Mile 0 behind us, we continued on the AlCan. The next overnight was on the Peace River at Peace Island Park—a nice little overnight, electric, and water spots with lots of space.
We made another stop at Triple-G Hideaway in Fort Nelson.
The next day we continued, stopping to admire Muncho Lake.
Our evening stopover was at Liard Hot Springs for the famous springs. They have electrified bear fencing around the springs.
We all took a dip in the springs, moving upstream for hotter temps and downstream for lower.
Much like 59 years earlier.
We only spent one night at Liard and continued to the Yukon.
The next stop was Watson Lake and the Sign Forest. We checked on our sign, placed there 4 years ago and the Chens put one of theirs up.
Our sign (license plate) had lost the marker that we put on it over time so we added some back. Here is a view of part of the ‘forest’.
We boondocked in the parking lot near the forest and continued the next day. Another overnight near Teslin Lake with a 15amp spot (I just hooked up Starlink). Our next stop was Whitehorse YT for some restocking, and laundry and we took a day trip to Skagway. We also drove around Whitehorse to see the sights.
On our day trip to Skagway, we stopped to see Emerald Lake on the way.
Skagway was Skagway, touristy and pretty busy since there were two cruise ships in port. On the way back, Marcia spotted some animals. We stopped to see a mother Grizzly bear and her cub. We watched them for at least 20 minutes.
Back on the road to keep going. At Whitehorse, we needed to make a decision. Do we take the Top of the World highway that continues north through Dawson City and on to Tok, or do we stay on the ALCAN highway and head directly to Tok. We looked at the weather report as it had been raining quite a bit and was forecast to do more. The Top of the World highway had quite a bit of construction going on and that could mean muddy roads and ruts. We opted to try to get to the TOTW highway on the return.
We came across a bridge that was no longer in use. I couldn’t help thinking that, in 1964, we may have driven across this bridge with our station wagon and trailer.
We were still trying to get to the elusive Alaska border. We had to stop one more night at Burwash Landing. We boondocked in front of the Kluane Museum of History. The worker there was very friendly and outgoing and had no issue with us staying. The museum is a great little one basically in the middle of nowhere.
The next day we were able to get to the Alaska border and on to Tok for a few nights. A total of 1257 miles from Milepost 0 to Tok.
When we left our story, we were heading to Northern Washington. We ended up in Port Angeles, staying at the Elwha Dam RV Park. This park is a cute, privately-owned location. We, however, were in a rather odd spot. It was almost like a head-in motorhome space.
There was a space in front of us and one to the right, a embankment was to the left. When we got there I had to pull the trailer in behind the RV in front and pull the truck out to the right (we talked to them and they moved their tow vehicle to allow us). I then had to park behind the trailer. Also, the back of the trailer was very far off the ground. They have to redesign the space, and they said they would.
Port Angeles is on the north end of Olympic National Park so we took a drive into the park, luckily we hit a day where there was virtually no delay getting in. It was quite a climb to the top.
View of Port Angeles and Canada across the water.The Olympic mountain range.
Due to Covid, the ferry to Victoria Island was shut down. The Canadians didn’t want any Americans coming in. Not that we would have as we have been in Canada in each of the last three years and it is not fun going through customs on either end!
We headed back to the coast next, trying to stay cool and we succeeded. The next stop was in Ilwaco, WA at the Eagles Nest RV Park. This was quite an experience, meaning the park. The location is pretty good and the weather was cool and wet sometimes.
Our space left much to be desired. It was a back-in, which is fine, but it must have sloped over 2′ from the front to back. I tried to get level numerous times but could not get the back high enough, safely, to allow the front to be low enough to be level! I eventually just parked on the area to the side of our spot:
Standing in the spot showing where we had to go.Using almost all my ‘Lego’ blocks and full lengths of black hose!
While I was outside I heard someone across the road drive to his spot, get out, and let out a few explicatives! He had driven over a water valve in the ground near his spot. It started leaking immediately and shortly after that all water was shut off in the park! Luckily we always have some water in our tank. The water was restored later the next day.
Another issue that was a nice issue. There were a LOT of trees in the park. This means my satellite reception was an issue. I tried it anyway and learned from it. Normally I place the dish in a location where it can tune in all three satellites but here I could only get one. I found out that even if we can’t get them all we can still watch some TV with less that then full complement.
We did many driving trips around and a bit of walking. We visited the North Head lighthouse also.
We headed to a place we have been before to spend the next week. We stayed at the Columbia Riverfront RV Park. We got a riverview spot and it was very nice.
The only thing that really marred our visit was a fisherman fell out his kayak when placing his fishing lure out in the river. They could not find him and searched for him well into the night. They found his body a few days later. While we were in the area we took Jewels (cat) for a checkup.
We were now heading back to the Oregon coast but an opportunity arose to visit a friend of Roxie and me. We went to see our friend Judy and her husband Ray in central Oregon. We used to work in the same office for many years and I got to know her late husband by doing computer work for his business. We went to their house and spent the night in their driveway. The next day they showed around the towns near them
Taken from Judy and Ray’s house
With Labor Day upcoming we were looking for space during this busy weekend. I pretty much took the first thing I could find. It was at the Port of Siuslaw campground near Florence OR. Now, parts of this campground are not the most beautiful and that is where we were. But, it was cool and we had a spot!
While we were there, the huge fires started in central Oregon. One was very near the friend where we just stayed. We were worried about them. We weren’t affected until the last 3 days of our week stay. The wind shifted to blow out to sea from central Oregon. This is what we saw one day:
The fires changed some of our plans. I had worked out reservations to have us head down the coast all the way to Crescent City, CA to get to our 2-week stay in Grants Pass, OR. However, the fires changed those plans as the road to Grants Pass from Crescent City (US199) was closed near Cave Junction due to a fire burning by the road.
We changed to stay at Osprey Point RV Resort in Lakeside OR for 6 nights. This park is a bit long in the tooth and needs some upgrades but it was OK for us since the same is true for us!
We had 5 nights left before Grants Pass and we needed to use the road just south of Coos Bay, so we stayed at the same park in Coos Bay we stayed on the way up the coast.
We really enjoyed the stay for 2 weeks at Grants Pass at the River Park RV Resort. We took many drives around, looking at properties, looking at the fire damage. It was slightly smokey some days and rainy on some others. We had a riverside spot, which was wonderful!
With the fires, the taxes (not sales) and the political clime, we have kind of taken Oregon off our list of potential home locations. So that meant we wanted to look at Idaho. So that is where we went next. We knew what eastern Oregon was like so we tried to get through there as quickly as we could.
On our way through eastern Oregon, I had a small scare in the trailer. We stopped for a restroom break and I noticed some water coming out from under our wardrobe, where the water pump was. Well, that worried me until we stopped for the night. I removed EVERYTHING from the wardrobe, lifted up the false floor, and looked inside. No liquid by the pump, good. When I was removing everything we found a liquified sweet potato and following that leakage it was apparent that the potato was the source. Whew!
View of the inside of the campground loop.View of the outside of the campground loop.
We headed on to Boise, ID with a stop in Burns, OR. We met a very interesting character in the local pub and grill. His name was Doyle, he was a cowhand and he let us know how it really was in Burns and we loved it! On our way there we stopped again and I saw this ‘shoe tree’!
We made it to Boise (actually Eagle) and stayed at the Hi Valley RV Park for a week. We were able to visit our fellow Airstreamers, Ken and Mike, which was a great visit. We took care of some chores, had Jewels in for another vet visit, took some drives and explored the Boise area.
We had a Shasta trailer park across from us and the sun lit it up one evening:
Going to Boise was helpful. It showed us that it was not the area for us. Too busy, too much growth, and the prices that go with that growth. So, off to eastern Idaho.
We stopped at the Y Knot Winery RV park in Glenn’s Ferry, ID. This was a nice campground but the Three Island Crossing State Park down the road was amazing! Missed out on that one. However, the winery had a really good restaurant.
We got on the road the next day and stated at a City campground, the Heyburn Riverside RV Park. This was a nice, simple park, good for the night.
We made to eastern Idaho, to the Snake River RV Park in Idaho Falls, ID. We have been through Idaho Falls 2-3 other times and really like the area. We looked around at many different properties and it is definitely possible in that area. We only stayed there 4 nights due to a pending cold snap. We had to escape the weather!
