Day 81

Today was a travel day, but first we decided to wash off the dust from the coach.

The high pressure wand did its job brilliantly, but there was a total lack of drainage, so I was paddling in mud while washing mud off the coach!

In my infinite wisdom as Captain Cautious, I saw that my muddy sandals, still on my feet, needed cleaning. If you have never pressure washed your feet, then don’t….it bloody hurts!!

Still, onwards and upwards, we left Dawson City limits ( wasn’t that a song by Tina Turner?) at 10 of the clock, and proceeded towards Whitehorse.

The pix you see are some of the road hazards we had to avoid!

The bear was just darling, he didn’t see us for a few seconds, then looked round, took fright, and jumped up as he ran into the bushes.

Mrs Moose and her mooselets did not even see us, and if they did, would probably have ambled just as slowly across the road as they did.

The fact that I was hitting the air brakes with my right foot and the engine brake with my left was of no concern to them.

We stopped at a place called Five Finger Rapids, ( John, behave yourself) because there is a wonderful part of the Yukon River Valley, with some amazing, erosion resistant rocks. These were a major navigation hazard 100 years ago, when paddle steamers were plying their trade up and down the river between Dawson City and Whitehorse.

So, to get to the best view, you have to go down 219 steps of a rickety wooden staircase, and then trek for one kilometer through bear infested woods, all the while shouting “Go Bear” ( see previous reports) to finally reach a viewing platform to look at……….rocks and water.

Despite all my pathetic attempts at belittling this, it was well worth the trip, but some people would not think so after the trek back!

Of course, being totally prepared, we had forgotten to take any water, and as the weather was once again unseasonably hot for this neck of the woods, (clever pun) we were knackered when we got back to the coach.

So, with our dashboard AC not having worked since we left Houston, we had to travel for the next 200 miles with the generator going full blast to run the roof AC units.

At the same time we watched with morbid fascination as a stone chip in the windshield developed into a crack, and proceeded at a leisurely pace upwards. Luckily for me, the crack is on Marlipops’ side, so my view will not be interrupted, and the Pops is too good a wife to complain!

The scenery improves as the road goes southwards, and there are lots of huge areas which are recovering from forest fires. First to take over the forest floor is the fireweed, the brilliant red plant which is everywhere. From a distance, whole mountainsides look red, a stunning contrast to the greens of the unburned areas. On our way up here several weeks ago, the fireweed was not blooming, but now it is, the views are totally different.

We got to Whitehorse around 5 this evening, filled up both vehicles with petroleum spiritus sanctus, did some grocery shopping, and wandered down the Alaska Highway for another 100 miles to Mukluk Annies. This is a place we stopped at 7 or 8 weeks ago, which is free overnight parking, a lovely view of Teslin Lake, and an all you can eat breakfast buffet in the morning to look forward to!

Wildlife watch today was the aforementioned bear, mooses and a bunch of crazy magpies.

Just a footnote, Marlipops has brought our travel maps up to date, and they are attached.

Day 80

At 2.30 in the morning, the alarm blew my head off, and I rushed outside to see the Northern Lights. It was pitch black dark, the sky full of stars, and nothing else. No Aurora Borealis, no nothing. So, back to bed.

Which reminds me, while we were at the Dawson City visitors center yesterday, we were told that some people come in and ask what time the Northern Lights get switched on, and others ask which side of the river they have to get on the ferry.

Alaska! We could not stay away, we had to go back to Alaska!

We got on the ferry on the proper side this morning, sailed across the mighty Yukon River, fighting the raging current, the rapids, the wild winds whipping all around us, and the savage Indians firing arrows from the hillsides above.

Actually, none of that really happened, it is a five minute gentle float across to the opposite bank.

Then, 108 miles to Chicken, Alaska.

Marlipops drove all the way, the journey taking about 4 hours. The road is partially paved, and partially not paved. The not paved bits on the Canadian side are loose gravel, but pretty smooth and relatively easy going. Once you cross the border, the northernmost U.S. border crossing by the way, the road becomes very rough packed dirt, with pot holes and ruts and lots of twisty turny sections. We went round one hairpin bend and down to our left was the remnants of what happens to a motor coach when you don’t pay attention. See pix. This accident happened yesterday, thankfully no one was hurt.

Although the road was a bit of a slog, the scenery and views were worth it.

This road, which is closed from September to May, is known as The Top Of The World Highway, for excellent reasons.

We have mentioned before the awesome majesty of Alaska’s mountains, especially when driving through and between them. Well, this was as good, and the mountains just as beautiful, but we were on top of most of them, not between them. The road winds along the old miners trail from100 plus years ago, with drop offs on both sides, of hundreds of feet. The views go on for miles and miles, virgin forests and rolling hills, with snow capped mountains in the far distance. Also, there are lots of valleys, with rivers at the bottom, full of gold!!!

We were above the tree line in a lot of places, that’s how high up this road is.

We finally got to Chicken in time for lunchish, and soup of the day was chicken!

So we had a hamburger! It was an actual hamburger, a regular beefburger, with a big slice of ham on top. Delish.

The real downtown Chicken comprises 3 buildings, and the most incredible toilets.

In this part of the world all public restrooms are just a hole in the floor, with a commode above. All of them have been super clean, and this one in Chicken was no different, except when you looked in the hole, you could see daylight at the bottom!

We did NOT investigate any further.

We met Tucker, the three legged dog. He lost a fight with a GMC truck.

There is a massive old dredge, currently being restored, from about 100 years ago, which was used to pick up trillions of tons of river bed, in search of gold. Now it is home to a bunch of swallows, or swifts or some bird that makes mud type nest things.

Then, the return journey with the captain at the helm, going slower than Speedypops, and almost falling asleep, so her ladyship took over driving duty and we got home faster than a speeding bullet, after once more braving the mighty Yukon!!

Wildlife watch was some squirrels, and the coyote Marlipops thinks she saw.

Day 79

The first 200 miles today was pretty……………….boring!!

After our overnight stop in the rest area overlooking the Yukon River valley, the rest of our 350 mile drive from Whitehorse to Dawson City was straight, level and for the most part very samey. There were some interesting sections where we followed a Yukon Department of Road Fixing truck, which was laying down water to kill the dust, but we couldn’t see past him to get by, so traveled for about 10 miles at 20 mph, in a dust cloud.

We have parked the supercoach at Guggieville RV park, on the outer limits of the town, and we are surrounded by huge mega piles of rocks. In between the rocks are pools of incredibly clear water. These rocks were put here from the massive rock dredging machines, which until the end of the fifties, were used to dig up ore looking for gold. What they use now we have no idea.

Dawson City was once home to over 40,000 inhabitants at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush, and was in fact the Provincial capital. When you think that there are now only about 30,000 people living in the whole of the Yukon Territory, it gives you some idea of it’s importance back then.

The town sits on the convergence point of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers, and there is a 24 hour ferry which takes traffic over the rivers, so you can continue your journey.

Where the rivers meet is interesting as the Klondike River is sparklingly clean, and the Yukon is a light brown muddy color, so there is a distinct difference for several hundred yards until they mingle proper.

There are also some very small huts, floating on rafts made from oil drums and plywood. These are vacation huts!! People come up for the summer, pan for gold and boat out to these little huts on the river! Crazy!

The main income for the Yukon is tourism, closely followed by gold mining. There are over 40 mines, some just small mom and pop affairs, in this area alone.

We inquired about gold panning, and were told that for $ 7.00 we could be taught how to pan, and we would even be guaranteed some gold. They put $5.00 worth in the gravel before they let you loose!!

The town itself is quaint, and has sort of been preserved with the turn of the last century feel. Of course, it is for the tourists, but there are still a lot of people who live here and work in the mines.

What we found neat was that all the sidewalks were raised wooden boardwalks, and all the streets were gravel and dirt. We do not want to be here in the winter, when snow turns to mush. It would be a real mud bath.

We have to mention the weather here. While the rest of the US swelters in the heat of the dog days of August, we were looking forward to lovely, 70 degree temperatures.

We have had all the coach windows blacked out, and both AC units going full blast coz it has been in the 90’s here!

Air conditioning up here means opening a door, and one store proudly boasted that it has AC, so we went in, sand found the smallest, Wal Mart cheapo window unit, no colder than an ice cream!

We had lunch, and then, on the way back to the RV park, decided to explore a side road. It went up and up and up the side of a mountain, and right at the tippy top was a small parking lot, with the most wonderfully vast 360 degree panoramic views, for miles and miles around. We could see the river convergence area, virtually all of the town, the ferry, and miles and miles of forests, rolling hills and distant mountains. This place is a meeting place for the townsfolk on June 21^st, the longest day, to celebrate the summer solstice, or get drunk, or both.

Talking of beer, I have found another brewery, you will be pleased to know.

It is the Yukon Brewery of Whitehorse, and so far I have imbibed of their Chilcoot Lager, which was reasonable, the Yukon Gold, “an English Style Pale Ale”, which is very nice, and the Cranberry Wheat, with a grizzly bear on the label, which was crap.

Talking of bears, ( see how I move smoothly and effortlessly from subject to subject?) the bear we sent pix of yesterday was actually officially known as blonde grizzly. Although they are all brown bears, they can vary in color tremendously from black to almost white.

We are going to bed early, have set the alarm for 2.30 am, coz we have been reliably informed that as tonight will be clear, we should be able to see The Northern Lights.

Then we are off to Chicken tomorrow.

Wildlife watch today was a suicidal scampering squirrel, lots of huge ravens and a delightful blue grey jay type bird, who sat on an information sign at a rest stop we were at, then flew down right by my feet, hopped over to the feet of the Marlipops, and flew back to the sign. Fascinating, he had no fear………….at least until he got near my feet!!

Day 78

First off today, a huge, huge thank you to my little brother Stuart.

He has put all our travels together on an internet blog, and if you go to:

Rollinghills2007@blogspot.com you will see his great efforts.

This site will be updated daily as soon as our e mails arrive, so if you are missing some pix or pages, or want to show friends, or are just plain bored, have a look, Stuart has done a wonderful job. Thanks a million.

If any of you out there in reader land would prefer to check on our progress through this blog site, instead of getting an e mail from us, since some are big and often have lots of pix, please let us know. It would be great to get some feedback, on the new blog site as well.

Today was plugging holes day.

After our overnight stay at wonderful Wal Mart, we decided that our right rear outside tire had finally started more than a slow leak, so we went to Yukon Tire Center right round the corner. Actually everywhere is right round the corner coz the towns are small!

Anyway, we spent an hour there, were charged the ridiculously cheap price of $ 43.00, and we got to use their RV dump station and water filler upper.

A very pleasant bunch of people, and so we went back there later in the day to fill up with gas and diesel.

Then, the other hole had to be plugged. I lost a filling in my mouth, supposebly during one of the many gourmet dinners cooked by Marlipops, so I had to go to a dentist, bite the bullet literally, and get plugged.

After that, we trogged around town looking for the post office and the liquor store, the only place to get beer, and a WiFi café.

We had a look at the longest wooden salmon ladder in the world, about 1200 feet long, alongside a hydro electric dam on the Mighty Yukon River.

What did the salmon say when he smacked his head into a wall in the river?

Dam.

Moving swiftly on, this salmon ladder is supposed to be full of fish this time of year, all going upstream to spawn and die, and last night there was the annual appreciation night, to celebrate the peak season of the salmon, and there only 14 fish.

We took a tour around the local brewery, Yukon Brewing Company, but were not allowed a sample, as we were a few minutes late!!

Don’t they want to sell this stuff, or what?

Still, we had earlier bought a 12 pack in the liquor store. I enquired, at the brewery, as to the price of the same 12 pack there, and was told it was exactly the same!

Government runs the liquor stores, and they are not allowed to sell it any cheaper. Apparently there is a huge drinking problem among the native population, especially during the long winter nights.

We have decided that Canadian drivers are as bad as Alaskans.

We left town around 6 this evening, headed up the Klondike Highway towards Dawson City. This place was the original provincial capital, back in the heydays of the Klondike gold rush. In case we have not told y’all before, this whole area was gold feverish about 110 years ago, and there are still some mines operating, and panning for gold, and finding some is a popular touristy thing to do. We have resisted……so far, but if our funds run low, we may have to resort to panning.

The road up to Dawson City, or Dawson as it is known locally, is in as good a condition as the Alaskan Highway, and less traveled, so even more wilderness, if that is possible, and some of the views over the Yukon River valleys are stunning.

A little known problem up here is the sides of the roads.

Vegetation, such as spruce and pine trees abound, so the edges of the roads, about 30 ft on either side, are kept cleared and mowed where possible. This is done coz in winter these trees cause too much shade on the road, preventing thawing during spring and fall, and also they attract moose and other big animals, which is very dangerous to drivers. But, after the trees are cut back, plants such as fireweed are abundant in the cleared areas, and all these plants are food for moose, so the moose still get close to the roads!!

Of course, we have the answer to this conundrum………..close the roads, let the moose take over completely!!!

We are currently camped at kilometer marker # 394.8, “a large gravel pull out, with good photo op” says the travel bible.

We didn’t see any wildlife today.

Once again, thank you, Stuart.

Day 77

We sure got our wildlife fix today!!

The road improved tremendously along beautiful Kluane Lake, so we moved on pretty quickly, until, right on a long straight section where I could stop without causing any wrecks, ( there was no other traffic anyway) I saw two sheep. Well, I thought they were sheep from a distance, ( Bette) and then as I got closer I realized two things. One, there are no sheep in the Yukon, and two, sheep don’t have humped backs and six inch long claws.

They were grizzly bears!!

Marlipops was in the back of the coach, thought I was having a seizure or something as I screamed “Get the camera! Bears !!!”

So, after she picked herself off the floor, coz I had hit the brakes a bit harder than normal, she threw me one camera, picked up the other and we started pic taking like crazy.

Yes, our first really wild sighting of grizzlies. This is the time of year when berries ripen in the bushes, so out come the bears. These two, mother and cub, were foraging for roots and shoots on the opposite side of the road, looked at us once, and carried on doing whatever it was they were doing. They did not run away at the sight of the yellow peril, and at one point looked as if they were going to cross the road and come over. I was busy taking pix and I realized my window was wide open, so I stopped taking pix pretty quickly, just to keep an eye on them!!

Off they went, down the road, who knows where, absolutely fantastic.

One of the highlights of our trip, making it so much more perfecter than it already was.

The rest of the traveling today was done with poised cameras.

The scenery here really is stunning, and virtually unspoiled by humans. Just miles and miles of tundra, and forests and mountains and stuff.

Then we got into Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon.

We needed to do some laundry, and use the internet, Verizon being useless, more of that later, so we found a combo Laundromat/WiFi place, proceeded to load 3 machines, ( we really are dirty!), fired up the ‘puter, and whammo, off went the power.

Not just the Laundromat, but the whole town lost power, the banks, traffic lights, stores, everything was out for about an hour.

Great watching people scurrying around trying to find a shop with power, like headless chickens!!

So, we sat and Marlipops got on the pay phone to Verizon.

We had signed up for cell phone service, paid an extra premium for service while in Canada, and the phone has no service. In addition, we had signed up for their broadband internet service, which we were assured by the store in Montana we bought it from, would work in Canada and Alaska.

Well, as you all know, we haven’t had any service to speak of on either phone or internet, and we got a $ 600.00 bill for this “no service”! So, we disputed it, and Marlipops spent a frustrating hour on the phone to the Verizon people, to finally find out that to get phone service in Canada we should have called a special number, when we were in Alaska, to get it activated!! Only problem was that no one told us, so although we have a Canada plan, and we are in Canada, it don’t work!!

We are still arguing about the internet service, so we will just keep on using Wi Fi wherever we can get it.

We finally got all our washing done, did some grocery shopping, and went to get some beer, at 8 o’clock.

All the liquor stores are closed!!

The “off sales” places wanted $ 19.00 for a six pack!!

So, Captain Cautious is drinking water tonight!!

Wildlife watch today was grizzlies, some guard squirrels and lots of birds.

Day 76

For once we managed to get up and leave as planned, by 8 this morning.

Whitehorse is over 600 miles away, let’s see if we can get there today. Whitehorse is the biggest town in the Yukon Territory and we need to get some provisions ( notice how I smoothly slip right back into the local language!), and there is not much between our overnight rest stop and there, so there we headed, down the famous Alaska Highway.

We have been in Alaska for 6 ½ weeks, and we thought by now the roads that were badly bumpy on the way in would be repaired, and smooth and just wonderful. Not a chance. From Tok, about 100 miles from the border, to Destruction Bay, about 200 miles into Canada, we were shaken, rattled, rolled, bounced, and any other adjectived all over the place. It seems that the frost heaves which cause all the problems are a permanent feature of the Yukon. No wonder nobody lives here.

Still, we have discovered a new land, unclaimed by anyone. Heading out of Alaska, you go past the US customs post, and there are then 20 miles of nothing until you get to the Canadian customs, and enter Canada. So, we thought, who owns the 20 mile stretch in between?

We think it should be ours, and as we all know, to claim land you must have a flag. The only flag we carry, apart from the obligatory US and English ones, has a wolf logo and Gold and Black Army written all over it, so we claim the land in the name of The Wolves!!!

And, just as luck would have it, the only things living here appear to be wolves, and a few mooses.

We did see a coyote today, so it’s all coming together nicely.

Anyway, we stopped at several places along the highway today.

There is a viewing point of the Alaska oil pipeline where it crosses the Tanana River, though why anyone wants to stare at a pipeline is beyond me, it doesn’t do a lot, just sits there.

Then we stopped for lunch at Rika’s Roadhouse, an original inn from 19 something, which served truckers using the river ferry way back in the twenties and thirties, and then soldiers who built the Alaska Highway.

We pulled over in Delta Junction, and saw the best “animal” of the day, check the pix.

This beast was once a missile carrier, the owner is from Switzerland, lives in L.A., and the thing has Florida plates. It is converted into an RV, has four wheel steering, eight wheel drive and gets four miles to the gallon.

As the old joke goes, “ Where do you park it?”

“Anywhere you like!!”

Off down the road, through Tok, and into the Yukon. This country/province is stunningly empty and exceedingly beautiful. There are lakes galore, mountains and glaciers all over the place.

We saw the most gorgeous of sunsets, and yet, although the sun was down behind us, in front, the sky was still blue, there were pink clouds and the tops of the snow covered mountains to the west were still sparkling with sunlight. Very pretty.

We actually traveled 391 miles today, which given the road conditions, was pretty good, even though we were on the road for fourteen hours.

Wildlife watch today was a moose early, a coyote, lots of ravens and the “beast”!

Day 75

We wanted to get an early start, and 11.06 am wasn’t too bad!!

At least there was no bear this morning.

It rained all night, and the day started off drizzly, but soon improved to just “All My Children” weather………….dull and overcast.

We headed to Fairbanks and beyond, along Chena Hot Springs Road to ……Chena Hot Springs.

One thing we have forgotten to mention is that all roads in Alaska seem to have a “feeder” road, just for ATVs and other off road vehicles. We can be driving merrily along, minding our own business, when all of a sudden there is a cloud of dust, and a helmeted person appears, on top of some bouncing contraption, sometimes with a gun attached.

Keeping on the traffic theme for a minute, it has to be reported that although Alaskans are some of the most friendly people on the planet, they are lousy and inconsiderate drivers.

We were on the main Fairbanks road, going so slowly over the gravel construction area it felt like we were moving backwards, when not one, but several impatient trucks overtook us. The gravel road repair areas are very tricky, no lines, all loose gravel, construction equipment monster things everywhere, and strictly no passing zones. So, I hope they got where they were going 20 seconds quicker than if they had stayed behind us, must have made all the difference in the world to their day.

Enough complaining, we had a great day!

We went to an Ice Museum.

20 degrees F inside this huge igloo type building, full of wonderful and original ice carvings. There were bedrooms, a toilet, a huge chess set, knights in armor on horses, a fireplace and a bar, amongst other things.

The bar was curved and huge, with stools covered in fur so your bum didn’t get too cold.

We were served with an appletini, in an ice martini glass, which we got to take with us!!

It is now in the freezer, taking up space.

A really neat place.

On the way back down the 50 mile road to Fairbanks, it was Moosetime!!

We saw one moose in a pond, eating happily, and even when I blew the coach air horns to get her attention, it took a long while before she bothered to raise her head.

Then, about 3 miles further down the road, we saw not one, not two, but three mooses all in a big pond busily stocking up on vitamins and calories and nutrients to sustain them through the long Alaska winter months ahead. We spent a very pleasant half hour taking pix and just watching them enjoy life.

Afterwards, we drove to The North Pole!

Actually it is the town of North Pole, about twelve miles outside Fairbanks, and has a huge Santa Claus store, on St. Nicholas Drive, complete with live reindeer at the back, with the biggest antlers we have ever seen.

Of course, we went in and did the touristy thing, and took the obligatory touristy pix outside. All very much over the top, but when in Rome…………

We stopped at a rest area/pull off about 30 miles further down the road, and will get away early, again, tomorrow for the long haul towards Whitehorse, B.C.

As you can probably tell, we are heading out of Alaska in the next day or so, but we will leave very reluctantly.

Wildlife watch today was some kamikaze squirrels, lotsa mooses and some Sandhill Cranes.

Unusual, we thought, to find these beautious birds up here, they are common in Florida, and there are not many palm trees in Alaska.

Day 74

“There’s a bear outside the coach!!”

“Mmmmmm???”

“There’s a bear in the campsite, right by the coach!!”

“What? You idiot, that’s a tree limb, it’s been making that noise all night.”

“Oh”

No clues as to who was the idiot, but he has a beard.

Thus started our day.

We departed the campsite and headed north, with more wonderful weather, towards Fairbanks.

Several scenic views took our fancy, with excellent panoramic vistas, so it was after 12 when we rolled into town.

Our first port of call was the Tanana Valley State Fair, last day of which was today, so we wandered around eating leg of turkey and reindeer sausage crepe and cake of funnel. Your usual fair fodder, overpriced and over carbed, but it’s a summer fair, what else can you do?

I got a free T shirt from “Defenders of Wildlife” people, coz I told the tale of mooselet saving, so that was nice.

Just down the road was the farmer’s market, where we sampled and bought some delish mustard, of the “Moosetard” brand. One is Fairbanks smoked lager flavor, and the other is curried apricot. All the samples were yummy, and we had to try several, a few times, until we had decided!

Next stop was University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where we first visited their large animal rescue and research establishment. They breed muskox, reindeer and caribou, for biological studies, to help understand better what makes them tick, and also help construction projects be determined, whether there will be any serious impact on certain wildlife if certain projects go ahead, etc, etc.

After, we wandered around the University’s botanical gardens, where Marlipops spent a happy hour taking pix, and your fearless captain fell asleep under the runner bean plant, listening to the quite hum of the bumbly bees!

Marlipops has taken hundreds of close up flower pix, some with bugs of various sizes, and will be putting together an album in due course.

Finally, we went to the ultra modern museum, where we wandered around the various exhibits and art, the most interesting being the History of Alaska. We saw a painting of a polar bear, which we swore was a photo, until we got very close. One of the best paintings I have ever seen in my life for realism, excluding of course, the oil portraits done by Wilda, mom in law extraordinaire!!

Then, on to Gulliver’s Bookstore for free coffee, free WiFi, and second hand paperbacks for 75 cents. I was in heaven.

The drive to and from Fairbanks, approx 75 miles was not brilliant, no wildlife except a couple of rabbits, and a lot of frost heave and construction. Welcome back, Alaska dust!!