We are in Homer AK for a week.
The last post had us about to get to milepost 0, we did (on June 14):
We didn’t stop there as the nights continually were getting longer. We made it to the Walmart parking lot in Ft. St. John, BC:
Our next major destination was Liard River Hot Springs. We stopped in Ft. Nelson on the way. I remember bits of the Liard Hot Springs from the 1964 trip. The mosquitos bothered everyone else but didn’t bother me at all. Maybe that is why my dad called me ‘stinky’? I forgot to take a pic of the hot springs but I got one of our site. (PS. This time the mosquitos DID bother me):
We left Liard a day early and gifted our site to the next camper that occupied it. We had a long day ahead. Normally the stops were nicely spaced, 200 miles or so. This stretch was not so. It was beautiful, with lots of wildlife but also very sparse:
On the way we stopped at the Signpost Forest in Watson Lake, YT to leave a ‘sign’ of our own. Let’s know if you ever see it in the future:
We made it to our camp after almost 300 miles. And the rig was so dirty! We also heard a whooshing noise under the trailer when I hooked up shore water. Our winterizing valve was hit by some rocks and it got knocked open. I closed it and all was good, for now.
The dirtiness of the rig reminded me of some pictures of the dirty rig from 1964:
The next sustained stop was Whitehorse YT. Whitehorse is a very decent sized town where you can stock up before you trek into Alaska. We visited the canyon nearby and the paddle boat:
From Whitehorse, we took a day trip down to Skagway without the trailer. Skagway is in Alaska but I don’t feel it was officially Alaska yet. Even though we had to deal with those surly Canadian border patrols when we came back.
Back at Whitehorse, I had a minor repair to do. From the rock roads I noticed that the propane line on the A-frame was no longer gray. The rocks had chipped off the paint to let the copper color show through. I covered them up with pipe insulation:
Next stop was Alaska but a bit too far for one day. We stopped overnight at a nice Provincial Park that was thick with mosquitos:
Then, on June 24, …
We spent two nights in Tok, the furthest north camping we have done, got our guns, and then headed south to Glennallen. We took a day trip from Glennallen to go to Valdez. At least there were no Canadian borders to cross. A glacier on the road to/from Valdez:
Our next stop was Palmer for multiple nights. We were timing it to get to the 4th of July get together on time. While in Palmer, the valve that got knocked with the rocks was now leaking. It probably was happening earlier but this was the first I noticed. I removed the valve and went to an RV repair shop. He told me that it was simple and if I could get the trailer there by 4pm, he can fix it:
Not a problem it was there by 3pm. He crawled under the trailer and 30 minutes later it was fixed. He put a new, tougher valve on it. $30 for all that. Wow!
We made it to our 4th of July celebration and met a lot of new people. One guy told me he lived in a small little town called Mountain Gate in California. I told him that I went to Central Valley High School. He said he did too! He was 5 years after me but it shows how truly small the world has become. Me (’78) and Mike Adams (’83):
After the 4th, we decided to try to avoid the heat and fires in the Anchorage area and we ended up in Homer.
Now you are updated, we have the next 3 weeks planned and after the first week of August we are heading back to the lower 48. We will keep you posted!
