Alaska Trip - 2008

We have planned for and tried to take this Alaska trip for four years. Our being a vendor at RV shows/rallies and presenting seminars always got in the way. This year, everything fell into place with only one of the big rallies scheduled for August. So we decided to skip that one leaving the summer open and Alaska calling us. It was a go. Our friends could not join us but we decided to go anyway. You have to do this stuff while you are healthy!

We spent our normal January-April time in Florida and Georgia and departed there late April and headed to Texas. There, we visited family and friends for about three weeks and departed northbound on May 17th. We followed David and Lana Greer about 300 miles to the Texas panhandle (Clarendon, near Amarillo) and stayed the night there after a tour of their ranch and to meet their cow. We continued the drive up through Denver, then Wyoming, and finally arrived in Bigfork, Montana to visit relatives. Had a great time there for about three days and then it was time for Canada. We left Bigfork on May 26th and had an easy border crossing—for a change, no one searched the coach!

We were just driving up through Banff and Jasper parks and did very little stopping since we had spent about 6 weeks in that area last year. It is gorgeous country but we are headed for gorgeous country. North of Jasper was new country but not much to see so most days were in the 300-mile range. Here, we are passing a still-frozen lake!






Dawson Creek, BC

We got to our first “real” on-the-way-to-Alaska city—Dawson Creek, British Columbia—also “Mile 0” of the ALCAN highway. Dawson Creek is where many of the caravans meet for the first time. The towns we go through are small and it's a long way between them. I was on one stretch of highway that had a sign warning drivers that it was 103 miles to the next services.





The ALCAN was one of the significant accomplishments in early WWII when the US Army built the 1,500 mile road from Dawson Creek, BC to (almost) Fairbanks, Alaska in EIGHT MONTHS!!! This was an impressive accomplishment by any standard. There are many things lost in history and the significance of the ALCAN Highway project was rapidly overshadowed by other war news.

One of the unusual aspects of the highway project is called the Kiskatinaw Bridge. It is one of the very few curved bridges in the world. There is one short section of the ALCAN Highway that is preserved in a park but you can drive it. We were just passing through this area so, we actually drove the motorhome with the car in tow over this section. It was a bit rough but we were going slow. Yes, we drove across the bridge.

Civilians were being recruited for the road-building job and even servicemen were being asked to volunteer to go north for the project. It was definitely into the unknown as the land had not been explored and no one actually knew what was there. This is an actual recruiting poster used at the time. I thought it was a real eye-opener!

The initial road was completed in September 1942 (the month/year I was born) and allowed supplies to be trucked into Alaska. During construction, the Japanese attacked the island of Attu (part of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska). This was the site of the only World War II battle on United States soil. The news of that battle spurred the construction.

There is lots of driving up here! That ALCAN is a bit shorter now (they have straightened it out in many places over the years). So when you leave Dawson Creek, BC, you are just driving. We were planning on a maximum of 300 miles daily so definitely not rushing. But it's a long trip up here!

One of the best do-not-leave-home-without-it books to have is "The Milepost." Get a new copy (it comes out about March each year). Starting at Dawson Creek (Mile "0"), The Milepost guides you along the ALCAN highway and provides information down to the tenth-of-a-mile—including every turn-out, restaurant, service station, bridge/stream/river/lake, and other stuff including an occasional beaver dam, too. You will definitely use it!

One of the problems is that there are numerous mile markers. There are Historic Markers (the original ones) and these are actually used as addresses in some locations. There are newer mile markers as a result of shortening the ALCAN about 130± miles. Then there are the kilometer markers since you are in Canada—it's their highway—part of the original deal was that we had to give the highway to them. The Milepost book will show you how to distinguish.

The Yukon Territory

Like many other places on this planet, for years I have wanted to visit the Yukon [Territory] every since Sergeant Preston and his faithful dog, Yukon King, were on TV back in the 1950s. I don't think I ever saw his Canadian Mountie uniform in full color since we only had black-and-white reception on our TV then. But what the heck, we all get our incentive from somewhere!

The phrase “North of 60” on the sign is referring to the 60th parallel (latitude). I find it interesting that Antarctica starts at 60° south—but when we were down there last February/March (2008), it was all ice and snow. Read about that trip here.


Visited the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, YT (Yukon Territory). Unusual! This started in 1942 when a couple of GIs (working on the ALCAN) put up signs to their hometown. They now have about 55,000 signs.



















Yesterday, we saw a road sign that said “Extreme dust. Gravel areas for next 60 km” It was where they were patching. The gravel was smooth but dusty. We ran all three roof ACs and it definitely helped keep the dust out (by creating a positive air pressure inside the coach). Really glad I learned that trick. Got into several 6-10 mile-long gravel stretches so dust was definitely a factor. Road was washboarding in some places so just slowed down to 25 mph or so. No major holes, just vibration. We only see another car every five miles or so. Roads are good and the ALCAN is paved all the way. Any gravel areas are the result of construction. They have such a short time to work on the roads (due to weather) that they jump right in.

Spent the night at Mukluk Annies (about 8 miles north of Teslin, YT). For $18.00, you get fresh grilled salmon (or a nice looking steak), salad bar, baked potato, beans, bread, and a brownie AND free boondocking next to the lake. What a deal! Salmon was just fine. There were about 30 rigs there for the night.

Just outside of Teslin, we passed the US 37 turnoff (Cassiar Highway) that goes south. That is our route going back—it goes to Prince Rupert where we get the ferry to Port Hardy on the north tip of Vancouver Island. So from that turnoff to Tok, AK (650 miles) is just going to be driving and not being a tourist. We will have to backtrack that 650 miles on the return trip and have plenty of time then to play tourist.

I can't use my satellite dish most places. The elevation goes to 85° and from a level coach, that's pointing the dish slightly downward!!! So any tall bush blocks the signal. Luckily, lots of these campgrounds have free WIFI.

We stayed at the Wal-Mart in Whitehorse, YT. It's a relatively small parking lot and there were about 25 rigs here all night. We got here early (1400) and got a good spot. Walked over to a decent restaurant for dinner. It's a looooong way to anywhere up here. Been driving steadily for six days from Bigfork and still have 1,000 miles to go to Valdez!

The next night we stayed free at a restaurant parking lot in Burwash Landing. Dinner was good. It seems fairly common for businesses (restaurants IF you eat and fuel stops IF you fill up) to trade a boondock site for the night. We stopped and toured their museum (very good) and asked about boondocking. We were told to go to the restaurant at the bottom of the hill and we could park overnight if we ate dinner there. We did.


Have seen LOTS of wildlife—not off in the distance but roadside. Sometimes we can stop, many times we can't. Have seen deer, caribou, elk (lots of velvet on those antlers), turkeys, porcupines, coyote, fox, wolf, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, black bear, and grizzly. We had to stop and the car coming toward us also had to stop to let a moose (cow) run across the highway between us. No chance for a picture. Also saw a nice bull moose on roadside but again, no picture. A fair-size rack—very impressive. Topped a hill and three full grown bison bulls were grazing ten feet away from the pavement. Up here they call them “Yukon Speed Bumps.” I didn’t make that up.

The last 100 miles of the Yukon were the poorest roads of any on the entire trip from Texas. We were warned that the frost heaves would make the highway full of ruts (oriented parallel to the highway) and frost heaves (sunken areas and tiny hills perpendicular to the highway). There were plenty of both and we encountered them immediately. It was a real test of the shocks and air bags!

The ruts were 2-3 inches deep and 6-36 inches wide running for a few foot or up to maybe 40-50 feet down the surface of the road. If you miss seeing them (allowing you to steer around it) these ruts would pull your tires/vehicle into the “groove” and you just had to fight it until the rut ended. On three occasions, my tow car started an “oscillation” back and forth and the only way to stop it was to quickly stop the coach right in the highway. Then, everything was fine again. Thankfully, there was little traffic.

You couldn't take your eyes off the road. If you missed slowing down for a frost heave, it would nearly launch the front wheels of the coach off the ground—even driving about 35-45 mph. There were small orange flags marking lots of them but hundreds had no warning. There were literally thousands of them in the 100 or so miles. Hitting these at some given speed will cause “porpoising” where the vehicle is sort of floundering up and down.

We Made it to Alaska and on to Valdez

Because of the road conditions, this has been a tough driving day. We left Burwash Landing, YT with about 215 miles to drive to Tok, AK. The border crossing was about half way. With a two-man crossing station, we encountered a few questions and were sent on our way. Easy. I'm a huge fan of Canada and have been there many times but always enjoy coming back to the USA.


It's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that you are driving over permanently frozen ground (permafrost) because the landscape looks normal with trees, plants, rocks, lakes, streams, etc. But that upper surface (don't know how deep) is simply insulating the permafrost—the permanently frozen ground underneath. If you scrape away the top, the permafrost melts and turns to mush. The highways are built on top and the freezing/thawing underneath creates the frost heaves in the highway. They've tried to solve the problem since 1942 when they built the ALCAN highway. It's still not solved.

We stopped at Buckshot Betties for lunch (a tiny place but one of the few that was open) and shared one of the three tables with a man who was in the area helping set up a research facility to test the highway/permafrost situation. It is ongoing research funded by the US, Canada, and private companies. Interesting to talk with him.

Arrived in Tok, AK, got a campground and did some laundry. With two restaurants (Fast Eddy's and the Grumpy Grizz) in Tok (1,400 people) and only one serving wine, we decided not to unhook and just cooked in the coach.






We left Tok the next day and headed for Valdez—our first major, lengthy stop—and drove more than half the 270 miles. We stopped along the way and parked in a rest area, high on a cliff, overlooking a gorgeous lake. Alaska has many highway rest areas and pull-offs—many, many—it's not uncommon to have more than one per mile! I called the Alaska State Trooper main information number and asked. It is legal to pull off the highway and spend the night. You NEVER set a bag of trash outside or put one in your car or you will be visited by a bear who WILL get to that bag. With views like this outside our window, who could resist an overnight stay!

Approaching Valdez, you go through spectacular canyons and with the snow melt, waterfalls are everywhere.























Arrive in Valdez


Our original plan was to pull in to the campground at Valdez and do a major cleaning on the coach and car before parking it for the week. We spent the night in that great rest area and woke up to 42° and rain! Everything was in a mud-coated mess. Every cavity (diesel engine, generator, car engine, battery compartment, others) and dry surface has at least a 1/4-1/2 inch of fine dust/dirt on it including under the hood on the car. My plan was to blow everything out first and then do a thorough exterior wash. I even planned to pull into that campground about noon to beat the others so we could take our time at the wash area.

I decided to blow out the dust at the rest area (they would probably have tossed us out of the campground if we blew it out there) since it was a mess. It helped that there was a good wind blowing, too. Finally, we left the rest area and got to the campground in Valdez. Nice site, big campground (200 sites), well done. We can wash the coach at the site—all we want—a really rare treat! It’s Saturday and we will wash on Monday as it will be the warmest day this week—it may get to 60°—and no rain predicted. Took the car to a local car wash and it did a pretty good job.

Pulled into the Eagle's Rest campground in Valdez for 6 nights.




There are things to see and do here. Interesting, we saw the Alaska Pipeline several times since it follows this highway to Valdez. I certainly remember the controversy over building that—both the environmental concerns and the economic factors. It was a big deal in the late 1970s following those gas shortages. Actually, the first barrel of oil was brought from the North Slope on dog sled—not pipeline.

I think that history may repeat itself on the pipeline experience and the next administration will open up ANWR for new drilling. Just my personal speculation. We shall see.

We are now officially hanging out in Valdez for six nights—but it was too long—four would have been plenty. Three good-but-small museums here. One of them specializes in ivory carving—really well done. Another had a section on the big earthquake in 1964 and the building of the pipeline. We saw a 1970s-era bumper sticker that said, “Happiness is 10,000 Okies going south with a Texan under each arm.”




Lots of fishing going on for Halibut and charters go out daily. There are fish cleaning stations everywhere. This halibut weighted in at 145 pounds.





Interestingly, we have taken a drive every night (at dusk) but NO wildlife at all except some ducks. Salmon are not running. Streams are full of glacial silt so all the water is grey/green and as they clear, the salmon should increase. That, in turn, brings out the bears. We will wait and see. We have driven around the bay to the oil storage facility (the end of the pipeline) and there are lots of boondocking sites on the way. The city even put in drinking water for the campers out there.

It’s been overcast all week in Valdez but they tell me that's normal. Last Sunday was clear and sunny but that's the last sun we have seen. Tackled washing the coach (with the high at 52° and a brisk breeze)! Not sure I was gonna survive that brisk effort. A ton of work! About two hours later, we quit. Mud layer was just caked on and took lots of scrubbing. Bug layer on front was welded on—lots of rubbing. Washing at the site is really convenient. We were both whipped!

Ferry to Whittier and Drive to Homer

We are in line to board the ferry at Valdez for the trip to Whittier on this rather cool and rainy morning. They had us unhook the car so Sandy is driving that. I'm parked over to the side and watch them.

The coach fits but there isn't a lot of room to spare. I'm tucked into the space with no flex room. Driving out will be a challenge.


Taking this ferry saves me backtracking from Valdez halfway back to Tok, then over to Anchorage, and down the Turnagain Arm (a long body of water) to intersect with the cutoff to Whittier. I’m not sure it was less expensive but we had a good ferry ride and we definitely saved about 650 miles of driving.

Our trip today is somewhat rushed in that we arrive/dock at Whittier at 1530 and will drive direct to Homer (180 miles). There is only one road in and out of Whittier—a 2.5 mile tunnel that was something to drive! They took the working railroad tunnel, filled in along the tracks, and you drive the tracks—seriously. Cars are released outbound on the hour and inbound on the half-hour. If they get a train, all the cars wait in the parking lots, and then the schedule restarts. The tunnel seems really narrow (just big enough for the train). It works.





Kodiak Island

Homer is on the south end of the Kenai Peninsula. We have a campground reserved on the 2/3-mile long piece of narrow land—called Homer Spit—extending from Homer out into Kachemak Bay. From Whittier, we arrived at the Homer Spit Campground about 2000, checked in, plugged in the coach, went out for dinner, and got ready to leave early the next morning. We had packed the day before.

We left the coach plugged in, kissed it goodbye, and got in line for the ferry to Kodiak Island—just us and the car. We had to be in line at 0730 so everyone is there and ready as soon as they unload the ferry. We finally depart at about 1045 (45 minutes late) for a loooooooong ferry ride (about 10 hours) to Kodiak Island.

There is a lengthy and strange ferry-loading process that includes an elevator for the vehicles. They are loading two normal vehicles at once, first bringing them onto a big elevator, then lowering them into the hold of the ferry.

Down in the hold, the cars are then backed into their place on the deck. It's a strange but efficient operation. For those drivers that confess they cannot back a vehicle, the ferry crew takes over. It works.

Getting off is the reverse process. You drive onto the elevator and up you go!

What's odd is that if you look on a map, the distance from Homer to Kodiak doesn't seem very far. When I first called for a reservation on the ferry, I thought I was quoted an exorbitant price for such a short trip. I was wrong. This was a great trip.

There was a US Forest Service naturalist on board and we saw several whales and other wildlife.

These three shots were from a pod of humpback wales close to our ferry. They were just playing. It was simply good luck to get the shot of the blow. The others you can (somewhat) anticipate by being poised and ready with the camera but you just have to be pointed in the right direction for the blow shot—it's just a click and hope. There were lots of blows farther out but nothing good for a picture. Fascinating!

Andy Brumbaugh, a Monaco e-mail group friend, had offered me plenty of Alaska advice over the last couple of years (he summers on Kodiak) and promised to show us around. He did more that that! He even met the ferry, guided us to our Bed and Breakfast, met us the next day, we had brunch (Sunday), and then Andy and Vivian played tour guide for us all day long. It was a great way to see the area. It was a wonderful gesture on their part. A sincere “Thanks!” to them.

We arrived on Kodiak Saturday night, after a leisurely brunch, ran around with them on Sunday. On Monday, Sandy and I visited the three museums and did more driving around including the Coast Guard Base (largest in the world).


The churches are a result of the early Russian influence in Alaska. Remember your history... the Russians settled/owned the land but never fully colonized Alaska so the colony was never very profitable. William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State, engineered the Alaskan purchase in 1867 for $7.2 million. It was called "Seward's Folly" by the critics.

We were told that the strip of Alaska that stretches south, along the inside passage (the land that sits between the water and Canada) was "tacked on" to the original deal of $7.1 million. Doing so added another $100,000 to the total sale making it $7.2 million. Doing that gave us Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and other towns. Not a bad deal for all that gold and oil and scenery, too!




All our running around was balanced by an excellent Bed and Breakfast run by Marion and Marty Owen. Marty is the Harbormaster of Kodiak. It is the second busiest harbor in the state. Marion is like a whirlwind—she never stops. She is a gourmet cook, published author, professional photographer, radio personality, avid gardener, and, don't forget, runs the Bed and Breakfast. Whew! You can read about them here. I shot the picture of their new house/B&B as we were actually leaving Kodiak on the ferry. (Theirs is the center house.) The next shot is our view, out the bedroom window in the house. Not bad!

We were in line for the ferry back to Homer at 1600 and departed at 1800. The return trip makes a stop at Port Lion and the total trip is overnight, getting in at 0730 on Tuesday. We had a cabin (no-frills two-bunk room with a sink—the toilet and shower are down the hall).





Back To Homer



We have a full day (Tuesday, the 16th) in Homer and all the next day to run around. A local tells us that for the best view of the bay, we should drive Skyline Drive—but definitely not in the motorhome. We do. It is a spectacular view and we are weaving through a residential area high above Homer.

We even find that Homer has a microbrewery and give it a try. But, there’s only carry out and you can bring your own jug—seriously. The guy “loaned” us a couple of liter bottles and suggested that we go outside and use their picnic tables. We did. The tables, the view, the resident cat, and the beer all were fine. Homer Brewing Company really does exist.

But Homer is about fishing and we don’t fish. Someone has to balance all that fish-catching with fish eating and that’s what we do well. There are several fine restaurants in Homer and we tried a couple with good success.




Homer has one of the most unique visitor's centers called the "Oceans and Islands Visitor's Center" and it is located on the main highway through town headed for the Spit. They created huge dioramas inside showing the coastal regions and wildlife. It is really well done.




Leaving Homer, we stumble across a huge woodcarving business and stop for a visit. It was fascinating.