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Week 39: ending 8/10/2003
 
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Ron
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Joined: 05 Nov 2002
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 03, 2003 12:43 am    Post subject: Week 39: ending 8/10/2003 Reply with quote

Week 39: Ending 8/10/03

Monday:
Last night’s rain has let up, so we have clear skies for the grueling drive ahead of us. We remember the stretch of Alaska Highway from Destruction Bay, YT to Tok, AK, as being one of the worst roads we have traveled. Today we get to backtrack that lovely stretch en route to Haines, AK. Both the Alaska and Yukon highway construction crews have been busy with repairs, and there is a lot of new road, but there are still a few major frost heaves that send us bouncing.

Just as we drive by a sign for Snag Bay Campground, Yukon Terrirtory, Ron shouts, “Bear, there’s a bear in the road!” It is a big black bear lumbering towards the campground. We only see bear in the wilds of Canada, not in Alaska!

We play tag back & forth with Ron & Nan as we travel around the beautiful Kluane Lake. We pull into the Kluane RV Campground within minutes of each other and check in for the night. Our vehicles are covered with an incredible mixture of dust washed down by intermittent rain and caked-on mud. The Tahoe is the dirtiest it has ever been! We take pictures to preserve the memory!

[After this latest round of mud, the HappieCamper was starting to have over-heating problems. Anytime we climbed the smallest grade, the temperature would go soaring. The HappieCamper has a Freightliner Chassis with a rear-mounted radiator. Apparently this design, while quite efficient, tends to allow road grime (and in Alaska, mud) to accumulate on the radiator. After a good power wash of the Rad, the HappieCamper's overheating problems are cured.]

Tuesday:
We wake up to another beautiful morning and hit the road before 9 am. The Haines Highway is a scenic route with green mountains interspersed with snow-capped glaciers. The highway is truly a pleasure to drive; it is so smooth and so pretty. We stop several times to admire the views.

Ron & Nan pull in behind us at the Haines Hitch-up RV Park, just a mile or so from downtown and the harbor. It is a clean park with lush grass and lots of flowers. After a few hours of laundry, rest and reading, we regroup for dinner at the Restaurant at Hotel Halsingland. The Hotel is the former commander’s headquarters of Old Fort Seward, built in 1903. Ron and Nan treat us to an elegant meal with a stunning view. After dinner, we explore Fort Seward by foot, which is very reminiscent of the old Navy Yard in Charlestown, with a spacious nine-acre green in the middle. A duplex at the end of Officers’ Row intrigues us with a “For Sale”. It has three chimneys and elegant bones. We wonder at its story, especially after Ronny finds a foreclosure notice on a back door dated a year and a half ago. (We later learn the price is $184,000 for both sides, with a pending offer.)

Haines seems a wonderful small town, but the hotel owner shakes up our dream when he tells us that, while the temperatures are comparable to Boston, the snowfall is significantly greater: 6-8 feet at a time! The local paper states an annual precipitation of 60 inches. We do not think Haines is the retirement community for us!

Wednesday:
We explore Chillkoot Lake where we find a Bald Eagle preening high up in a tall black spruce literally in front of our eyes. We observe it via video and binoculars for over thirty minutes. As we drive the Tahoe to turn around, another eagle comes swooping over our roof! We could not see where it landed. What a sight! (Of course, all the camera equipment was put away!)

At the other end of town, we find a small picnic area amidst more tall pines in Portage Cove. There are steel fire-rings complete with grills. We may have to return for some barbecuing tomorrow!

While in Haines, AK, one has to visit The Hammer Museum! Over 1200 hammers from pre-Colonial times to present day fill a small three-room house on Main Street.

Nan & Ron have been busy doing genealogical research on Nan’s great-uncle, Judge William Stout. Uncle Billy was a prominent citizen of the town of Haines. We learn more about their research over dinner at the Wild Strawberry, our treat this time. After dinner, we drive out to the town cemetery to examine Uncle Billy’s grave, which has sunk into the ground a bit. Uncle Billy was a Brother of the Arctic Order and also a Freemason. Although his tombstone does not contain Masonic symbols, Ron S. finds a number of tombs which do, so there must be a Freemasonic Lodge in town. (We later learn that the Lodge is in Skagway.)

Nan & Ron met our waiter, Brian, from the Halsingford Hotel at the Sheldon Museum. Brian told them he had seen the Northern Lights last night around 10:30 pm. It has to a cool, clear night to see them. Tonight is too warm. Perhaps tomorrow.

Thursday:
Ronny was up late again last night working on the website, so Joan drives Nan & Ron back to the cemetery herself so that they can cleanup his gravesite. (They are not towing a dingy and there is no rental car agency in Haines.) We arrange to get together for a final barbeque dinner at our newly discovered oasis.

Today is a scorcher weather-wise. Ron works on the computer while Joan goes grocery shopping for the cookout. Alaska Meat and Grocery next to Alaska Sport Shop on Main St. advertises the Best Meat This Side of Texas. Joan asked the butcher about his claim: come to find out he’s a butcher from Dallas/Ft. Worth, been doing it since he was knee-high. He picks out some nice porterhouse steaks for our cookout. (They are IBP, Iowa Beef!)

We are finally ready to visit our bald eagle’s roost again. We decide to drop by the Sheldon Museum in case Nan & Ron are there, check when they want to start the cookout. They are just getting ready to leave, so timing is prefect. They join us to visit the eagle near Chillkoot Lake. He is in the same tree, but higher up. We sit and observe him and he us for a good 45 minutes. We spot a second eagle in another tree (golf ball clue really works!) and a third comes swooping by the first. What a sight!

Ron puts together a great campfire at Portage Cove. Everyone has gathered a feast: chicken, steak, burgers, zucchini, Alaska greens, cheese & crackers and homemade bread. Our picnic area is actually a small state park and there are several tents camped out. We invite a solitary bicyclist to join us, which he readily does. His name is Andrew, a chemical engineer originally from North Carolina, had been working on the Pipeline up in Prudhoe Bay, quit his job a few weeks ago and is bicycling around the state. He just rode about 1000 miles from Homer to Haines in about 3 weeks. He, too, is enamored of the duplex in Fort Seward. We end the picnic by offering our campfire and leftover firewood to a motorcyclist from Toronto named Ted. Good fellowship all around.

By the time we get back to the campground, it is 10 pm. We regroup at 10:30 to look for Northern Lights but decide it is still too light. At midnight, Joan looks outside before retiring and is amazed at the sight in the sky. Wide swatches of light blue swirl above her head. Ron joins her and they dump in the Tahoe to drive to a darker spot for better viewing. The Lights dance a bit and tinges of green glimmer here and there. We enjoy a beautiful show for about 30 minutes and the lights seem to fade away. While not as colorful as pictures of the winter-time Lights, it is still an incredible show.

Friday:
We decide to stay one more night to simply relax. We manage to change our ferry reservations and campground reservations in Skagway.

We meet up with Nan & Ron at the Bald Eagle Association Center. It is a small but very educational museum featuring not just the Bald Eagle but a diorama of most of the animal, marine and aviary wildlife of the region. A worthwhile stop. We get together with Nan & Ron afterwards, who treat us to a nice dinner overlooking the harbor at the Fisherman’s Cove.

We make a brief run into the local IGA for groceries and meet up with Ted, the motorcyclist from Toronto. Ted saw an even more astounding Light show at Portage Cove. Pink, white and green lights danced across the sky for 45 minutes. We had considered driving towards the water, but thought it would be too bright. Oh, well.

We say our final goodbyes to Nan & Ron again. They are continuing down the coast via the Alaska Marine Highway (ferry), so there is little chance of us running into each other again until we are all in New England again. We will miss them.

Saturday:
It is a sunny and breezy day. We bid adieu to Haines, which we have grown quite fond of, primarily because it reminds us so much of New England.

Our ferry to Skagway departs at 12:45 pm. We are supposed to be there two hours beforehand, which we are. The parking lot is hopping. There is another ferry at dock for Bellingham, so all those passengers and vehicles must be boarded before we can be, and our ferry is not here yet. The motorhome and Tahoe are split up into different boarding lanes, so Ron and Joan pass the time speaking with their respective neighbors.

Vehicle boarding commences with passenger vehicles first, then campers and motorhomes. Save for a large tour bus already positioned in the hull and two large construction vehicles, our Allegro is the largest vehicle on the ship. It is tight maneuvering for each of us, but especially for Ron. Despite his love for tight squeezes, he is happy to get the motorhome finally parked and get out of it.

Our ship, the Taku, is the largest ship either of us have ever been aboard (save for a visit aboard the USS John F. Kennedy Aircraft Carrier once). It is quite nice, with king-size cushy recliners in several lounges, a cafeteria, a gift shop, berths (which we do not see) and ample walking decks. The ferry ride itself is only an hour, which passes quickly. We meet Andrew, our bicyclist friend, in one of the lounges. We chat, share some lunch and walk around outside, where we catch a glimpse of a hunchback whale, waving his tail. It is a neat sight, our only view of a whale on this trip.

Departing the ship is almost as hair-raising as boarding, but it is definitely part of the adventure. There are two cruise ships also docked, which our Park Ranger had told us was good fortune, because the shops in Skagway would be open. Unfortunately, he is mistaken. Most of the shopkeepers are unaware of The World ship’s arrival and the Princess cruise ship generally does not allow its guests to tour the shops. Rather, they board them onto buses for guided tours of the sights and back onto the ship. As a result, most of the shops are closed on Saturday, usually a non-cruise ship day.

We visit the few shops which are open and enjoy spending some money. We learn that most of the shop employees are Workampers. Workampers are RV owners who travel the country, staying for a few months here and there doing jobs like campground hosts and laborers, park hosts and in this case retail clerks. While there is a wide variation in deals, the work is usually somewhere around 20 hours per week per person. The compensation is usually fairly small, but includes a campground site and use of the facilities.

Our campground for the next two nights is Pullen Creek RV Park, literally just one block from the ferry dock. Camp sites seem grassy and shaded. Unfortunately, this is not where we are to camp. We are directed out of the campground into a paved parking lot next door with water and electrical hookups. Oh, well, it is a convenient location.

Sunday:
Happy anniversary to us, 17 years! We celebrate by searching the many shops for carved moose antlers to commemorate our visit to Alaska. We learn a lot about antler carving and finally give up the search but contribute to Skagway’s economy with numerous other purchases. We enjoy a pleasant meal at the Stowaway Inn, less than a block from our motorhome. The evening is topped off with a lengthy conversation with a couple from Canada on the beginning of their Alaska adventure.
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