June 10, 2010

We left Tetsa River Campground and drove to Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada. Stopped for cinnamon buns for breakfast. Saw stone sheep (kin to Big Horn Sheep), Buffalo and a grizzly bear eating the grass on the side of the road. Stopped by Toad River Lodge and gassed up. They have over 7,700 hats hanging from the ceiling. Gas cost $1.399 per liter. Down the road at Muncho Lake it was $1.799 per liter (about $6.80 per gallon.) At the Watson Lake Visitors Center they have poles with signs left by visitors from all over the world (over 70,000). Duke nailed up one of his purple heart license plates. Got to talk to mother today, they have her on a nose line for oxygen now, but are monitoring her levels. Her heart rate is still giving them problems. She says she is very tired and just wants this to get better. I am trying to keep her going and so is Elton. I will call tomorrow and check a couple of times again. We should be in Alaska in 2 days.

June 11, 2010








I called my brother Elton this morning. He had called the hospital earlier and they told him mom was sitting up in the bed with the TV on and had eaten a little breakfast. My son Allen went to the hospital today to give Elton a break and I got to talk to mom on his cell phone. She still has a hard time breathing and you can tell it when she talks. She is still in the ICU because of the pneumonia, but her heart rate and blood pressure are better today.

We drove all day to Whitehorse, Yukon. On the way we saw hundreds of rock messages on the side of the road. Jim and I saw a ferret-like animal run across the road. Jim thinks it was a mink. We took a 5 minute walk to Rancheria Falls and stopped at the Continental Divide. After we checked into Hi Country RV Park we drove to town. Beverlee, Duke, Vickie and Marv went to eat but Jim and I weren't hungry. We had a local beer at a bar in an old hotel. Then we walked around town and saw a log church and a log "skyscraper". We went to Wal Mart to get another calling card to use since our cell phones won't connect to any service. Then we looked around in Canadian Tire Company and went to the grocery store. On the way back to camp we stopped to see the world's largest weather vane at the airport. It is a DC-3 airplane perfectly balanced on a pivot and it only takes 8 mile an hour winds to rotate it.

June 12, 2010







Jim fixed us pancakes and I fried bacon for us this morning. Jim makes good pancakes! We got on the computer some more while we had wifi. We went to tour the SS Klondike II. The 210 foot long SS Klondike was built in 1929, her cargo capacity was a 50 percent increase over other boats on the Yukon River. It was the first sternwheeler to handle cargo in excess of 300 tons without having to push a barge in front of it. It ran aground in 1936 and was immediately replaced by a carbon copy, the SS Klondike II. The SS Klondike II could make a run downstream from Whitehorse to Dawson City in 36 hours with one or two stops for wood. It had cabins for 1st class passengers and the second class passengers would bunk in the cargo hold. In August of 1955 she made her last trip. This was a beautiful paddle wheeler, we had a very interesting tour. Jim, Duke, Beverlee and I went to the Yukon Brewery tour then we came back and did some laundry. I called Elton after he left mom (I also called this morning) and he said her heart rate was now OK, her urinary tract infection was almost 100% better, her breathing was about 90% (she is almost off off oxygen) and they have moved her to IMU (Intermediate Unit) now. Therapy was there this morning to get her up so she could start building some strength. Allen will go stay with her tomorrow.

June 13, 2010






We packed up and instead of continuing on the Alaskan Highway to Tok, Alaska, we took the Klondike Hwy to Dawson City, Yukon. We stopped and took pictures at Twin Lakes and heard a Loon. We took pictures of the Five Fingers Rapids. These rapids were very hard for the sternwheelers to get through. They had to winch themselves through the rocks to keep from bashing. We stopped at Tintina Trench, the biggest fault in North America. A good portion of the road ran beside the Klondike River. We made it to Dawson City and stopped at the information center, then proceeded to our Yukon River Government Campground site which was only accessible by riding the George Black Ferry across the Yukon River. This is a free ferry that runs 24 hours a day. Our campsites are right on the bank of the Yukon River. I talked to mom today and she said she is still weak. She ate a little. Allen was there today.

June 14, 2010





We took the ferry back across the Yukon River into town. We drove to see Dredge #4, a massive dredging machine used for mining gold dust. It had an arm with 56 buckets on an extendable and swinging arm that scrapped dirt into a rotating drum with holes in it. Water rinsed the heavy gold dust into mats which were later rinsed and the gold dust removed. The remaining rocks were ejected out the back and the rocks made hills that looked like gopher trails. We looked around the historic town which was the site of the 1890's Klondike Gold Rush. Some of the buildings were leaning because they were built directly on the permafrost when they should have used pier and beam construction. We took a tour of the Palace Grand Theatre and watched an episode of "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" from 1956. We toured Robert Service's cabin. He was a poet and his most famous poem was, "The Cremation of Sam McGee". We stopped by a relocated partially-original cabin once occupied by Jack London. A writer, his famous book was "The Call of The Wild". We drove up Dome Road for a view of the town and of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. In the picture you can see the rock trails left by the gold dredgers and the hills that were blasted by water cannons. I talked to Mom and Elton today and she sat up in a chair for about 2 hours this morning. I called Elton at 9 and he said they moved her to a regular room today. She is still not well enough to go back to Liberty but she is doing better.

June 15, 2010







WE GOT TO ALASKA TODAY!!! We have driven 4,872 miles from home to the Alaska border.

Beverlee and Duke saw a gray fox at camp this morning. We left Dawson City and drove the Top of the World Highway. This was mostly a gravel road with intermittent paved sections. The gravel part was smoother than the pavement. After passing the U.S./Canada border, the U.S. gravel road deteriorated dramatically and was slower going. We stopped at Chicken, Alaska and got a boondocking site for free with a fill up of gas. There are no phones (or electricity except by generator) in this town, so I couldn't call to check on mom. I will have to call mom when we get to Tok, Alaska, tomorrow. The town got it's name because the early settlers wanted to name it Parmagin, Ptarmagin, Ptarmigan, oh well, they couldn't agree on the spelling so they settled on Chicken. The first thing Jim did was to get an Alaskan IPA beer from the Chicken Creek Saloon. He wanted a beer with some hops in it since the Canadian beers were so wimpy. We had a late lunch/early dinner at the Chicken Creek Cafe. They all had BBQ Chicken and I had a hamburger. We went to the Chicken Creek Saloon (it reminded us of Luckenbach) and talked with two guys, Sean and Ken, who worked on the highways. We bought each other several rounds of beers. An old geezer named Toad, who has lived in Chicken 45 years and used to work on the local gold dredge, kept asking me (and other women) to marry him.

June 16, 2010






We left Chicken and drove to Tok. We stopped at the city information center and the government information center. We ate a Halibut sandwich at Fast Eddie's (this place was recommended to us). We got gas, propane and potable water. A fill up allowed you a free car and trailer wash. After driving the Top of the World highway on gravel you really need it. Tok is called the car washing capitol of Alaska. We saw a moose on the side of the road today. We drove about 80 miles out of Tok towards Fairbanks and stopped a the Gerstle River Bridge to camp. We drove onto the gravel bar by the river and had an awesome view. The snow covered mountains to one side, the river next to us and the 1944 suspension bridge to the other side. No one but us there. Lots of wildflowers. Beverlee, Vicki and I had my chocolate wine from Holland that Allen gave me for Mother's Day.

June 17, 2010





We left our beautiful site on the Gerstle River and drove to North Pole, Alaska. We tried to eat at the Elf's Den next to the information center but it wasn't open yet. The Elf'S Den was on Diner, Dive-ins and Dives on the Food Network. We went to the Santa Claus House and sat on Santa's lap. After leaving Noth Pole we drove to Fairbanks. We got a boondocking site at Pioneer Park in the parking lot. This site is nothing like last nigh on the Gerstle River. This site cost $12.00. Jim and I went to Silver Gulch Brewing, "America's most northern brewery". This was also on Dines, Dive-ins and Dives. Jim has the Stout BBQ Burger and I had a great bowl of Porter Cheese Soup with Reindeer Sausage and a warm pretzle. We stopped by the Alyeska Pipeline which runs right along the Steese Expressway. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline is a 48 inch pipe, 789 miles long, crosses 3 mountain ranges and 70 rivers or streams. It has 12 pumping stations and took 3 years of construction. It runs between Prudhoe Bay in the North Slope and Valdez, the northernmost ice free port in America. One local told us of the Fox Spring and we went there and got some fresh, cold, spring water. He even left us a brewery glass to use. He was on the construction team of the brewery.

June 18, 2010







Jim got up early and went to have the oil changed in the Pathfinder. It was past due but he didn't get it changed in Canada because they wanted $70.00. We went back to the pipeline and to Fox Spring with Duke, Beverlee, Marv and Vicki. I stopped and got 6 cookies and one massive cinnamon roll from the Cookie Jar, another Diner, Drive-ins and Dives place. All of us went to ride the Discovery III sternwheeler. It took us down the Chena River. On the way we saw a sea plane take off, Susan Butcher's sled dog kennel, and an ingenious fish catching contraption. The boat stopped at an Athabascan Indian fishing village where the Indians talked about their 10,000 year old culture and showed us some of their handyworks. The parking lot was very crowded when we returned and we had to save Marv's spot by placing a chair in it. We sat outside and talked until about 10 pm. The hospital released mom and she went back to Liberty Health Care today. Yahoo!!