Note that there are THREE blogs in this entry, so be sure to scroll all the way down!!
Day 30 – Homer AK to Chickaloon AK
On Sunday morning we woke to rain in Homer, and with the forecast to be much of the same for the next several days we decided to alter our plans. The original plan was to spend a few days in Seward, AK which is east of Homer. The main attraction in Seward was another Glacier cruise, but with the weather looking bad we decided to not do the cruise and started heading back toward Canada. The cruise would have been very similar to the one we took in Whittier under beautiful skies, so we didn’t feel too bad about skipping one in the rain. This is one thing we have learned about Alaska is you have to adjust your plans to accommodate the weather. It’s a lot different than at home where you don’t have to plan around the weather.
Just as we were leaving Homer, we got a special treat of seeing two Bald Eagles on a roof top. Such pretty birds.
New York may have had Woodstock, but Ninilchik AK has Salmonstock. Looked like they have a huge crowd given the large number of tents pitched along the side of the road. Too bad they didn’t have better weather but suspect everyone had fun.
After fueling up in Anchorage, we headed northeast through the Matanuska River Valley toward Tok. The area was very pretty - even in the rain, so we suspect it is fabulous on a really clear day. This is the Matanuska River.
We ended the day in a gravel pull off between Chickaloon and Glennallen. One of the nice things about Alaska is they have no problem at all with an RVer spending the night in a pull off along the road side.
Todays Stats:
| Miles driven: | 343 miles |
| Hours on road: | 7 hours, 15 minutes |
| Gas prices: | $3.99, $3.95 |
Route:
Day 31 – Chickaloon AK to Koidern YT
We started the day in rain and it continued that way most of the day. We stopped in Tok for the necessities…laundry, fuel, propane, and water before heading toward the border. We had planned to stop just short of the border, but as we got close we finally outran the rain, so we decided to continue and get through the 40 miles of construction just east of the border while it was dry. One nice thing about going through the construction after 5 pm is all the workers were gone and there were no single lanes with pilot cars to contend with. The road was as rough and slow as it was as we came in weeks ago. The border crossing was really easy with only a few minutes of delay.
We stopped for the night at Lake Creek Yukon Government Campground near Koidern, YT. The Yukon government campgrounds are very similar to our forest service campgrounds, only a little nicer. They charge $12 a night, but that includes all the wood you want to burn. They have so many trees here that I’m sure that they have more wood to dispose of than they know what to do with.
We noticed this “food truck” parked near a gas station in Glennallen, AK, which is a really small town in the middle of nowhere. Earlie,r we noticed a similar truck in Tok. Not sure how much business a food truck selling Thai food would do in Alaska…
This is a photo of Fireweed which is growing everywhere in Alaska and the Yukon. It’s an interesting wildflower that grows and blooms all summer and is covering most of the road ditches and hill sides. According to the locals, the blooms start near the bottom in the spring and as the summer progresses, the higher part of the plant blooms. A sign of the impending winter is when the upper-most buds are blooming.
Todays Stats:
| Miles driven: | 366 miles |
| Hours on road: | 10 hours, 5 minutes |
| Gas prices: | $4.21, $4.76 |
Route:
Day 32 – Koidern YT to Teslin YT
Today we had a very nice day as we continued to make our way across the Yukon. Between Haines Junction, YT and Whitehorse. YT we stopped to see the Canyon Creek Bridge. This is one of the few original Alaska Highway bridges still standing. This bridge was build in 1942 using local timbers in 18 days, in what was described as the most ambitious and important bridges built by the Army Corps of Engineers during the highway construction.
The bridge decking is simply small trees placed crossways across the main bridge beams. Had to believe army trucks and jeeps rumbled across the bridge. Hats off to the 18th Battalion, whose skills have stood the test of time.
We ended the day at the Teslin Lake Yukon Government Campground, just west of Teslin, YT. This was another very nice Yukon campground. Tomorrow we make our way toward Watson Lake, where we turn south onto the Cassiar Highway in British Columbia, which will be some new territory for us. The last few days, we have been retracing the route we took a few weeks ago, as it’s the only way home.
Todays Stats:
| Miles driven: | 330 miles |
| Hours on road: | 9 hours, 30 minutes |
| Gas prices: | $4.96 |
Route:
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