The six of us, accompanied by Larry and Marry Anne Weinberg, took a float plane trip across Cook Inlet to Little River Lake to view bears and fish for Sockeye salmon. There was little bear activity so we concentrated of fishing and caught about 20 Reds. It was a great fishing day for Pop.

Four of us went out with a guide to fish for King salmon on the Kenai River. Becky got a 45 pounder and Chris a landed smaller King. We continued to fish the Kenai after our relatives left. Becky got another King, 35 pounds, and together we caught another 20 Reds.

In Homer we attended the Baptist Church whose pastor, our home church is King George supports as our missionary to Homer.

The time is Seward was marked by heavy rain so we visited the Alaska Sea Life Center but didn’t do any other outside activities.

Yesterday we arrived in Anchorage after a short visit to the Alaska wildlife Refuge near Portage. We celebrated our anniversary with friends at dinner.

While here we visited the Musk ox farm and Reindeer farm, both in Palmer, and drove up to Independence Mine Historical Site near Hatcher Pass. Becky has a way with animals so we had a very nice time with the Musk ox, reindeer and elk. It surprised me that we could have the degree on interaction with the animals. Musk oxen are so ugly that they are kind of cute. I think Becky would like to have one in Virginia. The problem is climate. While they are very comfortable at -30, the summers would be way too hot.

Becky visited a nice hair salon and the next door boutique in Palmer this morning. All indications are that it was a successful visit. I had a chance to clean up the outside of the motor home some more.

This Wednesday, Becky’s mom and dad are flying into Anchorage with her brother Chris and his wife Marti. Chris and Marti will head north for several days, and then join us in Soldotna. Among other things we plan to do some salmon fishing on the Kenai River and take a float plane trip across Cook Inlet to watch bears fish for salmon. There are quite a few things we can do on day trips from Soldotna.

While at Denali we dry camped in the park at Riley Creek Campground.  It was a good choice because it was very convenient to the Wilderness Access Center and Denali Visitor’s Center. Because of the dogs, Becky and I took separate tours so one of us could stay with Sammy and Dixie.  She took the 8 hour Tundra Wilderness Tour on Tuesday and on Wednesday I took the 12 hour Kantishna Experience Tour to the end of the 90 mile Park Road.  It was overcast both days and even snowed at the higher elevations on my tour.   We did see bear, caribou, moose, Dall sheep and other critters.

On Wednesday morning as I was leaving the motor home, a grizzly bear chasing a cow moose passed within 10 feet of the door.  It was quite a site and a little unnerving.  There was no time for a picture.

We got several great views of Mt McKinley on the drive south to Talkeetna .  The “Great One” is certainly that.

We had dinner in Talkeetna with Larry and Mary Anne.  The town recently paved Main Street to keep down the dust.  It is a nice place for a short visit.  The town is known as an outfitting place for those who attempt to climb Mt McKinley.  Many fly from here to one of the base camps.  On Wednesday there were 233 people on the mountain.  Over 400 have successfully reached the summit this year and two have died trying.

We arrived at River’s Edge RV Park in Fairbanks on Monday, June 15^th.  It was a pleasant drive from Tok.  We pulled to the side of the road to watch a male and female moose graze on bottom grass in a small pool along the highway. It seemed somewhat strange to drive 55-65 miles per hour after days of traveling much slower following our departure from Dawson City, Yukon. 

On Tuesday we toured the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Large Animal Research Station.  Musk oxen have a face only a mother could love.  We toured the El Dorado Gold Mine on Wednesday.  We all got to pan for gold and keep what we found.  Thursday we took a river cruise on a very large stern wheel paddle boat that made stops along the river to show the heritage of early natives in Alaska.

Here in Fairbanks, we found out Sam has a taste for ice cream from a well know local place, Hot Licks.     

Sunday, June 14, 2009

After arriving at Tok RV Village in Tok, we spent the afternoon cleaning up the motor home and truck.  It took hours to get all the caked on road dirt washed off.  It was nice to be back in the land of cell phone service.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Day 34 of this five month trip and we finally made it to Alaska.  We travelled from Dawson City to Chicken, AK, via the Top of the World Highway.  The day started with a ferry ride across the Yukon River.  We had a very foggy first half of the trip across the Top of the World Highway.  Just before getting to Chicken, one of the folks we were travelling with got a little too close to the edge of the road and had to be pulled out of the ditch by a tow truck.

 We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in Chicken, fresh salmon grilled while we waited.  There are no flush toilets in Chicken.  The “downtown” area consists of three businesses.  We stayed at Goldpanner RV Park  and very much enjoyed the one night stop in Chicken.   

Friday, June 12, 2009

It has been a pleasant two days in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada.  This was the center of the Yukon gold rush of the 1896.  The town of Dawson City is very interesting . . . .  wooden sidewalks and dirt streets.  It is like stepping back in time a hundred years. 

 Thursday, June 8, 2009

After three days in Whitehorse, Yukon, we are leaving the Alaska Highway and taking the Klondike loop north to Dawson City.  We have had a very relaxing three days here.  It was a time to stock up on supplies and take a break.  I even got a haircut. 

We had a nice group dinner at Klondike Rib and Salmon BBQ. 

We traveled from Liard to Watson Lake through the area where the fire was burning a few days ago.  It was still smoldering with lots of smoke in the area.  The smoke has spread to where we are tonight, about 75 miles north of the burnt area.  It is not bad here but you can see and smell the smoke.  We visited the Sign Post Forest this afternoon and put up our own sign.  We also visited the Northern Lights Centre and the Lake Watson Airport.  The airfield served as one of the  stopping points during WWII for aircraft flying to Russia as part of the US war effort to supply airplanes to Russian allies.

Saturday, June 06, 2009, Fort Nelson to Liard Hotsprings

The highway north of Fort Nelson is now open.  The forest fire is contained so today we traveled from Fort Nelson to Laird Hotsprings Provincial Park.  Along the way we saw a mother moose and her calf as well as sheep and a group of bison.  The bison were grazing along the road side and crossed the road stopping traffic.

We stop for lunch munchies along the road near Muncho Lake.  It seemed appropriate.

I think we are close to the last of the Canadian Rockies for the north bound trip.  We had some of the longest grades, both up and down, of the entire trip.  I often found myself in third gear doing 35-40 miles per hour.  There is very little traffic.  The roads are, for the most part, in very good condition. 

We took a nice long soak in the hot springs and enjoyed the boardwalk out to the springs and back.  This is the first Provincial Park in which we have stayed.  There are no hookups so it was a “dry camping” day.  In this remote area of BC there was in no TV, cell phone coverage or internet.  It makes for a quiet evening and early bedtime.     

 Thursday, June 04, 2009, Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson

We stayed in Dawson Creek for two nights then drove to Fort Nelson.  Just a short distance north of Dawson Creek we took side trip on a part of the Old Alaska Highway to see a curved wooden bridge over the Kiskatinaw River. 

When we arrived in Fort Nelson the road north was closed due to a forest fire that crossed the Alaska Highway.  We decided to stay two nights at the Westend Campground highway.

It was a plesant drive from Jasper with a one night stop in Grande Prairie, Alberta. After leaving Jasper we saw a herd of Stone Sheep on the hillside along the highway.

The Alaska Highway was built by the Army Corp of Engineers during WWII in just eight months. It is an amazing engineering feat.

Next stop will be somewhere up the long road to Alaska!  Let’s go.

Our next stop was Tunnel Mountain Campground in Banff.  We saw a number of elk in the campground.  Absolutely stunning scenery in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.  We met up with Larry and Mary Anne, friends from Fredericksburg and fellow members of the Discovery Owners Association. 

We visited Lake Louise and got some great pictures.  The gondola ride up Sulfur Mountain in Banff provided great 360 vistas of the entire area.

We saw a moose walking in Bow River between Lake Louise and Banff. We drove the Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper and stopped for an excursion onto the Athabasca Glacier. We spotted out first bear along the highway.  It was a grizzly.

Next stop was Whistlers Campground in Jasper.  We stayed two nights and visited Lake Maligne.  Here we saw a mama elk with her new born calf, just a few hours old, a mama brown bear with two cubs, a Martin in a trash bin, and many elk. It’s three weeks into our five month trip.  Let’s go!  North to Alaska!!

We departed Virginia on Monday, May 13, 2009.  Having completed all the preparation and planning, it was time to hit the road.  We took a leisurely trip to Great Falls, MT., that covered the 2373 miles in 11 days.  That time  included 2 days at the Fleetwood factory in Decatur, IN., to have a few repairs made.  We have enjoyed three days of rest, sight seeing and shopping in Great Falls so we are set to head north into Canada tomorrow!