With mostly plains and some rolling hills today’s drive seemed longer than it was since there was no spectacular scenery to see although we did see one deer running along the road. We arrived at the Diamond Grove RV Campground in Spruce Grove, AB, which will be our base for visiting Edmonton. We then went to the West Edmonton Mall, the largest indoor shopping mall in North America. The mall is huge with an ice rink, amusement park, mini -golf, a water park with wave pool (I guess this is the northerners’ beach), a “bourbon street” with restaurants, 2 food courts, a hotel, a casino and some 800 shops. It even had an Asian grocery, T&T Supermarket, where we bought some fresh rolls, seaweed salad, pickled radish and BBQ pork and ate dinner there. Rosemary replenished her tea supply at David’s Tea and I got a sorely needed new pair of long pants. I had brought 3 pairs on the trip, one of which had the zipper fail about a month or more ago and one that sprouted an ever larger hole.
Day 132, August 11, 2019, Sunday. Pull Off on Highway 43 about 30 miles east of Grand Prairie, AB (154 miles)
We departed Fort St. John continuing on the Alaska Highway and headed to Dawson Creek, BC, about an hour away. We stopped at the Dawson Creek visitor center which is right at the beginning of the Alaska Highway or for us the ending. We took pictures at the Mile “0" Cairn and did a walking tour of “downtown”. The center of town was the Mile “0" Post which I found strange that it was not located on the Alaska Highway. There was virtually no activity downtown and we were the only visitors when we walked into the Alaska Highway House, a museum on the construction of the highway. The museum includes a PBS episode of American Experience on building of the highway including interviews with a few of the 30,000 men who worked on it in 1942. The film and museum where very well done. The idea for the road to Alaska was born by the Army officer stationed in Alaska with about a dozen planes repeatedly telling Washington he could not defend Alaska in the event of a Japanese invasion. Not such a far fetched idea given that the Aleutian Islands part of Alaska is only 750 miles from Japan. If Japan were able to establish a base in Alaska, they could invade the continental U.S. by land. The attack on Pearl Harbor accelerated the idea. Indeed, the Japanese captured two of the Aleutian Islands in 1942, the only foreign capture of U.S. territory since the War of 1812. So we have the Japanese to thank for this now paved road to beautiful Alaska. Also interesting is that many of the Canadian towns along the way owe their existence to the fact that the U.S. set up many airfields to support the lend lease agreement to supply aircraft to the Soviet Union to help defend against Hitler’s Germany. One goal of the highway route was to connect these airfields. So the Canadian towns prospered due to the road to them and the U.S. military presence there. Fort St. John went from a population of 200 to a base for more than 6,000. We departed Dawson Creek and continued east and south leaving the behind the Alaska Highway and the Canadian Rockies and entering Alberta. The road was fairly good although there were still sections where the coach was shaking pretty good. We stopped at the Grande Prairie, AB, visitor center for some info on Alberta and continued until we got tired and hungry and found a pull off for the night.
Day 131, August 10, 2019, Saturday. Fort St. John, BC (Alaska Highway mile post 75.6 km) (313 miles)
We continued east on the Alaska Highway for the fifth straight day. We stopped in Fort Nelson, BC. Right next to the visitor center is a fairly new and well planned sani-dump and potable water complimentary for rv’ers. We took full advantage of it. We also filled our diesel and propane tanks in town and we were good to go for another several days. The diesel was $1.20 per liter ($4.56 per gallon), over $2.50 less per gallon than the lodge ripoff of yesterday. We stopped at Fort St. John’s Walmart for the night. Animal sightings of the day: three white tail deer, one fox and two unidentified animals probably fox, coyote or lynx.
Day 130, August 9, 2019, Friday. Alaska Highway mile post 576.1 km about 73 miles east of Fort Nelson (236 miles)
We continued east on the Alaska Highway and I realized how thankful I am that we took the ferry on the way to Alaska and did not have to drive this full highway twice. It is long but the scenery is mostly beautiful although the road got a bit rougher today. We visited the Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park and took a dip in the hot springs. The weather was cold and we wore jackets on the ten minute boardwalk walk to the springs. Once we got in the water we were not cold again. The water was very hot, too hot in some places. The place was set up very well and clean with several sets of stairs and seating along the edge, some in the sun and some in the shade, and a few benches in the middle. We relaxed in the springs for about an hour chit chatting with other rv’ers. No jackets needed on the walk back to the coach. We continued east and stopped at the overlook of Muncho Lake, the main draw of another provincial park. In Muncho Lake we had to get diesel so I stopped at one of the few places available in this area, the Northern Rockies Lodge. The diesel price was outrageous at $1.875 per liter. That’s $7.12 per gallon so I only bought $100 figuring that would get me to Fort Nelson without any difficulty. We stopped at a pull off for the night. Today’s animal sightings: two black bears, three caribou, several lone bison and several bison herds. I finally remembered to drive with my camera ready so we got some photos of the animals.
We visited the Whitehorse fish ladder but the salmon were not there. They usually are there in early August but the water temperature is warmer than normal which is believed to be why the fish have not arrived yet. We then visited Miles Canyon and did a little hiking. Rosemary again crossed a suspension bridge without much hesitation. However, the trail which was narrow and eroded ran right along the edge of the canyon causing some nervousness but she made it without falling off the cliff and into the river. We departed Whitehorse and continued eastward on the Alaska Highway. The road was much better than it had been and we almost went a normal highway speed. We stopped at Rancheria Falls for a short hike to view two waterfalls. We had the place to ourselves although it was cold (temp around 50) so we did not linger. We stopped in Watson Lake at the Sign Post Forest. Started back in the 1940's by a U.S. soldier who made a sign about his home town and many others soon followed and made signs to post. Now there are thousands of signs and is Watson Lake’s claim to fame. We did not make a sign. We stopped at a pull off for the night. Successful animal sightings for today: We saw two foxes and a black bear.
Day 128, August 7, 2019, Wednesday. Whitehorse, YT (Alaska Highway mile post 1420 km) (137 miles)
Another quiet night at another pull off all by ourselves. We continued on the Alaska Highway and arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon, and checked in at the Hi Country RV Park (fhu 30 amp) without any reservation. On the way two wild horses crossed the highway right in front of us and joined a herd of horses on the other side. We visited the S.S. Klondike National Historic Site and did a self guided tour. The Klondike was the largest sternwheeler on the Yukon River that transported people and freight from Whitehorse to Dawson City. But just before we began our tour a fox came out of nowhere and ran around us for a bit allowing some good photos. After the Klondike, we visited the Yukon Meat & Sausage Deli where we purchase some bison meat and some elk sausages to grill up for dinner.
Day 127, August 6, 2019, Tuesday. Alaska Highway mile post 1642.1 km, YT (317 miles)
Except for a little rain overnight, it was probably the quietest spot we have ever spent the night. Nobody drives the Tok Cutoff at night and we were 70 miles from any civilization. We reached the Alaska Highway in Tok and filled up with diesel to try to minimize the Canadian price of diesel. We crossed into Canada with mixed emotions about leaving Alaska after 46 fun filled days. We drove all day with some slow going due to frost heaves and damaged roads. We ended up stopping at mile post 1642.1 km at the same pull off that we spent the night on the way to Alaska, at the south end of Lake Kluane. We took photos of the lake in July and it was too cold today to take more photos.
This morning I picked up a blower wheel from Alaska RV & Marine which I had ordered the Monday before. The blower wheel on our front rooftop hvac had failed the previous Sunday. We did not miss the a/c but Aaron missed the heater the last two nights he was with us since he slept in the front. I installed the part and we ran a few errands. We bought some bread and more goodies again from the Great Harvest Bread Co., of course after we had a few samples. Rosemary got more tea at the Indigo Tea Lounge. Before we knew it, it was lunch time. We did not depart Anchorage until 2:30 pm. We headed north and east on the Glenn Highway a good portion of which was winding mountainous road. We noticed that the leaves had already started turning fall colors so we timed our departure just right. We stopped to take photos of the Matanuska Glacier which has remained fairly unchanged for 400 years mostly due to it being shaded by surrounding mountains. After the Glenn Highway ended, and a brief time on the Richardson Highway, we were back on the Tok Cutoff, the worse road we experienced in Alaska. One area of construction was rough gravel for 12 miles during which our speed varied from 12 to 25 mph. We stopped for dinner at mile post 24. After dinner we continued to a pull off at mile post 55.2 for our last night in Alaska. We saw a total of five moose along the road which is one advantage of driving at dusk, another is hardly any other traffic.
Well the time finally arrived after 8,644 miles on the coach that we start to head towards home. But lots to see on the way back. We departed Homer, AK, on a bright sunny day and this time after a few miles north we could see the volcanos across the Cook Inlet. There are four active volcanos in the area. The photo sure looks like steam coming from the mountain top but it could be just a cloud. We planned to stop in Soldotna and visit the Moose is Loose Bakery again for its Krispy Road Kill. We pulled into the mall parking lot next door and walked to the bakery but it is closed on Sundays to my great disappointment. We arrived in Anchorage and parked at Walmart. Dinner at Pho Lena was very good with fresh rolls, green curry with Thai eggplant and chicken and stir fried basil with bok choy and chicken. Servings were large so plenty for the next night too. Dessert was at Wild Scoops was interesting but the vegan chocolate coconut left a little to be desired.
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