Lakeside

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Back in the USA and Summing up the Summer Costs

After driving through more farm land we stopped at one more RV Park near Saskatoon called Campland RV Resort. It was a very big park, and looked brand spanking new, with level, uniform sites and very nice owners.  But once again the WiFi didn’t work at the sites, and I think both of us had had enough.  We got up early and drove 300 miles so that we could make it back to the US the next afternoon.  Once again I drove through customs, and again, it was a pretty pleasant experience.  I really have to recommend the wives drive through customs, because the agents seem friendlier when a woman is behind the wheel.  We crossed at Regway and there wasn’t another car in sight, and the questions were simple.  The only thing that kind of threw me was whether I had any garden vegetables from Canada.  I said No and no to buying alcohol in Canada, no to weapons, and off we went. I told them I was glad to be back in the land of the internet and they laughed.  We even got a welcome home from them which was nice. After about 20 minutes we got internet signal and once we switched drivers I starting texting and calling people.  My phone was “blowing up” as the kids say, and I was loving it.

There aren’t many places to stay this far north in Montana and many of those are campgrounds that cater to the Bakken oil field workers. Since that business is a little off, some did have openings for a couple of nights and we ended up going to Williston, ND and staying at Fox Run RV Park.  As a side note, these parks don’t show up in the standard Good Sam, All Stays and other campground finder apps, but Lee had done some research and found four of them in this area.  Originally we wanted to get to the campground in Sidney early, but were told by the coordinators we couldn’t come in early even if we paid for the extra night ourselves, so Lee emailed 4 campgrounds and heard back from two of them.  Coordinating this with scant wifi was tough, but Fox Run seemed to understand and welcomed us in.  I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s actually pretty nice.  The campground itself is a huge gravel field on top of a very high gill, and near the highway, but they have a huge common area in the main building including two large screen TV’s surrounded by lots of comfy couches, a couple of take-a-book-leave-a-book libraries , and the nicest laundry room I have ever seen in a campground.  Plus, all the sites have heated water spigots and it’s clear these “camps”, for lack of a better word, are designed for folks to live here year round. My only complaint is the Wifi at the sites didn’t work at all, but since we were in the land of the 4 bars we were fine using our own data, since we haven’t used any at all this month.

OK, so I know I am making a huge deal about internet/cell phone/text and you are probably thinking what’s the big deal, it was only 8 days, but it really was a big deal.  My oldest daughter got engaged while we were in Alaska and is making wedding plans, and was looking for some advice.  And you never really appreciate how much you whip out your phone to look something up until you can’t do it. On top of that, everything is fine if you stick with the travel plan you made, but try to deviate from that at all and it’s tough to make good decisions with limited information resources.  So simply put, I like Canada, the people are nice, and it’s mostly beautiful, but I am not a fan of the lack of internet.  Or more specifically, affordable cell based internet. Not that I won’t go back, I really want to spend more time in the Canadian Rockies, but I would be very hesitant to go without some sort of affordable phone/internet solution.

Plus, it’s not cheap.  I kept track of our gas/campground costs for the Canadian portion of the trip specifically, and wanted to share them.  Please keep in mind all costs are adjusted to American dollars at a 1.2 exchange rate, which was essentially a 20% discount on anything we bought.  The current exchange rate might be different, but this is what it was when we bought Canadian dollars for the trip back in May. All campgrounds are Good Sam parks, and all diesel was purchased when we were at half a tank, regardless of cost, not that there was much variation in price on the Alaskan Highway.  Once we hit Dawson’s Creek we used Pilot exclusively because we get an additional 2 cents off per liter.  We also started with a full tank from Tok and ended with 1/4 tank once we crossed the border.  Could you save money by boondocking or staying at Provincial Parks that have no services? Yes.  Could you save gas money by having an extra tank and buying more in the big cities? I guess, but really I think this is a fair summation for most people who aren’t willing to go to extraordinary lengths.  Just so you know, we drove 250-300 miles per day and were on the road 6-7 hours per day, which was a nice pace, although cumulatively was a little tough by the end of the eighth day. I think these numbers are average enough for most people to use as a starting point for the “How much will it cost to get to Alaska?” conversation, just make sure you adjust costs up or down based on the current exchange rate.

canada-costs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The big news from this data is it cost $110.34 per day for gas in Canada. I knew it cost a lot, but since you are often stopping twice in one day for gas it doesn’t seem that bad at the time.  We were mostly getting 8-10 mpg and were driving below the speed limit in all cases.  Gas is just expensive in Canada, and it’s a long haul from Alaska to the US.  The good news for us is that we got paid a couple more times in September and that will help defer the cost.

So how did we do overall financially this summer?  Well, unfortunately I didn’t do nearly as good a job segregating costs in the beginning as I did in the end.  Plus we had income from some work in May, work through the summer, and a generous gift check my grandfather sent me, which I am including since I splurged on some entertainment items with it that I wouldn’t have spent money on otherwise. I also included all our major monthly expenses for both May and September, to be fair.  So these figures are  rough, but sufficient for me personally to have an idea about how we did, which really is what this is all about. (Sorry Bill, I promise to do better next time!).  Originally,  I thought the Alaska summer could cost as much as $5K and had the money set aside to cover it if necessary.  That’s a big reason we signed up for the beet harvest, to defray those hypothetical extra costs, and dig us out of any hole we had put ourselves into.  It turned out that we did much better than that, and for the May to mid-September time frame also better than I originally thought we would.  In a five month period we spent roughly $21,000 and made roughly $18,000.  So we only spent around $3K  for our entire summer in Alaska and that was mostly due to the costs incurred (and lost revenue) while traveling to and from the state.  Considering all the bucket list items we checked I would say that was a huge bargain. but I am really, really glad that we worked this summer and very grateful to Marc for compensating us so fairly.  On a side note, if you are interested in the budget of someone who traveled Alaska without working this summer, I recommend checking out Jim and Barb’s Alaska Adventure Recap.  

So the beet harvest will put us back on solid ground and selling Christmas trees will put us back in the plus column.  We haven’t wiped out our savings  cushion yet, and since we have been doing this for almost two years now I am pretty proud of that. Oh, and about the beet harvest.  Working this job is a pretty big deal for both of us as we have never done anything like this before.  I know lots of people consider doing the harvest, so we are going to change-up what the blog looks like for the next several weeks.  We are going to write posts in a “daily diary” format and then post them when there is enough content to be worth the read.  This could be daily, weekly, or something in between.  I just don’t know.  I am committed to writing something everyday in this format and have asked Lee to do it as well.  I think having a second perspective will be extremely valuable and he has promised to try.  That being said, I am not going to force it.  I am sure we will be both be extremely tired and stretched physically and emotionally and the last thing I want is to argue about this blog on top of all that.  But I have explained how important this is to me and he gets that.  So the new format will start on Monday.  Today I am soaking up the internet, watching some football on TV, giving the house a good deep clean, and hopefully getting a haircut.  I am thrilled to just be sitting for a day, it really feels luxurious and is well needed before we start the next week.

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First Time in a Canadian Mega Mall

Despite the wonderful things we have been seeing these are long days, and on the fifth day we both got a little testy.   The weather has thankfully been beautiful, and the construction crews are taking advantage of it.  Also, I had to increase the mileage to get us to the beet harvest in time.  It also doesn’t help that we have lost an hour each day the last two days to time zone changes.  You start early and then get in later local time and then trying to go to bed early is tough because of the time difference.  We had no animal sightings on the fifth day  (other than a juvenile coyote I couldn’t get a picture of ) to distract us and it took us all day to go just under 300 miles.  Plus we are spending money like crazy.  You know that mentally it is going to happen but spending an average of $100 a day in gas and $32 a night in campground fees (adjusted for a 1.2 exchange rate in our favor) is not fun.  Certainly we could have reduced or even eliminated campground fees by boondocking, but our “reward” at the end of the long day is a campground with services and some level of wifi.   The campgrounds are all Good Sam and have been decent, but there is little that can be done to mitigate the fuel costs, and I am getting a little tired of seeing “No Sniveling” signs on gas pumps.  Seriously, I have seen that more than once.  Paying the money when you’re heading towards something amazing didn’t sting nearly as much as paying it just to get out.

Still, we are doing much better coming out than we did going in.  We have only gotten in one argument in 5 days, and I really think my driving more has helped.  And the good news is I drove my first 8% downgrade with curves.  The first one we came to I pulled over and let Lee drive, but the second I decided to try.  Before I explain how, please understand I am not a professional driver and in no way qualified to explain to anyone how to do this.  Every hill is different, they can be extremely dangerous, and I had the benefit of someone super experienced sitting next to me.  All that being said, I have been learning, so on this hill I let the cars directly behind me pass, started out at 45 mph, put my flashers on, locked the manual gear setting into 3rd (so it couldn’t climb higher) and coasted down.  The truck kicked into 2nd pretty quickly and the RPM’s stayed at 2000 the entire time.  It worked perfectly and I went down the 1 mile “s curve” grade without ever touching the brakes once!!  I felt great about it.  The temptation to speed up was certainly there because I was going about 35 mph, but I resisted.  As my driving instructor said, “Don’t let people drive you from behind”. Everyone is more maneuverable than you are in this situation, and since they aren’t going to pay the bill if you blow up your engine or brakes, go at your own pace.  Plus you never know what might happen.  Our friend Kyle was just traveling through the Tetons and was going down a hill and his rotor flew off and the brakes almost caught on fire.  When he stopped the vehicle all his brakes were smoking and he was incredibly lucky.  You never know when you might have a mechanical failure, animal in the road, or any other circumstance so on the steep downgrades my advice is slow down.  Ever see an oil tanker going down one of those really steep hills?  That’s the same speed I drive, because I don’t want to lose my home anymore than that driver wants to become a fireball.

Then I had to go up a 10% grade and the road was really torn up by construction.  This went ok though, and again I was happy to see they were widening it because this was the nastiest part of the road in my opinion coming the other way.  It was the second of the 10% grades going north to Alaska and hopefully they will be able to make both of those grades safer.  Soon after we hit Dawson Creek and our first Flying J.  It was the first fuel we had seen under $1 Canadian and we got an additional 2 cents per litre discount.  Plus, hooray truck stops!  Afterwards our GPS took us off the main route and onto HWY 59 which runs parallel to HWY 43.  We went with the GPS and got to see lots of farm country including the really cute small town of Valhalla.  This tiny town is a Norwegian community and we saw Fjord Horses for sale (sort of smaller draft horses), a Norwegian Gift Shop, and the school swing set shaped like a viking warship.  There was also a big sign saying it was the home of an Olympian, which I thought was great.  No place for our big rig to stop unfortunately, but I did stop traffic long enough to snap a couple of pics.

Valhalla Centre

Valhalla Centre

This is the view we saw for two days :)

This is the view we saw for two days 🙂

 

 

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Country Roads RV PArk

The road from that point was farms and more farms. Lots of hay fields and wheat fields with the occasional herd of cattle or even bison thrown in.  We both appreciated the simpler drive and felt pretty good when we got to Country Roads RV Park.  I really liked this RV Park.  They had a cornfield maze, trampoline for kids, and a nice store with ice cream and pie.  The sites were long but a tad narrow, but I really liked that they had either free wifi or pay wifi where you could get high-speed internet for $5.  I wish everyone did this, because those of us who wanted to could pay, which we did.  I think at this point we mainly needed a break from each other.  5 long days in the car with not much of a break is tough.  So with fast internet Lee could do his thing and I could do mine and we could both kind of chill a bit.

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Bouncy trampoline

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Cool store

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With a big moose mountie

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And a fun inside tire swing.  The owner suggested I try it so hey why not?

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Homemade Saskatoon pie.

Speaking of pie, Lee said the best apple pie he has ever had in his life (not hyperbole according to him) is the apple pie he got at the Canadian Best store.  They put oatmeal and cinnamon in the topping and he said it was fantastic!  The roads continued to be pretty flat with periodic construction the next day and we made pretty good time.  We pulled into Glowing Embers Campground for the night and I really didn’t like it at all.    First off it was $47.25 a night Canadian and then the wifi did not work at all at the sights.  They do have an RV bay on site and rent RV’s so I understand why people may stay here, but don’t charge me premium prices unless you have premium services. It was also right next to an industrial park and extremely difficult to get in and out of.   The good news was we were only 10 minutes away from the West Edmonton Mall so we unhitched and off we went. Keep in mind we hadn’t been in any kind of mall for over 4 months and this mall was for my money bigger and better than the Mall of America.  It had loads of stores, a water park, IMAX theater, mini golf, and ice rink, and tons of restaurants inside.

Stores ranged from Tiffany

Stores ranged from Tiffany

and Rolex

and Rolex

On the top floor

On the top floor

To Tattoo Parlors and

To Tattoo Parlors and

a hemp store in the bottom vcorners

a hemp store in the bottom corners

Plus stores we had never heard of like Chapters which is like Barnes and Noble

Plus stores we had never heard of like Chapters which is like Barnes and Noble

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Lee loved this one

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All guy stuff. Our friend Steve McCormick would have loved that place

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I was thrilled to find a lush so I could get some more moisturizer.

 

Ice rink

Ice rink

Putt Putt

Putt Putt

Pirate Cove

Pirate Cove

With a penguin show

With a penguin show

Galaxyland

Galaxyland

With roller coaster

With roller coaster

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and the absolute best

Huge wave pool

Huge wave pool

I was crazy impressed.  There was more than one food court and an area with dine in restaurants including a Sherlock Homes tavern and a dueling piano bar.

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The crepe store was cool, never seen one of these before

I enjoyed soaking up civilization and seeing all the cool stuff, but when we were done, we were done.  So we went to this nice Vietnamese restaurant and a wonderful thing happened.  I love Vietnamese egg rolls and fish sauce, but as many times as I have tried to make it at home it never tastes right.  Fish Sauce for the Vietnamese is as common a condiment as ketchup is to us, and everyone makes it in their homes a little different. I have asked at restaurants (English is a huge barrier here),  I have looked at recipes online and even watched videos and they were all very, very different.  I even experimented and couldn’t get it right.  The manager of this restaurant spoke very good English and was super nice.  First she gave me a big cupful to take home for free, then she told me it would last 2 weeks in the fridge, but most importantly she walked me through how she makes it.  It’s tough because they don’t really measure but she gave me comparative quantities that I can scale up or down.  Amazing!!  This is the closest I have come to what I used to love in Massachusetts and I can’t wait to give it a try.

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 If you are curious how she told me to make it is

  • 1 cup boiling water (taken off burner)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ¼ fish sauce (she said the brand didn’t really matter)
  • A few drops of white vinegar.  The vinegar is what you really play with because some people like ti sweeter and others more sour.

You also put in some shredded carrots and I have even seen shredded radish.  I will let you know how it turns out when we get settled at the beet harvest.   Seriously this made my day.  I have been trying for 2 years to make this sauce with no success, so wish me luck !

Oh and after searching the mall for reasonably priced long johns we stopped at one more Walmart (we have looked in at least 5 Walmarts in Alaska and Canada) and we found $9.99 long johns in our sizes.  Thank heavens, I was getting a little worried about that.  So even though the campground wasn’t the best it was a good stop and the mall was really cool if you are ever passing this way.

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First Time Seeing 7 Different Wild Mammals in One Day

Gotta say that in general I’m not a huge fan of the Yukon.  The scenery is pretty repetitive, the roads are pretty really bad, and everything is crazy expensive.  Still, you can’t get to or from Alaska without going through there, so we are trying to make the best of it. This trip is going much better than the way up though.  Partially because the road is getting better the farther south we go, partly because we have an itinerary that is realistic to the driving conditions, and partly just because we did it before. We are also getting the chance to see the things we missed on the way up.  I made some notes in the Milepost book and we are getting to stop at these places.  The first stop was the Teslin Tlinglit Heritage Centre.  The totems outside were really cool, but they wanted $5 per person to see the small museum and for some reason I wasn’t that into it.  Still, I liked the totems, but be careful if you pull a big rig in here because it’s not that big of a parking lot.

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Rancheria Falls, our next stop, was much better though.  I saw this on the way up and the Milepost said it was a short 10 minute walk to the falls.  Again, be careful of the parking lot with big rigs if it’s packed, but we got in fine because no one was there.  I grabbed my bear horn and we walked on that path, and not that far in saw a pile of poop.  It was pretty fresh, and we were both very aware that we were in the middle of the Yukon. We then had a conversation about the fact we should have bought bear spray at some point (probably not the best time to talk about that) and then I sang a little Bear Necessities from the Jungle Book.  I felt better as soon as I stepped on the boardwalk, but Lee did have a valid point that it probably would not have stopped the bear.  Still the falls were pretty (there are two) and it was nice to stretch our legs a bit.

The pile of poop. It could have been dog poop, but would have been a pretty big dog

The pile of poop. It could have been dog poop, but would have been a pretty big dog!

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The views were pretty

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Great boardwalk

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This first one was pretty cool

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The second one was ok

That was the high point of the day though, because when we reached the Baby Nugget RV park we discovered that the gift shop was closed and the 50 amp, “wifi at site” section was closed as well.  I was pretty ticked off as that is the reason I chose that park.  The sites in the older section were nice though, it’s just a shame we had to come at the end of their season.  I wasn’t a fan of their agressive signage though…tons and tons of rules, and the fact that they won’t accept trash unless you separate it is just ridiculous.  It turned out OK though, because staying here did lead to the the start of the most prolific animal sighting day we have ever had.  We saw 7 different types of mammals all in one day, and it started with Lee’s morning encounter with a fox.  He woke up early and walked up towards the wifi hot spot.  It was still really dark, but he saw a flicker of movement and something white out of the corner of his eye, and when he turned on his phone flashlight he saw a fox, within a foot or so, just walking along with him. Now this fox was very curious about Lee, and followed him back to our camper, staying just a few feet behind.  When Lee got inside, the fox actually laid in front of our steps and let Lee shine a flashlight on him and take this picture!!  He was there just hanging out with Lee for about 15 minutes before he finally wandered off. Do you think someone has been feeding him this summer?

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Lee’s pic

I didn’t get to see him, but that was OK, since the first animal we saw that day was another fox down the road a bit! We stopped and Lee got this excellent picture of the second one while it ran alongside the truck.

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Lee’s pic

Next we stopped at Watson Lake and saw the sign forest.  This doesn’t look that great from the road, but I wanted to see it, and we were both pleasantly surprised.  It’s huge, and growing, for one thing, but the signs are also really cool.  We carry three license plates from New Hampshire in the rig and talked about leaving one, but just couldn’t give them up.  Next time though we will definitely come prepared.

One section

One section

I loved that this caraven had this made for here. Great idea.

I loved that this caravan had this made for here. Great idea.

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After Watson Lake we started to see bison on the road.  We saw several singles and some groups and one big herd that was actually in the road.  They are pretty easy to see from far away, but I can definitely understand how this could be a major hazard at night. These are wild, so sighting number 2!

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Lee’s pic

After that we switched drivers because I was bound and determined to conquer these roads.  On the way in I didn’t drive for 2 days because I was too scared, but this time I was ready.  Almost immediately there was a 9% grade, but I pulled over before going down, thought about it, and did it.  It went really well, because it was pretty straight, but I still felt good.  We took turns throughout the day though, and between stopping for animals, slowing down for curvy roads, and a couple of pilot car situations, it was a very long driving day.  The very worst I drove was a really scary section with steep grades, two rollover warnings, and tons of twists and turns.  Luckily that entire section was under construction and I did it following a pilot car.  Never been so glad to see a pilot car in my life!!  The area from Muncho Lake to Sheep Mountain is really beautiful, but does require some careful driving.  Going over Steamboat Mountain was really tough and I am very glad Lee had those two 8% curvy grades.  They were crazy.  Totally worth it though, because here’s what we saw.

Stone Sheep, animal #4

Stone Sheep, animal #3

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Lee’s pic

Baby Timber Wolf. I saw this one and Lee wouldn't let me get out and walk back to take a pic, so this was the best I could get but my very first wolf in the wild!!!

Baby Timber Wolf. I saw this one and Lee wouldn’t let me get out and walk back to take a pic (party pooper) so this was the best I could get but my very first wolf in the wild!!! Animal #4!

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Caribou-#5!

They were spooked as soon as we got close

They were spooked as soon as we got close

Finally we made it to Testa River Lodge and I was super excited about staying here.  They have an awesome bakery and we passed through one morning on our way north and it was in a beautiful spot.  Unfortunately I missed somehow that they only had 15 amp and since our furnace is still broken and it gets below freezing at night there we just couldn’t make that work.  So we headed off down the road another 35 miles into Fort Nelson to stay at Triple G Hideaway which does have 30 amp and decent wifi, hence the post. Plus Lee had to drive over Steamboat Mountain, but he said we was OK so we kept on going.  The views (which we missed last time due to snow and fog) were pretty from the top and it’s a good policy to do a brake check there anyways.

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Still I was a little bummed, but the universe smiled.  I saw a brown spot on the side of the road, and it was……..a grizzly bear!!  A really big one and pretty close, but the angle wasn’t great, still I did the best I could to get a decent shot.  There was no mention on my part of getting out this time. Animal #6!!!

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The Lee got a HUGE black bear on his side, and that made #7!  Fox, Sheep, Bison, Wolf, Caribou, Grizzly, and Black Bear.  What a special day and I am sure it will be awhile before we beat this record, but stay tuned and we will see what happens next.

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Lee’s pic

 

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We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  Search Amazon Here
  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
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Traveling to the Lower 48

On Thursday the truck wasn’t done and on Friday we were waiting on pins and needles to hear the outcome.  It was a big deal because we didn’t want to lose the whole weekend in travel so around 1:30pm we decided to drive into Wasilla on the hope it would be done when we got there.  Bill and Kelly had to work that day, but they were willing to meet us in town for a farewell dinner, so even though we knew we might have to come back on Saturday we hoped it would get done in time.  I half expected the truck to still be in the lot when we got there, but it was up on the alignment lift.  Barb, our service coordinator, took us right back and we talked to Mark our technicians.  He was excellent and explained to Lee that the AC work was done, but the alignment could not be 100% completed without several more hours work.  He had fixed a very serious problem with the tire rod, however, which was good as it was so loose it could be moved by his hand.  Since the issue we were having would not increase tire wear, we chose to forgo the rest of the alignment and took the truck “As Is”.  We also discovered that the AC failure is very rare (the tech had never seen it until they had two different cases in the last 30 days) and the special machine needed to repair it had just been delivered to the dealer.  It turns out that there was another truck with the same issue and he had waited 30 days for the repair because the dealer was getting the machine.  So in an odd way we were lucky, because from a timing standpoint it could have been much worse.

What bothers me about the entire situation is the complete lack of transparency.  Instead of just explaining we were number 2 in line and only one tech could complete the work, they told us stories about waiting on the warranty company for approval.  They also waited until after the AC work was done to check the brakes (they were 5-6 and fine thankfully) and the alignment.  The whole situation was extremely frustrating, but this is how I am choosing to look at it. If the AC had not gone bad we might have blown off getting the alignment. If we hadn’t gotten the alignment done, the tire iron problem would have gone undiagnosed.  If we had lost the tire iron in Canada we would have lost steering and seriously could have been killed.  Those roads are no joke.  So its possible that the entire situation just saved our lives.  It cost us $372 in labor (the alignment man hours were not covered), but that is a small price to pay to avoid a catastrophic incident. Obviously that is all supposition, but if you believe in a higher power (which I do) it’s not that big of a leap.  Either way it’s done and in enough time for us to make the beet harvest.

I did have to completely reroute us though and give up Banff and Jasper.  I am less upset than I though I would be about that because after seeing pictures of those areas it is definitely not a place I want to rush through.  Given the choice I would always rather skip an area that special than spend a few moments there, and they definitely deserve dedicated time.  So we are driving down to Edmonton and then across through Saskatchewan and Regina then crossing in Regway which is roughly due north of Sydney.  We have a couple of days built-in for safety and our stops are all Good Sam approved parks with some level of wifi supposedly.  Since we are driving long days, Lee asked that we didn’t have to mess with boondocking and since we have money in the budget for campground fees I agreed.  The route is the shortest distance between two points, but at least there is a new section of Canada we will get to see.  I hate driving back over roads we have been on.  My plan is to keep track of what happens as we go and then post as able along the way.

The Tok Cutoff was better than we expected.  A lot of the work had obviously been done and even though our speeds were between 40-45mph they weren’t the 15-20mph we experienced coming in.  Because I felt more confident this time around we switched drivers at every break.  This worked out pretty well and also gave me a chance to practice driving on a few 6-7% grades.  We stopped in Tok and gassed up stopped to take our picture with the scary monster metal thing.  Everyone has been taking that picture (my personal favorite was when Jim and Barb put their dog Daisy on him) but I think he had enough because right after we took our picture Lee dropped his favorite drink cup and broke it.  Not cool..he loved that cup and I think the timing was totally suspicious.

See he looks mean

See he looks mean

 

I was driving when we crossed the border and that went off without a hitch.  What’s your license plate (Lee had to tell him), how long will you be in Canada (8 days going straight through), Liquor or tobacco (personal use only), any guns (No) other weapons (no).  That was it.  It was pretty easy.  Despite the lost hour when we crossed into Pacific time we arrived around 4:30pm at Discovery Yukon Lodgings and RV Park.  I liked the park very much, long wide full hookup pull-throughs and only $30 for us with the exchange rat and Good Sam discount but the electric was pretty weak.  Worse they had a large generator running 24/7 to make the power and despite the beautiful setting it was loud.  We couldn’t hear it inside with the double paned windows, but no stepping outside without the noise.  Ruined the park for me.

Discovery Yukon RV Park

Discovery Yukon RV Park

 

The next day we headed to Whitehorse and early on got very close shots of some swans.  I was really happy about that but the rest of the day was full of animal sightings NOT captured on camera.  This is pretty unusual for us, but event after event conspired to not allow pictures.  First we were driving around 8am and saw two birds by a carcass in the road.  One took off as we came close but the other was slow to launch and the next thing you know a juvenile eagle slammed into Lee’s side view mirror hard enough to push it against the truck.  He pulled over when it was safe to do so, but I wouldn’t walk back to where the eagle might have been.  If it was injured I wanted no part of that. They are BIG, by the way.   Next we were in a pilot car line by destruction bay and we passed a huge, beautiful bobcat lynx, my first sighting in the wild, sitting on the side of the road watching the cars go bay.  Because we were the vehicle immediately behind the pilot car we couldn’t stop, and it about killed me.  So pretty and close. We did get to take a picture of the giant gold pan though.  Missed that picture on the way up.

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Destruction Bay where we saw the coyote

Destruction Bay where we saw the coyote

A little while later when I was driving we saw a coyote drinking down at the bay.  I stopped, but not fast enough and although Lee walked back to try to get a shot it was headed the other direction and he couldn’t get close enough.  And later still, again around a construction area, we saw a female moose.  Just no safe place to pull over.  To be clear I would rather have animal sightings that no sighting at all, but the lack of pictures, particularly of the Lynx was a bit of a bummer.

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We did get to see some Tardust at one of the gas stations we stopped at.  And before you ask I have no idea, but that pantsuit was something so I had to take a picture.  Lee said I should ask, but my response was if you are going to wear something like that, you should expect folks to take your picture.

 

6-7 kids were in this RV

6-7 kids were in this RV

All girsl and one guy in this jumpsuit. Again no idea but they looked like they were having fun

All girls and one guy in this jumpsuit. Again no idea but they looked like they were having fun

The drive around Destruction bay was kind of rough and the road got bad again near Whitehorse, but again not nearly as bad as when we came out.  We reached Hi Country RV Park  a little before 3pm and unhitched so we could run into town.  We didn’t see Whitehorse at all when we came down (although we did stay at this park), but despite what I have heard about it, I personally was not that impressed and the main reason I chose this park was because you could pay ($8) for unlimited and fast wifi here in May but they have since discontinued that program.  Really dumb.  Now it is 90 minutes free per device and nothing else so I am writing this as quickly as possible.   We did run some errands though and it was nice to get in early, plus we had the Canadian version of KFC for dinner.  No biscuits or mashed potatoes available but every dinner comes with fries and gravy.  The chicken tasted great although was much smaller (I am guessing it’s not modified) and it was reasonably priced after the exchange rated of $1.2 is taken into account.  Everything but gas has been reasonably priced with the additional 20% off, but that is running us $3.29 a gallon after discount.  Yikes.  I am gathering lots of good data though and will report out at the end.  So here’s the pics and I’ll hopefully have more animal pictures next time I am in wifi range.

The refurbished steamboat is cool and the waterfront

The refurbished steamboat is cool and the waterfront

The Wal Mart (which is super tiny) had so many RV's they have a designated area...hence the sign

The Wal Mart (which is super tiny) had so many RV’s they have a designated area…hence the sign

The Canadian SUper Store had a much better selection and all kinds of products I have never seen. DEfinitely worth a look if you are here

The Canadian Super Store had a much better selection and all kinds of products I have never seen. Definitely worth a look if you are here

 

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We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  Search Amazon Here
  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

 

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Summing up Alaska

Truck is fixed and we are are headed home (more details in next post), but before we left I wanted to share my thoughts in summary on our Alaska adventure.  It’s important to note that our experience in Alaska wasn’t necessarily the “traditional” one.  We worked, for one thing, and established a home base rather than traveling from place to place in the state.  That being said, I think I have learned enough from both our experiences and those of our friends to summarize my thoughts on visiting here.  Of course your mileage will vary to some extent, but I think in general these apply to most visitors.

Alaska is vast.  Not big or spacious, but huge.  It really is not like anything you have ever experienced.  Add to that only a relatively small amount of the state is easily accessible by road and you should probably make your peace with the fact that unless you have unlimited time and budget, you won’t see everything.  

The roads are rough. There are certain areas that are relatively well maintained, but these are the exception to the rule.  The more remote the location, the worse the roads, and their condition changes as the summer progresses.  Vast distances, plus rough roads, equals long drive times.  If you are not a fan of long driving days this may not be the place for you.  Yes, you can stop frequently along the way, but most people are trying to get to a particular area, and the in between is frequently not that hospitable.   Also keep in mind that several of the most interesting roads are dirt/gravel roads and big rigs or rental cars (unless you pay extra) cannot be taken on them.  

Alaska is expensive. Absolutely everything costs more money than in the lower 48, even locally produced items, and the bargains are few and far between.  Couple high prices with poor selection, and staying on a budget can be challenging.  You can mitigate costs somewhat by stocking/filling up in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Palmer, or Wasilla but the more remote the area, the bigger the budget challenges.  If you fish you can help keep costs down, but keep in mind a fishing license runs $150 and a deep sea fishing trip runs around $350.  So yes, you can fish and it is plentiful, but there is a cost associated with it.  Unlike most places we have been there is little local meat/fish for sale.  Most people here hunt and fish for their own subsistence needs and expect to pay premium prices for salmon or any exotic meats. One good piece of news is although traditional campgrounds are on the high side at $35-$45 dollars a night, there are many free or inexpensive spots to boondock.  There are some places though that if you want to visit you will need to pay for a spot somewhere or leave your rig and travel from a remote site.  All of those extra costs are doable, but when you add in the money to get to Alaska and back to the lower 48 it really adds up.  Gas prices, the Canadian exchange rate, and ability to boondock are all big factors in determining the cost the trip to Alaska itself will take.  If you would like to see a detailed cost accounting from our friends Les and Sue who traveled and didn’t work camp,  check out this great blog post.  They show both total cost and incremental cost and personally I would look at incremental because no matter where you are you’ll be spending something.  In the case where you need to work and decide to not work while in Alaska, you should take into account both incremental cost and lost revenue. Personally we could never have done this if we hadn’t chosen to work.

Services are limited.  Internet of course is sporadic outside of the cities, and service is crushed in certain seaside towns when the cruise ships come in.  You always need to keep an eye on your gas tank, because although gas is available in most places, the prices can vary by as much as 50 cents a gallon.  Restaurants are not that common,  and in our estimation mostly over priced, and underwhelming.  Mechanical issues are common (see the roads are rough) and choices for service providers are limited.  Our experience is that largely those folks do good work, but expect long wait times, especially for parts.  

It rains a lot.  Coastal towns are the worst, but the interior sees batches of heavy rainfall as well.  It’s nearly impossible to chase the weather here because the weather forecasts are often inaccurate.  Mountain ranges and ocean fronts change the weather very quickly, and at some point you will get really tired of the rain.  That being said we had far more beautiful days than I was planning on, and the temperatures were largely very pleasant and once I got used to the long days we took advantage of them to extend our travel days. 

Wildlife is not as prevalent as you would think. Everyone (myself included) comes here with a mental list of animals they want to see.  But the wilderness is vast and again you only have access to a small portion of it.  Don’t get me wrong, the animals are here, but there is a huge element of luck in each and every animal sighting.  Most of our sightings have taken place in the early morning, late evening, or during cloudy weather, and once the hunting season started those sighting were reduced to a trickle.  If you can help yourself don’t come with a mental list that you need to check off in order to call Alaska a success.  If you can’t help yourself cheat a little and visit the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.   I will say though that one of the most impressive things about the state is how well they manage their animal resources.  They take poaching very seriously up here and there are constant updates on hunting and fishing regulations.  If you plan on fishing, stop at a visitors center and get the regulations and keep your ears open changes to those policies.  King Salmon, for example, were restricted completely right after we got here and they were not open for taking for the rest of the summer. 

So why do it, if all the things above are true, why come here? Because...Alaska is breathtaking.  I mean forget to breathe in the moment breathtaking.  And there are so many of those moments.  It’s not one scenery that plays itself out multiple times or one really great thing that you have to see and then can check the box.  It’s wild and vast and ever changing.  It changes with the weather, as the snow melts, when the leaves turn color.  As a matter of fact the rain makes it more special because you can’t see everything all the time, so when you do, it matters.  It is like no place I have ever been and this sentiment was reiterated by the many foreign visitors I have met who are much more traveled than I am.  It is the experience of a lifetime, but it is not without it’s challenges or costs and as such should not, in my opinion,  be a trip that is undertaken lightly. So think it through, but find a way and come.  It’s totally worth it. 

But Lee's was amaing

Lee’s amazing eagle pic

Spencer Glacier

Spencer Glacier

Fishwheels

Fishwheels

Sea Otters

Sea Otters

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Whittier

Me, Kelly, and Jo on my 50th birthday

Me, Kelly, and Jo on my 50th birthday

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Independence Mine

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Standing on a piece of ice on Valdez Glacier Lake

Northern Lights

Northern Lights

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The road to Anchorage

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Matanuska Glacier

Jim and Barb

Jim and Barb at the Fireweed Grill

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Caribou baby trying to cross the river in the Yukon

The hot part was up where the stones are.

Llaird Hot Springs

The small office I work in

The office where I worked all summer

I'm touching a glacier!!

Touching Worthington Glacier

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Liberty Falls

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Moose on the road to McCarthy

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Kennicott Mine

New friends Jonathon and Sue

New friends Jonathon and Sue

I was a little nervous to be honest taking this pic but they were actually [pretty gentle

Hanging out at the reindeer farm in Palmer

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Tazlina Glacier

Me, Lee, Bill, and Kelly

Amazing dinner at Moose Tooth Pub with Kelly and Bill

Trumpeteer Swans, Nelchina AK

Trumpeteer Swans

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Denali Highway

Rock Ptarmigan Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, AK

Rock Ptarmigan Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

On the way back we sat on the second story of this train car which had huge glass windows

Alaska Railway

Lee carrying on the licking stuff tradition

Lee being silly in Seward

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Our first wild fox on Denali Highway

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Denali State Park

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The road to Fairbanks

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Pipeline

Look at those teeth!!

Amazing sea otter sighting in Seward

and a few steps away is this amazing view

The lake view where Carole and Scott are volunteering

And became less and less of a path

Extreme geocaching look for Steve and Debs Big Foot trackable

Les making me the absolute best piece of fish I have ever eaten Fresh caught halibut...yum

Les making me the absolute best piece of fish I have ever eaten.   Fresh caught halibut…yum

So nice being with other people so we can get pictures taken

Ben took this great pic of us inside the Horsetail falls

Giant Beaver!!

Giant Beaver!!

Hikers Tree

Roadside Attraction in the middle of Denali Highway

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Glacier view from our sea cruise

Bridal Veil stood over 300 feet tall

Bridal Veil Falls

Sheep

Our up close sheep encounter in B.C.

BC Bear

BC Black Bear (yes sometimes they are brown)

Pretty proud of these

Puffins!!!

Denali Highway

Denali Highway

The river view

Keystone Canyon

And Santa even came out and talked to everyone for awhile

Santa’s House in North Pole, Alaska

Alaska Wooden Bowl Company

Alaska Wooden Bowl Company and my pretty new bowls

Denali

Road between Fairbanks and Denali

Hatcher Pass

Hatcher Pass

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Mount Denali in all its glory

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We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  Search Amazon Here
  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

 

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First Outstanding Dentist Experience Since Going on the Road

I’ve been a very vocal critic of our dentist experiences since going on the road and since I just had a phenomenal experience I wanted to share that with everyone.  I made appointments at Glennallen Family Dentistry a couple of months ago and with some trepidation headed into our appointment today.  Every time we have gone to the dentist it’s been a costly hassle (except for Mexico) and not only did I leave feeling as if I was robbed, I also didn’t trust the care I received.  I had been told that I had a couple of fillings that needed taking care of, but honestly I just didn’t trust the people who made the diagnosis.  So really I just wanted a reasonably priced cleaning and someone to tell me whether I really needed a filling.  Well, today I received so much more than that.  The cleanings were $113 each and when we explained we were self insured they didn’t force the x-rays on us, which everyone else has done so far. More importantly the hygienist was fantastic.  I have never heard Lee laugh during a cleaning before, but Shanan was excellent.  Not only did she perform a very good cleaning in a great environment (massage dental chairs no less)  she also took into account out transient lifestyle.  They have lots of patients who live in the bush or travel frequently and for the first time ever someone got it. She said, “We understand you can’t come back for 10 appointments,” and she actually meant it.  When she discovered I did indeed have a pretty serious cavity and realized the dentist had a short opening available she quickly scheduled me in.  She even completed the cleaning in record time.  She did an excellent job and simultaneously provided us with some very solid information on self-cleaning since she knows it is difficult for us to find a dentist.  We will be investing in two Phillips Sonic Toothbrushes, for example.  All of this and she got me in the next chair in time for my noon appointment.

The dentist, Dr. Shedlock,  quoted me $231 per filling and waived the examination fee because I was self-insured.  He also took pictures throughout the process and put them on the big monitor so I could see what he was doing.  He filled two cavities (one of which had gone pretty deep) and the before and after pictures were impressive.  He explained that someone could fill over infection and you would never know, but taking pictures throughout the process held everyone accountable.  Loved that.  He also went to dental school in USC but returned to Alaska because that is where he was from.  As far as he is concerned they don’t have to practice backwards medicine just because they are in the middle of nowhere, and he delights in all the latest technology.  The job was excellent, it was obviously completed in a timely manner, and he was 100% credible.  So here is my recommendation: If you are visiting Alaska and will need a cleaning while you’re here, I would call and make an appointment before heading up.  Let them know you travel, and if you are aware of a dental issue you need to get taken care of tell them that so they can double schedule the appointment. If you see them when coming in, then you could make a follow-up (if needed) on the way out.  I, 100% recommend this dentist and this practice, because as I said, they get it. He truly made my day.

OK now back to the rest of the week.  It’s slow here at Northern Nights and I’ve been trying to make the most of the down time while we are waiting on our truck to be done so we can take off.  The part came in on the Friday before the holiday weekend and they promised we would be first in line on Tuesday (they called to confirm they pulled the truck in at noon to start the tear down process), so we entered the weekend somewhat optimistic. Jo and Ben also stopped by on their way out of Alaska and we got some more yummy halibut, plus I got to see their puppy Peyton some more.  We did get a bit of activity on September 1st as moose season officially opened to everyone.  According to Jo and Ben the roads were full of hunters and we certainly got our fair share for an overnight stay in the campground.

Jo making dinner while I was working one night

Jo making dinner while I was working one night.  That’s friendship!

And Ben cooking the fish

And Ben cooking the halibut he and Bill caught on their recent fishing trip

One of our guests had a truck full of coolers and these antlers. They thought the moose was 7-8 years old. Must have been a big one

One of our guests had a truck full of coolers and these antlers. They thought the moose was 7-8 years old. Must have been a big one. When asked how old it was, he replied “I didn’t ask before I shot him.”

Most exciting of all, Lee finished my side table completely with the piece of redwood we picked up last December and it looks beautiful!!!  We spent so much time looking for the perfect piece of wood,  but not in my wildest dreams did I think it would turn out this nice.  You can read all about the epic odyssey in It’s All About the Wood or just see the picture below for what it looked like in it’s raw state.  Lee was actually pleased with the outcome (not that common of an occurrence for Mr. Perfectionist) and  now I just have to be super careful not to ever, ever forget to use a coaster 🙂 

I'm happy!! Can't wait to see what it looks like stained.

Here’s me very happy with the unfinished piece of wood

And here's the finished table

And here’s the finished table…so happy with the final result.

That’s the good news.  The bad news is we didn’t hear back from the dealership on Wednesday and I called on Thursday and they hadn’t started the work because the warranty company hadn’t approved.  Why?  Because they had just sent the pictures in Wednesday night.  At this point I was upset.  I had specifically told the service manager that I would need to pay for the repair if the warranty company did not approve it (unlikely, I spoke to the warranty company and the pictures are just their process for anything over $2500) and could not understand why the work had not started.  Plus, big shock, no one had looked at the brakes yet.  I was professional on the phone, but made it clear that I was very agitated and the service coordinator Barb said she would check with the technician and call me right back.  That was at 8:20am. Barb called back at 9am and said the brakes were fine but the tie rod was loose.  That’s not good and I am VERY thankful Lee had them check this before we went on the road.  They are tightening it and doing an alignment for $180 and all the work will hopefully be done by Friday evening.  If not, she had a commitment from the service tech that he could work on Saturday and although this wasn’t the best news it was by far the most specific update I have gotten.  So I did appreciate she was trying to work with me and thanked her profusely.  Yes, this wouldn’t have been necessary if the job was done immediately, but let’s face it, these folks are holding my life in their hands here and I have no reason to believe that getting crappy with them would yield a better result.  To the contrary it would probably hurt my cause.

Alright enough about that.  I’ve also been experimenting with recipes to fill in some holes in the recipe book I have been working on, and learned how to make lasagna in the InstantPot. I can’t stress enough how excited I was by figuring this out and actually making something Lee really liked, so I am sharing the recipe below.  I also found a really good dill dip recipe and made Pam’s Chili-Cheese dip that she sent to me.  I do appreciate the recipes some folks sent me, and I am working through them as quickly as I can.  I’ve decided that I want 8-10 recipes in each category and that sounds way easier than you would think.  I’ve probably cooked over 100 new recipes over the last two years and only a few ever make it to here.  Now I am refining that list even further to the best of the best and it turns out I am severely lacking in a couple of categories.  I really need crock pot/instant pot recipes to try and am still looking for very simple travel day recipes.  If you have any recipes in those categories you would  like to share please email me at camperchronicles -at- gmail .com.  It would be much appreciated, and if I use them I will send you a free copy of the cookbook when it’s done. Oh, and Lee seems to have caught the bug because he made chicken enchiladas and even made the enchilada sauce from scratch. So sweet.

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Simultaneously, I have been gathering pictures of all of the chosen recipes and because I am not a professional food photographer (see above lol), they definitely need some work in Adobe Photoshop.  Unfortunately I find that interface extremely confusing and the free instructional materials not that much better. They seemed to assume you know stuff that I at least do not know.  So we signed up for a 30 day free trial at Lynda.com. As someone who used to create training videos for a living I am incredibly impressed by the quality of these videos.  Although the $30 a month subscription price is to steep for our budget, I am a big fan of what they have available here and an even bigger fan of the free trial!   If you are wondering why Lee just doesn’t do it for me, well that’s probably because he has felt I needed to learn this program all along and he absolutely refuses to do my “homework” for me.  I started at the very beginning and I can’t stress enough how important that is.  It’s been great so far, but my brain does start hurting a bit after too many videos and I have to take a break.  This interface is incredibly powerful and also incredibly complicated (there are 4 different ways to undo an action for example), but every time I master a new skill I feel really great about that.

Also, since we blew the budget again in mailings I called our mailing service and discovered it did indeed cost $72 to send mail UPS ground to Alaska.  According to them if we would have sent it USPS priority mail it would have cost $8.95.  Ok that is a HUGE difference and there is no pricing available if you make your choice online.  So from now on we are calling the office every time and getting comparison prices before sending ourselves mail.  Ridiculous there is that much of a price swing…and that choice cost us $130…not cool.

On a completely different note our friend Kelly and Bill just posted their two year full-timing anniversary summary with Facts and Figures.  Now I love data, but no one, and I mean no one, collects data like Bill.  So if you are a curious person or researching the lifestyle I absolutely recommend you check it out. So it’s been a busy waiting period and since my last day working was also Wednesday I really need to focus on getting ready to go.  For example I spent several hours putting together a route down to the lower 48 (short drive days, boondocking every other day, stuff to see wherever we stopped) and now need to throw all that out the window and look at shortest, fastest route because we are losing travel time while we wait for the truck repairs. Really bummed about that because that’s the way we had to get up here and long driving days are definitely not fun.  We promised ourselves we would see all the stuff we missed on the way back, but that just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Either way, despite dreading the long drive,  I am so ready to go.

Pressure Cooker  Lasagna 

This recipe can be altered for any lasagna recipe you prefer.  Just make sure the meat is cooked, you use oven-ready flat lasagna noodles,  and you always start and end with a sauce layer. The short pressure cooking time ensures both cooked noodles and distinct layers which I was really happy about. 

*One 26 oz jar of meat sauce (I used my spaghetti sauce and worked great) 
*5-6 sheets of oven ready lasagna noodles
*1/2 pound of mozzarella; sliced

*1/4 grated or shredded fresh Parmiagiano cheese

1. Spray the inside of the pressure cooker/slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray or wipes with olive oil soaked paper towel.

2. Using a large spoon spread a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of the crock or insert,

3. Use lasagna pieces to cover the sauce. You can break the pieces as needed to fill in the gaps

4. Lightly cover the noodles with sauce.

5. Cover with a light layer of mozzarella cheese.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 until you run out of sauce making sure the top layer is sauce.

7. Springe Parmigan cheese on top.

8. Set pressure cooker to 10 minutes manually. When time is up us quick release to remove steam then turn off cooker. Let sit for 10 additional minutes.

9. If using a slow cooker cook on HIGH for 3-1/2 hours the test for noodle tenderness.

10. Using a spatula gently work the lasagna pie from the side and then cut triangle shaped pieces.

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Supporting our Blog

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

  • As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.  Search Amazon Here
  • You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
  • You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes.

 

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August 2016 Budget (with work kamper revenue)

The good news is despite overspending in several categories we were able to keep our total costs right on budget.  The bad news is for the fist time since being here we spent more than we made.  That’s not that surprising since we chose to take 4 extra days off work to spend some time with friends, but still a bit of a bummer.  We over spent by $600, which isn’t the end of the world, and if you look at June, July, and August in total we are still $580 to the good.  That’s not the total picture of course, we definitely won’t make enough wages to cover the expense of getting here and getting back, but we haven’t dug ourselves too big of a hole.  The details in the individual categories are listed below.

August Budget

Groceries – In aggregate we we once again $191.28 over in this category. $75 of that was the crab legs, but the rest is just that stuff is more expensive here.  Despite having a freezer for meat we still spent this much on local IGA trips.  What can I say??  I’d love to say once we hit the lower 48 everything will be back to normal, but with our upcoming travel through Canada and then working long shifts at the Beet Harvest and Christmas Tree lot that is unlikely.  At least we ate well this summer. 

Dining Out – I knew pretty early on we were going to blow this category in August.  Part of it was the trips we took, and part was eating out more often.  We spent over $100 on the Mexican food truck down the road alone, four meals, knew when we were doing it the budget didn’t allow for it.  Partly it’s because the food is so darn good, but also the “eat out because we are making money and bored” stage kicked in.  We’ve been pretty good in the past of recognizing this feeling and holding each other accountable but this month we both said “screw it.”  That attitude is reflected in the money spent. 

Entertainment –  I am really happy with this category because the Glacier cruise cost $133 in and of itself and we really didn’t go over by much despite doing tons of stuff.  Sticking to nature related activities really keeps costs down and (in my opinion) generally provides for a better experience.  I don’t regret the glacier cruise, but I am not in a big hurry to do it again. 

Truck Fuel – Despite all the driving truck fuel was right on target.  Again this was due to not using the vehicle much during our five day work week and gassing up as much as possible near the big towns. 

Postage – This category is totally out of control.  Part of it is the gifts I sent my nieces and nephews, but mostly it’s due to what our mail service is charging us.  We are not sending mail express, we are only doing it when absolutely necessary (absentee ballots and trailer registration this month) and yet we are still paying through the nose.  The problem is it’s not like we could easily change our mail service at this point.  Since they are also our address a mail change would require going back to Florida and is not something that could be done lightly.  We don’t mind the monthly cost and we think their scanning service is reasonably priced but every mailing we get seems to cost $75.  Ridiculous.  

House Expenditures – For the first time in awhile we were over in this category and it was by $240.  A big chunk of this was the money Lee had to spend to build a new trailer power cord and $90 of it was to replace our electric blanket which finally died after valiantly preheating our bed for almost 8 years.  We tried to order the blanket online and use AMEX points to pay for it, but the shipping kept getting delayed and Lee finally had to cancel the order and buy it in person in Anchorage.  Why do we need the blanket before we leave?  Well our furnace is still broken and since we are planning on boon docking some on the way back to the US we can use it as a heat source with our solar.  

Still, despite all these overages we still ended close to budget, because we once again spent very little on campground fees.  I really can’t stress enough the benefits of minimal campground fees when work kamping or volunteering.  Our best months have been when we have that extra $600 (15% of our overall budget) to work with.  

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Travel Tales from the Alaskan Road

We intentionally chose Glennallen this summer because of its central location, despite many people saying it was “the most boring place in Alaska.”  Well, we have absolutely not found that to be the case, instead I would say everyone passes through Glennallen eventually because of it’s central location.  Not only has that given us the opportunity to see friends as they toured Alaska, but it has also allowed us to meet some really cool people.  These meetings are often brief, but always impactfull, so at the beginning of the summer I started keeping notes on some of my favorites.  Since our time here is coming to a close, I thought now would be the best time to share these little encounters with you.

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Map of Glennallen showing it’s location to other major cities. Ignore the hour marker I wasn’t really sure how to get rid of that. 

The first couple that I met that made me start writing these down was a Finnish couple that spoke only a few words of English.  I got to see them three times, because they kept stopping back in as they traveled around.  We largely communicated through pantomime, try explaining shower tokens with no words, but I must have done OK though because they always had huge smiles when they saw me.  I think they were brother and sister, but honestly I am not 100% sure and I will say I was worried about them.  I mean seriously, who turned them loose on Alaska with no English?  But they did great, and from what I could gather really got to see some cool things.  I didn’t always take a picture of the people I met, but in this case I did take a picture and I will always remember them when I think of my summer in Alaska.

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The Finnish Couple

The next frequent visitors were Arnaud and Cyril from France.  They are adventurers who were hiking/paddling across Alaska.  Their blog is really interesting as they spent a significant amount of time going remote places I will never see and the courage and spirit of these two young men was inspiring.

https://facebook.com/greatnorthsurfexpedition

Arnaud and Cyril (Got these pictures from Facebook).  Here’s there blog info.  It does translate into English.  https://www.pureslo.fr/blogs/blog/172042567-great-north-surf-expedition-n-1

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Again I was pretty worried about these guys, but they seemed to have it together and they ended up calling Northern Nights “their home away from home” which was very sweet.  I may have mothered them a bit!

Not all of the encounters were that personal though, and some were very short.  There was a young couple biking their way across Alaska with a two year old in tow.  Yes, you read that right, a two year old.  He was in one of those baby bike carriers and I have absolutely no idea how they were making that work.  I wanted to go up and talk to them about it, but finally decided I just couldn’t ask the questions without letting out that I thought they were nuts so I let it pass.  Amazing though, really.

I also briefly met a couple who came from Seward where they had hit and killed a mother and baby moose that were lying in the road.  These folks were really shaken by the experience and I checked them in as efficiently as possible.  You could tell the husband was just sick about the whole thing and the accident had completely destroyed their drive shaft so they had to wait in Seward three extra days while it was repaired.  Later when I mentioned it to Kelly and Bill’s boss he said that had happened right down the road from their campground and that sort of thing happens more often than you would think.  Really sad.

There were lots of people who had major mechanical problems in Glennallen.  We are right after the Tok-Cutoff which this year was hands down the worst stretch of major road in Alaska.  Sections of the road required pilot cars and/or going 15-20 miles per hour and we many people who stopped in our campground had to have major repairs.  EGM is a repair place down the road and they sent many people to us, and I have to say almost everyone who had a problem just said it could have been a lot worse.  We saw three rigs whose tow apparatus broke and their tow vehicles went into ditches, multiple cases of structural damage to rigs, a broken radiator on a Class A that took 5 days to replace, and more broken windows than I could keep count of.  Yet in almost every case, the people made lemonade and again were super grateful they were safe and in a place as nice as ours until the repairs were done.

The people I got to know the best this summer were Sue and Jonathon.  She is from South Korea and teaches English online, and Jonathon, originally from Wyoming, met her there.  She lived in Seoul her entire life and never drove a car, and self admittedly used the Travel Channel to see the world. But after her mom died he talked her into this great adventure, and now they are full timing in a very nice tent.  Sue and I hit it off right away, and I had to show her how many other RV fulltimers lived.  We became Facebook friends and now I can keep up with their travels.   They aren’t interested in buying a rig because they plan to travel internationally as well, so the tent will work wherever they go.  I just was super impressed about the whole thing.  When I think about how much angst I went through to full time in my 400 square foot “luxury apartment on wheels”  versus her just jumping in, and in a tent no less…well lets just say I feel a little whiney. So very glad I got to meet them and hope we get to see each other again in the future.

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Jonathon and Sue

Most of the people were quick little moments, but the personalities of the people made enough of an impact that I wrote them down.  An example was Kathy Swenson who ran the Iditarod several times, and was one of the first women mushers.  I googled her after we chatted and found this article about her and her husband. She freely shared that she broke her collar bone while racing in  Europe 2 months after giving birth to her fourth child, and shortly thereafter her husband divorced her.  He left her with 4 kids and 150 dogs and she raised them largely on her own.  She was talking about writing a book, and in the short time I talked to her I absolutely encouraged her to do so.  Talk about a pioneer woman.

Kathy was only one of the very interesting locals I met here.  There was Kasey and Jay, a couple from Oklahoma who had moved to Alaska.  They were camping for the weekend and brought 8 baby chicks in their rig.  Apparently the chickens had just hatched and they couldn’t be left alone, so Kasey brought them and their heat lamp along.

My favorite local person though was Bob Tubbs, a young man who helps out around the campground with propane, welding etc.  He, his wife, and three kids live on 10 acres of land and are working towards “complete independence”.  He works for the forest service, as needed, driving a fuel truck for helicopters.  As he said, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to drive fuel into a fire area, but that’s what he does.   When they call he is gone for many days but is fairly compensated for it.  He worked 11 days while we were here on the Tok cutoff fire and made close to $7K.  In my mind he deserved every penny.  He and his wife have a large garden, she cans, they have egg laying chickens (they sell the excess) and next year he is adding a barn with goats and pigs.  Since milk costs $6 a gallon up here and they go through a gallon every other day, goat’s milk is an economic alternative.  Plus they are going to raise batches of meat chickens and every year he fishes his salmon limit and kills  1 moose and 3 caribou as well as lots of other game to stock his 4 freezers. He and is wife are truly are pioneers and I have a lot of respect for what they are doing. Plus he gave us a nice piece of salmon and some moose meat.  He even explained to us how to cook it.  Really nice young man.

My absolute favorite part of the summer though has been all of the international guests.  Most of these encounters are brief, but I have had the opportunity to meet people from Canada, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Amsterdam, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Israel, Sweden, Norway, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Brazil, Spain, Vietnam, and China.  I have been the most excited about meeting the people from China, because it is a dream of mine to go there one day, and they have all been extremely polite and very excited to be here.

So many wonderful people, but a few stick out.  There was the London couple who spend 6 months a year in the US and leave their rig in Louisiana when back home.  They are like our Canadian friends who snowbird except from England.  They have been doing it since 2003 and started when they were 42 and 43 years old.  Also, there was the family from China who had their 6 year old translate for them.  Her English was excellent (she attends English school every day) and she was polite, smart, and cute as a button.

Even Lee had a few moments, although he didn’t meet nearly as many people as I did, but one day while he was covering for my lunch he checked in Joachim and Christine Laute .  They were from Germany and had limited English, but Lee busted out his high school German and talked to them some.  Turns out they grew up in East Germany and were 20 when the wall was raised.  Their family wasn’t separated so they stayed where they were and lived their life in in East Germany.  She was a math teacher and he was a bus driver,  and they weren’t very political, so that was just their life.  Then the wall came down in the 80’s it took the 2 years (yes you read that right) for them to truly believe it.  They knew Reagan had come, but they didn’t even try to cross into West Germany, because they thought it was a trick.  Now in their late 60’s they are exploring Alaska and are very happy to do so.  What dramatic changes they have experienced in their lives.

I am not saying every person has been nice of course, but honestly the cranky ones were few and far between, and usually had good cause.  There were so many moments that I can’t possibly relay them all, so let me just leave you with one very special day.  Recently we had a caravan of 12 New Zealand couples who came through in rentals, and boy, were they fun. The rest of the park was filled with two RV’s from British Columbia, two couples from China, a solo Australian on a motorcycle, and a young couple who spoke very little English from Thailand.  There wasn’t one American in the park that particular day and I felt like I worked in the UN.   Showing those folks that Americans are welcoming and friendly and glad to have them here in the US was really fun, and made me feel great about how I spent my summer.  It was an unexpected bonus to working here in Glennallen this summer and I am very glad I got to experience it.

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Things are Winding Down and Anxiety is Rising

 

The last couple of weeks we experienced days of rain, and then days of full sun.  The temperatures have gotten much colder and as tourists are leaving the state the campground’s business has gotten slower and slower.  Although we were originally scheduled through September 15th,  we received an email from the Beet Harvest folks and they need us there by September 19th.  We don’t want to rush back (since we had to rush up) so we talked to Marc and he graciously said it was fine if we left a little earlier than we originally expected.  Our new departure date is September 8th and suddenly there isn’t enough time to get everything done we need/want to!

What has surprised me is how anxious I am feeling over the upcoming move.  My fears are varied from the short-term (the furnace still isn’t working) to the more long-term, without a steady income coming in how are we going to pay our bills.  We had hedged our financial bets by lining up the Beet Harvest immediately after Alaska and then picking up a job selling Christmas Trees over the holidays.  After that I really want to try to find a consulting job in my field.  There are a couple of reasons I think the consulting job is so important.  First, for me, it’s not a good idea to stay out of the mainstream workforce for too long of a period, and second, since I have to work I would like to try doing something that is  both fulfilling and lucrative.  I am convinced at this point that we can survive on less money, but I am not sure that less money has translated into less stress.  Well, that’s not true.  I absolutely have less stress than I had before, but there is still stress.  At this point I am simply not capable of “punching a clock” for lack of a better expression and leaving the work behind at the end of the day.  And I am especially not capable of that when I live where I work.

So, the only way to find out what consulting looks like (and how it compares to other employment) is to actually do it.  I am really surprised by my reaction to all of this to be honest.  I have wanted to consult for a really long time and as Lee says now I have the opportunity to try it in a low-risk environment.  It’s just a lot of change.  Professionally in a relatively short period of time I have gone from a corporate environment to a small business environment then I will be trying “farm” work and short-term commissioned sales. You would think I was a kid again trying lots of jobs to see which ones I liked. Except these jobs are on the extreme side and I am not a kid anymore in either physical or emotional state.  I am incredibly nervous about the beet harvest.  The idea that I can hack standing outside in the elements for 12 hours a day, three weeks straight, and no days off seems almost ludicrous.  Same with the Christmas tree sales.  12 hours a day, living in a fenced-in parking lot, no days off.  Why in God’s name would I try these things if I have other choices? The short answer is because this is an experiment and I need to collect all of the data.  I can read about the Beet Harvest or Amazon, but unless I actually experience it I will have no idea what I am willing (and able) to do.  For years I thought of myself as a person who could dig ditches to feed her family.  Well now I am going to find out.  And by the way I am 100% driving these choices.  Lee is fine with it as long as it keeps us on the road, but he would no more try to talk me into these job choices than he would try to talk me into selling the RV and living in a tent. That’s the level of extreme that I think of when I compare the beet harvest to a campground job and we will see if those fears are founded.

Anyway, lots of anxieties, which is kind of a shame because you would think I could coast on an Alaska high for awhile. I also really thought I had moved past some of these emotions.  It’s been two years now and you would think I would be better at dealing with the constant state of change.  Well I am better, that’s for sure, but less able to adapt that I thought I would be.  Part of that is probably staying in one place for four months.  We have made a home base of sorts here and that coupled with a steady paycheck and lots of cool areas to explore has helped me settle in.  Now we are leaving all of that for the relative uncertainty of a new job and a new place. You would think that considering how poorly I seem to handle all of that I would be more interested when Lee talks about creating some sort of established annual “route”, but everything in me rebels against that.  Developing a circuit of sorts makes sense.  Employment is easier, you can establish schedules for doctor’s appointments, and you always have some idea of where you will be at any given time in the year, and it really helps keep your costs down.  I get the allure.  But for me, right now, in this moment, it is the last thing that I want.  Well, not the last, but pretty far down on the list.  What I love about this lifestyle the most is the ability to explore and seeing new places and if that makes it more challenging, then so be it.  I’m not saying it won’t happen in our future.  Whether it happens by choice or necessity it feels almost inevitable, but I keep thinking “Not yet”.

So I will try the beet harvest and Christmas trees, and Amazon, and whatever comes in between.  We will stay in the desert this winter to keep costs down, we will work at more campgrounds, we will do what we need to do to stay on the road.  But it may look different.  My blog posts will be different.  Not every place we be will be Alaska, or even close to it.  I started this to accurately reflect my life, but in some respects the blog has driven my choices.  I get off the couch and do things so I have something to write about.  I show my life in pictures and budgets with the occasional introspective post thrown in.  We have managed through our choices to have both work and play, but the upcoming months are definitely going to be more about work, and that’s fair.  Alaska was the experience of a lifetime but it needs to be paid for one way or another.  If Lee was sitting here he would probably jump in at this point and tell me I needed to calm down.  We have money in the bank, we have employment lined up, and things are unlikely to be as extreme as I am painting them.  He’s really good at being the voice of reason when I get a little carried away. And he is right.  One chapter is ending and another is beginning and as always, we will see where that leads us.

Oh and then because God has a sense of humor he gave me a real problem to deal with.  Not an ambiguous, what-if scenario (I suck at dealing with those) but a real honest to goodness problem which ironically I seem better at dealing with.  Lee took the truck to Wasilla to get the brakes and AC checked and when he came back from running errands the front end was dissembled, he was told the truck was undriveable, and it could take as much as a month to fix.  Needless to say he was extremely upset.  The next morning I called the dealership (keep in mind it’s 2-1/2 hours away or I just would have driven there) and left a voice message for the service manager Stan.  I nicely explained that we didn’t live here and I was due to start a new job on the 19th and could he please call me back with an estimate of how long the service would take.  This was at 8:31am.

I called back at 11:05am and after offering to wait on hold was eventually transferred to Stan’s cell phone voice mail.  At this point I reached out to our friends Jo/Ben and Kelly/Bill.  I knew Jo and Ben would be driving right by the dealership and I asked if they would stop on the way if no one from the dealership called me back.  Yes this is an unusual request, but they are those kind of friends.  Driving 5 hours round trip to have an in person conversation was not my first choice, but I knew I would do it if I had to.  Thankfully while I was on the phone with them Stan called me back.  He was extremely polite and after looking into the situation told me he couldn’t get the parts until next Wednesday or Thursday but he would put me to the top of the service list “since I lived out of town.”  Best case scenario the work would be done by September 9th worst case, September 12th.
So I had two choices in that moment; play nice or “go Jersey” as my friends like to say.  I chose to play nice and spent the next 10 minutes personalizing the issue and basically throwing myself on his mercy.  Why you might ask?  Well, Alaska.  Don’t kid yourself, these folks have their customers over a barrel and they know it.  There are only three Ford dealerships in the entire state and I have no reason to expect my situation would be any different with another one of them.  If they decide to keep me waiting for a month it is entirely within their purview.  Do I have other options? Sure, but none of them are really good ones, so since all it will cost us at this point is taking our time getting back through Canada we will let it go.  That assumes of course that they keep their word.  I like starting with appealing to people’s better angels, but if that doesn’t work I have absolutely no problem “going Jersey”.

Side note:  Lee did receive a call that evening from the original service coordinator.  She verified that she had ordered the parts, but stated our claim was still not approved because they had to send pictures to the warranty company.  Sounds like BS to me, but I will have to give the warranty company a call.
On the plus side I finally got to see Northern Lights and it wasn’t even planned.  Lee and I walked outside at 11pm last night before going to bed we looked up and they were all over the sky.  I always thought northern lights were like lightning or they pulsed but these were different.  They reminded me of after a firework has gone off and what happens to the trails of light.  They also looked like someone took a paintbrush and lightly made a stroke on a canvas.  They move and change and the colors on occasion held hints of purple along with the green.  It was amazing and we stood outside for 30 minutes watching them.  I tried to get a picture with my camera but no luck.  Lee was able to snap a couple of pics with his phone but they don’t come close to showing how amazing they looked in the sky.  Big major check on the bucket list.  Some things in life exceed their press.

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First Time on Hatcher Pass

Early on while researching Alaska I ran across an article that named three things the locals like to do that few tourists know about.  One, coincidentally, was the train ride we took to the glacier, but the second was Hatcher Pass.  I had talked to a few people who had done it this summer and the general consensus was “beautiful but scary road”, well ok then we are in.  Unfortunately with all the other plans and the fact that the weather really needed to be good for this activity it just didn’t happen and I was half convinced we would need to wait until our next Alaska trip.  But then Saturday was absolutely beautiful and Lee, who was originally going to a HAARP open house, changed his mind and suggested we take a drive instead.  

Now those of you who know Lee may be surprised that he passed up this super techie thing to go on a drive with me, heck I was surprised, but seriously it has been raining a lot and the desire to get out into the sun was pretty strong in both of us.  So off we went with minimal information towards Hatcher Pass.  Hatcher Pass runs between Palmer and Willow and is the location of the Independence Mine State Park.  Really that is all I knew so we were pleasantly surprised when right away the road started to follow a glacier river.  Now we have seen several of these, but this one was very special and the water was really cold.  You could feel the cold air coming off of the river and I understood why there were sign postings cautioning people that they could get hypothermia in July.

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Hatcher Pass

After stopping at the stream the road started to climb and became really beautiful very quickly.  There were fields of fireweed, blueberries, and other grass covering along with amazing hill views,  Plus hardly any clouds in the sky.

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The fireweed was in full bloom and each of these white balls was really tons of little seeds

The road is well maintained until you got to the Independence Mine State Park and it was only a $5 day use fee to see the mine area.  Honestly I was not that thrilled about exploring the mine, but it was a good place to stop and eat our packed lunch and Lee loves this stuff.  Well it turned out as is often the case that the mine location was very interesting.  Plus we took the .25 mile outer loop trail (steep climbs in a couple of places) and the views were spectacular.  You may not want to walk all the way to the top, but trust me it’s worth it.

Independence Gold Mine site. Closed in the early 1950's

Independence Gold Mine site. Closed in the early 1950’s

Parts of the area were maintained and others were not

Parts of the area were maintained and others were not

You couldn't go into many of the buildings but a few had windows you could look inside

You couldn’t go into many of the buildings but a few had windows you could look inside

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There was something about the place. It had tons of walking trails, was large and open, and the picture opportunities were great.

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Look for the moon right above the tip of the mountain.  I haven’t seen the moon in months let alone in broad daylight

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There was a glacier way off in the distance

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My only regret is I had no idea what gold would look like. Gold panning is allowed in Hatcher Pass (part of the draw for locals I supposed), but despite my love for rocks I really can’t identify minerals

It was somewhat crowded and there were lots of kids but because it was such a large space it didn’t feel like there were that many people there.  Lee and I also speculated that this was one of the few places we had seen that was meadow and maybe that’s why so many people were here hiking.  You could walk without worrying about bears.

Part of the sky tram for the ore carts

Part of the sky tram for the ore carts

This was eventually mostly replaced by this water tunnel

This was eventually mostly replaced by this water tunnel

It was chilly in here

It was chilly in here

And the water was right beneath the flooe

And the water was right beneath the floor

Next we came upon a long mine cart and Lee got really excited about it.  It was cool because it was complete and available for anyone to touch or sit on.  I like that about Alaska parks, they let you touch things.

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Lee checking out the battery bank

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Looks whose driving the car 🙂

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All the knobs turned stuff lol. Lee was very excited

After we walked the mine, we went on the unpaved road through the pass.  The road was rough in places and I certainly wouldn’t take a large RV or trailer on it, but we have seen worse.  Again there were lots of people on the road but because the area was so vast it didn’t seem crowded.  We saw blue berry pickers, gold panners, ATVers, and a few folks parasailing.  Plus lots and lots of hikers.

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View from Hatcher Summit

View from Hatcher Summit

Deb here's a great trail for you!!

Deb here’s a great trail for you!! Waterfall to the right

See the little road, that is what we drove

See the little road, that is what we drove

Don’t get me wrong that road was no joke, but again we have been on worse and it was really beautiful.  I can certainly understand why it is closed in the winter though.  When we eventually got back to level ground the road started to follow the water again and we had some beautiful views of trees which had changed colors.

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We got to the end of the road around 3:30pm (took roughly 3-1/2 houses to tour the mine, eat lunch, and drive the road) and were going to head for home when Lee said isn’t that Denali.  I turned to the right and said “Yes, that’s the road to Denali,” then did a double take.  There, clear as a bell, was Denali Mountain in its full glory.  What!!  I seriously did a double take, because I wasn’t 100% oriented on where we were and we never saw Denali this clear before.

This is what we saw

This is what we saw

Lee said, and this is seriously why I love him so much, “Let’s get closer” and off we went.  The mountain played peek-a-boo with us on the 45 mile drive to the Denali State Park Viewing Southern Viewing area and I was sweating it.  The weather changes quick and the vantage points change the view as well, plus we could see some clouds rolling in.  I was on pins and needles until we got there and although these pictures are not 100% clear views I think they are very special.

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The mountain range to the left of Denali was really cool

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So we got our shot and then to celebrate had Chinese buffet on the way home.  It was a long day, but just the kind we like and I am so glad that Lee not only changed his plans but is the kind of guy that will always go that extra mile, both literally and figuratively.

Camper Chronicles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, a program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. We very much appreciate any purchase you make via our website links as they support our blog. Thank you.   Search Amazon.com here