Subject: still more travel

TRAVELLOG  VI

5-10-00

Change of plans:  we listened to the weather forecast this morning and after we got into the car changed our travel route totally.  It would be too cold to stay in Colorado, snow is forecast for the higher elevations.  So we decided to head into Southeastern Utah instead. We never intended to go this far West, but that is where the sunshine is. When we arrived in Moab, Utah it is 93 degrees.

5-11-00

Arches National Park  -  just too incredible to describe.  A very
accessible park, unbelievably scenic, with some great hiking and rock scrambling, featuring the greatest concentration of natural stone arches in the world.

5-12-00

Hans finally gave himself a big push and we went whitewater rafting down the Colorado River.  Absolutely loved it.  Hans was the hero of the day when our raft got stuck on a big boulder and he jumped into the icy river to help the river guide push us off the rock!  Going through the rapids is a lot of fun and is really not as scary as it looks.  I am hoping we will be able to do this again real soon.

5-13-00

Canyonlands National Park, the largest, yet least developed park in Utah (where the Green River and the Colorado River meet)  -  divided into 3 parts: Island in the Sky, The Maze, The Needles.  It feels like we have been transported to another planet:  a vast wild desert atmosphere, rugged and primitive, 527 square miles with mostly unpaved roads and primitive trails marked by cairns (little stone hills) only.  We explored the Island in the Sky, did a lot of rock scrambling, lost count of how many miles we hiked in order to get to most of the important sights, mesas, canyons and the most strangely formed sandstone turrets, towers and spires, colors ranging from white to cream and rust, but the overall lasting impression is all shades of red to brown.  Awesome!

5-14-00

Yesterday we saw all sights in Canyonland from the top, today we took the Jeep and drove inside the canyons on Potash Road to Shafer Trail to see everything from the bottom up.  Again what sights, what a ride.  We knew what we were in for when we observed another couple in a Jeep wearing neck braces to minimize the impact on the neck from the rough trail.  Smart thinking, but it certainly looked silly.  May be this is what I needed to cure my migraines.  The dirt trail winds alongside the Colorado River, in and out of canyons, when the canyon gets too narrow, the trail goes uphill in switchbacks along the ledge, falling steeply off towards the river on one side.  It was slow going.  The whole trail is a little over 100 miles long within the park and takes 2 full days to drive. We only did about 25 miles before turning around in one of the very few places where that is possible. Goose Neck Overlook  -  another memorable place!

5-15-00

One of our few relaxing days with some unsuccessful shopping and another bad haircut.  I have decided that from now on I will look for the cheapest place to get a haircut, no matter how great a place looks from the outside, I usually look like a porcupine when I walk out. Oh well, nothing I can do about it, so I will just deal with it.

Went back into Arches National Park in the late afternoon looking for a great sunset for pictures of the Delicate Arch - the most photographed arch in the world.  Unfortunately the sun was hiding behind a lot of clouds.

5-16-00 

Today is my birthday, no celebration this year. We were going to drive back towards Colorado, but my present from the girls is still in the mail, so we are extending our stay here for another day. Just as well, a storm is moving in and we have winds gusting up to over 50 miles.  Driving would not have been fun.  We went exploring the southern part of Canyonland called "The Needles".  This part of the park does not have as much red rock, hiking is almost all on slick sandstone rock, a lot of fun with the wind blowing really hard, also made the 90 degree temperature a lot more bearable.

5-17-00

Durango, Colorado  -  we found a great RV Park "Alpen Rose" with a terrific masseuse "Heidi".  Treated myself to a massage to help me distress - just wonderful.

5-18-00

Mesa Verde National Park  -  the largest archaeological preserve of Anasazi Cliff Dwellings dating back to around 1100 - 1200.  We took two ranger guided tours through Cliff Palace and Balcony House, climbing 32 foot ladders and crawling through tunnels,  learning a lot about history and culture, just fascinating.

5-19-00

A 3 ½ hour ride on the historical Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, with a  coal fired, vintage 1923 steam-powered locomotive, along the Animas River, through spectacular and breathtaking canyons, with panoramic views of the San Juan National Forest.  This railroad was built in 11 months back in 1888 to haul passengers, ore, gold and silver. The town of Silverton at over 10,000 feet was somewhat disappointing - a tourist trap, not very pretty and where we had a lousy lunch.  To save some time we took the bus back to Durango.  In the evening another treat for myself, another massage.

5-20-00

Today we drove the San Juan Skyway, a 220 mile loop out of Durango through the mountains:  This is probably the most scenic drive we have taken since the beginning of our trip, starting in Durango, part of the way along the Animas River, below the train tracks of yesterdays journey, passing Silverton, along the Million Dollar Highway, climbing over 3 passes including the Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 feet, green pastures, red rock cliffs, waterfalls, shimmering green budding aspen hills, turquoise lakes and snowy peaks.  We saw it all.  Had lunch in Ouray, a pretty little town also called "Switzerland of America", where we discovered the most unusual art gallery and totally ruined our budget by picking up a wonderful G.H. Rothe mezzotint.  Quite a few Alvars which we would have loved to add to our collection, were also very tempting.  Another stop:  Telluride (where Birgit had a job offer some months ago), pretty, clean, European looking, but a very small and isolated town where Robert Redford and other movie stars own homes and real estate prices are skyhigh.  We wanted to take part of this drive with the RV when we go back to Denver, but have decided it will be too dangerous with the steep passes of 7% or more, the many hairpin turns and vertical dropoffs with no guardrails.  We will take the southern route instead which is about 50 miles longer, but a lot safer to drive. 

5-21-00

Back to Mesa Verde National Park, I am totally intrigued by the cliff dwellings and the whole culture of the Anazasis.  We explored the Spruce Tree House Dwelling on our own and hiked the Canyon and Petroglyph Trails. Due to the large amount of cliff dwelling sites within the park (about 600 of them) hiking is very restricted and controlled. 

5-22-00

Migraine Day  -  working our way back towards Denver, the car ahead of us hit the brakes, Hans stepped on the brakes, the wheels of our RV locked and we slid right into the ditch, leaving some very long skidmarks.  I still do not know why we did not topple over, may be the weight of the Jeep in the back kept us upright.  We unhitched the Jeep and incredibly enough Hans was able to back the RV out of the ditch on his own.  My hands and knees shook for the rest of the trip.  That was a really close call.We spent the afternoon in Pagosa Springs relaxing and unwinding in the hot springs, 15 pools with temperatures ranging from 89 - 107 degrees.

5-23-00

We are back in Denver, the mail caught up with us and today and tomorrow will be taken up with such mundane things as dealing with the mail, doing laundry, ironing, cleaning and having the Jeep serviced, Hans getting a haircut (the barber shaved off the mole on the side of his face by accident) and packing since we will be flying to New York for 3 days on 5-25-00 for a wedding. 

This will be a welcome break and we are both looking forward to spend time with a lot of our good friends there.
 

have not have internet connection in quite a while, but here it is our last few weeks:TRAVELLOG   VII

May 30, 2000

We came back from our NY trip yesterday and today we finally took the drive along the famous Trail Ridge Road  and completed the loop through Rocky Mountain National Park.  A beautiful and very scenic drive, great views, still some deep snow banks along the highway, but not as scary as we had expected, does not  quite compare to the San Juan Skyway Loop out of Durango. 

5-31-00

Even though we are short on time due to our NY trip, we decided we just could not skip seeing Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota.  So we set the alarm for 5 AM and drove the distance in one day, heading north out of Denver, through the eastern part of Wyoming, more than 8 hours, stopping only for gas, in mostly foggy conditions.  It is flat countryside, very green, gently rolling hills, almost no traffic.  Approaching South Dakota the scenery changes and the Black Hills come into view and from a distance they really do look very black, especially in the misty fog.  Our RV Park is in Hill City, a small old gold rush town, jut about 8 miles away from Mt. Rushmore.

6-1-00  -   29 degrees, frost on the ground!

Mt. Rushmore - the four presidential faces: Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt and Lincoln, all 60 feet high, looking down on people looking up. The eyes seem to be alive, depending on the 
reflection of the light and sun, the pupils are carved granite columns.  I am so glad we made the trip, the pictures I have seen just don't do justice to this monument.  A stone sculpture of this magnitude is just totally overwhelming.

Only a few miles away:  Crazy Horse Memorial Monument, the world's largest mountain granite rock carving still in progress. 
It is a massive three dimensional sculpture, started in 1948 which will take another 30 - 50 years to complete and when finished will be 563 feet high, showing this Indian Chief riding his horse with an outstretched arm 263 feet long.

Afterwards we drove the Needles Highway, named for the fingerlike spires along the turning and twisting road, continuing on the Iron Mountain Road with square tunnels cut into the rock, just wide enough to let one car pass through at a time, one can almost touch the sides, driving over pigtail bridges (unique all wooden one lane structures) towards Custer State Park, passing buffalo and bighorn sheep along the way.

Custer State Park - a very green, unique, beautiful park, with lots of creeks, lakes and towering cliffs - rivals any National Park.  A great attraction here are the wild "begging burros", descendants of escaped pack animals from the mining days.  They stand in the middle of the street, stopping traffic, looking for food, sticking their heads into open car windows.  Of course we came prepared with fresh fruits and vegetables, I loved it.

6-2-00

Another 5 AM day to get toBadlands National Park  -  We have seen a lot of our National Parks, but each one is different and it is always another new experience.  This park is not very well known, not overrun, and yet it is another gem, peaks, gullies, buttes and wide prairies with grazing bisons, pronghorns and a very large prairie dog population, a place of extremes, moonscape like areas changing to expansive grasslands.  We did a lot of driving, some hiking, but there is never enough time to explore everything leisurely.

6-3-00

Back to Crazy Horse Memorial  which - only once a year - is open where the public can actually go up all the way to the top of the sculpture to inspect this work in progress at close range, a fundraising 10K Volksmarch.  It just happened to be this weekend, so of course Hans and I participated and joined about 15000 people, up one side of the mountain (which was quite a climb), down the other side, through all the checkpoints so we could collect our medal at the finish line.

In the afternoon we took a scenic ride to the gold mining town of Deadwood, where all of the buildings are on the National Historic Register and 80 of them have been turned into small intimate 
casinos.  Of course Hans loved this one.

6-4-00

The Rafter J Ranch RV Park where we have been staying also has riding stables.  So first thing this morning I went horseback riding.  Since I was the only one who got up this early, not only did 
I have the trail through the National Forest all to myself, but also both trail guides.

After the ride back to beautiful Custer State Park for a strenuous 6 hour hike up to Mt. Harney (South Dakota claims that this is the highest point not only in the State, but also between the Rockies and the French Alps. Sometimes people really keep odd statistics.). The trail up to Harney Peak shimmered and glistened all the way from the sun hitting the fools gold embedded in the granite, what an unusual experience.  To top it off, once we got to the peak there was a snow white mountain goat standing on the top.

6-5-00

Time to move on today and leave this beautiful countryside, it reminds me so much of the Black Forest in Germany - we absolutely have to come back here. We tried to get to Yellowstone National Park in one day, but it was just too much driving, so we stopped off overnight in Cody, Wyoming, which is home to the Buffalo Bill Museum, which unfortunately we did not have time to visit.

6-6-0   -  Yellowstone National Park

The oldest and very first National Park in the US, it is huge and the perfect place to come to for viewing wildlife.  We are staying at the RV Park in Fishing Bridge, which is just about in the center 
of the park, not a bad location, central to most things.  Took a short ride around the immediate area and  already saw lots of wildlife:  bisons with calves, bull elks with huge antlers, deer and I also spotted my very first pair of bald eagles.  In the evening I took a drive by myself to look for bears.  It does not get dark until almost 10 PM and I was hoping to see a black bear or a Grizzly, but no luck.

6-7-00

The park is so big, I can see already that one week will not be enough time to see and do everything.  Today we drove the "southern loop", of course stopped off at Old Faithful to watch a powerful eruption and enjoyed lunch afterwards at the old, historic, beautiful and very unusual "Old Faithful Inn".  Along the drive are lots of  hot springs, geysers and dramatic fountains in colorful settings, the steam especially visible since the weather is somewhat on the cool side.  The spring flowers are in full bloom in all the meadows, the grass is dark green, the lakes and streams are crystal clear and the snowcapped mountains against the blue skies make an unbelievable picture.

6-8-00

It is warm today and we drove the "northern loop".  Explored Artist Point and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone where we met a very nice man with a huge telescope who let us watch the Ospreys building their nests. Mammoth Hot Springs with its colorful multitiered formations is something very special.  We toured Fort Yellowstone and had lunch at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. The northern loop is somewhat more scenic with its mountains than the southern loop which is mostly forest. In the evening we went out again looking for feeding bears.  No luck again, but we did see wolves. 

6-9-0   -  Grand Teton National Park

Another early day, another long drive, but certainly worth it.  It felt like driving in the Swiss or Austrian Alps, on the way lots of turnouts and overlooks, the scenery is breathtaking.  We stopped for lunch at the beautiful Jenny Lake Lodge, this is the third day in a row where I have eaten fresh brook trout, can't get enough of it.  The weather changed on us, it became cold and started to drizzle, so on the way to Jackson we stopped off at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, architecturally a very unusual stone building, and spent a couple of hours absorbing culture.  It was a nice break from all the nature things we have been doing lately.  The town of Jackson is another very popular, touristy, western style small city, with lots of art galleries, shops and restaurants.  We will remember one of the stores for the Allgaeuer bread we found there.  On the way back to Yellowstone we took a detour to see the Gros Ventre Slide Area from 1925.

6-10-00

We have really been pushing ourselves the last few days, getting up between 5 - 6 AM every morning.  Today we decided to sleep in and get some exercise. Took a hike up to Mt. Washburn in the afternoon - 10,243 feet.  When we started the sun was out and it was warm, by the time we got to the top it was 35 degrees and the sky had turned black.  On the way down we were surprised by thunder, lightning and a blinding snowstorm. In the evening another try at finding bears - again no luck.

6-11-00

Back to the Tetons, which we enjoy more than Yellowstone, this time to go hiking only, but an easy, level 10 mile stroll to Heritage Point on Jackson Lake where we came across moose and yellow bellied marmots.  The highlight of the day was seeing a black bear on our drive back, totally unexpected, finally!  With the exception of a grizzly, we now have seen all animals in the park.

6-12-00

Rain, rain, rain.  Can not really do anything today and actually I am glad.  We are both totally exhausted from the pace we have been keeping.  It certainly does not feel like we are living the "retired life".  So we took the opportunity to relax, clean, re-organize and repack things.  This needs to be done on a regular basis in such small quarters. 

6-13-0  to    6-14-00    Great Falls, Montana

Montana looks pretty, lots of horses, pastures and wheatfields, but the grass is not totally green yet, it is still cool, I don't think they have very long summers here.  We are getting closer to the Canadian border and Howe needs to be looked over and checked out.  There are no tourist attractions here, not a very appealing town, but there is a Ford dealer here who will service RV's.

It is unbelievable how friendly and helpful the people are at the dealership.  Our RV was in all day, got totally checked out, 
serviced and repaired.  Apparently we had no hand brake left and they fixed an electrical problem we had with the lights which we not even aware of and apparently was caused by our very first run in with a gas station.  Now we should be ready for the rough roads of Alaska.

6-15-0  Coram, Montana  -  Glacier National Park

I do hope the weather will improve.  It is cold, only in the 40s and the last hour of our drive we had rain, snow and a driving hailstorm, which left more than an inch of ice on the road so that we had to 
pull over.

It is just about 4 months since the beginning of our trip and  we have been very lucky with the weather, so far had only about 5 - 6 rainy days.

We have driven about 9000 miles with the RV and more than 9000 miles on side trips with the Jeep (our average monthly gasoline 
bill is $700), so far we have been in 20 States and visited 12 National Parks.  The US is a beautiful country with some unbelievable sights.  Sometimes I still cannot believe that we are doing this, we certainly have some unforgettable memories.  Just about a year ago the final decision was made to go ahead with this trip, and in less than two weeks we will be picking up Manfred in Calgary and be on our way towards Alaska.  Our pace has been on the hectic side so far and it does not look like that will change driving through Canada and Alaska.  It certainly does not feel like this is a retirement trip, but more like a long adventurous vacation.  The route we chose has worked out fabulously so far, the sights are getting more scenic and interesting.  Whenever we come across a place we absolutely love and feel it can not be topped, the next destination turns out even grander, more scenic and more beautiful.

Doris & Hans
 

Subject: more travel

TRAVELLOG VIII

June 16, 2000

The mountain peaks of Glacier National Park were shrouded in fog and clouds, so we decided to explore the area outside the park and took a scenic drive to Bigfork (south of Glacier) where we found a nice restaurant with a terrace right on the lake to have lunch, it was a sunny day, a bit on the cool side, but the forecast for the next few days sounds good.

6-17-2000   -  Glacier National Park

Awesome, absolutely unbelievable, one of the most beautiful National Parks we have been to.  It is a fairly small park, so it does not take hours and hours of driving to get from one place to another, also lots and lots of hiking trails. 

"Going to the Sun Road"  -  what an appropriate name.  We have taken a lot of scenic drives over the last 4 months, this one tops them all.  It really is a drive into the sky - literally - the road just seems to be going higher and higher, hugging the mountain on the left and falling off on the right side, with a spectacular view towards the snow covered mountain tops reaching into the clouds.  Words are just not good enough for an accurate description, it has to be experienced (but it is not a drive for the fainthearted). Crossing the park from the west towards the east and continuing on the east side towards the Many Glacier region, then the return trip from the other direction took all day.

6-18-00

Fathers Day, a perfect day for one of our hikes, cool and sunny.  We chose a difficult 9 mile trail to Trout Lake in the hope of spotting some bears. On the advise of a ranger we sang most of the way and as a result probably scared them all away.  We did see lots of bear tracks and droppings, but no bear.  When the ranger told us there was an elevation change of 2100 feet, he neglected to tell us that it was first 2100 feet up, then 2100 feet down and on the way back again 2100 feet up and 2100 feet down.  Towards the end Hans did not think that this was the proper way to spend Fathers Day.

6-19-00

Again on the advise of the ranger (who worked out our itinerary
completely) we went jeeping on the dirt road to the little town of Polebridge in the south-western part of the park (3 houses and a 
general store are all that is left from a fire in 1988) to buy the best 
homemade foccacio bread in the state of Montana.  A walk along Bowman Lake and another beautiful days has gone by.

6-20-00

Two Medicine Valley  -  another part of Glacier National Park accessible from the east side only.  We took the boat across Lower Two Medicine Lake and hiked to Upper Two Medicine Lake, again lots of bear tracks and droppings - but no bear sightings.

6-21-00

The plan was to leave the RV park early in the morning and continue towards the Canadian part of Glacier National Park called Waterton Lakes National Park. We discovered that one of Howe's tires was leaking.  It cost us 3 hours to get a nail taken out and have our tires rotated to hopefully alleviate the bumpity bump sound from the bald spot on the tires (a result of our ditch episode).  But we still made it to St. Mary (20 miles south of the Canadian Border), just parked our RV and drove into the Canadian part of the park. It is just a continuation of beautiful scenery with the famous Prince of Wales Hotel in a stunning setting atop a hill.  The village of Watertown is pretty and clean, with restaurants, hotels and inns, but it did not have a cash machine to give us access to Canadian money which we desperately needed.

6-22-00

Today is finally the day to get to the Canadian Rockies.  Most of our day was spent on the drive towards Banff National Park, passing through Calgary during rush hour to get to the town of Canmore (the site of the Nordic ski competition of the 1988 Olympics).

6-23-00

We explored the city of Banff, with its stately Banff Springs Hotel
(where we could not get a parking spot to go inside) aqua colored Lake Louise with Chateau Lake Louise, where we had lunch and 
turquoise colored Lake Moraine, all encircled by glacier capped mountains in the Valley of the Ten Peaks.

Unbelievable scenery, breathtaking, the lakes almost look artificial,
like somebody put color into them.  We started a leisurely stroll along Lake Louise and our destination was the Tea House at Six Glaciers.  I still don't understand what happened, but we were talking to somebody and somehow felt challenged hiking up to the top of the mountain.  According to our map there was another Tea House on the other side of the mountain, little did we realize that the trail down on the north side was still closed because of snow.  We had no food or water with us and were absolutely parched and ate snow the last part of he way.  Once we got to the top, deep snowfields and treacherous drop-offs as well as a frozen lake prevented us from reaching the "other Tea House".  We could see the helicopters flying in the supplies, but that was all.  So we had no choice but to take the same trail back down to reach our car 5 hours later.

6-24-00

Rain, rain, rain  -  pretty much all day, so we took a drive into Calgary to find the airport and do some shopping for food and supplies at Costco and Walmart.  We are preparing for Manfreds arrival.  Wanted to check out the city a bit, but Hans discovered a casino and of course that is where we ended up, more pleasant than walking the city in the rain.  We did win enough money to pay for dinner out today.  In the evening the sun was out again when we drove back to Canmore.

6-25-00

Our Canadian friends from the Australia cruise tipped us off about
Kananaskis Country - a beautiful part of the Rockies with spectacular mountains, lakes and creeks, bordering Banff National Park in the south, where 'Legends of the Fall' with Brad Pitt and 'The Edge' with Anthony Hopkins were filmed.  We drove the Kananaskis Valley Loop, partially a gravel road and hiked up to Mt. Indefatigable where we had lunch.  WOW on being strenuous, WOW, WOW on the rewarding and spectacular views from the top.

6-26-00

Today we drove half of the Icefields Parkway, in travel books described as the most spectacular road in Canada and stopped at a lot of the scenic overlooks along the way:  Herbert Lake, Peyto Lake, Bow Summit (the highest point of the parkway at 2,088 m), Bow Lake where we had lunch at Tum-Ti-Jah-Lodge, Mistaya Canyon (carved out by the powerful action of water, creating "potholes").  While driving spotted our very first Grizzly Bear in the middle of the day, not 100 yards away from the street.

6-27-00

Today we picked up our friend Manfred who flew into Calgary from Germany. In good old German tradition that meant cleaning, re-organizing, washing windows, car and RV. Hans and I also went to the same beauty parlor for haircuts.  His took twice as long as mine and the beautician told him he was getting a 3/2 cut = 3 mm in the back, 2 mm on the side.  My hair is one inch long overall. Manfred said he got his haircut in Germany yesterday and he had all his hair shaved off.  None of us will need another haircut until the end of the trip.  We agreed not to take pictures of each other for the next few days, but it certainly will cut down on "grooming time" in the morning.

6-28-00

It is great having Manfred with us, things are a little tighter, but 
everything should work out well.  We drove back into Banff and checked out the Banff Springs Hotel (disappointing), hiked up to Tunnel Mountain Overlook for the Bow Valley view.  Drove the Minnewanka Loop with stops to watch bighorn sheep, back to beautiful Chateau Lake Louise for lunch and Lake Morraine to take lots of pictures, and a stroll through the city of Banff.

6-29-00

We left Canmore today to drive along the Icefield Parkway very leisurely towards Jasper National Park, with several stops at viewpoints along the way. We parked at the Columbia Icefields and walked up to the Athabasca Glacier, where it was freezing cold and very windy. We also explored the Sunwapta Falls which is similar to Mistaya Canyon.  We were not able to get into a campground within Jasper National Park, so we ended up in the little town of Valemount (about 60 miles east of the park) which I will remember for the Swiss Baker who makes the worlds best heavy dark bread and the most scrumptious marzipan pie (also the most expensive).

6-30-00

Jasper National Park  -  Maligne Canyon and Maligne Lake are
breathtaking, Medicine Lake is beautiful, lots of places to stop and just enjoy Mother Nature.  We saw lots of wildlife today:  elks with their huge antlers were actually posing for our cameras, bighorn sheep blocking the street and licking the wax off our Jeep, coyotes chasing each other, mule deer grazing in the meadows, but the absolute highlight:  a black bear with her 2 cubs sleeping right next to the road.  We were watching them for more than a half hour and took lots of pictures, when they woke up and strolled around not paying any attention to people and the "bear traffic jam".

7-1-00

Left today to continue with our journey towards Alaska.  We decided if we have any extra time the end of August, we will come back here to spend more time in Banff and Jasper.  From now on there will be a lot of driving, big distances to cover and not too much to see for the next few days.  The weather has also changed on us, but I guess that was to be expected.  It usually rains in the evening and through the night, but is clear during the day.  But it certainly is not warm enough to wear shorts, we always carry a jacket with us.  Prince George is our stop for tonight.  Not a very exciting town, but the Ramada has a casino which Hans did not like (that was a first), Manfred checked out the Railway Museum which he enjoyed, and then we tried to take a walk along the river but were forced to run back to the car because we were being attacked by mosquitoes.  On the drive back we spotted a litter of 6 young foxes playing in the grass - no camera!

7-2-00

Dawson Creek  -  Milepost 0.  It rained all of last night, we had to
break up in the rain and it rained throughout the day. I hope this is not an indication of things to come for the next 2 months.  We are here for 2 nights to prepare our rig and car for the abusive roads of Alaska.  All RV's in the park use this as a starting point for the Alaska journey and we are parked next to German people we met 3 days ago in Jasper.  The three of us are getting along quite well, have lots of laughs and are playing cards every spare minute we have.  Our cell phone has "no service" most of the time and we generally can not get access to the internet.  I had one of my migraines today so Hans and Manfred went into town for dinner and I spent some wonderful time all by myself.
 

TRAVELLOG  IX
 

7-3-00

The owner of the RV park installed our bug and rock deflectors on the Jeep, but did not have anything that fit the RV.  While he did the work, we walked into town in our rain gear and had lunch at the "famous" Alaska Hotel (one of the top 500 restaurants in Canada - they say), which by the way,  aside from the milepost sign, is the only attraction in town.  Dawson Creek is the beginning of the actual Alaska Highway (also called Alcan from combining Alaska and Canada).  After the bombing of Pearl Harbor the road was built in 1942 as a military necessity within 8 months by 10,000 American troops and 8000 civilians .Unbelievable!  The Milestone 0 sign stands in the middle of
town.

7-4-00

Driving for 10 miles on the original Alaska Highway across the only still standing historic curved wooden bridge over the Kiskatinaw river towards Ft. Nelson, Milepost 300, rain again off and on, not much traffic, not too much to see except dark green pine forests.  We are lucky to be able to set up during a dry spell, it rained overnight again. The RV parks seem to deteriorate the further north we drive, this one is not very nice.

7-5-00

Still raining when we got up, everything feels damp, but our spirits are still good, it just has to stop at some point. It seems that the good roads are behind us, we are driving a lot on gravel roads now, lots of potholes and ruts.  At one point today we actually were delayed for half an hour because a truck ahead of us got stock in the mud on a hill and had to be pulled out by a bulldozer.  We got our first crack in the windshield of our RV!!!! When we arrived at our next destination, Muncho Lake at Milepost 462, the sun is out and we find a great RV park owned by a Swiss couple.  We have a great spot right on the lake with a beautiful view of the mountains.  We are able to barbecue outside for the first time in weeks and it feels wonderful to be able to wear shorts again.  It is still light outside at 11 PM, the sun disappearing behind the mountains and the moon already out, the lake looks like a beautiful black sheet of ice.

7-6-00

The sun is shining, it is warm and the sky dark blue.  We decided to stay here another day, it is just too beautiful.  We went hiking into a canyon looking for the original Alaska Highway, never did find it, but had a great time crossing creeks, trying to reroute them by building a dam and getting wet, just like little kids.  To relax afterwards we visited the Liard River Hotsprings and swam and soaked in the sulphur pools where temperatures range from 108 to 126 degrees.  Wildlife sightings:  a mama moose with baby, mountain sheep and a black bear.

7-7-00

Continue making our way north towards Watson Lake, Milepost 635.  We are now in Yukon Territory.   Another construction area of about 15 miles, nothing but dirt and stones, very slow going, and despite driving very careful: two more hits in the windshield, we now have 3 cracks, but the weather is still great.

Watson Lake is famous for its Signpost Forest, which now has more than 45,000 signs posted by travelers from all over the world.  Signs are still being added at the rate of about 2000 a year, city signs, country signs, license plates etc.  The town puts up the posts about 12 feet high and will even supply nails and a hammer for attaching the signs.  Manfred brought a sign along from his hometown of Ravensburg, 30 x 60 cm, which the mayor paid for. We organized a ladder and he proudly hammered it in at the top of one of the posts.  Otherwise there is not much else to see or do in this town, it is a stopover for everybody going to or coming from Alaska. Grocery prices are outrageous and gasoline prices are now up to approx. US$2.50 a gallon.

We have spoken to quite a few people questioning them on road conditions ahead of us.  I do hope they are exaggerating. The stories we hear are unbelievable:  lots of broken headlights, windows and windshields, broken axels and even one incident where on a rainy day 2 tour buses got stuck on the Top of the World Highway in the mud, the highway was closed, everybody was turned  around and sent back, and the people from the buses flown out by helicopters.

Wildlife:  a black bear sitting along the highway, running off into the
woods as we passed.

Hans shaved off his beard, could not stand to look at himself in the
mirror. Manfred is starting to look like a woodchuck!

7-8-00

Whitehorse at Milepost 918.  We still have great weather and after a 7 AM start made it to Whitehorse, very little traffic, good roads.  The last few days we have been driving through dense forests, an immense area, untouched, not developed and not populated, except a gas station every 100 miles or so. If it would not be for fellow RV travelers and an occasional truck, I don't know who else is using the Alcan.  Passed by Teslin Lake and the little town of Teslin.  It is so picturesque and peaceful here that we decided to spend a few days on our way back in August to do some fishing for lake trout, northern pike or grayling.  We are told that Teslin is a vacation or weekend destination  fir Whitehorse residents.

Whitehorse is a very clean  and surprisingly modern city with about 20,000 residents, great grocery stores and even a department store.  Some historical buildings from the gold rush days sandwiched between Government buildings and stores.  The SS Klondike is worth a visit, she is still being restored.

7-9-00

Still fabulous weather, we hiked into Miles Canyon along the cliffs of the Yukon River, explored Canyon City (now just a bare area with signs explaining what this town was all about during the gold rush 
in 1899/99.  Another attraction and quite interesting: the Whitehorse Rapids Fishway, where Chinook Salmon originating from the mouth of the Yukon migrate for almost 2000 miles and swim upriver on the man made fishladder alongside the electric power station, to spawn further upriver. Unfortunately we did not see any fish in the ladder, they are expected here the first week in August, having started their migration at the Bering Sea 3 months ago.

7-10-00

Manfred and I visited the Transportation Museum today, learning all about the Gold Rush days and the construction of the Alaska Highway, while Hans was busy constructing a contraption to put in front of our RV to protect us from further damage.  We heard some more "damage stories" and decided to be on the safe side.
 

TRAVELLOG XI
 

July 14, 2000

Another day getting up at 5:00 AM to catch the ferry early to get to the Top of the World Highway as early as possible.  What we did not take into consideration:  the gas stations only open at 7 AM.  Finally, with all the "armor" on our cars we hitched a ride on the ferry and were the first RV today to drive the famous Top of the World Highway.  We were also the first ones to cross the border from Canada into Alaska (which only opens at 9 AM anyway).  The road condition on the Canadian side was not that bad, but after crossing the border it went to almost impossible, what we had heard, turned out to be no exaggeration.  It took us more than 8 hours from Dawson to Tok - distance 165 miles.  The American side of the highway (I don't know why anybody would even want to call it that) is one giant washboard with ruts and potholes thrown in for good measure.  From the famous town of Chicken (population 29) to Tok it was so bad that Manfreds dentures shook loose!  Instead of staying overnight in Tok we decided to keep going, shared the driving and 13 hours later pulled into Fairbanks. That was a mistake since we did not have reservations and ended up dry-camping (no hookups at all) for the night.  They gave us a spot right next to the Chena River where people were partying and racing their boats all night long.  To noisy for me to sleep, also too light. We need to do something about blocking out all this sunlight at 2 AM in the morning.

To sum up our drive from Dawson to Fairbanks!  It is scenic, it is beautiful, but not as overwhelming as I had expected and not worth risking the damage to the cars and putting up with such an uncomfortable ride.  We will have to check out both cars thoroughly.  But at least our protective contraptions worked and we did not sustain any more glass damage.

7-15-00   -   Fairbanks

First thing we did was change RV Parks and found a very nice one in North Pole, just south of Fairbanks.  Before we even set up we spent a couple of hours hosing down all the mud and dirt from the long drive.  Took a tour of the city in the afternoon, which took us less than an hour - not too much to see.  The nicest part was the Botanical Garden from the University of Alaska, from where we were also able to see Mt. McKinley, some 200 miles away.  We had great weather and some awesome views.  In the evening we had dinner on a deck of a restaurant overlooking the Chena River, and were now admiring all the boats racing up and down.

7-16-00

A drive north towards the Arctic Circle with various stops along the Alaska Pipeline which impressed us greatly.  A visit in the afternoon to Alaskaland - a glorified amusement park, not worth the time we spent.  Found a way to darken the bedroom windows, have dark towels pinned over them, now I can finally sleep.

7-17-00

Instead of staying 4 nights in Fairbanks, we decided to continue on towards Denali National Park.  A stop at the visitor center to pick up our tickets for the bus tour for the following day and a long walk along the Savage River rounded out our day.

7-18-00

Denali National Park  -  another dream come true. An 11 hour bus tour to Wonder Lake with lots of stops along the way to view wildlife.  A very cold day today, only 45 degrees in the morning and it did not warm up very much either, we did have sunshine all day but Mt. McKinley was shrouded in fog. Unbelievable, but we saw about a dozen grizzly bears, some of them really close, lots of caribou, moose, Dall sheep and hoary marmots, red fox, ptarmigan and beavers.  A reading of poems by Robert Service outside of the Eielson Visitor Center really brought nature very close.  Denali is a huge park,  the distances very long and should really be experienced as a camper, pitching a tent, either by bicycle or on foot. What is amazing is that this is the very first National Park we have been to, where the rangers encourage people to go out hiking and exploring, finding their own hiking paths.

7-19-00

We went to a sled dog demonstration by the rangers,  learned all about mushing, toured the Kennels and made friends with the dogs.  During the demonstration one of the dogs escaped the harness, took off through the woods and was brought back 40 minutes later sitting proudly in the backseat of a patrol car. 

In the afternoon we hiked to the top of Mt. Healy to enjoy gorgeous panoramic views of the park.  We ended the day quenching our thirst at the bar of the Denali Park Hotel.  I wish we could stay here longer, take the shuttle bus to drop us off somewhere and just hike into the wilderness.  As a hiker they let you off anywhere and will pick you up again wherever you flag them down (with the exception of a 5 mile stretch within the main grizzly habitat).

7-20-00

We dropped off Manfred this morning at the Denali train station.  He took the Alaska Railroad from Denali to Anchorage where we picked him up again in the evening.  Hans and I enjoyed the drive to Anchorage, snowcapped mountains on both sides of the highway and a last look at Denali.  All of a sudden the traffic has picked up, lots of RV's on the road, lots of tourists everywhere.  Just had enough time to do laundry and foodshopping before picking up Manfred.  Finally our cell phone is working again, it seems we are in AT&T territory once again, also have a couple of channels on TV.  We are starved for news.  Manfred apparently enjoyed his train ride until the weather changed and it started raining the last couple of hours.

7-21-00

Spent a lot of time today trying to plan and schedule our itinerary for the Kenai-Peninsula.  Ran into a lot of problems, could not get RV Park reservations where we wanted and really had to change things around.  We now seem to be in the middle of high season.

Anchorage  -  a really neat city, easy to get around in.  Unfortunately we now have bad weather, it drizzled most of the day, temperatures only in the 50s.  Took a walking tour of the city, visited the "Alaska Experience Center" and did a big shopping at Costco to replenish all 
our supplies.

7-22-00

We dropped off Manfred in Anchorage in the morning where he rented a bicycle to see and do some of the things Hans and I had no interest in.  We drove along the Turnagain Arm on the Seward Scenic Byway towards Portage (the town which disappeared in the 9.2 earthquake in 1964) continued through the tunnel into Whittier, where we caught the high speed catamaran "Klondike Express" for a 26 glacier cruise in the Prince William Sound.  The tunnel was pretty interesting, it was just opened for vehicular traffic in June and is only open for cars for 15 - 30 minutes about every 2 hours.  The tunnel is shared by cars and trains and the cars drive on the actual railroad tracks.  The weather still is not good, still drizzled most of the day, still pretty cold.  The glacier cruise was still spectacular, we were able to get within 400 feet of the shore and the glaciers, gliding through floating ice, saw some of the glaciers "calf" (break off into the water), observed lots of big rafts of sea otters, sea lions, bald eagles and a rookery of thousands of black legged kittiwakes (birds).

Manfred was so proud of himself, managed to find his way through the city, got on a bus and had dinner waiting for us when we got back to the RV Park.

7-23-00

Sunshine!!!  It feels so good.  Left Anchorage driving through some spectacular scenery towards Homer.  We were not able to secure a RV spot in Kenai or Homer and ended up in the small fishing village of Ninilchik.  The Kenai Peninsula is beautiful, lots of people are fishing all the creeks and rivers for salmon which are heading upstream to spawn.

After setting up, we drove to Homer (about 30 miles south), checked out Homer Spit, had a couple of beers at the Salty Dawg bar, a dive where you have to duck to walk in and where wood chips cover the floor boards, and hundreds of dollar bills, bras and panties hang off the walls and ceiling.  We watched all the fishermen bring in their catch of the day, mainly halibut and some rockfish.  A  305 lbs. halibut was hanging on one of the hooks, an incredible sight.  What are they going to do with all that fish?  Hans can't wait to try for one of them tomorrow.

7-24-00

It rained again when we got up this morning, so a leisurely breakfast was quite nice.  Hans went off fishing afterwards with 5 other men on a chartered boat, terrified that he would get seasick and hoping to catch the "big one".  Manfred and I drove up to Kenai, checked out the town with its Russian orthodox church, had a Mexican lunch and watched hundreds of people on either side of the Kenai River catching salmon with nets, thousands of screeching seagulls waiting for he fishheads and guts.  The fish swim out of the ocean and right into the nets of the fishermen waiting for them at the mouth of the river.  I felt really bad for the fish.

Hans came back triumphant in the evening, he had sunshine, had not gotten seasick and caught 4 nice sized halibuts, but was only allowed to keep 2 (the limit).  Our freezer is now full with fish and tomorrows dinner is all set.

7-25-00

Another beautiful, warm and sunny day, we slept late, went for a long walk along the beach and afterwards grilled Hans' catch for dinner.  Tasted great!!!  Played cards for hours outside at the picnic table.  It actually felt like being on vacation someplace.  Very nice.  Tomorrow we will continue our journey towards Seward.
 

it has been a long time since we have been able to get online, so I am playing catchup with everybody.  All is well, we are coming towards the end of our Alaska adventure and have rejoined civilization today in Prince George (where we have been on our way up north). We are so excited, we have internet access, our cell phone works, we have cable TV and were able to buy our first newspaper in almost 3 weeks.

Hope everybody is well, here it goes:
 

8-11-00 / 8-12-00

TRAVELLOG  XII

July 26, 2000     Ninilchik to Seward

When we woke up early this morning we had frost on the ground!  Knowing we had a long construction site ahead of us, we headed towards Seward.  Arrived in Seward around noontime, which left us all afternoon to explore the town. It is situated in the most stunning setting:  on the water with a cruise ship at the dock and surrounded by snow capped mountains.  For the very first time in Alaska it was hot:  79 degrees.  We walked up to Exit Glacier - the most accessible part of Kenai Fjords National Park - which comes down from the Harding Icefield.  We decided to come back here and do an actual hike into the Icefield as long as we are here.

7-27-00    Seward

The nice weather is still holding, we are quite lucky.  Took an all day cruise through the Kenai Fjords National Park, narrated by a park ranger.  It is just not possible to describe the cruise, the day just flew by, the scenery is unbelievably spectacular, the wildlife viewing jut awesome:  Sea Otters, Bald Eagles, Puffins, Stellar Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Humpback Whales, 4 large pods of Orcas (Killer Whales).  The absolute highlight:  we actually saw the Orcas mating.

7-28-00

Rain, rain, rain most of the day.  Had Planned to hike up to the Harding Icefield, instead we took a walk in the rain along a deserted beach at the end of Seward.  It felt like we were at the end of the world, the road came to an abrupt end at the beach.  Stopped off for coffee at a bakery.  As beautiful as the scenery is, the town of Seward does not have to offer too much.  With the exception of Anchorage, this is really true for most of the Alaskan towns we have been to so far.  From what we have seen traveling the backroads, people still live quite modestly and sometimes under very primitive circumstances.

7-29-00     Seward to Palmer

Still drizzling when we got up. A pretty bad drive again through 15 miles of construction, mud, potholes and unpaved roads.  Our vehicles are caked with inches of mud.  Driving into city of Palmer - the sign says "All-American City Finalist in 1989", nearby Eklutna - the very first Indian settlement in 1650 of the Dena'ina.  It is known for its spirit houses, a cemetery with colorful little houses built on top of the graves, representing the interaction between the Russian Orthodox Settlers beliefs and the Indian beliefs.  A picket fence around a grave means the deceased was not a Dena'ina.

7-30-00    Palmer

Wonderful, we woke up to glorious sunshine.  The whole world looks so much nicer when the sky is blue and the sun is out.  A visit to the Musk Ox Farm where the worlds' only domesticated musk oxes are being raised for their qiviut (wool).  The wool from these prehistoric animals is being used to contribute to the subsistence lifestyles of the Eskimos living in remote areas.  They knit shawls an hats, 8 times warmer than sheep wool, and sell them.

Afterwards a drive through the picturesque, lush green farmland of the Matanuska Valley, where giant cabbages up to 80 lbs. are normal, a result of the 18 - 19 hours of daylight during the growing season.  Our drive turned into an unplanned "jeeping expedition" on the unpaved, rocky road across Hatcher Pass, passing by the historic Willow Creek Gold Mine.  We stopped to take a walk through a tundra with an abundance of alpine flowers and lots of blueberries which should be ripe in another 2 - 3 weeks.  Another unexpected find along the way:  a lodge which served the best coffe and apple pie with a grandiose view.  We could clearly see majestic snowcapped mountains more than a hundred miles away.

7-31-00    Palmer to Valdez

250 miles of breathtaking scenery, this is finally what I had imagined Alaska to look like.  Scenic Glenn Highway turning south into the Richardson Highway, along the oil pipeline.  The weather held for most of the drive, encountered fog and lots of clouds in Valdez, another small fishing village surrounded by mountains wherever you look.  We took a stroll through town all the way to the end and ended up at a pretty remote beach where the cold and rain caught up with us.  Decided right there that 3 days were too much time to spend here.

8-1-00    Valdez

Hans left early this morning to go deep sea fishing for silver salmon. Manfred rented a bicycle and went off on his own. I spent some fabulous time all with myself.  Hans returned in the early afternoon with 6 good size salmon (the limit) of which we kept 2.  He had a great time, it was sunny, calm and he did not get seasick.  Barbecued half of one fish for dinner  - wonderful taste, just melted on our tongue.  In the evening all 3 of us took a guided tour through the Pipeline Oil Terminal where on an average 70 ships a month are filled with oil from the pipeline. Quite interesting.

8-2-00    Valdez  to Tok

Unbelievable, my groceries were stolen first thing this morning when I shopped before leaving Valdez.   After paying for them, I left the bags on the counter with the cashier to get something else I had forgotten.  When I returned 2 minutes later the bags were gone.

Our drive from Valdez to Tok  -  a continuation of the beautiful scenery, along the border of Wrangell - St. Elias National Park.  When we got to Tok, Alaskas National Animal has finally caught up with us!  Mosquitoes, mosquitoes, mosquitoes, everywhere, we were afraid to leave our RV.  Good thing this place is only a one night stopover. Also time to take care of another oil change for the RV.

8-3-00     Tok to Haines Junction 

We are once again back on the Alaska Highway, crossing the border back in to Canada.  The scenery has not changed much since Seward, rivers, creeks, lakes and green forests on either side of the highway, snow covered mountains and gleaming blue glaciers in the distance.  The air is so clear, it feels a stroll will take us right up to the peaks, they look  close enough to touch and yet they are 100 - 150 miles away. Unfortunately the road conditions are awful again, also lots of construction going on. After 9 hours of driving we pass Kluane Lake and arrive in Haines Junction, the entrance to Kluane National Park, our next destination.   Manfred and Hans went out to dinner together while I took some personal time.

8-4-00    Haines Junction

The weather is great, but the mosquitoes are still with us.  It is the very first time I use the headnet, Hans and Manfred are too embarrassed to use theirs.  The ranger suggested a hike along Kathleen Lake up to King's Throne, an elevation gain of 4000 feet over 3 miles, ending at an icefield overlooking lots of alpine lakes beneath us.  It felt great to finally go hiking again.  Hans and Manfred got their big reward on the way down.  As we came around a switchback there she was:  good looking, brunette, about 25 years old, bare breasted, some pretty big boobs too!

8-5-00

Disappointment when we woke up, rain showers and south of us the mountains and glaciers are shrouded in fog.  We had reservations for 9 AM this morning to go heli-hiking, but the helicopter won't fly. North of us it looked clear, so off we went for another hike, a 10 mile loop to Auriol.  Nothing too strenuous, except we had to find our way through small creeks and bogs, so of course we ended up with wet feet. Mosquitoes are still a terrible bother and all 3 of us wore our headnets the whole hike, what a sight!

8-6-00    Haines Junction to Haines 

Time to continue and go back into Alaska again for the very last time, with a continuation of the beautiful scenery along the Haines Highway south towards Haines. A small pretty fishing village with character, nestled on the sound, at the of Lynn Canal, surrounded by high mountains at the beginning of the Inside Passage.  We have a nice spot in one of the nicer RV parks.

8-7-00     Haines

Valley of the Eagles - where every year from Sept. - Nov. 3500 Bald Eagles arrive to go salmon fishing.  A visit to the very interesting American Bald Eagle Foundation Museum, a drive through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve where the Disney film "White Fang" was filmed. Even though it is only August, we did see quite a few eagles. Another worthwhile visit:  The Alaska Indian Art Center where we watched the Tlingit Indians carving a 22 foot totem pole for the actor James Earl Jones.

8-8-00    On the ferry from Haines to Skagway

With clear skies we drove our RV and Jeep onto a passenger ferry with cabins, part of the Alaska Marine Highway System which sails the Inside Passage. What an experience to watch all those RV's being maneuvered around and fit, sometimes with only an inch or two to spare.

Skagway  -  the fun city, where all the cruise ships stop (only 3 were docked today (one of them the Nordam from HAL).  Had quite a few beers at the Red Onion Saloon (formerly a house of ill repute), where a jazz band with musicians from the cruise ships had a jam session.

8-9-00

A guided walking tour of Skagway in the morning which included the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.  In the afternoon a 4 hour hike to Icy Lake and Upper Reid Falls.  Today there were 4 cruise ships in town letting loose 8000 tourists (the Ryndam from HAL amongst them).  In the evening Hans and I went to see the 1898 Soapy Smith Show where I was the evenings winner with $175,100 on the 21 table and ended up on stage winning a tape.  Quite a full day.

8-10-00    Skagway over Carcross towards Atlin

Manfred left early in the morning to take the narrow gauge White Pass / Yukon RR up to Fraser.  We drove to Fraser and picked him up before leaving Alaska and crossing the border into Canada again, continuing on to Carcross.  The scenery again is just breathtaking, we stopped so many times to take pictures, soaring glacier capped peaks, waterfalls and pristine alpine lakes.  I could have spent a whole day along the way just taking in the magnificent views.  A black bear walking along the highway and eating berries, right next to us, seemed to make for an absolutely perfect day.

2 Miles before Carcross:  a huge boom, the RV shook like it was coming apart at the seams  -  we had blown an inside tire (Firestone!!!!).  Of course our cell phone said:  no service  (which is what it has shown for most of the trip through Alaska and Canada, AT&T absolutely sucks). With the Jeep I drove into Carcross (populaion 145) for help - no towing service, no repair station, even the police had no answers for me. Finally after hanging on the pay phone for 50 minutes with one of the 3 roadside assistance clubs we belong to, they finally sent us help fromWhitehorse, 60 miles away.  4 hours later we were on the road again, but not towards Atlin, had to go to Whitehorse to purchase another spare tire and spend the night there.
 
 

Another atempt to get to Atlin in BC (a very small town one of Manfred's friends from Germany insisted we had to go and visit).  After a good start on a sunny morning our plans were changed again. The road to Atlin was horrible, not paved, under construction, after 5 miles of potholes and ruts we turned back and ended up on pretty Teslin Lake.  We decided we all needed to take time out and calm down.  We have a beautiful spot right on the lake and will stay 2 nights to regroup and work out a new itinerary.

Time to change sheets, do laundry, ironing and cleaning, reading, playing cards and take naps.
 

Hi everybody, 

before I send out my travellog I think I need to clear up something:  The $175,100 I won was "play money" only.  I thank you for all your congratulations, I wish it would have been real.

So here it goes:

TRAVELLOG   XIII

8-13-00  Teslin to Iskut

From the Alaska Highway driving south on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, the scenery is still magnificent, the road unpaved in some parts, almost no traffic during our 8 hour drive.  The RV park in Iskut (population 17) is right on Tatogga Lake, but is really only just about one notch above wild camping in the wilderness.   I am glad we are only staying one night.  We ate at the only "restaurant" within a hundred mile radius and I am not so sure that was the smart thing to do.  Hans' barbecued ribs looked and tasted very strange.

8-14-0   Iskut to Stewart(BC)/Hyder(Alaska)

Still continuing further south through the Tongass National Forest.  Again more than half of the highway is not paved and reminds us of the "Top of the World Highway", lots of tire fragments along the side of the road are an ominous sign.  Our lonely 6 hour drive takes us across several one lane wooden bridges and we saw several black bears along the way.  Foodshopping was a totally hopeless expedition, from my list of about 30 items we found 8 
in 3 different "grocery stores".  I do not understand, where do the locals shop and what do they eat? 

Stewart (Canadian) and Hyder (Alaska) are towns 2 miles and an international border apart.  Stewart has the bank, Hyder has the bears, Stewart has the school, Hyder has the glacier, Stewart is on Pacific time, Hyder on Alaska time and so on …… both towns have their own post office and Canadian money is used in both towns.

5 miles outside of Hyder along a gravel road is famous Fish Creek where the bears come to fish and feed on spawning chum salmon.  When we get there, lots of photographers are set up all along the creek with all their sophisticated equipment.  Rangers patrol the area to make sure people do not get too close to the bears.  I cringed, it is almost a circus atmosphere.  I am so surprised that the bears just ignore the crowds and the car noise and go about their business.  We were so lucky to see a grizzly sow and her cub feeding in the creek not more than 25 feet away from us.  What an incredible sight, they are such magnificent animals.  As we leave the area, another grizzly sticks his head out between the bushes, trying to cross the street and creating a traffic jam.  These few hours watching the bears certainly made up for the lousy roads and the trouble getting here.

8-15-00

We had planned to go hiking on the Titan Trail up to the Salmon Glacier, but the weather changed our plans again, it is too foggy and rainy.  Even the bears don't like the weather and did not come out today.  Hans and Manfred checked out a logging operation where all the logs get dumped into the river and floated downstream.  In the evening we got "hyderized" at the Glacier Inn in Hyder.  The secret drink turned out to be 150 proof Everclear (grain 
alcohol).

8-16-00   Stewart/Hyder to Kitwanga/Hazelton

Slowly we are making our way back south.  Today we finally left Alaska behind us.  We are in luck today, a fabulous new road, still wonderful scenery and as we leave the coast behind us the sun comes out.

Kitwanga - Hazelton -Skeena River Area, where one finds the greatest concentration of totem poles from the Gitksan Indians.  We took a guided tour (in german) of Ksan Indian Village with its totem poles and 7 tribal houses. The culture of these First Nations People is just so interesting.

8-17-00 / 8-18-00

Driving back over Prince George, again through Jasper National Park towards Edmonton.  Instead of covering the distance in three days we really pushed it and made it in two.  All 3 of us want to leave nature and scenery behind us for a while, we are starving for some big city live, good restaurants, good shopping and warmer weather. Edmonton seems to have all of that to offer and more.

8-19 - 8/28/00

Edmonton  -  I woke up during the early morning hours with a tummy ache and did not feel up to doing anything.  So Hans took Manfred to the Edmonton Mall and by 3 o'clock in the afternoon he took me to the emergency room at the Misericordia Hospital.   By that time the pain was unbearable and I was not able to keep even water down.  Since this was a Saturday, things in the emergency room did not move too fast and finally by  7PM my blood tests showed that my appendix needed to come out.  They called in a surgeon only to discover a half hour later that they did not have a bed for me.  So I was packed into an ambulance (intravenous drip, morphine, antibiotics and all) for a half hour ride across town to the Royal Alexandria Hospital.  Around midnight I finally had surgery for a perforated appendix.

Spent two days in the hospital while Hans and Manfred made arrangements for him to fly back to Germany a week early.  Hans put him on a Greyhound bus to Calgary where he had to find his own way to the airport.

The doctor was not too thrilled to send me "home to an RV" to recuperate, but I did not want to stay in the hospital any longer, especially not knowing whether our insurance would cover our expenditures. An RV is really not the most suitable place to be after an operation, getting in and out of bed under normal circumstances is not that easy, to do it after surgery is quite painful.  But all turned out okay, a couple of painful and boring days and Dr. Mossey pronounced me fit to travel the following week.  Whatever would we have done if this would have happened to me a week earlier in some remove village of Alaska?

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 21:43:39 EDT
Subject: last page to Travellog XIII

Apparently I forgot this page last time:

On our very last day in Edmonton I did manage to get to the West Edmonton Mall - the world's largest shopping and entertainment facility:  over 800 stores, a hotel, IMAX theater, amusement park with a roller coaster I would have loved to go on, deep sea adventure with a submarine running through the center of the mall, ice skating rink, miniature golf park, waterpark with pool, giant waterslides and actual waves, a basin with performing dolphins, restaurants, etc. etc.  Aside from the mall (what I have seen through the car window) Edmonton seems to be a lovely, very clean and green cosmopolitan city.

8-28-00  to  8-30-00

Drove to Calgary today and decided to end our trip prematurely and slowly start heading back towards California.  We will leave British Columbia, Vancouver Island and the state of Washington for another time.  Canada is a beautiful country and worth another trip.  I won't be able to do anything for a couple of weeks and we don't want to just "hang around" and wait for me to get back to my old self.

Next stop:  back to Great Falls to get our RV serviced and looked at after all the driving we have done.  We wanted to make sure our brakes and everything else is in good shape before heading back over the mountains.

Next day on to  Missoula  -  when we drove through Montana in mid June everything looked lush and green, now everything is totally parched.  A lot of roads, parks, national forests are closed because of  fires.  We drove by one of them, thick smoke hangs in the air for miles and miles driving on the Interstate,  lots of fire trucks and equipment everywhere, helicopters and planes dropping water and fire retardant.

A lot of driving, we are heading towards the Oregon Coast and hope to be there by Friday before Labor Day Weekend.  Our next stop is Boardman, Oregon, on the Columbia River,  where I would have loved to do some serious whitewater rafting, but I guess that is out of the question.
 

TRAVELLOG  XIV
 

9-1-00

It is Friday before Labor Day weekend and we are in Boardman, Oregon.  Things just do not go smooth for us any more.   When we got up this morning we discovered another flat on the RV.  The only tire place in town refused to change and fix our tire, the guy just did not feel like working on a Friday.  So we made another call to road assistance and again we have to wait for somebody to come from 60 miles away to take our flat off and put on the spare.   He also tells us that we have an oil leak from a broken seal on the rear axle, probably the result of those terrible road conditions in Alaska. We will deal with this situation after the holiday weekend.

After a late start it is a beautiful drive along the great Columbia River on the Oregon side.  It makes its way through the Cascade Range, incredible vistas, several dams and locks, fish ladders, basalt cliff, an awesome gorge and in the distance volcanic peaks.  Too bad we do not have a chance to explore the area in more detail.  Along the way we drive through a small town which is advertising a "Testicle Festival"!!!!!?????

In the afternoon we make our way through Portland where everybody is trying to get out of town for the long weekend and we find ourselves in the midst of rush hour, trying to find a gas station to fill our empty tank, the traffic is horrendous and by mistake we take a wrong turn and end up in a crowded shopping center with our long rig and car in tow. Wonderful!  We finally do make it to the Oregon Coast and find a great RV resort in Cannon Beach.

9-1 to 9-4-00

After driving for 5 days straight we will stay here for the holiday weekend. Cannon Beach and Seaside are nice, typical beach towns with shops and fine restaurants, a perfect place to rest, relax, take long walks along the beach and enjoy some great dinners.

We are continuing our drive south on the Oregon Coast Highway where all beaches are free and open to the public: lots of state parks and scenic pullouts, lighthouses, magnificent beaches with tide pools, marshy lagoons and steep ocean cliffs.  It is berry season and all along the coast we find delicious, ripe, raspberries and blackberries just waiting to be picked. The rugged coast with its huge boulders and sea stacks sticking out of the ocean is as beautiful and scenic as the California coast, but much less crowded.  Coos Bay is our next overnight stop, where we just happen to find a casino for some evening entertainment.

9-5 to 9-8-00

We are finally back in California, staying for 3 nights in Klamath.  Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park - Redwood National Park - Prairie Creek Redwood State Park:  old growth redwood groves with towering coastal redwood trees, which only grow here because of the coastal fog and moisture, some of them over 300 feet tall, ancient, hundreds of years old, a wilderness of giants.  We have glorious weather and since my hiking abilities are not back to normal yet, we take many scenic drives through these wonderfully serene forests. This is a great area to spend a few weeks, the parks have an extensive system of hiking trails and there are lots of pretty beach communities and fishing villages.

9-9-00

Our last overnight is in an RV park in Petaluma before crossing the San Francisco Bay area and ending our trip in Seaside, California.

It is exactly 7 months since we left Seaside to start our adventure and here are some stats:

We drove 17,100 miles with our RV "Howe" and an extra 15,200 miles with our Jeep "Rory".  We covered 25 American States including Alaska, 3 Canadian Provinces and crossed the border on foot into Mexico.  We visited 28 National Parks, numerous National Forests, State Parks and Historic Sites

We had no major accidents and received no parking or speeding tickets, but hit 2 gas stations, slid into a ditch, got stuck on the tow hitch once and blown off the road by high winds also only once.  We received 3 cracks on the windshield, had 3 flats and one blown tire - all on the RV.  The pinion seals on the rear axle on both RV and Jeep were broken from the horrible roads in Alaska and our jeeping excursions and both vehicles needed a front wheel alignment during our trip.  Now we need all new tires also for both vehicles.

Hans received stitches in his head in Texas, I had root canal in Colorado and left my appendix in Edmonton, Canada.

It was the vacation of a lifetime and certainly a retirement trip to remember.