August 6, 2014 ? Day 78
Up and out fairly early for us. We knew the drive today was going to be hard. Oh by the way, Jim did not see the Northern Lights last night. 239 tough miles, through construction zones with waits up to 15 minutes for a pilot car, bad, bad frost heaves, potholes and road joint expansions. When I asked Jim if he wanted to stop for lunch he was not wanting to stop until we were at the campground. He just wanted the drive over and I couldn?t agree more. Actually, it was better than when we drove up in June. Now there were miles and miles of gravel, dirt sometimes washboard road but they had gotten many of the frost heaves out. Unfortunately not all the frost heaves were gone. We speculated if they were just going to leave the road as dirt and gravel because there was no way they could get all of that paved before winter sets in. The logistics of getting all the asphalt up here is enough to make a grown man cry. Settled in to Cottonwood RV Park, again. Almost in the same site. It is beautiful to look out at Kluane Lake. The mountains surrounding us have lost some of their snow from June. We have been surprised we haven?t seen any critters for several days now, they must be up higher eating. Took a nice walk along the lake. You can tell the weather is starting to change, we saw some aspen with leaves turning golden already. We also past some more rock art. This is where people have arranged the lighter color rocks in the dirt hill on the side of the road. Jim and I are sad to think we are actually heading home, it really hit when we saw the kilometers instead of miles on the milepost (yet they are still call milepost). We were laughing during the drive remembering a couple we met in Tolsona Campground from upstate New York. They didn?t leave NY until the middle of July because the guy had just retired, they picked up their first motorhome the next day and started driving a few days later. He was so fed up with this stretch of the Alcan he was ready to put his motorhome on the ferry, no matter the cost, all the way to Bellingham, WA. They had not planned any of the trek, just flying by the seat of their pants. But they weren?t stopping to enjoy any of the towns or scenery, just driving. In a way we felt sorry for them, planning is half the fun. They pumped us for lots of information but it is really too overwhelming at this stage. Hope they survive their trip.
The sun is going behind the mountain and Jim is desperate to see wildlife, he is sitting in the den (the driver?s seat) with binoculars staring at those mountains for anything to move. I guess it is time for me to read.
TTFN
The pics are from our campsite at Kluane Lake- the first one is from June and the second was today, notice the snow difference?