0024 Sat 31st May - Fairbanks

It was not the most exciting weather in Fairbanks today, so it was about 11 am before we started with a bit of fun with the tow truck man trying to load Arie’s camper onto his tray without ripping the exhaust off, while Arie scratching his head in disbelief at the whole saga, and then Arie and Raya having to climb up into the truck before they all disappeared down the road !!!

0023 30th May - Denali to Fairbanks

We had used the “blue loo” tent for the first time last night – Having carried it around for not only here for a month, but also half way round Australia for 2 months !  It is one of those things that are so cleverly designed that they put themselves up, but you try folding them down again so they will fit in their bag !  After some 30 minutes, I had succeeded in folding it up once in the quiet of our living room in Queensland, but that was 8 months ago !  So this morning, we had a bit of fun !   Suddenly, after about half an hour of increasing steam rising above over our camp site, it went together and we quickly out it back in its bag before it could unfold itself again !!!

We had finally found internet that worked down in the Camp Mercantile (ie shop !!), so for an hour or two this morning I had been getting as much blog done as I could.  But by about 9 am, everyone else was starting to log on, and the connection started dropping out every 5 minutes, so I gave up.  That was when I went to fight the “blue loo” tent !!

0022 28th / 29th May - Denali

Up by 7 am to a partly cloudy and cold day, and Janet even got breakfast and a cup of tea in bed !!  Then it was a 5 minute was up to the park road to catch our shuttle bus up to Mile 56.

The bus was about 2/3rds full – They are basically US school buses – Green ones for the cheaper shuttle buses where you take your own food and drink and can get on or off whenever you want, or more luxurious cream coloured ones (but still school buses !) for twice the price, and a packed lunch and a tour guide there and back. We went green, and took our own sandwiches, and the bus driver is as good as any tour guide, and still stops for all the animal sightings along the way, just like the cream buses !

 

0021 May 27th - Anchorage to Denali

Wet wet wet.  And cloudy.   That about describes most of the trip to Denali, which was a real shame because the views of the Denali mountains as you drive north can be stunning on a clear day.

We had checked the weather forecast in Anchorage and in addition to the fires in the Kenai, the forecast for the next several days was rain, but better weather forecast for the north.  So we decided to head for Denali and Fairbanks and see how we got on.  So when we encountered steady rain soon after leaving Anchorage, we were a bit disappointed, to say the least. But hey, this is Alaska, and you really can have 4 Seasons in One Day here, even more so than in Melbourne ! 

0020 26th May - Valdez to Anchorage

Yesterday we had a quiet day in Valdez, doing laundry, going to the grocery store, showering in lovely hot showers after having been out in remote / no service campsites for the past couple of days !  We went to the museum, which was fascinating, particularly the details about the 1964 earthquake and tsunami which had wiped out the original town of Valdez, and also about the Exxon Valdez oilspill, which is still a central point of the modern history of Valdez.  We also went to a funny store that advertised free movies about both disasters, but which turned out to be a small TV stuck in the corner of a thrift store !   We watched for about 5 minutes before leaving !!  Then in the evening we treated ourselves to a delicious halibut meal at a local restaurant – Although Janet’s initially came out a lot undercooked, but after a return visit to the kitchen, turned out to be almost as delicious as mine ! So a quiet day in Valdez after over 3 weeks of non stop travel.

0019 24th May - McCarthy to Valdez

Blog to follow

Pics are here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0019McCarthyToValdez?authkey=Gv1sRgCKHB39CYvJSIowE#

0018 23rd May - Wrangell St E to McCarthy

Very cold when we woke up, so it took a while to have our breakfast and get going !!  We then went for a walk around the area, and the pretty lake with lots of ducks on that was right beside the camp site.  This Wrangell St Elias National Park is enormous

and very undeveloped from a tourist point of view – In fact, it makes Denali look a bit like a Butlin’s holiday camp !!  With only two access rough dirt roads (this one to Nebesna and another further west to McCarthy), motorhomes and caravans just can’t easily get in, and even 4 WD’s are not that common,  mainly because there are very few facilities in the park, so people who want hot showers and flushing toilets really are not going there !  But I had heard so much about it, and was not able to get in 2 years ago in the Lotus, so when we had met Chris and Katheryn on the ferry coming up a few days ago and they were going to work there,  and now the weather was fine, we had decided to go for it.  And were very happy that we did – this Nebesna road was great.  Nebesna was originally a gold mine site, and had been abandoned in about the 1940’s, although the mine is still privately owned and worked on a small scale.  Other people come in here for the hunting and the fishing, which is apparently some of the best in the world. 

0017 22nd May - Beaver Ck to Wrangel St Elias

When we woke up it was sleeting quite hard.  Not settling, but just wet and yucky  – Must be something about Beaver Creek because I had 2 inches of snow overnight 2 years ago.  But it wasn’t too bad a pack up – Except for the cold.  Once our hands got wet, they quickly got cold, and at one point we had to go to the bathrooms to warm them up under the hot water tap !!  But by fairly good planning and getting things done in the correct order, we didn’t really get wet, so all my planning for enabling a wet packup without too much difficulty worked.  I knew I was going to have wet weather on this trip, and after the last trip I had tried so hard to design the rear tent and awning etc to ensure it was possible to could pack up while remaining fairly dry.  So, mission fairly well accomplished.

We rewarded ourselves with a big fry up breakfast at Buckshot Betty’s, and it was YUMMY !!

0016 21st May - Haines Junction to Beaver Creek

A good night using the warm laundry room to sit and do blogs etc, and the wifi to post everything and get up to date – at last !!

Fine when we woke up, so packed up, had a chat to some other campers also en route to Alaska, and then went over to the local bakery for breakfast.  By then it was getting a bit late so we set off north (on the infamous Alcan Highway for the first time) towards Beaver Creek in the Yukon.

0015 20th May - Haines to Haines Junction

It was about 11 am by the time we got off in Haines, and the weather was trying to rain quite hard, so I knew straight away from my last visit that after a quick look at the very little Haines had to offer, we would probably head north straight away.  So instead of turning left into Haines, I turned left off the ferry and we went about 8 miles east to the Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Site.  Last time there had been a number of Eagles there, and some people had seen bears as well, so I decided a quick visit was worthwhile, despite the weather.  No eagles, and no bears,  but very scenic, and Janet’s first taste of Alaska.  We also found a great campsite at the end of the road, but a bit early for that, especially in the rain.  So we then wandered back into Haines for a look around.

0014 19th May - Juneau to Haines

Unfortunately we didn’t manage to stay asleep until the alarm went off at 3.00 am.  I was reading at 2 am, and then Janet thought she heard some spots of rain, so we decided to get up straight away in case it rained harder.  Packing up Troopie is really a matter of doing everything in order, then it works really well.  I sleep up in the ”top bunk” so I get up first, roll up my sleeping bag etc, and then slide the mattresses and sleeping platform forward over the cab, so Janet then has more headroom in the “lower bunk” and can stand up and get herself sorted out.  Meanwhile I am outside making a cup of tea using the thermos that we boil last thing at night, and which is still scalding hot more than 12 hours later. Doing everything in order means we can actually get up and pack up almost without having to go outside until we absolutely have to.  Anyway, this morning we packed up pretty quickly and saved the cup of tea until we got to the ferry terminal.

0013 17-18th May - To Sitka and back

Not being able to take our car to Sitka and just going as walk on passengers due to the over-full ferries did have one advantage – we only needed to be at the ferry terminal one hour before departure, and not 2 hours, so we got to “sleep in” !!  Woke up at 5 am, got up at 5.30, and it was cool – About 8 deg C.  But blue skies yet again. 

We managed to get out of the campsite by 6.15, and were down at the ferry terminal by 6.30.  And it must be our day – There was just one parking spot available, and we got it !!  A quick banana for breakfast as we walked across the car park to our hi-speed catamaran ferry, the Fairweather.  Much smaller than our other ferries, but newer, so very nice inside.  We had met a family in the campsite yesterday who had come over for a chat and to look at Troopie, and they live in Sitka and were going to be on the same morning ferry to Sitka.   So we saw them as they drove onto the ferry with their van, and spent some time talking to them on the ferry.  Great meeting you all and thanks for the information about Sitka, Carin, Bill and Ryan and Tim.  Whenever I hear of Sitka now I will wonder how you guys are doing !!

0012 16th May - Juneau Day 2

Once again a fairly late start – We must try to get moving earlier !!  But we both seem to sleep well in the van, and it is always harder to get up when it is cold outside your sleeping bag !!

First of all we had to run around some more to find wifi to finalise hotels and ferries, and then we decided to go into Juneau to see what it was like with 3 cruise ships in town.  The ships dock right beside the road in Juneau, and it is quite imposing to drive down the little streets and have the ships towering over you.  I can only imagine what it must be like with 6 or 7 of them docked all at once.  And all the places we had had to ourselves yesterday were now swarming with tourists – I won’t say any more but suffice it to say we didn’t even stop the car !  Just took a few photos from Douglas Island and drove back out of town.

0011 15th May - Juneau Day 1

Very pleasant campsite – And we had a bit of a lazy morning !  Despite our plan to stay at Mendenhall,  the attraction of wifi to enable me to catch up on my blog is just too attractive so we scheduled a second night.

We then wandered into town to look around.  Downtown Juneau is about 10 miles up the road, and quite tiny.  We had been advised by Corinna to get in there before the first cruiseships of the day which were due at 2 pm, so we crossed the bridge across to Douglas Island to take some photos of Juneau town, and then drove up to “The North End” – Where the road stops about 5 miles past downtown. (Juneau may not be an island, but it has no road connection with the outside world !!)   We then came back and parked to go up Mt Roberts on the cable car – Or tram as it is called locally. 

0010 13th May - Prince Rupert to Juneau

Once we had boarded our Alaska Marine Highway ferry Matanuska at about 5 pm, we settled in to our cabin, then had a beer in the bar before having some Salmon for dinner (what else ? !).  Our friends Raya and Arie were on board, headed for Skagway, and our new friends from the campsite, Chris and Katheryn,  were also on board, so we swapped stories for a while, also chatting with Joe who was on a bucket list journey and getting off at first stop in Ketchikan to go fishing, before heading on up to Anchorage in his Prius where we hope to catch up with him again.  As dark descended we kept talking because we were due into Ketchikan at 11.30 pm, and didn’t want to miss anything !  Putting the clocks back an hour for Alaskan time meant we were pretty tired by the time we docked, and soon after that we went to bed.  It was raining in Ketchikan, but as it does that for most of the year, that was not surprising !  Still not very cold though.

0009 12th May - Prince Rupert

We arrived in Prince Rupert at about 4 pm on Sunday 11^th May.  We found our way down to Cow Bay (really !) and the Information Centre, despite their signs pointing to the left when they we actually located down to the right !  The joy of travelling !!  We also went in to an Adventure Tour office hoping for a tour out to a nearby Grizzly Bear Reserve, but they had done one the day before, and didn’t have another one scheduled until a week later !   Rats.

The Information centre didn’t seem to know much, except that the campsite in the Prudhomme Lake Provincial Park was open a week earlier than advertised due to the warmer weather, so we headed the 16 kms out of town and found a delightful park in a forest on the edge of a lake.  No facilities, but we have our own, and it was not raining ……yet !!

Pleasant evening, being entertained by a Stellar’s Blue Jay which decided to enjoy our bowl of nuts !

Glass of wine, nice meal, and early to bed as Janet hadn’t slept very well on the ferry.

0008 11th May - On board Northern Adventure to Prince Rupert

Woke up to the alarm at 5 am as planned, just as dawn was breaking. We were docking in Klemtu, on Swindle Island.  Earlier in the night I had woken when we docked in Bella Bella, but not got up.  In Klemtu, about 20 people got off and one car, and we then set sail again.

0007 10th May - Elk Falls to Port Hardy

Woke up to a brilliant blue sky and 9 deg C.   I am not sure how long this weather can last – I so did not expect this mostly sunny weather up here at this time of year !!    Anyway, a leisurely breakfast and pack up, a quick stroll around the camp site to get the blood flowing before we sat in the car, and then we continued north towards Port Hardy at the top of Vancouver Island, from where we were due to catch our BC Ferries overnight ride to Prince Rupert.

0006 8th & 9th May - Stuck in Chermainus !

Woke up after a good sleep in Duncan, and took full advantage of the hot showers etc before having a leisurely breakfast, charging computers off the mains, refilling the water tank, and everyone’s favourite, emptying the porta-potty !  We finally got all packed up, and set off to find the phantom river that we were supposed to have camped beside !!  After about a 5 minute walk we found it – with a lovely old (disused) railway bridge crossing it.  Unfortunately there seemed to be quite a few people living under tarpaulins alongside the river – So not a very pleasant walk.  We followed the railway back towards town for a while, and then found another camp site…….right beside the river !!!  It seems that there are two campsites, but only one sign, and we had naturally turned in at the first one !   Never mind, our site was just fine.  Then we set off north to Chermainus to find someone I had “met” on the internet  2 years ago, prior to my 2012 trip, but due to circumstances had never met face to face.

0005 7th May - Saanichton to Duncan

Woke up to a beautiful clear blue sky – But chilly at about 10 deg C.  The sea was absolutely mill-pond flat.  Just cannot believe how lucky we are being with the weather at the moment – But we enjoy it in the knowledge that in this part of the world it will rain again shortly !!

Sat on the (rocky – like New Milton !!) beach by the van, having a cup of tea and shaving, watching another (or was it the same one as last night ?) Great Blue Heron catching fish for breakfast.  He caught one that was more like a snake  It kept wrapping itself round his beak !  Even got a photo of it !!

Meanwhile the many  people who were setting up everything for the TV shoot were coming down the (very narrow and steep) hill – Truck after truck – Generators, cabling, fake trees, motorhomes for the stars, fancy toilets – You name it.  All we know is that this is an American version of the British TV show called Broad Church, and the US version is going to be called Break Point, and stars, amongst others, Nick Nolte.  Anyway it was interesting to see how many people are involved in it all.

0004 6th May - To Vancouver Island

On the Monday night, Sister Janet and Ted left to go to Syracuse, New York, and at 6 am on Tuesday morning Janet and I were up and heading down to line up for the ferry to Vancouver Island – We had to be in line by 7 am even though the ferry didn’t leave till 8.30 am.  Despite spending the last couple of weeks sorting the van out, I still had a hard time getting everything in its rightful place.  It is easy to pack a car when you are going to unload it once at the end of a journey, but completely different when you are camping and need to have access to everything every night while you are on the road.  Anyway, we eventually got everything in, and drove all of 500 yards to the ferry car park !!  (It is right below my sister’s house !!).   The girl in the booth where we checked in wanted to know all about our trip, and got upset when she saw how many cars were behind us that prevented her from talking to us longer !!  Sorry Cassie !!!   Once we were down in the car park, and had explored the coffee shop, and Janet had bought a jacket (where am I supposed to store that ???), we soon got chatting to the people around us.  Tim and his dog who were on the way out to Friday Harbour where he worked, and then Conrad and Lee from (believe it or not) Brisbane !  He is in the RAAF and been sent over to Anacortes for 3 years, and was taking his visiting parents over to Friday Harbour on San Juan Island for a couple of days.

0003 More Anacortes

As we prepare to set off north on Tuesday morning, I thought I had better post about some of the things I have been doing while I waited for Janet to arrive. Otherwise you might think I have gone to sleep, or fallen off my perch, or something !!

Over Easter, all the daffodils (etc !) and spring blossoms started to appear around Anacortes, making for beautiful scenes in town for the many tourists who had come to see the Tulip Festival that I referred to in my previous post. The old part of Anacortes (an old fishing port) is very pretty, and wandering around enjoying it was time well spent.

A few days later, I went to a  Kangaroo Park ! I just cannot believe I went to a Kangaroo Park in America !