Starting a new travel season

September 18th through October 21st:  We're just hanging out here at River Bend RV Resort in Harrisburg, OR.  Dad is doing quite well in terms of his health (although he would dispute that with a considerable number of health complaints which, although real, are not life threatening).  The biggest problem now is that he's really having trouble adjusting to mom's passing last July 7th.  His adjustment is probably right on track given that they were married for 70 years or so and she's only been gone for about 3 months.  Its hard to see him feeling so lost and there's little we can do to help him except visit every day and try to help him keep a more positive perspective.  He doesn't really want to go out of the assisted living home saying he's too  tired or can't do it.

We're looking forward to Ed and Diana (my brother and his wife) coming in from Alabama on Oct. 15th.  Dad's 92nd birthday is on the 20th so we be sure to have all his kids (and others) present for some sort of celebration.  Ed (Alabama), Dan (Alaska), Judy (Oregon), Joe (Oregon).  I'm sure that Diana, Judy, and Betty will hatch a celebration scheme that will be much better than if Ed, Joe, and I tried it.  I voted for a formal dinner at Junk Yard Dogs near Harrisburg but judging from the lack of enthusiasm it received I don't think anyone heard me say it.  Betty, of course, is always the voice of sanity and good sense within the chaos and idiocy that so often surrounds these discussions.  I love her so...

One day we got a craving for some fresh produce so we cruised out River Road from Junction City a short distance to Thistledown Farms.  The prices were pretty good on some items so we bought some fresh Plums, Bell Peppers, Cabbage, Coli-flower, and Prunes.  Now that  I look at this list it looks like we must have been concerned about getting constipated.

Inside the market

       A beautiful farm girl with a huge Bell Pepper

Mums

           Thistledown Farm Barn and Windmill

Indian Corn at Thistledown Farm Market

Here are a couple other of pics from around the local area:

                      Coburg Antique Store

Between Junction City and Harrisburg, not far from the infamous "Junk Yard Dogs" (a great but rather primitive hot dog joint along the two lane highway), are these beautiful Pumpkin fields that can only be in seen this way during these few days just before they're harvested.  

September 17th Post:  Stopped for the night at Ft. Lewis, WA fam camp.  We always try to stay here even if its a short travel day because its so nice and convenient located to Tacoma, WA.  The RV park itself is heavily treed with fairly private sites compared to other RV parks as you can see in the following pictures.

Tomorrow we'll be on our way to Harrisburg, OR where we'll stay for a few weeks.

September 16th Post:  After staying in Sedro Woolley for 3 days and visiting with Pat & Patty Colgan we left this morning and drove a short distance to Everett where Richard Renninger, Betty's old boss from Alaska, will join us for dinner out tonight.  He lives on Whidby Island, a short distance from here by ferry.  Tomorrow morning we'll hit I-5 South for Junction City, Oregon to visit Dad.


September 13th Post:  (McLeese Lake to Sedro Woolley, WA  385miles - 8 hours)  today we travelled through the beautiful Frazier River Canyon of Southern B.C..  What a drive. Spectacular views of the canyon and river as well as a sobering driving experience.  Thank Cummins for our exhaust  brake and H&S Performance for our Mini Maxx down loader.  We had tons of power for the very steeps grades with 35 MPH corners and lots of slowing capability for those steep downhill grades on the South end of every uphill pull.   Here are some shots of this leg of the drive:

I only stopped once after reaching the main summit because the very tiny pull-outs were not marked in a way the gave me advance notice to prepare to stop.  As you can see I was shooting pictures while driving.  Betty was under the seat praying with Squatty and Tiger Lilly because dad was breaking, accelerating, swerving around sharp corners, and taking pictures all at the same time.

Somehow, in spite of the imminent danger I placed my passengers in we made it to the American boarder and were amazingly waved right through after only one question.  I had all my new lies ready but they were not needed after all.  We drove on down to Sedro Woolley and stayed at Riverside Park.  30A hookups with no sewer but we used the city sanitation plant RV dump for free just down a few blocks from the park on Alexander street.


September 12th Post:  (Dawson Creek to McLeese Lake 372 miles - 8 hours)  Way better highways today. Except for some road construction we were able to move right along at 60 mph or more most of the day.  The construction really slowed us down, however, as we had to wait twice for nearly a half hour before a pilot car would take us through.

We've stopped for the night at McLeese Lake campground for the night.  It's a pretty place but not really "big rig" friendly.  Mostly its set up for small campers but we've stayed here before and it's located in a place that's really good to stop in terms of our daily mileage gains.  McLeese lake is one day's drive from America...nicely placed.  It's only a 20A hookup and no sewer in the places we fut but when you're tired and need to STOP  it's FINE.

Here are a couple of shots of the campground along with the beautiful girl that walks her cat by our trailer sometimes:

             McLease Lake resort September 11

We barely fit in the designated 2 spaces

        Pavillion at McLeese Lake Resort

Tiger Lilly

        Beautiful girl in campground with cat

September 11th Post:  (Toad river to Dawson Creek 403 miles - 8 1/2 hours)  We drove roads that were a little better today than yesterday...a sign of getting nearer to civilization.  As usual for here this time of year it was a beautiful trip but long.  Dawson Creek is really big now compared to the last time I was here...I haven't been this rout since the 60's when the road was all gravel, even in "downtown" Dawson Creek which is where the Alaska Highway (and the gravel back then) begins officially.  I'm taking Betty to dinner at Tony Roma's because I love her so much and because I'm starving to have some of their baby back ribs.


September 10th Post:  (Whitehorse to Toad River 471 miles - 9 hours)  After laying over in Whitehorse one day to wait out the rain we left at about 9am today for Toad River, B.C.  As always with this leg of the trip the roads were better than the previous, more northern leg.  In the same 9 hours driving time we made nearly one hundred miles more progress than the Tok to Whitehorse leg of our trip south.

The RV park at Toad River is small but pretty.  At the front counter they always say 50A and full hookups but they really have 30A with water and no sewer.  We put up with this because they only charge $28 and after a 9 hour driving day I just want to tie up at any dock and relax for awhile.  The scenery on this leg of the trip is unique with barren rock mountains rimming deep canyons as the highway crosses the British Columbia and Yukon boarder several times.  Lots of up and down with 7% and 8% grades to wreck our fuel economy but there are near breathtaking views.  Here are a few from near Muncho Lake, B.C.

Along the edge of Munco lake we encountered these wild sheep.

      Rocky Mountain Sheep at Muncho Lake, B.C.

When Tiger Lilly saw the sheep she jumped up on the dash for a better look - we had trouble getting her to come down.

September 8th Post:  (Tok to Whitehorse 386 miles - 9 hours) We left Tok at about 8 o'clock this morning and arrived at Whitehorse around 5pm.  This leg clocked in at 386 miles in 8 hours driving time (an hour was used stopped along the way)...a fairly long but productive day.  The weather has been a very welcome dry and sunny with only a few short stretches of wind.  As we pulled into the RV park near Whitehorse the clouds began to build and it started raining.  The weather report says rain tonight and all day tomorrow.  I'm think we'll lay over here through tomorrow to avoid driving in the rain and spray.  The weather report promises more dry days starting Saturday for several days.  This is a small and cramped $40 a night 30A full hookup place.  We have stayed here several times before because its so conveniently located.  Too bad it isn't a better park.

Today I stopped along side the road about 50 miles West of Haines Junction where there was a good looking woman walking a mangy dog.  After striking up a conversation and charming her with all my wit and good looks, and even though she played hard to get, I got her to agree to come along with me on the trip south.

Above, that's great scenery!  And the background is OK too. I tried to get her to leave the dog behind but she said she'd rather leave me beside the road than the dog.  Here's a couple more shots of the area between Tok, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon:

                 Near Haines Junction, Yukon

This is what we looked like in Yukon

September 7th Post:  (Anchorage to Tok 308 miles - 7 hours)  We left Ft. Rich this morning around 10am after doing some errands at Elmendorf AFB and headed for Tok...the last Alaska overnight before entering Yukon, Canada.  The trip was bumpy but lots of fall scenery and excitement about being on the road south finally.  We arrived at Tok RV park a little after 5pm and paid a premium $44 for 50A full hookup.  Their water is still on but will be turned off this week due to freeze that's coming.  This is a fairly nice RV park with lots of spruce and Birch trees but right now, because it hasn't frosted at night yet, there are a lot of no-see-ums (same as white socks?) hunting for anyone trying to hook up to water and electric.

 Here's a shot of the mountains and fall colors as we top out East of Palmer/Wasilla near Eureka heading for Glennallen on the way to Tok Junction.  The tops of the mountains are snow covered - I don't believe they ever lose their snow.  The red in the foreground is Fire-weed that has gone to seed.  The leaves and stalk turn red before they finally drop dead of the cold that's just around the corner.

Tomorrow morning we'll be on the road for the Canadian boarder about 90 miles east of here and hope to make Whitehorse, Yukon for the night tomorrow.

September 1st Post:  This morning while Betty was taking care of pets I prepared to leave Fish Camp. First, I dumped the waste tanks, filled the water tank, and cleaned up the outside of the 5th wheeler.  Not needing any more water I turned off the submersible pump in the well, drained the pressure tank, and blew out the underground water lines.  Then I turned my attention to back to the 5th wheeler, prepped the inside, pulled in slides, and hooked up to the truck.  After Betty returned I checked and adjusted the air pressure in all the tires.  Just before locking down the cabin and warehouse I disconnected the battery on Betty's Durango and the 4 wheeler for winter storage purposes.

One last look around and as we pulled out I stopped and locked the chain across our drive as a notice to the coming winter's snow machiners to "please" stay out.  I'm never sure if our chain across the drive announces that we're gone for the winter so it's safe to burglarize, vandalize, or just move in for the winter or if it's a reasonable security measure.  We'll find out next spring when we return.

Leaving at 11am we drove the 125 miles to Anchorage in an uneventful trip.  Well, uneventful with the exception of paying about $500 to fill our diesel tanks at $4.21/gal. at the "cut rate" Essential station near Bird Creek a short distance out of Anchorage.  I guess that's better than the $4.57/gal for the same stuff in Sterling.

We had some previously vacuum sealed and frozen Sockeye Salmon and Halibut that wouldn't fit into our small freezer so on the way into town Betty called her sister, Elrina, who lives in Anchorage, and arranged to give it to her and her husband Dave.  Elrina met us in the mall parking lot near the Elmendorf AFB gate for the "fish transfer" which helped me avoid maneuvering the 5th wheeler through their small neighborhood streets.

 We pulled into Ft. Richardson's Black Spruce fam camp in the late afternoon and paid for a 5 day stay.  That puts us through Monday night, September 5th.  Originally I only planned to stay overnight and then "take off" south but Betty, who can talk me into just about anything, intervened and ...well, I'd love to stay 5 or 6 days longer.

 This is the first time we've stayed here at Ft. Rich and so far it seems OK.  Elmendorf AFB and Ft. Richardson have been designated a "joint" military base by the DOD but both have fam camps for RVs.  Both are gravel and are embedded in Spruce and Birch forests but I'm led to understand this one is better than the one across the way at Elmendorf.  The laundromat here is free but Betty says it's tiny.  I believe the services are better here as well.  $21/day is pretty steep compared to other military camps but somebody has to pay for all this rain.  Here are some pictures of Black Spruce camp:



                 Sign marking camp entry

Campground entry

        My two favorite traveling companions

Building our log cabin - Sterling, Alaska May - August, 2011

August 31st Post:  I think we're all ready to leave for the season tomorrow morning.  In the morning Betty will take Squatty and Tiger Lilly to the vet for their annual exams while I winterize Fish Camp's water system and close everything up for the season.  Tomorrow will start a new chapter and we're looking forward to warmer and dryer weather.  It's been chilly and rainy all over south central Alaska these past several weeks.  We're outtahere!

August 30th Post:  Forgive me father for I have sinned...it has been 12 days since my last post.  I've recently received a huge outcry from our readership about not posting frequently enough so I'm now forced, through popular demand, to come out of sabbatical and say a few words to keep my abundance of fans from becoming suicidal.  We've been readying to leave Fish Camp for the season so our building efforts have pretty much been put on hold until next spring when we return.  It's definitely fall here now.  On the 12th I posted a picture of Fire-weed in near full bloom.  Here is the first picture along with one I just took this afternoon confirming that cold weather is on its way so its time for us to head South.

                         August 12, 2011

August 30, 2011

So,  here's a couple of shots of what we've been working on:

        I winterized the drift boat - just turned it over

Ed will be down soon to winterize the big boat

  Our sign over the warehouse door from the old cabin

I installed this small luggage rack made for our portable generator.  Mike's welding in Sterling turned this out for me and I just installed it this morning.

Generator rack

We plan to leave on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning after Squatty and Tiger Lilly have seen the vet and gotten their new health certificates (Canada travel requirement).  We'll go to Ft. Richardson/Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage for a few short days while we get our refrigerator repaired and visit family and friends then we'll start down the highway headed for America.

August 18th Post:  I've been working these past few days on plumbing (water supply side) and electric while Betty works on log walls inside the cabin.  When I sandblasted the logs a few weeks ago to remove all the handling marks it left the log surfaces pretty rough and hairy so Betty decided to sand and coat the entire inside.  The theory is that the rough hairy surfaces would catch and hold dust over time and would not be easy to clean so sanding and coating the logs with a polyurethane sealer would not only make them look better but make cleaning easier in the long haul.  Here's a couple close-up  pictures of how they look after chink has been applied, one sanding, and two coats of clear polyurethane:

          Inside wall chinked, sanded, and sealed

Betty's hard work shows best in the dining room

Scroll down and compare the photos of Betty sanding on the August 12th post below to see how much her work improved the looks of the logs.  The clear polyurethane coating allows the natural log color and grain show while doing a nice job of sealing the wood fiber so the logs may be dusted or washed when needed.  It is also supposed to prevent yellowing from UV rays. We'll see over time how good that promise is.  We'll also have to wait to see who will actually dust or wash the logs...which reminds me that I haven't bought Betty any flowers in ages.

Meanwhile, I've been working on the water supply side of the plumbing and wiring the cabin for electricity.  I've already used 600 feet of Nomex wiring (at $97 for a 250' roll) and have about 200 more feet to go before it's done.  I decided to use recessed can lighting in the living room, kitchen, and master bath hoping that it would be superior to standard ceiling lighting.   They cost more and are a real @## pain to install and wire so this idea better pan out.

         Kitchen ceiling cans ready for wire

Sheet rock and plaster between the round log beams will come later.  I'm pretty sure I'll hire that job out because I'm really sick of sheet rock.  Especially the heavy stuff for ceilings!

Bath tub can light prior to wiring

   Can lights over the master bath double vanity

Master bath double vanity water supply and electric

I should mention that some plumbers use red Pex tubing for hot water lines and blue Pex tubing for cold water lines.  Because I'm trying to be penny-wise I couldn't bring myself to buy two expensive rolls of Pex tubing when one would do.  My theory is that the water really doesn't care what color tubing it travels through and the sheet rock will cover this all up anyway.  As a footnote I have to say that "some plumbers" buy materials with the homeowner's money and get paid for doing their work while "this plumber" is spending his own money and doesn't get paid.  

Anyway...the color change shown in the photo is not really for looks, of course.  Truth is the red tubing was on sale.  In this picture the red tubing is 3/4" and the white tubing is 1/2".  Pretty much all household fixtures (faucets, etc.) accept only 1/2" connectors to I have to reduce the tubing size immediately before the final fixture.  I actually used 1" tubing from the pressure tank under the house to very close to each fixture before reducing it to 3/4" then 1/2".  Doing this helps keep prevent water pressure loss, especially in a second floor application.  I learned this the hard way on the first cabin I built when my upstairs shower only dribbled because I used 1/2" plumbing exclusively.  In the short run I saved money since 1/2" material is less expensive than larger sizes but over the long run I was very disappointed with my shower.

Incidentally, all the wood shavings on the floor are because I had to auger about a million holes to install all the Pex tubing.  Thank God (or whoever is responsible) for DeWalt power tools .

August 12th Post:  I've had a challenging day today so I quit work early and took a couple of pictures.  The challenges?  First I used my good friend Bill Donner's forklift as a work platform to paint the facia boards on the rear dormer.  That worked OK except it's mighty high up there and the roof is too steep for me to get on it so I had to rig a step ladder on the forks of the lift and a super long extension handle for a paint roller.  Although it worked in the end, my knees haven't quit shaking yet.  I have to explain that the ground immediately around the foundation is all sand and the forklift, being a warehouse type, gets stuck in the sand quit easily.  For the rear dormer its only a short distance of sand to operate the lift on so I can use plywood sheets to drive on.  That works pretty well but to get to the front dormer its a different story...about 40 feet of sand to traverse and then turn the forklift to put it into position.  I got it stuck in the sand big time...right to the frame.  After unsuccessfully trying to get it unstuck I went to plan B:  Go get my good friend Bill Donner and tell him I'm done with his forklift - he can take it home now.  Being the good neighbor I am I volunteered to help him get it out.  It took about an hour of me offering advice and him shoveling for me to get it out onto hard ground.  Somehow I didn't get pictures of any of this mainly because there's no one to blame it on so why photograph it?  Besides Bill is bigger than me and for some unknown reason was unusually cranky with me today.

The day wasn't all bad because it started about 7:30 this morning with a phone call from another good friend, Bruce Bowman, just as I was getting started to work.  Bruce is one of the "good guys" out there and I always enjoy talking with him.  Bruce and Celia are currently in New Mexico.  We had a long and fun conversation going over all the maintenance issues with our identical Montana's.  Bruce is a wealth of knowledge about these things and I always rely on him to have good information when I need it.  Anyway, his birthday was yesterday and their anniversary is tomorrow.  Happy both occasions, Bruce and Celia!

Now, I won't go so far as to say that Bruce's morning call jinxed the rest of my day and caused the infamous "fork lift incident" but I'm considering that possibility.  I'm trying  really hard to remember if I talked with Bruce on the phone the day I blew up my black water holding tank while in Harrisburg, Oregon.  I suspect it was just a fluke that I had a bad day after his phone call today but I'll be paying more attention to what follows a conversation with Bruce in the future.

The day wasn't a total loss, however.  Betty sanded logs on the inside of the cabin all day today even though I wasn't very productive.  Here's a couple of shots so you can see what that looks like:

          I'm glad somebody is working

A smiling sander-dust covered model

Since I'm getting tired of working on the cabin for this season, and because it's looking like we're going to have an early fall I think we'll head south a couple of weeks earlier than originally planned.  Betty canceled her September 13th appointment so we'll stay until the vet appointment for Squatty and Tiger Lily to get their health certificates updated on the first of September and then go to Anchorage/Wasilla for a day or two before hitting the highway for America and points south.

Alaska folklore holds that when the Fire-weed blooms reach the top of the stalk and the pedals start to wither its the end of summer and colder weather will return very soon.  Here on our property the Fire-weed is nearly in full bloom - a sure sign that soon Dan and Betty will be hooking up the 5th wheeler.  Here's a picture of a Fire-weed.  You see that the blossoms are about half way to the top so I expect that in the next week or so the blossoms will reach the "start-getting-the-Montana-ready-to-travel" point.

              Fire-weed blossomed half way

August 11th Post:  A few days have gone by since my last post and we've made more progress on the cabin. I took yesterday off to let my old bones rest some but was back at it this morning.  We finally got natural gas hooked up.  Enstar workers came out yesterday and tied us in to the gas line on a nearby road to the tune of a little over $3000.  Now we'll be able to set up gas connections for a range, clothes dryer, and gas/log stove to heat the cabin.

In the meantime I've been working on framing some interior walls downstairs while Betty is sanding logs on the interior...a dusty job that takes lots of patients.  Here are some shots of the downstairs as of today:

                     Utility room and half bath

Lag bolts connect the wall to beams at the top

LOST POSTS:  All the posts and pictures of our cabin construction, starting with digging the basement and pouring the foundation, were lost.  Sometime in early September, after many posts showing construction, as I added a post and saved it to blogger something went horribly wrong and many posts between May and August disappeared.  I think it happened because at Ft. Rich (where I was updating posts later) I had a pretty weak MiFi signal.  The lost posts were mainly filled with my ramblings about building our cabin along with pictures of each stage of completion so probably no big loss since I still have the pictures. I can't remember the dates or my comments so when I have a good enough connection to support uploading of pictures I'll re-post some of them that will show how the cabin looked at different stages of building.