October 3rd - last post

Well folks, after 128 days, 12,202 miles, and 1146 gallons of fuel our Alaskan trip has come to an end. We are back safe and sound (if we ever were sound) in GR as of Oct. 2nd.

It has been a great trip.  One we will enjoy for many months to come and one we may do again some day but there are a lot of other places in to see in the great United States.

Thanks to all of you who have followed our Blog and we hope you enjoyed the stories, pictures, etc. We certainly enjoyed the comments you sent back.

Our next trip begins in Jan. as we head south to Texas, Arizona, and eventually the west coast of the US.  We will start a new blog for this trip.  It will be accessible through the Wranglerdave.com web site.  In the interim, updates as to our whereabouts will be published on Facebook.

Take care and keep the loops open.

                    

September 16th - 30th

I know it has been a while since I've updated this but we are still in Chaska, MN at our good friend Cowboy Tom.  As it turned out on the 19th I developed a small intestine blockage (twisted intestine) and wound up in the hospital.  After trying rest, tubes, drugs, etc,. surgery was done on the 24th and than back to Tom's on the 27th.

We been resting up (at least I have) and plan to leave here on 10/1 and head to GR.  We will have to see what happens as it will all depend on how much shaking & driving I can do.
Nurse Arda   and Cowboy Tom    plus our friends all over the country have been terrific!  Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and help.

If you are ever in need of a hospital while in the St Paul area, I can highly recommend the nurses, doctors, and everyone we came in contact with at St Francis Hospital - they were super! 

Anyway the good news is that all is on the mend and Wrangler Dave should be back in the saddle soon.

Keep your loops open.

September 11th - 14th

Haven’t much to tell you about the last 4 – 5 days other than we had a few days of down time and Arda made several donations to the local economy.

Biker Arda did go biking but it was really hard as the wind was blowing and most of this area is up and down.  In fact she was enjoying a 5-mile downhill ride when she realized she had to go back up   but she made it… red face and all!

Wrangler Dave didn’t wrangle anything but his computer.  It was very windy for several days plus it rained all day Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday.  The locals were very happy as everything was very dry.

We left this AM (Monday) and headed east towards Chaska, MN where we will visit our good friend Tom  Home for a few days.  In the meantime we are back in our favorite campground, Wally-Mart in Mitchell, SD where is it 83^o at 7:00 PM.

That is all for now… keep your loops open.

September 6th - 10th

Here I am  again folks - back hard at it, writing my Tally Book entries.  On Sunday after church, we headed south to Douglas to visit our friend Fronie Hendren.  We knew Charley and Fronie when we all lived in Texas over 20 years ago.  We made contact with Fronie last year on our trip to Yellowstone but were not able to spend any time with her which was unfortunate so this time  we made sure we had the time.  Fronie has a neat house (it has a lot more room than it looks from  the outside) and we were fortunate enough to be able to "camp" in the empty lot right next to her.

We got to know Charley and Fronie through St. Mathews Church in Arlington TX where we were both part of a group that sang/played at the Saturday Night Mass.  After Mass we would all head to the Tole's (we were the only ones with small children) for Nachos, visitin and jammin.  It was a great time. 

Charley and Fronie went to El Paso after we left for GR and they soon moved on to Sheridan WY and then to Douglas WY where Charley passed away in 2006 from a brain tumor.  He was a real cowboy at heart and started writing songs, cowboy poetry and finally, became an ordained Cowboy Preacher.  He touched many lives over the years and continues to do so with his CD's and books.  You can find more about Charley or obtain one of his CD's or books at Charely Hendren - Cowboy Extraordinaire!

Did I mention that Fronie is an excellent cook... peach cobbler, cookies, pecon pie, plus lots of food that is "good for you".  Sure am glad Arda and I gave up sugar before getting to Fronie's - HA!

Fronie is a bit of a slave driver though... she locked me in the basement office for 2 days until her computers where working properly.  No I didn't break them in the first place.  In spite of this terrible hardship, we are planning to visit Fronie again next year only this time she wants us back for a week - hope it is not in the basement again.

On Wed. we headed for Deadwood SD where Arda has to stop anytime we cross east to west out here.  It is interesting to see the topography change as we travel east.  The land goes from prairie with miles and miles of rolling hills and very few trees to the SD Badlands where the hills get higher and the open land gives way to trees and rocks.

We will spend a few days here catching up on some things while Arda "entertains" herself... if you know what I mean. 

Take care and keep your loops open!

September 1st - 5th

I know, I know it has been a while since I wrote my Tally Book.  No excuses... Wrangler Dave has been wrangling, roping, having fun, and then was just too tired to write my Tally Book at night.  Well today we moved a couple of miles down the road from Wally-Mart in Sheridan to a campground with internet in Sheridan so here I am.

Biker Arda and I have spent the last couple of days at our good friends Dick and  Sidne Overturf.  They have a house in the mountains that they stay in during the summer and then  they head south for the winter.  Dick irrigates land for Wally and Rhett Papas (great people) who provide him a place to park his RV, horses, etc. for the summer.  This is where Arda and I stayed.

I was able to spend some time in saddle either moving cattler from one pasture to another (the views are just terrific!) or roping 3 calves that Dick has for this purpose.  It sure was nice to be back in the saddle again.

We headed to Sheridan on Friday (4th) as we had to pickup the leather sewing maching Biker Arda purchased last spring.  We this morning we loaded it up in the back seat of the truck and will be heading back to GR (slowly) with it.

Tomorrow we are going to Douglas WY to visit a good friend we knew in Texas…

Pictures are found at Red Lodge 2009

Take care and keep the loops open.

August 31st

We left Calgary this AM after having coffee with Alvin... it was nice of him to stop by on his way to work to say good-bye.  Hopefully it won't be so long until we see him again.

We headed south and decided to stop in Great Falls, MT.  It was a nice drive on a very straight road once we hit Montana.  Crossing the border was very easy - a couple of questions and we were on our way.

We stopped at our favorite campground, Wally-Mart... almost feels like home.  Arda took a couple of pictures of the lighting that accompanied the thunderstorm.  This is our first rain in a week of so.

Tomorrow, Red Lodge. MT for a couple of days.

Take care and keep the loops open.

August 26th - 30th

We spent the last 6 nights in Calgary visiting my brother Al, his friend, and his family.  We haven't done a lot of sightseeing as we wanted to spend as much time as we could with family.  We had dinner together either at the trailer or at Al's every night - Alvin cooked a couple of very good meals and Chump (Howard) didn't hesitate to stock up...

It was also good to see Beaner (Al's oldest) and Kelsey (yes, the youngest) even if it was for a short time as they were busy starting school and such.

It was also nice to just "park it" for a few days as I was able to get some maintenance done on the trailer... there is always something with all the bouncing around it does. 

Biker Arda did manage to get a couple of bike rides in and is glad she doesn't ride here all the time as the hills are brutal.  Personally the truck handled them all without me even breaking out a sweat!   

BA also got to go to the casino a couple of times and even came home with more than she went with... didn't pay for the stay but better than losing.

The weather has been great with day-time highs around 70 - 75 with a nice breeze... can't beat it after all the rain we've had.

Tomorrow (Monday) we are off to see Dick and Sidne in Red Lodge, MT as we make our way back to GR for the 3rd of October.

Take care and keep the loops open.

August 25th

Another lazy day as we only had about an hour to drive.  We spent the night in Banff at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Park.  It is a part of the National Park system so was very well kept.  They did have some strange parking arrangements as everyone parked parallel vs the normal pull-through or back-in sites.  It worked so that is all that counts.

We arrived at the Calgary West Campground and set up all before lunch... some lazy day eh?  I was also able to fix/adjust several things on the trailer as there was time to putter so that was a good thing.  We will be here for 4 - 5 days and then head to Red Lodge MT.

Tonight we will have dinner with Al and his friend Vickie will come over after she finishes work around 8:00 PM.

Well that's all for now.  Take care and keep your loops open.

August 24th

We woke up this morning where we went to sleep – Sorrento, BC or as the campground was called, Blind Bay.  This was by far the most expensive campground we have stayed in but they did have great internet.  We were not in a hurry as we were only going to Banff which was about a 5 hour drive.   This means Biker Arda was able to have her coffee in bed and work on a puzzle… she really does enjoy this.

We left about 10:00 AM and headed east.  The scenery sure has changed from the ruggedness of Alaska to the majesty of the Rocky Mountains with the tall trees, definitive tree line, and solid rock peaks.  It is amazing how many forms ‘mountains’ take.  We saw some beautiful country but unfortunately there are not very many places where one can stop to take photos or even enjoy the scenery.

It is illegal to stay on the side of the road in BC so we have to find a campground every night.  They sure aren’t as RV friendly as the Yukon or Alaska where there are lots of pull-outs and places to stay.  Tonight we are in Tunnel Mountain which is a National Park just outside of Banff.  Fajitas on the BBQ, toasted marshmallows, cookies, and coffee make for a tough life.

One road sign we did see was, “30 MPH when Children Playing on the Highway”.  I guess it is ok to run them over at 30 MPH but not any faster…

Tomorrow we are off to Calgary to visit my brother Al and his family for a couple of days.

There are a few photos of the Rockie at The Rockies

Take care and keep your loops open.  

August 21st - 23rd

We had a great dinner with Andrea & Aaron.  It was really nice to be able to sit down and talk to them by themselves as normally we are with a crowd of people.  Talk about two very outdoors-active people.  Both of them enjoy hiking and climbing!  In fact, they climb "The Chief" 4 - 5 times a week after work and then on weekends, they head for other challenges.  Unfortunately Andrea sprained her ankle walking down from the top of The Chief after a successful climb.  Aaron had to piggy-back her most of the way down.  She has at least 2 more weeks to go before she can return to work... yes, she did a really good job on it.

After dinner they drove us around to see a little bit of Squamish.  We went to the spit where we were able to watch a kite-boarder for a while.  Apparently he was an instructor and was just out "fooling around" as he did not have any students... what a show!  Afterwards we went back the trailer, had coffee and went to sleep.

The next morning (Friday) we said goodbye and headed to Vancouver.  It was a short drive with some beautiful scenery.   Unfortunately there were not a lot of places to pull over and take pictures as there was a lot of construction going on for the Winter Olympics in 2010.

Our campsite was right at the foot of the Lions Gate Bridge which goes from the mainland to Stanley Park so Arda and I decided to ride our bikes around the bike-path.  What a great facility for the people of Vancouver.

On Saturday we met up with Lee and Mike at their house for lunch and then we went to the Vancouver Aquarium where we were able to see a new-born Beluga-whale (June 7, 2009) swimming with his mother.  They are about 120 pounds when born and he has since put on a lot of weight which in this case is a good thing.

That evening we all went back to the trailer where we had a salmon bake... the ladies made a great meal while Mike and I took care of the wine.   

Sunday morning we headed east towards Calgary but only got as far Sorrento, BC  where we decided to spend the night.  The scenery has sure changed from Alaska and northern BC.  There are many areas where there are no trees or at least much smaller trees (around Kamloops for example) and open spaces.  There are a lot of pine trees that are brown (assuming they are dead) but we don't know why.  Maybe the pine beetles?

We are not in a hurry so will leave here tomorrow AM and may spend another night along the way although it is only a 5 - 6 hour drive.  We'll see how the mood strikes us.

Pictures can be found at  Squamish-Vancouver 2009

In the meantime, take care and keep the loops open.


PS  If you are wondering about the picture with "Arda's handi-work", this is a result of HER opening a box of wine!  I happened to open a box one time a put a very, very small hole in the bag and I have yet to hear the end of it so you know what is going to happen here...

August 18th - 20th

We have been “on the road” for the past 3 days basically travelling from one place to the next without stopping to site-see because there hasn’t been much to stop for. 

We did see a bear and then about 45 minutes later, a bear-cub crossing the road south of Hyder, AK but other than that the landscape changed from “rugged” with steep cliffs to forests with a fair amount of open land.  There was a lot of farming and ranching as we headed south compared to none (at least that we saw in northern BC).  This was also the first day since Fairbanks where we had temperatures over 70^o.

We stopped (Wed) at a municipal campground in Burns BC, which was beside Burns Lake and a huge out-door gymnasium playground that the city had built... impressive!  We did see another bear in the bush today.  We did barbeque some more fresh salmon that I caught in Homer, AK… it is delicious. 

The next morning (Wednesday) we headed for Williams Lake where we stayed at the stampede grounds.  Nothing special but the temperature was great so we had a barbeque… hot dogs and polish sausage.  No animals today.

Thursday we took-off for Squamish BC.  The landscape changed again as we moved into the Rockies with tall trees (fir & pine) as well as plenty of rocks.  Forestry is the main economic staple in this area.  We took Route 99 (Sea & sky highway), which is a very scenic drive except it was hazy and the driver does not have any time to look around with all the twists, turns, ups and downs and rough road.  It was the most tiring day of driving on our whole trip.  We did see a deer early in the morning.  We did drive through Whistler but from what we saw, it is all ski chalets, hotels, and restaurants.  Not Wrangler Dave’s type of town…

Now we are in Squamish BC where we are parked in front of my nephew Aaron’s & Andrea’s apartment.  

We are planning to have a visit with them, go out to dinner and then tomorrow head for Vancouver.

That’s it for now… take care and keep the loops open.

August 15th - 17th

Had a nice evening and night at Smart Creek and then headed to Dease Lake where we stayed at a small campground (Waters Edge RV Park) run by Chuck and his wife Grace. What a neat place! There also happened to be a "fishing contest" going on there at the same time. All the local road maintenance people and their families come to the park and they have a contest for lake trout. The winner was 17 pounds with second place weighing in at 13 pounds. Both fish were caught by a man and his wife.

On Saturday we went to Telegraph Creek which is at the end of a 70 mile gravel road. It was a very interesting drive through the mountains with grades up to 20% which is the largest we've seen in our journeys. Telegraph Creek is a very old town that in part, owes it fame to the telegraph companies. In 1866 Western Union was in a race with the Anglo-American Telegraph Company to establish a line between North America and Europe. Anglo-American won the race but not before Western Union's line had reached Telegraph Creek before they stopped. Gold rushes helped contribute to TC's growth which today is around 300 full-time residents. We had a great meal (clam chowder & home-made brown bread) at the local grocery store, restaurant, clothing, and tourist center.

Sunday we headed for the Stewart BC/Hyder AK area. We did see a crossing the road in the early morning and a cub later in the day... we didn't stop to find Momma bear! We are staying at the Run-a-muk RV park in Hyder. Sunday when we arrived we went to a bear watching area. It is a great facility as one can watch the bears feed, play, etc. without fear of them or them of us. As you can see by the number of pictures, we had a great time. People actually come here every year just to photograph the bears. One couple had been here 19 years in a row.

Monday to decided to get up early and head to the bear watching station. As we came near the station, the same 2 bears from the night before came wondering down the road. When they were just about to the truck, they turned and went up a steep embankment. Since they had already been to the river, we decided to head up to the Salmon Glacier. It was a beautiful drive once again as we climbed about 3000 feet to a point where we could look down on the glacier. Only one problem... it was cloudy so all we could see were the clouds. We did get a glimpse of the glacier but it would have been spectacular if the sun was out... oh well, something to look forward to on our next trip this way.

On the way back from the glacier we stopped at the bear viewing station. Today we saw 2 more grizzlies although they did not play together or interact in any way. These bears were huge and were only interested in eating fish as opposed to the 4-years olds we saw the day before who were more interested in fishing and playing than actually eating what they caught.

Monday wouldn't be complete without doing some washing... one of Biker Arda's favorite activities.

Tomorrow we head south again towards Squamish BC where we hope to visit my nephew Aaron and his better half.

There are a lot of pictures (sorry it was really hard to delete a lot of the bear pictures) at  Dease Lake-Hyder

Not sure when we will have internet again (we still don't have phone service) but until then, be safe and keep the loops open.

August 12th - 14th

Wednesday the motor for our slide arrived at 5:00 AM by bus... I wasn't there to check personally but the RV repair shop picked it up around 10:00 AM.  We were scheduled in to get the repair done at 8:30 AM on Thursday.  Well the part was replaced in about 45 minutes and it even worked - one never knows.  The paperwork with the insurance company took the rest of the morning... in fact we left around 1:00 PM and Philmar RV was still waiting for the payment.  Once I get phone service, I will know exactly what it cost me.  

That night we stopped at Smart Creek for the night.  It was off the road next to the creek and was very peaceful except we have yet to see any animals when we dry camp like this.

Friday morning we were on the road by 8:00 AM headed towards Stewart BC but we knew we wouldn't drive all the way in one day... way too tiring.  We did see some Stone Sheep on our travels on highway 37 south  .

We decided to stop at Dease Lake for 2 days as we are going to take a side trip to Telegraph Creek... more on this to follow.

Anyway, that is all for today.  We still don't have phone service and it is not clear when we  will have it again - Vancouver maybe?

Take care and keep the loops open.

August 10th - 11th

We are still in Whitehorse waiting for the slide motor to arrive via bus.  It did not make yesterday's bus so hopefully it will be on the 5:00 AM bus tomorrow... time will tell.

In the meantime, the non-travel aren't too bad as it is giving Arda and I a chance to kick these colds.  Since it rained all day yesterday we just sat around and took it easy although Arda did do some sewing on bumper pads for Steve & Jenny's noodnik.

Today we haven't done anything much different from sitting around as neither of us are too energetic.  Ay well, life is still good.

So today there are no pictures nor "Did you know?"

Take care and keep the loops open.

August 8th - 9th

As Willie Nelson sings, "On the road again".  Arda and I decided that while we enjoyed our stay by Kluane Lake, we decided we should move on to Whitehorse.  The road was better today as apparently there is no issue with perma-frost past Destruction Bay making it a nice drive into Whitehorse.  We decided to stay at the Pioneer RV as this is close to the place where we have to go Monday for our repairs... providing the part arrives as advertised.

Sunday we went to Skagway as we had not spent any time in the town when we were on our cruise 3 years ago... we went on an all-day excursion.  As with many of the towns on the coast where cruises stop, the town is full of jewelery and souvenier stores plus a few restaurants of which most are closed in the winter.  It was a nice drive for the most part as I have never driven in clouds as much as I have in the past 6 weeks or so.  The highest elevation on the way to Skagway is 3300' but we were in clouds a long time before reaching this height.  In fact it was so bad, we could only travel about 15 - 20 MPH while afraid to stop because someone might not see you and the clouds weren't going away.  Ah well, we did reach Skagway and returned to Whitehorse safely.

Did you know?  Alaska is the seafood capital of the US with over one million square miles of rich fishing waters where over six billion pounds of wild seafood per year.  Salmon farming is illegal by the State Constituion therefore all harvested seafood is wild resulting in a great flavor, color, and texture.

Pictures found at Skagway 2009

Take care and keep your loops open.

August 5th - 7th

Wednesday morning and once again, we are on the move.  We left Valdez in the rain, it seems to be following us, and headed toward Tok.  We did not know if we would get that far but decided to go for it because it really was a dismal day.

One aspect of this was the smoke.  As we drove further north toward Fairbanks, the smoke got heavier and heavier, and at times it was like driving in fog.  There are many fires right now in the interior of Alaska and NWT because it has been a dry, hot summer. 

As we drove north, we made some phone calls to see if anyone could fix/replace a slide motor.  We have been cranking it out and back in by hand and this is getting old in a hurry!  Nobody (as in RV Dealer) had one in Anchorage and would require 2 – 3 weeks to get one.  In Glenallen, neither of the two shops worked on slides.  In Tok, we found a person to work on the slide but we arrived too late in the day for him to diagnose the problem so he was kind enough to let us dry camp on his lot so we could be his first customers in the morning.

The next morning, as we were first in line we drove right into the shop when he opened.  He checked several things before announcing the motor was shot.  Not a surprise but we had hoped there was a wiring problem but not to be.  At least we now know what the problem is.  Bill made about 6 calls to his suppliers in Anchorage and Fairbanks where no one had the motor in stock and it would take 2 weeks before we could expect it.  So while we liked Bill and his lot (especially the price), we said thanks but no thanks.  While were waiting for other shops to open he also fixed the grey water pipe for us… we re-routed it as it was a leak waiting to happen.  Not certain what the RV Engineers were thinking when they designed this set-up but it was terrible.

We were able to get on the internet so I started calling RV dealers in Whitehorse and found one that could have the motor shipped in from Vancouver with arrival (all being well) on Monday and they could take us right away.  Off we go towards Whitehorse. 

Since we did not have to be in Whitehorse until Monday, we decided to stop at a pullout on Lake Kluane.  This is the largest inland lake in the NWT and the native translation is "Big Fish".  Apparently, there are a lot of large lake trout caught here.  It was a beautiful spot right on the lake with absolutely no one else around.  In fact, it was so nice we decided to stay an extra day.

On Friday, Arda was feeling much better so decided to wash the trailer and the truck… they were really dirty but when Arda started cleaning is became evident how dirty they were.  Wow, what a difference!  She did such a great job I think I will keep her around a little longer.  And oh by the way, she also cooked some fresh halibut for dinner that was just delicious!

Did you know?  The salmon hatchery in Valdez incubates, rears, and releases 230 million pink, 18 million chum, and 300,000 king (silvers) salmon eggs every year.  Survival rates (adults returning from fry released) average 4% for pinks, 2% for chums, and 10% for kings (silvers).

A few pictures located at  Alaska Tok

Take care and keep the loops open.

August 4th

A quiet day on the range. Arda and I are still recoperating from our colds so we took a drive to see the hatchery while hoping to see a bear and then to the Valdez Glacier.

I forgot the other day to include a picture of Biker Arda trying to feed the bears... you will see the photo. One of these days she may succeed -  

We went to the hatchery to see millions of pink salmon trying to get up the creek.  The only problem is the creek is blocked so the salmon have to go up the fish ladder into the hatchery where the females will be stripped of their roe and then released.  It is interesting to watch them all try to get into this one small area at the same time and then once they are in, they don't know what to do next but they figure it out soon enough.

While watching the salmon, we also had the opportunity to watch a gull "fishing" off shore.  He/she (?) actually would grab a fish by the snout and drag it up onto the rocks where is would be the "special of the day".  This particular bird had several good sized fish almost all the way up and then lost them... just like a fisherman!       He did not get any all the way up while we were there but he did have one from earlier.

Next we went to the Valdez Glacier which in itself is not terribly impressive.  What was impressive was the lake it creates each year from the run-off.  You can  also see mounds of snow that has yet to melt and it is August already.  Of course Valdez only has 3 snow-free months a year... June, July, & August.  There are also some significan mounds of dirt (morrains) left behind by the Glacier.  It is a constantly changing environment.

Did you know?  In some parts of Alaska there are days when it is considered too cold for school... usually around 50 degrees BELOW zero.  In Tok where the temps get down to 80 degrees below zero, school goes on no matter what the temperature.  And what do we do in GR?  

Tomorrow it is off towards Tok so I am not sure when we will have internet again but I will be back.

A few pictures can be found at Alaska - Valdez Area 2009

Be safe and keep your loops open.

August 2nd - 3rd

Another couple of days gone by since I've updated my Tally Book but this time it is not the "internet's fault"... we've had it every day.  No the problem is we've been having too much fun and getting home too late to fix pictures and update the Tally Book.  So here is the latest…

Sunday started out bright and sunny which was nice after about 10 days of rain.  We headed to the local church for Mass which was to start at 10:30 AM per the internet.  I'll bet you can guess what comes next... yes Mass was underway for about 20 minutes when we arrived.  It seems that this church does not have a permanent priest but when one does come, then they schedule the time based on the priest.  In this case, this was the same priest we saw in Palmer... he said he was going fishing.  So I guess we know where he fishes now.  We went for the rest of the Mass... made Ernie's seem like a long Mass!

After church we ate a great breakfast at a local restaurant (it was delicious) before we headed to the docks to board the Lu Lu Belle for a tour of Alaskan waters and Ice Fields.  This trip is advertised as a 5 - 6 hour trip but Captain Fred is known to forget about time as he is more concerned about finding animals for his "guests".  Our trip lasted almost 8 hours and was fantastic as the pictures show (Valdez Boat Tour).  We saw and learned so much during the trip it was worth every penny.

An example of this is the Columbian Glacier.  There is good news and bad news such as the ice is melting but NOT from global warming. It is melting because of an earth quake (9.2 for 4 miniutes) in 1967 which caused a huge fissure in the Columbian Glacier.  This broke off about 13 years later creating a 7-mile long fjord filled with ice and water.  So as the water comes in contact with the ice, it melts it. The good news, there is still lots of ice for cocktail hour.

As for the animals, we saw some we had seen previously such as sea otters, eagles, cormorants (they are everywhere), and gulls... it wouldn't be a sea port without the later. We also added some new ones to our list... sea lions, puffins (horned and tufted), pigeon guillemot, porpoises, orca or killer whales, arctic tern, and bayline whales. 

Some other tidbits we learned from Captain Fred include Puffins.  These are seabirds that nest in holes in the ground on islands. Puffins have colorful bills that can hold many fish.  Mom and Dad puffins rub their bills together (called "billing") to show affection and will raise only one or two baby pufflings each year.  The family leaves the nest near the end of the summer.  People enjoy their clown-like behavior and little stubby wings that must be flapped very hard for flying out to sea to get fish.  Though they are only distantly related to the parrots and penguins of the southern hemisphere, they are sometimes called sea-parrots.  Puffins stand 10-12 inches high and are related to the extinct Great Auk which reached heights of four feet!  Backwards pointing teeth in their colorful bills allow them to catch many fish at one time, to bring back to the 1-2 young pufflings waiting in the burrow.  There are two other types of puffin found in Alaska... the Horned and Tufted Puffins.

While the Port of Valdez does not freeze in the winter and is accessible by ships, the port is used only for oil.  The biggest reason for this is that the road between Valdez and Anchorage goes through the Thompson Pass on the Richardson Highway.  While Valdez averages 362" of snow a year, Thompson Pass gets around 600" making it unreliable for transportation for most of the year... many avalanches result for this much snow.  In fact, only 3 months of the year, June, July and August get zero snowfall on average.


Today (Monday) we decided to stay in Valdez for a couple more days while Arda recovers from a cold and her back is once again very sore.  A couple of days rest will cure this.

It is also not a bad day to stay south of a line between Fairbanks and Tok due to the amount of smoke in the air from the many forest fires in the area.  There are over 100 fires burning right now with several large ones consuming over 400K acres.  To give your an idea of the large areas that these fires cover, the Alaskan Firefighters have asked for firefighter help from the lower 48.  They are not fighting the fires directly, they are just protecting property that may be endangered by a fire.

Did you know?  Twenty percent of Alaskans suffer from allergies.  Not a surprising stat considering all the trees around here.

Take care and keep your loops open.

July 29th - August 1st

Sorry I haven't had any posting for a while but we were without internet for 2 nights as we stayed "on the road", at least on the side of the road, and then when we arrived in Valdez I had a terrible head cold.  It came up the night before in about an hour.  We were sitting beside the fire enjoying cocktails (lemonade only)   when I started to get stuffed up.  Within the hour I was in bed all stuffed up and just waiting for the chariot   to carry me home!  I slept for a long time and woke up feeling much better and each day is better as you can see from this update.

On Thursday we stopped for lunch and our big slide went out and in just like it should.  When we stopped for the evening, the slide would not budge.  The motor wouldn't even growl at us.  I checked the electrical and could not find anything wrong so we hand-cranked it out and back in the next morning.  I guess the motor needs to be replaced when we get home.  In the meantime I went to a machine shop and had a "tool" made so we can use the drill to move it in and out.

On Friday when we arrived in Valdez we couldn't even hand-crank the slide out and we had a grey water pipe that was leaking.  Apparently on one the frost heaves, we bounced too much and one of the bolts that turns the slide support had sheared off while another bolt had punctured the PVC pipe.  Well WD & BA to the rescue!  WD repaired the slide attachment while BA filled the hole in the pipe with an under-water putty... we'll see if they both work.

As we drive around, I am always amazed at how low the clouds are here.  Many times we are less than 2000' and are driving into clouds.  This seems to be everywhere in AK. 

Another common site is the bullet holes in the road signs.  Once we leave a city it seems as if all the road signs have bullet holes   in them... quite artistic.

As I said the other day in my Tally Book, we can't seem to get away from chickens.  Today we drove through Chickaloon.  There were a couple of buildings of which 1 was for sale.  You could own almost the entire town with this "business opportunity”.

What a great opportunity -Honest!

Saturday we went for a drive to Dayville Rd, which leads to the Valdez Oil Terminal or the end of the pipeline.  This is a very secure area as the first of several guardhouses is about a mile from the actual storage & office area.  On the way we stopped to watch a bear eat salmon.  This was interesting as he caught one salmon, took it back in the bushes where he ate it.  Next he went back into the creek where there were a number of dead fish.  He checked (smelled) each one and then moved on.  The next thing he did was catch a live salmon, take it on shore where he milked the roe... milked may be a little to refined as he really just stepped on the fish and out came the roe but he was good at it.  Once he had eaten all the roe, he let the fish flop back into the water as he went in search of another one.  It wasn't long before he left the area to go eat berries along the edge of the road... I think there may have been too many people around.

We also saw a lot of salmon staging at the mouth of a river.  For some reason, the river was blocked by a net so only an occasional salmon got through.  We are not sure why this was done but I am sure it has something to do with the hatchery beside the river mouth. 

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going on a cruise into the ice fields with Capt Fred but who knows if this is the captain's real name.  So far we've had RV service from Dan's RV Service whose name was Bob and I've gone on a charter with Bob's Trophy Charter which was owned by Dave.  So stay tuned.

 
Did you know? You will be hard pressed to find kids who have never flown.  In 1996, one of every 58 Alaskans was a registered pilot.  The state has about six times as many pilots and 14 times as many aircraft per capita as the rest of the States.

Pictures can be seen at On the Way To Valdez

Take care and keep the loops open.

July 27th - 28th

We had to leave Homer today... sad but true as it was time to move on.  We've had a couple of very nice days here with exploring, walking the spit, and fishing.

Yesterday (27th) WD went on a combo, salmon & halibut fish trip on the "Tuff-Stuff", a 34' Bertrim with twin diesel-cat engines.  Having 2 engines gives one a sense of security (maybe a false one) when heading out into the ocean.  It was another rainy day and the waves were forecasted to build after lunch so we started salmon fishing.  There were 4 of us on the boat (2 men from Oregon and a lady (Kittie) from Fairbanks) and each of us had our limit of 3 silver salmon by 10:30 AM.  They fish for salmon the same way we do in Lake Michigan.

Next it was on to the halibut.  What an experience!  First we anchor and let the fish come to us.  We used 3 pound (this is not a typo) weights to get the lines on bottom which was about 160'.  Once there, we waited and it didn't take long before we were hauling in halibut.  I can tell you that it was one of the most, if not the most, exhausting way to fish.  Just bringing in the 3 pound weight to check the bait, which we had to do frequently, was a chore in itself!.  WD kept 2 small ones about 20 pounds and we do not have room in the freezer for more.  Anything under 25 pounds is called a chicken... just can't seem to get away from the chicken   .  Everyone else caught and kept 40 - 50 pounders.

The last fish of the day was a 90 pounder, which Kittie caught and kept... her last fish!  Kattie is 58" tall and the fish was 54.5".  Like many of the Alaskan women we've met, she was very independent and self-sufficient (she lived in Tok, AK for 19 years in a house without electricity and running water... she home-schooled her children) while enjoying hunting, fishing, and the outdoors.

When WD was out working har  d to bring home some food for BA, she was out walking the spit (7 miles) and then that was not enough as she decided to bike another 20 miles around Homer.

We've both decided that out of all the places we've seen to date, Homer is a place where we could put down roots if it wasn't for the winters - Arizona here we come!

Pictures can be found at Homer Activities 2009

Did you know?  Alaska is the seafood capital of the US with over one million square miles of rich fishing waters!  More than all of the lower 48 states combined.  Havesting over six billion pounds of seafood per year.

Keep safe and keep the loops open.