will do some checking on the RV Park before we leave in the morning.

Destruction Bay RV Camp-- look at flags blow

Destruction Bay RV Camp-- look at flags blow

Destruction Bay RV Camp-- look at flags blo

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

September 10, 2013 – 44 F and cloudy. I worked on our payment to USAA. I had many phone calls. I guess it will all work out. We are now on the ALCAN Highway again. This part of the ALCAN highway we bypassed going up at Whitehorse, YT so we could go north to Dawson City to Fairbanks, We arrived in Destruction Bay, YT about 6:00 pm PT. We are changing time zones again. The RV Park is ours. It sets across the street from a beautiful bay (lake) and the park is basically closed. We do have water, electric and wifi. The temperature is 58 F and wind is about 16 mph. It feels cold. The owner came out and said it froze 2 days ago. Jo Ann is doing the laundry. It takes a long time to do the laundry with about 2+30 hours of sitting. It looks like our last laundry day was Sept. 1. Today’s trip was slow and full of potholes, frost heaves, patches, gravel and construction and a border crossing. Tomorrow we are going to Johnson’s Crossing, YT or Whitehorse, YT we will decide in the morning. Whitehorse has campsites open but Johnson’s Crossing may not.

Along ALCAN - Tok to Destruction Bay

Along ALCAN - Tok to Destruction Bay

Along ALCAN -Tok to Destruction Bay

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

September 9, 2013 --  Rain, 46 F. It rained all night. I guess getting to see the mountains around Valdez will not happen. We leave today for Tok, AK and Canada the next day. The ride to Tok was pretty with mountains all along our east side of travel. We had to come to Tok because there is not a road through the mountains until Tok. We arrived at Tok RV Village about 3:00 pm. We stayed here coming up the ALCAN Highway. There are not many people here. The Internet here is a joke. They give you an hour but it is all at one time. You can not turn it on and off. Tomorrow it is off to Destruction Bay, YT, RV Lodge.

Valdez MWR Campground

Valdez Campground

Along the road to Tok, AK

Along the road to Tok, AK

Fireweed is red in summer and turns cotton white as fall/winter approaches.
Alaskans said it is a indicator of when winter will come

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

September 8, 2013 --  Rain, 48 F. We will be visiting Valdez, AK which is the end of the Alaskan Pipeline we saw up north of Fairbanks. The oil is shipped from here to many ports. I got our Flying J gasoline statement today. It has worked out good. They do not have gasoline stations in Alaska but there are some in Canada and West Coast. The card gives us .06 off the price of gas. Every penny helps. We got it for being Good Sam members. We went to downtown Valdez. You could not see much because of the fog, rain and clouds. Tomorrow before we leave we may try again to see if we can see the mountains and glaciers surrounding the city. I believe it is going to be the pretties of the three – Seward, Homer, and Valdez.  The weatherman says rain, rain, well into next week. I wish we could stay longer and wait for the sun but winter and snow is coming. We had breakfast/lunch at the Totem Pole restaurant.

Army MWR Campground - Valdez, AK

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

September 7, 2013 -- Rain, 50 F. I can get football scores on phone. Tennessee won 52-20 over W Kentucky. Florida lost to Miami. What a beautiful drive we had from Anchorage along Glenn Highway to Valdez. I am sure glad that we decided to come over to Valdez. We saw glaciers, snow covered mountains, fall colors on the trees, waterfalls, old train tunnels, and mountain canyons. If you can only take one drive in Alaska, I would take the Anchorage to Valdez drive. Glenn Highway is great. The weatherman said it was going to rain all weekend. He was right; it is raining now. However, it did not start until we arrived in Valdez. We are in the Army MWR campground (Valdez Glacier Campground) here at Valdez. It will close for the season Monday. The campsite only has electric. The water has been shutoff in the campground so for the first time we are using our on board water tank. The water should be ok. The tank was cloroxed about a month ago. They had drinking water that we could use to fill our tank. Our tank holds 52 gallons but we put in maybe 20 gallons so we could flush the toilet and wash dishes. A full tank of water (52 gals.) weights about 800 lbs. which is a lot just to carry around just in case you my need it. We will be drinking bottled water. It is cool here tonight (48 F), so we have been running the little heater on high. Early to bed tonight, it has been a long day.

Clouds and glacier top of mountain.

.

Waterfall coming down from glacier

Waterfalls off mountain

Old Train Tunnel

Mountains and glaciers between Anchorage and Valdez, AK

Glacier running along base of mountain

Nice place to have lunch

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

September 6, 2013 --  Rain, 51 F. We will be leaving this morning for Anchorage. The drive to Anchorage was in the rain all the way. We picked up meds and had lunch at base BX. We shopped at the commissary for food so we would not have to buy any on our trip through Canada. Food is very expensive in Canada. The base had gas today for 3.84 a gallon. We are now parked at the FAMCamp on Elmendorf AFB. Tomorrow we will drive all the way to Valdez, AK.  It is about 300 miles. Weatherman is forecasting rain all weekend. Oh, well you may only have one chance to go. Jo Ann tried to organize the food pantry. It is tall, depth and hard to find anything without a flashlight. It may last a week.

Trip to Alaska and West Coast

September 5, 2013 --  46 F and cloudy, light rain. We are up early for our boat trip. I talked to my cousin Bill Bryant today. I had not heard from him for months. It is great that he is doing fine. The boat trip went well. Lunch was not very good. We saw a few animals (Seals, 1 Humpback Whale, Puffins birds, Sea Otters, Bold Eagles, Cormorant) but the glaciers were the best. The boat was large and full of people. We had a great ride with a young couple from Edmonton, AB, Canada and a couple from Harrisburg, PA. Tonight we did chores to get ready to leave tomorrow. We had to dump the tanks and hookup the trailer to the truck. Prissy was waiting for her walk and dinner when we got home. Boat trip was from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. We liked the trip out of Skagway, AK to Juneau, AK and back better for several reasons. Smaller boat, better breakfast and dinner and we saw more animals like whales.

Sea Otters

96 lbs Halibut -- a few meal here

Seward, AK small boat harbor

Seward, AK on the bay

A small example of  God's power of life

Galcier calfing

Boat going right up to glacier

Seals napping