A day of surprises

Another early start with clouds and rain dogging us all morning.  From Whitehorse to Teslin, the road threads its way through a series of mountain ranges, heading first southeast, then northeast, then southeast once more.  From there to the town of Watson Lake, the terrain forces the road down into British Columbia once, but for the most part it heads east.

At noon, somewhere west of Watson Lake, we pulled off at a rest area to make lunch and stopped in front of a set of roadside informational signs.  It was raining lightly, so we just looked out the window to read them and discovered to our delight that we were parked right on the Continental Divide.

As soon as we started down the other side, the weather turned beautiful and sunny.

At Watson Lake, we stopped for gas and got our second surprise of the day--the Sign Post Forest. It contains hundreds of signs of all kinds, and it was hard to do it justice in just a few photos, but I gave it a try.

Beyond Watson Lake, the road continues eastward, dipping into British Columbia 5 more times before finally turning south into BC for good.  Somewhere in this stretch, we spotted a wild stallion, a splendid looking animal, on the shoulder of the road.  As we slowed to pass, he never moved at all, and we could see that he was standing guard over a small herd that was grazing in the low ground next to the highway.

By this time, we were about out of steam and had selected Coal River as our stopping point. The Milepost map shows it as a dot where the Alcan crosses Coal River.  It turns out there is nothing there but a small cluster of buildings known collectively as the Coal River Lodge.

The Lodge sits on the far side of the river and as we slowed to cross the narrow bridge, we were amazed to see this bison at the edge of the road, scratching himself on a pole.

Our first bison.

The Lodge consists of a gas station, motel/restaurant, a small home, and an RV park.  They have mostly shut down the park for the season and the only hookup still in service is the electric, but we were hungry and tired and that sounded just fine.  We parked then went straight to the restaurant for dinner.  We had just barely ordered when an employee came in and told us there was a bison in the parking lot.

Of course, we all ran out to see.   The parking lot is gravel with a number of sizable mud puddles, and the bison stopped at every one and took a drink.  He then began to use a tree as his scratching post. Fortunately, I have started carrying my point-and-shoot camera with me everywhere.

These are most likely the same animal.

By the time I had finished taking pictures, our food was ready.  Ironically, I had ordered a bison burger (I had never had bison before), and the photo below was taken within minutes of the photo above.

Day 4
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to Coal River, British Columbia

Daily Mileage:  362.5
Total Mileage:  1,082.1

It only seemed like a hurricane

Yesterday we had high solid cloud cover with no sun visible all day.  Today is much the same with an added hint of rain.  According to The Milepost, the ultimate guide book for road warriors in Alaska and western Canada, the next 105 miles of highway are in rough shape. Still we are starting to get our act together, and by 8:00, I was on the road in high spirits.

Yesterday's journey had gotten us around the Wrangell Mountains at the northern end of the St. Elias Range.  Today, we are headed southeast down a long valley with the St. Elias Range to the west and the Dawson Range to the east.  After the stretch of washboard road we hit right after entering Canada yesterday, all my attention this morning was focused on the state of the highway, but soon the wind began to insert itself into my consciousness.  At first, it was just an annoyance, but the gusts grew increasing strong, then merged together into an incessant howling roar, and it became my whole world.  The winding two lane road we were on was an endless series of frost heaves and rough asphalt patches with numerous dusty stretches, some fairly long, that were just gravel.  Staying on my own side of the road required a white knuckle death grip on the wheel.  After 105 miles, the road conditions did improve, somewhat, but the wind barely let up and it began to rain lightly.  Finally, as we approached Haines Junction at the end of the valley, the wind died away and the day turned sunny and calm.  By then it was lunch time, so we took a couple of hours off to eat and rest up.

In the parking lot of the Kluane (pron. Clue ah knee) Visitor Center in Haines Junction with the St. Elias Mts. in the background.

The afternoon run from Haines Junction to Whitehorse couldn't have been more different. This stretch of highway heads almost due east through county that is nearly flat and so boring I found it hard to stay awake.

We reached Whitehorse, the Yukon Territory capital, about 4:30 and started looking for an RV Park.  We thought there were several good ones to pick from, but since it is now the end of the season, many are closed.  We finally got lucky on our third try, but they have already shut off the water to the showers and laundry as they, too, will be closing at the end of the month.  The uncertainty of finding a place to stay at the end of a hard day on the road has proven a bit stressful and left us all a bit frazzled.

Day 3
Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Daily Mileage:  286.3
Total Mileage:  719.6

Oh, Canada!

When it comes to the RV, I'm like a first-time father who's reluctant to even pick up his newborn for fear of breaking it.  Don't use anything until we absolutely have to--that's my motto.  As a consequence, we tucked in for the night without turning on the furnace.  We assumed, quite wrongly as it turns out, that we had more than enough blankets to keep us warm.  Finally, about 4:00, Nicole decided to take matters into her own hands and turned the furnace on.  In the dark, however, she was unaware that the thermostat was set at 55, so we still had no heat until after we got up this morning and discovered her mistake.  Amazingly, I started feeling warmer anyway as soon as I thought she had turned it on.  Ah, the power of the mind!

We naively thought that we would just pop out of bed this morning, make a cup of coffee, and be on our way.  We discovered instead that we were so disorganized that everything, even making coffee, seemed to take forever.  And then there was the waste water dumping, another one of those things I had put off for as long as possible.  In truth, it is a rather simple procedure, but, for obvious reasons, one you never want to screw up, so Nancy and I took extra care.  The hose was brand new, still in the box, so we had to unpack it, read the instructions, assemble the parts, read the instructions, hook it up, read the instructions, re-read the instructions, then open the valves and drain the black water and gray water tanks. Much to my relief, it worked just as advertised, but by the time we had unhooked the hose and stowed it away, the whole thing had taken a good half an hour.  By the time we were finally ready to pull out, it was already 10:30, just like yesterday.

For the last 50 or 60 miles coming into town yesterday we were traveling almost due east, but just beyond Glennallen, the Wrangell Mountains rise abruptly and block further progress in that direction, so we are now forced to turn almost due north.  After about 15 miles, we alter course again, this time to the northeast, and by 2:00 we reached Tok, yesterday's intended destination and the northern most point on our trip south.

A left turn onto the Al-Can and a 94 mile run to the southeast brought us to the border. We had to stop for the obligatory "here we are at the border" photos then entered Canada in high spirits.  Our elation barely lasted a mile, however.  The pavement disappeared and the road became a washboardy dirt nightmare that was nearly undriveable.  The speed limit sign said 40 kph (25 mph) but even at 10 mph, it felt like the RV was going to be shaken to pieces.  Fortunately, the solid pavement returned after only a few miles.

About 20 miles into Canada, we stopped for the night at Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, where the Canadian Custom Station is located.  Our inspection was perfunctory.  We stopped at the drive-up window.  We handed over our passports, the Custom Agent inside asked half a dozen questions, wished us a safe trip and sent us on our way.  I wish it was that simple catching a flight.

Day 2
Glennallen, Alaska - Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory

Daily Mileage:  248.3
Total Mileage:  433.3

On the road, at last

We were up and packing again before dawn.  It took 4 more hours to finish, but finally, at 10:30, we were on the road.

Lately, most of our days have been overcast and drizzly, but today it was all blue skies, white clouds, and sunshine.  Most auspicious.

About an hour out of town, the highway begins to follow the Matanuska River through the narrow winding valley that separates the Chugach from the Talkeetna Mountains.  Much to our delight, the autumn foliage there is at its peak.

Roadside view of Matanuska River valley

The autumn color of Alaskan forests, as is the case with most of the western forests I've seen, is yellow, and I confess I've always found them lacking, having spent my first 11 autumns surrounded by the reds and oranges of New England, but today I was truly wowed. The leaves seen against the bright blue sky looked like gold set on fire.

We hoped to get much farther, but due to our late start, we have only made it as far as Glennallen.  We are at an RV park that has only 10 sites and is not full.  We have water, electric, and sewer hook up but absolutely nothing else. Luckily, we have not been at this long enough to even know what's missing.

Day 1
Anchorage, Alaska - Glennallen, Alaska

Daily Mileage:  185

Total Mileage:  185

Packing

Our time estimate was just a little off.  We packed all day.  We did not get it all done.  Once again I am too tired to see straight.  The plan is to leave tomorrow.

Let's go shopping

Nancy and I were too excited to stay in bed past 5:30.  She thought we could get our last minute shopping done before picking up the RV and still have enough time afterwards to get it loaded for an early start in the morning.  The first item on our to-do list was to get a health certificate for Sadie (a requirement for getting her into Canada), so at 6:45, we were at the 24-hour vet clinic.  By the time we got the call to come get the RV, around 11:00, we had barely made a dent in our shopping list.  By the end of the day, we have been to 18 stores, some in multiple locations.

I am dead on my feet and we haven't begun to pack.  The plan now is to do that in the morning, hopefully in a couple of hours or so, and then hit the road.

Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of . . .

a 29 foot 2006 Gulf Stream Yellowstone motorhome.  After waiting semi-patiently all summer, the big moment finally arrived this morning.  This RV is both older and longer than we were looking for, but, happily, it is also quite a bit cheaper than anything else we have seen.  We went to pick it up this afternoon, only to find that we can't take delivery until sometime tomorrow.  The dealer hadn't realized until the last minute that it has seasonal license plates (good only from May to November) and it will take until sometime tomorrow to get regular plates put on.