Thursday, June 20, 2013

Whitehorse to Glennallen ... This is GRIZZ Country!!

But we didn't see any!!!  Sorry, this is the best I could come up with.  They weren't picknicking on the road yesterday or today ... :(
Leaving Whitehorse, the roads were okay and the trees just plain weird.  They are very short, spindley, and most have very few if any needles.  Coming around the mountain, we saw Kluane Lake ... and she's just beautiful.  The funny part is that it took us hours to drive around the outside edge.  From here, we headed west, around the lake, then East and finally north again headed for Tok.
I think I mentioned before that the roads were so much better than I expected.  Boy was I wrong!!!  Road construction is killer ... 30 mph on the gravel while everyone around you goes 50.  The dust is horrible, but much better than the alternative ... the water trucks that pour too much water on the road, making mud!!  
We made it to the border where a really nice guy gave my puppies biscuits!!  He told me he confiscated an orange from my friends from Skagway ... I thought he was trying to trick me into giving up any citrus I might have ... but I fooled him, I didn't have any.  Turns out, truthful Patty DID give up an orange!!!  
About here is where the worst road in the world is located!  It took us almost 8 hours to go 300 miles ... because most of it was 25-35 miles per hour.  You better put on your bronc riding undies if you drive here, because you are going to ride your rig like I ride my bronky horse.  Frost heaves is an understatement!!!  When Dan said he saw my front wheels come off the ground, I thought he was kidding ... until I saw him become airborne.  The creaking and groaning of my rig just made me cringe!!  In most places I was down to 15 mph.    Then a good straight stretch of 10-15 miles, following by the devils road again.  It wasn't even the roller coaster part ... it was the twisting sideways that got me.  Past Burwash Landing, we held out for Border City where we thought we would spend the night. I hate it when I see these "No Fuel" signs!!
Yay!!  FUEL at Border City, which was closed last year by the way!!  I was getting below a quarter tank and was happy to see the fuel station here.  Diesel was $4.899 ... but cheaper than Whitehorse and who cares when your tank is getting low.
Too bad I wouldn't recommend this place to stay.  The sites are really big, level, 30 amp (although Dan's wasn't up to snuff and he couldn't run his microwave) ... great place for the doggies to run.  However ... the owner is rude - rude - rude!!  We didn't hook up to water, but I did use about 3 gallons (maybe) to wash my bug encrusted windshield.  I left the hose for Dan, who washed his a little later.  All of a sudden some guy comes screaming up on a four-wheeler, yelling at Dan to QUIT washing his rig.   Not the least bit nice ... Dan later got his windows washed and his radiator rinsed off.  Other than that, it was a good place to stay for $27, although the advertised wifi is non-existent!!
This map shows about half of our trip.  I've been marking every road and will mark fuel stops also.
Today, we headed off again to Tok and Glennallen, where we will spend the night at Northern Nights RV Park.  Being springtime, the flowers are in bloom everywhere.  
If you enlarge this image, you can see one of the dips in the road ... just look at the yellow line.  This is actually a mild one!!  I'm definitely getting a schooling for being a novice Alaska driver!!  Most of them you can't even see until it's too late.
Heading West out of Tok, there is very little snow left on the mountains.  
And then Dan came to a screeching halt!!!  He had seen a mama moose earlier, but must have made an ugly face when he went by, because when I got there I didn't even see a butt!!  Further along though, here beside the road was this handsome bull having lunch!!  I could just watch these guys for hours.
Further along still, Mama Moose was doing the same.  For this one, I hit the brakes, ran in back tripping over the dogs, jumped on the bed and grabbed my big camera and lens from the closet.  It's a little better ... she was quite some distance away.  
We pulled into Glennallen to Northern Nights RV Park, but of course their wifi isn't working either.  Immediately, we loaded into Dan's car and headed to the library.  Seems to be the best way to get on-line.  After two days of no phone service, I received 4 messages, 3 phone calls and 33 emails.  Our next destination is Valdez, which should have good service.  












2 comments:

  1. We stayed at a very nice RV park in Valdez right on the water.

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  2. We saw that one, it looks beautiful ... at Eagles Nest we are maybe half a mile away. It's the wifi that got us here!!

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