Good morning from Fairbanks....

We are taking a down day in Fairbanks....call it a day off the road. We are all three sitting in the "Alaskan Coffee Company" hammering on our PC's, catching up on e-mails, facebook postings, etc. I'm not sure if I should be proud we have three baby boomers embracing technology, or sad that we are in one of the most natural wildernesses left and are sitting in a coffee shop on laptops? Is our society really made better by the technology? OK....so I'm getting off the subject.....(and I have to hurry so I can update my Nook).

A total of approximately 3200 miles on our trip thus far (no wonder we are a bit road tired). Tomorrow, we move to Denali for an ATV ride in the afternoon, followed by a Denali bus tour on Friday, and a guided hike on Saturday. We are looking forward to the next few days.

Tim

WE MADE IT!!!

Arrived in Tuk, Alaska around 8:00 local time last night. The last 200 miles were a bit brutal (Jeff got to drive the last 5 hours or so). The highway department is losing the battle with the frost heaves. We were going 10 mph at times, and probably didn't average more than 30 over the total distance. Long day, but not as long as the trucker had in one of today's pictures (the accident had occurred several hours earlier....not sure if anyone was hurt or not).

We are all glad to be here. Tuk is a small town (maybe 500 people).....Gus made a great dinner when we arrived (it was wonderful), and we went to the local watering hole for a couple of after dinner drinks....

About 2- 3 hours of darkness a day here....could lead to future trouble. Seems like we can stay up way to late, and the bars are open until 5 a.m. This is not a good combination!!!

Tim, Gus, and Jeff

One week on the road....

So we have full fledged agreement on a number of issues, including:

1. The Canadian people we've met are absolutely wonderful!! Friendly, helpful, pleasant, and truely interested in where you are from; where you are going. We truely enjoy their company and our contact with them. Tonight, we got to meet Emily; our waitress at Klondike's in Whitehorse, Yukon. Before the night was out, she was sitting at our table giving us crap (which we handed back in abundance), making the experience truely enjoyable (with one exception....she thought I was considerable older than Jeff and Gus...which HURT)

2. The scenery is absolutely remarkable: Today, we saw wild Bison in the Yukon, a herd of mountain goats; reindeer; and Caribou; along with outstanding mountain ranges and gorgeous valleys.

3. Our partners in life (which we miss terribly) probably wouldn't enjoy this trip much...to get them to Alaska we will probably have to look at airplanes and/or cruise ship alternatives (Val would prefer the transporter from the Starship Enterprise, but the expense would kill me).

4. The sunlight is dang tough to get used to here. It's now about midnight, and it's finally starting to get dark outside. And by 3:00 A.M., the sun will be coming back out.......WHEN ARE WE SUPPOSE TO SLEEP????

A great day today....and a greater one planned for tomorrow...... Great experiences. Great times. Great friendships.

From Whitehorse, Yukon.....

Tim

Hi from Toad River, BC.....

So...try finding that on a map!! Interesting day. We made 405 miles; not the distance we wanted, but OK based on the troubles we had. Blew a tire on the front of the tow vehicle today and didn't notice it right away (the size and weight of the motorhome makes it virtually impossible to recognize what is going on with the tow vehicle). Anyway, by the time we knew what was going on, we had totally wrecked the rim...bent up the inside wheel well (fixable), and pretty much wrecked the other front tire. We were able to put on the spare, limp to town, and about 3 hours later (and much $), we were fixed up and back on the road.

But ignoring our mechanical challenges, we had a great day. We saw Moose, Caribou, and Deer on the road this evening. We are staying at a small RV park tonight with a rolling creek out our back door; and the weather is drop dead gorgeous.

7-16-10

Drove from Lake Louise to Dawson Creek BC today. We are now on mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway. We drove through many miles and we mean many!, of the Canadian Rockies.
We then came down onto the plains and are now in Ag country. We put on 467 miles today. Not alot but had many up and downs and corners to navigate. We are now focused on getting to Fairbanks which is about 1500 miles away. We are over half way there as we have traveled 1700 miles to date. We had a great meal at a local steak house. We all agreed that everywhere we have been the locals from Canada have been very friendly and a joy to talk with. We are doing some laundry this evening and are planning a early departure towards Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory in the morning. No pictures today as we are all too lazy to download our cameras.
Later,
Tim, Gus and Jeff

Went to the Columbia Icefields today.....ANOTHER awesome day. Saw a black bear on our way, and a grizzly on the way back. Took buses out to the glacier and were able to walk around a bit (felt like being in Roseau in January). We'll post more photos tomorrow (Marlys: Gus needs a new computer!! He's got all the pictures!).

Jeff, Gus, & Tim

Morning 7-15-10

Spent the day yesterday at Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau. This place is truely as beautiful as all the pictures you see. Someone once said that special places are in the eyes of the observer. We think this is one such place.

Hiked back to a tea house close to the "Plain of six glaciers". The hike was a bit grueling for our first one of the trip, about 8 miles and close to 3000 feet of elevation. Our muscles felt it last night.....but the views and teas were worth the trip. Tim also had some homemade rye bread that was wonderful. The tea house does one supply run per year by helicopter, and backpacks in the rest of their supplies throughout the year. We decided they must really be in good shape!!

Last night it was steaks and beer....as we continue to fight the good fight!!

Jeff, Tim, & Gus