Delta Junction, AK

Wow, it's been a few days. On July 2nd, we stopped in Whitehorse, YT. We explored the steamboat Klondike, which was in service on the Yukon River until 1955, when it was retired. Steamboats were the method of transportation for prospectors, supplies, and silver ore between Whitehorse and Dawson City, as well as many other settlements in the great white north. What a great guided tour of about an hour in length. Whitehorse also had a Wal-Mart for restocking the groceries. A neat town that Janae and I will have to spend more time exploring after I retire.

We stayed the evening of July 2nd on Kluane Lake, YT in a really nice little RV park. It was pretty remote, but had all the comforts of home thanks to having their own electrical generators. They had just removed a grizzly bear from the park last week by helicopter. The morning of the day we arrived, they had a sow and two cubs walking on the beach. We walked to the beach and I did find some grizzly tracks, but no bears. The kids tell me that the water was as cold as it was clear!

July 3rd was the day we finally found a grizzly. We had been driving for a couple of hours when we saw a couple of RVs pulled over to the right ahead, along with a brown blob on the verge. I knew it was a bear, so we pulled over, and sure enough it was a relatively young grizzly. We watched it for about 20 minutes, as it walked along the shoulder towards us while munching on grasses. Eventually it was about 25 feet away from our motorhome, before we had taken enough photos and video. Shortly before we saw the Grizzly, the road started getting rough. "Frost Heaves " cause the road to look like a roller coaster, with dips and rises. In addition, the surface itself is pock marked with ruts and potholes. I saw a couple that I'm sure would have torn wheels from axles if struck at the posted speed limit of 90kph (about 57 mph). When we were at Teslin a few nights ago, an older couple who had just come from Alaska had warned me about the roads west of Haines Junction having separated a couple of motorhomes from their towed vehicles. I was now finding that a little more plausible... We finally crossed the border back into the US. Very remote area (the Customs People had their own settlement with single family housing right next to customs). Has anyone else made the observation that when entering Canada, the Canadian Customs personnel are rather cold and unfriendly, while when returning to the US, the US personnel are rather pleasant and welcoming? That's been my observation the last few years... We made it to our destination on the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, Deadman Lake Campground. Sixteen campsites around a 1/8 mile loop, about one mile off the highway on a gravel road. No hookups, just a spot and a firepit. The front end of our MH was a hornet and fly magnet as they feasted on the remains of multitudes of their flattened comrades. Despite the small size and remoteness of the campground, their was a camphost, who we chatted up for quite some time (he has relatives in Tacoma). We also were invited to a naturalist talk that evening. After dinner, we walked down to the screened in enclosure for the nature talk. It was pretty cool. The naturalist had drivien in from Tok, AK and was really great. We learned about the plants of the boreal forest (also know as Taiga, Russian for "little sticks" which describes the thin black spruce to a tee). We then went for a nature walk, where Dakota got to help the naturalist do a core sample on a black spruce. We got up in the morning and headed to Tok, where we got to see the 4th Of July parade. The kids scored pretty well on candy thrown from floats. By the way, about 30 miles east of Tok, in the middle of 47 mile of road construction we came upon an interesting sight. Stopped in the middle of the E/B lane was a couple of Diesel Pushers towing cars. Turns out, the first one had pulled the front bumper off their towed vehicle. They were trying to remove the mangled tow rig from the towed vehicle, so that the wife could drive it back to the states. Quite a sight. The older couple in Teslin were now prophets... By the way, fuel prices. I try not to really let it sink in. The most we paid in Canada was $1.66 per liter. About 4 liters in a gallon, you do the math... It was a relief to pay $4.73 a gallon in Tok. At least prices are going down the closer we get to Fairbanks. Tonight we've made it to Delta Junction. The weather has been incredible since we left Washington. Mostly in the 80's with just a little rain a couple of times. Being Washingtonians, we're using the A/C more that the furnace...