Here we are, on the road: We’re in Prince George, British Columbia

Monday night, August 31. Lorraine’s Report

We’re almost back stateside. The weather in Alaska also changed so fast and so drastically, we were all afraid of getting caught in bad weather. It was below freezing a couple of days while we were in Fairbanks, Watson Lake, then again in Dease Lake. Chuck found frost on the coach and car, and then the rainy, cold, gray days got to us. Alaskans say when all the fireweed has gone to seed, you’ve got about three weeks to be gone before bad weather traps you in. It definitely felt like fall had arrived. We’ve all been dressing warmer in jackets with layers underneath.

Last Sunday we were in Beaver Creek and drove to White Horse, BC; we set up the rig and I did laundry. Tuesday we went to the museum there by the airport in White Horse. It was a good museum about the land bridge between Alaska and Russia. Very interesting.

Wednesday we left and drove to Watson Lake, set up and ate dinner. We got up and left to drive to Dease Lake. On the way there, our hose to the radiator broke. We were stuck on the side of the road for about an hour, while Chuck repaired the hose fitting with that tape he bought in Quartsite, AZ last year. We got into Dease Lake late and set up and went to eat. We decided to push on to Stewart, BC the next day.

Once we decided to leave, we all kinda wanted to get back asap. In Dease Lake we stopped to get diesel and on the walkie talkie was a call from Tom. He said he had a leak and needed to check it out. We pulled over and Chuck went back to see if he could help. We then went to a repair shop just down the road; the man there said he couldn’t do anything and to take the coach over to Charlie’s. We took off to Charlie’s shop. There he looked it and told Tom and Dorothy the bad news. We had to leave Tom and Dorothy back in Dease Lake, BC. They had a rock go through their radiator in their coach. That was on Thursday morning. Hopefully, it will be fixed in a week or so and they can head stateside.

Before we could even think about it, the trip was at an end for all of us. It was strange to leave Tom/Dorothy and we all felt so badly for them. There was plenty of tears when we left them there in that repair yard with just water and 15 amps.

Rob and Norma and us took off to Stewart, BC. We had a long day driving after we left Tom/Dorothy. We pulled into Stewart around 5:30-6:00 pm, set up the coach and went to eat. After eating, we drove out to where we were told there were bears. Sure enough, we just arrived, and there were a lot of people walking down the road, apparently following something. We joined in and found out we were within 5 to 10 feet of a big black grizzly bear. It crossed the street in front of us and went down to Fish Creek to feed. It went up the creek; we watched a while, then walked down a fenced boardwalk to see if we could see more. We were in luck. Another bear came out from behind us and went into the creek to feed. We watched until dark, but didn’t get any good picture. It was too dark, and all the pictures we took were blurry. It was great to see them fish and eat, but I’m wondering if we were foolish to be that close to such a wild animal. We saw four bears in all on our trip to Stewart.

Friday we drove up to Bear Glacier above Hyder, Alaska. It was a very steep road, lots of curves and switch backs. Even though it was rainy, and cloudy, we enjoyed the glacier. The mountains around there reminded me of Valdez. They went from the bay to towering, snow capped heights, just like Valdez. On the way home we stopped to eat at the Glacier Inn and got Hyderized. To get Hyderized, you have to drink a shot down, no stopping. If you stop, you have to buy a round of drinks for the house. The drink we had was a shot of 150 proof Ever Clear, the bartender told us that after we drank it. We were going to go back out to see the bears, but I think we were all too tired with all we had been through. So we went home and went to bed early.

Saturday, Chuck and I left Rob/Norma there in Hyder. We want to be home in time to see our daughter, Susy, g-daughter, Kaitlyn and SIl, Mark when they come on the 2nd of September. They are stopping in Kitamat to see their son and his family. We planned to stop in Smithers but the Fall Festival Fair was going on there, and there was no place to stop, so we drove on to Vanderhoof. We stopped at Dave’s RV Park, a very nice park for the evening. We didn’t get in until after 7 pm; we set up, then I cooked dinner. Another very long day!

We left there this morning and drove to Prince George. We’ve been trying to find a small freezer to fit our motor home. We have the salmon Chuck caught in Alaska in a cooler on ice, still frozen. No luck here in Prince George in finding one. So that has been our week. Busy, full of activities and seeing and doing; we are both tired and the coach and car are filthy dirty. The mucky mud we went through is all over the coach and car. The coach inside is in need of a good, deep cleaning. That will happen while we are in WA, back home.

Have to say the temperature went from a high of 54 degrees in Hyder/Stewart to 98 degrees here today,(Monday) in Boston Bar where we stopped after Prince George. The low was 62 or so, warmer than the high temp there in Stewart. It sure is warm for us after being in the cold, damp weather.

So another week is gone and we are almost home….soon…

Until next time…Lorraine

Monday 8/31/09 Chuck’s Report

We didn’t have very good internet access so didn’t get this posted on Sunday. Of course, that was a good thing as I didn’t have it written yet, ha. But we don’t have access here tonight so it will not get posted until tomorrow sometime.

This has been a travel week for us. We made it to Whitehorse on Sunday and went to a museum on Monday. This museum (Beringia Interpretive Center) was a bit different as it was about prehistoric times, how man may have crossed over on land bridges from Siberia and the animals of the ice age. Once again, I learned a lot and enjoyed it. Included with this was a visit to the Yukon Transportation Museum just across the parking lot. This one had lots of old modes of transportation including boats, trains, sleds, trucks and airplanes, powered via dog, people or engine.

Tuesday we were on the road again, we stopped at Watson Lake. All we wanted was a place to spend the night, we didn’t even unhook the car as we had toured the town on the way up.

Wednesday we took off and headed for Dease Lake on the Cassair Highway. The first part of the road was in bad shape so we took it nice and slow. Along the way, Lorraine noticed an antifreeze smell and our engine was starting to get hot so we pulled over to the side of the of the road to check it out. Once stopped, there was antifreeze running out of the storage compartments on the passenger side. A quick check showed a broken heater hose from the engine to the aqua hot. Of course, I didn’t have any replacement hose but I did have some “rescue tape” that was supposed to repair leaks on hoses. We wrapped it a few times and tightened all the clamps and it held. After dumping some water into the radiator, we headed on down the road with our fingers crossed. We made it to Dease Lake where I cleaned out the storage compartments and let them dry a bit. Lucky for us it wasn’t raining there.

I was unable to buy a replacement hose there so we took off the next morning with our fingers crossed again. We pulled into a local gas station where Rob filled up with diesel. While waiting for him, Tom noticed some antifreeze running from his engine compartment and his engine was running hot. We ended up going to a repair shop where he got the bad news, a rock had gone through his radiator and it had to be pulled, sent out for repair and re-installed. The shop could pull it that afternoon but it had to be sent to Prince George for repair and they couldn’t do that until Monday. It wasn’t a good trip for us, antifreeze wise but luckily mine was an easier fix.

Tom/Dorothy made the decision to stay there for the repair, it would take at least a week, maybe more. Rob/Norma had made arrangements to visit with their son and daughter-in-law down the road.and we were on the way to see our daughter, son-in-law and grand daughter in Seattle. So with heavy hearts we made the tough decision to leave Tom/Dorothy in Dease Lake while we continued down the road to meet our kids. We will see them when the come through Washington. It was tough to say bye to our friends under these circumstances, especially when we can’t even call them to see how things are going with their repairs.

So we headed out to Stewart, BC. After about an hour, we once again smelled antifreeze and pulled over to the side where another quick wrap and some more clamp tightening allowed us to continue on our way. The trip to Stewart was one of the most scenic we have been on, it reminded all of us of driving into Valdez, Alaska. We drove the Cassair highway to here mostly to go across the border to Hyder, Alaska. where there are bears feeding on salmon this time of the year. It’s only a couple of miles from Stewart to Hyder so we drove over that evening for dinner and to see some bears. We saw a big grizzly bear and three black bears before it got dark, how exciting for us.

On Friday, we again headed for Hyder to look around a bit more and to drive out to Bear glacier. The road was in pretty bad shape so it took awhile but the scenery was nice. On the way back, we stopped at a cafe for lunch and got Hyderized. This is where you are given a shot of something and you have to drink it without knowing what it is, you can’t smell or taste it. If you don’t gulp it down, you have to buy a round for the house so of course there were some people who hoped one/some of us failed. But we all were able to finish our drink and then they told us it was 150 proof Everclear, good stuff. We called it a night after that, didn’t even go back to fish creek to see if there were any bears.

On Saturday morning we parted ways with Rob/Norma. They were staying another day (maybe) and we were headed out to Smithers for an overnight stay. We again tried to find a small freezer for our salmon, Rob had been storing all the salmon in his freezer. We put our share into an ice chest with some ice and wanted to purchase a freezer of our own. So far, no luck on finding a small freezer so we are just keeping it frozen with ice. However, Smithers had its fall fair going on the weekend and we couldn’t find a place to stay overnight anywhere around town and it was too warm to boondock without hookups. We ended up going on another 125 miles or so to Vanderhoof for the night, we found a very nice campground there.

Sunday was another unusual travel day for us, we headed out to Prince George. Again, it was to warm to boondock so we pulled into a campground. A check around town didn’t turn up any freezers for us but there is a casino in town. It has been over two months since Lorraine has had a casino fix so we pulled in there for a couple hours. I lost, she won, what more can I say!

I can say it is nice to have some warmer weather, our last month in Alaska was pretty cool and wet. There was even a couple of nights where it got below 32F, we call that freezing! And this was in August. The cold, wet weather made our decision to leave a bit easier and we are looking forward to warmer weather. We may not get that in Bellingham but we have wheels on our house so we will find it somewhere.

Our plans are to stay in Birch Bay for a couple of weeks gets some errand complete and maybe see some doctors too. And we will be trying to see some of our friends while there too, of course. We really need to decide if we are going to North Dakota after that, head down the Oregon coast or maybe explore Utah. Our next scheduled stop after there is to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at our daughter’s in California so we have time to do any of the options.

But for now, that was our week and now for some pictures.

Some pictures from our travel to Whitehorse.

The Beringia Interpretive Center Museum in Whitehorse.

The Yukon Transportation Museum

Traveling from Whitehorse to Watson Lake.

The Tlingit Indian Heritage house, unfortunately it was closed.

Some more scenery along the trip. There was lots of different trees and forests on this stretch.

We are getting to see some sun, it’s been awhile. Getting warmer too.

Jade City, they mine and cut the jade then make jewelry and such.

Unpolished and polished Jade.

Some of the carvings at Jade City.

Back on the road towards Dease Lake.

You’ve probably heard about some of the bad road conditions? Here are some pictures.

Enough of that, back to scenery, most of what looks like snow is actually glaciers.

Look closely, there’s a bear in the road ahead.

Salmon Glacier on the way to Stewart, BC.

Just couple of miles from Stewart we get to Hyder, Alaska. No customs to get into Alaska but have to go through Canadian Customs to get out??

A big grizzle bear heading for a salmon dinner.

Some of the buildings in Hyder.

Bear glacier about 20 miles from Hyder.

We liked the colors in the lake until we say where the brown color was coming from. A mining operation was dumping some sludge into the lake, using it as a settling pond.