Category Archives: Retirement

2020 – Back on the road, with a small addition.

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After the holidays, it became apparent that we needed to get back on the road. This year should be a bit different than our normal ramblings. In the last 3 years, we have had a goal each year and our path was molded to achieve that goal. We have a project, this year, that will be done is multiple pieces but no one goal.

We are planning on using our spring to look around at properties in other locales than California. We are looking at 3-4 places to potentially find somewhere to have a base for our continuing travels. We want to be close to family in California so Nevada and Washington are potentials.

However, before that, we are heading south to get in some warmer weather. We went to Bakersfield for the first week. Yes, the glamor of Bako. It was quite a bit warmer there also. The Bakersfield stop was strategic but we were able to at least wash the trailer:

When our daughter was 12 years old we got her a kitten as a pet. It was a small Siamese kitten, our daughter named her Jewels. Our daughter is now 30 and Jewels still survives. She has known Visalia as her ONLY home for her 18 years. She always loved our trailer and would roam around it when we were preparing for the next trip. She would hop in the truck and act like she wanted to go but we knew from short trips in town she did not like the truck when it was moving. As we pulled away, she would watch us drive away.

Hence the strategic Bakersfield trip. Roxie convinced me to take Jewels along with us. A week nearby would allow us to return her back to Visalia if needed. We got a good litter box for her and keep it in the shower. She did pretty well on the trip down, she crapped in her cat carrier but that can be attributed to nerves.

Where she really does good is inside the trailer. She is either on one of our laps or some other cubby or bed:

We even let her outside on her harness and leash. She doesn’t really walk the ways we want but her way.

With the trial in Bakersfield complete, we head down to Desert Hot Springs for even warmer weather. Jewels again had an issue in the truck, so we have to address that somehow. We got to our normal spot, Catalina Spa and RV park, but it was dark at the time. The spot we got had a depression running through it where some rains had runoff. We had to put quite a few blocks on the streetside and disconnected from the truck.

As soon as the trailer came off the ball it started to move! I was on the streetside and the tongue started moving toward me. I put my body against it to try to stop it, remember this trailer is about 9000 lb! The trailer tongue jack buried itself in the sand and stopped moving.

The dark sand area is where the jack stand was.

Swallowing my ego, we contacted the park management and they brought a floor jack. We got it back on the ball and looked at the issue. The trailer pivoted on the curbside wheels since they had wheel chocks between them. It actually rolled backward on the streetside about 3 feet where we had the blocks built up but I chocked the front as it looked like that was the low side. It wasn’t. Point learned. This time, and any future times, I will be chocking all sides of the wheels.

There was another interesting trailer issue that needed addressing in Desert Hot Springs. When we got to Bakersfield the trailer thermostat started reading 32° for the inside temperature. I was unsure if the sensor that was misbehaving was inside the thermostat or in the front Air Conditioning unit. Amazon to the rescue. I got a new thermostat but it turned out not helping. When we got to DHS, I got out the ladder and checked out the AC unit on the roof. A bit of cable jiggling and it started reading the correct temp. Yea!

We still have about a week here then we have to get back to the Sacramento area for the first part of February, but then who knows?

Alaska 2019 recap

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We have been in Redding for more than a month now so it is a good time to do an Alaska recap.

The planning started last year when we were traveling with the Chens. We were staying between Jasper and Hinton. In that area, I saw a turnoff that stated ‘Scenic Route to Alaska’. Some thoughts were that we were very close to the starting point, we should just go last year. Alas, we had obligations at the end of August. In hindsight, the decision was good since my mother passed away at the end of August. So we made plans to go in 2019. It would also mark 55 years since I was there last!

The only real plan we had for Alaska was a scheduled meetup with a group from Facebook on the 4th of July. We reserved a spot and it gave us a target for at least that date.

We made that date and pretty much winged it for the entire trip. Often I would make reservations for our next stop only, not any further ahead. The one exception was Denali NP. I actually made two reservations and canceled one of them once we knew our location better (it was only $6 to cancel).

For this recap, I consider the start of our trip when we entered Alberta north of Glacier NP on June 10, 2019. Then the end will be when we came back to the US at Sumas WA on Sept 3, 2019.

Here are the numbers:

Total mileage: 8673
Fuel Cost: $2303.57
Gallons: 696.15
MPG: 12.07
Avg price per gal: $3.33
High price per gal: $4.292
Min price per gal: $2.559

Trailer miles: 5783
Average miles per travel day: 199
Min travel day: 40 (Palmer to Eklutna Lake)
Max travel day: 291 (Liard Hot Springs to Teslin YT)
Travel days: 29

RV park expenses
Total: $3088.99
Overnights: 85
Avg per night: $36.34
Min: 0 (Walmart in Chilliwick)
Max: $62.11 (Seward KOA)

There were also numerous locations for pulling off the road, dry camping but we were never at a point where we had to rely upon it. One negative that we have found is that virtually every turnout in the Yukon was signed to NOT allow overnight parking. If there was an area off the highway, it didn’t appear to have a sign. There were many areas in BC that would not allow it also.

Alaska is huge, but the easily driveable area is not. My estimation is that you have about 500 miles north to south and east to west that you can drive. Most other areas are only accessible via sketchy roads, water or air. It is all pretty civilized also. There are some stretches of not much but not at all like you might expect. We thought it would be much more barren.

The stretch that seemed more like what we thought Alaska would be like was Northern Alberta and Yukon Territory. Long segments between towns. The biggest town in, and capital of, the Yukon was Whitehorse. Whitehorse’s population is 26K, the rest of the territory is another 10K.

Anchorage is a metropolis (300K) with 2 Costcos! It is a stark difference to other locales but helpful if you need to get something done. Roxie had to have a medical procedure and we were able to get it done there.

We tried to take day trips to some of the other smaller, well-known towns (Skagway, Whittier, Valdez). Fairbanks was a smaller version of Anchorage but much more palatable. Denali was both very rural and touristy. Homer was, by far, our favorite! We will spend about a month there the next time.

We also did not do everything while we were there. This gives us some more to do when we get back there again. We will go back, but it won’t be for another 5-10 years. We have more to see in the Northern Hemisphere.

If you decide to head to Alaska, you can not fret too much about the planning ahead but there is one thing you must do. Join the RVing to Alaska group on Facebook. Every year a new one is started so pick the right one. There is a huge amount of information available there, you can learn a lot from others and you can save it right in FB and get to it later. Here is the 2019 version: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rvingtoalaska2019/