Day 45 --Home from Alaska!

--------------------------------- Tucker Relaxing on my lap-----------------------

Thursday August 19, 2010. We had a bit of disturbance last night. Nothing other than 18 wheelers coming and going all night. We had one that must have been hauling a load of cattle because I remember waking up wondering what all the racket was. Larry said It sounded like the cows were tape dancing all night. They were parked a distance from us and we couldn't sleep so I hope the driver was not pulled in thinking HE would sleep!!! Not sure if the trucks were coming in to catch a few hours of sleep or if they were eating at the Casino. Possibly their pockets were heavy with
cash and they just stopped in the Casino to unload them??!?

After not sleeping much all night, I woke this morning to Larry crushing plastic bottles and chopping the cat's food. We are using bottled water to make coffee so each time he emptied one he had to crush it down and throw it in the garbage. Then when he feeds the cats, he has to make sure every little morsel is evenly chopped for them in their bowls. Otherwise they might choke on a dime size bite!@!@ These are just a few of my favorite things to wake up to! I think the motor home is getting smaller every day with the two of us together! I laid there for awhile trying to block out the noise and then he decided to get his shower--OK ENOUGH--I"M UP! So as is my usual routine, I get a cup of coffee and a cigarette and go outside for five or ten minutes of 'wake up' time! When I came in he was busy as a beaver, making the bed, cleaning the cat litter, bla, bla, bla! I got my shower and told him to go and I would finish getting ready on the road. SOMETIMES I COULD SCREAM meeting his schedule!!! Don't know why today was such a 'RUSH HOUR'.

We left a little after 8:00 and drove in very heavy fog for several miles. It appeared we had no lights on the motor home so we pulled off on an exit and checked to make sure they were working. I took over the driving and immediately came into construction with the orange cones on both sides of
my lane. As mentioned before in the blog, it's very hard at times keeping it all between the cones perfectly. I put a nice mark on our door back several weeks ago from the stupid cones that are spaced so close you only have a hairs width to get the RV through them at times. As I said before,
the construction crews think we all drive 'smart cars'!!!! Anyway we finally ran out of the construction and the fog pretty much at the same time.

We drove and drove today. Again the scenery lacked a lot but we just kept pushing on. It started getting quite warm so we ended up turning on the generator so we could run the 'house' air conditioner, rather than just the dash air. Even Tucker moved off his favorite bed on the dash because of the sun and heat. Later, however, he decided he would come back up front and sleep on my lap. I have never seen a cat get so comfortable lying on his back. It's almost disgraceful the way he looks when he sleeps on his back!!! We continued driving and ended up in Des Moines, IA by about 4:00PM. we talked about stopping for the night but decided to continue on as we were
both anxious to just get home. We drove to Davenport and stopped to refuel and grab something to eat. When we left Davenport, it seemed an eternity of driving until we pulled in at home. What a day --we drove about 700 miles today and arrived home at 9:30pm.

It seems no matter where we travel, home is always a welcome sight. I am thankful we were fortunate enough to be able to make our trip to Alaska and thank God our travels were safe.

So for now, I'm through with my blog. I've enjoyed writing about our adventures and hope everyone got some sense of just how beautiful our trip really was!

Day 44 - From Williston ND to SOMEWHERE in SD

Sunflower Fields in North Dakota

Wednesday August 18, 2010. Left Williston, ND at around 8:45. We lost another hour and are now on the same time as Illinois. We stayed in the Walmart lot in Williston last night and drove down to McDonalds to use their WIFI. For whatever reason, they closed at 9:00pm so we did not make it there before they closed. Tried to find WIFI elsewhere without any luck. We have been without Internet now for three days, which for me seems like a lifetime!

The drive today was a little more interesting as the countryside was rather pretty. A few hills and a lot of lakes, rivers and streams here and there. When we left Williston, we saw oil drilling rigs everywhere. The countryside was pretty flat for about 50-70 miles and at times you could see two or three drilling rigs set up across the landscape. There were also many working wells all around as well, so it seems to be a big oil area. As we continued driving, the landscape took on a few hills and curves and the crops in the field all are very scenic--at least something more to look at than hay bales, however, there were a great percentage of those as well.We have seen numerous sunflower fields starting in the eastern part of Saskatchewan and saw a lot of them today driving across North Dakota.

We tried to find a decent campground to stay at tonight so I could do some laundry but everything we found with sewer was either too far or not far enough that we wanted to give up for the day. We stopped at the Flying J in Fargo and fueled up and dumped our holding tanks so we are good to go. I looked for a Walmart on our route but there isn't one in any town in ND or SD nearby. We ended up stopping in a little -- that is LITTLE town and found a Casino--which is also LITTLE. Larry went in to ask if we could park in their lot tonight and they said yes. So we pulled to the back of the lot and set up home for the night. Looking around the place we stopped could be a little 'seedy' so hope we make it tonight without being robbed or mugged. Just to make sure Larry again got out his gun and loaded it in case we have unwanted visitors during the night. The casino is open all night so who knows what we might encounter. We have been putting in some pretty high mileage days since we started home. We have been on the road today for ten hours with only two short stops. It isn't so bad in the motor home when you can get up and walk around, eat and have the bathroom. When we stopped today we had driven about 500 miles. Just that much closer to home!!!

The weather was very pleasant today the few times we were out of the RV. We made a stop at a rest stop 50 miles before Fargo and got out to walk around a while. We lost our thermometer that we had stuck on the outside window so don't know what the temp was, probably 70 degrees. Larry cleaned the windshield as the bug guts were really thick--almost to the point that you couldn't see to drive. We clean the windshield at least two times daily . We must have depleted the bug population by half as we travel across each area.

Talked to Leslie today and she said the weather had cooled down some in the past few days, so that is a good thing!!! I'm really not looking forward to the hot weather when we get back to Illinois. We have a lot of work to get done when we get home. One thing is to clean the RV inside and outside and I'm sure we have weeds taller than the roof at home. None of this will be enjoyable but if the weather is hot, it probably just won't get done by me!

Day 43 - Back in the USA!!!

Storm Clouds in Lloydminister BC-------------------Canola Fields driving across BC

Tuesday August 17,2010. We had a very exciting night for awhile last night with the storm. It rained and blew very hard. For awhile I thought we were going to have to take cover in Walmart but it calmed down finally. We were getting ready to leave Lloydminister this morning and Larry came into the RV after checking everything outside and said the new tire we bought looked bad again!??! WHAT, we only drove a little over a hundred miles on it. He said the way it looked, we would not make it out of Canada with it. I was SHOCKED to say the least. I went outside and looked at it and didn't think it looked bad. He came out and said he was going to wait for Canadian Tire to open so we could have them check it. We went over to Canadian Tire and he took the car off the trailer and was trying to check the trailer to see if a weld or something was broken underneath. After he messed around out there for 15 or 20 minutes he came back inside and said he was stupid because he was looking at the wrong tire!!! Oh the joys of old age!!! But then I'm wondering if the other one looked so bad ARE WE GOING TO MAKE IT OUT OF CANADA with it??? He said not to worry about it after he realized it was the older tire he didn't think it was so bad! WOW --sometime I think I am going crazy! I wake up every day wondering what next???? So he loaded the car back onto the trailer and away we went!

We stopped at a rest stop just prior to Regina, Saskatchewan to take a break. As Larry was walking around outside he noticed that one of our running lights on the bottom part of the front end is broken out. Neither of them work now for whatever reason. I hope we can find a big basket to collect all the RV parts in when we get home as it is falling apart!

We traveled to Regina on the Yellowhead Trail RT 11 and changed over to RT 6 which took us over the border into Raymond, Montana. After crossing the U.S. Border, RT 6 turned into RT 16 which runs into RT 2. We drove RT 2 into North Dakota. AHHHH--back once more in the USA!! I really am not a big fan of Canada! The phones work once in a while and the kilometers drive me crazy figuring out in ENGLISH how far it is. There truly is no place like the USA, even with all it's problems, I still believe it is the best place in the world to live.

If I said today's travel was more boring than yesterday, I really wouldn't know how to measure which was worse! Miles and Miles and Miles of flat open NOTHING!!! Hay bale upon Hay Bale--as I was looking at all of them it reminded me of the song of '99 Bottles of Beer on the wall'--replace beer with hay and wall with ground and you have a new twist to a great ol' song--SEE I AM GOING CRAZY! We joke all the time about how bored the cats act. They sleep and sleep and sleep--and I think I am right there with them in my boredom. Hopefully when we get farther into the U.S. things will improve, however driving across South Dakota and Iowa doesn't give me a lot of hope! We did see more Canola fields just before hitting Montana and at least they are cheery to look at with their bright yellow color. Also shortly after we got into Montana, we started seeing Sunflower Fields which also helps brighten the scenery.

We drove through Saskatoon, Saskatchewan today and it was a very nice looking town. I would have enjoyed having a little time to look around there more. It kinda reminded me of Ottawa, Ontario, which is Capitol of Canada--Like the Washington DC of Canada. We have been to Ottawa several times on our motorcycle trips over the years. Ottawa is a really unique place and we really enjoyed each time we were there. Saskatoon just had that type of 'flavor' when we drove through today.

Larry had some kind of weird dream last night. He said right when he woke up he thought I asked him if his IPOD had been compromised!@#!@ WHAT IS THAT ABOUT--he doesn't even OWN an IPOD--why would he be dreaming of one? Then he asked me out loud if the windows were still open because he was freezing. The human mind is so complex isn't it?? I am the world's best dreamer--it's like going to the movies each night but what is making perfect sense during my dreams, are craziness when I wake!!!

We drove over 500 miles today. Larry did most of the driving but I did take a couple of short turns to give him a break. We ended up at Walmart in Williston, ND. for the night.

Day 42--Lloydmisister B

The best I could do today for scenic sights--Hay,Hay and more Hay!

Monday August 6, 2010. The lady from the office at the RV Park in Valleyview gave Larry a number to call for a tire for the car hauler. He called early this morning and they told him to come up and they would mount the tire right away. When we got there the price was really out of sight and they told us it would be over an hour before they could work us in. We decided to leave and try someplace down the road. We drove to Whitecourt, Alberta and stopped at a Canadian Tire. They did not have the tire we needed in stock but they called their store in Spruce Grove, which was on the west side of Edmonton. They had the right tire so We drove on to the Spruce Grove Canadian Tire. We had to take the car off the hauler so Larry could remove the bad tire. He took it in to Canadian Tire and they mounted the new tire on the rim. We brought it back out and Larry put it back on the dolly. We probably were delayed about an hour total.

When we left Canadian Tire, I was driving and Larry told me to pull into a Shell Station to refuel. I thought it was going to be very close trying to get in and out but I pulled in. I was at such an angle that Larry had to put a pin in the car hauler to stop the surge brake so I could back up some. There was a car parked in front of the station that belonged to the station We had to ask him to move his car to give me room to make a turn to clear the gas island with the car. OH WELL! The problem with pulling a tow vehicle is that you have to make sure you can get out going forward because backing is an issue with the hauler! This is the first time we have gotten in a jam like that.

We got out of Spruce Grove and drove on into Edmonton on the Yellowhead Trail RT 16. The traffic was starting to get heavy as it was about 4:30pm by the time we got back on the highway. We made it through Edmonton, surprisingly well. We stopped on the east side of town to try to get something to eat as we had not had a meal all day. As it ended up the only place we could get into easily was Tim Horton's. There was a time, a few years ago, that we loved Tim Horton's when we would travel through Canada on the motorcycles. Not so much so now as their quality has really gone down and their prices have really gone UP! We had soup and a sandwich and each had a cup of coffee which was as pricey as eating at a decent restaurant! It was food is about all I can say.

We drove quite a distance after leaving the Edmonton area. We looked for RV Parks but didn't find much. When we decided to give it up for the night, we found a very nice Walmart in Lloydminister, Saskatchewan. We are parked here tonight with about eight of our closest friends! There were about four other RV's already here when we pulled in and four came in after us as well as a trucker. We went inside to ask for sure if it was ok to park in the lot since we were run out of Walmart in Anchorage at 11:00pm. They told us as long as we were parked on the end portion of the lot we would be fine. Actually with our generator it is just as good parking here as it would be at a RV Park. We have power and water and the holding tank so not a problem to do this every other night or so. It's nice to have a nice place to stay just to relax a little. It's not like you want to bring out the lawn chairs and the grill in the middle of the Walmart lot!!

Our day did not get much more exciting than this! We saw a thousand bails of hay laying in the fields along the way which is pretty much the best scenery this area has to offer. We DID see a coyote running along the road and a dead deer on the side of the road. When we pulled in to Walmart the clouds started rolling in, the lightening started and the temperature dropped about 25 degrees. We are getting a pretty heavy rain right now. We really have not had rain since leaving Alaska as I mentioned before. A few drops fell last night but it was so brief it didn't even wet the ground.

My blogs are getting very boring, I'm afraid. You cannot write about NOTHING, which is what happens when you drive all day. It is such a boring drive now that we are in the flat country. I'm getting more anxious each day to get back to Illinois. I will probably be a captive of the air conditioner but it will still be good to get home.

Day 41 - from the top of the mountain to ValleyView BC

------The mountain road coming out of Taylor, BC ---Our campsite in Valleyview Sunday

The view from our window where we camped last night(Saturday)

Sunday August 15, 2010. We almost froze to death last night as we went to bed with the windows open and the ceiling fan on. It felt good when we went to sleep but during the night, we were both freezing. We shut off the fan and closed part of the windows and I still laid awake freezing. I was too lazy to get up and turn on the heat!

When we woke this morning the mountains were beautiful. The sun was coming up on the mountain so I got my camera to take a picture and the battery was dead! It was a beautiful morning and surprisingly not very cold.

We got cleaned up and dressed, ate some breakfast and was on the road by probably 7:30am. Makes a big difference when you do not have to unhook everything each morning. Saw Betty and John briefly and they were leaving at the same time as us. They followed us for a long time but they must have stopped as we lost track of them.

We stopped in Fort St John to try to find a tire for the car hauler but none of the tire stores were open today. The tire looks kinda bad but I don't think it's ready for a blowout. We would just feel better knowing that we had a new tire.

Today traveling we came through a little town called Taylor, BC. We remembered how beautiful the setting of the town was from our trip north. It has a long bridge over a huge gulch and river area and when you leave the bridge it climbs for probably 2 miles out of town up the side of the mountain. Actually by the time we reached the top our engine was very hot and the warning alarm went off. Once we got to the top the engine cooled and all was fine. We have had several long mountain hauls where the engine get hot before we get to the top. We are really pulling a lot of weight besides hauling the car.

There was a lot of construction going on today. We were a little surprised with it being Sunday. I guess they only have so many days to complete before the winter snows start. We went through some very nasty construction sites where the road was really torn up and very dusty. Each time we think of cleaning the motor home again, we wonder WHY?? The roads are so dusty and has places where there is gravel so doesn't do much good to wash everything other than it makes us feel better briefly.

Larry saw a deer today while I was sleeping. Yes, the queen had to have a nap this afternoon as I did not sleep well last night! We also saw a caribou that had been hit on the highway. Glad he was dead before we got there. We went through a lot of area that was sparsely populated but didn't see anything else.

We didn't have a lot of excitement today as all we did was drive. We decided to stop at Valleyview, Alberta for the night. We found a wonderful RV Park that is privately owned and very very nice. Even has grass at each site with a nice picnic table. It's been awhile since we have stayed at a campground that is anything other than a parking lot. We also have a pull thru site so we do not have to unhook the car. We sat everything up and took all three cats out and put them on the leashes which they enjoyed, having a grassy area. We sat outside and had a beer. Larry went in to pay to wash the car and when he came out of the office it was raining. Crazy weather! It did not rain for long, however, so he washed the car while I cooked dinner.

Driving through Alberta is anything but exciting--like watching paint dry-- so they say! It is mostly flat ground with a lot of agriculture. About every other field has huge bails of hay laying out to dry. There are a lot of farms with livestock as well. I don't remember much in Alberta that I would drive far to see.

Larry was talking to a guy here at the RV Park and he told us about a nice RV Park about 9 miles east of Edmonton. I think we ended up staying at a Walmart in Edmonton on our way north. We have been to Edmonton a few times but it's not my favorite place to be as it is huge! On our way up we actually toured a part of Edmonton as we got lost. We had to detour at a construction area and ended up in a subdivision driving in circles. We can do that pretty easily most of the time!

The weather has basically been beautiful since we left Alaska. Last night when talking to Betty, that was parked by us, she said she has come to Alaska for 18 years and this year has been the worse yet for rain. She assured us that this was not a typical summer in Alaska. So there you have it!!! Had Larry and I not traveled to Alaska, the weather would have been normal this year as well! Ha! Regardless, I am glad we made the trip as Alaska is a breath taking arena of beauty! I'm sure had the weather been nicer, we could have enjoyed it a little more but those are the chances you take!

Day 40 - From Watson Lake to ????

----------------------------------Toad River
Muncho Lake

-------------------------------------- Buffalo on Road

Caribou in Road

Mountain Goats

Smoke in the mountains leaving Watson Lake

Saturday August 14, 2010. We left Watson Lake around 10:00 heading to Fort Nelson. We drove close to 100 miles out of Watson Lake in the smoke. At times it was like driving in a heavy fog and the smoke was laying in the mountains so bad you could hardly see the tops. We entered the Northern Rockies and the mountains were huge. The road had so many curves and high mountain passes, it almost made you dizzy driving through them. The mountain passes were very narrow at some points and when you looked over the side, you never saw the ground below. We drove through the Summit Lake area, which is the highest elevation on the Alaskan Highway. As we traveled farther we came by Muncho Lake and the highway skirts the shore of the lake for 7 miles and the views of the blue green waters was amazing! Muncho Lake brags of being the most beautiful lake in the world. The wonderful color of the water is attributed to copper oxide leaching into the lake. The area around the Muncho Lake area, I read, proved to be a major obstacle to the construction crew of the Alaskan Highway. I can understand why with all the mountainous areas where the road is literally cut through the mountains. We probably traveled more than 150 miles through this beautiful visa. British Columbia has many beautiful areas and is comparable with Alaska for the mouth dropping views of the mountains and lakes. We came across the Toad River which was so majestic I cannot explain. Later we started down the mountain and drove through the small village of Toad River which was like a small fishing village.

We talked about calling for a reservation at one of the RV Parks in Fort Nelson. Last night in Watson Lake there were only about 12 RV's parked in this huge RV park where we stayed. I said I thought we should be able to get a site without reserving as so many people have headed home prior to us. Another reason I didn't want to call is I was not sure we were going to make it all the way to Fort Nelson as the trip through the mountains took us a very long time. Well, I found that my ideas are not always on target because we got to Fort Nelson and could not buy a spot in any of the three RV Parks. Two of the campgrounds had over 140 sites so it's hard to believe there were none available. So we drove on through Fort Nelson and the next town that was any possibility for an RV site was 150 miles away. We drove for a distance and saw a camper in a pull out site so we pulled in. The lady came out and talked to us and said she saw no signs saying no overnight camping so we pulled on in. Later we talked to her and introduced ourselves. Her name is Betty and she is a military widow, living in New Jersey. At the age of 47 she became a flight attendant and worked for 14 years for United Airlines. She retired from United and loves to travel. She has been to Alaska the past 18 summers. She also worked for the tour train that went from Anchorage to Denali and onto Fairbanks, which she really enjoyed as well. She has a beautiful conversion van that has every convenience imaginable that she travels in. She drove from New Jersey alone to Calgary, Canada where she picked up One of her lady friends and drove to Alaska and spent about 6 weeks traveling Alaska. Her friend had to return home so she flew back and one of her male friends, John, from New Jersey flew to Anchorage about three weeks ago and they have been traveling through Alaska, Yukon and now BC. They are on their way home. She was so interesting. She said she was glad we stopped as she likes having other people when she pulls into these places and I agree. Larry actually got his gun out and loaded it before we went to bed.

So as it worked out we have the most beautiful campsite of our trip. When we look out the window we are looking over the mountains and it is just a fantastic sight! So all is well that ends well so they say!!!

Today we saw a lot of wildlife. Coming through the mountain pass, we came out of a curve and down a hill and there were two mountain goats standing in the middle of the road. We also saw two different herds of buffalo. Each herd was quite numerous, probably 30 or more buffalo. Later we saw a caribou standing on the side of the road, almost in the road. All of these animal's act like they own the road. When they are ready they move and let you drive on.

Tomorrow we plan to be in Dawson Creek, which is mile 0 of the Alcan Highway. Betty, the gal we talked to tonight has all the information you'll ever need on Alaska and Canada. She told us we could camp in the Walmart in Dawson Creek and dump our tanks at Canadian Tire free of charge. Also she told us not to fill up with diesel in Dawson Creek because Alberta has cheaper fuel so to try to wait till we get there. She was such a wealth of information, I loved talking to her.I have so enjoyed out trip partly for all the people we meet. Each person has such an interesting story to tell. We enjoyed hearing about the places they had been and at times was a wealth of information because we were planning to go to the same area. It has been a great trip all in all. Lots of rain but at least we were not fighting the heat in the Midwest!

Day 39 - Watson Lake YT

Destruction Bay - What a beautiful place!

The local Grizzly of Destruction Bay

Friday August 13, 2010. At the campground last night they had a live band and when they finished playing, one of the guys came out on the deck and talked with us. I think he said he was Larry's age and he has been in Destruction Bay 40 years. He talked about building a cabin which he lived in for 25 years and the cabin was a 'dry' cabin. No power, no water, nothing but wood for heat. He talked about cutting a whole in the lake during the winter to haul water to his cabin. He then told us that he built a house a few years ago at the far end of the lake and the only thing he has is a pump for water and somehow he has a shower in the house. His toilet is outside and he has solar panels to generate what power he has. He still heats with wood. He told us he was a commercial fisherman for years until he retired. Now he has a sailboat that he takes out onto Destruction Bay routinely and he plays in the band. It really sounded like he loves living there.He was born in Massachusetts but came to Destruction Bay area as a young man. He said you do what you have to do to survive in the place you love. I guess that is very true for most of the people in that area as there is no industry for many miles.I think if I was willing to sacrifice many luxuries, Destruction Bay might be my place of choice. It is one of the most beautiful places, if not the most beautiful, we have visited on our trip. There is absolutely nothing there except natures beauty.

We had a very long day of driving today. I believe we drove 370 miles or something close to that. We left Destruction Bay around 9:30 and only drove about 10 miles and spotted a grizzly out on the beach area of the bay. We pulled over and took a few pictures and by this time we had a crowd coming toward us from the highway. It was like the paparozzi. Everyone wanted a shot of the grizzly. He was very large and we were within 2 blocks of him with the water in between us. He really didn't care that there was a crowd photographing him as he was filling his belly with fish.

On the drive to Whitehorse, the roads were not great. I didn't remember them being this bad on our trip up but they had many frost heaves and broken pavement. There were several construction sites that was gravel and the dust was horrible. We decided to stop at Walmart in Whitehorse to restock since we really haven't bought much since Leslie and Pete left. We debated on staying in Whitehorse as they have a wonderful RV Park that we stayed in going up. It was only about 2:00pm when we finished picking up our groceries so we decided to drive on to Dawson Lake. It was about another 240 miles onto Dawson Lake so we did not arrive here until almost 7:00 tonight. We are staying in the Downtown RV Park which is just a few blocks from the famous sign post park. The RV Park is just another parking lot, which is what the majority of the RV Parks are when you travel this far north. There are a lot of Provincial Parks that are beautiful but most do not have any type of hookups. I needed sewer tonight as our laundry is piling up and I can't run the washer without sewer. So we are here and hooked up and we had a light dinner, I had my quiche that I bought yesterday at the little coffee house on our way from Tok to Destruction Bay. I will say it was not as good as it looked but of course, I could eat it without a problem!!! The quiche I had from Magpie Bakery in Valdez beat the one tonight by a mile.

The RV Park has a car wash so Larry took the car down and sprayed it down. It will not look like he cleaned it by the time we get out of town. I don't know if the car or the motor home will ever get the dust cleaned off when we get home.

We both have loved this trip and Alaska is AWESOME. The beauty of Alaska, The Yukon and BC are beyond compare. We have talked to so many travelers that have made this trip 4 and 5 times but I'm not sure we will make the trip again. It is soooo-- expensive!! If we ever decide to come back, we will be better prepared to fish as that is what draws most of the people here. What fishing we did do, we totally enjoyed. I would have enjoyed trying to fish more but just seems our time ran short. If there is a next trip, I think we would want more time and just plan to mainly fish as there are thousands of wonderful lakes and rivers for that. It seems as we travel, there is water every 20 miles or more. Driving here today we came back through the Teslin Lake area. We had stopped to take pictures on our way up but I had forgotten how large and how beautiful this area was. There were many RV Parks down near the lake which would have been a great place to spend some time as well.

While we were in Walmart today I debated on buying Tucker a small bed for the dash of the motor home since that is where he rides everyday. I looked at all of the beds and of course, they were sewn with golden threads because the price was ridiculous! I finally decided to buy a cheap bed pillow and found a soft furry cover on the clearance rack. I brought everything out to the RV and after I put the groceries away, I took the pillow out of the plastic, put the new cover on it, picked up the two bath towels he had been laying on and placed the pillow on the dash. He would not go near it and kept looking up wondering what happened. Larry picked him up two times and placed him on the pillow and he would meow and jump down. He then wanted to lay on the ottoman that we use with the passenger seat so Larry could not put his feet up. He tried one more time to put him on the pillow and he immediately jumped down. Finally, Larry retrieved his bath towels and put them back on the dash and Tucker jumped up and laid down and slept on them all the way to Dawson Lake. Yes, we treat him like a child and today was a good example of how he acts like a child! He is such a great cat! He never causes any problems so we are both partial to him and he gets a lot of attention from both of us. The other two are ok for cats but they just don't have the personality that Tucker has.

We have been trying to decide all day whether to drive to Hyder. We have talked to many travelers saying that they have a forest fire burning down near the Hyder area and some days they let people travel through to Hyder and some days not. The guy that owns the RV Park here in Dawson Lake told us it is a two day drive even though it is only around 200 miles. We talked to the guys from Kankakee last night at Destruction Bay and they said the road is narrow and full of curves, which I assume makes it a long trip. The people parked next to us tonight are planning to go to Hyder on Sunday and seem to think they have opened the roads by the fire area. They have been here many times and sometimes host a caravan. They are from Crystal Lake, near Chicago. They offered to have us travel with them but we haven't decided. We are leaning toward just continuing our trek toward home. Seems now that we are out of Alaska, home is sounding better everyday!

The smoke here in Dawson Lake is overwhelming! I just talked with the owner of the Downtown RV Park and he told me that the fire is actually burning only 20 miles from town. We seem to never hear the news since we travel all day and rarely get a local TV station at night. The fire is pretty large from his information so probably best we forget our trek to Hyder. We would have to have about four extra days to do the Hyder trip and we are pretty short on time since we have to be home to leave for our Florida trip.

Day 38 - To Destruction Bay Yukon

-----------------------------------Scenery driving to Destruction Bay ---------------

Little coffee shop with GREAT Cinnamon Rolls

Wonderful Frost Heaves

Thursday August 12, 2010. Left Tok, AK at 9;15 headed toward Destruction Bay. We had a beautiful day for traveling as the sun was shinning and it was very warm as well. This is such a boring part of our trip as the roads are just so bad all the way from about 15 miles out of Tok to Destruction Bay. I think it is only 225 miles that we drove but took us forever as we could not drive very fast with all the frost heaves.

We drove about 95 miles to the Canadian Border and stopped at the 'Duty Free Store' -- if you can call it a store. It was just a small run down building that sold liquor, cigarettes and a few souvenirs. The road was nothing but dirt for probably 30 miles or more going to the border. When we were waiting to pull out onto the road again, a truck spreading water went by and turned the dust to mud. Our beautiful clean motor home is dirtier now than before we washed it in Valdez. What a mess the roads were today! We got to the border and waited about 45 minutes to cross. I have no idea what the hold up was as they were not letting anyone through. While we were setting in line they were searching a semi inside and out. When we finally crossed, they did not ask more than three questions, looked at our passports and waved us on.

As we were driving through the 100 miles of frost heaves, the semi came roaring past us and several other vehicles. We could not believe he was driving so fast. About five miles down the road, two Canadian Mountie cars came flying past us and the others ahead of us. We thought they must be in pursuit of the semi truck. As we were almost into Destruction Bay, we saw the semi setting in a pull off area but did not see anyone around it. We were wondering if they arrested the driver.

The scenery through the frost heave area was really beautiful. The mountains still had snow on them in areas and the sky was a beautiful blue. We noticed that several of the deciduous trees are turning a brilliant yellow, so the fall has started here. The ranger in Denali Park said that the plants and trees would start turning around the 15th of August and they normally only have about a month of fall weather before the snow starts.

Driving along the last few miles of Alaska and into the Yukon we saw five different pairs of swans on the lakes in the area. I could not believe they were swans but we got a very good look at several of them. I, of course, never had the camera at hand for a picture. If you can't snap a picture will driving down the highway you never would have pictures because Larry is not going to pull off the road for that. I forgot to mention that yesterday we saw a red fox zipping across the road in front of us coming from Valdez. We have seen very little wildlife recently which surprises me as the areas we have been in seem like the right places for wildlife.

We drove by the little coffee shop that we stopped at on the way up to Tok. It is out in the middle of BFE! We stopped again today and had a cinnamon roll and coffee. The people who own the shop do not speak much English, however, today she told me that they have two children. Their daughter is married with two children and lives in France, and their son lives in Whitehorse, Yukon and is dating a Japanese girl. She also told me she is from France. She had pictures on the wall of her daughter's family that she showed me. She really makes WONDERFUL cinnamon rolls. I also bought myself a slice of quiche. I believe I spelled it correctly this time. In my previous posting, I'm sure I misspelled it. I have not had my quiche yet, probably tomorrow while Larry has his gourmet hot dogs!!!Ha!

We ended up staying at Destruction Bay at the same RV Park we stayed at going up to Alaska. The guy who runs the place is a really nice guy and I think he said he has 27 spaces and tonight, again, they are all filled. There is a caravan here with about 21 RV's. We were setting outside after dinner and a guy was walking his lab and then a lady came walking up with another dog. She had a Chicago Cubs shirt on so I asked her where they were from --She told me either she or her husband was from Quincy, IL. I thought she looked kinda familiar and then I looked at her name tag. We met her in Tok on our way into Alaska and she is a sister-in-law to John Alms, whom I worked with for many years. So anyway, just seems we run into the same people over and over. That really is amazing because there are thousands of RV's on the roads and in the RV Parks everywhere we go.

We have two RV's next to us and they are both from Kankakee,IL and are traveling together. They are planning to go to Hyder tomorrow so Larry was talking with to them tonight. I guess we are going to take a day and stop at Hyder and go to the bear viewing platform. Might not get another chance to come to Alaska again! I am going to miss all of the cool weather here when we get home. I cannot imagine how I will function again in the heat of Illinois!

Day 37 --TOK where the sun shines BRIGHT!

Strange looking mushroom

Coming into Tok--Sunshine!

Driving through Thompson Pass

Mountain stream

Valdez --almost clear enough to see the mountains!

Wednesday August 11, 2010. We left Valdez around 9:30am. It was raining, of course, but for
whatever reason when I first went outside, the fog had lifted enough to see some of the mountains around the campground. By the time I got a shower and went back out it was almost fogged in again.

We drove out of the valley up the high mountain road and surprisingly had few problems pulling the car.It was a beautiful drive out of Valdez, much prettier than the town itself. We came through Thompson Pass, where they have the record snowfalls and it was a real climb up the pass. The waterfalls were gushing down the mountainside everywhere you looked. What a beautiful area with the mountains so high all around the roadway you could hardly see the tops. The mountain streams were numerous and crystal clear. I can only imagine how much water comes out of the mountain in a day with the snow still on the mountains and the rainfall together.

We drove 115 miles to Glenallen on the Richardson Highway, RT 4 . Instead of turning onto Glenn Highway, RT 1, the highway we drove from Anchorage, we continued on RT 4 which goes to Tok. Tok was 140 miles from this intersection. We drove in the rain for awhile and then the sun would dimly shine through the clouds and then it would rain again. The farther we drove the brighter the sun. We pulled off the highway at a turn out and stood outside with the sun shinning brightly and rain falling on our heads. I figured having the sun was at least a good omen. As we drove into Tok, the rain had quit,the sun is out and it is just beautiful here this afternoon. We
pulled into the Tok RV Park about 3:30pm. We stayed here on our way into Alaska. It is a very
pretty RV Park with many, many trees and very clean. When we pulled in there were about 3 or 4 rather large mushroom looking things growing by the trees at our campsite. They were white and almost looked like cauliflower. The next time I have internet I will try to look them up. We have internet here but is only good for ONE hour. WOW, after being without internet for 3 or 4 days, one hour does not quite satisfy my needs!

We had not had lunch so I heated my quesch that I bought from Megpies Bakery yesterday. Larry had hot dogs. My quesch was wonderful! Too bad for Larry that he does not like quesch! After heating my lunch I thought I would set outside and eat at the picnic table. That was a wishful thought as the mosquitoes and no-see-ums are horrible. I even had the bug burner--whatever it's called--going and setting right next to me. I guess when you have this much rain the bugs grow bigger!

We relaxed awhile and decided we'd walk into the area where the gift shops are. We walked out to the highway and looked down the road and could not see anything. We quickly decided to take the car off the car hauler and drive. It was probably 4 miles down to the shops so since we are not the great hikers of the north, we probably made the right choice to drive.

We looked around in about 3 different shops and went to Fast Eddy's and had the salad bar. We
came back to the campsite and the mosquito's from the whole state of Alaska are having a reunion right here on our campsite!!! We had to load the car on the hauler and I thought we were going to be raw meat when we got inside the RV.

Not sure how far we are going to travel tomorrow. We have to navigate the horrible strip of
highway back to Destruction Bay so will be slow traveling! We would like to put a few more miles behind us each day so we might have time to go to Hyder on the way home. Hyder is where they have a bear viewing platform out over the river. The bears come to the river to eat the fish so they are almost always there. I'm getting anxious to get home to see my family as I REALLY miss them so much!

Day 36 --Off to Tok

Puddles of standing water and Larry is washing the motor home ?????

Tuesday August 10,2010. I again slept until 8:00 this morning. I have decided that I am suffering from SAD. Isn't this caused by sun deprivation?? Again we woke to rain. It rained all night, which makes for good sleeping as well. The forecast here is calling for rain the rest of the week -- SURPRISE! We have decided to start home tomorrow and made a reservation at Tok RV Park, which is where we stayed coming up. When Larry called for the reservation, he asked if it was raining in Tok and the lady said no, we are sure it will be by the time we get there!! Tok is where we we washed the RV and Car on our trip up and they certainly need it now. We were planning to wash the RV here since it is allowed in the RV Park, but can't get a break in the rain. We may go ahead and wash it in the rain as it is soooo -- dirty.

I noticed that the people here do not own 4 wheelers. Everyone I have seen is a 6 wheeler. I'm sure this is because of the climate since they receive an average of 325 inches of snow per year. I read in a paper we picked up at the museum today that the heaviest snow fall in Alaska was recorded at Thompson Pass, which is just a short distance up the road from Valdez. The measured snowfall was 974.5 inches. Is that just unimaginable??? I cannot even believe these people live in the dark for 3 to 4 months and deal with that much snowfall. I'm not quite sure what keeps people here. It IS a beautiful place but you can never see the beauty for the rain and fog! Yesterday when we were at the museum down by the waterfront, Larry asked the lady working there if it always rains in Valdez. She gave us a look like we were stupid and said yes this is a rain forest area and always gets a lot of rain. The look was ----if you don't like go home, which is where we are headed next!!

We went back into Valdez to another museum and spent some time going through it. It had lots of artifacts from the earthquake and Old Valdez. It was really interesting to read some of the history and to see items that were found years after the quake. They also had an area about the pipeline which was also interesting.

When we left the museum, we stopped in at the visitors center as I wanted to find out where I could get wifi that I didn't have to set for 10 minutes in between responses. The wifi here at Eagles Rest is so slow I could walk an email home by the time I got a response. It is so irritating spending your time that way!!! The lady told us to go to the Magpies Bakery for wifi. We drove over to the bakery and it was like a little coffee house with tables, love seat and several comfy chairs. We ordered coffee and got a large peanut butter cookie to share. I was able to get on the internet and check out my email and also post my blog from yesterday. There was a 15 year old girl playing guitar and singing and she was really entertaining. Larry left the bakery and walked over to a store called the Prospector, which was an outdoors store. I had a 2nd cup of coffee and used the internet and just had a very relaxing afternoon. I bought myself a slice of tomato and basil quesch to bring home with me. I have not tried it yet but sure looks good.

I drove over to get Larry and we looked for awhile at a gift shop which was next door to the Prospector. We stopped at the grocery store and then we stopped at one more gift store to look before returning to the campground.

Came back to the RV and cooked dinner and washed dishes. We sat down for an hour or so and the next thing I hear is water spraying against the side of the motor home. Yep, Larry was outside washing the RV in the rain. The rain had let up a lot and was just a fine mist. I got my shoes on and went out to help. This is a huge monster to wash by hand. While we were washing the RV the guy next to us came out, basically I think, to tell us how crazy we were. He and his wife are from California and are traveling with another couple. He talked for awhile and went back in until we were done with the motor home and as we were washing my car, he came out again. This time he said they would close their windows so we could start on their motor home next. I told him to go in and hold his breath until I got there. Then a gal came by as I was washing the car and told me she had ordered a rinse job for us and held her hands up to the falling rain. I guess they all thought we were crazy but wow, everything was just coated with dirt and mud. I'm sure we will drive less than 5 miles tomorrow before it looks the same but it makes you feel good to start out in a clean rig.

We actually should have left this morning for Tok but thought we'd stay one more day to relax a little. That is about all we did was relax today but it gets pretty hectic traveling so much. We are off to Tok tomorrow and just saw on the weather that they are expecting rain there tomorrow. Go Figure!

Day 35 - RAINY day in Valdez

Small Boat Harbor in Valdez, AK

Baleen (teeth) from Baleen Whale

----------------------------------German Bus at Eagle Rest RV Park----------------------

Salmon spawning at Salmon Gulch in Valdez

-------------------------------------Harbor in Valdez

Charlie chilling out on our bed!

Monday August 9, 2010. Today has been a lazy day. I was sleeping beauty this morning and didn't get out of bed till 8:30. I have been so exhausted, which I think is mostly that I don't go to bed till after midnight, and partly the rainy weather.Even the cats do nothing but sleep. I can't get Charlie off the bed long enough to make it in the mornings. We both sat around here and read and I am also still doing laundry. Larry is reading in his RV Library!!! We have a huge file of books for every item on this thing. He has been reading since we purchased it back in March. There is really a lot to know about this 'home on wheels'. Driving to Valdez yesterday in the bright sunshine, our 'check engine' light came on again and the exhaust break quit working briefly. This has never happened other than when we are driving in the rain and the exhaust break never works when the engine light comes on. However, we have a new twist on the problem, the break started working again even with the 'check engine' light on. Also we have never had the engine light came on in dry weather. Soo-- here's an opportunity for Freightliner to make another $400-500 bucks running their computer checks again!@# I can see that this issue will never be resolved because there is now no pattern for the fault. I should rename my blog to the Issues with motor homes!.

We finally got showers and drove into town--this was about a 2 second trip. The town is small with only one grocery store.The lady in the campground office says she hopes we have plenty of supplies because the store is really high priced. We drove on down to the waterfront and found a museum that was all about Valdez. We watched a video of the history of Valdez and the earthquake. It was pretty interesting. We then drove to the harbor and walked around awhile. Down at the small boat harbor they had the top catches of the fishing derby posted. On August 8 a local guy caught a 363 lb halibut. He broke the previous record which was 312 lbs in 2009. I was reading in a Valdez booklet that the derby winner received $15,000 in prizes. Not too bad for a days work huh???

Neither of us had eaten today so we first stopped at Harbor Cafe and when we looked at the menu and found that a hot dog was $9.75 and a hamburger was $14.95 we decided to move on. We ended up at a harbor side restaurant called Mike's Palace. We went in and decided we'd at least have a beer. We looked at the menu and decided to order a small pizza and spent almost $40 for the pizza and 3 beers(total-NOT 3 each). So don't know if we made a better choice or not. The pizza was good anyway.

We drove out of town about a mile to a small building that was the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. We went in and read a lot of information regarding whales and different marine life. They had a Baleen on display. A Baleen is basically what a Baleen Whale has instead of teeth and is used for straining their food. It is made out of Keratin, the same material as our fingernails are made from. It is very strange looking. Outside the little building is a Salmon spawning stream and we could stand on a deck and see many Salmon trying to swim up the stream.

The ranger at the Fish and Game building told us to go out of town about 5 miles to Dayville Road to see Salmon. We drove out to a place called Salmon Gulch and as we were getting ready to cross the bridge, there was a lighted sign saying Bears were in the area. We parked the car and walked down to the water and the smell was unbelievable! It was worse than any garbage dump I have ever smelled. This area I believe is a fish hatchery and also a fish processing plant. The salmon were everywhere in the stream that ran into Port Valdez. They were so numerous they were just piled up on top of one another along the edges of the stream. The only thing more numerous than the salmon were the sea gulls. There were thousands of them hoovering and flying all over the water. There were many dead Salmon lying on the rocks and the birds were having a gourmet meal. I can see why the bear are really bad in this area as they could eat fish both dead and alive for weeks!!

We drove back to the RV park and I stopped off at the office to try to get on the Internet. I tried several times to connect last night from the motor home but couldn't. I sat at the office almost 2 hours trying to post my blog and check my email. I finally gave up and walked back to the RV. I decided to walk across the grass, which is the tent camping area since it was so muddy walking on the road. As I stepped into the grass, I was over my shoes with water as the ground is saturated. WOW would I love to be tent camping there!! I also took a picture of a bus that is here. We stopped by and talked to a guy setting beside it this morning and he said their group was from Germany. We haven't figured out what this bus is all about as it has regular windows about half way back and then it is little windows on both side almost as if they have sleeping berths inside. The one side has an area that has a canvas coming out to make a shelter for eating. I have never seen anything that looks like it before.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure what we will do. There are a couple of places that I still want to see. One is another museum and the other is a place that shows a movie about the building of the pipeline and also the earthquake. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully it will quit raining. Today it rained all day and it was so foggy, we could not see the boats out in the harbor.

Day 34 - To Valdez

Beautiul waterfall near Glacier area

-----------------------------------------Worthington Glacier in route to Valdez----------

Mountain Stream driving on Richardson Hwy to Valdez

Sunday August 8, 2010. The phone woke me at 3:30am. It was a text message from Leslie saying they had landed in Chicago(which was 6:30am Chicago time). When they got off the plane they ran through the airport to catch their connecting flight to Peoria, which was due to leave in 3 minutes. The flight attendant called out to the plane but the captain said the doors had been sealed and he would not open the doors again for them to board. They had to wait 5 hours or more for the next flight to Peoria.

We were getting our showers this morning (warm showers by the way, as the water heater has been working perfectly)and trying to get packed up to leave Anchorage for Valdez when I received another text message. I finally called and talked to Leslie and she said that the flight they were waiting for was also delayed. I later received a message saying they left Chicago at 12:25 and the final message said they arrived in Peoria at 2:35 but NO Luggage. WHAT A TRIP! I hate flying as you can never plan on when you will actually arrive at your destination! I told her that they need to contact American for a refund! What a hassle they have had. Today is Pete's dad's birthday and they are planning to be at his mom and dads at 5:00 for his dad's party. They must be exhausted!

We did not get a very early start this morning for Valdez. We needed to get our propane tank filled before leaving Anchorage so Larry went to the office to find out where we could get it. I was still trying to get some laundry caught up before we unhooked.I think it was close to 10:30 when we finally got on the road for Valdez.

The weather this morning was beautiful again with the sun shinning bright and was very warm. We left Anchorage on RT 1, known as the Glenn Highway, which takes us back through the mountains where we walked the Matanuska Glacier. The scenery is beautiful driving this route. I mentioned before how freighting the roads were as they are narrow and have a lot of curves that drop off the side of the mountain. We had a perfect view of the glacier again today with the clear weather but the farther we drove the more the clouds were coming in over the mountain tops.

We drove for a long time and when we came into Glenallen, we stopped at a grocery store and bought chicken from the deli for lunch. What a mistake--it was so dry it must have been cooked last week! We also picked up coffee that we forgot to get at Walmart last night. The can we bought was a little larger than a normal can of coffee and we paid $15 for it. It was just the normal blend of Folgers. We could have bought a bag of Starbucks, which I think was a 12 oz bag for $28.95. DO PEOPLE REALLY BUY THESE THINGS IN ALASKA????? While we were in the store, a lady came in from Valdez talking about all it does is rain and that her yard was like a swamp. Oh great here we go back into the monsoons!

As we turned off from Glenallen toward Valdez, the roads were horrible with many frost heaves. We probably drove 60 miles or more on this road with dips and bumps. We stopped along the road at a beautiful stream to rest awhile. The water was so beautiful and, as most mountain fed streams, the water had a turquoise tint. We let the cats out on the leash for a short time but they were so freaked from the cars passing we ended up putting them back in the RV.

We drove by the pipeline for a short distance before it ran out into the dense wooded area. Also there was a big petroleum station with large barrels for the crude oil from the pipeline. The pipeline is huge and pretty impressive to think that it runs more than 800 miles, well beyond Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay.

We drove on about 5 miles and the scenery began. There were tall mountains all around and some were snow capped. The road just went down and down forever. I thought we would never stop traveling down the mountain. Two of the tall mountains had large glaciers in them and the waterfalls were coming down out of the mountains everywhere. We both commented that coming out of Valdez should be interesting trying to climb back up pulling the car. We may drive the car separate until we get on more level roads. Anyway it was a beautiful drive into Valdez and another example of how amazing Alaska really is. If you do not like looking at the beautiful mountains and the mountain steams, then you should probably stay out of Alaska. What total Beauty!!!

Valdez was about 305 miles from Anchorage and sets on the Prince William Sound. We arrived here about 6:00pm. Of course it is raining here. We started getting some rain about 50 miles before Valdez. I guess our entire trip is going to be plagued with rain as it seems to follow us everywhere we go! At least most of the time when it is raining, the mosquito's are not biting so bad. These are just a few of the things you must deal with to see this beautiful state!

I love reading about the history of each area we visit. Valdez was totally wiped out by the March 27, 1964 earthquake and Tsunami. The earthquake was a 9.2 and lasted over 4 minutes. It struck 45 miles west of the town. In 1967 Valdez was condemned when it was discovered it was built on unstable ground. Valdez was moved 4 miles east of the original location and 52 of the original buildings were moved to the current location.

In 1973 the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline was approved and Valdez was deemed as the southern terminus location. The population soared as the workers began locating in Valdez. The large tankers constantly come and go into Valdez to transport oil to the lower 48.

In 1989 the Exxon Valdez tanker hit a reef 25 miles outside of Valdez, which created the massive oil spill. As I read about the oil spill, I realized I must be getting old as it seems only a few year ago I so vividly remember this event. There is a hotel that still exist in Valdez that was originally built as a command center for the cleanup operations.

The Richardson Highway, RT 4 runs from Valdez to Fairbanks. This is the highway that we turned south out of Glenallen. It was originally called Keystone Canyon Trail and was Alaska's first highway and was the only viable inland route to Fairbanks.Because the highway started at Valdez, the town became the coastal port for traffic going into and out of the Alaska interior.

We pulled into Eagles Rest, where we had reserved a campsite, and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. It is VERY large and has nice wide campsites. We can actually put our slides out and still have lots of room to put our lawn chairs out next to the RV without being right next to the neighbor's RV. Also we do not have to unhook the car hauler as our site is long enough to leave it attached to the motor home. That is a first for a VERY long time. It is such a hassle to unhook and push the hauler into a tiny little spot. By the time we put out the slides and have the car hauler next to the RV, we can hardly find enough room to park my little car. The campground has about 15 cute little cabins they rent out. Everything is very clean and they actually have a large grassy area in the middle that is well trimmed that they use for tent campers. When the camp guide helped us park, he informed us that we could wash our RV on site. WOW this is something we have been waiting for because the RV is FILTHY! With the rain it will be dirty again but right now it is covered with mud,dust and BUGS galore! My car is so dirty it's hard to determine what color it actually is. Also the camp guide said the water is spring water so good for drinking. When we were in Denali, the water had such a scum on it that we could not even make coffee with it. We plan to stay here until Wednesday. From here, we have not decided where we are headed. Either to Hyder or just head back home as our time is running short.

Day 33 - Back to Anchorage

------------------Pete and Leslie enjoying campfire ---------------Cruise ship leaving harbor

Watching the boats run the bay

Saturday August 10, 2010. Pete and Leslie got up early again and went back to Exit Glacier to hike further up into the glacier. Larry and I sat outside by the bay and had our coffee and the weather was absolutely beautiful. The sun was out and it was warm and the mountains were even clear of the clouds. It is so enjoyable to set and watch the boats going out of the bay into the ocean for their fishing or whatever.

We got our showers and I was looking forward to going back out to relax until Leslie and Pete returned and when I looked out the clouds had moved in and it was becoming very nasty. It started to rain and the air cooled down to the point we needed our jackets again. ever thought there was another place on earth worse for weather than Peoria!!! Alaska would be the place.

Pete and Leslie returned from their hike with lots of excitement. They hiked quite a distance up to the glacier and happened onto a black bear cub. The cub is maybe not so freighting but the problem with seeing a bear cub is mama bear is somewhere very near. As is typical when these things occur, they had forgot their bear spray this morning. They turned around and made their way back down until they ran into another couple that was hiking. They talked to them awhile and the guy was very experienced with the outdoors. The couple had two canisters of bear spray so they all continued up the glacier together. Since Pete and Leslie were limited on time, they decided to head back down. The couple they were with gave them one of their bear spray and told them to leave it by their vehicle.

They returned to the RV and we all headed back up to the harbor area to find someplace for dinner. We went to the Chinook Waterfront Restaurant which was a beautiful place on the water and we were seated where we had a great view of the harbor. We each had a cup of Lobster Bisque which was to die for! I had Salmon Penne with garlic sauce and it was great! Pete and Larry had a Seafood Stir fry and Leslie had a Grilled Salmon Sandwich. Everyone said their selections were also very good. Larry wasn't fond of the Salmon in his as he is not a Salmon lover. Thank you Pete for buying our lunch!

The couple we gave our firewood to last night are very nice to talk to. Susan was outside when we came home from lunch. Her and I stood in the wind and rain and talked for a long time. They are from Winnipeg, Manitoba. They are also going to Valdez on Sunday. We exchanged Email Address's so we could keep in touch.

When we returned to the motor home, we unhooked the utilities and drug the car hauler around and hooked it up and of course, this was all in the rain. We were a mess and chilled to the bone when finished. Good ol' Alaska weather!! Of course we will be dying for the cold weather when we arrive home to the 100 degree temp's that everyone has been telling us about. We headed to Anchorage about 3:45 and arrived sometime around 6:00. Leslie and Pete finished packing, we had a quick sandwich and we drove them to the airport around 8:30 for their 10:00pm flight home. We left to come back to the RV park and Leslie called to say she forgot her folder with all her important school papers in it. We drove on to the motor home and found her folder and returned to the airport to meet her. We stopped to pick up a few items at Walmart and headed home. I worked on catching my laundry up, checking my emails and posting my blog from the last 3 days. It is so exciting to have internet service again. I received an email from Barb and Jim that we met in Ninilchik a few weeks back. They were leaving Valdez last Friday. Barb said Jim caught 3 Salmon while there and they had grilled Salmon. It sounds so good, just wish we could catch at least one so I could have Salmon on the grill. Larry, of course as I stated, will not eat Salmon. As I was working on the laundry and at about 10:45 Leslie sent me a text message saying their flight was delayed. I really hate it when my family travels as I always worry until they are home safe. I did not go to bed until after midnight and had a hard time going to sleep. I will be glad when Pete and Leslie are back in Peoria safely.