June 8th to June 18th


June 8th -9th    Dawson Creek, B.C.

We left Edmonton in three groups about half an hour apart.  We traveled the 
longest distance in a single day for the entire trip today, about 360 miles. 
  After arriving in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, we had to turn our 
clocks back another hour which put us on Pacific Time.  We all got together 
for a buffet dinner and we ate like we walked the 360 miles!!!  After 
dinner, we had a presentation that explained how the Alaskan Highway was 
built along with the history of the area.

The next day we had a group picture taken at “Mile 0” of the Alaskan 
Highway, officially the beginning our trip to Alaska!!  Later that night we 
attended a survey with five other couples that was hosted by the University 
of British Columbia and Texas A&M.  They were studying the many aspects of 
RV life with the aim of increasing the number of RV days spent in the area.  
It was fun, we got to know the other couples much better, and they gave us 
dinner and $40 a couple for our cooperation!!!  A good night!!!

June 10th       Fort Nelson, B.C.

Along the way today, we saw a few moose with calves, coyote, deer and 
horses.  We have had warm days and cool nights, but today was unusually 
hot….about 90-105 degrees F, in the sun.  The mosquitoes must like the hot 
weather; we were almost carried away.  Also, I am having trouble falling 
asleep. It doesn’t get dark until about 11 p.m. and it starts getting light 
again around 3 a.m. The days will be getting longer the further north we go 
and the closer we get to June 21st!!!  I even covered all our bedroom 
windows to keep the light out.

June 11th -12th     Muncho Lake, B.C.

Today we saw our first Black Bear, some Bison or Buffalo, a Moose with her 
baby and many, many Stone Sheep.  The Sheep walk on and lick the roads to 
get the salt residue from winter. Since they are protected the sheep barely 
moved as the cars/RVs passed or even when a truck blew his horn.

The twelve of us all had sites on the edge of Muncho Lake; the ice broke 
about two weeks ago but the water did feel warm…on the surface. With the 
snow covered mountains in the background, it looked like a postcard.  We all 
took an hour long cruise on the lake with Captain Jack who talked about some 
local history and legends, showed us some local wildlife and explained the 
formation of the mountains and the lake.  He was very entertaining and we 
all had a good time.  That night we had a Weiner Roast and everyone brought 
a dish to share.  We then played “Mexican Train” and found some interesting 
rules from other parts of the continent.

The next day we went to the Liard Hot Springs.  Most of us took a plunge and 
enjoyed the luxury of the hot water in the middle of the forest in the 
Yukon.  After our dip we went across the street to eat some lunch.  Later 
that night we had dinner and played “Mexican Train” until the mosquitoes got 
too annoying!!!

June 13th         Waston Lake, Yukon

Today we saw another Black Bear and some buffalo.  We were the first group 
to arrive at our campsite for the night….a large parking lot with utilities. 
  We all lined up for the free RV and car wash, but we had to do the work.  
All the men got together to wash each others RVs while I went to do our wash 
in the Laundry room. Two other groups of about 50 rigs arrived just after we 
got settled. We were very happy to have gotten there first.

The campsite had free internet service if you took your computer to the 
laundry room, but no phone service.  I used a calling card to call Stacy to 
check in since we have been without phone service for three days.  We all 
gathered together and went to the “Sign Post Forest” to leave a sign for our 
group. There are over 54,000 signs put there by groups or individuals 
passing through, very similar to the marina in Horta, the Azores.  We took 
some pictures and looked for a restaurant.  We had no luck!!!  Everything 
was closed, so we bought some frozen pizzas and had a party with two other 
couples!!!

June 14th      Teslin, Yukon

We usually stop along the way to have brunch and today we also stopped to 
see some waterfalls and to take a picture at the Continental Divide. There 
was a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree to welcome us to our campsite for the 
evening.   We all went out to dinner. Rudy and I had a great Halibut dinner 
with delicious homemade pie!!!

June 15th-18th       Skagway, Alaska

Today was the first day we had rain. It has been very hot these last five 
days; it was a relief to have the rain.  We climbed the mountains through 
tunnels and over winding roads towards White Pass which the “Stampeders” 
used during the gold rush. We can’t even imagine trying to walk over the 
pass in 1898, through the very difficult terrain carrying a ton of supplies 
needed to last a year in the harsh environment. The pass was covered by 
cloud and significant amounts of snow were still around. The driving was 
slow in the whiteout conditions, but it wasn’t long before the snow 
disappeared and the trees once again were full and tall as we approached 
Skagway at sea level.  Near the top of the pass we drove through a valley 
with a lake next to the road with moon-like rocks throughout the lake and 
snow-covered mountains on both sides.  As we went through the border, our 
Canadian friends had to surrender their Canada meat to customs.

That night we went to the Visitors Center to see a movie about the area 
before dinner.  After dinner, we went to an 1890’s Casino which doubled as a 
house of negotiable affection during the day!!!  Well, our dealer cheated, 
but for us!!  We won a great deal of fake money….Rudy was ahead a few 
million fake dollars and I was right behind him. We were playing Blackjack 
and the dealer lost every hand except the last.  We lost most of what we won 
in the last hand; easy come easy go, but we had a fantastic time.  Then the 
show started and the fun continued!!!

On the 16th we went exploring around town. After lunch we took a ride on the 
White Pass Summit Train into the mountains.  The snow-covered mountains and 
the waterfalls were beautiful especially in the fantastic surroundings.  We 
traveled about 40 miles round trip and I took over 100 pictures as I stood 
on the platform between two train cars.

On June 17th, we went on the Fjord Express (Catamaran) to Juneau.  When we 
got there we had a bus tour of the capital which is also the largest city of 
Alaska. Juneau is also physically the second largest city in the U.S.  
However, it only has 40,000 people.  On our trip to Juneau, we saw at least 
20 Bald Eagles, 10 Hump-back Whales, a herd of Harbor Seals and a couple of 
herds of Sea Lions.  On board, we had a continental breakfast on our way to 
Juneau and Salmon chowder on our return trip.  The scenery was magnificent 
with mountains covered with snow towering over the sides of the fjords.  
Then adding to the beauty were a few glaciers making their way down from the 
snow fields.  We also stopped at the Mendenhall Glacier. Here we learned how 
a glacier is formed, why it is blue, and why it grows or shrinks.

June 18th:  Happy Father’s Day!!!!  The ladies went shopping and the guys 
did whatever they wanted.  Our Tail Gunners treated us to a spiral ham and 
we all brought a dish to share.  We then learned two new games from two of 
the three couples who shared our RV for the games.  Rudy brought in one of 
the slides so the eight of us could fit around the card table and sit on the 
couches and chairs.

We have been in Alaska for four days. Tomorrow it is back North to British 
Columbia and then to the Yukon once again.  We will reach Alaska again on 
June 25th.

Love to all and we miss you….and we would love to hear from you.  Also, we 
will probably not have phone service for at least a week.