Trip Update #4

Since we left Haines our RV has been running well, thanks to the help we got from Tom Remy in WA. The Remys help get us through a difficult period when it seemed like everything that could go wrong (with the RV) did go wrong. We miss their company (and home cooking)!

Shooting wildlife has always been a fun past time, plus there is no bag limit when you are using digital ammo. On the ferry we saw dozens of eagles, some humpback whales, killers whales, sea otters and a harbor seal. In Haines, we could walk down to the stream near our campground and see grizzles eating berries or looking for salmon. There are fishing counting devises on spawning streams, there were 1700 salmon/day going up this stream. On the road from Haines we saw moose and beaver in the ponds. A black bear was crossing the road as we entered Valdez.

The road out of Haines was in great shape and almost no other traffic. Once we joined up with the Alaska Highway, the traffic increased considerably. Now we would see RVs every few minutes. (It should be called the RV highway). The road conditions got worse with frost heave a common problem. Imagine a roller coaster ride in a 3 ton RV. Of course like DC, there were potholes to dodge. Unlike DC, an recent earthquake had done considerable damage to sections of the Richardson Highway. There were sizable sections of roadway under repair. This meant gravel roads and all the dust you can choke on. We made the mistake of washing our RV before we left Haines, we thought it was dirty then, now we have given up hope on ever seeing it clean again. Hats off to the highway crews, they have been working 12-16 hour days 6-7 days per week since April.

I don't know what's happened to the economy recently, but in the Yukon, the unofficial exchange rate for the dollar is 1 to 1. Then my credit card notified me (nice timing guys) there will be a surcharge on foreign transactions. Luckily I had money stashed in a Canadian Bank and beat then at their silly game. People say Hawaii is expensive, but after paying $6 for a bag of ice, $5 for a hot shower, Interior (no man's land) Alaska has them beat.
Sorry to hear about your flooding follow by Hazy, Hot and Humid weather. Last night was the first rain we had since we got off the ferry. On a hot day it reached the mid 70's. Currently we are in Valdez. It was 43 degrees this morning. No one complaining here. Next stop Anchorage.

Don & Pat

Trip Update #3

Since I wrote last time, we got our RV problems resolved, except for a dead frig. which we have scheduled to be installed in Anchorage. Of course, it is a special order and has to be air freighted to AK. Our last few nights in WA were spent at Larrabee State Park which is right on the coast. We left Bellingham on 7/11 at 6 PM. Since we made our ferry reservations with little advanced notice, we were unable to book a stateroom. Their staterooms only accomodate about half the passengers. Therefore we set up our tent on the stern deck with other 'campers'. Unfortunately, our cheap Coleman A-frame tent was not designed for the high wind conditions on the boat. We survived the first night of wind & rain and were lucky a tent seam did not rip. We decided to 'break camp' and sleep on the floor inside the second night. Pat had the foresight to put us on the waiting list for the staterooms in case one came available. Sleeping on the floor was not too bad as long as you didn't mind being awakened by fellow passengers shortly before 6 AM. We were just getting ready to 'bed down' on the 3rd night when the purser paged us. A stateroom was available - we felt like we won the lottery!

On the way up the Inside Passage, the ferry stopped at Ketchikan, Wrangel, Petersburg, Sitka and Juneau. At most of these towns we got off the boat and either took a hike or walked through town. We landed in Haines on 7/15. Haines is a nice size Alaskan town. We kept busy several days here hiking, biking, touring. One day we took a high speed ferry over to Skagway. We took the White Pass & Yukon Railroad (WP & Y RR) to the summit of White Pass and back. The Klondike history and the story of the construction of this 110 mile rail line in 2 years, 2 months and 2 days is fascinating. The railroad is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. There were three cruise shops in Skagway the day we arrived - and we heard that Ketchikan has as many as 7 in port at one time on some days! The cruise industry is likely responsible for the survival of the WP & Y RR since hundreds of passengers ride its rails everyday. Unfortunately, the historic town of Skayway is now mostly jewelry shops owned by the cruise lines. Fortunately, cruise ships rarely visit Haines. Our next stop is Valdez.
Don & Pat

Trip Update #2

If you thought this message would be coming from Alaska you would be wrong. We thought we could drive across country and not have any RV problems, boy were we wrong! Lucky for us we have a friend in Washington State who is a mechanic and has been helping us get the RV back in shape. None of the problem were too serious (except for a roof leak) but there was a lot of adjustments needed (despite several expensive maintenance checks before we left). We rescheduled our ferry departure to July 11 and should be in Haines AK by July 15. We did do a check out trip to Mt. Rainier for four days of hiking, biking and swimming. We enjoyed walking thru the areas with large Western Cedar, and Douglas Fir trees. We had all types of weather from hail storms, high winds, heavy rain to hot and sunny. One storm causes the mountain pass to close and it took 4 days to clear the debris. There were 4 other road closures due to the heavy rain. Tomorrow we leave for a short camping trip on the coast before we get on the ferry. One advantage of being retired is the flexibility it gives you, and we found out we need to be flexible.
That's all for now.

Don & Pat