Our Grand Alasakan Adventure

US Hwy 2 was in pretty good shape with the exception of the 3 miles east of Havre, MT, which was dirt and gravel.  Guess who was driving, yes that would be me, the queen of driving in rain and construction.

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And that would also be me....it's a continual thing with us.  I take over driving and hit road construction, traffic delay, heavy rain, slight snow or tornado type winds.  And then there is the napping husband in the passenger seat.

Marsha~

Jim Godward said:

You had a lot of the equipment that my group wrote the specifications for and later witnessed the delivery at the factory to ensure the specs were met.  Many of my guys were involved with the installation and onsite maintenance of MMIII Guidance sets at Grand Forks.  For some unexplained reason, I never made it to a site.  Management was no longer qualified as an engineer I guess.

Thanks for your service.

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Thank you Jim and I also served at Grand Forks (and eventually retired there) in missile maintenance and oversaw the installation of many of the MMIII guidance sets over the years.
Minuteman became a very reliable weapon system thanks to contractor folks like you and those others who provided the integral systems.

Tin man said:

With all the hard work, money, and diligent effort, glad they just become landmarks, and never used!!!!!

Jim

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  Right Jim.  The motto of Strategic Air Command was Peace is Our Profession.  Thankfully, we met that motto.

I grew up in the Strategic Air Command as my father was a loyal serviceman...being a kid of a SAC NCO was not...great. The demands of the profession my father loved outweighed everything else in life. I remember the Bay of Pigs ordeal vividly, as well as a thousand other sleepless nights as a kid as my father was on alert status all of the time.

Talk about thread drift...sorry.

Hey Mick and Jim    I didn't see any pictures.  Maybe I wasn't looking  in the right place.  Be safe      Love ya

Will be leaving for Alaska in four weeks July 1 and will try to post every day with pictures.  Wanted to do a web page, but the brides concerned that someone could read it and know we are not home. Must be a NY thing.  Really donor know how to do a web blog anyway.

Jim

May 27, 2014 ? Day 7
Up and out the door early this morning, we even set the alarm to go off at 6:30 AM.  Too bad I didn?t make sure it was set for AM or we might still be lying in bed waiting for it to go off.  I?ll make sure next time not to set it for PM.  Still we were on the road for a long days drive up to Lake Louise, about 350 miles.  Had to drive about 30 miles to the border crossing.  No problems there.  Headed north on Hwy 4 to Lethbridge and we past a guy riding a bike and about a mile down the road was a Monk with an orange-ish robe, bald head and sandals, just walking down the highway, very strange.  Then onto Hwy 3 to Fort McLeod.  I offered to give Jim a break from driving and took over about the time we hit Hwy 2, north to Calgary.  Scenery about the same as the plains of Colorado, pasture land and some rolling hills and no rain or construction, yeah.  About 5 Kilometers or 3 miles from Nanton, Alberta, we blew a tire on the Trail Blazer.  I had moved over to the passing lane to give a car on the side of the road some breathing room and there was this metal object in the road, I avoided it with WeBe, but not the Trail Blazer.  I was having difficulty with the steering and Jim thought it might be a belt that broke.  Then I saw smoke out the back.  Pulled to the side of the road.  Boy, did I annihilated the front driver side tire. There was a gentleman by the name of Ken who stopped to help.  He was a retired tow truck driver.  We couldn?t get the spare tire to drop down from underneath the car and finally called AAA.  Ken sat with us in WeBe because the mosquitoes were having a heyday with us.  We told him he didn?t need to stay with us but he said since his wife died he had plenty of time.  He told us stories about panning for gold, meeting Walt Disney, who gave him his card and said if he was ever in CA, come to Disneyland.  This all took place in the 1960?s.  Well, he and a cousin went on a road trip down to Mexico and on the way back up to Alberta they stopped at Disneyland.  It was closed that day, but he said he called up Walt and he took them in and let them have a look around.  We were glad to have his company while we waited for AAA. 
Got the tire changed and headed for the nearest tire store to replace the tire.  By this time, I am a mess.  I had stood on the side of the road with semi?s whizzing past as my husband laid under the car wrestling with that stupid spare tire.  Oh, we also had to undo the bikes that are on the back of the Trail Blazer to open the back to get to the device to drop the spare from underneath the back. I never said so many prayers at one time.  Went to  Integra Tires, small little operation and they only had one particular brand of tire to fit the Trail Blazer, $495 CA later and a total of 3 hours we were on our way again.  Oh those little bumps in the road so many told us about.  To be honest, I am done with bumps in the road for a while.
We finally make it into Calgary but directions were not the best and when we got off the Deerfoot Trail, which was another name for Hwy 2 and tried to find the exit for Hwy 8, the exit sent us going east.  I know we have had a stressful day but I thought we were supposed to be going west.  A few exits later we were able to turned around and heading towards Banff/Lake Louise.  We passed the Canada Olympic Park, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 1988. It was really cool to see the ski jumps and a couple of arena?s.  Now we are making progress.  We can see the Rocky Mountains ahead of us.  We start climbing some hills and I see a sign at the bottom of a very short exit that says ?Texas Gate?.  A few miles down the road and there it is again and the only thing I can see is a cattle guard.  We also saw signs for ?Watch for Pedestrians on Highway?, once again, strange.
We are about to Banff and we are seeing all these beautiful snow covered mountains skirting along the highway.  You could almost visualize the glaciers of long ago.  There was one particular peak that Jim said it reminded him of a scoop out of an Igloo.  That doesn?t mean much to anyone but the Ryan Family.  Igloo?s are a very special Christmas dessert that is made with chocolate wafers and whipping cream.  We also passed under several of these tunnels that were specially built for wildlife to cross this 4 lane highway.  I?ll try to down load a picture or two.
We now arrive at the entrance to Banff National Park.  It is official, we are in the Canadian Rockies. That is after we pay the $58.50 park pass.
We drive onto Lake Louise to the campground.  The entrance building is closed and we figured out that you pick a sight and then come back to pay and give them your camp site number, which ours is #37.  Now though we can?t find any potable water.  The area designated for this, the water is turned off.  After asking numerous people, who must have come into the campground with plenty of water, no one knew where we could get water.  Finally found a washroom that had a hose and we just hooked up and filled up. Even though this is an electric site, they are turning off the power from 8 PM to 4 AM.  Great, no O2 for me tonight.  Hope we have electricity tomorrow night.
I am tired and ready for a glass of wine.  TTFN 

May 28, 2014 ? Day 8

Happy Birthday Sissy Renee- we hope it was a good one.
Late morning today.  It felt good to sleep in.  Our neighbors here at Lake Louise Campground were Susie and Peter from London, on holiday for a few weeks.  Nice folks.  They came by for a tour of WeBe, which we are always happy to give.  After they left and we ate breakfast we headed for Banff.  Weather cool & cloudy, with some rain over night.  After a 35 mile drive we explored downtown Banff and it felt good to walk around.  Window shopped but did find a few items for gifts for family.  Went up from town slightly to check out the Banff Springs Hotel.  I am curious about this and the Chateau Lake Louise.  One of these hotels is where I stayed once with my family about 50 years ago. It was a beautiful hotel with lots of brown stone and very expensive.  It sits up above the Bow River Falls. With such an over cast sky we decided to head to the Upper Banff Hot Springs. 
Luckily I had brought along swim suits and towels.  What a way to soak away some of the miles and a bargain for only $7.30 CA each.  And what a view, snowcapped mountains surrounded us.  About 104 degrees and time.  It wasn?t a big place but good people watching.  After we were wet noodles we decided to go back into Banff for a Cow?s ice cream.  They say it is Canada?s ice cream.  Pretty good if you ask me.  As we were walking out of the store with ice cream in hand, a cold wind kicked up and we thought, time to head for home.  Took Hwy 1A, which is a scenic route back to Lake Louise.  Not far along the skies opened up and the rain fell.  Figured all the animals would head up into the trees.  It was heavily wooded with lots of down trees, we felt it was ripe for a fire some dry season.  But we did see a black bear wandering down the side of the road and then up into the trees.  Jim was spastic to get a picture, he loves looking for wildlife.  Almost through the drive and we came upon a small memorial to those who had been in an Internment Camp back in the 1915?s.  Germans, Austrian, Turkish and Hungarians were rounded up and put there to work on the road in horrible conditions, because Canada was at war with those countries.  There was a picture of some of them standing outside in -25 degree weather with no shelter and limited food.  It makes me sad to see how we have treated our fellow man.  Hope to never to see it happen again.
Rain ending and sun coming out so we headed up the road to Lake Moraine.  7 miles of some steep climbing and lots of snow still along the edge of the road.  What a beautiful sight we saw.  Mountains with snow on top, some ragged peaks and this frozen lake.  There was still snow on the path to the lake.  Saw one guy?s foot sink into the snow up to his knee.  Definitely startled him.  Chantal tell your mom she was right, it is a stunning place.  Glad we drove up to see it.  Back down the hill to check out Chateau Lake Louise.  This feels a little familiar.  Also another grand hotel sitting on the edge of a frozen lake.  Wander around in awe. Bought a few postcards and stamps to write later tonight. 
Back to WeBe to have some dinner and a quiet evening.  And hopefully with electricity.  TTFN

May 29, 2014 ? Day 9
Happy birthday sissy Pattee- hope it too was a good one.

Today started out cold, grey and wet.  And it ended that way to.  Hopefully tomorrow is a sunnier day.  We thought we would take a drive up Hwy 93, also known as the Icefield Parkway. We wanted to scope out what the first part of the drive tomorrow might be like and look for wildlife.  A smaller road and a little rough, but not too bad.  It was a steady climb up to the Bow Summit.  A few pretty lakes that were still frozen over. We stopped to take pics of the Crowfoot Glacier.  Amazing to think the area between the 2 rugged peaks once held nothing but snow and ice. And so many of those peaks are surrounding us.  While heading back down we decided to head over to Yoho National Park and the tiny town of Field.  Not much to the town, a school, lots of bed and breakfast places and a post office, which we dropped off a few postcards.  Thought we might get in a hike or two but the rain was very steady, so we decided to head back to WeBe for a grilled cheese and soup.  Even with the rain we got out to check out what is referred to as the Spiral Tunnels.  The tunnels were built to lessen the grade for the trains to go over Kicking Horse Pass.   
With the rain still coming down a nap seemed in order and it felt good to while away an afternoon.  Once we woke up I made some Snickerdoodle cookies and had afternoon tea.  A rare beam of sun peaked out from behind a cloud, so we jumped on the chance of a quick walk around the campground.  I thought I would mention the campground sits right next to the train tracks and you jump when that whistle blows, they?re pretty good about not blowing the whistle at night.  Catching up on reading and relaxing before our drive to Grande Cache tomorrow.  TTFN

jmfreas5:
Glad to hear you are enjoying you trip through the Rockies so far.  Just a couple of comments I'd like to make.  I really think you were "hosed" on the price of that Trailblazer tire.  You probably made the guy's day when he saw your licence plates.  Thankfully, all Canadians, as you will find out are not that inconsiderate.  At the Lake Louise campground, since temperatures still reach below zero at night during May and even some of June, the water is likely turned off at the sites.  Thankfully you found a source.  As to the power being turned off from 8:00 pm -overnight, that one is a puzzle.  The Parks people know that people need electricity to operate their furnaces and heaters at night.  Obviously, you would not want to run a Generator and disturb your neighbors, so I can't understand that policy.  So I will be writing to Parks Canada and asking why this policy is in effect.  You pointed out an obvious reason why it shouldn't be, as you mentioned an O2 device you depend on for your comfort.  If I get a response before you end your trip, I'll post back and let you know what they say.
If you find other situations during your time in Canada are not to your liking, don't hesitate to complain.  At the very least you deserve an explanation.  Canada's tourist Industry is an important source of revenue for Alberta and British Columbia citizens.  You will probably encounter quite a few 'cold' nights until the middle of June over the course of your trip to Alaska. I really hope you enjoy your adventure and your time in Canada.

Gord

Thanks Gord for the info.  We did find out why electricity was turned off.  It was because they had to do over night work on the whole system.  The park, the Chateau Lake Louise and the whole village was without electricity.  Kind of weird to see everything dark.  But no worries, it was back on the next day and I had my O2, yeah, no grouchies for me.  But if we have any other concerns we will complain.

May 30, 2014 ? Day 10
Early start to the day- no alarms-just up early. Put 280 miles on WeBe. Drove up Hwy 93 towards Jasper.  We knew what the first part of the drive looked like, since we drove it yesterday.  But we didn?t expect were the sport cars- low to the ground and revving their engines and flying down the pass.  There had to have been 15-20 of these cars and I don?t think they were following the 90 K/55 mph speed limit.  Stopped at Mistaya Canyon and took the 10 min walk to the river.  We were rewarded with beautiful carved walls and the greenish colored river flowing through it.  Of course it was uphill back to WeBe.  But worth the climb.
Looked for moose as we followed the North Saskatchewan River north.  Off in the distance we saw what looked like a rock formation called a pinnacle.  After reading the info on it it?s a dolomite pinnacle referred to as the Lighthouse Tower.  Saw some pretty waterfalls.  Finally we arrive at the Icefield Centre.  We assumed it was an interpretative center about the Columbian Icefield.  Well, it was a gift shop, caf?, restaurant and a place to purchase tickets to go up to the glacier on a specially decked out bus and then walk on the glacier.  Very disappointed, but they do have a theatre that is being remodeled.  There were several glaciers visible from the Centre which made the stop worthwhile.
Animals so far today would include: horseshoe rabbit, mountain sheep and a moose along with numerous signs for caribou crossing- now you know you are up north.
Stopped at Athabasca Falls.  It drops just 40 feet but it is through a short, narrow canyon and it was worth stopping to see.  Had a little lunch while watching a bus load of middle schoolers, which is always somewhat entertaining.  Than onto Jasper, which we skirted around to Hwy 16.  While passing through Hinton we shopped at the local Safeway.  Then angled up Hwy 40 north onto Grande Cache, our destination for the night.  Staying at the Grande Cache Municipal Campground at $32 for the night.  Went into town for dinner at the Wildflower and had great service and a pretty decent meal for being out in nowhere.  Gas was $4.91 a gal and we are getting 8 miles to the gallon.  TTFN

May 30, 2014 ? Day 10
Early start to the day- no alarms-just up early. Put 280 miles on WeBe. Drove up Hwy 93 towards Jasper.  We knew what the first part of the drive looked like, since we drove it yesterday.  But we didn?t expect were the sport cars- low to the ground and revving their engines and flying down the pass.  There had to have been 15-20 of these cars and I don?t think they were following the 90 K/55 mph speed limit.  Stopped at Mistaya Canyon and took the 10 min walk to the river.  We were rewarded with beautiful carved walls and the greenish colored river flowing through it.  Of course it was uphill back to WeBe.  But worth the climb.
Looked for moose as we followed the North Saskatchewan River north.  Off in the distance we saw what looked like a rock formation called a pinnacle.  After reading the info on it it?s a dolomite pinnacle referred to as the Lighthouse Tower.  Saw some pretty waterfalls.  Finally we arrive at the Icefield Centre.  We assumed it was an interpretative center about the Columbian Icefield.  Well, it was a gift shop, caf?, restaurant and a place to purchase tickets to go up to the glacier on a specially decked out bus and then walk on the glacier.  Very disappointed, but they do have a theatre that is being remodeled.  There were several glaciers visible from the Centre which made the stop worthwhile.
Animals so far today would include: horseshoe rabbit, mountain sheep and a moose along with numerous signs for caribou crossing- now you know you are up north.
Stopped at Athabasca Falls.  It drops just 40 feet but it is through a short, narrow canyon and it was worth stopping to see.  Had a little lunch while watching a bus load of middle schoolers, which is always somewhat entertaining.  Than onto Jasper, which we skirted around to Hwy 16.  While passing through Hinton we shopped at the local Safeway.  Then angled up Hwy 40 north onto Grande Cache, our destination for the night.  Staying at the Grande Cache Municipal Campground at $32 for the night.  Went into town for dinner at the Wildflower and had great service and a pretty decent meal for being out in nowhere.  Gas was $4.91 a gal and we are getting 8 miles to the gallon.  TTFN

Thanks so much for posting. It was our plan to be on our way this year at about this same time but life got in the way.

We will be heading out out in early May next year. My wife's brother lives in Seattle where we can hang out if the weather is bad in early May.

We will be following your voyage very carefully. I also appreciate that you are posting you fuel costs. That will be very helpful.

Hi Mom & Dad - glad to hear you are having a good time and have already seen some beautiful countryside. Also sounds like you are definitely having a few interesting adventures!

I can't wait to see Alaska with you in a few days and I look forward to seeing your pictures. Love and miss you both very much!!

Megan

Good morning travelers...

I posted you a comment the other day, but I find it accidentally showed up as a reply to someone else.
Basically I said, Thanks for the birthday wishes and I wonder if your pictures aren't showing up because you don't have enough posts under you belt on this Forum, which I think might be the case on DISboards or CruiseCritic.

Anyway, I think your trip report is so informative and showing us all that there is a lot going on out there.

What a stroke of luck to have someone with a true life Disney story worth hearing show up as a good Samaritan.  I hope you have some more happy coincidences like that happen.

Happy Trails
Renee

May 30, 2014 ? Day 10
Early start to the day- no alarms-just up early. Put 280 miles on WeBe. Drove up Hwy 93 towards Jasper.  We knew what the first part of the drive looked like, since we drove it yesterday.  But we didn?t expect were the sport cars- low to the ground and revving their engines and flying down the pass.  There had to have been 15-20 of these cars and I don?t think they were following the 90 K/55 mph speed limit.  Stopped at Mistaya Canyon and took the 10 min walk to the river.  We were rewarded with beautiful carved walls and the greenish colored river flowing through it.  Of course it was uphill back to WeBe.  But worth the climb.
Looked for moose as we followed the North Saskatchewan River north.  Off in the distance we saw what looked like a rock formation called a pinnacle.  After reading the info on it it?s a dolomite pinnacle referred to as the Lighthouse Tower.  Saw some pretty waterfalls.  Finally we arrive at the Icefield Centre.  We assumed it was an interpretative center about the Columbian Icefield.  Well, it was a gift shop, caf?, restaurant and a place to purchase tickets to go up to the glacier on a specially decked out bus and then walk on the glacier.  Very disappointed, but they do have a theatre that is being remodeled.  There were several glaciers visible from the Centre which made the stop worthwhile.
Animals so far today would include: horseshoe rabbit, mountain sheep and a moose along with numerous signs for caribou crossing- now you know you are up north.
Stopped at Athabasca Falls.  It drops just 40 feet but it is through a short, narrow canyon and it was worth stopping to see.  Had a little lunch while watching a bus load of middle schoolers, which is always somewhat entertaining.  Than onto Jasper, which we skirted around to Hwy 16.  While passing through Hinton we shopped at the local Safeway.  Then angled up Hwy 40 north onto Grande Cache, our destination for the night.  Staying at the Grande Cache Municipal Campground at $32 for the night.  Went into town for dinner at the Wildflower and had great service and a pretty decent meal for being out in nowhere.  Gas was $4.91 a gal and we are getting 8 miles to the gallon.  TTFN

May 31, 2014 ? Day 11

Happy Birthday Burke- Hope you had a good one.

Today?s trails took us to Dawson Creek, BC.  178 miles today, the road much better than yesterday which was Hinton to Grande Cache.  Some hills to climb but it was mostly sunny, how we love the sun.  Once we left Grande Cache we left most of the mountains behind.  We are back to rolling hills, lots of trees, both pine and aspen.  Skirted around Grande Prairie heading to Dawson Creek.  Stopped to see the South Peace Centennial Museum.  This is a 40 acre pioneer village featuring vintage vehicles and working steam-powered farm equipment from the early 1900?s.  We weren?t sure what we were getting into when we pulled up in front.  It looked pretty run down.  But Laurie told us to go on in and poke around.  There were a few men working on the steam-powered equipment, fine tuning them for their big festival in July.  Everyone was very friendly and you could tell that it was a labor of love to maintain and continue to add to the place.  Really enjoyed visiting and would recommend to those traveling up to Alaska.  Had a little lunch and back on the road for about another 50 miles.  Rolled in to Dawson Creek and found Northern Lights RV Park, got set up and took the Trail Blazer to get washed, boy did it need it, WeBe next.  Stopped by the Visitor Centre, toured the Railway station and little museum next to the Visitor Centre.  Watched a great movie on the making of the Alaskan Highway.  Very interesting.
Group of Unity motorhomes, Class B?s gathering here for a caravan up to Alaska.  Nice folks.  Just sitting back and relaxing for the evening now that we have talked to the kids.  Congratulations to Mason for graduating 3 year old preschool.  TTFN

June 1, 2014 ? Day 12

Quiet day today, slept late and a huge breakfast and made our way downtown to the Alaskan Highway House.  It is a little museum with artifacts about building the Alcan.  A few facts for you:
After Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1942, it was built for a military route to support the airstrips that linked the Continental US with the Alaskan Territory
1,523 miles from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks
It took 11,000 troops
16,000 American and Canadian civilians
7,000 pieces of equipment
133 bridges constructed
8,000 + culverts installed
8 months, 12 days to construct
Open to the public in 1948
Over the years, road improvements have shortened the road by about 35 miles
At the end of the museum there is a video that was excellent.  Then went outside to take our picture at the famous Mile Marker 0 of Alaska/Canadian Highway. Pretty special.
In the afternoon we headed up to the Bear Mountain Wind Park- this BC?s first commercial wind facility.  After getting lost trying to find it and the last 5 miles was dirt/gravel road, we arrived.  These things are huge.  You drive right up to several.  They are 257 feet tall and weigh 236 tons each.  We hiked for a short time along the Rim Rocks trail that links the turbines.  While walking, we were trying to figure out the sound they made and the best way to describe it was the sound of a jet going far overhead but never fading away. On the way back we came across a moose with twin calves.
The rest of the day was pretty lazy, read, did laundry and talked with neighbors.  More exploring tomorrow so TTFN.

June 2, 2014 ? Day 13

What a beautiful day, highs in the mid to upper 70?s and barely a cloud in the sky.  Set out this morning for a bike ride on the Dawson Creek Walking Trail, I know that we weren?t walking but there were others riding bikes too.  A nice paved trail going through town past schools, library and parks.  Once we got to the end and headed back, we detoured and went into downtown to do the self-guided historic walking tour.  We had our trusty paper to guide us.  Most of the stops had a placard with a picture of the sight back in the days, 1930?s. Some of the buildings are still be used today. The old radio station that was originally built as a log cabin in 1935 to function as the town meeting place. In 1947 the radio station CJDC, the farthest north radio station in the British Empire, now stands with the station built around the log cabin, they even left one wall so people could see the logs.  There are lots of murals depicting the different time periods and gave you a glimpse of life back then.  All very interesting.  We stopped by the Alaskan Highway House again because we found out we could ask them to take our picture together in front of the Mile 0 Cairn, which they were happy to do.  Back on our bikes to head back to Webe but we passed a bakery with wonderful aromas coming from it.  We had to turn around and go inside and get a muffin to share when done with our ride.  Back to WeBe and I couldn?t believe how tired I was, I excused myself and took a power nap.  I must have needed it because I was dead to the world for about an hour. 
Lazed away the rest of the afternoon until we headed to the Wal-Mart to see about some black out curtains for the cab-over area when Megan comes to visit.  Had to buy a panel of and curtain and then start cutting and stitching.  I think we have something that should work for her.  Found a place for Jim to get a fishing license for a day of fishing here in BC, most likely in the Liard River area.  Bought a couple of sweatshirts at the Visitor Centre commemorating Mile 0 and then onto dinner.  Decided on Boston Pizza but it sure was expensive,  build your own pizza started out at $18 for a medium, then $4 more for mozzarella cheese, $3 for traditional pizza sauce and $4 for each topping and $7 for a dinner salad that we split.  After dinner we have just read about what to expect on the drive the next few days in ?The Milepost?.  What a beautiful sunset.  I am still trying to figure out how to post pictures with this, will let you know if and when that happens.  TTFN

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