Alaska with the Brewer's 06

Today was THE highlight of the sights Terry wished to visit while in Alaska

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If the state fair is the highlight of Terry's summer in Alaska, then I suggest he has some serious issues to resolve

If Terrys not feeding his face Ned is hitting on the biscuits  You guys just don;t let up aggrevating us diabetics LOL  Have a ball and avery safe return run.  Maybe we can have another mini gathering.

Alaskansnowbirds said:

Glad you enjoyed the fair. What is Terry eating in photo 29?

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Don,
The item you wondered about was a cream puff.  It was filled with a wonderful  freshly made custard and then covered with hot  caramel topping and pecans .  It was to die for and actually the only  thing I ate during the fair all on my own. I did give Terry a taste as you saw pictured.

Betty

August 25, 2006    Day  94  Summit Lake    (just  South before Delta Junction)  rest stop

We left Palmer this morning and headed back across the Glenn Highway.  We traveled this highway only 4 days ago and already fall colors have set in.  Weeds along the road that were greenish have now turned a reddish color.  Trees are showing yellow and gold colors.  Since this was our third trip along this stretch of highway I thought I had ?been there and done that? ?..But wait!  Off in the distance in  a beautiful pond I spot a moose.  As luck would have it, there was space to pull over so Terry could run out and get her picture!  (OK Carl, now I believe you, there are moose in Alaska!)  What a thrill.  Then, out of no where a pair of beautiful white swans  flew in perfect unison right across our windshield and off to the distance. I was mesmerized and unable to pickup the camera!  We traveled on and like rental horses wanting to get back to the barn, had a longer day than we normally drive.  Russ? calculations estimate at least another 1927 miles until he departs westward toward Iowa via the 2 Canadian Provinces he does not have on his map.  Then we will head south to the lower 48. Alaska is very far away from the Continental USA! 

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven: 220
  Wildlife sightings: 2 wild swans, 1 moose
Temps:  High 49      Low  42    inches of rain  0.57
Camping Costs: $0
GPS: 63.08779, -145.50125

Ned said:

If the state fair is the highlight of Terry's summer in Alaska, then I suggest he has some serious issues to resolve

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Ned,
I did not say the Fair was the highlight of Terry's trip to Alaska but that  it was among the highlight of sights he wished to see. He had a dream.. It included the  big vegetables at the Alaska State Fair, he saw them...What is the issue? He likes onions. 

Betty

We're again seeing more wildlife in BC than in AK.  The bears and eagles in Hyder excepted, we've seen several bears and moose while driving down the Cassiar.  The leaves are turning even as far south as the Yellowhead highway as we noted coming out to Prince Rupert yesterday.  The fireweed farther north is almost gone.  Better head south before you get snowed in

I hope Terry enjoys a HUGE onion, just don't cook it near me

Hi Betty!  (And Terry and Russ, too) 

Really enjoying your posts and if Terry didn't get a belly ache after all that "food" he ate at the fair, he certainly deserved one!! 

Wanted to ask you if if the Tok Cut-Off has been paved yet?  I "think" Fred and I took that out of Alaska, because it would save us many miles.  However, it was paved only a few short miles and then washboard the rest of the way.  Couldn't do more than 15 mph.  We thought it would save a few hours as well as miles, but what a mistake that was.  We were on our way to Maine from there, so wanted to shave off where we could.  Sometimes, frugality does not pay and this was one time it hurt...  By your taking the Richardson Hwy, I'm guessing the Tok Cut-off is still pretty rough.        Daisy

Daisy,

We skipped the Tok Cutoff as every report we got said it was bad and still under reconstruction.

Aug 26 day 95 beside a lake 5 miles from Canadian border. I left Terry and Betty 50 miles behind in my fruitless search for a directv connection.

Today started with SUNLIGHT. Snow capped peaks were straight in front of us. The 80 miles up to Delta Jct were delightful and full of magnificent vistas. I finally saw a moose in a pond and hopefully Terry got the picture.
At Tok in the early afternoon, I tried to visit the post office and couldn't figure out why it was closed. A couple of locals giggled at my dumbness as they told me it was always closed on Saturday afternoons.

This trip the 3 bears station was the cheapest by 26 cents/gal. 2 months ago,  a quick trip type place was offering the best prices.

Down about 10 miles from the border is a station with the best price  a penny cheaper than 3 bears ($2.98)! This is out in the middle of nowhere 80 miles from Tok.

My directv has been out of range for so long that it has quit responding and will not show me any channels. only channel 100 comes in. I followed the website's instructions on turning it off and unplugging to force a reset, but no joy. So now I go to bed and will not record the Formula one race.

To reset the DirecTivo will require a phone call to 1-800-DirecTV and the extension shown on the screen.  It's all automated and can be done in a few minutes.  I used Skype to reactivate ours the other day.

August 26, 2006    Day  95  Richardson Highway  To Delta Junction, Then past Tok 

Today was payback for all of our days of rain.  It was beautiful and the views were absolutely breath taking!  We must have stopped at every scenic viewpoint and said WOW at the freshly fallen snow on mountaintops well within our view today.  Along a tree-lined section I spotted a Moose but when she heard us slow up to get her photo she ran back into the woods. Over the next bend or so Russ comes on CB shouting, ?Moose in pond on right! Moose in pond on right! ?  Now Russ is usually pretty low key so this was big.  And yes there was a big moose in the pond on the right.  We were able to slow up, stop and I tried to get her photo out the side window but got a bit of window reflection.  She wanted to swim away from us.  Moose in the wild are very shy.  I am so happy to have seen 2 moose today.  We traveled on stopping at some pretty spectacular scenes of the Pipeline as it crossed under streams and down steep hillsides.  I got some good shots of the heat fins that keep the buried pipeline from thawing the ground. The snow covered mountain are what I had pictured Alaska might look like and it does!  We traveled through Delta Junction where Russ took his motorhome through a coffee Kiosk! We stopped in Tok and had lunch, bought a few groceries and got fuel.  The most important thing I did today was to buy an Alaskan souvenir.  I saw this soapstone carving of a fish on June 19 when we came through here on our way into Alaska.  It was too early in the trip to make a big purchase as I thought I might see something I wanted more.  Here we are on August 26 and I still remembered the fish and it was still there.  It did not go on sale however so we just bought it.  We drove out of town toward the Canadian border and we found a lovely boon docking setting beside the river high on a bluff with views of mountain for miles.  Russ could not get a signal for the Formula One race so he moved down the road. There are lots of turnouts along this road.  We will meet up in Haines Junction tomorrow night.  Life is so good!   

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven: 227    Diesel fuel  $2.99  per gallon
Wildlife sightings: 2 BIG Moose
Temps:  High  67      Low  49    0.0  inches of rain
Camping Costs: $0
GPS: 63.05505, -141.88419

I think you should have bought a carving of a moose...or maybe Russ should have bought a carving of a moose !

August 27, 2006    Day  96  Haines Junction, Yukon  Canada   

We stopped for the day at a lovely rest stop about 15 miles before Haines Junction which is in Canada.  We met up with Russ mid day who was trying to nap along a turnout, but we came along and woke him up!  Today we had it all!  This is what I expected all of Alaska driving to be like but thankfully today was the worst.  It was Terry?s least favorite day of driving!  We had rain, mud, and whoop de doos, dust, potholes, frost heaves and a 6-mile construction delay.  Signs said EXTREME DUST AREA AHEAD, we laughed as it was raining and we had mud.  Usually when it rains, you have no bugs but it cleared enough of the day to have bugs smash against our windshield and front. Or speed ranges from 5 mph to about 40.  Terry is whining all along the way about how dirty the rig and car are becoming!  From the perspective of the passenger, who does not do blue jobs?..it was a lovely day.  Without a doubt, fall is in the air! The smell of my crock-pot cooking a pot  roast while traveling down the road was wonderful!  I saw a pair of swans swimming in one of the many beautiful ponds and lakes along the road.  I saw a Great Gray Owl, a fox or something like a fox (maybe a coyote)  at the lunch rest stop.  We saw Kluane Lake the largest in Yukon and it was beautiful.  I told Terry it looked like Lake Mead. He said too many trees.  I told him it looked like Tahoe he said not enough trees.  We decided it looked just like Lake Kluane in the Yukon.  Yes we passed through the border and customs back into Canada today.  We waited only 10 minutes for the 4 RV rigs in front of us to pass by the border.  Russ was a bit earlier and he had a ? hour wait for traffic.  There was very little traffic on the road today as we think most of the tourists have already headed home.  Not us. We had Russ over for dinner and watched the rainbow settle over the golden trees just outside our view!  Terry used Skype to get Russ? Direct TV back up and running by using their automated service. (Thanks Ned for the idea.) Technology is our friend. 

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles Driven:  235 
Wildlife sightings: 2 swans, 1 gray owl, 1 fox?
Temps:  High 55      Low  44      0.15  inches of rain
Camping Costs: $0  My favorite kind!
GPS: 60.85480, -137.79425

wendycoke said:

I think you should have bought a carving of a moose...or maybe Russ should have bought a carving of a moose !

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Wendy,
Interesting you should mention it.? Last summer while in Idaho, I bought a? very nice bronze sculpture of a moose.? So I don't need another, but thanks for thinking of me!? Any excuse to shop is welcomed! The carvings Russ bought? were of whale hunters.? He? purchased these in Fairbanks which seems eons ago. I'll tell him he is due for another purchase!
Betty

Betty

Have to agree with Terry about that road.  Frank, Barb, Ned and I were totally exhausted after that drive and I didn't get to see much of the scenery from the border to Destruction Bay because I was busy trying to keep the coach on the road.  I think that everything in the coach moved to a new location on that section and never went over 40 mph.  Hopefully you will have good visibility down to Haines because that is a beautiful drive.  Glad that Russ was able to get his Direct TV back.

fredethomas said:

if Terry didn't get a belly ache after all that "food" he ate at the fair, he certainly deserved one!!? Wanted to ask you if if the Tok Cut-Off has been paved yet??

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No Terry did not have a belly ache after the Fair, in fact he went to the? Elks? club that night and ate liver and Onions which was the special for the night!? Russ and I just shake our head!

We don't know if Tok cutoff is? paved or not.? "Everyone" said it was a bad road so we took the Richardson Highway to Delta Junction.? Russ had never driven this road and it proved to be among the best scenery we have had.? The road is VERY well maintained in part I think? because it? parallels the Pipeline and those guys drive? it? all the time.? When we got to Tok I noted more traffic coming out of the Tok cutoff than we had experienced but all of their rigs were really dirty! I think we made a good decision!

Betty

Lorna said:

? Hopefully you will have good visibility down to Haines because that is a beautiful drive.?

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Thanks for the good wishes.  We get what we get as far as weather!  So far, so rainy. We are still having a good time!

Betty

Betty Brewer said:

August 27, 2006? ? Day? ?96? ?Haines Junction, Yukon? Canada? ?

I saw a Great Gray Owl, a fox or something like a fox (maybe a coyote)? at the lunch rest stop.?

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Coyote.....foxes have shorter legs.

If the TOK cutoff is underconstruction, then the last re-construction did not last long. In 1998 they were rebuilding the road from the rip-rap up. we drove miles and miles on " road base" - very coarse stones. I was worried that the smaller stones might get caught between the duellies. Construction ended and we stopped at a small state park. Started up the next morning and within a mile a sign said construction next XX miles. This turned out to be to withinn a few miles of TOK. I also remember a lot of construction between the Canadian border and Whitehorse. I know we washed the rig in Whitehorse (as we had done on the way up).

ken

Frank, Barb and I went to the Visitor Center in Tok when we there a couple of weeks ago and went into some kind of meeting room and there were newspaper articles on the wall telling about a 6+ earthquake in 2004  that did some real damage to the Tok Cutoff, like big cracks  in the highway deep enough for a man to stand in.  Then there was another 4.9 in 2006 along the Cutoff.