Chicken to Valdez

We are now in Valdez, Alaska. The trip from Chicken to Valdez was mostly paved with a little gravel and some frost heaves. All together not to bad. The scenery was once again spectacular. We saw our first glacier yesterday, the last pic. Stopped in at Wrangel National Park visitor center and viewed the mountians from there. No rv camping in the park, real remote, so we went on down the road. We're going on a wildlife and glacier boat trip today.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Top Of THe World Highway to Alaska

We went over the Top Of The World highway today. What an experience!! The views were some of best I have ever seen. We left Dawson City at 10:50 am and pulled into Chicken, Alaska about 4:30 pm. Our driving distance was only 110 miles. The road was almost all gravel so we rarely went faster than 25 miles an hour. Most of the time it was 15 to 20. The road between Dawson and the U. S. border was pretty smooth gravel. From the border to Chicken was pretty ruff with a lot of holes in it. The road in Alaska got pretty narrow. There were very few guard rails and a lot of STEEP dropoffs. Made Louise nervous a time or two. The spectacular vistas made it all worth while. Anyone going to Alaska should go this way if they have the time. If they don't have the time, they should make the time. When we got to Chicken, Alaska we decided to spend the night here. Small campground with wifi and a place to pan for gold. What more could a guy ask for. We will be moving on in the morning.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Dawson City day 2

We spent the day in and around Dawson City. Went to the site of the No. 4 gold dredge and took a tour of it. The first pic is of the dredge. The 2nd is of the mess it leaves. This area is covered with these large piles of rocks. They are everywhere!!! They told us that the dredge would dig about 18 feet deep in a semi-circle then move 8 feet forward and do it all over again. So these mounds of rock are in tall semi-circles all over the place. The tour was real interresting and informative. Then it was off to tour the river boat Keno. She was the last stern wheeler to make the trip to Dawson City. She is now dry docked there and open for visitors. After that we went to the local museum. It was one of the nicer ones we have been to yet. I am sure everyone is dieing to ask "what is the price of fuel up here". Well, you really don't want to know. Well at least I don't....lol... The price has ranged from $.92 to as high as $1.35 per litter. Now I know you are all going to head for the conversion charts. I'll save you time. Multiply the price times 3.78 and you have the price per gallon. Scary huh!!!!!!! We may have to set a while when we get back state side to let the money catch up a little. The days are getting really long here, light from 4:00 am till about 1:00 am. I think we are going to leave here tomorrow heading on to Alaska.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Dawson City, Yukon

Made it to Dawson city, Yukon Territory. Yesterday we drove to Whitehorse, Yukon. The drive was only 150 miles and a little uneventful. The scenery was a lot of the same we had been seeing. Stayed in the Walmart parking. We unhooked the jeep and went to a museum and just drove around town for a while. Whitehorse is a pretty big town by Yukon standards, even has the Walmart, only one in the Yukon. Today was kind of a long one for us, 325 miles to reach Dawson City. There are flowers bloming everywhere up here. Some of the lakes still have ice on them and the north slopes still have snow on them. The terrain on the drive was mostly flat with some pretty good hills throwen in. There are a lot of lakes in this part of the country. Dawson is big time mining area, mostly dredging operations. I will take some pics of it tomorrow. There are rock piles everywhere from the dredging. After we got set up we headed into town to look around. Went to Diamond Tooth Gerties for the can can show. Had a great time there. It is a casino, the only one in the Yukon, and believe it or not I didn't gamble at all. The town has most of the buildings restored and still has gravel streets. All the sidewalks are wood. Going to tour around here tomorrow and maybe Sunday before heading out on the Top Of The World Highway to Alaska. It's only about 100 miles to the boarder but they say it will take 3 hours or more. Mostly gravel road over the mountain. Already have a few chips in the windshield. I have wifi here so I will post again tomorrow if I get some good pics. Ohhh, I almost forgot...the plane is a weather vane. It is a real plane that was used in the area years ago to haul cargo in. It is billed as the worlds largest weather vane.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Alaska Highway Day 2 & 3

Day 2 on the highway was a lot more exciting then the the first. We hit the Rocky Mountians. The road got a lot steeper and curvier, it also got a lot prettier. The road is also getting a little ruffer. Starting to see some frost heaves now. They seem to be marked far enough in advance that we can get slowed down before hitting them. We started seeing moose, stone sheep and deer. I was able to get a picture of some of them. The end of the day found us at Liard Hot Springs Park. We got there early afternoon and after lunch headed for the water. The water was crystal clear and HOT. There were 3 pools in a row. The first was warm, the second hot, the third real HOT. The third was so hot neither of us could stand it. I spent most of my time in the hot one, Louise spent most of hers in the cooler one. After the dip we hiked around the park for a while. I decided to walk down the road a piece to get a picture of the mountians. I came to an abrupt stopped. The buffalo that you see in the 2nd pic were right in my path. I took some pictures and back out of there. Later that evening we went for another dip in the hot spring before going to bed. It felt great. The last 4 pics are from today. Lots of great scenery to look at. Had to stop in the road to let the buffalo cross, they don't stop for you. Stopped at the famous Sign Post Forrest in Watson Lake, Yukon to take a few pics, found Kilgore, TX. There are 61,000 signs at last count. Anyone can hang a sign there, pretty cool. The road got a lot ruffer today. Went through 3 long gravel areas that were under construction and of coarse, met 4 semis throwing gravel everywhere. I wish I had invested in a shield for the Jeep. We are now in the Yukon about 150 miles from Whitehorse. I think we will spend a day there, then turn north to Dawson City, Yukon. We weren't planning to detour there but several people has told us that it was a don't miss place. The bad part is the Top of the World highway from Dawson City to Tok, Alaska has about 70 miles of gravel road, wish us luck...lol

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Alaskan Highway

Left Dawson City this morning heading up the Alaskan Highway. If you look real close at the first pic you can see one of the moose that we saw today. Saw a total of 3 moose and 4 deer. The first moose we saw I couldn't get off the road to get a picture of. This one let me stop, get the camera, point it at him, then high-tailed it for the trees. She didn't stay long enough for a good pic, guess she was camera shy. This part of the highway is pretty flat. You drive along on top of the ridge for a long way then all of a sudden it's down to the next river. The grades going down are 6 to 8 percent, so they are pretty steep and curvy. Then it's back up the other side to the ridge top again. The pavement is real good for the most part. You hit short stretches of kind of ruff road, not bad so far. We're in Fort Nelson tonight parked along the road. They have lots of parking on the access roads for rvs and it's free. Tomorrow we hope to get a site at Liard Hot Springs for the night. The sites are first come so we have to try and get an early start in the morning. So good night for now.

Till next time

Duane and Louise