30 June 2008

HI All: Another day gone by. We got out of here about 0945 to go to the "Exit Glacier". It's one of the many glaciers around here but the only one you can drive to. I say drive to meaning you can get within a mile or so of it. You have to walk the rest of the way. The sign said .3 miles to the foot of it. We took that one and all that is there is a bunch of little rivers from the melting glacier. We tried to walk thru a couple of them and decided it would be better go take the .5 mile trail. It goes straight UP. We got there and it was not good enough so we went the full 20 miles (Felt like it) to the glacier. It was worth the walk. We got to within about 50 feet of it I guess. It was cold as the devil as you can tell by the photo of the 4 of us standing in front of it. It was about 200 feet thick and went up the mountain for miles. The walk down was harder than going up on the knee, but made it in pretty good shape. Did not feel like going to the museum with the rest of them so I came back to the motor home and they went to see it. Amy said it was nice. Full of old stuff. Guess that's what museum's are all about. Old stuff. Good thing I didn't go. Might have put me in a glass case...

The Bear picture eating my hand was in the Seward Visitors Center. Big fellow. And the one of the snow covered mountain is one of the many that are on both sides of the valley Seward is located in. They say that this is the most snow and ice that has stayed on the mountains in recent memory. It's still pretty cold here.

Going to Anchorage tomorrow for 4 nights. Lots to see there. Not sure if they will get me to walk straight up another mountain there though.

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

28 June 2008

Hi All Again: Had a nice cool sleep last night. It got down in the 40's, so we needed some heat. I'm glad Amy got the electric blanket for the bed now.

We got up and went to a bakery for breakfast of "Sourdough Pancakes" They were real good. Not Denny's type, but they stuck with me all day.. The blueberries made them good too. We then did the tourist thing around Homer. Went to Norman Lowell's Art Gallery. Kate knew these folks from when she was here with her folks in the 60's. He has a very large and very good gallery of his paintings. He is a fantastic artist. Bob had heard of him before. We got to the gallery and spent a lot of time looking at his paintings. We were lucky and found him and his wife Libby (I Think). They did remember Kate and her folks Ben and Ethyl, and spoke fondly of them. Attached are some photo's of him and his wife, as well as the outside of the gallery which is close to his homestead cabin, also attached. It was a very nice visit. Couldn't afford any of his paintings. He had some of his new things hanging in the last room of the gallery. They went for at least $25,000.00 each. WE bought a DVD of his paintings. Would have loved to buy one, but need money for gas to get home.. hee hee..

We are having a Salmon dinner tonight. Went to Safeway grocery store to get a few things to make the fish taste good. Kept two pieces of fish to eat now. The guide has the rest in his freezer that we will pick up on the way back north. Going to bake the salmon. To cold and rainy to do it on the grill outside...Hope it turns out good..

Leaving in the morning for Seward, AK. Hope the weather is better there than here. Here in Homer they are having a large Halibut tournament so all the guides are out with folks trying to get a fish larger than the large one so far of 319 pounds. I DO NOT want a fish that big. Would like to catch two around 40 to 50 pounds. Bob does not want to try his luck again for fishing. I may try it in Seward while we are there the two days if I can find a tour for half day, and the half day is nice and sunny, warm, no rain, no wind and calm seas. Don't want much huh. I could go buy the Halibut at $16.00 a pound, but would rather spend $40 a pound and catch it myself. Smart huh. I guess I should be carrying my "Stupid" sign too. See alot of folks that should be carring that sign on this trip.

After tomorrow we will be officially "On our way Home" from our Alaska trip. It has been super so far. The mileage here is just short of 6000 miles from home, so we have at least that much or more before we get home. Looking forward to the trip back too.

Glad you all enjoy the blog. For those who don't know Bob's blog address check out: http://www.bodoofftoalaska.blogspot.com/ He has a good one too, and has some things in his I forgot to mention...

Better go see if I can help Amy with dinner tonight. Salmon for 4..

Photo's:

Another shot of Pharaoh

Entrance to Normal Lowell's gallery
Norman and Libby Lowell

Don & Amy at entrance to Old Homestead Cabin (On site)
Present home of Lowell's on site. (Beautiful) Saw a bald eagle in a tree from back porch..

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

P.S. Brenda, I think I am smiling???? hee hee.. Love ya..

27 June 2008

Hi All: Well, we made it to Homer. This is the end of our trip out. From now on it's our trip back home. Homer is full of people now as there is a Halibut tournement going on now. Read that the biggest so far is 319+ pounds. I don't think I'll even try to get on a trip for halibut this time. Will have to settle on my Salmon. It's a good fish...It is also very cold and windy here, and cloudy and raining some. I think the big water would be pretty rough and COLD, so this Florida boy will stay on land this time.

We drove out on the end of the place called the "Spit" There must be every car in Alaska out there, and a million RV's. WE got in a pretty good place for $45 a night. Had to give a $150 deposit for the TV control box for the TV here. First that has happened. Makes it a little tough to hook up as none of the rigs are wired to handle an extra TV box, so you have to unhook stuff and rehook the box in the middle. Worked out OK though. Good TV signal now, Beautiful view of the bay here and the Aleuition Mountain range on the other side of the water with all it's Ice and Snow. Beautiful. Can sure feel the wind coming off that ice.. Brrrrrrrrr..

Picture of the 1924 Model T Ford with the trailer is a couple that have driven up here from the lower 48, and drove all the way not Northern Alaska and now are heading back home. The car is open. Boy they should be showing everyone their "Stupid Sign"

Jan asked why no picture of Pharaoh. So I added one for her. Thanks for reading Jan. Super to hear from ya....

The other photo is a shot along the road down here. Hope it came out so you can see what it is. Just mountains, snow, ice and COLD

Can recognize Amy with some flowers at a winery we found here in homer. She had to take some close ups of all flowers.

I am standing in front of a Rhubarb plants. They are ready to pick, but the lady said I'd pull back a stub if I took any....So I didn't. They do make some wine out of it, and I bought some...

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

26 June 2008

HI All: Well, got up at 0330 and got ready for my King Salmon fishing trip. Bob and I left here about 0515 and found the dock with little trouble. Only trouble we had was the sun was up and shinning right in our eyes and we could not read the road signs till we had passed the roads. We got there in plenty of time and found the boad. There were about 10 other boats getting ready to go. Cannot fish till 0600. We took off at about 0545 and went in to the Kenai River which flows real fast. He rigged up our poles and it seems that all the boats come to the same spot to start and they all head their boats up stream against the flow and we drop the bait in the water and the flow of the river takes the bait out behind the boat and he keeps the boat kinda at a stand still in the flow of the river. There were Bob and I and one other guy fishing in the boat besides the guide of course. The other guy caught a small salmon that was just barely legal, so he had one fish. We fished till about 1130 all over the river and I got a bite. It nibbled at the line for a while then took of like a streak. I worked for about 15 minutes I think and we loaded a nice King Salmon of about 28 pounds. Sadly, that was the only fish we caught. I was so hoping Bob would catch one before we had to quit. He'll get some of mine though. The guide took the fish and will bring it to the motor home this evening all cut up, vacuum packed and frozen in 2 serving sizes. What a guy. Had a super time, but it would have been much better had Bob caught one too...I almost wish he had caught the only one. ALMOST!!!!!

Amy was gone when we got home. Her and Dorene went up town and that scears me a lot. Amy is cooking dinner for the 4 of us tonight. Pot Roast I think. No Salmon. Think we can find room in the freezer for the salmon. Hope so. Would hate to eat it all here....

Enclosing a photo of the fish caught. Also, while we were fishing in the river I saw a moose come over the hill and on to the bank of the river, then came a little calf of about a month old. She walked up the bank to the front of all the boaters and then went in the river and swam across it with the little guy behind her. She would get ahead of him a little and look back and he was slowing down, she swam back behind him and nugged him ahead and he would take of. The swam the whole river which was at least 200 yard across there. Hope you can make the photo's out of them coming out of the water...

Plan to leave in the morning, but we have not organized a plan for it yet. Not sure if we'll try Halibut fishing down the road a ways, or go to Homer?? Might have trouble talking Bob in to going fishing again this soon...????

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

25 June 2008

Hi All:

Got here to the Klondike Campground in Soldatna, Alaska. It's pretty nice. Had to back in the sight, so had to take the car and dolly off the Motor home first. Not to much trouble, but more than a pull thru is. Nice gravel sites. Most all sites are gravel down here. That makes it nicer if it's raining. No mud...We drove to the town, and went to a restaurant for dinner. It turned out to be a little higher class place than I thought, but the food was pretty good, and a little expensive, but nice.

Checked the visitors center and found the fish are starting to come up in the Kenai River that runs thru the town. Salmon are all late in coming this year they say. Some say it is because the snow and ice have not melted on the mountains yet, so the salmon don't know it's time to come on in the river.

We called a fishing guide that the camground recommended for tomorrow. We booked a half day trip for King Salmon. He will be here at the camp site about 8:30 tonight to set up our fishing licenses, and set the place and time for tomorrow morning. Not sure if I use my fishing pole, or he furnishes them. He does clean, filet, vacuum pack and freeze any fish we catch. Not sure what we may catch. Hope to catch two 30 pound King Salmon. That should make a mess I would think.

Amy and Dorene are going shopping somewhere. That is scary too. Hope to have a lot to tell you about the fishing trip in the next blog...

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

24 JUNE 2008

Hi All:

This day was a lazy day I guess. Bob needed a part for his TV antenna, so he asked if I wanted to ride down town to see if they had one. We found the RV place but they didn’t have what we needed and told us that there was a place in Anchorage that pay have it. Anchorage is about 53 miles south of the campground, so we decided to make the run. Found the place and they did have what he needed, so we got to see the country down that way. The part did fix the problem with his TV antenna, so now he’s happy that he gets the local TV. This campground did not have cable. Some do, some don’t.

Dorene made a super dinner last night. Taco’s and wine. It was just great. I think there must have been a lot of people that didn’t show up from the amount she made. Bob will be eating Taco’s for a while I suspect, but that’s not bad..

We have reservations at a campground in Soldotna. About 200 miles South Near Kania. Have reservations there for two nights. Hope there may be some fishing we can do there. Some folks say the salmon have not started coming in from the ocean yet due to the late melting of the ice in the mountains which triggers the fishes switch to come in and spawn. Hope that is right, so we may get some salmon fishing in yet. The cost of the salmon in the stores is just as high as it is in the lower 48, and Halibut goes for about $16.00 a pound. Yuck. Still want to get a chance to hook one of those things..

Have to wait till we get WiFi at the next campground to send this. Don’t know if I’ll have time to go over this morning to the building and do it. Was hoping they would get their antenna up for the WiFi, but it is not available on site here yet...

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

23 June 2008

Hi All:

Here it is another day in beautiful Alaska. We left Denali area this morning at about 0930 or so. Stopped at the gas station in town and found that I couldn’t fit in there, But was lucky I could get out with little trouble. We drove about 25 miles to the next station and it had gas for $5.019. Filled up and drove about 50 more miles and found a station with gas for $4.369. Story of my life. If I had waited it would have been just the opposite??

We tried to get reservations at a campground in Anchorage but couldn’t get them to answer the phone, so we made reservations at a camp ground in Wasilla, Alaska. It’s about 42 miles north of Anchorage. It’s a nice place, but they advertised WiFi, and it’s not in the coach. Have to go in the office to use it, so I am writing this in Word Perfect and I’ll copy it to the blog tomorrow as they close the office at 8 PM and it’s 9 now.

We drove down to town where the Iditarode sometimes leaves from when there isn’t enough snow to leave from Anchorage. They had some of the dogs there and had some hooked up to a cart with wheels that you could ride on around a track. About 2 minute ride for $10 each. Bob and Dorene went on the trip. We didn’t. We took photo’s of them coming and going. Will try to attach them to this blog.

The town is a lot bigger than we first thought, and is stretched way out here and there. Even had a "Super WalMart". Had to take the girls in with threat of bodily harm. Did get some more food to eat though. I was hungry as I hadn’t had anything since breakfast so it was fun shopping for food. Dorene bought a pizza to take home to eat. It was hard riding in the car with the smell of that wonderful piece of food, but I behaved myself and didn’t attack the pizza.
Bob and Dorene went to the office to use the Internet and talked to the owner about the fishing here. We had read that the fishing around here was real good and had planned to check it out tomorrow. BUT, the owner says that this year there are no salmon here. No fish at all she says, so guess we’ll just check the area tomorrow and try to get a campground closer to Anchorage. Might have trouble as there is a big air show at the Air Force base there, and Wanona Judd is playing this weekend there too, so sounds like a big thing down there. May have filled up the campgrounds I fear....We’ll see??
Well, I’ll finish this tomorrow morning at the WiFi place.

Here it is tomorrow already. Had a super night sleeping last night. It's hard to get to sleep when it's a light as noon all night. Never gets dark at all. We watched a DVD movie last night, so didn't fall asleep at 8 PM this time. Watched "Bucket List" It was very good. Laughed a lot...

The blue truck is an old guy who lives in Alaska all winter in a tent about 100 miles north of Fairbanks. He has a little wood pot bellied stove in the back of the truck with the smoke stack going thru the camper top to make his coffee etc, and he has a lot of little things he makes all winter I guess. Not very good stuff, so didn't buy anything, but thought he should have a sign saying "Stupid" for living in a tent at 60 below zero???

The shot of the Motor homes are ours at the last campground in Denali. It was OK, but not what you would expect in Alaska, at least not what I expected. Most of the campgrounds are in open areas with gravel. I don't mind the gravel as it keeps you out of the mud, but I did expect more trees and cover from a state like this. Oh well, all we need is a place to rest I guess. Once in the Motor Home you don't know what is outside any way, except when it rains, and that seems to be the norm for our trip up here. Only a light rain yesterday evening, and supposed to be a slight chance for the next few days. Not sure what it will be like down south of us.

The other photo is of Bob and Dorene on a dog sled (Cart) at the Iditorode place where they start the race some times. Looked like a lot of fun. Those dogs live to run that's for sure..

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh.

P.S. Amy has caught a cold it seems. That’s what we get for mixing with crowds on those tours??

22 June 2008

Hi From Alaska: We got up early again and got to the bus station in the park to meet our bus for our trip thru Denali National Park. Hoping to see Mount McKinley. Well, it was cloudy all day and we didn't get to see the big mountain. The bus driver said that only about 20% of the people ever get to see the mountain, as it makes it's own weather, and it's hardly ever clear and sunny.

The trip was very good. It was in a School Type Bus, and it rode pretty good. The road started out paved, but soon was gravel like a lot of the roads, then went to single road where we had to get to the side to let the other busses coming the other way past. Made it interesting some times as the side of the road was at the top of some hundreds of feet straight down. Good trip.

The photo showing a Caribou in the weeds was the closest animal we say except the snowshoe rabbits that were all over the road. The bus was able to make the whole trip without hitting one of the little devils??. Saw a lot of Caribou, and Dall Sheep from far far away. Glad I took the field glasses. Oh yea, we did see a Momma wolf and 5 cubs eating a caribou they had killed along one of the rivers. That was a once in a lifetime thing to see. The bus driver said he has never seen anything like that in all his years here. No Moose, or bears on the whole trip. But no matter, we have seen our moose and bears. The trip was real good. Especially since it was only $60 for two, and the trip to the Arctic was $340.00, and took just about as long and as interesting.

We leave for Anchorage in the morning. Tried to make reservations at a campground there, but no one would answer the phone. Left a message, but not sure if we will have a place to stay when we get there or not. There are a few campgrounds there, but hoped to get in this one. We'll see. Mighty have to find a WalMart to camp in their parking lot. Hee Hee..

The sign is the sign for the campground we are in here in Denali, the one with Amy and I are along the ride somewhere today. Beautiful country.. Sorry we didn't get to see the big mountain.

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

21 June 2008

Hi: We left Fairbanks at about 1000 this morning for Denali National Park. Got here about 1230 with no trouble on the way. I did have trouble with the step when I was setting up the motor home up as the steps would not retract. Got under and could not find any thing wrong, but the motor was not getting any voltage. I unhooked the apparatas that extends and retracts the step and the motor started to work. Re-Hooked it up and it works just fine. Must have been in a bind or something. I may have stepped on the steps before they were fully extended. Not supposed to do that.

We drove to the Park area where you sign up for tours and have one leaving in the morning at 0730. Bob and I wanted 9 or 10, but were voted out for 0730. The tour is 8 hours and it's another bus tour of the park. Not sure if we will get to see Mount McKinley or not as the weather controls that, and it is only visible about 20% of the time they say due to rain clouds, or just clouds. Hope it's clear tomorrow.

It did rain pretty good when we were all hooked up, but has cleared up and is nice now. About 67 out now and nice.

I got my notification from On Star today on the Internet and it showed my phone minutes of 201 minutes had expired on 15 June. I got on the On Star from the car and they reinstated the minutes for me for a full year from now, plus they gave me 210 minutes. 9 more than I lost. They said this happens sometimes and since I'm a good customer they will do this, but for me to please watch my expiration dates in the future...Nice of them??

Well, not much to write about today. Oh yea, Amy is catching a cold. Now I suppose I'll be getting it too.. I hate that..!!!

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

20 June 2008

Hi all: We got up early and went to the travel place for our trip to the Arctic Circle. Got there at 0700, and we were off at 0715 in a nice new van with 5 other folks and a guide/driver named Mary who lives here in Fairbanks. We were told we would get back about midnight and I almost passed out. We took off up the highway which is full of frost heaves, and then we left the highway and hit the dirt/gravel roads that have holes, AND frost heaves. We stayed on those roads for 200 miles to the Arctic Circle, stopping on the way at various places for a lunch, and pit stops in One and two holers. No flush. hee hee.

The trip was real nice, our guide was super and told stories she knew of folks that had lived there over the years, and knew a whole lot of the area we were in. She even took us to a place on the Tundra on the "Permafrost", and dug thru the top layer of peat and went down about 12 inches to solid ice. It is really there. Solid ice just 12 inches below the top layer and it runs down some 1000 feet and stays frozen like that ALL the time. The country was beautiful, Saw one LARGE MOOSE run across the road in front of us. By the time I got the camera and took a photo, all I got was trees. I'm sure his butt is there somewhere, but could not see it in the photo. Didn't see any more animals except one snowshoe rabbit run across the road. It made it safe and sound.

WE took our lunch with us and stopped on the Yukon river by the ONLY bridge that goes over it and ate lunch. The bridge was put there to hold the oil pipe line. We saw the pipe line several times along the way. It runs on top of the ground at places, and other places it runs under ground, normally over mountains etc. They keep it on top of the Permafrost places so it won't damage it.

Sending a couple photo's we took today. Amy is sticking her hand down in the permafrost hole, and the photo of us crossing the Arctic Circle, and a couple other shots at the circle. The weather was perfect, and the mesquetoes were out in force. Used lots of spray and they were'nt to bad.

Leave in the morning for the Denali National Park for two days, and they are supposed to have WiFi at the next campground...

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

P.S. Got up to 85 here in Fairbanks. It was not much cooler where we went up north either.

19 June 2008

Hi Again: It has been a real lazy day today. Got up at 0800 and started watching a movie on TV from years back. Amy went to the laundry and took our LARGE bag of dirty clothes and was there for a couple hours. Said she used 6 washing machines and 5 driers. Each for $2.00 each. Doing laundry is a little more on the road now days. Used to be two quarters, now its 8 quarters. Any way, now we have lots of clean clothes. We did bring enough clothes to go 3 weeks with no laundry, but we have not had to go that far yet..

I took the Saturn to the wash rack and washed off all that Canadian dirt, and took the cover for the front and washed and Armor Alled it too and put it in a bag for our trip back thru Canada. Don't think I'll need it in Alaska.

Made reservations at a Campground at the Denali National park for two days starting Saturday the 21st. We will go to Anchorage for our next stop in Alaska.

Bob and Dorene went to see some wild animals today at a Yak farm or some place. They asked us if we wanted to go, but we had to much to do. Amy with the laundry and she also did a super clean job of the inside of the motor home. I'm afraid to come in it now. Have to take all my clothes off outside before she'll let me in. It's a sad show for the neighbors. hee hee.. Just kidding.

We also went to a Safeway Grocery store today too. Had to get some staples for farther travels, like Ice cream etc. Also had to get sandwich makings for our trip to the Arctic Circle tomorrow. Hate the thought of getting up at 0500 to get ready to leave to the show place at 0630. It'll be the earliest get up time of the trip so far. The trip will be at least an 8 hour ride up and back. Need to rub some "Tuff skin" on the butt before we go. Knee is still bothering me a lot, and yesterday the right hip started to act up a little. That's the one I had replaced. That makes me worry a little. Hope the rest today helps it, and the sitting rather than walking tomorrow may help it some too. I Hope.

Feel sorry for Donnie who is also going thru a back problem that runs down the hip to his lower leg. Hurt it on the job, so he's going thru rehab with that. Seems it's the same problem I had when I was about his age, even a little younger than he is now.. Hope he gets that behind him soon. Take Care Don....

Well, better get dinner over with, as it's 8 PM and it's still bright, and we haven't had dinner yet.

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & pharaoh

18 June 2008

Hi All: Had plenty of light to get up early with again. The sun set at 2446 and rose at 0300. Never did get dark all night???

We got on the road about 1000 and went to the "Ice Museum" here in Fairbanks. It was pretty neat, had a lot of ice carvings from some time back stored in 20 degree below zero. You can walk in among them, and you don't stay in there very long. An Ice carver carved something out of ice. We were not sure what it was. Kinda looked like a butterfly, but not sure. It was pretty.

Then we took off down the hi way and found a Farmers Market open so we stopped and walked around. Was more of a flea market I thought. Had a few veggies for sale. Organic tomatoes about the size of a tennis ball for $6.00 a pound. Didn't buy any, also had some cucumbers, Small for $1.00 a piece. Didn't get any of those either. Continued down the road to the Alaska University to go to the Alaska Museum. Spent about 4 hours in there. It was real good. Lots of walking and looking..

Got back to the Motor Home at about 1600 and decided we are going to the Turtle Club for dinner tonight. It's about 15 miles from here and is recommended by the old prospector we found in the office here. Bob and Dorene taking us to our anniversary dinner and have reservations for 1900. Hope it's not coat and tie??? hee hee...

Finally stopped raining, and it's in the 70's today. Real nice for a change. And supposed to be nicer tomorrow. Not going to do much tomorrow. Need to wash the car, and Amy plans to do some laundry.

17 June 2008

Hi All: Had another rainy day today. Woke up to rain and it rained lightly ALL day. We were lazy till about 1315 when we left to go on our traun trip to the gold mine. Got there in good shape in Bob's VW convertable. (Kept the top up this time). They had a special train trip today due to so many wanting to go I think. The little train pulled several cars of about 50 people each so there was a bunch of us going on the trip. It was a super outing. The showed us how they panned for gold the old way, then how they do it the modern way.. They even dumped a bunch of dirt in the slouce and let a lot of water go and do it's thing, then they panned for gold and found real gold right in front of us. They had school kids that worked there do the panning and showed us all how to do it and we saw the gold appear. Then we went to the "Panning" area and they gave each one of us a little bag of dirt which we dumped in our gold panning pan, and sat at a water hole and panned the dirt out of the pan, and belive it or not we had gold there. If each person didn't get at least 8 little pieces of gold they got a new bag of dirt. Amy got about $12.00 worth of gold in her pan, and I got about $9.00 worth I think it was. We took it in the building and they weighed it and told us how much we had. Amy took all of it and had it put inside a little necklace thing. That cost $80, so we didn't get enough gold it seems. So now Amy has all our gold hanging from her neck. Looks good too...

We then went to WalMart of all places as the gals wanted to do some more shopping there. WE found some of the stuff we bought at the tourists places for half the price we paid. From now on when we get to a town up here we will go to WalMart first and get the stuff cheaper...

The rain was fairly kind to us all day. When we were outside it was just a light drizzle at most. Had a great time at the Eldorado Mine..

Came back to the campground and we had talked about going on a bus trip to the Artic Circle, so Bob and I went to the office to see if we could get tickets for the trip. Wanted them for Thursday, but that day was full, so we have to stay another day. All seem to be happy to stay another day. Know Amy and I are, as there is a lot to see here, and the trip to the Artic Circle looks like a great day.. It's a whole day up to it and back. At least a 8 hour trip. We have decided to take our own lunch, as the gal in the office told us that they will give you a sack lunch of one sandwich, a bag of potato chips and a drink for $10 each. Think the gals can do better than that. Any way we are now here till Saturday Morning. (Unless we find something else we want to do.

Tomorrow is a museum, and the "Ice Hotel" here somewhere. I've seen it on the History Channel some time ago. It's set up in the permafrost part of Alaska. Sounds like a good day.

Bob and Dorene said they want to take us out tomorrow for dinner, as it is our 53 wedding annivarsary. We wanted to take them out for our annivarsary. It's super that they want to do that for us. We'll have to find some place to go now. Maybe Wendy's, or Burger King?? hee hee.

Brenda wrote that we never smile in our photo's I attach to the blog's. "I AM SMILING" Don't know why she don't notice it. HEE HEE>

WE are having a super time, and we are glad you all enjoy the blog. Hope some of you are checking out Bob and Dorene's blog too. He does a super job on his...Check it out at: http://www.bodoofftoalaska.blogspot.com/ Know they would enjoy and comments you have about the blogs...We are having a great time together..

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

15 June 2008

Hi All: Woke up this morning and it was a little cool. 45 degrees. The weather channel said it would only be in the 50's. They lie.

We are at a campground right next to the Chena River that runs thru Fairbanks. Was going to go around in Bob's car this morning, but when he started it up the Alternator light was on, so we took the Saturn instead. Bob has a spare alternator for his VW so he's in good shape. It might have been the water he sprayed over the engine to get all the dust out of there. It sure collects there when we travel those dusty roads.

We went to the North Pole and visited (Guess what??) A Christmas House!!! Wonders of Wonders, I had so much fun it was hard to keep me quiet??. Amy and Dorene were REALLY happy it seemed as they bought one of everything I think?? It was nice and it was also nice to see it in the rear view mirror. Hee Hee.

We then went to the Knotty Store down the road a ways. It is a place that makes things out of wood that has been hurt and the tree grew Knotty. Had a lot of neat stuff, but I looked at a new cane for $80.00, and I ran out of there fast. Did buy an ice cream cone for $3, so I didn't get away scott free. Amy was able to find some more stuff to buy.

We then decided to find the RV store, as Bob needed a new TV antenna for his Motorhome. He had been having trouble getting TV signal from regular TV since he bought his Motor Home. He took the Bat Wing antenna off the other day and he had thought it was a Non-Amplified antenna. I saw an amplifier board inside the antenna, so he wanted to get a new one. Sure hope it works. The RV parts place had one for $125.00. Seems that Motor Homes are big holes we keep shoveling money in to... WE also found a WalMart, so we went in there. Amy got some stuff, and some food stuff. Needed some vegies, but their Produce department wasn't even open yet. New store. WE then took a new route home from there, and I am now in the Motor Home having the 5 O'Clock toddy. WE did buy a WalMart Pizza for supper too, so we are ready for the night..

Tomorrow we plan on going on a Train trip to a Gold Mine and try to pan for some gold. Sure need some after Amy's shopping trip today...

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharoah

15 June 2008

Another Day On the Road: We got under way at about 0900 as usual. The campground last night said there was WiFi, but couldn't get hooked up. It was located just about 3 miles past the Alaska Customs Check point. They just asked us where we were from, and to see Pharaoh's shot card, asked if we had more than $2000.00, Told him Probably, and then he asked if I had more than $10,000.00. Told him I WISH, but no. Asked if I had a gun, told him yes and I had the Canadian permit, he just said keep it. And waved us thru. It was a wet ride and we were glad to get to the campground which was wet also. Might I add MUD. It was everywhere, but the campground land was sound and we didn't sink out of sight.

The road today was more of the same as yesterday. Frost Heaves a bunch, and a few pot holes. They seem to have gotten them filled in pretty good, but the frost heaves are a problem. Can't go very fast as they sure will send you in orbit if you hit one very fast. Lots of repaired roads with gravel. It did seem that they had gotten out early on the roads here and had a lot of the bad roads already fixed and most of the gravel was gone on the repairs. Saw on some of the road work where they ran large drainage type pipes under the road and up on each side of the road. I found that they found this helps keep the ground under the road frozen during winter so there should be fewer frost heaves. Hope it works..

Only saw one Alaska Rabbit today. No more animals. Did go over a river that was still flooded with LARGE hunks of ice. Will try to attach a photo or two of that with this blog.

Weather here is in the 70's. Had to use the Air Conditioner some on the way here, and did use the inside Air to cool it down when we first hooked up her at the "River View Campground" Haven't found the river view yet, but it should be close. Have all the good stuff here. TV, Water, Sewer, and Cable TV. Will be here at least three nights. Depends on what we find to see and visit here. Will go to Danali next trip.

Stay safe. and Happy Fathers Day to All you Fathers..

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh.

14 June 2008

Hi All: Sorry this was late. No WiFi last night. We got on the road about 0900 from the campground in Whitehorse. The road was pretty bad all the way from there on. Lots of frost heaves that would make the Motor Home leave the ground if you went the speed limit. Lots of highway work, tearing up the road and putting down tar and gravel over it, then they let the traffic go over it to level it out. Little rock flying everywhere. Bob did loose his 4 headlight on those gravel spots.

The sight were still awsome. Beautiful LARGE mountains covered with Ice and Snow. Saw some Grizzly Bears on this trip. Bob slowed down saying there was something on the road and it turned out to be a mother bear and two cubs crossing the road. Got a few photo's of them. Will try to get a couple on this blog. Went down a little farther and found two black bears moving along the road. Got a couple shots of that too..

Rained on us off and on and windy as heck. Crossed the Alaska border and lost another hour, so we are 4 hours behind you all back on the east coast. Our phone is not supposed to be free here in Alaska from what I can understand of the map I have. They charge Roaming of .50 and long distance of .50 per minute. Amy plans to make a couple calls, and I'll check the bill on line to see if they do charge us that. I'm on the "North American Plan" and the last time I looked Alaska was still part of North America. We'll see. Haven't tried to use the phone in the car yet. It's only .20 a minute and we have a couple hundred minutes paid for on it. Might try tomorrow...or the next day.

Bob couldn't get his antenna for his TV working at the campground, so he watched movies. We did to. He had lent us one that we watched. The campground had picked up 5 TV stations on satellite, and rebroadcast them at the campground on regular Antenna signal. But they choice of channels were pretty poor...Hope tomorrow in Fairbanks is better.

It was after 2300 before I got to sleep, and it was real light out. The sun seems to never go away up here. Guess it will be lighter longer as we get farther North. Glad it's not the winter time here now....

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

13 June 2008

Hi All: We got up late this morning and got out to breakfast at about 1000. Found a diner to eat in down town. Had 2 eggs, Ham, potatoes, and toast. Ham was so thin I could read the menu thru it. Had Coffe too though for about $13.95. Amy had a egg crousant sandwich. Total bill was $30.00. Guess things cost more here. They only have about 3 weeks of summer to make all the money they need for the year, so this is it.

We walked around the town a little and visited little stores that Amy and Dorene picked out, and we also spent most of the day at the museum in town showing the beginning of the town up to now. It was very interesting and had a lot of stuff inside and outside. Had the first truck in Whitehorse. A 1926 Chevy wood sided vehicle with the orginal tires on it. Neat. Also one of the first steam engine trains. And a movie of a trip from Skagway, AK to here. That would be a nice trip. Bob and Dorene had taken it a while back on a Cruise to Alaska. He said it was pretty nice, but the movie showed more than he saw due to the fog that was there when they were on the train. Got back to the Motor Home about 1500 and plan to go back to town at 1800 for dinner somewhere. Amy has been a super tour guide with all her pamphlets and maps. Couldn't enjoy the trip without her input and guidance..

Plan to leave tomorrow around 0900 for Beaver Creek, Yukon. Could only find one campground listed there with 30 campsites. Hope there are more, as I see a lot of rigs going the same way we are, and That town is about 300 miles up the road. Half way to Fairbanks. We may try to check out some of the military campgrounds in Fairbanks. There are 4 according to our tour guide. They are much cheaper than the private ones, and some of them have all the good things the private ones have. Also, some of them have few accomadations etc... We'll see...

Might not have a WiFi in Beaver Creek, and our phone won't work in Alaska unless we want to pay the .60 cents roaming, and .50 long distance charge per minute, so we'll rely on WiFi up there. Might try to see if the phone might work in the car on "On Star"??..

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

12 June 2008

HI: It's 1415 here in Whitehorse, Yukon. The day started out a little rough. Had to move to use the dump station for the holding tanks. Pulled up and there was one rig using it so turned off the motor on the Motor Home and sat and watched someone try to dump his holding tank from a rental unit. Doubt he ever did it before as most of it went everywhere. Any way he finally got out of the way and I tried to start the Motor Home and it wouldn't start. Acted like a dead battery, checked the battery connections, and they were OK, then started the generator so I could put the battery charger/Started on and that didn't help. Bob came over and looked at the started and all appeared OK, he then went in the coach and had Amy put it in neutral and then back in park and it started. Not sure what was wrong, but we figure that with all the dust we went thru yesterday some dirt got in the neutral switch, where ever it is. It has been starting just fine ever since.

While working on dumping the tanks Dorene called Bob that something was wrong with their rig so he went down to see what was wrong. I dumped and pulled back to where we were parked and Bob was under his rig. He has electric jacks, and one of them broke a while back, and he had fixed it by making a new pin and it has been doing fine. Well, the new pin broke again. He did contact the folks that make the jack and after many phone calls etc they sent him a new jack for no charge. Well, he had the new jack in the rig, so we got the old one off and the new one on and we were on the road only about one hour later than we had figured.

The trip up here was very nice and the views are just as perfect. Stopped at a Good Sam campground that has WiFi as you can see, and 50 channels of TV. WE are staying 2 nights at least. They also had a wash rack for the motor homes and cars. Just had to put dollar coins in and use it till you ran out of coins. WE both cleaned our rigs, they were Awful. About a ton of dirt on each rig. Bob noticed that he had all four headlights on his car were broken. Will go to town now and find new ones. The cover I bought for the Saturn saved my lights I'm sure, It did a super job. Worth the money it costs.

We have about 600 miles to Fairbanks, AK, so we will get there on a two day trip, depending on when we leave this nice place. There are a lot of rigs here and they keep coming in, and they have them as close to each other as possible.

Lots to see and do in this town. Not sure what we will do yet. That will be the subject of the next blog.

Hope all enjoy our trip..

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

11 June 2008

Hi All: We are in Teslin, Yukon, Canada now. Got here about 1600 from our last campground. About 300 miles from here. Have lots of daylight here. Sun goes down about 1030 or so and comes up at 0400. Never gets really dark here.

Trip here was a tough trip. Had lots of gravel roads to go over, and dust is every where. Amy took soom photos of the dust. It was so bad you could not see 10 feet in front of the motor home, and naturally there is no wind to blow it off the road there, but when we get out on the open road the wind is 50 miles per right on the front of the Motorhome...Yuck. Has an adverse effect on the gas mileage. Got 7.1 MPG on this last fill up for $260.00+ About 45 gallons I think. Converting the liters to gallons, Amy figured this fill up was $ 5.55 per gallon. Better than the last fill up..at $5.88 PG. Looks like my figuring of $5 per gal was a little low now.....

Country out here is so beautiful. With snow covered mountians out in front, and then pretty soon we are driving right up to them. We have gone over the Contanental Divide 3 or 4 times so far. It was 45 when we left this morning, and now at this campground on a lake it's about 65 I think out side. Not a bad place, no TV, but we do have Wifi of course. They don't even have any radio reception here. Last night I found a radio station on the FM band of nice easy listening music, so we had it on the radio all night. I heard them say it is a Sirous radio station, so I figured he had his radio on in his motor home right next door and we were picking up his signal. Well, it turned out that was what was going on. Dorene turned it off at 0700 this morning. They forgot to turn it off last night. Glad they did. Have been playing the music on my CD's of all the music JoAnn has sent me over the years. Have a 10 CD player, with 20+ songs on each CD, so it's like a new station all the time....Thanks Jo....

We have seen lots of animals along the way. Saw a couple bears today, some Buffalo, some sheep, and a deer, and lots of beautiful mountains and snow covered mounts....Such a beautiful place to see. Like driving thru a post card as Bob said the other day......It is just like that.

The add for this campground said be sure to stop and have some of the best Halibut in the world at the restaurant. Well we checked and there is none. Guess they didn't get out to catch any, so we are cooking a dead cow for supper tonight. Had Buffalo a while back, and I am now off of that kind of meat, Just beef for me now. Might try a Elk burger if I come on one, but none yet.

The photo's are of our signs we posted in Watson Lake at the "Sign Post" where there are about 6800 signs from all over the world. Bob made signs for him and us to post with our names and where we are from. We walked around the place and saw signe from everwhere. What a place now that started in 1942 with a couple signs put up from Army guys who were lonesome for home and showed how far it was from their homes to here. It's was very interesting..

Well, It's 5 O Clock somewhere as Tom says, so I'm gone.

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy and Pharaoh..

10 June 2008

Hi: I am writing this now and will send it to the blog when we get some WiFi. Tomorrow maybe.
We traveled thru some of the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen. We are going over the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. The roads are pretty good. Have to watch for patch places in the roads from frost heaves. They are done very well, but they have a lot of gravel scattered over the area, so that makes for flying little rocks. Didn’t have any rock to window problems during this day. Only went about 220 miles, but that took about 6 hours. Lots of up and down’s. Some pretty steep. Had no problems at all, and the view was nothing but post card views and super photo’s. Amy got a lot of shots. We saw bears, moose, sheep and Caribou, and Bison. The sheep are all over the roads licking on the gravel. It must have some salt or something that they like. We did see one large Ram Sheep that had been hit by a truck or some large vehicle. It was a shame to see it. The animal was beautiful, with a large set of horns. Sad to see that. WE have seen one moose that had been hit also. Stopped for lunch at a gas station along the road, and there was a lake out behind the building. We saw a lot of folks running out back so we went to see what was going on. There was two large Moose playing in the water on the other side of the lake. Had to use field Glasses, or Big Zoom lens to get them. I took a couple shots with my big lens. Hope they come out OK. Not a digital camera, so have to wait for the film development.
We are now at a campground by the Laird Hot Springs on the Alaska Hiway. The campground is run by it’s own generator. No electric wires up here. Campground is fairly well kept. Large pull thru sites, so we didn’t have to unhook the cars. We did walk across the road to the Hot Springs Park. They let us in to look at it without paying the $5 entrance fee If we didn’t get in the springs. We walked about 50 miles (Seemed Like it) back to the springs, and it was sure a HOT springs. Couldn’t hold you hand in the water. There were folks in the water, but down from where the water came out of the ground. It was cooler the farther you went down the creek. We didn’t go in. We would have had to walk back to the motor home and get our trunks, then walk the 50 miles?? Back to the springs. I just took a hot shower in the motor home and preteneded!!!
There are not TV signals up here, and not even a radio signal of any kind. I did find a radio station at 88.3 on the FM dial we listened to last night. It went off this morning at about 0700, and I had heard it was a Sirus radio station, so I asked Bob if he had his radio on last night and he said he forgot to turn it off, but turned it off this morning, so my radio was picking up his satellite radio station all night. He now wants to be paid for the use. Hee hee..
Leaving here in about half hour. The trip looks like more of the same as we had yesterday, and I’m looking forward to the trip. Have not had to use first gear on any of the hills yet. Had a 10% one yesterday that needed 2nd gear though. Plan to go about 250 miles to a campground we see in our books. They are supposed to have WiFi, but we’ll see. Didn’t have any sewer connection here. Bob said they want $25 to dump, so we are taking everything along with us, as they have sewer connections at the campground we plan to go to.

See ya later..

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

9 June 2008

Hi: Another beautiful day in Canada. The sky is super, and NO rain (Yet).

Got up and was at the glass shop at 0820. Was supposed to be there at 0830 and just caught the guy leaving in his truck. Said he'd be to the Motorhome in about an hour. He was there in an hour and said he could fix the window. He took the broken one out in one piece. It was a double pane window, so I may have been able to keep going and been OK, but couldn't see out of it. Any way he said he'd make me a new double pane "Lamanated" window, rather than the tempered glass, and would be back after lunch to put it in. He got here at 1300 and had the window all set, cleaned up the window hole, and had it installed in minutes. Only $154. I was happy. Now if I get another stone on that window it will just make a mark, or bounce off, not shatter it like it did.

Went to breakfast this morning at the Ft Nelson Cafe". Pretty good breakfast. Won't have to eat the rest of the day for sure..

Got out the cover for the Saturn and put it on today. We run over a lot of gravel places in the road, and I found a lot of gravel on the Saturn when we got here. I loaded the car on the dolly, then installed the cover. Fit very good. Hope it stays on down the road. Will watch it close for a while. It covers the Saturn from under the front to the top of the windsheild. Should keep it in good shape.

Had to come to the laundry room to use the computer today. That's the reason the Blog is late for yesterday. I typed it yesterday, and just posted it now, so you'll get two days worth.

We leave in the morning for some hot springs about 200 miles up in the Rocky Mountains. Have to go over them again to get to Alaska. We are in Pacific Time now, and we go in to Alaska time some time when we get in to Alaska. Probably won't make much good time from here on as it is all mountains. Up and down's.. There goes the Gas mileage, and we paid $5.55 a gal for this tank full.. Getting tough on the credit card...

Well, that's about all from here this time. Not sure what to expect at the next campground about WiFi etc. TV here is awful. One channel. The "Canadian Broadcasting Company" Glad we had some DVD'S to play with.

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy and Pharaoh

8 June 2008

Hi: We got out of Dawson Creek at about 0900. Had to jockey around to get the car loaded on the tow dolly, as they had us so crammed in there. Had to unhook the dolly before I could get in to the spot I was assigned, and Bob did to. His spot brought his rig down in front of mine about 15 feet, and I was looking right in his side door while there. Any way, we got out of there OK and I hardly got out of sight when a truck was coming the opposite direction and kicked up a stone and it hit my side window between my drivers door and the windshield. The Glass is tempered, so it shattered, but did not fall out. It’s still there, but all cracked, and I’m sure if I touched it all the little fragements would fall out on dash. We made it to Ft. Nelson OK, about 320 miles, got a good campground, but no WiF at the motor home. Have to take the computer inside to send it, so I am writing this in the computer, then when I get to the Internet I’ll post it to the Blog.
The road here was real good. Two lanes, and we are getting up in the mountains now, so we had some hills to go. Had to drop down to second gear once on a hill coming here. We did see a Bear along the road, and a Moose slowed Bob down to let it cross the road, and some deer in the fields.
Plan to stay here two nights and hope I can get the window fixed tomorrow with a new piece of glass or plexi Glass or whatever I can find. I’m sure they won’t have a tempered piece of glass to fit the hole, and I don’t think they can cut that stuff. I know there is a DOT thing that requires tempered glass on the sides of vehicles. I’ll take the frame out of the window and take it to them and ask for plexi glass and not tell them where it is going.
Bob just came in and he has the address of the glass place in town, and the campground owner had contacted them and they expect me tomorrow around 0900 to see what they can do.. Good guy here at the campground, even if he did charge us $5.55 per gallon of gas. It’s the highest we have paid so far. Looks like my planning figure of $5 is out the window now...
We are going out to dinner in Ft Nelson tonight. Not sure where, but will get in our car and all go find a restaurant and eat something. I had Buffalo a while back, and that is now off my menue. Might try some Halibut or some such thing.. I can eat anything I want, as I weighed myself this morning and I'm still losing weight. I’ll be able to stand sideways soon and stick out my tounge and look like a zipper. Hee hee.

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

P.S. We watched this buffalo give birth to that calf, and it was up and eating within 30 minutes. Pretty neat...

7 June 2008

Had a good day checking things in Dawson Creek, BC. Pretty small town, very clean and nice. Checked out the visitors center and the art museum. Had a good picture set up of the building of the Alaska Highway. Found Marker 1 in the middle of town, so we will start out at zero in the morning.

Weather has been super. High in the upper 60's or low 70's. See some people with shorts on with REAL white legs, so it hasn't been sunny and nice around here very long. Went to breakfast at a little local restaurant. Food was real good. Eggs had a real light yellow. Must be something missing from the chickens diet here. Tasted good though. Drove around to see what was here. Found a WalMart, so had to check that out. Bought a CD/DVD cleaning disc. Bob needed one for his and I left the one I have at home, so got one for the Motor Home now in case we need it. WE do have TV here at the campground. about 7 channels they pick up from a satellite dish. One channel is from Seattle Wash, so we got a little USA news. Not much different from the Canadian news here.

Had to go to the booze store today. Almost out of "Lord". Guess what? they don't have "Lord" here, and it's a Canadian whiskey. Had to buy "Crown Royal". Amy made me buy it. Was going to get Black Velvet, as I've had it before, but she said the Royal was only $10 more per half gallon, so I did. The booze here is a big higher than in the states. Paid $62 for the Crown Royal. Not really sure what it is down there???

With the stuff we bought in WalMart and the booze store we filled up Bob's car, so had to come to the campground and unload and then go back to the Safeway grocery store. Filled up the car again, and we are now back at the campground.

Looking like it might rain again, as the weather man has said we would get some tonight and tomorrow. The Motor Home and the Car is filthy from the trip here. We can wash the MH for $10, and the Car for $5. But we decided that to do that would just let us get it dirty tomorrow again on the road, so we will leave with dirty vehicles.

Only staying one night in Ft. Nelson, about 300 miles north of here, then will probably take off for Watson Lake about 300 miles north of Ft. Nelson. Doesn't seem to be to much to see in the little towns up there. Am not excited about the 300 mile days, but Bob seems to want to get the vacation done in about 3 days????hee hee... I used to be like that before I retired, now I like nice short travel days so that I am not beat to death when I get to the destination. Hope to slow down some when we get in to Alaska. Haven't done any fishing yet. Haven't seen any place to fish for that matter. All the rivers are over flowing and muddy. Hope they are better in Alaska...

Well, It seems to be 5 O'Clock somewhere, so I'm closing down for the night. We are supposed to have WiFi at the next campground, but that is always Iffy no matter what they say.

Semper Fi

Don, Amy & Pharaoh (He's feeling good, not problem with his leg)

6 June 2008

Hi All: We left Edmonton this morning at 0900. There were a couple caravans leaving about the same time. It was a fairly good morning. No rain yet. It’s wasn’t long before the rain found us though. The wind started up out of the NW which is from our front left, so I had to step on the gas to go down hill most of the way. We stopped for gas just before we got in to British Colombia, where we heard the gas was more expensive there. We paid $1.30.4 per liter at a little spot in the road gas station. Didn’t have to use the credit card at the pump so the bill went up to $239.00 all at once. Worked out to about 7.1 MPG for the day. Better than I fugured.
We got to Dawson Creek about 1700, but found out that they don’t believe in daylight savings time, or Pacific Standard time, so we got there an hour before we thought. We stayed at the regular time. Not real sure where the time changes along the Alaska Hiway. Some towns change come don’t.
We got at the "Northern Lights" campground where Amy had made reservations and she assigned us our spots. We had told her that we had a 35 foot and a 37 foot motor home with towed vehicles. Well, she assigned us spots that were big enough for 20 foot vehicles. Had to disconnect each car before we could allign ourselves in our sites. Bob is right in front of me at my sight as we both are at a corner and we came in front of each other. Hard to visiulize I’m sure Any way, we are set up and level. Have all hook ups and about 10 channels of TV. The advertised WiFi isn’t there. You have to go to a Internet place and Bob went there and it don’t work. I opened the computer and found the WiFi sight but can’t log on to the internet, so I am writing this now on Word Perfect, then I’ll Copy and Past when I can get logged on.
We plan to stay here at Dawson Creek tomorrow then leave the next day (Sunday) for Fort Nelson, the next place on the Alaska Hiway. Dawson Creek is the first town on the Alaska Hiway. Should be some things to see tomorrow. Hope it don’t rain like it did on us all day getting here...
I hit a rock a couple days ago that made a chink in the windshield about middle to the left of my line of sight. They advertised that they repair windshields here, so I asked about it. A young guy came to the sight and started working on the spot, about the size of a quarter. He did a pretty good job on the chink. It didn’t go away, but it’s no worse than a bug on the windshield now. For only $35.00. Last one I had done in Floral City was $80.00.. Hope I don’t get any more chinks in the good ole windshield, but I fear it’s the first of many to come. Bob had a stone hit the front of his rig today, but it didn’t hit the windshield, and we couldn’t find any spot where it hit..
We plan to go in to town in the morning to find a breakfast place and then do the tourrest thing for the rest of the day.
We drover 8 hours today. That was a LOT. I quit working 8 hours a day a long time ago. Don’t want any more days this long again. It just beats ya to death...
Well, good night. Will talk more when we find some things to talk about tomorrow.
Semper Fi
Don, Amy & Pharaoh.
P.S. Pharaoh’s leg is fine from the jump yesterday.. Bet he won’t do that again..

5 June 2008

Hi All: We had breakfast here at the campground where they have a restaurant for a change. The price was very reasonable too. Surprise?? Then we went to the "Largest Mall" in the world in Edmonton, AB. It sure was big. Supposed to cover over 48 city blocks. I don't think Dorene and Amy got to see all the stores, but doubt they missed many. Bob and I found a Sears and checked the tools, the found a Dairy Queen, and checked it out. Just like the USA. While sitting watching people you would think we were in any Mall in the States.

The weather today is fantastic. About 70 degrees, blue sky with puffy white clouds, but the wind is pretty strong. Supposed to rain this evening or tonight. They haven't had the rain here like they have had south of here. It was a good day here.

Plan to leave in the morning about 0900 for Dawson Creek, BC. It's just on the border of the two Provence's, and the start of the Alaska Hi Way. Will spend two nights there. It's a pretty long drive for our one day trips. About 360 miles I think.

I hot hit on my windshield with a rock from a truck passing me which left a quarter size chink just up and left of my field of view. The campground we have reservations at in Dawson Creek advertises that they repair chipped windshields, so Hope I can get it fixed there. I have a repair kit I bought, but have not been able to find where I stored it???

Also still need two pistons that hold up the doors on the outside storage compartments. Have not been able to find any that I need at any RV parts house, or NAPA or any where. There was one NAPA that may have had one here in Edmonton, but we searched for the store in town and never could find it, so I need to find a broom stick to cut and use it to hold the door up while I am inside them I guess. Will have to wait till I get home and order it from Itasca I guess.

Well, the weather here has been super, and all is going fine. Looking forward to getting on the Alaska hi way...

Oh, Yea, Pharaoh was walking around in the bedroom on a very little shelf and could not walk backwards to get off, so he decided to jump from it to the bed. Well, his back feel slipped and he made it about half way over and fell on the floor. Poor little (Yea Little) guy hurt his back leg and limped around a little this morning. Seems OK now. I doubt he'll get up there again.

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

4 June 2008

Hi Again: Had a good day yesterday and went to the museum in Calgary. It was real interesting, and long, and lots of walking, and the knee sure didn't have much fun. We ended up in town again at rush hour, but did make it back to the campground in good shape. Had Lupper at Denney's. Had a muchroom hamburger. Pretty good. Cost about the same as in the states, but it will be more as I used the Credit Card and they charge a service charge to convert from Canadian Dollars to USA Dollars. Not sure how that is going to hurt us yet.

I did get in to my bank account finally. They sent me a temp password, then I can put mine in there. I think I forgot to make the first letter in it a capital letter as they require. So I got my bank statement just fine today. So, Ken, won't need you to dig out the electric bills and send me the amounts. Thanks any way...

We left Calgary this morning about 0915 and drove here with no problems. Got about 8.5 MPG on gas. It cost $1.254 per liter, That's about $4.78 per gallon I think. Hope it goes down now that the oil has dropped some....I know it will be more when we get away from the big cities.

Will tour the biggest MALL in the world tomorrow. It is supposed to cover over 48 city blocks. I may not make it to all the stores myself..The knee is still bothersome to me. Sure wish it would get back to normal...

Well, we have WiFi here so I'll be able to send at least one more update.

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh

2 June 2008

Hi All

Got up early and had to get the propane tank topped off at this campground before we went in to Canada which is about 25 miles up the road. Did not know what to expect at the border as we had more wine etc than we were supposed to have. Gave a half gal jug of Amy’s scotch to Bob to take as he was below his quota of booze. We got to the border and pulled up to the gate he asked us where we were from, and what was our nationality? Any Pets? Asked for the rabies certifacate, which we have, showed it to him and he just looked at it and gave it back. I asked him about the form for bringing a gun in to Canada. He asked "Did I already have it filled out"? Said yes, he then told me to park in a place and come inside and give them $25 and we would be on our way. Did that and took off down the road.
The road was a two lane road and in good shape. Hardly any traffic at all until we came to a small town. Had no troubles all the way to Calgary, AL. Checked with one campground by phone and they told Dorene they were full, so we began scrambling around trying to find another campground. Amy finally found one and called and they had room for us. We are at the Mountain View Campground in Calgary. It’s pretty big, and pretty full. Looks like some are here for the season, and have been here a while. Bob was able to hook up with his satellite, but the signal was weak, but workable. Will probably be the last place we can hook up to our satellite as it will be below the horizon from now on. They had 5 regular TV stations, so I didn’t try to drag out my Satellite dish.
We have no WiFi here. They told Dorene that they did, but when we got here they said it is broken or some such thing. Bob and Dorene went to a Internet Café’ down the road a ways. He told us about it this morning, and it looked like an opium den. Full of smoke and chinese kids playing video games. Had to use their computers, but the did get on line. Think he said it was $3.00 for an hour. They stayed for half the time. Not sure if they will go back or not. I plan to wait till we get to the next campground in Edmonton tomorrow. They are supposed to have WiFi there. Hope to attach this to the Blog. Not sure how yet, might have to retype everything again.
We saw that there was a large RV parts place in town so went there to see if I could get a couple door pistons for the storage doors on the Motorhome. I had 1 extra one when we left, and one more broke a while back, so that was my spare. Well, two more have gone caput and I can’t find anyplace that has the kind I need. We didn’t have any luck at "Woody’s RV" either. It was a big place, but not the right kind of door opener I needed. He said to check with an Auto parts place up the street, so we went up there in the rain, and the 1700 traffic. Finally found that place and they didn’t have any there either. So I guess I will have to hold the doors up while I get things out of the storage bins till I can go to the Winabego plant to get some new pistons...Had to order the extra ones I had before.
We plan to go to a museum, and the Olimpic place here today. It is cloudy and rainy looking. Temp is 12 Centegrade Not real sure what that translates to. About 50 something I think. Everything is in different numbers here, even the speed limit. Some places the speed limit is 110??? Think that is Kilometers Per Hour though. Glad my speedometer has them listed on it.
Amy checked on a stamp for post cards and letters etc. A stamp costs $.93, and used on either a letter or a post card.
Well, better go for now.

Semper Fi.

Don, Amy & Pharaoh