Because We Can - Fulltime RV'ing




Journal Archive 6/1 - 6/10 2010

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June 1 Tuesday

Driving from Sikanni Chief to Fort Nelson with big vistas, but no stops along the way. All the fun and excitement was before and after the drive.

This morning I woke up at 3:17, and at first I couldn't figure out why. Then it hit me, it was already beginning to get light outside and my up at first light way of living most of my life was rearing its ugly head. For once I did not get up, instead I lay there listening to the rumbling and roaring going on next to me before finally being lulled to sleep by those sonorous sounds.

Clock

That was not to show how long I slept in, good heavens, I'd been up more than two hours by then. It's to show what the temperature in the coach gets down to at night when there is no source of heat. I was surprised when Linda poked her head out not much later, but soon learned there was a method to her madness. Seems that the catch on the sliding shelf where her keyboard sits couldn't withstand some of the jolts we, okay I, manged to inflict on the coach during yesterdays travels.

Fix

It was in one of those locations that makes you wonder how did they install it in the first place. But by near standing upside down, removing of my glasses so I could see, and the right tool, it was soon fixed to her satisfaction. Interesting way to be greeted in the morning. No good morning or what's for breakfast, just, my slideout shelf needs fixed. I will admit she more than made up for the lack of attention once it broken latch was replaced, but she had me going for a moment. Like the saying goes: Women, don't try to understand them, just enjoy living with them.

Food

I still had to fix breakfast, which was scrambled eggs topped with beans, cheese and sour cream, with a quarter of a grapefruit on the side. Unfortunately, I suggested we eat outside at the picnic table since we enjoyed eating there so much last night. More unfortunately we encountered a small problem when we went to sit down. Linda was mentioning that she was going to start cutting back on the quantity of food she was eating when it became abundantly clear exactly why she was making that statement. Yes, that is my plate of food scattered about on the ground under the picnic table. no it was not Linda who threw it there after some smart remark on my part.

Pose

That is not an actor or fake food in that shot, the way they do the re-enactments on TV. That is the real person who, when he felt the table starting to tip over when both he and she who needed to start eating less both sat on the same side of the table at the same time, literally threw himself backwards, landing on his back with his feet on the seat, thinking he had prevented a culinary catastrophe. Turned out he had, Linda and her plate full of food remained on the table while his did a slow motion flip into the air landing upside down in the gravel.

Once Linda stopped laughing, she did inquire whether or not I was injured. Of course I was injured, my pride was significantly damaged, afterall, I thought my gymnastics had saved the meal. Linda, bless her heart, offered to try and wipe the gravel off so I would have something to eat. In the end I did eat the grapefruit which had survived undamaged, why couldn't it have been the eggs, and Linda split her eggs with me. It sure was a different way to start the day, though I'd prefer it to be a one time occurrence.

View

No ten percent grades today, in fact not much of anything other than views like this. No bears, no deer, a few ravens cleaning some flattened small animals we couldn't recognize off the road, and one partially squished fox, which we at least could still recognize, laid out on the road. Since everyone always seems to post in their blogs about the many animals they see along the Alaskan Highway, I thought I'd give you our experience for the day. Either we drive with our eyes wide shut, or maybe we just don't have as vivid an imagination as others.

Level

In Dawson Creek I had to place one of the boards we carry under the front tire to get us level. In Fort Nelson they provide you with the necessary material to level. Our site was a pull thru that you couldn't pull thru, unless you wanted to blaze a path through the trees that were growing in profusion on both sides of the site. We, being smart young people, opted to back into the site and let the branches do their thing behind the coach. This meant our passenger side back tires ended up in hole. Fortunately there was a nearby pile of gravel, and by using my foot, finally using it for something good rather than sticking it in my mouth, we were soon level.

Pile

While it was nice to be level, it also meant that I wasn't going to be putting off repairing the shelf that the washer/dryer was setting on. Maybe "leaning on " may have been more accurate than "setting on" as this photo of how lopsided it was shows.

Washer

The cleat at the back sidewall corner had failed and the shelf was down at the stern, with a decided list to starboard. Stupid me, I thought I could just take the washer out, fix the board and put the washer back in. Turns out the washer weighed 153 pounds and there was no way I was going to get it out of the cabinet. Why do these things always have to happen far from normal civilization? Anyway, it was going to have to be fixed or the washer was going to literally be falling through the floor the next time we hit a long rough section of highway.

Fix

Where there is no choice, there still has to be a way, and in this case it took both ingenuity and my best imitation of a tunnel rat to solve the problem. The fix was certainly not as elegant as removing the washer and self, installing new cleats and a thicker shelf. But a piece of 2x2 that we had brought along to burn as firewood, a couple of measurements, a notch at the top to help lock it in, several 2 1/2 inch screws and that shelf wasn't going anywhere.

Brace

The design of the shelf was such that it doesn't go all the way to the back wall, but instead is unsupported across the back allowing access to the water faucets and drain pipe. Given that, they should have installed a far more robust cleat on the outside wall. I've found this underdesign in other cabinets and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has problems with this borderline construction.

Shop

The day wasn't just Bob doing his best imitation to gymnasts or contortionists. We actually did some normal things. Take our grocery shopping trip. It wasn't what we bought, it was what we observed. Bulk hot dogs, bag your own, just pick them up with your hands and put them in the plastic bag. Not something you see below the border. Understand that the "casing of the hot dogs is a plastic wrap that needs to be removed before cooking or roasting them, and it isn't nearly as bad as it appears.

Park

I'll leave you with a photo of the RV parked next to us. Remember what I said about backing into our pull thru site to avoid the trees, I'm just glad that we didn't get this site. See, maybe we had a few little blips on the road of Life today, but there were also many we that we avoided. Just think, if RVing was too easy everyone would be doing it and then where would we be? I'll take the adventure of the road any day to sitting around the house we lived in for years and years doing many of the same things we did before retiring. Life, meant to be lived.


June 2 Wednesday

Drove from Fort Nelson to Toad River, yes there really is such a place. Crossed the highest point on the Alaskan Highway, then discovered we had picked an absolute gem of a RV park to stay for the night.

Did I ever mess up big time this morning. I couldn't get on the park's wifi with my computer, so thought I'd use the eee PC we use during our European travels. So I transferred all the entries for the website to a thumb drive and used the eee PC to FTP them to the server. Problem was I forgot that the permissions get all messed up doing it that way. Call it a been there done that, should know better kinda of moment that went right over my head. Bottom line was that anyone trying to get to website yesterday morning got the dreaded 404 error message. Once it hit me what I'd done it took way too long to get it fixed, especially thanks to Linda's help, but still it was just a little frustrating.

All it meant was that our day slipped a little and we pulled out about a half later than we planned. We had learned last night the caravan that was staying in the park was leaving starting at 8 o'clock in groups of five coaches spaced 10 minutes apart. Watching them go by we got to observe the different degrees of preparation that go into an Alaskan trip. This fellow seemed to be ready for anything that the roads would throw at him.

View

By the time I was done with my adventures in uploading the website, the park was totally changed from what it was just a little while before. Last night there were some forty RVs in this section, this morning it was deserted. Maybe it will be the same tonight, but since we do not like this place at all we will be moving on.

Empty

Part of our regular routine of leaving, aside from occasionally forgetting to stow the satellite dish or raise the jacks, those kind of minor annoyances, is to go through a routine check of the lights and brakes on the Explorer once we are hooked up and ready to leave. I try the turn signals, brakes, etc from the coach and Linda stands off to the side behind the Explorer and signals that each works. This morning I look back and there's no Linda. Use the rear camera and still no Linda. All kinds of things were running around in my head, and no, one of them was NOT that I'd gotten rid of her at last. Then just as casual as can be there she was. It was later that I learned what she was up to when I couldn't see her.

Sign

The Milepost mentioned that today's stretch of road was known for wildlife. Right off the bat we passed a small herd of buffalo off to the side of the road and from that point Linda was Miss Everalert, camera at the ready. Concurrently, the count had just reached 100 in the game of hide and seek all the local wildlife were participating in. She may have been a little dismayed, but she was undeterred. What we did see was a repeat of yesterday's wide vistas.

Vista

There was also not much traffic, just the occasional pickup truck going around us, but most of the time we had the road to ourselves. Even then, the one time we came up on an RV, he pulled over to let us pass, just as we did for the two large trucks that overtook us. The bridges were also a delight with all the metal work which contrasted with the river below. On the larger bridges the decks were open metal grating, but never once did we meet someone coming from the opposite direction as we crossed a bridge, so we got to enjoy the hum of our tires on the grating.

Bridge

We did make one stop during the drive, at Summit Lake in the Canadian Rockies, which is also the highest point on the entire Alaskan Highway. We noted there was a campground at the summit, but the books said that being in the pass it was subject to changeable weather, strong winds and low temperatures. During our stop we certainly confirmed the latter two.

Summit

Once over the pass the road descends steeply, with a number of areas being gravel. The views are awesome with wide channels having been created by water rushing down the canyons. Linda did finally get a little bit of her animal fix as we came up on a Caribou and its calf. Of course Miss Everalert had become Madame Droopylids by this time, yet she was still able to grab the camera and get a photo, though from so far away the Caribou are little more than dots. Then she grabbed the camcorder, and took her first ever video while the coach was still moving. We're still learning how to use the camcorder, so between the narration and views of the animals interspersed with shots of the sky, it does show Linda is, how shall we say it, certainly continuing to improve in the camerawoman department.

Our stop for the night was the Toad River Lodge and RV Park which is famous for its collection of over 6000 hats which are displayed on the ceilings and walls.

Hats

What a neat place to stay this turned out to be. It was also the perfect place for Linda to wash the windshield, which turned into we both washing the bottom of the coach and then the Explorer. I finally figured out a way to call a halt to the slave driver's demands. I built a fire, this place having free firewood, and before long Linda was a different person. Can't say I haven't learned a thing or two in our forty plus years of marriage.

Relaxing

Yesterday and again this morning we had been plagued with huge mechanical beavers, but this afternoon we had the real thing. Just behind the coach was a pond containing a beaver lodge, created by a large beaver dam. At the back of the park was another section of the lake, and while there, Linda saw a moose. She was more than making up for her lack of animal activity earlier in the day.

Beaver

For much of the day we sat outside with the fire burning, getting caught up on our reading. I've got one of those big books about the Klondike Gold Rush which I'd like to get at least half way read before we get to Dawson City, while Linda was reading about her favorite expedition leaders, Lewis and Clark. After dinner the reading ceased as the beavers became out, working on the dam and swimming around the edge of the pond.

Beaver

Linda had a great time sitting down by the pond in a lawn chair, practicing with the camcorder, and getting some cool video of those critters in action. After our less than stellar experience at Westend RV park in Fort Nelson, which was changing its name to Triple G RV Park and we could see why, it was great to be at a place like this. Caravans have their advantages, but also their disadvantages. This park is too small for them to stay at, and besides it really isn't near anything, all of which adds to charm of Toad River. It is so charming that we have decided to take a break from our recent routine of daily traveling and stay here for another night. The fact that tomorrow's forecast is for intermittent rainshowers while Friday is forcast to be clear and sunny also played a part. With our next stop intended to be at Laird River Hot Springs, which we'd prefer to do on a nice day, at it was an easy decision. No schedules, no worries, Life is good.


June 3 Thursday

Spending a day lazying around in Toad River.

What difference a day makes, no roar of diesel engines, no clouds of dust, yet we were still treated to a bit of entertainment this morning. Near us was a small Class C with its toad parked near it. You know, the kind of pairing that probably isn't legal, but heck, if you can get it moving why worry about towing capacity.

All that's beside the point because he almost didn't get it moving. We saw the RV pull out in front of the toad, then start to back up so he could hitch them up. The only problem was that he had his towbar arms down on the ground behind the RV. I heard Linda say, "His towbar is on the ground" just about the time we saw it dig in and the back of the RV start to rear up in the air. The RV stopped, it had to because it was about to lose traction as its rear wheels went ever higher.

The driver got out, saw the towbar arms on the ground and tried to pull them up. Nothing going, he would probably have needed a pick and shovel to dig them out the way they were wedged into the ground. After a bit he pulled forward, freeing them from the ground, then started to back up again. That was when I looked at the license plates to see if he was from Texas thinking he had to be an A&M Aggie, but when the RV stopped and pulled forward slightly I knew he wasn't. Eventually he got hooked up and left with both of us wondering if he'd damaged the towbar and hoping we didn't meet up with him again. Then again maybe the problem was he just had the wrong kind of toad for Toad River.

Oops

The plan for the day was to not do much of anything and we worked diligently at carrying it out. One item on the agenda was testing the new reinforced washer shelf by doing a load of clothes. A load of clothes turned into three loads, all of which washed and dried exactly as was expected. Made Linda a very happy lady because her Splendide worked splendidly. She sure gets a laugh at the women who post on the forums that they prefer going to the laundromat over using a machine in their RV. Then again maybe they are the bozo babes that put their stuff in the washer at the RV park and don't bother to come back until long after the cycle is finished, though I believe I've heard Linda refer to them using far more colorful language.

Dry

The weather was not the best, what with rain showers appearing off and on all day long, but that didn't deter pyro-mom from her appointed task. Hey, we have free firewood here, which means that woman is going to have a fire, and so what if it is raining. You just can't squander opportunities like this due to a little moisture in the air. From the look on her face you can tell she was mighty serious about this fire business.

Start

The problem was that I was also involved, meaning no paper products were allow in the starting of the fire. Someday she is going to grasp the idea of starting small and getting bigger when stating a fire, but for now she has her own methods of overcoming any shortcomings she might have in the fire starting department.

Air

Watching that display of talent, it was pretty easy to guess who got the part of the big bad wolf when her grade school class put on the play about the three little piggy's. Speaking of animals, we had one come by for a visit today while we were engaged in a discussion of the relative merits of small sticks versus big sticks and a windstorm when starting a fire.

Moose

We heard a loud splash, Linda looked up and the the next thing a I know she was saying over and over, "There's a moose." When I turned around, indeed there was a moose, and in the beaver pond right behind the coach.

Moose

While I took a few photos with my camera, Linda made a dash for the camcorder which was inside the coach. It also seemed like the moose had been on the bank of the pond, been startled and had jumped into the water. Soon Linda was back and started filming the action. The moose was in the process of heading across the pond towards the beaver dam, and on reaching it, emerged from the water.

Look

Maybe it was just as inquisitive about us as we were about it. After giving us that look, it looked further down the bank to where there were other people also taking its photo, gave them the same look, and proceeded to climb up and over the dam, disappearing into the thicket below.

Run

We'd had enough excitement for the time being, but some of the other people headed down the path beside the pond to hopefully keep it in view, My thought was that the poor animal was trying to get as far away as possible, and walked over towards the highway, thinking I might see it cross. Believe me, I was no where near the place the moose had crossed, especially after watching a Discovery Channel episode a few weeks ago about how unpredictable and dangerous these creatures can be. Still standing in the park, I noticed movement across the way, and low and behold, there was the moose, over on the far side, totting alongside the Alaska Highway. By the time I got my camera out it was a long way off, heading north towards Alaska.

The intermittent rain showers continued all day and evening, three loads of laundry had been done, shrimp, cole slaw and beans made for a great supper and Linda watched her moose video more than once. It was a day when things were "just right", not some super special day of lasting significance, just a day made us be glad to be living Life.

After bragging up Linda's moose video I'd better do something for her. She uploaded it to You Tube, and I'd be remiss if I didn't add a link to it.

 


June 4 Friday

Soaking in Laird Hot Springs.

Keeping with our plan to do as the Eagles say, "Take it easy", making sure the sound of our wheels won't make us crazy, today it was a short drive of a little over 70 miles to Laird River Hot Springs Provincial Park. We wanted to arrive early enough in the day to get in several soaking sessions in the warm sulfurous smelling water where in 1997, two people were killed in a bear attack. But first you have to get there, and along the way there was one very interesting place where we wanted to stop.

Fold

They are called the folded mountains, and if you look at the lines in the rock face it is easy to see why they are called that. 175 million years ago that mountain was part of the continental shelf, laying under the ocean, where the North American and Pacific plates were colliding. Fast forward, and today we see a mere remant of the mountains that were thrust up from that millions of years long colossal collision, one that saw these mountains rise up as high as the Himalayas are today. And we think we can attempt to control nature, I don't think so when it can generate forces capable of bending rock into pretzels.

Falls

Beauty seem to abound all around today, and it just wasn't Linda I'm talking about. When I turned around from looking at those folds, I could see a waterfall high up across the road. The only thing missing at this spot were any animals, though we did see our fair share again today. But since may have over done it on the animal front yesterday, no photos today, especially since there are enough other interesting things that happened.

Once we arrived at the Hot Springs we were instructed to go park in an open campsite, then walk back up and pay. We did all that, finding an absolute gem of a spot, and upon our return had an "interesting phenomenon" occur.

Ladder

On occasion our front door has been known to act up, refusing to open in the ordinary and customary manner. Once last summer it absolutely refused to co-operate and it was necessary to have our grandson, Zachary, climb in the window and open the door from the inside. He thought that was great. We thought that it was great he was there to do it. Today, it seemed to be happening again. No matter what we did, one of us pushing on the door near the latch as the other tried to open it or whatever, it simply refused to open.

Resigning myself to having to do what I really, really didn't want to do, I retrieved the ladder and prepared to see if I could manage to wiggle my aged and out of shape body through one of the windows, trusting I could get one open in the first place.

Door

As you can see, I was successful in opening the door, but there is more to the story than meets the eye. No, I didn't get stuck climbing through the window, nor did I take the easy way out and suggest that since Linda was so much slimmer than I was it would be far easier for lean lanky Linda than for rotund Robert to squirm through a window. Being the intelligent man that I am, I used brains instead of brawn. It was actually rather easy. I simply pressed the unlock button on my remote and the door unlocked. After that there was nothing to opening it. I think that is called a "Duh" moment. And no, I don't know why I didn't unlock it when we first came back, or why it never occurred to me it wasn't locked. Come to think of it, isn't Linda supposed to be the beautiful brainy one in the family? So why didn't she think of it?

Stand

All this was soon forgotten as we enjoyed the hot springs. Linda was really looking forward to it, and since she's someone who doesn't like things hot or cold, it was a real treat to see her go right in and enjoy herself. I got my share of soaking also, as you can see.

Soak

These are hot springs, not warm springs for a reason. As you move further away from the springs the water does seem warm, but right at the springs it is 126 degrees. And if you don't think that's hot, if you try it sometime you would think different. One of the rituals of the springs is to make an offering to the god/goddess of the springs. This entails placing a rock where the water pours out of the earth, which is the hottest place at the spring, the 126 degree place. Somehow or other we both managed to place an offering, not once, but twice!

Offering

The only photo is me making my second offering, but I can assure you that Linda was there twice also. The looks on all the men's faces when she did it was priceless. Especially since all of them had not been able to stand the heat and never made it. I think they were looking at that woman as someone not to trifle with. Heck I've known that for decades.

There are two pools at the springs, all the foregoing photos being of the lower one, which has a nice pebble bottom, and is only about waist deep. They have benches in the water to sit on, but we would just squat down. There is a sulfur smell in the air, but we quickly got accustomed to it. Anyone driving the highway really should stop for a soak even if you don't stay overnight. We also went up to the upper pool, which is closed in the fall because of bears, and had it all to ourselves. It is much deeper, so you can actually swim in it, which I did with great enjoyment. It is also not as warm as the lower pool, but it is just as relaxing, yet invigorating. We were so relaxed, and so invigorated that we back in the evening for another session.

Pool

All days are great, some greater than others, but on occasion you get one that you could rank as the "greaterest". This was one of those days. North to Alaska, Livin' Life to it's fullest.


June 5 Saturday

More soaking, animals along the road and a sign of the times.

Early this morning while the chill was still in the air, Linda was off to the hot springs for another soak, while I volunteered to put things away for the drive today and have breakfast ready to be cooked when she returned. While we are not normally hot springs people, having only ever soaked in one of them before, having the chance to really soak in this one over several days has been a refreshing experience to say the least. Whether one believes in the fact they are beneficial or not, I will say we both certainly feel better after a day of several soaks.

Eat

The morning was so pleasant that we ate our breakfast outside, surrounded by the forest, enjoying the wildflowers, being serenaded by the birds, and with a visit by a ground squirrel thrown in for good measure. As is our practice, we had another short day's drive planned, though with the stops we make along the way to sightsee, it makes it seem longer, yet we don't arrive tired from too many hours behind the wheel.

Road

With the Canadian Rockies behind us once again, the terrain is more rolling, and the forest at both sides of the road, though far back, gives the feeling you are driving through an endless tunnel. It wasn't long before Linda yelled out her famous cry, "There's a bear" and we were pulling off the road for some camera action.

Once she had the camcorder out, she took on the persona of a Hollywood director, and it wasn't long before I fully understood that the coach is not to move forward under any circumstances while she is shooting, with the exception of getting off the road, that is. Thankfully much of today's route had nice wide shoulders which made my job easier, which is to drive, then stop without going past the wildlife, pull off the road if at all possible, watch for traffic coming up behind us, and take still photos with my camera. I also learned that using the excuse after moving the coach, "But I was just trying to get us closer", doesn't cut any mustard with her. I did discover that letting her know ahead of time is okay, as long as she agrees to the movement. I figure it will only take me another month or so to get my role in this video stuff all figured out. I know in the movie credits they have one called - Best Boy - don't know what that is, but it sounds like something I should try to be.

Bear

What the object of all these goings on was, was another black bear. It had found a small pond off to the side of the road and was enjoying a stroll around the edge of it. We did see him put his mouth into the water like he was getting a drink, then continue walking with that peculiar rolling gait. Don't get the idea the bear was only a few feet away, he wasn't, and Linda was taking no chances, taking her video through the window beside her. Meanwhile I being far braver, eventually opened up the window near her computer to take some of my photos, though the bear was truly a long way off.

Distant

Even if we weren't seeing wildlife, the view was still interesting. This one has elements for both our former life and our current one. The black lines to the right being an sediment control device that I was familiar with in my former life, and the view with the bright yellow dandelions being something we have come to enjoy as we have travel north through Canada. One man's weed is another man's wildflower. With no yard to take care of, we are on the wildflower side of things.

Road

This still seems to be considered early season up here, and if that is the case, then even in the busy season I couldn't imagine traffic being too heavy on the road. We did notice a number of vehicles parked along side the road, and at first it threw us off, thinking that they were stopped to look at some wildlife. We soon learned that no one was in the vehicles, most of them cars, and tried to figure out what it was. We did see one fellow walking along carrying a plastic bucket so we thought maybe they were looking for mushrooms, but that is only a guess on our part.

Buffalo

They weren't the only ones alongside the road, and we weren't the only ones who looked at the lush green grass and bright yellow dandelions with delight. This fellow, who had a cow with him, was busy helping the highway department keep the grass cut short.

Photo

We did stop for sights other than just animals, or maybe I should say I stopped for sights other than animals. This one was to look at the small cairn you can see over Linda's shoulder. Somehow or other she got caught up in photographing a butterfly that just wouldn't hold still for her. It's things like this that we use the Milepost for, because as far back off the road as it sat, you would drive right on by without knowing it was there otherwise. That's the cairn, not the buttefly.

River

And had we not visited the cairn we wouldn't have noticed the dirt path that led out to a point overlooking the Liard River and taken in a view like this. We spent far longer here than we planned, but sometimes you just find one of natures little corners that are special.

Bear

It's a long ways off, and but thanks to a telephoto lens, here is our first grizzly. From the way Linda went into hyper-overdrive you'd think it was the first bear she had ever seen in the wild. Well it was her first grizzly bear sighting, other than when I've done something dumb and she happens to look in the mirror at herself, that is. Or at least to my way of thinking it is. The best part was when she started to shoot her video and I suggested she go outside, since she could get a better shot from there. You'd have thought I'd asked her to do something dangerous the way she reacted. If I'd have had hair, it would have all been blasted off from her retort.

That bear was so far away we could have sung the Star Spangled Banner before it got to us. Finally I went outside, showed her there was nothing to fear, partly because there were other people outside their vehicles and they were closer to the bear than we were, and partly because if we left the door open, she could be back inside in less than a second. She ended up taking so much video I finally had to ask her if she was done. As is nearly always the case, it was that first step that was the most difficult.

Signs

Eventually we arrived in Watson Lake, and got a site at the RV park across the street from the Sign Forest. It truly is a sign forest, and even though we had read about it and seen photos of it, it is one of those places that pictures truly can't do it justice. We could actually see some of the signs from the front door of the coach, but why look when in less than a minute you can be walking amongest them, so to say.

Once we had reconnoitered the forest, and with a great deal of skill located the spot we wanted to place our sign, it was time to make it. Linda had come up with the design, the piece of wood and the frame we were going to use. The frame was a family heirloom, having framed the front license plate on an old Ford van we bought new and drove until it literally died. Then we donated it to charity as we couldn't bear having it hauled off to the junkyard.

Carve

Linda did a great job of redrawing her design onto the piece of cedar fence board, then we cut it down to fit the frame. Yes I know we should have cut it down first, but when you're this excited you don't always think normally. I then surprised myself, and Linda too, with how easy the Dremal Tool made the job of carving out the sign. I had a large ball tipped cutter and it worked perfectly.

Mount

Then it was back to the sign forest to mount it. The place we had chosen was the side of the forest out beside the Alaskan Highway, and with the aid of our new ladder, plus me working one handed while I hung in for dear life, it was soon on display.

Sign

Linda proclaimed it to be the best sign in the entire forest. As for me, I was still trying to recover from the near death experience of mounting it.

Sign

The sign above it is the North's, Chuck and Lorraine, friends from Quartzsite, and nearby is the sign of Mark and Sue Didelot, also friends from Quartzsite.

Sign

These signs serve as a reminder of just how special the fulltime RV Life is. The forest of signs, with signs from all over the world, lets us know that wherever we are from, whatever our background or culture, in the end we are just human beings like everyone else. Another great day on the road.


June 6 Sunday

Big vistas once again, hiking to a waterfall, crossing the longest bridge on the Alcan, and a dinner that wasn't.

You are never at a loss for something to do in Watson Lake because you can always visit the sign forest and you will never see all the signs. That's what we did once again this morning. It was a bright, sunny Sunday morning, perfect for a walk in the forest. Besides signs they also have a display of old road building equipment and a fire engine, none of which we saw during our visit yesterday. see, I told you it was a big forest.

Excavator

There are over 68,000 signs here, and they come from all over the world. We were especially surprised at the number of signs from Germany. There are many specially made ones, but there are also many large signs that had to be brought over with the thought of placing them in the sign forest. This one from Dresden is an example. It also reminded us of the wonderful time we had visiting Germany in June of last year. And how could we ever forget the wonderful Silesian style cooking we so enjoyed during our visit to the Dresden area.

Sign

There are signs that were most likely appropriated from the outskirts of the city, town or village from whence they came. Another genre is the license plate, with some of the posts being decorated with nothing but license plates. The magnitude of homemade signs is almost overwhelming. From hand painted, near works of art to a cookie sheet written on with a magic marker. Plus there is everything in between. But if had to vote for the most ingenious application of object to signage, it would have to be this one.

Sign

I have to wonder if some people don't poo poo this sign, complaining it is just too crappy. Once we fought our way through the forest, we emerged at the Yukon Visitors Center. In retrospect we should have made it our first stop yesterday as the amount of knowledge and information they imparted to us will have us staying in the Yukon a little longer than we had planned.

Distant

Our day's travels took us back over the mountains once again, but the vistas that appeared before us were a never ending source of "Do you see that." It wasn't a big animal day but it didn't matter, and the only large animal we saw was a sight in itself, a very large moose running through a shallow roadside pond. No chance to take a photo but we both can still picture it in our minds. Speaking of pictures in the mind, it will probably take couple of days to rid my mind of the picture of this large piece of equipment that passed us on a long down grade. When we didn't find him in a pile at the bottom of the hill I decided he'd probably done this a few times in the past.

Road

About halfway, very, very roughly speaking, between Watson Lake and our destination for the day was Rancheria Falls. It had a secluded pulloff with Yukon sized potholes, but once you were in the parking area it was very nice. It was a short 10 minute walk to the falls, partly over a level trail, and the remainder on a boardwalk. After the spectacular falls we had visited with Dave and Jody last Sunday, this one was a bit of a disappointment. Still, the roar of the surging water crashing through the narrow defile, coupled with the brownish tannic acid stained water was more than worth the walk. Besides, I finally get to use a photo of me at one of these things instead of Linda.

Falls

As our day's drive came to a close, we crossed the longest bridge on the Alaskan Highway at Teslin. We saw it as we were coming down the steep grade towards the river, and had even marked in the Milepost the scenic overlook that we wanted to stop at to take a photo on the way down. Unfortunately with the steepness of the grade, the fact we were both looking into the river valley at the scene unfolding before us and that the signs for the pulloff were just before you needed to pull off; I hit the brakes, thought about turning in, saw the gravel lot and decided that this scenic overlook was one we were not going to be stopping at.

Bridge

Our plans had been to stop at a famous restaurant along the road just beyond Teslin called Mukaluk Annies, it was famous for its salmon dinners and the accompanying free overnight boondocking spot in their large lot. The bad news was that the place was closed, the good news was we learned it while we were in town, and with a quick turn of the steering wheel, we were soon headed back towards the bridge and the only RV park nearby. The biggest disappointment was that we had both really been looking forward to eating that salmon dinner. But sometimes that is the way it is traveling down the road, but as long as we remember there is always something else around the next bend in the road, all will be well in the end. And it was for us.


June 7 Monday

A day of rest and changing plans.

You never know what the day will bring when you get up as a fulltimer, and today was a day when things weren't as they seemed. We had planned to drive to Whitehorse today, then spend two or three days there before moving on. It is the capital of the Territory, and there would be many places to visit and things to do. Then it hit us, did we need to go?

Some people are more comfortable if they make reservations ahead, others say they never know which direction they are going that day. We, like what we'd like to think are most people, are somewhere between the two extremes. We were feeling the affects of the long hours of sunlight. Translation: short nights of sleep. We had traveled six of the last seven days, something we rarely, if ever do. We were getting tired and the state of testiness was at or beyond pressure relief pop off valve levels. You might want to read between the lines there.

Again speaking to each other once again this morning, we jointly concluded that a change in plan was in order. First we decided to stay put for the day, each of us relaxing and if we did anything, it would be minor and within walking distance. I think we both wished the magic mystical fairy would appear and transport us back to Imperial Dam or Mexico for a week, but that wasn't going to happen.

What we came up with was the possibility of a vacation. Tomorrow we will travel to Carcross, Yukon, then do a day trip down to Skagway in the Explorer. Check things out, which if we like Skagway, we will take the coach down the following day and stay for a while. From Skagway we can visit Haines, Juneau and Glacier Bay. In other words, take a vacation, after all it has been 11 months since our last one. A year ago we were in Berlin, Germany, and about to leave for Poland, so how hard can doing the normal vacation thing in Alaska be?

We did do a few things today, but most of the time each of us just did our own thing. Among those things was a little maintenance that we do every time we stop. Clean the bugs off the windshield. Today I managed to clean the front of the coach while Linda worked on high. [Good job, Bob]

Wash

Later we walked up to the bridge, the one that is the longest on the Alaska Highway. It's deck is a metal grating and when you drive a car across it tends to throw you from side to side. It is the eeriest feeling, like you have no control over where the vehicle is going. We've driven over a lot of metal grated bridges, but never one like this. Up close we saw the reason, the openings are huge. Here is Linda's hand on the grating to give an idea of just how big the openings are.

Grating

I can't imagine what it would be like to ride a motorcycle across it. And with narrow lanes and no sidewalk, how do bicycles go across? Guess they're just more of life's mysteries that we may never have answers to.

Fun

There is not much to do in Teslin, but if you look hard enough you'll find something. Out front of the RV park there is a sign for a Wildlife Museum, and sure enough there is one. Sort of a combo deal of Wildlife Gallery, Post Office, and souvenir shop. Teslin is such a friendly place even the animals are prone to cuddle up to you, like this one Linda made friends with out the door. Okay, maybe it isn't real, but that big beautiful smile on her face speaks volumes.

Bear

They keep all the ferocious bears inside, like this grizzly. It was actually a very well done exhibit, and you couldn't beat the no cost admission. We also appreciated the fact most of the merchandise in the souvenir shop was actually of very good quality. We especially like places where the jewelry and other craft items are hand made by native craftspeople. This one one of those places and it took both willpower and the where are we going to put it arguments to prevent our buying something. Something tells me that if we come by here on our way south, something just may find its way into the coach.

Dessert

We had read about the rhubarb pie the restaurant near the RV park served, and would you know it, luck was with us and at 4 o'clock we got the last piece. Linda lovingly carried it back to the coach, afterall, how would you carry a $5.20 piece of pie, and no sooner had it hit the counter than we both had a fork out and a bite in our mouth. It was only then that we thought of taking a photo. It was also then that we agreed it was worth every penny we had paid.

Tomorrow will be interesting as we institute our change in plans, but isn't that how one should live Life?


June 8 Tuesday

Moving west and a day trip

The scenery up here isn't always just wide vistas, snow capped mountains, wildlife along the highway or the seemingly endless miles of forest. Neither is visiting here merely driving the enormous distances, migrating from town to town, stopping to hike to a waterfall, or visit a museum. Sometimes it is a simple as sitting at the table in your RV in the morning and looking out the window.

Lake

Just like that duck, we were in no hurry to do something this morning, the drive was going to be short, as is our custom, though we were going to be leaving the Alaska Highway for the first time. Yukon has a population of only 33,000, which is 1/10 the population of Wyoming the least populous state. Yet it would rank third in size of the states between Texas and California. In other words there are more frost heaves and patches on the roads than there are vehicles.

Repair

That sign with the 15 on it is the speed limit at the construction site. 15 km/h which is 10 mph. That is slow, but then the workers don't have to be as concerned about the traffic. This repair was on the Alaska Highway, but soon we had turned off Yukon Hwy 1 (The Alaska Hwy) onto Yukon Hwy 8, and just so you know, the Yukon Hwy numbers only go up to 11 on the Yukon map we are using.

This road is a cutoff that lets you drive to Carcross if you're coming from the south without going to Whitehorse and backtracking. It's a little narrower than the Alcan, but there is the benefit of virtually no traffic. The one thing that doesn't change is the scenery and also the splattering of bugs on the windshield.

View

As we were just lazying along, going about 70 kp/h, we again saw signs marking an upcoming construction zone, this time with the words, loose gravel. It was a very true statement, but they left out the "kilometers and kilometers of loose gravel. Some of that gravel in the construction zone, which means an area where they are reworking and re-compacting the gravel, while others were simply gravel sections of the road.

Where they have very recently reworked the gravel, the roadway is smooth and dust free. Where they haven't it is a dust bowl. The road completely disappears behind you, but it also gives you fair warning of oncoming traffic long before they reach you. It was enough so that Linda stopped reading the Milepost and started looking for oncoming dust clouds.

Book

We did meet an RV on this stretch, and believe me, both of us we going mighty slow when we passed each other, yet there was still a dust cloud present. This truck didn't slow down much and you can get an idea of what we drove through after he passed by. Linda's exclamation of, "I smell dust" was right on, which we did for some time, besides driving through the lingering cloud.

Pass

Here is what the hood of the Explorer looked like when we stopped for the day at the RV park.

Dust

In the afternoon we decided to take a day trip to visit the United States, make some reservations for our upcoming vacation, and let Linda relive a few memories of Skagway. The highway bridge in Carcross, where we are staying was being repaired as we crossed it. Two men in the middle of it, one watching for traffic, the other re-nailing the boards of the bridge deck. Rather a low key method of highway repair.

Nail

We did see another grizzly shortly after crossing the bridge, and since I've already posted enough closeups of bears, here is a Linda eye view of me and that bear.

Bear

Further on there was another of those gravel reworking projects, for which I've probably posted enough photos for this trip already. The one thing we learned from this encounter is that the super glue folks might want to reconsider their formulation and include a little of this liquid/gravel mixture. When it dries it has definite strength and adhesive properties worthy of a premium product.

Pass

Just to prove we were actually in Skagway, this looking down Broadway toward the cruise ship dock.

Street

Just to prove we are not lazy, and give you an idea of how our internal clocks seem to be set on the hours of daylight, which it always seems to be now, at 10 o'clock I decided I'd better wash the dust and as I was learn, the gravel cement, off the Explorer. I was soon joined by Linda and that allowed both of us to get our exercise for the day.

Tomorrow we are moving down to Skagway and will not have any satellite Internet or wifi at the RV Park for the week we will be there. Will try to get to the Library and use the wifi to post. Will also be going down to Juneau for a couple of days during that time. Hey, it's a vacation, we're going to enjoy ourselves, and a daily posting of the Daily Journal isn't going to come at the top of the list of things to do.


June 9 Wednesday

South to Alaska and enjoying Skagway

The entire family was up early this morning, excited about our upcoming trip down south to Skagway, Alaska. The forecast calls for clear skies and temperatures in the upper 60's and lower 70's. At least it does for a few days, with nice weather once again returning after a cooler, rainy Saturday and Sunday.

With only three RV parks in Skagway, one of which appeared to be rather rundown, one with FHU's but away from the downtown area, and one right at the cruise ship port, but with water and electric only, picking the one we wanted to stay at was easy. It also meant a little work before we left Carcross, as empty gray and black tanks would need to be the order of the day. That should also give a big clue as to which RV park we will be staying at.

Dump

With the hour time change between Carcross and Skagway we weren't in any hurry to leave, so we did a little sightseeing around town. At first it doesn't look like much, but a stop by the temporary Visitor Center, the permanent one was closed for some upcoming asbestos removal, helped us discover the many things that make places like these more than something that flashes by as you travel down the road.

The way Linda gets excited anytime we are around gold country, I bet she'd have been here during the Klondike gold rush, and knowing her it wouldn't have been washing clothes and ironing. The main road bypasses Carcross, and if you don't pay attention, you could miss the turnoff as your attention would likely be focused on the mountains to the side or the wooden decked bridge on the main road.

Pans

It's one of those places that a little wandering goes a long ways in making discoveries, though the town walking tour brochure sure does help. Linda just had to have her photo taken by these three gold pans. Much of the town dates from the very early 1900's and includes Skookum Jim's house, he being one of the three men who first discovered the Klondike gold. All we could do was look at it, but for the history lover I am, it was enough, so between the gold pans and the house we were both happy, everything else in town was pure gravy.

View

We enjoyed the town so much that the time just got away from us and though we'd planned to leave about 10, it was after 11 until we were ready to pull out. This later than anticipated departure was not at all due to the fact Linda need to get her Yukon visitors book stamped at the visitors center and the Post Office, it was actually because of my need to see too many historical sites in town. With that cleared up, we can get back to what happened when we were leaving, which was one the people staying in the park came up to me while we were making our last minute checks and asked if our satellite was supposed to be stowed like it was.

Up

Glad he said something, because in my haste to leave, we being late on account of my lingering too long in town, I had disconnected the electric cord before the MotoSat had finished stowing. It also gave us a chance to check out how our rock guard between the coach and the Explorer was going to work.

Guard

After realizing the attaching bungy cords are to allow the guard to pivot when going around corners, not to hold it rigidly in place, it appeared to function in the way intended. Once we hit those gravel sections of road today we would know for sure. And as we learned, it worked exactly as designed and constructed by Mark from landscape fabric, PVC pipe, grommets and bungy cords. And thanks Chuck, for giving the one you used last year to us at quartzsite to use this year.

View

We were once again awed by the drive to Skagway, and as Linda has said a number of times, it is by far the most beautiful road we have traveled on since quiting our previous life to live this Life. For me there were a couple of times in Europe that may have been more spectacular, but this drive definitely beats anything we've seen in North America. Of course at other times of year it would look different, particularly as the snow continues to recede in the summer months. We're just glad to be here now instead of later in the summer.

Road

With gates used to close the road and arms extending out from the side, which we guessed were to guide the snow removal equipment and help motorists know where the road goes during heavy snow conditions, now is probably close to the best time of the year for the drive. Of course one could also say it is so spectacular that anytime of the year would be a great time to drive it.

Going through US customs was easy, no line, a couple of questions, and then we were headed down the steep, twisty road towards Skagway. Linda thinks I drive too fast at times. The speed limit is 40, the exhaust brake kept us at 35, there was no problem. Maybe it's just that she doesn't like heights, though lord knows I've dragged her up to the top of enough mountains over the years. We go down this road perfectly safe in the RV and she's got to hold onto the driver side of her seat when she leans over to look out her side window.

Map

Once we got into Skagway itself, our GPS started throwing a fit telling us we weren't on the route it wanted us on. As it shows, we were the car and the pink line was where it wanted us, so at every intersection it was telling us to turn left. The only problem was there was no parallel road to the left for us to drive on, at least until we drove further into town. Broadway is for tourists to walk up and down, State is for locals to drive up and down, and it's also the main road into town. Who knows, maybe the GPS was gawking at the beautiful scenery and got lost on the drive down.

Below is what it looked like driving on Second Street.

Street

And this is what the view looked like once we were parked in our site. This is obviously the RV park that is located at the cruise ship dock.

Front

That front view was just of the bow of a ship, here is what it looks like from the side.

Side

Yes, there are two ships tail to nose in front of us. Within any given half hour there are probably more people waking past where we are, out on the side walk side of the coach, than we have seen total in the last three weeks, yet unless we look over there we don't see them.

Coach

Side view of the coach with two more cruise ships in the distance, meaning there are a total of four in port today. It also gives you an idea of what the RV spaces look like. White lines on the parking lot, water and electric hookups, and what is really a bit of seclusion in a swirl of humanity. The photo is taken up on the side walk where the cruise ship passengers walk into town. Then there is the occasional passerby who thinks they're taking a short cut by walking down what appears to be a road to the right of the coach, only to return after learning too late it is only the entrance to the boat ramp. Linda, while outside the coach, really got a kick out of overhearing a conversation of a couple, both loaded down with shopping bags, who'd tried it. I'll just say Linda reported they were not happy campers, not at all.

Something else that passes by the coach is the White Pass and Yukon trains that are hauling cruise ship passengers up the mountain on a sightseeing trip. They have to go past us to get to the ships. Here she is reliving memories of ten years go when she was a cruise ship passenger along with here sister doing that very same thing as the train returns to the ship.

Watching

Skagway is a walking town, so we set out to do some walking. We are less than ten minutes from the airport, and in fact there has been many a time we've walked far longer distances inside a airport terminal to get to a gate than the distance from the coach to the Skagway airport. Once you get there, you can get to either the counter or the gate in less than 5 seconds. We bought tickets to fly down to Juneau, then walked to the ferry terminal, which is less than five minutes from the coach, to get tickets on the ferry back from Juneau. The joys of a small town.

Next we did the cruise ship thing and walked up Broadway, getting in some shopping. That's not looking, that's not buying, that's honest to goodness shopping. No money exchanged hands, but we do have a better idea of what we might buy later during our stay. Believe it or not, there are some things which are reasonably priced, though we did get an occasional laugh at what we saw the cruise ship passengers buying.

Relax

All that purchasing of future transportation and arduous shopping fatigued us to the point that a bit of relaxation was in order. As we said, "Here's to you John!" And did those mojito's ever hit the spot. During our walk back to the coach we stumbled upon another drinking establishment, this one very closely resembling the early 1900's Skagway saloon, The Mascot. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the photo below and saw a person I thought I knew reflected in the mirror, who seemed to be engaged in conversation with the two gentleman at the other end of the bar. Why such a gentlewoman would ever be in such a place to begin with, and what she might have been saying to those gentlemen is another of those unanswerable questions of Life.

Fun

On the way back to the coach we watched a bald eagle soaring overhead, then later saw the cruise ships back away from the dock, turn and leave. Tomorrow we are off on our Juneau adventure, but for today, all we can say is: Life is great.


June 10 Thursday

South to Juneau

For the second day in a row the entire family was up early this morning, excited about an upcoming trip. This afternoon we fly down to Juneau where we will spend the next few days, before coming back on the ferry Saturday evening. Linda was in Juneau on the cruise she took 10 years ago, and after how excited she got telling how much she enjoyed it at the time, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It will also allow us to get away for a few days, and recharge our batteries.

Linda had all the packing well in hand, she just repeated our packing for our three plus months in Europe last year, but on a smaller scale as we would only be taking one partially filled backpack and one daypack.

Pack

The morning went really smoothly, breakfast done, Daily Journal written, Linda off to buy dramamine for the flight, and then making the short walk to the airport. Well not quite off to the airport. When I went to lock the deadbolt on the coach the key wouldn't fit. Something is seriously wrong here, finally it hits me, I'm trying to use it on the door latch, not the deadbolt. Talk about feeling stupid. Linda was a good sport about it even though it was going to make us arrive a few minutes late. No hour before flight time here, 30 minutes is fine,.

Door

At the airport things were very low key, or maybe the word is non-key. We walk up to the counter and the lady at the counter greets us by name, asks if we have any luggage, a few key strokes, we hand her nothing, she hands us nothing, and we're done. A little later another nice young lady comes out from behind the counter, says to follow her, and the next thing we are outside the terminal and boarding the plane. It was like it used to be years ago, when in that other life I lived, I seemed to spend more time on airplanes than I did at home. Our plane was this Cessna aircraft with the pretty model posing beside it.

Leave

The flight was great, with awesome views of mountains and glaciers. Nothing like a small single engine plane where all the seats are window seats. I also noted that the portion of the cabin devoted to freight was as large or larger than the passenger portion. And our pilot resembled a grizzled old bush pilot straight out of Hollywood, but he obviously knew his business.

Pilot

I'm not sure which glacier this one is. It was a little north of Juneau, was a long distance from the water, yet had a large lake in front of it, so it was probably Mendenhall. Whatever glacier it was, it had to be enormous to be as big as it was from so far away.

Glacier

As we left the plane we were told our baggage would soon be brought inside the terminal. It was, they pushed the two carts inside and in short order, after a call on the courtesy phone, we were being picked up by the motel's shuttle. Our first order of business was to get something to eat, and so we selected some regional cuisine, Russian Dumplings. Don't forget, Alaska once belong to Russia until Seward's Purchase.

Food

I chose mine with curry and hot sauce. Linda went without, then after she tasted hers, she added some hot sauce. It goes back to that old fear she has that hot sauce is just that, hot. Me, I'm a spicy taste guy, not a hot spice guy. Won't see me eating hot peppers to prove who I am. I know that, and I'm long past having to prove it to others. Afterall, if Linda can have put with me all these years, I can't have been that bad could I. I believe that is called rationalization.

Hers

One is mine, one is hers. Isn't to hard to guess which is which. Hole in the wall kind of place where great tasting, inexpensive food is the order of the day. It reminded us very much of some of the great food we enjoyed in Poland last summer.

His

Linda loved all the animals we found outside the stores in the cruise ship shopping area. It was basically anything to get your attention to draw you into the store. Just like in Skagway, there is the obvious friction between the long time Alaskan storekeepers and the newer people. Many stores have an Alaskan owned and operated sign out front, often with the number of years they've owned it displayed. To Linda, a fuzzy animal is just that, and she was glad to pose no matter who owned the store, shopping was a different matter, and with that we were selective. On one side we would see the hard sell, on the other a store where they were glad we had stopped by. Let you guess which was which. Diamonds, Tanzanite, rugs from Istanbul, no thank you.

Bear

The bears in town were very friendly, and this fella even posed with Linda. I also caught her snuggling up to a moose and an eagle, but there is only so much time I can spend of the Daily Journal. We had a great time doing the sightseeing thing around town, part of which was cruise ship passenger watching. All that made for two hungry people, and eventually we made our way to Tracy's King Crab Shack, for a bowl of hot crab bisque on a cold night. It might be an outdoor place, but with food as good as it was, who cares about the setting. As you can see, there was some serious crab in that bisque.

Crab

While we were out, I decided to go ahead and buy a rain parka I had seen earlier in the day. Later, when we were a long way from where we were staying, doing some looking, when we came out of a store to discover it was raining. That was the signal to head towards the motel. Before long it had changed from a slight mist to a slow steady rain. That new rain parka sure came in handy.

Rain

Gentleman that I'm, I allowed she who was getting wet to have the new parka, the rational being that I had a hat on so I wasn't getting wet. It had been a great day, we really enjoyed the flight down, the motel room was a small efficiency, everything was within easy walking distance, and we were prepared for the rain. It looks like it's going to be a great little vacation.


June 10 Thursday

South to Juneau

For the second day in a row the entire family was up early this morning, excited about an upcoming trip. This afternoon we fly down to Juneau where we will spend the next few days, before coming back on the ferry Saturday evening. Linda was in Juneau on the cruise she took 10 years ago, and after how excited she got telling how much she enjoyed it at the time, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It will also allow us to get away for a few days, and recharge our batteries.

Linda had all the packing well in hand, she just repeated our packing for our three plus months in Europe last year, but on a smaller scale as we would only be taking one partially filled backpack and one daypack.

Pack

The morning went really smoothly, breakfast done, Daily Journal written, Linda off to buy dramamine for the flight, and then making the short walk to the airport. Well not quite off to the airport. When I went to lock the deadbolt on the coach the key wouldn't fit. Something is seriously wrong here, finally it hits me, I'm trying to use it on the door latch, not the deadbolt. Talk about feeling stupid. Linda was a good sport about it even though it was going to make us arrive a few minutes late. No hour before flight time here, 30 minutes is fine.

Door

At the airport things were very low key, or maybe the word is non-key. We walk up to the counter and the lady at the counter greets us by name, asks if we have any luggage, a few key strokes, we hand her nothing, she hands us nothing, and we're done. A little later another nice young lady comes out from behind the counter, says to follow her, and the next thing we are outside the terminal and boarding the plane. It was like it used to be years ago, when in that other life I lived, I seemed to spend more time on airplanes than I did at home. Our plane was this Cessna aircraft with the pretty model posing beside it.

Leave

The flight was great, with awesome views of mountains and glaciers. Nothing like a small single engine plane where all the seats are window seats. I also noted that the portion of the cabin devoted to freight was as large or larger than the passenger portion. And our pilot resembled a grizzled old bush pilot straight out of Hollywood, but he obviously knew his business.

Pilot

I'm not sure which glacier this one is. It was a little north of Juneau, was a long distance from the water, yet had a large lake in front of it, so it was probably Mendenhall. Whatever glacier it was, it had to be enormous to be as big as it was from so far away.

Glacier

As we left the plane we were told our baggage would soon be brought inside the terminal. It was, they pushed the two carts inside and in short order, after a call on the courtesy phone, we were being picked up by the motel's shuttle. Our first order of business was to get something to eat, and so we selected some regional cuisine, Russian Dumplings. Don't forget, Alaska once belong to Russia until Seward's Purchase.

Food

I chose mine with curry and hot sauce. Linda went without, then after she tasted hers, she added some hot sauce. It goes back to that old fear she has that hot sauce is just that, hot. Me, I'm a spicy taste guy, not a hot spice guy. Won't see me eating hot peppers to prove who I am. I know that, and I'm long past having to prove it to others. Afterall, if Linda can have put with me all these years, I can't have been that bad could I. I believe that is called rationalization.

Hers

One is mine, one is hers. Isn't to hard to guess which is which. Hole in the wall kind of place where great tasting, inexpensive food is the order of the day. It reminded us very much of some of the great food we enjoyed in Poland last summer.

His

Linda loved all the animals we found outside the stores in the cruise ship shopping area. It was basically anything to get your attention to draw you into the store. Just like in Skagway, there is the obvious friction between the long time Alaskan storekeepers and the newer people. Many stores have an Alaskan owned and operated sign out front, often with the number of years they've owned it displayed. To Linda, a fuzzy animal is just that, and she was glad to pose no matter who owned the store, shopping was a different matter, and with that we were selective. On one side we would see the hard sell, on the other a store where they were glad we had stopped by. Let you guess which was which. Diamonds, Tanzanite, rugs from Istanbul, no thank you.

Bear

The bears in town were very friendly, and this fella even posed with Linda. I also caught her snuggling up to a moose and an eagle, but there is only so much time I can spend of the Daily Journal. We had a great time doing the sightseeing thing around town, part of which was cruise ship passenger watching. All that made for two hungry people, and eventually we made our way to Tracy's King Crab Shack, for a bowl of hot crab bisque on a cold night. It might be an outdoor place, but with food as good as it was, who cares about the setting. As you can see, there was some serious crab in that bisque.

Crab

While we were out, I decided to go ahead and buy a rain parka I had seen earlier in the day. Later, when we were a long way from where we were staying, doing some looking, when we came out of a store to discover it was raining. That was the signal to head towards the motel. Before long it had changed from a slight mist to a slow steady rain. That new rain parka sure came in handy.

Rain

Gentleman that I'm, I allowed she who was getting wet to have the new parka, the rational being that I had a hat on so I wasn't getting wet. And yes, that is the yellow price tag still on it, but she is nice and dry. It had been a great day, we really enjoyed the flight down, the motel room was a small efficiency, everything was within easy walking distance, and we were prepared for the rain. It looks like it's going to be a great little vacation.


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