Dan and Betty's Travel Blog: Our trip back to Alaska May 1

April 30th Post: We left Harrisburg this morning under clear skies and sunshine for Everett, Washington so Betty could visit her former colleague and boss from the budget section of the Alaska Department of Health & Social Services Richard Renninger who lives on Whidbey Island. She had arranged for him to take the ferry to the mainland to have brunch with us on the 2nd . We had a nice visit with Richard and a good breakfast, and then we were on our way to Sedro Wooley, Washington to visit Pat and Patty Colgan who we traveled with earlier while in Arizona and Texas. DRW

May 1st Post: We had a really good visit with Pat and Patty in Sedro Wooley. We went to a nearby casino where I won a little money and then we went to bed early in anticipation of our run for Alaska starting in the morning. DRW

May 2nd Post: We departed Sedro Wooley around 9am to make our run for the Canadian boarder and eventually Alaska. No problems at customs (Sumas, WA) where we were only briefly interviewed. I guess we looked harmless enough. From there we headed North and arrived at McLeese Lake, B.C. about 4:30 pm after logging about 377 miles for the day. McLeese Lake resort is a pretty tight fit for our 5er even thought the new owners seem to think there's plenty of room. Fortunately there were no other RVers because we took up the whole pull thru (their largest) and the entire road in front of the pull thru. In the morning we had to back out of the park because the turns were too tight to get through. Otherwise it seems to be a nice place to stay.

May 3rd Post: Today was a good day on the road and we made it to Shepard's Inn, about 415 miles. Shepard's Inn is a cafe and motel located a little North of Fort St. John (which is North of Dawson Creek). We didn't go into Dawson Creek - as usual we took the Hudson's Hope cut-off from Chetwind. This may be the last time we use Hwy 29 because of the very steep 10% and 11% grades with 25 MPH corners. Withe the new, heavier, trailer this is pretty challenging. We stayed free at Shepard's Inn in front of the motel with no hook-ups. They were very nice about letting us stay and we were happy to get dinner and sleep.

May 4th Post: Today was Shepard's Inn to Watson Lake, Yukon - about 530 miles. I'm getting my 2nd wind and making a little more mileage each day it seems. Betty and I are both wanting to be back home to "Fish Camp".

May 5th Post: Watson Lake to Haines Junction - about 368 miles. There went my second wind, I'm tired tonight. We left this morning about 10 am and arrived at 5:30pm, a shorter day. Stayed at the FasGas (gas station) RV park with 30 amp hook ups for $20 (no water) yet because in this country it's still freezing at night in early May. Haines Junction is a kind of bench mark in our trip. It seems much closer to home than previous stop overs. This is where the highway from Haines, Alaska comes in and we've passed through here before when traveling to Southeast Alaska. Today we came from another direction, however. From here the road North gets worse but with one more day's drive we'll be in Alaska. These pictures show the only life we saw today:

Wild (protected) Yukon Bison

This handsome one is the leader of the herd, I'm sure

May 6th Post: Today was Haines Junction, Yukon to Tok, Alaska!! This leg was only 290 miles but it was treacherous! We only drove about 6 hours and arrived about 2:30 pm but the crappy road beat us up pretty badly. There's more to come tomorrow. Anyway...it's always nice to come in to Tok and anticipate eating either dinner or breakfast at Fast Eddy's, just a short walk from the Tok RV Village. We've never stayed here when the water is turned on. Still freezing at night every time we come through. We had dinner at Fast Eddy's and then an after dinner drink next door. Tomorrow we'll make Wasilla and stay at Ed and Roxy's house. Long time no see my No. 1 son.

May 7th Post: We got up this morning to nearly an inch of fresh snow. Welcome back to Alaska it seemed to say (along with "up yours" for being gone all winter). We left about 8:15am and arrived in Wasilla about 3:35 pm. It's such beautiful country even if the roads were miserable with many frost heaves that scrambled the eggs in the refrigerator and broke an end table. Here are some pictures of the scenery: