Day 1 thru 5 in Alaska

  We've accomplished a lot in the past days.  The RV is stabilized with supports under the slides.  The cargo trailer is unpacked (mostly) and organized, and WE FINALLY GOT POWER !!!!!  Here's the story.

SUNDAY 7/20
 We were expecting everything to be done and ready for us to "hook-up" and start living.  That dream was not to be.  Our contractor had put in the power pole, or remote base, as the electric company calls it, but it hasn't been inspected yet.  He says he's called MEA several times, but has had no response from them.  That doesn't sound right.  Since it was Sunday, I have to wait to call the next day.
  Since we have no power, we head over to our storage unit to get the generator.  Our son has put the geni at the back of the unit and parked our ATV in front, with the snow plow attachment.  We can't get the geni past  the ATV tires.  Only 1 inch more clearance needed.  After calling Steve, I'm able to get the battery reconnected, but the "Goblin" won't start. (I did tell you that Green Goblin was the ATV's nickname didn't I?).  Thinking with my brilliant brain, I use the wench to raise the snow plow, turned it slightly to the right, John and I pushed it forward until we were able to get the generator out, then pushed it back.
  When we got back home with the generator, we hooked up the RV to get power, but we still had the problem of no water.  (The pump is electric).  Luckily our contractor came by with a pigtail he used to connect the geni to the breaker box.  Voila---water---intermittently.  We used a period of good flow to fill the holding tank.
MONDAY 7/21
  When I call MEA and speak to the scheduler, she tells me they have heard nothing from our contractor.  I tell her that the remote base is ready for inspection.  She puts me in contact with the engineer who tells me she will be by around noon.  I run some errands , i.e., registering our address with the USPS so we can get our mail, checking on someone to replace the window broken by the Alaska Highway gremlins, arranging for trash pick-up, and a large tank of propane.
  That afternoon, the engineer with MEA did come by, BUT, corrections need to be made by the contractor.  He has the wiring in PVC instead of steel; the pipe must be secured AND CENTERED on the pole; a guy wire must be installed to stabilize the pole; and lastly, there needs to be another ground wire 6 feet from the first.  EGADS!  I would have thought (as a general contractor) that he knew the rules.
  We run the generator off and on until 7:00 p.m., when we shut it off to keep our neighbors friendly.  It's cool at night, and very refreshing, though we do set the furnace to kick on if the temp drops below 65*.
  The pups are having a wonderful time exploring the acreage.  There is so much to see and do.  They can smell the grasses, investigate the wildlife leavings, and so many other things that dogs do in their little worlds.

 Sassy and Rascal explore their limits on the driveway

 Sassy has always found rocks fascinating.

TUESDAY 7/22

  The contractor comes out and fixes his errors...all but one.  He says he's going to call MEA and ask THEM to install the guy wire.  I call the engineer myself.  She is a bit exasperated.  She tells me that this is something they really don't do, but if they did, it would cost ME over $650.00.  I call the contractor back, and he agrees to come out in the morning to put the wire in place.

  From the pictures I've posted, you can see that the fireweed is really tall. Both dogs are lost completely from sight when they go into the yard,  To surprise John, and aide us both, I go to the local Home Depot where I purchase a Ryobi string trimmer that can adapt with attachments including a brush trimmer, pruner, leaf blower, hedge cutter, and 4 time cultivator.  Just what we can use.  There is so much clearing to be done.

WEDNESDAY 7/23

  The MEA inspector comes out again.  This time, it's the ground wire.  It apparently must be one continuous wire, not spliced like the contractor has done.  Once again on the phone to him, and he promises to come out and fix it.  The inspector says she'll take his word, and schedule our connection.  Hooray!!!

  We spend more time getting things arranged in the shed and cargo trailer.  Still can't get the Green Goblin to start.  DANG IT ALL.  We could really use his "muscle" to get some clearing and cleaning done.  The weather is holding nicely, but rain is expected to begin tomorrow.  I really need the power as I need to get some laundry done.

  John and I have been working 12 or more hours a day, and are becoming exhausted.  It's still light out at 11:30 p.m. so getting to sleep has been a challenge.  Can't even watch TV, as I can't pick up any channels on the antenna, and DirecTV won't be here until Monday.

THURSDAY 7/24

  John finally gets a chance to play with his new trimmer.  He grins from ear to ear and makes that Tim Allen tool guy growl.  

I'm trying to get laundry done, using water from our holding tank.  I manage 4 loads, then the water runs out. The contractor came by early this morning and retrieved his pig tail, so I can't even get water from the well.

  On the subject of the well, many times the pump won't even work, so I call out a well service.  They check the breakers and the pressure tank.  I'm thinking the old pump is about to go, but she says "No, it's the generator not giving our enough power."  What a relief!  John goes to get more water in our 5 gallon emergency jugs and puts his back out of commission for the rest of the afternoon.

  4:30 in the afternoon, I still haven't seen or heard from MEA.  I call the scheduler and get voice mail (of course), but she does call back 15 minutes later.  She's telling me I'm next on the list as the truck pulls into my drive.  30 minutes later, we have power, and with power comes water from the well.  Picture us doing our "Happy Dance"  To celebrate, we watch a DVD together.  Finding Nemo one of our favs.

FRIDAY JULY 25

  We went to sleep last night to the sound of the rain hitting the rubber roof and awoke this morning to the same.  One big difference between Texas rain and Alaska rain?  Alaska rain isn't accompanied by strong winds.  We were able to leave the awning our all night.  This morning, we had a dry place to sit.

  We ran a big errand this morning.  On Craigslist-Anchorage/Mat-su a gentleman had a small trailer for sale that just fits our needs to pull behind the Goblin while we're clearing our land.  Good price too.  We loaded it into the back of Goliath and arrived home 1 hour early to greet someone who is coming to get that monstrous egg incubator out of our shed.  

  I put it on the same Craigslist last evening and by 10:00 p.m. had 8 people call about it.  (It's free to a good home, who wouldn't want it).  The niece of the lady who won the "bidding war" by being the first to contact me arrived in a car.  There is no way on God's green earth it will fit, so she'll come back on Saturday with a flatbed truck (currently off-loading hay).  We will be so very glad to see it gone.

  Then we decided to head over to storage to try once again to start the Goblin.  Jumper cables and starting fluid in the back of Trooper, we stop first to rent a trailer to bring him home whether he starts or not.  He doesn't.  No matter what we try the Goblin sits still, teasing us occasionally with a cranking sound.  

  To load him on the trailer, we must first remove the snow plow.  To remove the plow, we must push him out of the storage room, turn him around, and push him back in so we can drop the plow.  John and I got him out and turned around, but just couldn't get his front end back into the storage room. 

  A very nice young man (Ryan) showed up and took pity on a couple of old geezers. (John with his gray hair, and me with a cane).  He helped push Goblin into storage, helped drop the plow, then helped us use the wench so Goblin could pull himself onto the trailer.  The funniest part was when Goblin was part way on and Ryan wanted to get behind and push (weakening battery), John was helping steer, and I was elected to work the wench control (on the center console of the Goblin)  When I could no longer reach with my arm, I used my cane to press down on the control.  Loaded, and strapped down, we headed home (after stopping to get a new battery).

  Chicken noodle soup for dinner.  Hot spiced cider or hot cocoa to sip, and we've got a great evening.  Tomorrow we'll off-load the Goblin and work more on getting him running.  Maybe he knows what's in store for him and is throwing a temper tantrum (he is only 4 years old after all).

Where did I go wrong hiring this guy?

John and I have been working diligently trying to get things in order after the move, he was working outside, while I tried to tame the dust we collected driving the Alaska Highway. Only got the living room and part of the kitchen done.
   Still don't have electricity. Contractor was out this morning, did part of the job ( correcting the errors discovered by the engineering inspection yesterday) then said he would call MEA to see it THEY would run the guy wire. When I called the engineer later she told me they don't usually do that but if the could it would cost me $$$. That really ticks me off!!!
  All this was supposed to be done before we arrived. If this man advertises himself as a "General Contractor", he should have knowledge of the codes and not done a half-a**ed job. I'm going to have a long talk with him tomorrow. He still hasn't given us a total on the job. (probably because it isn't finished).  
  Got a lot of things put away and shelving put in place in the storage trailer.  We will have to move the puppy fence tomorrow, as it just happens to be where the guy wire for the electric pole is supposed to go.  Lots more work on the horizon.
  No pics tonight, too busy/tired to take or post any.

First Day at Home

  Even though we have no power, no water, no TV.  We are happy.  The land is as gorgeous as we remembered.  Pictures truly cannot do it justice.

  We've retrieved our generator from storage yesterday afternoon, so we could make coffee (our life's blood) this morning.  Our fresh water tank is almost out, so when I go to town later today, I'll try to get those filled so we can have some water (the pressure tank is empty).
  We awoke to 46* temps but bright sunlight.  I slept in until 7:30 this morning, what a treat!.  John fixed us scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, then we planned our day.  John will start unloading the cargo trailer while I run errands in town (namely to the post office to verify our address).
  Right after breakfast, I called MEA and was told that our contractor had never contacted them to do the inspection (frowny face).  I left my number for the engineer to call me back, then I called our contractor for an explanation. None was to be had.
  I help John get a few things sorted, then booted the computer to get addresses of all the places I need to go this morning.  Two cups of coffee in my belly, I'm ready to hit the road.
  Being the diligent person that I am, and not really knowing my way around Wasilla, I programed the addresses into the GPS system in Trooper (easier on fuel).  Little did I know that NONE of the addresses given on line are the actual physical placement of the places I need to go.  Luckily, being a very observant person, I was able to find what I needed (I just happened upon them while following the GPS to some unknown destination).
  John has worked so diligently, and there is so much "weed whacking" to do, I splurged and got him a new Ryobi string trimmer.  The neatest part of this is that there are other attachments you can get for it, i.e. a brush cutter, a pruner, a hedge trimmer, a leaf blower, and a couple of others.  Whew!!  I almost forgot to mention the most important one (to me anyway) the 4 tine cultivator.  Come on spring!!!

  While I was running errands, the engineer came by to inspect the electrical set up.  OOPS! The wires must be in steel piping, not PVC.  There needs to be a guy wire to stabilize the pole, the steel pipe with the wiring must be "centered" on the pole, and there must be a second ground wire 6 ft. from the first one.  I notify the one responsible to fix it.  He will come out this afternoon.
  When he does arrive, John gives him the directions from the engineer. OK, but best of all, he hooks up our well pump to our generator so we can have some running water.  He tells us he will be back tomorrow to fix things so the MEA can turn on our power.
  Other accomplishments today included WiFi, DirecTV installation, arrangement for trash services, and arrangement for a LARGE propane tank.  We are making headway now.
  We finally put our ALASKA sticker on the map attached to Wheel Estate II,  the pups had a blast exploring the land, and to celebrate (at last) a meal of hot dogs, potato chips, and champagne.

  Enjoying life in Alaska.---The adventure continues tomorrow.

We made it ********

  July 20, 2014 at 1:10p.m we pulled onto our land just north of Wasilla, AK.  Those who've followed the blog know it has not been an easy 14 days on the road.  The last one was no exception.
  We awoke at 4:30 a.m. today.  It is so light out that John thought it was much later than it was.  He started the coffee and was dressed before he looked at his clock and realized he hadn't changed the time so it was early.  "I'm up, we might as well hit it", he says to me.  My body is in rebellion.  I'm stiff and achy all over.  I know he is too.  Why, or why did we start this adventure at our ages?  (More imagination than brains some would say).
  On the road at 6:00 am making the turn south on the Tok Cutoff.  The road looks good, the sun is shining, my tummy has had breakfast, and my spirits are high (for now). My odometer now reads 80888.  I have this thing for repeating numbers.  Wasn't it just a few days ago it read 77777?
  By 9:15, we had only 150 miles to go, but then the roads, oh my, the roads.  Frost heaves, pot holes, gravel, and that was the good stuff!  There is no traffic and no cell reception.  I'm wondering if we have a flat or a breakdown how we'll ever get help.  To top it all off, it is beginning to rain.  My mood is not improving.

  By 10:30, we've entered the Chugach Mountains.  The road is narrow, the rain and fog make it difficult at times to see for any distance.  John, who's never really driven in the mountains, is a basket case, but God love him, he perseveres.  What a trooper.
  At 11:30, we hit the worst of it all, but there on our left, is the magnificent Matanuska Glacier.  White and blue, it stretches for miles along the mountain.  The melting gives the Matanuska Lake a milky white color.  Turn outs abound for picture taking, but they are all on the opposite side of the road, making it difficult to maneuver this big rig over.  I settle for rolling down the window and snapping a pic as I go past.

  The turns are so tight, and the mountains so high that I often lose radio contact with John,  most often he is not even in sight.  I learned to drive in the mountains (Colorado Rockies), but my sweet hubby is getting trial by fire and pulling a trailer too.  When we do make the rare radio contact, I can hear the tension in his voice.  I reassure him that it is almost over, "Just keep on trucking, babe"
  We finally hit Palmer (20 miles from home) at 12:30.  A quick break to stretch our legs (and the dogs too) we hit the final stretch for home.
  When we pulled into the drive, it was almost too much to believe.  The land is awash with the fuchsia blossoms of the fireweed.  The RV pad is ready for us.  Hooray for Team Sagerian.  We made it.  The long hours of driving are finally over, and our new life is ready to start.
  BUT WAIT.....we have NO POWER (the Matanuska Electric Authority has not yet connected the lines.  Without power, we have NO WATER.  I call our contractor who tells me he's still waiting for MEA to come out to inspect the set up.  There is some water in the pressure tank, he tells us, but it is musty smelling and the well should be decontaminated.  GREAT.  I turn on the tap but I don't smell anything but old garden hose.  When I disconnect that, the smell goes away.  The water is clear and tastes wonderful.  We have a generator so all is not lost.
  Not knowing when to quit, John and I were up until 11:30 p.m.  "putting things away", finally collapsing from shear exhaustion.  Tomorrow we will awake to face these new challenges.

Almost...almost...almost

  What a day this has been...road wise.  We woke this morning a 4:50 a.m. (thanks to Snickers) who decided we needed to pay attention to him.  OK, we're up.  Might as well hit the road.
  Driving toward Alaska 298 miles to go.  (That's to the border only)  Can hardly wait to see what's in store for us today.  We've heard horror stories from friends who've driven it before, and from fellow travelers on this journey who are now returning to the lower 48.  There are stories of frost heaves, pot holes, gravel, steep grades.  Let's see if they are true.
  It seemed as if we'd been driving forever by 12:30, and the town of Beaver Creek was still 39 km down the road.  6 hours and only 150 miles?  Geesh.  The stories were true.  Gravel stretches of a mile or more with white dust so thick, they warn you about it on signs.  Pot holes so deep it seems as if Goliath and Wheel Estate II will fall into them.  I've already lost a hub cap!
  Now here's a first.  I've never seen a traffic light in the middle of nowhere, red, with a sign below that says "Stop here and wait on pilot car."  The gent in front of me apparently didn't read the sign.  He got about 200 yards up the road and a worker on a grader made him turn around and come back.  This wait was 30 minutes.

   When the pilot car returned for us (I counted 9 RV's and 3 autos in the convoy), she lead us back and forth from one side of the road to the other.  The dirt (not gravel this time) was soft and slick.  Both hands on the wheel for this trip, so no pics.
  The last part of the section was a very steep grade and she was only leading us at 25mph.  Always my luck.  Yes, the transmission got hot, but not hot enough to set off the alarm.  I was holding my breath though.  Just about the time I started looking for a place to pull over, she pulled off to the side and we now had pavement to drive on.
  Being able to go a little faster without a climb, the trani cooled off...just in time for the next red light and wait for a pilot car.  I'm beginning to feel we're never going to make much progress today.  I'm getting tired and cranky, and so is John.  While awaiting this pilot, John notices some loose wires under Wheel Estate II, so he grabs a couple of bungee cords and bungees the wires up to the axle.  What else?
  Despite the slow progress and the rough roads, we were rewarded by some beautiful scenery that I will share with you.

 REFLECTION LAKE

 KLUANE MOUNTAINS

 ANOTHER VIEW OF THE KLUANE MOUNTAINS

 ONE OF THE FEW STRETCHES OF GOOD ROAD

The pink flowers are Fireweed. Abundantly in bloom.

  The border crossing back in the USA was great.  The customs officer asked to see the pets papers, and the paperwork on the other cargo John's carrying.  Finally had a use for those papers Dr. Shipman was so nice to print out for us a few months ago.  So glad to be back in the states where I can purchase fuel in gallons instead of liters and use coins I recognize.  Loonies are the same size as a quarter so you have to be careful.  Toonies are at least part gold colored.

   After just 79 more miles of travel on good roads (I told John that at least Americans know how to patch a road properly), we finally made it to Tok. AK.  We had thought of pushing on  earlier in the day, but is's 2:30 p.m. (Alaska time) and even though it's "early" we're both exhausted from fighting the roads.  One more overnight stay in an RV park, then home!!!

ONLY 284 more miles to go.  Sounds almost anticlimactic. 

The end is near, maybe, if nothing else happens.

  July 17:  We left Toad River at 7:15 am.  As we drove onto the highway I spied something unusual for this latent Texan girl.  In Texas people usually toss tennis shoes or baby shoes tied together by the laces and wrap them around the electric/phone wires crossing the street.  In Canada I spied a pair of ladies ice skates treated in the same fashion.  They looked rather clean, so I surmise they were hung there this past winter.
  Today was a day for wild life.  Just outside the city limits, a young bull caribou was advancing toward the road, but saw me and darted back in.  Probably thought I wanted to take his picture.  then just 8 km out of Toad River, a yearling black bear sat along side the road just watching the traffic go by.  He seemed totally unfazed by the people whizzing by.  I didn't see him in time to stop to get a pic, but take my word for it, he was a cutie.
  A bit further down the road were 2 wood bison.  They young bulls were just resting on the west side of the road, very relaxed and unconcerned at all the paparazzi stopping to take pics of them.  They are probably used to it.  The wood bison are an endangered species in Canada.  According to one source, there are only 250 - 350 left in the wild.

   Just a few miles after passing these two magnificent gentlemen, we hit the gravel and pot holes we'd been warned about.  Lots of bouncing, dust, gravel pings off the truck and RV, and slipping on the loose stuff.  Canadians use a mixture of loose gravel and thin tar called SEALCOAT to place on their roadways, filling in areas that have been ravaged by the extreme cold.  It works to a degree, but is not at all fun to drive on.  I feel for the multitude of motorcyclists we've seen on the Alaska Highway "going up" and "coming down"
  A good while later, I noticed the oncoming traffic was flashing their headlights.  A sure sign of trouble ahead.  Sure enough, as I topped the next hill, there was a herd of about 30 bison cows and calves.  The patriarch of this herd was magnificent to behold.  He kept a sharp eye out at all the stopped traffic, making sure no one threatened his family.

  The herd meandered south grazing on the lush grasses growing in the roadway easements.  Several of the calves stopped a bit to nurse, and one little fellow (yearling) decided to explore the trucks that were stopped.  The problem was that his exploration took place in the middle of the road way and no one could move.

The herd (part of it)

 Nursing calf

  A bit further in our journey, we began to see black bear.  We counted  7 on this leg of the journey.  I took pics of only two of them. This first little guy, was sitting on his fanny scratching his belly when I first spotted him.  He'd moved before I could get my camera ready though.  All the bears we saw were grazing on the succulent grasses and had no concerns for the traffic.

One of our little black bears.

  John has discovered that Sassy and  Snickers have learned to roll down the windows (electric), so he had to lock them to prevent escapes.  The only real frustration on this leg of the journey was a 49 minute wait at a construction site.  Traffic was down to a single lane, and we had to wait on the pilot car to guide us through.  Fresh tar and gravel.  Billious clouds of dust.  The RV will never come clean!  John and I sure wasted our time washing it the day before we left on this trip.

  I talked to our contractor this afternoon.  He's getting the electric hooked up and turned on.  We should be ready to pull up and plug in, except, he says our water smells moldy.  I'll need to check out how to decontaminate the well, after all, it's been out of use since 2011.

  We stopped early in the day to spend some time at Wilson Lake and to explore the Sign Post Forest.  It started back in 1942, when one of the army engenieers building the Alaska Highway, posted a sign indicating how far it was to his home town.  Since then, visitors from all over the world post their signs, adding to the emense collection.  We posted ours also.  Found several from Pearland, one from Pasadena, and one from League City (though someone has stuck a WOODSTOCK bumper sticker over the "city" portion of the sign.  Met a lot of wonderful people, and everyone took turns taking pictures of each other.

  July 18:  I woke up at 4:30 and could not get back to sleep, so I sat and knitted for a while letting John and the pups sleep in.  He's up by 5:30, and we are ready to hit the road.  Our initial plan was to try for Haines Junction, but the first 1/3 of the trip was great so we extended our goal to Tok, AK.

  Our goal would not be met.  We hit rain that made the road slick.  Not heavy but enough to stir up the SealCoat of tar and gravel.  Then we hit bad roads that caused us to slow to 40 mph or less.  Some of the bumps were so bad it jolted your spine at even a mere 10 - 20 mph.

  The scariest encounter today though, happened after a lunch rest.  I was going up a steep incline when suddenly a brown bear (grizzlie) ran across the road right in front of me.  I had to hit the brakes, he didn't, he just kept on keeping on.  I hadn't even seen him run out of the grasses on my right.  John hollered "bear" just as he ran in front of the truck.  John did congratulate me for missing him.

  On a comical note, as we were headed north today I saw a sign indicating the I should slow down a to 50 km/hr and that the bridge ahead had a clearance of 600m.  (5.2m is 71ft.)  I thought it odd, until I got to the bridge.  There was no overhead structure at all.  So, I guess the Canadian government is paying someone to make signs whether they are needed or not.

  John had a scare with Trooper.  He was coming up an incline, and his engine tached to 3500, and didn't downshift when he completed the climb.  We pulled into a rest area and let his vehicle cool down.  Even though it is only 3:30 pm, we've decided to stop for the night in Haines Junction after all.
  Tomorrow, we will make it back to the USA and reasonable prices.  Would you believe $7.98 for a 4 pack of Pepsi?  Outrageous.  Eggs are $3.98 a dozen, bread is $3.49 for generic white bread.  Diesel has ranged from $1.37/liter to $4.15/liter.  The exchange rate is $1.00 US to $1.10 Canadian.  Not that far apart.  One fill-up in Goliath cost me $168.89.  I'd go broke living here.  John just had to have a pack of cigarettes today and paid $16.50 + tax for a pack of generic smokes.  (He really needs to quit)

And the testing continues...

  Wow, today was an experience, to say the least.  We woke up at 5:30 this morning and were on the road from Dawson Creek by 7:15.  The first 250 miles were fabulous.  Gorgeous scenery, wonderful roads, where was all the drama we'd been hearing about?

 We found out.
  Construction is prevalent along the Alaska Highway.  As one of my FaceBook friends put it.  "Canada has two seasons, winter, and construction."  That was hitting the nail on the head!  The first traffic stop for construction wasn't that bad, they were only removing part of the mountain that threatened to fall down on all of us unsuspecting motorists.

  Some of the construction sites were as calm as the one pictured above.  Then we hit one that emitted clouds of ash colored dust so thick you could barely see the car in front of you.  Seeing the road was impossible so I just trusted that the driver in front of me was not suicidal and aiming for a  drop off.

  The next one had us wait in the que for 20 minutes.  This site was larger by far encompassing several miles of potted pavement, gravel, potted soil, and any other impediment to driving you could imagine.

  As the miles rolled on, we chanced an encounter with a fuel tanker.  He seemed to be always just ahead of us as we waited in one queue after another.  Now came the hard part, narrow road, steep incline, heavy traffic, no passing zone, and just ahead of me?  The tanker going 10 mph.  

My soon to be headache with one car between us

  Now, I've pulled trailers with Goliath in the Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana Rockies before without any difficulty, as long as I can get a fair running start at the hill.  Today, thanks to my tanker blocker ahead of me, I had a bit of difficulty going up a couple of hills, but now, the nightmare was starting. 

  I've dropped to second gear and holding my own, when he suddenly drops to 8 mph and I lose my momentum (what little I had).  Suddenly, an alarm goes off.  A red warning signal TRANS TEMP appears on my dash.  I look over at my TRANS TEMP gauge and it's reading 220!  Egads!!! My transmission is gonna melt on me!

  I start pulling off toward the narrow shoulder headed for the slightly wider shoulder ahead and all I can hear is John behind me in Trooper yelling into the radio "GET OVER, GET OVER, GET OVER"  (he says this faster than I can type it)  I yell back "My transmission is overheating!  I have to stop now!"

  I do get safely off to the side and sit there for at least 20 minutes with the engine idling while I slowly watch the temperature gauge slowly drop to 180.  I put the truck in gear and PRAISE THE LORD, the truck moves!!!

  Luckily, that was the last "bad" incline for the day.  Others were there, but I wasn't blocked by the tanker, so no problema!

  We still hadn't seen any wildlife so far, unless you want to count ravens, until we were just 30 kilometers from where we've stopped, when a young bull caribou stepped to the side of the road and stood there looking at my truck approach, trying to decide if he wanted to cross the road or not.  He decided not.

  We are currently at a little road side RV Park and Lodge called Toad River. www.toadriverlodge.com

The cabins are cute, the RV sites are spacious enough, but best of all, there is a restaurant.  I didn't have to cook!.  

 Here are some glamour shots of where we are tonight.

Miles today 422.  Plan to make Whitehorse tomorrow 480 miles down the road.  We should be in Alaska day after tomorrow.  YEAH!!!

July 15, in Dawson City

  We're taking a break from driving today to tighten loose screws (our own included) and do a little touristy stuff.  So, what do you do in Dawson City for fun?

You get your picture taken at the Historic Marker

You take a picture of the MilePost in the center of town

You watch a PBS program on the building of the Alaska Highway in the "Alaska Highway House"

You go to the "Visitors Center" where you spend $$$ on t-shirts, bumper stickers, & other stuff you don't need.

  Mostly you just have fun and meet lots of other travelers, all with stories to tell.

We will head out in the morning wide awake and very rested.  Some say we may be able to average 40mph on the trip.  Will post again when we have WiFi.

The many, many miles...Whew!

  OK, so where did I leave off?  Seems so long ago though it's only been 3 days.  A lot has happened to tell you all about, some good, some bad.
  The morning of July 13, we made our run for the Canadian border.  Passports are in hand, Canadian moola in the wallets, declarations completed.  We are set.  The drive was beautiful, and very relaxing.  Traffic was light and we had zero snarls on getting ready.

  The customs agent at the border asked the usual, i.e. "Passport please", and "please remove your sunglasses"  (gee, I forgot I had them on. ) The Q & A went something like this:

Is anyone else in the truck with you?"
No

"Is anyone  riding in the trailer?"
 No.

 "Why are you in Canada?"
 We are passing through on our way to Alaska.

  "How long will you be there?"
Permanently.

"How long will it take you to get through Canada?"
 Guessing, maybe 4 or 5 days. 

 "Do you have any alcohol or tobacco with you?"  I have a bottle of Champagne and a 5th of whiskey 3/4 full. 

 "Do you have any guns?" 
 Not with me, my hubby has them in the cargo trailer. 

 "Is that him behind you?"
 Yes

 "Do you have any mace or bear spray?" 
 No.  

  He forgot to ask me about fruits and veggies, which we made sure we had only the allotted amount with us.  He didn't ask about dairy, houseplants, pet food, or any of the other things we were cautioned on the Canadian Customs web site to avoid bringing (unless specifically allowed).  I was kind of disappointed.  He told me I was free to go but if I wanted to, I could park and wait on John.
  It took less time than we expected to get the cargo John's carrying through the border.  Hand over the paperwork and $25.00 (Canadian...cash only please), and we're on our way.  Not much else to say about the border except: are the customs officers getting younger, or am I just getting older?
  Down the road a few km (yes, we are now on the metric system), we stop at the first welcome center we come to.  John changes Trooper's speedometer to km and I change the Garmin to tell me what to do in metric terms (she's always bossing me around anyway.)  Couldn't she assume if I pull off the road I'm either getting fuel, food, or taking a much needed pause for the cause?

 Interesting rock formations and a Tyrannosaurus Rex

 It should be noted that they were flying the flags of Canada, Alberta, and the USA

   The rest stop was beautiful and we took a bit of time to let the fur babies walk in the soft grass.

  While we were relaxing, we met a lovely lady by the name of Barbara.  She was driving her Class C on her way from California to Calgary then Edmonton to visit her nieces.  She was traveling alone, except for her little dachshund Roxie & needed some help.  She was trying to follow a map and a GPS she got from the Good Sam Club.  It was giving directions slightly different from her map and she was really scared of getting lost. I got my maps and my itinerary (Mike would call that "the book of common knowledge) and joined her in her RV.  The GPS she had was really not user friendly, but I looked over on the chair & there was a Garmin nuvi like I have.  She plugged it in & gave me her niece's address in Calgary.  I programmed it in and invited her to follow us until she had to exit in Calgary.  During a quick break just before we got to Calgary, Barbara said the Garmin was following where I was leading and she now felt confident to complete her journey.  A smile and a wave as she exited let me know she would have a good trip.

  John and I drove on, enjoying the many, many miles of Canada, as far as the eye can see.  One thing I can say about the Queen Elizabeth II highway, it's very clean.  I never saw trash or junk yards or other eye sores that dot the highways of America.  When we got tired, we stopped for the night in Didsbury, Alberta at the Rosebud Valley Campground.  $26.00 (Canadian, cash only please) to hook up to electric.  No water, no sewer, no cable, no WiFi.  DVD time!!!

  The best part of this little place is that we were parked in a field of clover and the aroma washed gently over us with the breeze.  A nice 67(F), pleasant for sleeping with the windows open for the first time since leaving the stifling heat of Texas.

  We slept so well that we woke up at 6:30 a.m. ready to go.  The parking spot was so level we didn't even need to put down the jacks, nor disconnect from Goliath.  A very quick get-a-way.  Our goal was to reach Dawson Creek before nightfall.

  On this long drive we found laid out on either side of the road golden blanket of fragrant blooms.  It seemed as if all the farm fields were sown in this extremely attractive planting.  When we stopped for lunch, and to consult the Milepost Magazine (a must for this trip), we discovered that the magnificent plantings we were observing was canola to be processed into oil upon harvesting of the seeds.  I  knew how pleasing the oil is to the heart, but had no idea how pleasing to the eye the raw form was.

  Canada also has some very interesting names for towns, rivers, lakes, etc.  The ones we liked best were: 1) Head-Smashed-In, 2)Ma-Me-O Beach and 3) Lose Gun Lake.

    

  We continued on our journey, but encountered frequent construction zones.  Several of them had tons of gravel on the road and I could hear the pebbles bouncing under the truck and striking the RV,several areas of "frost heaves"  and slowing from  110 kph to 50 kph  (70mph to 35 mph for those who don't want to convert).  The RV was really bouncing and jerking in several of these areas, making the drive very tiring.  Determined, we pushed on.

  Unable to get a cell signal on our phones despite our frequent tries, we stopped at a Walmart (yes they are everywhere) to buy a pre-pay phone with Canadian connectivity.  As I walked by the back of the RV with John, we were astonished to see that one of the windows in our bedroom had disintegrated due to rock strike or severe bouncing. Also found the weather stripping from the top of the bedroom slide (on the opposite side of the broken window) was pulled from it's moorings and flapping in the breeze. Once again the $$$$ formed a mosh pit in my brain.

   Into Walmart for 1) a phone 2) something to cover the window 3) super glue. What do they say about the best laid plans?  Walmart wanted $128.95 for a phone and minutes were extra !!!!  I'm only gonna use it a couple of times, gee-sh is it made of gold?  There was no visqueene available, and the only plastic drop cloths they had were only 2.75 mil thick, about what a trash bag is.  Then a light bulb went off.  The plastic that comes with poster frames is just the right thickness.  

  Got back out to the RV, proud of my ingenuity only to find that John was now able to get a cell signal, I forgot the super glue, but the poster frames idea was a real success!

  We are now at the Northern Lights Campground in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.  Met a couple 3 RVs down from us who are from Pasadena, TX.  They are on their way back and tell us the roads are not getting any better, so this will be the repair until we get home.  John plans to buy 2 more tomorrow, "just in case."

  We plan to stay 2 nights to again recoupe, and be rested and awake to face the Rocky Mountains and the infamous Alaska Highway.   Miles traveled 2868, miles to go 1556.