We made it home just after Labor Day and have been unpacking and putting things away which has jogged some great memories of the trip.
Thought I'd do a quick wrap up and give you guys some of our random thoughts on the trip.
Things We're Glad We Did -
1. Made the trip in the first place - Whenever you take off on an extended trip like this you always have in the back of your mind that something is going to go wrong and you wished you'd have just stayed home. This was certainly on our minds but there are SO many potential things that could go wrong you'd drive yourself crazy trying to think thru them. We figured we had each other, credit cards, communication devices, equipment that was in top working order and a major passion to do this so what could possibly go wrong that we couldn't handle? Most importantly we had strong family support at home otherwise this trip would not have happened, that's a fact jack. And, everything went smooth as silk. Seriously, we've had 2 week vacations in the past where more problems have arisen, unreal.
2. Took it slowly - four months seems like not enough time but the reality is you only have that amount of time for safe travel up there and back before winter comes. Four months was ideal because it allowed short driving days and plenty of time to spend at nice spots we found along the way. If you're heading that way and can only afford a week I think my brother Mark's family did it right by flying into Anchorage, renting an RV and spending the week on the Kenai Peninsula, that's what I would recommend. After seeing lots of different parts of AK I think the Kenai gives you the best overall feel for AK and allows you to pick up on the vibe and sights that best represent AK without a lot of driving. If you have one more week then also visit Denali like my sister Sue did. By the way, having them along was the highlight of our trip, for sure, thanks guys - we had a blast with all you wonderful folks!
If you're planning a driving/RV type tour up there figure you will make on average 30 - 40 MPH, not 60 - 70 MPH. The "highways" can be bad with long delays at construction zones so you need lots of time to get from point A to point B. We met lots of people trying to jam way too much into a 2 week itinerary that they ended up driving 10 hour days and not having time to relax and enjoy the place. A 250 mile long drive WILL take you 8 hours and this place is BIG. Cut the itinerary in half, slow down, meet the most incredible people you could imagine and enjoy the beauty, peace and solitude of the place.
3. Drive on Some Crappy Roads - And these are aplenty up here my friend. But, and here's the thing, these are the most beautiful, secluded and flat out best parts of Alaska, Yukon and British Columbia. Hell, even in CA, OR and WA the best drives we had were on beater gravel roads. This is where the Fit came in quite handy. If I did it again a 4 wheel drive, higher ground clearance vehicle would have been better but the Fit worked just fine - it got us everywhere we wanted to go. Epic roads like the Redwood Trail in OR, the road out to McCarthy/Kennicott AK, Wrangell NP, Top of the World Highway YT, Chugach Mountains in Hope, AK and many other memorable cruises would not have been possible without us having towed the Fit. I was surprised that we put about 3000 miles on the Fit just doing side trips and I'd wager that a good 2000 miles of that were on crappy roads.
I heard plenty of horror stories about towing a vehicle up there - it'll get trashed (and it sort of did, but not too badly), the RV/tow car combination is too long and a hassle to hitch up (not true AT ALL, easy peasy, trust me), one more mechanical thing to worry about (nope, did just fine - except for the tow wiring which was the ONLY thing that failed us the entire trip and it was really no big deal at all) - glad we didn't listen to the naysayers, having the Fit allowed us to see and experience so much more. If you're going to AK in an RV most definitely tow a second vehicle behind you.
On a similar theme bringing my mountain bike and sturdy, broken in hiking shoes was a good call. Opened up lots of exploration experiences and memorable moments as well as some stellar photo ops. A kayak/canoe would have been really good to have also, well there's always next time.
4. Take Time to Meet People - You generally have to go a bit out of your comfort zone to engage folks but most people warmed up right away and we ended up meeting some fine folks along the way. As I said in an earlier post all it takes is a smile, an earnest hello and you're off and running. Alaskans are, rightfully so, proud of their State and eager to show it off to visitors and to make sure they have a good time. Many of the Alaskans we met were originally from somewhere else and their stories of how they ended up in AK were fascinating. Met an 80 year old woman, raised on a farm in Iowa, meets a dog team musher from AK at a County fair in Iowa when she was 20 and took off to AK with him and never looked back. One example of HUNDREDS of similar stories we heard...what a blast. You will also meet tourists from all over the world. AK is on the foreign travel radar map for sure. A few of them were a pain in the ass but most were interesting and fun to hang out with, you know, hearing their particular "story". Take the mostly good with the few PITA's I guess. One thing for sure, for as big as AK is this is one small world.
5. A Little Upfront Planning and Prepwork - This really paid off big time. We purposely did not want to make reservations or set a definite travel route so that we could wander at will and make spontaneous decisions along the way. However some idea of the lay of the land is necessary to pick general routes and to try to loosely schedule your trip into blocks of time...such as, we'll be in Denali for a week around this time (this was the only campground reservation we made and very happy we did), let's spend a month in BC and YT getting up there - that sort of thing. In addition to prepping equipment we also secured as many maps, travel info, experiences from other RV'ers on trip blogs, etc to get an idea of what we wanted to see because there is SO much to see up there. One publication I would highly recommend is the Milepost which is updated annually and literally covers every mile of roadway in AK, YT and BC. It maps and lists mile by mile points of interests, lodging, RV parks, gas stations, etc - it was quite handy. If going to AK, get one.
Based on our experience you really don't need to make campground reservations because you can pretty much camp anywhere. This was easier for us as we had plenty of time and were flexible. If you're on a tight schedule and going to Kenai or Denali I would recommend making reservations.
Things We Wished We Did -
1. Nothing major comes to mind here. Would liked to have seen a bear snatching a salmon from a stream but we saw so much wildlife that ended up not being such a big deal. Our route up there in May/June generally followed the western/coastal area and our return trip was along a more easterly/inland route thru the Canadian Rockies. The salmon usually have their strongest runs in the coastal streams in August so a return route along the coast might have afforded us better bear and salmon viewings. Something to consider if this is important to you.
2. Seeing a wolf and/or wolverine.
Things That Were Kind of a Hassle -
1. Fuel Availability - never, repeat, never let your gas tank go below half full up there. Don't ask why I give this strong advice....ah, what the hell here goes - we didn't run out but we were in the middle of nowhere and we were sweating it. Ended up buying gas out of a 2500 gallon above ground tank in Chitna for around $6 a gallon...and damned happy to pay it!
2. Internet/Cell Availability - if you're in a largish town or on one of the main highways this is generally not a big deal but don't count on it. Even if you get just a few miles off of a main highway, which was 80% of our trip, it ain't happening. Seems like ATT has the most coverage and Verizon isn't bad. In Canada you will be transferred to a Canadian tel company like Bell or Rogers and their roaming fees are EXHORBITANT. If you're using your cell as a WiFi Hotspot and tethering in Canada, get your check book out, especially for data downloads (like sending blog photos out, boy did I get a rude awakening on that one!). In Canada we would generally hit the local visitors center (seems every town in CA has one of these) or a chain restaurant like Tim Hortons, Panera, Boston Pizza or just about any brewhouse for free wifi - worked very well with high speeds and the price was right. This becomes problematic when handling financial or confidential matters as we never use public wifi for that so you'll need to do some planning for this type of transaction. Usually most banks will offer a secure connection but you have to be aware of their office hours, partnerships with your US banking institution, etc. - research this upfront before you leave with your bank. All major US banking institutions have branches in AK so this works well but in Canada you'll need to find one with a connection/partnership with your US bank.
3. Leave your AmEx card at home - it was not accepted at most places we visited...Visa and MC rules up there, especially in the remote areas. Retailers have to pay AmEx up to 6% on all AmEx card purchases so they just don't accept them, that simple and I can't blame them. I'm rethinking my nearly 40 year association with AmEx these days, greedy bastards.
4. Laundromats - I guess this is universal but sitting in a hot, funky, weirdo infested laundromat for 6 hours is not my idea of a fun time but having clean clothes is nice. Part of the adventure and a chance to meet some very interesting people, I'll leave it at that.
Things That Surprised Us -
1. Damn, that place is big - there is so much open land up there it is difficult to comprehend the vastness of the place until you are in the middle of it. We knew AK and western Canada were big but getting from spot to spot took much longer than we anticipated and left us shaking our heads.
2. Great Food - the produce, in every location, was fresh and tasty. With such a short growing season I assume they truck everything in from the lower 48 and other Canadian provinces. Grocery prices seemed to be just a bit higher than here in SD however restaurant prices were quite high. Figure $40 for breakfast for 2, lunch about $50 and dinner prices are about $30 per plate plus drinks. The portions were always huge and the food was good so we usually went for a late breakfast/early lunch and doggy bagged half of our order and stretched it to another meal - worked fine and we sure as hell didn't starve.
3. It Never Gets Dark - in the summer it really never gets dark. I kept wondering why we brought 18 flashlights/head lights and 5 lanterns with us. Totally useless and surprised us how light it stayed. Leave your auxiliary and portable lighting systems at home, you won't need them.
The Casualties -
1. Honda Fit - the Fit took most of the beating I'm sorry to say. It is presently with my mechanic who is fixing the following items: replacing both front suspension struts and shocks; replacing the rear shocks and twisted rear suspension transverse beam; bent drive axle (I managed to pretty much destroy the suspension on the drivers side); tranny fluid replacement and filter; add to that a cracked windshield, both fog lamps smashed to bits and sand/gravel in the rocker panels.
2. Lazy Daze Motorhome - the LD faired much better with just a cracked windshield. The rig seems to be tight with no squeaks or rattles so I think it's in good shape. I'll keep my eyes and ears open as time goes on but I think we'll be OK.
3. Camera - intermittent issues with the camera, it still works fine but I think it's time for an upgrade. It did take some great photos and served us quite well. Higher powered lenses would have been great for some of the wildlife images.
4. Cell Phones - Debbie's phone dumped on her and she replaced it in Washington on the return home. I had issues with connectivity in Canada with my ATT account.
Costs
I have been asked by some folks who are planning a trip like this for some typical cost information. This is always a tough one because each of us has our own way of travel so your costs may vary significantly. But, here's what we generally budgeted for and we've seemed to have hit it just about right:
1. Fuel Mileage/Consumption - we put 12,000 miles on the LD and an additional 3000 miles on the Fit doing side trips. Since being home Debbie and I will look at each other and say...'did we just drive to Alaska and back?'.
Fuel Consumption - while towing we averaged around 8 MPG and burned about 1600 gallons for the motorhome. The Fit got about 30 MPG so we went thru about 100 gallons for our side trips. All told about 1700 gallons of fuel. In AK average fuel prices were about $2.65 per gallon and in Canada about $4 per gallon (adjusted for USD/CAD exchange rate, which was very favorable). I don't have a detailed bottom line on our fuel costs but a decent estimate would put it at around $6K - easily our largest budgeted item.
3. Campground Fees - over the 120 days we spent on the trip we stayed in fee campgrounds about half the time, the rest were spent boondocking in free areas or spending it with awesome cousins Ron and Susie and good buddy Phil. Average fee was $25 per night so the total was around $1500.
4. Groceries/Alchohol - this is where we may need to re evaluate our lifestyle, or maybe not. Hate to say it but we may have spent more on booze than food, how sad is that? I will say that anything with alchohol in it is very expensive up there, especially in Canada. Grocery store runs averaged about $200 per week so a good estimate would have it at $5,000 or so.
5. Restaurants - we would generally average about 5 meals at a restaurant each week and it was usually breakfast/lunch at about $40 a throw. Good estimate, $3,000.
6. Entertainment - this would include things like flight tours, admission to parks/museums, Kindle book purchases, rafting trips, boat tours, fishing licenses, golf, etc. I'll peg this at about $2500.
7. The Bottom Line - it all adds up to around $18K or about a buck fifty per mile. And as stated, your mileage may (and most likely will) vary.
Now to do an appropriate cost analysis I should include depreciation on the equipment, damages to vehicles, insurance costs, satellite TV charges, cell phone charges, etc but I reason that these are sunken costs and we would be responsible for most of these even if we stayed at home so they are not included but may be considered if you're planning a trip like this. However you should budget for some wear/tear/repairs to vehicles and equipment. Based on what I know now I'd estimate this at around $2,000 for our trip. So by the time all is said and done I'd estimate our 4 month road trip to hit the $20K mark.
Finally we want to let you guys know how much we loved hearing from you and how much we enjoyed sharing this trip with you. Writing this blog was a great way for us to keep track of the million and one things we experienced and it will serve as a reminder of all the fun we had.
Thanks for coming along, taking the time to correspond with us and most of all being our friends.
Love to you all, Debbie and Howard.
Post script: we're kicking around a Baja trip in January so stay tuned.....
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Following the Volcano Trail
Since entering Oregon a week or two ago we have been following the volcano trail, a most interesting trek indeed.
It started with Mt. Hood and continued thru Crater Lake and now brings us to Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen, the sourthernmost volcanoes in the Cascade Range.
Having never been to either spot we needed a little expert guidance on camping, hiking and other recreational opportunites. So a quick stop at the local US Forest Service Rangers Station was in order. Whenever we enter unfamiliar US Forests it is best to stop in with the Rangers and get oriented - in about 15 minutes you walk out with maps, info on the best camping spots, hell I even picked up a Junior Ranger badge at one - got sworn in and the whole dealio. A highly recommended stop anytime you reach our National Forest lands.
So upon entering the Shasta Trinity National Forest we stopped by the Rangers Station in the bee-u-ti-ful little mountain community of Mt. Shasta, CA - now I bet this is what Bend, OR used to look like. Nice downtown, friendly people, restored buildings without the foo-foo - businesses like hardware stores, hair salons, markets, simple restaurants - you know, the kinds of places people need nothing more and nothing less...perfect.
Anyway, picked up some great info on Mt. Shasta and stayed along the surprisingly pretty McLoud River just east of town and hiked/swam the waterfalls and ponds along the river on a blazingly hot mother of a day. Next day drove up to the foot of Shasta at around 8500 feet in elevation - Shasta peaks out at around 14,150 so you can get a pretty good peek at her right from the comfy confines of your automobile.
From the end of the road I hiked on out to Panther Meadows and Grey Butte on a stellar morning, had brekers in town and cruised the area.
I have to say I'll need to come back and spend more time around here, fabulous place and we only scratched the surface. Need to come back and find out more about the Chief of the Above World, inquiring minds want to know.
After a quick but enjoyable stay at Mt. Shasta we ventured on to Lassen Volcanic National Park...my lord..what a mind blowing place! Apart from the pure beauty of Crater Lake I'd say Lassen has it HANDS down over Crater. This place is like entering another world, very much like Yellowstone I suppose 'cause I've never been to Yellowstone - not yet anyway. The place is filled with steaming volcano vents, boiling mudpots, crystalline lakes, ancient lava flows and spectacular scenery - I had no idea this beauty existed a mere couple of days drive from our home.
Yep, it's settled - need to spend at least a couple of weeks at Shasta and Lassen in the future, no doubt about it.
While in Lassen I hiked out to the Bumpass Hell (yes, named after someone named Bumpass - would like to hear the story on how his ancestors got saddled with that surname) to see the vents and boiling mudpots...check these out.
Like another world, right?
Seems Mr. Bumpass homesteaded these vents/mudholes back in the day and intended on opening up a tourist lodge business complete with guide services. Seems his dream never materialized as on one of his first guiding ventures he managed to step into a boiling pot and lost his leg. He split and never returned.
Funny trail story - I'm heading back in on my hike out to Bumpass Hell in 100 degree temps and I pass a German(?) family on the way out. Youngish parents with I'd say a 13 year old boy and maybe a 10 year old girl. Very polite, we exchanged hellos and father was taking up the rear and stopped to ask me in very broken English how much further. He was dressed in casual pants (think Dockers) with a long sleeve collared sheet and looked totally whupped. Didn't have the heart to tell him they had another few miles of hot, dusty and steep trail ahead of them. Instead I say "trust me, it is totally worth it, you'll feel like you're on another planet once you get there". He responds "no, I don't think vee vant dat". We had ourselves one good laugh and then moved on - guess they made it, never saw them again.
The trail out to Bumpass Hell...
Left Lassen and headed south thru Klamath Falls, OR and decided to push heavy like along Highway 89 south on into Truckee, CA town - breaker, breaker, come on... we got us a convoy! Now back in the '70's and '80's Truckee used to be one HELL of a town. Not so much these days...discovered and changed forever - they have recently installed traffic circles all around town, sheesh...
I guess walking down the main drag with an open container ain't cool any more?
My father in law Don Montamble first introduced me to the splendor of Lake Tahoe as a greenhorn from Vah-ginia back in the early '80's. What a fine gentleman, took me under his wing and showed me the Tahoe ways...unforgettable moments with a great man, thank you Don.
But for me, Tahoe has lost a bit of it's luster...dunno, maybe I'm getting old - yes, that is definitely it, you old fart! Cranky old guy rant - the traffic, the people, the urban crowd/vibe and - oh, did I mention the traffic?
I really miss the Tahoe from the '80's, the Tahoe that Don Montamble showed me. Guess you can never go back...damn, that's too bad.
Posted up at an old favorite, Granite Flat campground that Don introduced me to way back in I'd say 1983/84'ish. Nestled right along the Truckee River just a bit south of Truckee on the way down to Lake Tahoe. And, man oh man, the fishing was great back in the day. With the ongoing drought in CA the river levels just weren't happening as no water was being released from Lake Tahoe. It'll come back some day, hopefully we'll get a decent snow pack next season and all will be well again...keep your fingers crossed.
Being Thursday, we were able to find a nice non-reservable (first come, first serve) site thru the weekend...Debbie made a good call here - push on to Truckee to land a site for the busy weekend.
Took a day trip up to Barker Pass just south of Tahoe City...extremely dry air and high temps produced lots of static electricity, our hair was EVERYWHERE!
Sunday and Monday nites found us at the Carson Valley Inn in nearby Minden, NV for some dining, wagering and poolside relaxation.
Then we were off south on Highway 395 to Robinson Creek in the eastern Sierras near Twin Lakes under the beauty of the mountains and crags at the backside of Yosemite NP.
Wednesday morning we got up early and made the final drive back home and got in safe and sound last night around 6 PM...we're home!
What a fantastic trip, I'll do a wrap up post in a couple of days just as soon as we get all of the glacial dust cleaned out of our belongings.
Take care everyone, one more post coming your way soon, stay tuned.
It started with Mt. Hood and continued thru Crater Lake and now brings us to Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen, the sourthernmost volcanoes in the Cascade Range.
Having never been to either spot we needed a little expert guidance on camping, hiking and other recreational opportunites. So a quick stop at the local US Forest Service Rangers Station was in order. Whenever we enter unfamiliar US Forests it is best to stop in with the Rangers and get oriented - in about 15 minutes you walk out with maps, info on the best camping spots, hell I even picked up a Junior Ranger badge at one - got sworn in and the whole dealio. A highly recommended stop anytime you reach our National Forest lands.
So upon entering the Shasta Trinity National Forest we stopped by the Rangers Station in the bee-u-ti-ful little mountain community of Mt. Shasta, CA - now I bet this is what Bend, OR used to look like. Nice downtown, friendly people, restored buildings without the foo-foo - businesses like hardware stores, hair salons, markets, simple restaurants - you know, the kinds of places people need nothing more and nothing less...perfect.
Anyway, picked up some great info on Mt. Shasta and stayed along the surprisingly pretty McLoud River just east of town and hiked/swam the waterfalls and ponds along the river on a blazingly hot mother of a day. Next day drove up to the foot of Shasta at around 8500 feet in elevation - Shasta peaks out at around 14,150 so you can get a pretty good peek at her right from the comfy confines of your automobile.
From the end of the road I hiked on out to Panther Meadows and Grey Butte on a stellar morning, had brekers in town and cruised the area.
I have to say I'll need to come back and spend more time around here, fabulous place and we only scratched the surface. Need to come back and find out more about the Chief of the Above World, inquiring minds want to know.
After a quick but enjoyable stay at Mt. Shasta we ventured on to Lassen Volcanic National Park...my lord..what a mind blowing place! Apart from the pure beauty of Crater Lake I'd say Lassen has it HANDS down over Crater. This place is like entering another world, very much like Yellowstone I suppose 'cause I've never been to Yellowstone - not yet anyway. The place is filled with steaming volcano vents, boiling mudpots, crystalline lakes, ancient lava flows and spectacular scenery - I had no idea this beauty existed a mere couple of days drive from our home.
Yep, it's settled - need to spend at least a couple of weeks at Shasta and Lassen in the future, no doubt about it.
While in Lassen I hiked out to the Bumpass Hell (yes, named after someone named Bumpass - would like to hear the story on how his ancestors got saddled with that surname) to see the vents and boiling mudpots...check these out.
Like another world, right?
Seems Mr. Bumpass homesteaded these vents/mudholes back in the day and intended on opening up a tourist lodge business complete with guide services. Seems his dream never materialized as on one of his first guiding ventures he managed to step into a boiling pot and lost his leg. He split and never returned.
Funny trail story - I'm heading back in on my hike out to Bumpass Hell in 100 degree temps and I pass a German(?) family on the way out. Youngish parents with I'd say a 13 year old boy and maybe a 10 year old girl. Very polite, we exchanged hellos and father was taking up the rear and stopped to ask me in very broken English how much further. He was dressed in casual pants (think Dockers) with a long sleeve collared sheet and looked totally whupped. Didn't have the heart to tell him they had another few miles of hot, dusty and steep trail ahead of them. Instead I say "trust me, it is totally worth it, you'll feel like you're on another planet once you get there". He responds "no, I don't think vee vant dat". We had ourselves one good laugh and then moved on - guess they made it, never saw them again.
The trail out to Bumpass Hell...
Left Lassen and headed south thru Klamath Falls, OR and decided to push heavy like along Highway 89 south on into Truckee, CA town - breaker, breaker, come on... we got us a convoy! Now back in the '70's and '80's Truckee used to be one HELL of a town. Not so much these days...discovered and changed forever - they have recently installed traffic circles all around town, sheesh...
I guess walking down the main drag with an open container ain't cool any more?
My father in law Don Montamble first introduced me to the splendor of Lake Tahoe as a greenhorn from Vah-ginia back in the early '80's. What a fine gentleman, took me under his wing and showed me the Tahoe ways...unforgettable moments with a great man, thank you Don.
But for me, Tahoe has lost a bit of it's luster...dunno, maybe I'm getting old - yes, that is definitely it, you old fart! Cranky old guy rant - the traffic, the people, the urban crowd/vibe and - oh, did I mention the traffic?
I really miss the Tahoe from the '80's, the Tahoe that Don Montamble showed me. Guess you can never go back...damn, that's too bad.
Posted up at an old favorite, Granite Flat campground that Don introduced me to way back in I'd say 1983/84'ish. Nestled right along the Truckee River just a bit south of Truckee on the way down to Lake Tahoe. And, man oh man, the fishing was great back in the day. With the ongoing drought in CA the river levels just weren't happening as no water was being released from Lake Tahoe. It'll come back some day, hopefully we'll get a decent snow pack next season and all will be well again...keep your fingers crossed.
Being Thursday, we were able to find a nice non-reservable (first come, first serve) site thru the weekend...Debbie made a good call here - push on to Truckee to land a site for the busy weekend.
Took a day trip up to Barker Pass just south of Tahoe City...extremely dry air and high temps produced lots of static electricity, our hair was EVERYWHERE!
Sunday and Monday nites found us at the Carson Valley Inn in nearby Minden, NV for some dining, wagering and poolside relaxation.
Then we were off south on Highway 395 to Robinson Creek in the eastern Sierras near Twin Lakes under the beauty of the mountains and crags at the backside of Yosemite NP.
Wednesday morning we got up early and made the final drive back home and got in safe and sound last night around 6 PM...we're home!
What a fantastic trip, I'll do a wrap up post in a couple of days just as soon as we get all of the glacial dust cleaned out of our belongings.
Take care everyone, one more post coming your way soon, stay tuned.
Friday, August 26, 2016
When You Get to a Bend in the River, Stop
The river would be the Deschutes and the bend would be Bend, OR.
Tons of breweries, restaurants, outdoorsy denizens, restored artsy/fartsy downtown, wealthy retirees from southern CA/Seattle/Portland and a whole lot of folks doing the minimum wage work for the tourists...oh yeh, and lots of tourists. Traffic in this town of 80,000 was horrendous and don't get me started on the parking.
Bend was also extremely warm with daytime highs over 100 which necessitated our need for a legit RV park with full hook ups for AC. We heard the Crown Villa RV Park being recommended as the best park in Bend and it was OK...I need to preface that brief review by saying we're not fans of most RV parks and this one was no exception. But man, that AC felt good when trying to get some sleep at night. Besides we didn't spend much time around the park as we were out and about in Bend doing things so it worked well for us.
Stayed 2 nites and hit the town which was a lot of fun with fine dining and a sampling of the many breweries scattered around the area. Our favorite was the Deschutes Brewery boasting a decent restaurant with comfortable ambience, very nice repaste.
On our last nite there we spent a couple of hours at the Bend Brewfest held in the shadow of the Deschutes Brewery alongside the river at the Les Schwab Ampitheater...for those not familiar, Les Schwab is a chain of tire stores in the NW and apparently ole Lester is doing just fine.
The brewfest went great with 137 breweries represented, most of which were smaller start ups trying to get their businesses going. We sampled some great beers, listened to the music and mostly people watched - one of our most fav-o-rite things to do. The crowd was friendly, laid back and all happy to be enjoying a summer evening drinking beer and relaxing next to the beautiful river. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and glad we went. I guess they have lots of these during the summer but I must say it was well attended (long lines to get in when we left around 9 PM) and very well done...a good deal for sure.
We found Bend to be a wonderful place that has been seriously discovered by outsiders. In talking with locals they certainly lament the passing of the good old days and are trying to adjust to the influx of wealthy newcomers to town...in a word, hipsters. I can understand, there's not a whole lot of diversity in Bend these days. But for the casual visitor spending a few days it's a lot of fun - not sure I could live there though. Although having breathtakingly beautiful mountains with hiking/biking/skiing mere minutes away and the rapids and waterfalls of the Deschutes River running thru town with kayaking/floating/fishing is appealing.
Here's the weird thing, in going back thru my photo files I have none, zip, nada from Bend...interesting, guess we were too busy doing things to take any photos.
So in order to add some photos for this post let's move on to our next stop at Crater Lake, OR.
We heard the campsites at Crater Lake NP fill up fast so we made reservations at the Mazama Campground for Sunday and Monday nites. We left Bend on Saturday so that left us open for that nite to find a nice spot. About 5 miles from Crater Lake is a drop dead gorgeous spot called Diamond Lake and we checked into the campground there around noon. Debbie suggested we rent a boat for the day so we did, great call cruise director! We putzed around the perimeter of the lake and had a lot of laughs on a bright sunny afternoon under the watchful gaze of active volcano Mt. Thielsen.
Here's Debbie under the crown of magnificent Mt. Thielsen...
El Capitano at the helm....
Next morning I biked the lake trail which goes around Diamond Lake, packed up and headed into Crater Lake NP and set up in the Mazama Campground at the south end of the park, nice camp with sites affording much privacy and quiet, more our speed.
Crater Lake was formed about 7700 years ago after the mountain/volcano Mt. Mazama had her final send off with one enormous eruption. The eruption was so massive it emptied the magma chamber below her core and the resulting caldera collapsed due to its weight and no support beneath. Perhaps the most studied and least understood volcano in the world her caldera collapsed in a matter of a few days, maybe a month at the most. Lava poured down the hillsides at over 200 miles per hour, every living thing within it's path was vaporized in minutes and ash from the blast has been recently discovered in ice cores from Greenland. 50 cubic MILES of material was ejected from her innards. They reckon it took about 400 years for the resulting cavity to fill with water although recent studies seem to suggest that during that 400 year span a long term drought had affected the region so some estimates say it might have taken 2000 years to fill.
The lake gets all it's water from annual precipitation that falls within the lake - no outside water from creeks, rivers, etc flows into the lake - this also makes it one of the purest/clearest bodies of waters in the world. Crater Lake receives on average 50 feet of snow each year which supplies most of the input to the water balance equation. The output is mostly evaporation from the lake surface - 26 sq miles - and some leakage due to cracks/fissures in the caldera but it is 80% from evaporation. Get this, the water surface level on average over the past 100 years has never changed more/less than 3-4 feet on a yearly basis. It is also the deepest lake in the US with it's deepest point at 1,943 feet.
And the color, my god, the color...the most striking blue you could imagine making it the most beautiful body of water I have ever seen. Honestly, I can't think of any nicer water body.
Did a sunrise walk up to Garfield Peak...great views of the lake.
Took an evening stroll down along Annie Creek...on those hillsides you're looking at 8000 years of erosion.
And on out to the Pinnacles...the hoo doos that you see are ancient vent tubes or fumaroles from prior eruptions. During an eruption gasses eminate thru these vents and chemically change the composition of the soil making them harder to erode than the surrounding material. Thus, the old vent tubes remain intact as pinnacles/hoo dos while everything else around it erodes away.
Remember back in Olympic NP I did a post on mythology vs science...well, here's another example for you to digest from Crater Lake.
The Legend of the Creation of Crater Lake:
The Chief of the Below World fell in love with Loha, the daughter of another Chief. He invited her to live with him in his home under his volcano (Mt. Mazama) and promised her eternal life free of sickness, sorrow and death. She thought about it and decided that spending eternity inside the bottom of a volcano with this a-hole wasn't such a good deal. No thanks Chief, I'll take my chances with someone else. His response to her spurn was to stand on top of the mountain threatening her people with a "Curse of Fire" at which time the mountains shook (pre eruption seismic activity), red hot rocks hurtled down (lava flow) and burning ashes fell like rain (airborn pumice at 2000 degrees F). Two brave medicine men from her tribe jumped into the fiery cauldron and upon seeing this act of bravery from his perch atop nearby Mt. Shasta (one hundred miles to the south), the Chief of the Above World caused the caldera to collapse to snuff out the Chief of the Below World. And to further keep the little shit from tossing anymore fiery rocks in the future, the Above World Chief caused many years of rain and snow to submerge his collapsed home/mountain under 2000 feet of water. There...that ought to fix the little bastard. Then years of peace filled the land and all was well in the kingdom.
Once again it seems Native Americans had it right. Although their explanation is couched in terms of spirits and legends, it is essentially an accurate description of what modern geologic study has determined. And as their legend has been passed down thru many generations and archaelogical evidence has confirmed their existence here at the time of the eruption, their ancestors were most certainly eye witnesses to this extraordinary event...pretty cool I say.
Now here's the interesting part - this legend was told to a couple of geologists back in the 1930's by local Native Americans. They conducted field studies and found that this legend of eruption, collapse of the caldera and eventual lake filling had a strong basis in scientific fact...it was also critized and deemed unlikely by the general scientific community at the time. After many years of research and scientific thought it is today the established and accepted theory on how Crater Lake was formed. I really love this shit, hope you do too.
One final thought...so, dear readers...what sayeth ye - science or mythology? I'm still in deep thought over this one, but let me tell you - it is one damned interesting question to ponder. Your comments and feelings about this would be most appreciated, I need some guidance here.
Live update - this just happened as I was writing this. An old guy was pulling out of his campsite in a HUGE Class A RV and I hear the painful crunch of tree branches and metal twisting. He must not have heard it becase he kept moving forward and the horrifying noise lasted for a good 30 seconds. I gave it a quick look and he managed to pull the entire back section of his motorhome off, you could see inside the bedroom - they had orangish colored (peach??) pillows. Holy crap, I feel so bad for this man but what can you do? Ah, the RV lifestyle, ain't it great? He'll get it figured out and with a lot of cash be back on the road in no time, whoo boy.
Some hours later it appeared that he had the necessary temporary repairs about him (duct tape and bailing wire) and rolled on down the road...McGyver lives on!! Whatever gets you down the road I say and but for the grace of God go we...how Irish am I?
Sorry, no pics guys - I didn't have the heart to pull out the camera, given the circumstances.
Nothing more interesting to report now loyal followers...stay tuned as we are now back home in the Golden State and southbound and down. On to Mt. Shasta and then Lassen Volcanic National Park - we're following the Volcano Trail...report to follow asap.
Tons of breweries, restaurants, outdoorsy denizens, restored artsy/fartsy downtown, wealthy retirees from southern CA/Seattle/Portland and a whole lot of folks doing the minimum wage work for the tourists...oh yeh, and lots of tourists. Traffic in this town of 80,000 was horrendous and don't get me started on the parking.
Bend was also extremely warm with daytime highs over 100 which necessitated our need for a legit RV park with full hook ups for AC. We heard the Crown Villa RV Park being recommended as the best park in Bend and it was OK...I need to preface that brief review by saying we're not fans of most RV parks and this one was no exception. But man, that AC felt good when trying to get some sleep at night. Besides we didn't spend much time around the park as we were out and about in Bend doing things so it worked well for us.
Stayed 2 nites and hit the town which was a lot of fun with fine dining and a sampling of the many breweries scattered around the area. Our favorite was the Deschutes Brewery boasting a decent restaurant with comfortable ambience, very nice repaste.
On our last nite there we spent a couple of hours at the Bend Brewfest held in the shadow of the Deschutes Brewery alongside the river at the Les Schwab Ampitheater...for those not familiar, Les Schwab is a chain of tire stores in the NW and apparently ole Lester is doing just fine.
The brewfest went great with 137 breweries represented, most of which were smaller start ups trying to get their businesses going. We sampled some great beers, listened to the music and mostly people watched - one of our most fav-o-rite things to do. The crowd was friendly, laid back and all happy to be enjoying a summer evening drinking beer and relaxing next to the beautiful river. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and glad we went. I guess they have lots of these during the summer but I must say it was well attended (long lines to get in when we left around 9 PM) and very well done...a good deal for sure.
We found Bend to be a wonderful place that has been seriously discovered by outsiders. In talking with locals they certainly lament the passing of the good old days and are trying to adjust to the influx of wealthy newcomers to town...in a word, hipsters. I can understand, there's not a whole lot of diversity in Bend these days. But for the casual visitor spending a few days it's a lot of fun - not sure I could live there though. Although having breathtakingly beautiful mountains with hiking/biking/skiing mere minutes away and the rapids and waterfalls of the Deschutes River running thru town with kayaking/floating/fishing is appealing.
Here's the weird thing, in going back thru my photo files I have none, zip, nada from Bend...interesting, guess we were too busy doing things to take any photos.
So in order to add some photos for this post let's move on to our next stop at Crater Lake, OR.
We heard the campsites at Crater Lake NP fill up fast so we made reservations at the Mazama Campground for Sunday and Monday nites. We left Bend on Saturday so that left us open for that nite to find a nice spot. About 5 miles from Crater Lake is a drop dead gorgeous spot called Diamond Lake and we checked into the campground there around noon. Debbie suggested we rent a boat for the day so we did, great call cruise director! We putzed around the perimeter of the lake and had a lot of laughs on a bright sunny afternoon under the watchful gaze of active volcano Mt. Thielsen.
Here's Debbie under the crown of magnificent Mt. Thielsen...
El Capitano at the helm....
Next morning I biked the lake trail which goes around Diamond Lake, packed up and headed into Crater Lake NP and set up in the Mazama Campground at the south end of the park, nice camp with sites affording much privacy and quiet, more our speed.
Crater Lake was formed about 7700 years ago after the mountain/volcano Mt. Mazama had her final send off with one enormous eruption. The eruption was so massive it emptied the magma chamber below her core and the resulting caldera collapsed due to its weight and no support beneath. Perhaps the most studied and least understood volcano in the world her caldera collapsed in a matter of a few days, maybe a month at the most. Lava poured down the hillsides at over 200 miles per hour, every living thing within it's path was vaporized in minutes and ash from the blast has been recently discovered in ice cores from Greenland. 50 cubic MILES of material was ejected from her innards. They reckon it took about 400 years for the resulting cavity to fill with water although recent studies seem to suggest that during that 400 year span a long term drought had affected the region so some estimates say it might have taken 2000 years to fill.
The lake gets all it's water from annual precipitation that falls within the lake - no outside water from creeks, rivers, etc flows into the lake - this also makes it one of the purest/clearest bodies of waters in the world. Crater Lake receives on average 50 feet of snow each year which supplies most of the input to the water balance equation. The output is mostly evaporation from the lake surface - 26 sq miles - and some leakage due to cracks/fissures in the caldera but it is 80% from evaporation. Get this, the water surface level on average over the past 100 years has never changed more/less than 3-4 feet on a yearly basis. It is also the deepest lake in the US with it's deepest point at 1,943 feet.
And the color, my god, the color...the most striking blue you could imagine making it the most beautiful body of water I have ever seen. Honestly, I can't think of any nicer water body.
Did a sunrise walk up to Garfield Peak...great views of the lake.
Took an evening stroll down along Annie Creek...on those hillsides you're looking at 8000 years of erosion.
And on out to the Pinnacles...the hoo doos that you see are ancient vent tubes or fumaroles from prior eruptions. During an eruption gasses eminate thru these vents and chemically change the composition of the soil making them harder to erode than the surrounding material. Thus, the old vent tubes remain intact as pinnacles/hoo dos while everything else around it erodes away.
Remember back in Olympic NP I did a post on mythology vs science...well, here's another example for you to digest from Crater Lake.
The Legend of the Creation of Crater Lake:
The Chief of the Below World fell in love with Loha, the daughter of another Chief. He invited her to live with him in his home under his volcano (Mt. Mazama) and promised her eternal life free of sickness, sorrow and death. She thought about it and decided that spending eternity inside the bottom of a volcano with this a-hole wasn't such a good deal. No thanks Chief, I'll take my chances with someone else. His response to her spurn was to stand on top of the mountain threatening her people with a "Curse of Fire" at which time the mountains shook (pre eruption seismic activity), red hot rocks hurtled down (lava flow) and burning ashes fell like rain (airborn pumice at 2000 degrees F). Two brave medicine men from her tribe jumped into the fiery cauldron and upon seeing this act of bravery from his perch atop nearby Mt. Shasta (one hundred miles to the south), the Chief of the Above World caused the caldera to collapse to snuff out the Chief of the Below World. And to further keep the little shit from tossing anymore fiery rocks in the future, the Above World Chief caused many years of rain and snow to submerge his collapsed home/mountain under 2000 feet of water. There...that ought to fix the little bastard. Then years of peace filled the land and all was well in the kingdom.
Once again it seems Native Americans had it right. Although their explanation is couched in terms of spirits and legends, it is essentially an accurate description of what modern geologic study has determined. And as their legend has been passed down thru many generations and archaelogical evidence has confirmed their existence here at the time of the eruption, their ancestors were most certainly eye witnesses to this extraordinary event...pretty cool I say.
Now here's the interesting part - this legend was told to a couple of geologists back in the 1930's by local Native Americans. They conducted field studies and found that this legend of eruption, collapse of the caldera and eventual lake filling had a strong basis in scientific fact...it was also critized and deemed unlikely by the general scientific community at the time. After many years of research and scientific thought it is today the established and accepted theory on how Crater Lake was formed. I really love this shit, hope you do too.
One final thought...so, dear readers...what sayeth ye - science or mythology? I'm still in deep thought over this one, but let me tell you - it is one damned interesting question to ponder. Your comments and feelings about this would be most appreciated, I need some guidance here.
Live update - this just happened as I was writing this. An old guy was pulling out of his campsite in a HUGE Class A RV and I hear the painful crunch of tree branches and metal twisting. He must not have heard it becase he kept moving forward and the horrifying noise lasted for a good 30 seconds. I gave it a quick look and he managed to pull the entire back section of his motorhome off, you could see inside the bedroom - they had orangish colored (peach??) pillows. Holy crap, I feel so bad for this man but what can you do? Ah, the RV lifestyle, ain't it great? He'll get it figured out and with a lot of cash be back on the road in no time, whoo boy.
Some hours later it appeared that he had the necessary temporary repairs about him (duct tape and bailing wire) and rolled on down the road...McGyver lives on!! Whatever gets you down the road I say and but for the grace of God go we...how Irish am I?
Sorry, no pics guys - I didn't have the heart to pull out the camera, given the circumstances.
Nothing more interesting to report now loyal followers...stay tuned as we are now back home in the Golden State and southbound and down. On to Mt. Shasta and then Lassen Volcanic National Park - we're following the Volcano Trail...report to follow asap.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Slow Crawl Towards Home
You guys remember the Paul Simon lyric...'the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' away'?
Well, he brings up a valid point.
We are now in central Oregon and I believe I could stretch this trip into another few months of travel and sightseeing but the closer we get to home the more anxious we are to get there. Not sure if this makes any sense to you kind followers but we have been on the road for a LONG time and we miss our loved ones.
Paul's slip slidin' part of the song relates to our desire to keep this great trip going but there is always the nearer your destination part that really tugs at the heart. You guys will never know the enormous help from many folks out there (loyal followers indeed) that have supported us and we will never be able to thank you enough - you know who you are...THANKS!
But none the less, the nearer the destination the more anxious we become.
You may say, hey Howard it's not the destination but the journey...and I would highly subscribe to that observation my friend. Our trip since May 1st has been remarkable - many times Debbie would ask "so where we off to today?" and my answer would be "where are we right now?". I always thought it to be very rude to answer a question with a question but so be it.
But as I sit here today and reflect upon it, not knowing where you are nor where you're going is quite liberating.
We are not planning to rush right home as there are a few things we want to see along the way but suffice it to say we're thinking another two weeks or so and our destination, home, will be nearer.
We left Oroville, WA on the Canadian border Sunday 8/14 and boogeyed our way on down to the Grand Coulee Dam. Waltzed thru the very well done visitor center and marvelled at the foresight our earlier generations had in making the Colombia River Basin the productive and economic region it is today.
The US gov't paid Woody Guthrie $266 to write a song within 30 days about the Grand Coulee Dam project...he wrote 26.
Roll on you mighty Colombia, roll on!
We posted up Monday 8/15 at the most peaceful Nottingham US Forest Service campground at the foot of Mt. Hood just a hundred clicks or so east of Portland. We spent a magnificent day alongside our campsite dipping our toes into the East Fork of the Hood River, soaking up the rays and happy to be together in such a beautiful spot.
So nice we decided to sit tight/loose for another day. I went biking down from the timberline on Mount Hood and mangaed to bite off more than I could chew. I mean these trails followed the ski runs and were mega steep, strewn with boulders, tree roots and downed trees...not my scene at all kind followers. Actually I have only myself to blame for the predicament I found myself in ...apparently I missed a very important directional sign along the way...crap, felt like I was on the trail for at least 2 hours when I prearranged to have Debbie meet me in one hour at the Summit Chevron in muy sympatico Government Camp, OR. Well shit, I missed Govie Camp by a good four miles! All right boy, get truckin' uphill on that yonder highway. I'll end the suspense for you...got to Chevron Summit at the planned and appointed time. How this happened I'll never know.
So earler as I'm up at the Ski Lodge inquiring about biking opportunites on the mountain, here's what I hear. Well sir, we have chair lifts operating but they are mostly for skiers and boarders, not bikers. Get right the hell out of Oregon, you guys are still boarding/skiing in the middle of August? Yes sir that's affirmative, only pace in the US of God Blessed A where you can ski/board in mid August.
I'm there, glacier skiing in August tomorrow morning...done and settled.
The skiing was, well, it was skiing in August and I'll leave it at that. The novelty of skiing on a glacier on August 17th wore off after my first 3 runs as I'm not much into slushing thru wet, heavy and sticky snow - I'm just not in shape to be moving lots of this heavy stuff around for more than about 90 minutes or so. It was quite fun while it lasted but became a bit of a chore rather than a delight after about an hour.
This is the only spot in the lower 48 states where you can ski year round so it is a popular spot for ski racers to practice off season. Most of the racers here are middle to lower echelon guys on a limited budget as the top racers who are well funded by the US Ski Team head to the Andes in South America where it is wintertime right now.
Got to talking to an up and coming racer on the lift who just finished his bachelors degree at Dartmouth - it took him 6 years because he had winter quarters off to ski. His Mom is Estonian, Dad is American so he holds dual US and Estonian citizenship and is trying to make the Estonian team for the 2018 Winter Olympics. He said his chances in making the US team are nil but he has a good shot with the Estonian team because he has trained with them and likes his chances. As he said, and it is so true, you get a spot on ANY Olympic qualifying team and all it takes is one spectacular run and you've got gold. Like I've always said, 90% of success in your life comes from simply showing up and taking a shot. Best of luck - believe his first name was Scott - and take a good shot at it my man.
OK, so then old tired ass legs hobbled back to the RV and we headed off on a 2 hour drive to really cool Sisters, OR to check out the town and explore the nearby 3 Sisters glaciers/volcanoes. Got a nice site at the City owned campground right in town and with my recently earned senior citizen status got the senior rate for $10 per nite...god, am I ever feeling like an old coot. Next thing you know I'll be hitting up the 4 PM senior dinner specials at Denny's with all the other old farts...just shoot me right now. I told Debbie if I get to that point, take me to the top of Sable Pass in Denali, lovingly place a bullet in my forehead and then kick my carcass over the slope down into the specially protected area and let the grizzlies finish me off.
Spent last evening sitting at an excellent viewing spot for the Sisters and made it an early night.
Here's Debbie hanging with her Sisters from another Mother.
Talk about a deer in the headlights...check out those eyes. Taken at twilight on top of McKenzie Pass, OR - almost ran the poor gal over, it was very close.
Off yesterday Thursday 8/18 to Bend, OR for a few days of restaurants, breweries and general merriment. We'll be attending the annual Bend Brewfest which is, from what we hear, a really big deal. I'm skeptical because I've seen the events listing for summertime Bend and it seems they have some sort of "annual" beer festival every weekend - sort of like Carlsbad, CA has an "annual" triathalon/bike race/10K run/marathon every weekend. I will of course lend a discerning eye to this whole affair just for you loyal followers...full report to follow.
On to Crater Lake NP this coming Sunday/Monday.
Later good folks, thanks for checking in and take care.
Well, he brings up a valid point.
We are now in central Oregon and I believe I could stretch this trip into another few months of travel and sightseeing but the closer we get to home the more anxious we are to get there. Not sure if this makes any sense to you kind followers but we have been on the road for a LONG time and we miss our loved ones.
Paul's slip slidin' part of the song relates to our desire to keep this great trip going but there is always the nearer your destination part that really tugs at the heart. You guys will never know the enormous help from many folks out there (loyal followers indeed) that have supported us and we will never be able to thank you enough - you know who you are...THANKS!
But none the less, the nearer the destination the more anxious we become.
You may say, hey Howard it's not the destination but the journey...and I would highly subscribe to that observation my friend. Our trip since May 1st has been remarkable - many times Debbie would ask "so where we off to today?" and my answer would be "where are we right now?". I always thought it to be very rude to answer a question with a question but so be it.
But as I sit here today and reflect upon it, not knowing where you are nor where you're going is quite liberating.
We are not planning to rush right home as there are a few things we want to see along the way but suffice it to say we're thinking another two weeks or so and our destination, home, will be nearer.
We left Oroville, WA on the Canadian border Sunday 8/14 and boogeyed our way on down to the Grand Coulee Dam. Waltzed thru the very well done visitor center and marvelled at the foresight our earlier generations had in making the Colombia River Basin the productive and economic region it is today.
The US gov't paid Woody Guthrie $266 to write a song within 30 days about the Grand Coulee Dam project...he wrote 26.
Roll on you mighty Colombia, roll on!
We posted up Monday 8/15 at the most peaceful Nottingham US Forest Service campground at the foot of Mt. Hood just a hundred clicks or so east of Portland. We spent a magnificent day alongside our campsite dipping our toes into the East Fork of the Hood River, soaking up the rays and happy to be together in such a beautiful spot.
So nice we decided to sit tight/loose for another day. I went biking down from the timberline on Mount Hood and mangaed to bite off more than I could chew. I mean these trails followed the ski runs and were mega steep, strewn with boulders, tree roots and downed trees...not my scene at all kind followers. Actually I have only myself to blame for the predicament I found myself in ...apparently I missed a very important directional sign along the way...crap, felt like I was on the trail for at least 2 hours when I prearranged to have Debbie meet me in one hour at the Summit Chevron in muy sympatico Government Camp, OR. Well shit, I missed Govie Camp by a good four miles! All right boy, get truckin' uphill on that yonder highway. I'll end the suspense for you...got to Chevron Summit at the planned and appointed time. How this happened I'll never know.
So earler as I'm up at the Ski Lodge inquiring about biking opportunites on the mountain, here's what I hear. Well sir, we have chair lifts operating but they are mostly for skiers and boarders, not bikers. Get right the hell out of Oregon, you guys are still boarding/skiing in the middle of August? Yes sir that's affirmative, only pace in the US of God Blessed A where you can ski/board in mid August.
I'm there, glacier skiing in August tomorrow morning...done and settled.
The skiing was, well, it was skiing in August and I'll leave it at that. The novelty of skiing on a glacier on August 17th wore off after my first 3 runs as I'm not much into slushing thru wet, heavy and sticky snow - I'm just not in shape to be moving lots of this heavy stuff around for more than about 90 minutes or so. It was quite fun while it lasted but became a bit of a chore rather than a delight after about an hour.
This is the only spot in the lower 48 states where you can ski year round so it is a popular spot for ski racers to practice off season. Most of the racers here are middle to lower echelon guys on a limited budget as the top racers who are well funded by the US Ski Team head to the Andes in South America where it is wintertime right now.
Got to talking to an up and coming racer on the lift who just finished his bachelors degree at Dartmouth - it took him 6 years because he had winter quarters off to ski. His Mom is Estonian, Dad is American so he holds dual US and Estonian citizenship and is trying to make the Estonian team for the 2018 Winter Olympics. He said his chances in making the US team are nil but he has a good shot with the Estonian team because he has trained with them and likes his chances. As he said, and it is so true, you get a spot on ANY Olympic qualifying team and all it takes is one spectacular run and you've got gold. Like I've always said, 90% of success in your life comes from simply showing up and taking a shot. Best of luck - believe his first name was Scott - and take a good shot at it my man.
OK, so then old tired ass legs hobbled back to the RV and we headed off on a 2 hour drive to really cool Sisters, OR to check out the town and explore the nearby 3 Sisters glaciers/volcanoes. Got a nice site at the City owned campground right in town and with my recently earned senior citizen status got the senior rate for $10 per nite...god, am I ever feeling like an old coot. Next thing you know I'll be hitting up the 4 PM senior dinner specials at Denny's with all the other old farts...just shoot me right now. I told Debbie if I get to that point, take me to the top of Sable Pass in Denali, lovingly place a bullet in my forehead and then kick my carcass over the slope down into the specially protected area and let the grizzlies finish me off.
Spent last evening sitting at an excellent viewing spot for the Sisters and made it an early night.
Here's Debbie hanging with her Sisters from another Mother.
Talk about a deer in the headlights...check out those eyes. Taken at twilight on top of McKenzie Pass, OR - almost ran the poor gal over, it was very close.
Off yesterday Thursday 8/18 to Bend, OR for a few days of restaurants, breweries and general merriment. We'll be attending the annual Bend Brewfest which is, from what we hear, a really big deal. I'm skeptical because I've seen the events listing for summertime Bend and it seems they have some sort of "annual" beer festival every weekend - sort of like Carlsbad, CA has an "annual" triathalon/bike race/10K run/marathon every weekend. I will of course lend a discerning eye to this whole affair just for you loyal followers...full report to follow.
On to Crater Lake NP this coming Sunday/Monday.
Later good folks, thanks for checking in and take care.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Adieu Alaska, Hello Yukon
Did you know that Yukon is a native Athabascan word that means "Land of the Crappiest Roads on Planet Earth"? Well now you do, hey you learn something new every day here on the North to Alaska blog pages don't you?
Geezus, I mean these guys aren't even trying. At least in AK you suffer thru the construction work areas but hell, they're at least out there doing something.
Apart from the crappy roads the Yukon is one spectacular place with very friendly people and a destination I would highly recommend visiting - just get a rental car or maybe a hoverboard, then relax and let the rest fall into place.
One of the things we wanted to do during our AK planning was to cross the Top of the World Highway from Chicken, AK to Dawason City, YT. The views were described as the most beautiful anywhere in the world...you know, one of those g'damn bucket list things some people covet. Well, this day was POURING down rain and we were driving thru multiple rainclouds, so no views. The only view I had was in my rear view mirror watching the Fit slinging side to side on snot slick, muddy and uphill 9% grades. We were crabbing up these hills with 1000' plus dropoffs on either side with no guardrails...what's the old maxim, turn in the direction of the slide? Whoo boy, what a freaking ride!
I shoulda taken a picture...the LD and Fit were totally blanketed, I mean EVERY square inch, with brown mud. I had gravel stuck in the rocker panels below the doors of the Fit...serious business I tell you. I will have to pop the rockers off when we get home to clean it properly.
OK, so Dawson City - beautifully preserved and rehabbed buildings from back in the gold stampede days but honestly they kind of blow it with jamming the touristy stuff in your face. Now I am totally for the local economy doing well off of the tourists but I have my limits. And we have been seeing this same theme carried on throughout our visit to Alaskan/Yukon cities - enough of the gold stampeders, we get it. I earnestly pray that this theme will continue to help the local economy but it just doesn't seem to be that sustainable to me, hopefully I'm wrong.
Situated alongside the mighty Yukon River we needed to cross a ferry to get to town, pretty cool and one raging river.
We went into town, poked around, got the vibe - then we left.
Ferry crossing the Yukon at Dawson City.
On down the road to Carmacks, YT where we checked into a legit RV park with full hook ups (FHU) and I washed the mud off the LD and Fit...there was NO way we were going down the road any further looking like shit. In fact, it's kind of a mark of respect up here in the Yukon to have a dirty ass car/RV - everyone would ask, 'you guys just getting here? Cause your rig looks way too clean'. Yeh, we just got here Yukon guy...leave me the hell alone but thanks for noticing just the same.
Our next stop was a blast from the past, Timber Point on Teslin Lake with the Clark family. They are located along the only 200 hundred mile section of the Alaska Highway that you must travel going north and south between Alaska and the south. Strange that they were not around but the park was open, we put our $20 in the slot and spent a lovely day on the beach, fishing and bagging some rays on a sunny day.
Pulled out first thing Sunday Aug 7th and headed to Liard Hot Springs.
Now we're heading south and getting into the Canadian Rockies and the wildlife sightings were spectacular...check these out. Probably the best of the trip so far.
Brown bears, they're juveniles so they have black fur but notice the brown noses. Their coats will lighten and go brown as they age.
Moose, spied this guy on the trail to the Liard hot springs.
As we were soaking in the hot springs got to talking with a regular visitor and he mentioned that the pools on the downstream end are about 100 degrees F and the upstream end are around 130 degrees. He further said, if you can make it all the way thru the upper pool the custom is to grab a rock from the cliffside and place it on the stack poolside. We watched as two older women did this and I saw the twinkle of challenge in Debbie's eyes - I'm doing it she says.
Here's a shot of her in the hot, hot water after placing her challenge rock...good thing her child bearing years are over with...man that water up there was extremely hot.
And, who woulda thunk it, buffalo! No kidding, here they are right next to us.
Finally, mountain sheep...these guys are called Stone sheep and are a subset of the Dall Sheep found in AK and the Bighorn sheep found in CA. They like to graze near the roadside where they eat the salt leftover from the winter roadway deicing operations...I found this quite interesting.
We found a very nice spot at Muncho Lake Provincial Park in the Strawberry Flat campground right on the lake where we swam, sunbathed and fished for two days.
We also had another equipment failure on the trip...Debbie's phone went south. It started with her on/off switch not functioning correctly so as we were driving down the road she tried to fix it. I'm driving so I'm sort of watching this repair operation peripherally and I notice her jamming a toothpick into the edges around the switch...oh no, this isn't going to end well. She was ready for a new phone anyway so just as well. Only problem is Verizon does not exist in Canada so she will be wire-less for another week or so until we get back to the US/Verizonlandia.
After a long couple of driving days thru Dawson Creek - Milepost '0' on the Alaska Highway - and Prince George, BC we stopped in Valmount, BC nestled at the foot of Mt. Robson the tallest mountain in the BC Rockies. Driving down the highway I see a sign advertising a Golf Course and RV Park which got my attention. Pulled in, set up in a nice quiet and secluded spot and hit the first tee. Debbie drove the cart, I hacked it up and we had ourselves a fun time on a beautiful day.
Mile zero on the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, BC.
Not a lot to report other than we are now in Oroville, WA about 2 miles south of the border crossing at Osoyoos. Our plan was to spend a couple of days in BC's Okanagan Valley for some wine tasting but after arriving there the place was packed with summer vacationers and just didn't seem like a nice place to relax and enjoy ourselves so we hightailed it to the border. It was a beautiful drive thru the valley however and would be a great place to visit but not on an August weekend.
We're planning to take a couple of weeks in eastern OR/northern CA and then head home. Thanks for tuning in folks, more later from Bend, OR.
Take care.
Geezus, I mean these guys aren't even trying. At least in AK you suffer thru the construction work areas but hell, they're at least out there doing something.
Apart from the crappy roads the Yukon is one spectacular place with very friendly people and a destination I would highly recommend visiting - just get a rental car or maybe a hoverboard, then relax and let the rest fall into place.
One of the things we wanted to do during our AK planning was to cross the Top of the World Highway from Chicken, AK to Dawason City, YT. The views were described as the most beautiful anywhere in the world...you know, one of those g'damn bucket list things some people covet. Well, this day was POURING down rain and we were driving thru multiple rainclouds, so no views. The only view I had was in my rear view mirror watching the Fit slinging side to side on snot slick, muddy and uphill 9% grades. We were crabbing up these hills with 1000' plus dropoffs on either side with no guardrails...what's the old maxim, turn in the direction of the slide? Whoo boy, what a freaking ride!
I shoulda taken a picture...the LD and Fit were totally blanketed, I mean EVERY square inch, with brown mud. I had gravel stuck in the rocker panels below the doors of the Fit...serious business I tell you. I will have to pop the rockers off when we get home to clean it properly.
OK, so Dawson City - beautifully preserved and rehabbed buildings from back in the gold stampede days but honestly they kind of blow it with jamming the touristy stuff in your face. Now I am totally for the local economy doing well off of the tourists but I have my limits. And we have been seeing this same theme carried on throughout our visit to Alaskan/Yukon cities - enough of the gold stampeders, we get it. I earnestly pray that this theme will continue to help the local economy but it just doesn't seem to be that sustainable to me, hopefully I'm wrong.
Situated alongside the mighty Yukon River we needed to cross a ferry to get to town, pretty cool and one raging river.
We went into town, poked around, got the vibe - then we left.
Ferry crossing the Yukon at Dawson City.
On down the road to Carmacks, YT where we checked into a legit RV park with full hook ups (FHU) and I washed the mud off the LD and Fit...there was NO way we were going down the road any further looking like shit. In fact, it's kind of a mark of respect up here in the Yukon to have a dirty ass car/RV - everyone would ask, 'you guys just getting here? Cause your rig looks way too clean'. Yeh, we just got here Yukon guy...leave me the hell alone but thanks for noticing just the same.
Our next stop was a blast from the past, Timber Point on Teslin Lake with the Clark family. They are located along the only 200 hundred mile section of the Alaska Highway that you must travel going north and south between Alaska and the south. Strange that they were not around but the park was open, we put our $20 in the slot and spent a lovely day on the beach, fishing and bagging some rays on a sunny day.
Pulled out first thing Sunday Aug 7th and headed to Liard Hot Springs.
Now we're heading south and getting into the Canadian Rockies and the wildlife sightings were spectacular...check these out. Probably the best of the trip so far.
Brown bears, they're juveniles so they have black fur but notice the brown noses. Their coats will lighten and go brown as they age.
Moose, spied this guy on the trail to the Liard hot springs.
As we were soaking in the hot springs got to talking with a regular visitor and he mentioned that the pools on the downstream end are about 100 degrees F and the upstream end are around 130 degrees. He further said, if you can make it all the way thru the upper pool the custom is to grab a rock from the cliffside and place it on the stack poolside. We watched as two older women did this and I saw the twinkle of challenge in Debbie's eyes - I'm doing it she says.
Here's a shot of her in the hot, hot water after placing her challenge rock...good thing her child bearing years are over with...man that water up there was extremely hot.
And, who woulda thunk it, buffalo! No kidding, here they are right next to us.
Finally, mountain sheep...these guys are called Stone sheep and are a subset of the Dall Sheep found in AK and the Bighorn sheep found in CA. They like to graze near the roadside where they eat the salt leftover from the winter roadway deicing operations...I found this quite interesting.
We found a very nice spot at Muncho Lake Provincial Park in the Strawberry Flat campground right on the lake where we swam, sunbathed and fished for two days.
We also had another equipment failure on the trip...Debbie's phone went south. It started with her on/off switch not functioning correctly so as we were driving down the road she tried to fix it. I'm driving so I'm sort of watching this repair operation peripherally and I notice her jamming a toothpick into the edges around the switch...oh no, this isn't going to end well. She was ready for a new phone anyway so just as well. Only problem is Verizon does not exist in Canada so she will be wire-less for another week or so until we get back to the US/Verizonlandia.
After a long couple of driving days thru Dawson Creek - Milepost '0' on the Alaska Highway - and Prince George, BC we stopped in Valmount, BC nestled at the foot of Mt. Robson the tallest mountain in the BC Rockies. Driving down the highway I see a sign advertising a Golf Course and RV Park which got my attention. Pulled in, set up in a nice quiet and secluded spot and hit the first tee. Debbie drove the cart, I hacked it up and we had ourselves a fun time on a beautiful day.
Mile zero on the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, BC.
Not a lot to report other than we are now in Oroville, WA about 2 miles south of the border crossing at Osoyoos. Our plan was to spend a couple of days in BC's Okanagan Valley for some wine tasting but after arriving there the place was packed with summer vacationers and just didn't seem like a nice place to relax and enjoy ourselves so we hightailed it to the border. It was a beautiful drive thru the valley however and would be a great place to visit but not on an August weekend.
We're planning to take a couple of weeks in eastern OR/northern CA and then head home. Thanks for tuning in folks, more later from Bend, OR.
Take care.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
We Ain't Leavin' Alaska Until We See.....
Hello fine folks, I'm still in blog catch up mode. I wrote this post a few days ago and have been waiting for available/decent wi-fi service to post with pictures. Enjoy....
As we were planing our trip about a year ago, we said to ourselves that no matter what we see, we ain't leavin' till we see the northern lights perform a dance for us...and just for us. As I have found out, this is a tall order to fill in the first couple of days in August as the northern lights don't really start sparking up until mid Octoberish. We were thinking maybe we need to extend the trip by a couple of more months..what sayeth ye dear readers, can you put up with another two months of this verbose dribble?
No need to worry, as we found ourseleves at about a mile high and in the shadow of dominating Mt. Fairplay at 5800 feet or so - I'm thinking, if we're gonna see the lights, a higher altitude above the low laying clouds might just work. My supposition was further confirmed by Debbie's investigation of the UofA Fairbanks website on northern lights viewing forecast - yes, they most definitely have this and it's cool as hell - google it. They rated tonight and tomorrow night a 5 on a 1 - 10 scale of viewing opportunites. Not bad I thought.
They base their forecast on many things but the key item seems to be sunspot/solar flare activity on El Sol. These sunspots generate powerful solar winds that carry an enormous number of energized particles across the Milky Way. These particles from the solar winds are attracted to and accumulate at the Earth's polar regions due to the magnetic forces found there and give us the aurora's. When these negatively charged particles hit the positive magnetic forces at the Poles huge amounts of energy are released in the form of light ranging from pale green to red based on energy level and altitude. The lowest, and I mean the lowest elevation of the bottom of an aurora is 60 miles above Earth. These would be the greenish hued lights, the red hues are probably 150 miles or so above Earth...so if you see some red you are truly looking inside of the heavens.
The second ingredient to the forecast model is a dark and cloud free night sky. Here's the big downer for hopes of an early August viewing..it doesn't get dark here in August. But, the main thing is the sunspot activity and the forecast showed a strong indicator here for the next two nights. I'm ready, let's haul burro to a higher elevation to weed out the low clouds and take our chances...and so we did.
Posted up near Mt Fairplay, AK
Round about midnight I say to Debbie - we haven't seen a star since we got to Alaska (the night sky stays too bright) and I suddenly spotted one....and there's another...Debbie spies another, cool - first stars we've seen in 2 months. It also seemed darker tonight than all previous nights here in AK, maybe this high altitude is helping? Dunno, it was weird. As we were focused on the night sky we see a hint of a light green flash in the northerly skies just to our right. Hmmm...it can't possibly be, can it...this early...no, we were just seeing things right? You know, since we wanted this so badly we thought our minds were talking us into seeing something that wasn't there.
At that precise moment the entire sky exploded with green and magenta light and stayed on fire for the next two hours!
Now the following still picture is the best I have and it does a disgrace to this majestic display but I attach for your consideration and general enjoyment anyway. In the picture you will see a blob of green light but when I took this photo the entire sky in my camera view window was filled with bright green. There is definitely a correct way to photograph these auroras and I ain't got it. Artificial light settings and shutter speed are key and I just don't have the right set up and skill to make it happen, sorry guys - but the photo ain't half bad. The best way to record these lights is a high quality video to see the mind boggling changes to shape, color, intensity and pure majesty these things put out...oh my God. The absolute best way to see them is to stand under them and be spellbound.
And to be captivated by this concerto of light at the start of my 60th year was a great gift that I didn't even have to unwrap or send any thank you notes for. A perfect night at the top of the world as Tom Petty chorused - "...and I...ain't....comin'.....down..." - just for us.
You need to click on this, sorry.
But Mr. Petty what goes up must come down so we left Mt. Fairplay noonish the next day as we needed a serious sleep in from our 3 AM viewing and dancing. We headed into the small mining camp turned tourist trap of Chicken, AK and got some food and cold drinks at the small cafe there. Permanent residents here number 5 during the winter and 8 during the summers. Got it's name because the miners wanted to call it Ptarmigan (pronounced tar - ma - gan with a hard g), which is a prolific bird up here that looks like a chicken and is as dumb as one too - but the poor old coots couldn't spell Ptarmigan so they named the place Chicken.
The bad part of all of this is that Chicken lies about 30 miles from the Canadian border which marks the end of our stay here in AK. We are really sad to be leaving because we have enjoyed ourselves immensely in this place. We have also learned and grown so much in these past couple of months and leaving is going to be hard to do.
But, for all the beauty and majesty we've seen it still doesn't come close to the beautiful and majestic family and friends we have and have missed. It will be great to get home and see everyone we've missed these past couple of months.
So, what to do on our last full day in AK? Let's go gold panning, see if we can find some nuggets to help underwrite the cost of this adventure. I am now convinced that the key to successful prospecting is to know what you're looking for.
Check out Klondike Kate staking out her mining claim on Jack Wade Creek, AK.
We've never been panning, always thought it was kind of hokey looking, but let me tell you we had grand time. Sun was hot, water felt refreshing, had a nice picnic lunch and a few beers and there's always that hope of a big nugget ending up in your pan. We borrowed pans from the camphost Bill here at the Walker Creek BLM campground where we stayed for 2 nites, he gave me a quick tutorial and off we went. We came back with what we thought were gold flakes but a panning expert camped next to us says nope, you got feldspar there. Feldspar? Does that sell at the same price as gold? Ah, no greenhorn, time for you to leave AK. Agreed.
Tomorrow August 5th we're physically off for the 3 hour drive over the Top of the World Highway (supposedly one of the gnarliest roads in the world) to Dawson City, Yukon but our hearts will stay here in AK...one helluva place.
As we were planing our trip about a year ago, we said to ourselves that no matter what we see, we ain't leavin' till we see the northern lights perform a dance for us...and just for us. As I have found out, this is a tall order to fill in the first couple of days in August as the northern lights don't really start sparking up until mid Octoberish. We were thinking maybe we need to extend the trip by a couple of more months..what sayeth ye dear readers, can you put up with another two months of this verbose dribble?
No need to worry, as we found ourseleves at about a mile high and in the shadow of dominating Mt. Fairplay at 5800 feet or so - I'm thinking, if we're gonna see the lights, a higher altitude above the low laying clouds might just work. My supposition was further confirmed by Debbie's investigation of the UofA Fairbanks website on northern lights viewing forecast - yes, they most definitely have this and it's cool as hell - google it. They rated tonight and tomorrow night a 5 on a 1 - 10 scale of viewing opportunites. Not bad I thought.
They base their forecast on many things but the key item seems to be sunspot/solar flare activity on El Sol. These sunspots generate powerful solar winds that carry an enormous number of energized particles across the Milky Way. These particles from the solar winds are attracted to and accumulate at the Earth's polar regions due to the magnetic forces found there and give us the aurora's. When these negatively charged particles hit the positive magnetic forces at the Poles huge amounts of energy are released in the form of light ranging from pale green to red based on energy level and altitude. The lowest, and I mean the lowest elevation of the bottom of an aurora is 60 miles above Earth. These would be the greenish hued lights, the red hues are probably 150 miles or so above Earth...so if you see some red you are truly looking inside of the heavens.
The second ingredient to the forecast model is a dark and cloud free night sky. Here's the big downer for hopes of an early August viewing..it doesn't get dark here in August. But, the main thing is the sunspot activity and the forecast showed a strong indicator here for the next two nights. I'm ready, let's haul burro to a higher elevation to weed out the low clouds and take our chances...and so we did.
Posted up near Mt Fairplay, AK
Round about midnight I say to Debbie - we haven't seen a star since we got to Alaska (the night sky stays too bright) and I suddenly spotted one....and there's another...Debbie spies another, cool - first stars we've seen in 2 months. It also seemed darker tonight than all previous nights here in AK, maybe this high altitude is helping? Dunno, it was weird. As we were focused on the night sky we see a hint of a light green flash in the northerly skies just to our right. Hmmm...it can't possibly be, can it...this early...no, we were just seeing things right? You know, since we wanted this so badly we thought our minds were talking us into seeing something that wasn't there.
At that precise moment the entire sky exploded with green and magenta light and stayed on fire for the next two hours!
Now the following still picture is the best I have and it does a disgrace to this majestic display but I attach for your consideration and general enjoyment anyway. In the picture you will see a blob of green light but when I took this photo the entire sky in my camera view window was filled with bright green. There is definitely a correct way to photograph these auroras and I ain't got it. Artificial light settings and shutter speed are key and I just don't have the right set up and skill to make it happen, sorry guys - but the photo ain't half bad. The best way to record these lights is a high quality video to see the mind boggling changes to shape, color, intensity and pure majesty these things put out...oh my God. The absolute best way to see them is to stand under them and be spellbound.
And to be captivated by this concerto of light at the start of my 60th year was a great gift that I didn't even have to unwrap or send any thank you notes for. A perfect night at the top of the world as Tom Petty chorused - "...and I...ain't....comin'.....down..." - just for us.
You need to click on this, sorry.
But Mr. Petty what goes up must come down so we left Mt. Fairplay noonish the next day as we needed a serious sleep in from our 3 AM viewing and dancing. We headed into the small mining camp turned tourist trap of Chicken, AK and got some food and cold drinks at the small cafe there. Permanent residents here number 5 during the winter and 8 during the summers. Got it's name because the miners wanted to call it Ptarmigan (pronounced tar - ma - gan with a hard g), which is a prolific bird up here that looks like a chicken and is as dumb as one too - but the poor old coots couldn't spell Ptarmigan so they named the place Chicken.
The bad part of all of this is that Chicken lies about 30 miles from the Canadian border which marks the end of our stay here in AK. We are really sad to be leaving because we have enjoyed ourselves immensely in this place. We have also learned and grown so much in these past couple of months and leaving is going to be hard to do.
But, for all the beauty and majesty we've seen it still doesn't come close to the beautiful and majestic family and friends we have and have missed. It will be great to get home and see everyone we've missed these past couple of months.
So, what to do on our last full day in AK? Let's go gold panning, see if we can find some nuggets to help underwrite the cost of this adventure. I am now convinced that the key to successful prospecting is to know what you're looking for.
Check out Klondike Kate staking out her mining claim on Jack Wade Creek, AK.
We've never been panning, always thought it was kind of hokey looking, but let me tell you we had grand time. Sun was hot, water felt refreshing, had a nice picnic lunch and a few beers and there's always that hope of a big nugget ending up in your pan. We borrowed pans from the camphost Bill here at the Walker Creek BLM campground where we stayed for 2 nites, he gave me a quick tutorial and off we went. We came back with what we thought were gold flakes but a panning expert camped next to us says nope, you got feldspar there. Feldspar? Does that sell at the same price as gold? Ah, no greenhorn, time for you to leave AK. Agreed.
Tomorrow August 5th we're physically off for the 3 hour drive over the Top of the World Highway (supposedly one of the gnarliest roads in the world) to Dawson City, Yukon but our hearts will stay here in AK...one helluva place.
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Fairbanks and Fit to Be Tied
Sorry for the long lapse here, we've been doing fun things in remote areas so cell activity wasn't happening and we were keeping busy. I wrote this post well over a week ago. We are now in Dawson Creek, BC and should be back in the US this Sunday/Monday.
Well we made it to Fairbanks on Saturday July 30th which marks the terminus of our northward trek. From here onward we will be making our way south and east back home. Haven't yet mapped out the precise return route but we will be following a different course than the trip up here. Thinking of a more central Yukon/BC path and enter the US somewhere in eastern WA/ID and then down eastern OR thru the Bend, OR and Crater Lake area and then haul ass back down central CA (maybe Highway 395 thru Lassen/Tahoe/Eastern Sierra's?) to home. As details come together I will expeditiously update all of you, more later as they say.
So Fairbanks....meh.
We got to town and drove around to check out some in town RV parks and were not that impressed. Additionally, we had been listening to the weather reports on the radio and flash flood warnings were posted until Monday for the Chena River which flows thru the town center. And since the river corridor is the most scenic place in town, where do you suppose they sited ALL of the RV parks here? You got it, right by the rapidly rising river. We looked at one campsite and the pad level was just about even with the river water surface - maybe a foot or two of freeboard. Park operator said nothing to us about flood potential so we just moved on. Hope those guys stay high and dry. By the way, the flooding Chena River just about wiped out Fairbanks in 1967.
We hit the Freddies, gassed up and ventured about 70 miles north and east of Fairbanks to the popular Chena Hot Springs Resort, you know, to get a bit further up the Chena River drainage basin where the flooding potential may be lower.
Checked out the resort, it looked fine so we went in search of a boondock spot. Found a nice quiet, paved turnout about a mile away from the resort, unhooked the Fit and drove up for a nice long soak in the hot springs. Absolutely magnificent. The sun came out while we were in the pool and the hot water did it's magic.
Feeling all fresh and renewed we went back to camp and spent more indoor time to stay dry as the rain started up again.
On Sunday we left Chena Hot Springs and went into Fairbanks and checked out the fine Museum of the North on the Univ of AK campus. The campus is beautiful however, I kept imagining how it would look and feel come January. At the museum we watched a very well made movie on the northern lights - informative with eye catching videos and photos of the aurora. According to the movie I'm thinking our chances of seeing the northern lights this early in the season are slim to none. Apparently a dark sky is necessary to see these and it never gets dark enough in the summer for this to happen, makes sense to me. Yet one more good reason for a return visit here in the winter.
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This museum stuff had us a bit thirsty and peckish so we went in search of the Silver Gulch Brewery in nearby Fox, AK. Very good beer and tasty food within a well appointed restaurant which was packed to the rafters on a Sunday night.
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On the way back to town we got a close up look at the Trans Alaskan Oil Pipeline and walked around a bit to check it out.
If you're filling up your gas tank today consider this: the pipeline cost $7B to build in the 1970's and the construction debt was most likely serviced within 15 seconds. They have pushed so much crude oil thru this line since then it's hard to imagine it not being a great deal. Also, one of our Nation's largest petroleum reserves is located alongside the pipeline in Prudhoe Bay so it serves as a key national security asset as well.
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One of the greatest engineering and construction achievements of it's time, it gave birth to many of the advanced cold weather engineering standards in use today. Advances in structural engineering/analysis, soils engineering/foundation support in permafrost, environmental mitigation techniques, corrosion control and a host of other problems were solved and are now in widespread use today in both temperate and cold weather regions.
I spent about an hour or so poking around (you can walk right up to it and touch it), looking at the pipe joint welds, the flexible connections and the above ground radiators used to accelerate the heat transfer from the hot oil (100 degrees F) in the pipeline to the pipe supports to keep the permafrost from melting and causing a foundation problem for the pipeline. Certainly a very worthwhile stop and I enjoyed myself immensely.
We have an appointment at 9:15 AM Monday to have the Fit serviced at the Honda dealership in Fairbanks. So as we were driving thru town Sunday night after Silver Gulch and the pipeline, we saw the dealership and decided to boondock in their parking lot and do the service deal the next day.
I really hate dealing with dealership service operations - I have a bad feeling about this but mechanics are few and far between up here so I'll drop it off and see how it goes. I'll give them a day and if all is not well we'll take off and have it looked at by my mechanic when we get home. Fortunately it's nothing very serious and the car runs fine, just a bit of a nuisance to get it out of park. We can live with that for another month if we have to.
By the way, this Honda dealer is one of only two in the entire State of AK and I made my service appointment 10 days ago, the soonest time available - nice business model 'eh?
We're now (Monday Aug 1) posted up at the Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. This is a surprising little gem in the City center that was built as an Exposition in 1967 to celebrate the centennial of the US purchasing AK from Russia for $7M or about 2 cents per acre. It has beautifully maintained log cabins, churches, native art exhibits and mining equipment from back in the day.
We should have been on our way today but things with the Honda service went about as well as we expected. Dropped the car off Monday at 9 AM, got a call at 5 PM that all is fixed and ready for pick up. Show up, plunk down $225, drive the car a half a block and problem returns. To make a long saga short I finally got to the Service Manager Frank and he assures me everything will be corrected first thing tomorrow. Hearing his plan I am somewhat convinced that he can make this happen, we'll see. However it goes we are out of Fairbanks by high noon tomorrow.
At 8 AM Tuesday we schlepp on over to the Kendall Honda dealership and I share good mornings with the asst service manager Dean. So Dean, how we lookin'? Well the tech just got here and you're his second job this morning. Cool, I'll check back with you later. Now we have the LD parked about 100 yards from his desk and in a location giving us a perfect view of their back lot. As soon as I get back to the RV I see them drop my car off in the back lot and there it sat for 3 hours - I tell you, I'm a repair shops worst nightmare!
So I wander back over and say, Dean whassup? He's starting on it right now, OK great. Head back to LD and sure enough the Fit is now in the shop and as it turns out into the most expert hands of William (didn't catch his last name).
Dean calls me about 30 minutes later and said come on over William wants to ask you some questions. No problem, go in and talk to the mechanic William and he asks if I have a schematic from the shop that installed our aftermarket tow wiring harness. He further said that whoever did this work did a very clean install and it looked very good. He asked who installed this and I just gave him a big smile - he inquired, you did this? Very nice work Mr. Arnold - I said yeh me and my son Charlie wired her up during half time of a football game a couple of beers in. Then I said we couldn't have done that great of a job because it's not working worth a shit right now and he howled.
He then says I suspect the problem to be a short somewhere in the tow wiring harness which is an aftermarket item and something we are not allowed to touch. I saw his point, the repair shop could be on the hook for damaging someone's aftermarket expensive audio or alarm system so they just don't do it. I told him no big deal with me, the thing cost all of $75 and is easily replaced, but all the same I understood his position.
OK then William just go ahead and wrap it up and I'll live with it til we get back to SD. I could see the acrid taste of defeat on his face...he says, you know Mr. Arnold, I have NEVER been able to not fix a car problem and I'm bummed that this is my first.
So I head back to Dean and explain what's happening, thank him and then went to the Service Manager Frank, thanked him and told him how happy I was that William and Dean went the extra mile for me. Let's be honest, these guys know they'll never see me again let alone have me as a future customer...very professional outfit I thought.
So I'm waiting for the car and Dean comes out and says I've got good news for you, William fixed it and I'll let him explain when he gets back in from test driving it. William returns and hands me a component from the tow wiring harness and says I need to shitcan this thing cause it's shorting everything out. He explained everything and I told him I had suspected the harness all along but wasn't sure. So he says, yeh your wife was telling me you're an engineer so now I get how you understood everything I was talking about.
Hang on, you talked to my wife? Now Debbie has been completely out of this mess and no one at the dealership has seen or spoken to her. He says yeh I cruised over to your motorhome to tell you the good news but you weren't there so I talked with your wife. You knew we were in the motorhome back there? Yes Mr. Arnold, EVERYBODY in the shop knew you and your motorhome were back there. Sorry, was I that obvious? Like I said, I'm a repair shops worst nightmare.
So good deal, the Fit is fixed but now I have a non operational tow wiring system - not good because the brake lights and turn signals on the Fit will not work while being towed due to the offending component that I had to trash. Off to find a replacement component. Very difficult, after going to two RV places finally ended up buying 3 pieces that I fashioned into a proper replacement.
With a little wire stripping, soldering and cussing got it all MacGyver'd in and it is working great...yes!! God do I hate electrical projects.
Like I said earlier, Fairbanks...meh.
We hit the road out of Fairbanks about 2 PM and ended up at the top of the world on the Taylor Highway later that evening around 8 PM. Boondocked at a nice roadside turnout on the eve of my 60th birthday.
OK, I can't wait to get this out... while boondocking Tuesday night Aug 2nd at the top of the world (Mt. Fairplay) just about smack dab between Tok and Chicken, AK, we were feted with a northern lights display that lasted for 2 hours. I need a couple of days to absorb this experience before I can begin to relate it to all of you. But, by God, right at the strike of midnight on my 60th birthday, a green/purple vertical streak of light started to our right and constantly changed form and intensity as it danced it's way across the heavens 180 degrees to our left...and this show of light energy continued until 2 AM. I'm at a loss for words right now. If you have a minute hit your Pandora key, listen to Tom Petty's "I've Got a Room at the Top of the World Tonight" and you'll get an inkling of how we felt. And yes, we listened to that excellent song as the skies went a dancin' for us. Absolute heaven on earth.
Peace out kind followers, more detail/pics on the aurora borealis in the next post, I promise!
So Fairbanks....meh.
We got to town and drove around to check out some in town RV parks and were not that impressed. Additionally, we had been listening to the weather reports on the radio and flash flood warnings were posted until Monday for the Chena River which flows thru the town center. And since the river corridor is the most scenic place in town, where do you suppose they sited ALL of the RV parks here? You got it, right by the rapidly rising river. We looked at one campsite and the pad level was just about even with the river water surface - maybe a foot or two of freeboard. Park operator said nothing to us about flood potential so we just moved on. Hope those guys stay high and dry. By the way, the flooding Chena River just about wiped out Fairbanks in 1967.
We hit the Freddies, gassed up and ventured about 70 miles north and east of Fairbanks to the popular Chena Hot Springs Resort, you know, to get a bit further up the Chena River drainage basin where the flooding potential may be lower.
Checked out the resort, it looked fine so we went in search of a boondock spot. Found a nice quiet, paved turnout about a mile away from the resort, unhooked the Fit and drove up for a nice long soak in the hot springs. Absolutely magnificent. The sun came out while we were in the pool and the hot water did it's magic.
Feeling all fresh and renewed we went back to camp and spent more indoor time to stay dry as the rain started up again.
On Sunday we left Chena Hot Springs and went into Fairbanks and checked out the fine Museum of the North on the Univ of AK campus. The campus is beautiful however, I kept imagining how it would look and feel come January. At the museum we watched a very well made movie on the northern lights - informative with eye catching videos and photos of the aurora. According to the movie I'm thinking our chances of seeing the northern lights this early in the season are slim to none. Apparently a dark sky is necessary to see these and it never gets dark enough in the summer for this to happen, makes sense to me. Yet one more good reason for a return visit here in the winter.
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This museum stuff had us a bit thirsty and peckish so we went in search of the Silver Gulch Brewery in nearby Fox, AK. Very good beer and tasty food within a well appointed restaurant which was packed to the rafters on a Sunday night.
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On the way back to town we got a close up look at the Trans Alaskan Oil Pipeline and walked around a bit to check it out.
If you're filling up your gas tank today consider this: the pipeline cost $7B to build in the 1970's and the construction debt was most likely serviced within 15 seconds. They have pushed so much crude oil thru this line since then it's hard to imagine it not being a great deal. Also, one of our Nation's largest petroleum reserves is located alongside the pipeline in Prudhoe Bay so it serves as a key national security asset as well.
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One of the greatest engineering and construction achievements of it's time, it gave birth to many of the advanced cold weather engineering standards in use today. Advances in structural engineering/analysis, soils engineering/foundation support in permafrost, environmental mitigation techniques, corrosion control and a host of other problems were solved and are now in widespread use today in both temperate and cold weather regions.
I spent about an hour or so poking around (you can walk right up to it and touch it), looking at the pipe joint welds, the flexible connections and the above ground radiators used to accelerate the heat transfer from the hot oil (100 degrees F) in the pipeline to the pipe supports to keep the permafrost from melting and causing a foundation problem for the pipeline. Certainly a very worthwhile stop and I enjoyed myself immensely.
We have an appointment at 9:15 AM Monday to have the Fit serviced at the Honda dealership in Fairbanks. So as we were driving thru town Sunday night after Silver Gulch and the pipeline, we saw the dealership and decided to boondock in their parking lot and do the service deal the next day.
I really hate dealing with dealership service operations - I have a bad feeling about this but mechanics are few and far between up here so I'll drop it off and see how it goes. I'll give them a day and if all is not well we'll take off and have it looked at by my mechanic when we get home. Fortunately it's nothing very serious and the car runs fine, just a bit of a nuisance to get it out of park. We can live with that for another month if we have to.
By the way, this Honda dealer is one of only two in the entire State of AK and I made my service appointment 10 days ago, the soonest time available - nice business model 'eh?
We're now (Monday Aug 1) posted up at the Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. This is a surprising little gem in the City center that was built as an Exposition in 1967 to celebrate the centennial of the US purchasing AK from Russia for $7M or about 2 cents per acre. It has beautifully maintained log cabins, churches, native art exhibits and mining equipment from back in the day.
We should have been on our way today but things with the Honda service went about as well as we expected. Dropped the car off Monday at 9 AM, got a call at 5 PM that all is fixed and ready for pick up. Show up, plunk down $225, drive the car a half a block and problem returns. To make a long saga short I finally got to the Service Manager Frank and he assures me everything will be corrected first thing tomorrow. Hearing his plan I am somewhat convinced that he can make this happen, we'll see. However it goes we are out of Fairbanks by high noon tomorrow.
At 8 AM Tuesday we schlepp on over to the Kendall Honda dealership and I share good mornings with the asst service manager Dean. So Dean, how we lookin'? Well the tech just got here and you're his second job this morning. Cool, I'll check back with you later. Now we have the LD parked about 100 yards from his desk and in a location giving us a perfect view of their back lot. As soon as I get back to the RV I see them drop my car off in the back lot and there it sat for 3 hours - I tell you, I'm a repair shops worst nightmare!
So I wander back over and say, Dean whassup? He's starting on it right now, OK great. Head back to LD and sure enough the Fit is now in the shop and as it turns out into the most expert hands of William (didn't catch his last name).
Dean calls me about 30 minutes later and said come on over William wants to ask you some questions. No problem, go in and talk to the mechanic William and he asks if I have a schematic from the shop that installed our aftermarket tow wiring harness. He further said that whoever did this work did a very clean install and it looked very good. He asked who installed this and I just gave him a big smile - he inquired, you did this? Very nice work Mr. Arnold - I said yeh me and my son Charlie wired her up during half time of a football game a couple of beers in. Then I said we couldn't have done that great of a job because it's not working worth a shit right now and he howled.
He then says I suspect the problem to be a short somewhere in the tow wiring harness which is an aftermarket item and something we are not allowed to touch. I saw his point, the repair shop could be on the hook for damaging someone's aftermarket expensive audio or alarm system so they just don't do it. I told him no big deal with me, the thing cost all of $75 and is easily replaced, but all the same I understood his position.
OK then William just go ahead and wrap it up and I'll live with it til we get back to SD. I could see the acrid taste of defeat on his face...he says, you know Mr. Arnold, I have NEVER been able to not fix a car problem and I'm bummed that this is my first.
So I head back to Dean and explain what's happening, thank him and then went to the Service Manager Frank, thanked him and told him how happy I was that William and Dean went the extra mile for me. Let's be honest, these guys know they'll never see me again let alone have me as a future customer...very professional outfit I thought.
So I'm waiting for the car and Dean comes out and says I've got good news for you, William fixed it and I'll let him explain when he gets back in from test driving it. William returns and hands me a component from the tow wiring harness and says I need to shitcan this thing cause it's shorting everything out. He explained everything and I told him I had suspected the harness all along but wasn't sure. So he says, yeh your wife was telling me you're an engineer so now I get how you understood everything I was talking about.
Hang on, you talked to my wife? Now Debbie has been completely out of this mess and no one at the dealership has seen or spoken to her. He says yeh I cruised over to your motorhome to tell you the good news but you weren't there so I talked with your wife. You knew we were in the motorhome back there? Yes Mr. Arnold, EVERYBODY in the shop knew you and your motorhome were back there. Sorry, was I that obvious? Like I said, I'm a repair shops worst nightmare.
So good deal, the Fit is fixed but now I have a non operational tow wiring system - not good because the brake lights and turn signals on the Fit will not work while being towed due to the offending component that I had to trash. Off to find a replacement component. Very difficult, after going to two RV places finally ended up buying 3 pieces that I fashioned into a proper replacement.
With a little wire stripping, soldering and cussing got it all MacGyver'd in and it is working great...yes!! God do I hate electrical projects.
Like I said earlier, Fairbanks...meh.
We hit the road out of Fairbanks about 2 PM and ended up at the top of the world on the Taylor Highway later that evening around 8 PM. Boondocked at a nice roadside turnout on the eve of my 60th birthday.
OK, I can't wait to get this out... while boondocking Tuesday night Aug 2nd at the top of the world (Mt. Fairplay) just about smack dab between Tok and Chicken, AK, we were feted with a northern lights display that lasted for 2 hours. I need a couple of days to absorb this experience before I can begin to relate it to all of you. But, by God, right at the strike of midnight on my 60th birthday, a green/purple vertical streak of light started to our right and constantly changed form and intensity as it danced it's way across the heavens 180 degrees to our left...and this show of light energy continued until 2 AM. I'm at a loss for words right now. If you have a minute hit your Pandora key, listen to Tom Petty's "I've Got a Room at the Top of the World Tonight" and you'll get an inkling of how we felt. And yes, we listened to that excellent song as the skies went a dancin' for us. Absolute heaven on earth.
Peace out kind followers, more detail/pics on the aurora borealis in the next post, I promise!
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