Our Alaska Trip Part XI The Alaska Highway

This is the 11th in a continuing series about our trip through Canada to Alaska  “Those people who turned back are more focused on the destination than the journey.”  Monique Zander  WiFi – FINALLY!  We haven’t had WiFi available for a few days, including Thursday morning when all power was out in the metropolis of Watson Lake, Yukon Territory.  It’s part of the journey.  To celebrate being connected again, this edition of Our Alaska Trip blog is divided into two parts:  1) Notes on our travels and 2) Impressions of RVing to Alaska.   CHAPTER 1 – THE LONG, BORING ALASKA HIGHWAY   This Is the Scene Before Us for Many of 1,500 Miles of the Alaska Highway When we left off on our blog two days ago, we were excited about the prospect of feeling the rubber on our 10-ply tires rolling onto the famous Alcan Highway, which is officially the “Alaska Highway” because it was built by the U.S. Army in 1942 to get materiels to Alaska needed to head off a Japanese invasion.  It was originally called the Pioneer Highway and the Military Highway … now is officially Hwy. 97.  At about 9:50 a.m. we were on the road headed toward Fort Nelson, B.C., and then the fun began … and faded.    During the intervening 283 miles, we saw a Walmart/Sam’s Club truck, the carcass of an animal that had died of boredom, and a bicyclist pumping up his tire on the side of the road at Mile 235.  If this was a tough ride for us, we couldn’t imagine what he was going through.   A... Read more

No One Can Take Just One – Camping Trip, That Is!

“Dear Mom, Wish you were here-REALLY! You would love being up here this time of year. The leaves are turning and the scenery is great! Shawn is seeming to really like being here in the woods and hills. He sure attracts a lot of attention and makes a lot of people smile! Camping in the van is a bit tight but working out just fine. Saw National Bridge and Shenandoah Caverns so far. More tomorrow!” Those are the words I wrote to my mom while my husband, one year old son Shawn, and I were on our first camping trip. We traveled in our one year old Volkswagen Vanagon with camper package. We loved seeing the world from the high-up seats and wide open views through the windows. Little Shawn would point out sights that attracted him along the way. And those fall sights along the Blue Ridge Parkway and through the Great Smokey Mountains National Park were truly worth seeing. I was in photographers heaven (oh, if only there had been digital cameras back in 1984). We stayed at campgrounds along the way, where we discovered we were naturals at building campfires and roasting marshmallows. At one campsite on the edge of a lovely pond with Weeping Willows backed by trees covered with beautiful fall colors, our son discovered he could talk with ducks. From inside the camper, Shawn heard the ducks quacking and when they stopped, he would make a quacking sound that traveled right through the soft sided top of the camper. The ducks would always answer him. Shawn and the ducks “quacked”... Read more

Candle Wax and Electrical Tape

Once upon a time, forty-two years ago, two wide-eyed baby boomers loaded up their ’64 VW camper with one black lab, one wooden canoe (attached with bungee cords), one bottle of Dr. Bronner’s All Purpose Soap, five gallons of trail mix, and two fishing poles and left L.A. heading for Canada. No, they weren’t draft dodgers, although the Vietnam War was in full swing, just a couple of kids needing to escape the city looking for adventure and whatever came their way. First stop, Oregon, to sit in a friend’s wood-stoked redwood sauna, a welcome luxury after many hours on the road straining uphill followed by a dotted line of ”real” cars with scowling drivers waiting for the passing lane. We crossed the border listening to Cat Stevens. The warm sun streamed through the split windshield. Views of snowy mountain peaks, pine trees, blue skies (seen through a filter of dead bugs) filled our eyes. Yes, this is what we came for. Even our dog seemed content, her body hogging most of the bench seat. This was home. Setting up camp along the bank of a remote lake we unleashed the canoe to discover a golf ball sized-hole smack in the center of the canoe bottom. The bungee cords had worn straight through. Being ingenious, like most RVers are, we set to work patching it with the only things we had-candle wax and electrical tape. It worked like a charm. So well we never repaired it any other way. Lucky for us the lakes were cold so the wax hardened quickly, and lucky for us they were... Read more

Storm Watching On Oregon Coast

In early 1999, we went with our camper to our favorite spot on the Oregon Coast (Sea and Sand RV Park…near Depoe Bay) to storm watch. We always tried to get a small spot that was parallel to the beach and we did. A thunderstorm came up during the night with winds from the SW over 70 mph and when the lightning struck, there was no time interval. We spent the night holding on, drinking wine, and praying. The next day, the storm was still raging and we decided to escape. As I pulled the camper around facing west, a gust came up that, I thought was going to tip everything over. I pushed against the camper to keep it from doing so….which was a ridiculous move on my part. We left and later learned that the wind storm tipped over 18 wheelers. I, a few days later, suffered a heart attack. Coincidence? Submitted by Gary Hollmer of La Center, WA as a part of the RV Centennial Celebration “Share Your Favorite RV Memory” contest. Do you have a favorite RVing or camping memory you’d like to share? Submit your favorite memory here!  Read More →

Troubles and Travail

Last November my wife and I drove our Minnie Winnie, pulling our canoe, from Iowa to Arkansas for a couple of days floating with a couple of old buddies. The canoeing ended in disaster with our canoe trapped for three days in the river and a Search and Rescue for one of my friends. We found him at midnight unharmed but cold and frightened. But that’s another story. The misfortunes began on I-35 in Missouri. An 18-wheeler, with lights flashing, was stopped on the right-hand shoulder. I watched the truck instead of the road and hit a dead deer lying in the left-hand lane. There was a loud bumping as we passed over the body. As nothing seemed damaged we continued on. Forty miles later we stopped for gas. As the tank filled I noticed that the outside rear tire was totally flat. We called Good Sam emergency roadside service. Three hours later we were ready to go, with a new tire. The “old” one (having only 2,500 miles) was ripped from the impact with the deer. Days later, having rescued my canoe I attached it to the Winnebago. We’d driven down a steep, rough, eroded path to a campground right on the river, surrounded by tall bluffs and unbroken forests. As I was cold, tired, and hungry after the canoe rescue we decided to spend the night in the solitude of the wilds. We slept soundly – for a few hours. It became a very dark and very stormy night. At 2:30 a ferocious rain pelted the roof blasting us to full-alert. We worried about that long, steep, muddy road and decided... Read more

First Time Campers

It was a beautiful spring weekend in1998 and we were camped in a park east os Sarasota, Florida. I had asked several friends to a “cocktail” party at our camp site. The party was spectacular, good food , good drinks (BYOB) and great company. Late in the evening after an excursion to St. Armands Square and a wonderful Spanish dinner, we retuned tio the campground. It had started to sprinkle so most people pulled up stakes and headed for a motel. Since I was in a Roadtrek, snug and dry, I stayed in the campground. As it happened there were tent campers next to me. they set up camp started the grill and settled down to cook steaks. As time went on the rain increased so the tenters retreated to their car where they could keep an eye on their steak. All at once a huge buzzard swooped down and snatched that lucious steak right off the grill! Off he went never to be seen again. Later on that night after the hungry campers had settled down and I was sound asleep, I woke up to a commotion. I looked out and Lo an behold the river had over flowed completely flooding the campground with about two feet of water. The tenters were wading around trying to take down their tent and throw it soggy and dirty into their small car. The language was not fit for polite consumption…to say the least. I’ll bet they never went camping again! Submitted by Marge Whitfield of Whidbey Island, WA as a part of the RV Centennial Celebration “Share Your Favorite RV Memory” contest. Do... Read more

Blow-Me-Down Mackerel

July 2004, saw us load our travel trailer on the ferry from North Sydney Nova Scotia headed to Port au Basque Newfoundland. Several days later we headed into Blow-Me-Down Provincial Park west of Deer Lake. The friendly folk urged us to select any site or park on the beach if we wanted. At the beach, was a high cobble berm thrown up years of winter storms. At one end, I saw a picnic table and parking place. Pulling into the site, was easy, and all was immediately level! Amazing! Low tide line was 30 feet away, and high tide was just 8 feet from us. Set set the awning, hung our well traveled parakeet from an arm, and then I went swimming in truly warm and clear waters. A small outboard came along the shore heading into our spot. “Hey,” yelled the man, “want some fresh mackerel?” He handed over two 18 inch fat mackerel. When I offered to give him something for them, he replied, “No, my wife and the boys and I are headed to one of the islands for a feast, and we just wanted to share these with you.” Submitted by Bill Byers of Tolland, CT as a part of the RV Centennial Celebration “Share Your Favorite RV Memory” contest. Do you have a favorite RVing or camping memory you’d like to share? Submit your favorite memory here!  Read More →

Beach Baby!

I am 36 years old and have been camping all my life. My husband and I decided to buy a travel trailer in 2007 and start camping with our family. We had one little boy, age 2.5 when we first set out on our family camping trips. In 2008, we decided to add another member to our family and he was due in September 2008. We scheduled a vacation for July 2008 and took off with our then 3.5 year old little boy and our dog. Lakewood Campground in Myrtle Beach is where we set camp on Saturday the 19th of July, 2008. We spent Sunday and Monday playing in the sand, mini golf, and shopping. Then on Tuesday, I did not feel real well and that evening we decided to be checked out at Grand Strand Regional Hospital in Myrtle Beach. Come to find out, we had to have an emergency c-section to have our new little boy delivered on July 22nd, 2008! The little boy that was not due until September was delivered at Myrtle Beach, while we were on a camping trip! Our new little boy is named Wyatt. Wyatt had some difficulty in the beginning with his lungs because they were not developed enough to function without help, so the hospital arranged for an ambulance transport for Wyatt and they sent him to the NICU at Mcleod’s Children’s Hospital in Florence, SC. Thank goodness there was a KOA nearby. As soon as I was released from the hospital, we moved our camper to Florence and set up camp at the KOA there. That became our home for the next two weeks while we were going back and forth to the hospital... Read more

Yeah, I see it!

The day started out great. We had our route planned and we were securing everything in the RV and attached the pick up to the hitch for our second leg of the trip. We had even planned out where we were going to stop for Diesel fuel. The first surprise of the day came when we were filling up. Let me back up just a little. When we were looking at Road Hazard to buy, the owner was telling us all about her. One of the things he told us was the gas tank held 80 gallons. OK, sounded good. Fast-forward…we are standing at the pump filling up. Now, when we pulled up we had 3/8 of a tank, so I figured we would put in about 55 gallons. We put in 98 gallons for a grand total of…drum roll please and get the paddle’s ready to restart the heart…$322.55. Guess what? The tank is bigger than 80 gallons! We figure it must be 120 because some of our friends have tanks that big. That means two things. 1) we can go about 1,200 miles to a tank full and 2) prepare yourself when you finally do hit the pump. Second surprise of the day… We wanted to put some more air in the tires so while at the gas station we saw an air hose. Hey, lets put some air in the tires! Put in the 75 cents and start pumping. It started at 100 psi and we wanted to get to 115. Reta, my wife, kept filling it up and checking the gauge when she finally checked it again and it read 90. Those little pumps aren’t intended for big rigs. We lost air! This wasn’t good because at this point my lovely... Read more

Blow Out

I had a blow out on my class C, limped to a rest stop close to Eugene, Oregon.  A total stranger on a motorcycle let us use his cell phone to call for help. Les Schwab was there in 20 minutes and we were back on the road. Submitted by Duane Dickey of Gresham, OR as a part of the RV Centennial Celebration “Share Your Favorite RV Memory” contest. Do you have a favorite RVing or camping memory you’d like to share? Submit your favorite memory here!  Read More →

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