Greeley, Loveland and Hudson CO

We attended a Good Sam Rally in Greeley CO where, by chance, Suzette met up with one of her high school classmates that she hasn't seem in 53 years. So that was a unique adventure. We had a good time at the rally and made new friends. We were on the winning team for Bean Bag Baseball also.

After the rally we were off to Loveland and Riverview CG which was our base for seeing the Rocky Mountain NP and the sculpture garden in Loveland.  I did not take my camera to the sculpture garden so I don't have pictures here. Maybe I will those that Suzette took later. Following are a few pictures of RMNP.

During our excursion in the park we were having some problem with the Jeep. I was able to make an appointment with NAPA Car Care and with a tuneup, new battery, oil change, brake fluid change we were on our way.

Oh perhaps you are wondering about our windshield?  It was replaced today while we are in Hudson CO at Pepper Pod CG. A real laid back CG but it worked. The windshield 3 to 5 day shipping took more like 8 days and was just installed today. That will make us late to the rally we signed up in Hutchinson Kansas. But we will move in that direction tomorrow noon.

Scotts Bluff

Next was Scotts Bluff NB for more history. We stayed at Rodidoux CG. Once checked in we decided to ride to the NP for an sunset drive. Bummer the park closed at 1700. The following day we did go to the park and used their shuttle to go to the summit.

We also drove on to Chimney Rock NHS.

Fort Laramie NHS which was cold and windy so I didn't take any pictures. After touring the fort we stopped for F.L.A.G. for lunch. We were told about this lunch stop when we were stopped for watercraft check when we entered WY, if you are in the area stop in it's worth it.

We were told about Oregon Trail wagon ruts and "news paper" rock near Guernsey WYso of course we had to see that also.

Blog Slacking II

Stupid program seemed to get hung up so I posted and am continueing.

We did make a trip into Glacier NP and went on the East side roads for a ways.

I was not satisfied the way the coach was running so I took the closet apart again and dove into the turbo piping. I moved some of the hoses, moved and tightened some clamps and said a prayer.

Next stop was Cottonwood CG in Glasgow MT. Visited Ft Peck and toured the visitor center. Very interesting display and movies about the creation of the dam.

Then off to Theodore Roosevelt NP in Medora ND. If you haven't been then go.

Then off to Rapid City SD. Some where along the road, a thump road, Suzette noticed a crack in the windshield. Once we got parked at Three Flasgs RV Park we went of to pick up our mail at Americas Way. Then it was a call off to the insurance company to see about getting the windshield replaced. We are sure we had glass coverage insurance. That took a while to just make the necessary companies involved, Nationwide, Safelite Glass, who hands off to Duncan Glass. After a frustration a while we new there would be quite a delay where the figured out what glass we needed so after a visit to Mt Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony and Crazy Horse we continued on to Hot Springs SD.
There we visited Wind Cave, which we toured a couple of years ago, natural area and Jewel Cave.

 The following were along the road traveling near Jewel Cove NM

Blog slacking again

Ok, I have been told that I am not keeping this up to date.
Since last we had spent a few nights in Prince George BC to have service done on the coach. In addition to the normal LUB stuff I had been had trouble with performance or rather than the lack of performance. In Whitehorse I had attempted to tighten up some clamps on the turbo piping. That helped but did not completely solved the issue. So to net it out the DPF, Diesel Particulate Filter, needed to be serviced. That is remove, bake out, reinstall road test. All in all $1400 cdn.. The coach ran well great for some time and then I had to do another parked regen. Don't ask.

Our next overnight adventure was at Quensel BC where we visited an reconstruction of a gold time at Bakerville BC.

The park, Airport CG, had very poor power so I just used my generator.  We saw a few deer in the CG.

Then a few nights in Golden BC at Whispering Spruce CG where we saw the sights.

Then off to Flathead Lake MT and Lakeside RV and Motel. We just got setup and were talking with folks we met last year when we heard the fire trucks. OH look forest fire just up the road. What to do? Of course, set up the lawn chairs and watch the water and retardant drops.

Moving to the lower 48

We left Valdez and met up with Terry and Muriel and Robert and Carolyn in TOK. We had a nice meeting and dinner. The following day I picked up mail and we headed "down" the Alcan.
Terry and Muriel went to follow the TOP and make a road to Inuvik, while Roberty and Carolyn continued with their tour with their next stop of Fairbanks.

On to Destruction Bay and most of that road is just that. Much of the road work we saw on the way up was finished. Now that doesen't mean that the road was still smoth. The permafrost is still a challenge.  The dirt had been changed with chip seal so much better.  We stopped for 2 nights at Congdon Creek CG which is a YT park.

On to Whitehorse where  we spent 3 nights at Pioneer Park. We took in a couple of sites that we missed on the way to Alaska. Also I worked on the coach since we were having some issues with turbo boost. That took about 3 hours to remove the closet trim to gain access. I made some Engineering Changes, EC's, so the next time it will take much less.  I tightened about 6 close clamps that make up the plumbing fort the turbo system.  I still think there is still a leak. I will making an appointment with a service center soon.

Next we continued on to Baby Nugget CG for an over night and dinner out. This made the junction with YT/BC 37 which is also known as The Cassiar highway. Now highway is a loose term. 2 lanes, no marking for most of it, chip seal for most of it, dirt/dust for most of it. The highlight was to make a stop at Jade Center. Yeah they have Jade. Our stop for that night was Shadow Mountain. We met another couple which had a Sheltie so of course we had a long visit.

So now we are in Stewart BC were we have met the folks from Shadow Mountain and a couple who we parked across from TOK and near us while at Whitehorse.  We also met Bigbomer which is now a friend we have been exchanging posts and notes on rvillage

Valdez

We left Palmer, Mountain View CG, and took the Glenn Highway to Glenn. Twists and turns, some construction and rolling frost heaves, rain and drizzle. Nothing to really say much about.

On Monday we went to Copper River to pick up our mail and make a stop to the Wrangell-St Elias NP visitors center.  This is a very nice  VC with plenty of space for RV parking.  As it has been for several days it is rainy and cloudy so no views.

The following day we pulled pack into the VC to take a picture or two,

We continued on to Valdez and ...

We arrived at Eagles Rest and got all set  up and made reservations for a Glacier Tour for the next day. I had taken a look at the Alaska Tour Saver and forgot that was one that we could have used a bogo but since this was the only we would have used there would not have much been a savings.





The tour was well done and included a light lunch. The weather was overcast but that brought out the blue in the glaciers. We saw Sea Otters doing what they should outter, Sea Lions in their man caves and a reported of a blow of a Hump Whale. The narration of the cruise was very informative and since this is a small ship you could talk with the captain while on the bridge.

More pictures will be on our online album.

Time to catch up

For reasons that some know I am just having some difficult doing the blog thing. That said I am now doing much better even though I haven't done any posting for a while.

Since the last entry we have followed the Al Can thru Whitehorse where we spent a few days and view local attractions where we camped at Hi Country RV Park.  We continued onward to Cottonwood RV about 16 mi below Destruction Bay. This is a nice CG but a bit pricey. We stayed two nights since we planned to kayak the second day. The weather has other ideas.

Now we are on the bad section of Perma Frost. Just slow down and we will be find. Along with that there is a lot of dirt road. No that is not so bad by its self but it was rain and wash board. Not clean. We next camped at Beaver Creek CG.

On to Tok where we washed the coach.  We took a jeep ride to Chicken and several miles past toward  the junction with Eagle.Yeah we could have taken the coach to TOE, Tow of  the World, but what's the point?

We stopped near Big Delta where we found to have time to kayak. A nice relaxing time with Wally and Ann.

Now River View CG near North Pole where the group, Joan, Wally & Ann, Terry & Muriel met up. Our objective to attend the Midnight Sun Baseball game. Of course it had been raining most of the bay but it cleared for the evening.  By 0030 the score was 8 to 0 and since it was cool, overcast we decide to call it a night. About a couple of innings the game was postponed. They finished the next night. We took the time to tour the town as well as visited North Pole.

Next stop is Denali where we spent a night at the Riely CG and then spent 3 nights in Teklanika CG 29 miles deep into the park. This was very neat experience and we saw quite a lot of wildlife.

On to Anchorage where we spent a night at Ship Creek  before we drove to Kenai where we stayed at Beluga Lookout before we went to Homer. We didn't camp on the spit but took in the sights. Since it was the 4th of July weekend we went back to Beluga before heading to Seward. There we took a Glacier tour boat ride, Sea Life Center and a hike to Exit Glacier.  This was the end of our tour with Wally and Ann since they had to make their way to the lower 48 and Vermont.

Following there we spent a couple of nights at Williwaw National Forest CG near along the Portage road to Whittier.

Next was Houston and the Good Sam Alaska State Rally.  Terry and Muriel met us there and there was 2 rigs from AR.  We had a good time with the folks that there were and hear a lot of stories from the real Alaskan's.

Since we had bypassed Talkeetna we thought we should spend a couple of nights there. We didn't make a flight seeing ride and the weather that wasn't that good. No reason to go to Talkeetna other than a flight or climbing Denali. Other than that, tourist town.

That finds in Palmer AK in the rain for the next few days.

Again pictures are here.

Roads and wildlife

Our 2016 Alaska trip
Roads:
Milepost had rated some sections as rough but we really haven't driven any roads that were as bad as some of the interstates we have taken or some of the roads we have driven in our 30+ living in Vermont. That said I have my phd and don't mind, given clear traffic in each direction, used all the paved road to avoid any obstruction.

So far the construction areas haven't been an issue either. We like that there frequent used of Pilot Cars so single lane travel has been uneventful.

Basically the roads between AZ and Johnson's Crossing Yukon are just fine.

Wildlife:
Underwhelming. Some Stone Sheep, Goats,  a couple of Elk, 1 woods Bison, a few Black Bears and possible 1 Griz.  Oh 3 Moose feeding across the the pond/lake at Toad River CG.

We are at Johnsons Crossing Yukon

A lot of miles have rolled over the tires.
Banff - we spent a few nights there and took over the sights in town, Hot Springs, Museums, ... and of course of the tourists wandering the town.
Banff Parks Museum
Banff Bow Falls
Banff Cave and Basin
We also took a drive to Lake Louise and  Moriane Lake

We glamped at Banff  Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court. Nice wide sites, easy in/out.

We drove the Ice Fields Highway to Jasper for an overnight there. Along the way we stopped at  Columbia Icefield Discovery Center   where Ann and Wally took in the ride onto the glaicer and the sky walk. Joan and her crew caught up and took a tour of the Discovery and proceeded on to Jasper  We believe we would have been better served to continued to the KOA in Hinton.

When we left Jasper we went to Hinton to fuel up and do a little shopping at the Safeway and Wal Mart. The it was on to highway 40 that takes us through Grande Cache an into Grand Prairie.

We stayed at the Rotary Campgroud and took into the large Sun Dial and dinner out.

Next on our journey was Dawson Creek and the official start of the Alaskan Highway. Of course we took  in all the sites and found a great Meat Market.   When you are in Dawson Creek this is a must stop.  There are several murals along the old town.  Of course what is not left than finding the local Wal Mart.

Next stop is Fort Nelson with the heritage museum, visitors center and dinner at the local Boston Pizza joint.

Any trip, well at least a first trip, is the stop for the world famous Sticky Buns at Testa River Lodge. Once we had our buns safely stored in the coach it was on to Toad River for our night. This is a very place to stop and we watched Moose feeding across the lake as well as watched Beaver and Otter.

Now the big place to make a stop, we made an overnight, is the Liard River Hot Springs. We camped at the Provincial park and had no problem parking our rig in the site we picked. There are many sites that would take our large Motor Home.

Next is Watson Lake and the Sign Post Forest and the Northern Lights Center could have done with out of the Northern Lights Center.  One night there is enough for that stop. 

That brings us to Teslin Lake where we made a stop at Tlingit Heritage Center.  Our over night is at Johnsons Crossing.