North to Alaska....The Kephart's Adventure: June 2010

Day 3

On day 3 of our journey, we traveled from Lacey, Washington to Prince George, British Columbia which is about 629 miles. When we left Washington at 7:00am, the weather was about 50 degrees and misty. As we traveled north, the temperature got up to 85 degrees and sunny. We crossed the Canadian border without any trouble. We had heard that the wait at the border was running several hours but we made it through in about 10 minutes.

The roads in Canada have been really well maintained. They do love billboard signs though. They have tons of those. We also noticed that there are no dead critters along the road. Gunner said they probably clean them off to keep the bears out of the road. What a smart kid! We saw quite a few waterfalls cascading down the mountain sides. The mountains seemed to shoot straight up vertical and then to see the waterfalls coming down those sheer cliffs was really cool. We did our first grocery shopping at a little market in BC. It’s funny to see the packaging of all the foods. All the labels are in English and French. The prices didn’t seem too bad. It was a little store so they were a bit higher than a large chain store. We pulled off for the night around 10:00pm and the sun had just gone down. We are curious to see how much later sundown is every night as we get further north.

Day 4

On day 4, we left Prince George, B.C. about 7:00am. There was a lot of smoke in the air from a forest fire that was burning in the next town. Thankfully it was not close enough to town to cause any worries or concerns for us. After driving for about an hour and a half, the smoke cleared and it was a beautiful day. Again the weather got to about 85 degrees. We kept seeing moose warning signs along the road but we have yet to see one. What’s that all aboot, eh?

The scenery is gorgeous. The mountains still have snow at the tops and look almost fake because they are so amazing.

We stopped for groceries at a larger chain store this time. If you want a shopping cart, you have to insert a dollar and then when you return the cart, you get it back. You also have to pay extra if you don’t bring your own bags. It was 5 cents per bag. They also charge a 5 cent bottle/can deposit along with a 4 cent recycling charge. We stopped for the night around 5:00 and pulled into a campground called Meziadin Lake Park. The guys had researched ahead of time and decided this would be a good place to get some fishing in. The lake has Dolly Varden, Rainbow Trout, Arctic Char, Pink Salmon, Red Salmon and King Salmon. It’s one of only 3 lakes in Canada that the salmon come and spawn in.

The mosquitoes reminded me of Paisley, Oregon……hungry!!! Thank goodness for 100% deet. The campground had seen recent bear sightings so there were areas that were off limits.

All the rest areas and campgrounds have these neat garbage cans that are bear proof. You have to slide your hand in under a flap to activate the latch that keeps the can closed.

The guys went out fishing before dinner and then again after. When they were down at the lake fishing, they met a couple from Sweet Home, OR. What a small world!!!! How crazy is that :o) We won’t head out as early in the morning so they can get some more fishing in. Today we went around 400 miles. We have gone just over 1200 miles total in our journey north……almost half way to Fairbanks.

Day 5

Captain’s Log, Star Date June 22, 2010………He He….Just teasing…
On day 5, the guys decided not to fish Meziadin Lake again but to head on down the road and hit some of the rivers along our route. The fishing licenses they got were good for British Columbia only so they had to hit some spots before we came to the Yukon Territory. We stopped for lunch in Dease Lake, B.C. and then they fished for a few hours a little ways outside of town. Deven was the only one who had any luck. He caught an Arctic Grayling on his fly rod.

A good time was still had by all. Those guys love to fish. I took the time to read my new Sookie Stackhouse book :o) We finally saw our first bear!!! It was a young grizzly bear walking down the road.

We saw 3 all together today. The last bear we saw was a large black bear. Probably 400 or 500 pounds. He was a big boy. It’s strange to see them wild and strolling free along the road. I’ve only seen them in the zoo. Luckily we were in our RV all 3 times (so nothing to worry about Donna…Gunner is still safe and sound). Still no moose though, darn it!!! In Jade City, we stopped at the Cassiar Mountain Jade Store. The Cassiar Mountain Range supplies 92% of the world jade market. The store sells items made from the jade mined from the mountains. Me, Deven and Gunner bought some souvenirs. The roads today were a little less than ideal. At least there were little signs that said “slow” right where the bumps were. Even if they were a little late…better late than never. We hit one road that was basically graded dirt clots. That was not so fun. Tomorrow we will be hitting the AlCan highway. We stopped for the night at Junction 37 RV Park. It was still light at 11:30….FREAKY!!! We traveled 353 miles today so our grand total is about 1553 miles which leaves us about 1000 miles to go.

Day 6

Today we hit the road around 8:00am. The weather was cooler and we had some rain showers. It was nice to wash the dust off the RV. We spent most of the day driving. We did stop to check out a small waterfall. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs.

Me and Mitch got a few naps in during the day. Gunner was Deven’s co-pilot all day. He did a good job making sure our route was plugged into the Tom Tom navigation system. We stopped at another Canadian grocery store. Mitch is on a quest to find bagged milk. It’s a bet he has going with his friends. No luck so far. We will be hitting the Alaskan border in the morning (about another 135 miles) so he’s running out of time. Once we hit the border, we will be on Alaskan Standard time which is one hour earlier than Oregon time. Animal sightings today were a bald eagle and elk. Lots of mosquitoes too. Those things are vicious!!!! Me, Mitch & Gunner are all taking Benadryl to help with the swelling. We pulled in for the night at a nice RV park called Cottonwood RV Park which is on the shores of Kluane Lake. They had a grizzly bear in camp yesterday evening so we are hoping for a repeat visit. I’m typing this at 11:00pm and it’s still light outside (like it was 8:00 in Oregon during the summer time). We traveled 410 miles today. Our grand total is up to 1980 miles. We should hit Fairbanks tomorrow evening. That is another 442 miles. Deven has driven the entire way. I don’t think he trusts my driving :o)

Day 7

Today was a full on drive day. We were pushing to make Fairbanks by evening. We hit the road around 8:00am. We had a few hours of nice roads and then we hit the worst road conditions we’ve ever seen. The pot holes were giant craters and there were frost heaves that made big whoopties. Deven did an awesome job driving. We haven’t had any flat tires (knock on wood) or mechanical problems. We can say we’ve survived the AlCan Highway :o) We crossed the border into Alaska around 2pm.

Now we are in the new time zone so we are an hour behind Oregon time. The poor doggies are so confused….it’s light during bed time and their feeding times seem strange. After the road from Hell, we stopped for the night about 90 miles south of Fairbanks. We’ll head in the rest of the way in the morning. We didn’t see any more critters today. Dang moose are hiding!!!! Miles traveled today = 350. Grand total for our trip = 2328

Day 8 – Arrival Day

This morning we hit the road around 7am and pulled into our RV site & temporary home for the next 2 months around 10:00. It’s good to finally be here. The ride was a long one but worth doing at least once. The fury kids did really good. They slept most of the time. Maggie got comfortable on top of the sleeping bag pile.....

Caddis loves Gunner........

I think we are all glad to be done driving. Now we can try to settle in and explore Fairbanks. We finally saw a moose…...It was just standing beside the highway watching traffic go by. Must have been there to greet us :o)