Chapter 2- The Alcan Begins

As we start chapter 2 of our saga, we have still not yet transmitted chapter 1. We have most of our friends on the list for these. If you can think of someone we left off, please forward a copy to them. We realize that this is truly a collection of unedited notes that we hope to clean up in the future. In the meantime we hope you enjoy.

Thursday August 7, 1997-cloudy with rain

We begin in Dawson Creek BC, which is milepost 0 of the ALCAN-or Alaska Highway. The highway was originally constructed in 1942, when there was concern about the possibility of a land invasion by the Japanese into Alaska during World War II. The road was thus built as a means to provide a land route for military equipment up to Alaska. Quite impressive when you think about it. An 1,800 mile road built by the government (Army corps of engineers) in just 9 months.

When we drove into Dawson Creek (from Jasper), our arrival was in conjunction with a cold front that brought wind and rain. Peter was totally convinced that each town we saw would be our last, the end of civilization, then we would find a Wal-Mart in the next town. We pulled into camp for the night to the local RV park, and set up shop. After the pilot light on the hot water heater blew out 5 times, we placed the picnic table on its side and used it as a wind block. We had hot water to wash the dishes. So far we have yet to use the A/C on the trailer. The heat however has been on most nights, since we discovered it.

To further quell Peter's concerns that we were out in the middle of nowhere, we were able to find a new printer cartridge for the HP deskjet printer in Dawson Creek at the first store we tried which was called Three Monkeys computers. Yes it cost $50.00 but this was only a sign of costs to come. We have paid up to $3.00 per gallon for gas. If we were driving the Saturn at 42 mpg it would not be much of an issue, but right now we are getting about 9 on the good days

On the way to Fort Nelson we saw three bears on the side of the road. They were just doing their bear thing of looking for nuts and berries. Fort Nelson also surprised Peter, as it was almost a real town. We decided to push on an additional 75 miles and head to Tetsa River Outfitters to camp for the night. No, we were not aware that 75 miles would take 2.5 hours as we drove over Steamboat Mtn which was under construction and mostly dirt and holes. Ellie drove this section and did a wonderful job with the "big rig".

At 7:00 we arrived and what we saw was beyond words, and we don't mean this is a positive way. The place had been a laundry camp during the 40's and the boiler was still in place. In Ellie's word's "it had a lot of character, all it's own". The children of the owners opened the barbed wire fence and let us into the horse corral/camping area that we would spend the night at. Although they had hookups, we soon choose to use the water in our tank as was not colored yellow with black flecks of unknown origin. They not only had the requisite puppy and cat, but also had a few horses that came over to say hello in the morning, one stuck his head in the trailer. We felt much better in the morning after we had put 50 miles behind us

We arrived at Stone Mountain just in time for the uphill turtle races. The contestants were two motor homes, a tandem tanker, and us. All who made it to the top were declared winners. The event was timed with a sundial. Summit Lake did not have hook-ups but it had a view, and was TONS cleaner. We passed the highest point on the Alaska Highway (4200 feet) and hung out above treeline (about 4000 ft) around the lake. We also got a chance to see Stone Sheep indigenous to Canada only. Muncho Lake was equally attractive.

At one of our rest stops during the day we see a Maroon van with a trailer. An hour later we see the same rig getting towed from a ditch at the bottom of a hill. We see the same rig at our campsite at the end of the day where the owner is attempting to fix some of the damage. We talk to him and find out that the rig had started fishtailing and never recovered. We also find out that his wife had left him earlier in the year and he had been driving almost 600 miles per day with a trailer. Out thought is that his mind may not have been fully on his driving.

For a mid day break we stopped at the Laird River hot springs. It was about a 10 minute walk down a boardwalk to a wonderful outdoor, naturally fed, hot spring. A smell of sulphur lingered for the rest of the day but it felt great. The coolest of the three pools was the only one we could deal with the temperature of. (a week later we hear that two people were attacked by a bear at this spot and this spot has been closed till further notice.) An hour after we heard this we bought the bear spray in Whitehorse.

So far, much to our dismay, the Moose have been in hiding. We are confident that we will see some before the end of the trip

We spent the night at Watson Lake, which is the site of the famous sign forest. Just imagine over 30,000 signs removed from highways all around the world and placed in one area. We even found a sign from Oak Bluffs MA. After a slide show at the visitor's center, we were on the road for the day.

One of the large Motor homes that passed us had a motto on the back, which said it well "Roughing It Smoothly". The reality that must be kept in mind is that you will spend here on Gas what you would spend on a decent hotel room anywhere else. Food is priced a little high, but you are generally buying groceries and not eating out. Campgrounds have generally been $17.00 per night.

If there were changes to be made in how we are doing this it would be to have a more powerful truck to deal with pulling the trailer, and maybe a trailer where one person could stand in the kitchen and the other could still walk by.

We also finally saw the ultimate way to travel (for Psych hospital escapees,) which is on a fully loaded bicycle. We can assure you that this is not something either of us will try. For any of you (Lida or Laurie) who are into long bike rides, this might be one to try.

Tonight we plan to take one of the recommended side trips which is into the town of Atlin BC which is described as the little Switzerland of BC. We know that it is a 60-mile drive down a dirt road and are ready for this, and have planned two hours down the road. The turn off for Atlin is at Jake's corner. About 5 miles down the dirt road we decided to stop so that we could reach some audiotapes, which are tucked under the seat. While Ellie is getting the tapes out, Peter decides to take a look around the rig and see how everything looks. Everything looks fine with the exception of the right rear tire of the trailer. A quick check with a pressure gauge tells us that we have a problem. We turn around and head back to Jake's corner where we find who we presume was Jake to remove a staple from our tire and patch the inside of the tire. He charges us $8.00 cdn, which is the most reasonable price we have paid for anything so far on this trip. After an hour delay, we are back on the road to Atlin.

e arrive in town and find the Norseman RV Park. It is a park at the edge of the bay with 18 spaces all of which back up to the shore of the lake. It turns out to be the first park where we meet almost all of the people staying there. There primary business is four houseboats that they rent and the campground is just to fill the time and make the most of their space on the shore. It is the type of place where the owners of the campground would even cash a check for $200 for some of the people staying there. Peter called Sue to figure out how to get the dialer on the PC to work with calling cards, which will make the Email process easier. This would be another layover day so we did not need to get a real early start in the AM.

After we got up, we took a canoe out on the lake, a walk through town and it's few shops, had dinner and then took a bike ride through town. All in all a very mellow day. This had been one of nicest places we camped thus far on the trip. It had also been the first time that we were camped with no bath or shower facilities at the campground and we used all of the facilities of our trailer. (Was that put nicely or what) To get a proper perspective, you need to realize that the town has a total of eight pay phones. One of the amusing occurances at the campground was when someone asked us if we had any peanut butter, it was to give some pills to their dog.

we stopped in Whitehorse (pop22,000) which is the capitol of the Yukon (pop 33,000) so we could have the oil changed in the truck and stop for groceries at a store with reasonable prices. This stop takes us almost 3 hours.

We drove into Skagway. The ride in which was only 120 miles had a very strong headwind so it was slower going. We crossed the border with no problems and even found a customs officer with a sense of humor. Skagway was a port town during the gold rush of 1997. Folks landed here before the start of a very difficult climb up the pass to the Yukon where there was a large gold strike. The town now caters to cruise ships. When the ships pull out, they close the town and roll up the sidewalks. This happens around 6:00pm. Perhaps at a later point in life we too will travel by ship??? It is very strange to find a tourist town where you can always find a parking space with no problems.

It was very windy in the town of Skagway. After we leveled the trailer, we noticed a line of fresh sawdust piles every 16 inches starting near the rear of our trailer. We decide that most of the trees in the area look alive and decide not to worry about it.

As we are sitting here typing in the morning, we are listening to a local radio station which is going on about all of the different back to school safety things that kids need to know, bicycle safety, crossing the street, what to do if there is a moose blocking your path and so on.

Our goal for the day was to hike the first section of the Chilkoot trail which was the trail used by the miners. About two miles in we met one of the trail maintenance supervisors who told us that a section up ahead might have a few inches of water on it due to some beaver dams. About a quarter of a mile up, we saw what we thought was the area in question. It was more like 18 inches of water. He showed up a few minutes later and said that this was before the section he was talking about and had never seen this section like this in the 14 years he had been working in this area. We sat down on the side of the swamp, joined him for lunch, and then turned around and called it an early day. We spent a better portion of the rest of the afternoon debating whether we should spend $420 per person to take a glacier cruise the next day. We decided that we will likely do it but would wait until Friday, which is supposed to have better weather.

Everyone has told us the winds we are seeing are very atypical for the summer in Skagway. We called Sue & Joel who are housesitting and asked them to forward some of our mail to us in Fairbanks. We spent some time in the Post Office today and found out that up here "next day" means within the week. If the people flying out have light bags, a few more pounds of mail make it onto the plane. We have an early dinner, and actually get in bed at 10:pm

We wander to the local travel agent in the morning to book our Glacier Bay tour. We decide that we will fly from Skagway to Gustavus this evening, stay at the Gustavus Inn, and then take the Bay tour from Gustavus in the AM and fly back to Skagway in the late afternoon. We used the rest of the afternoon to deal with laundry, and Peter finally found an Email connection in town from which he sent out chapter one of our saga. While Ellie went into town (5 blocks away) for the self guided walking tour, Peter took some time off and vegged.