Life Is Good Today!: June 2014

Monday, June 23, 2014

Whitehorse, YT

By the time we got to Whitehorse a road break was needed. The roads were quite bad getting there (only to get much worse!) but we were weary and tired of driving. We got a spot at an RV park, which although decent, was still quite dusty. Almost all RV parks up this way are gravel lots but still they are appreciated at the time. Whitehorse is the capital of Yukon and has about 27,000 residents (only 36,000 in all of Yukon!). There is a lot going on there but we only did a few things but will try to do more as we will go back that way on our return.

First we stopped at the "largest weather vane in the world". An old DC-3 plane that had served the Yukon but had been abandoned at the local airport was bought, restored and then mounted on a pedastal. It is in perfect balance and always points into the wind.

Largest weather vane in the world!

Mounting of plane

Next we decided to tour Muktuk Dog Sled headquarters. This is the operation of Frank Turner who had attempted the Yukon Quest dog sled race 24 times in 25 years, finishing 17 times and winning once. This race, sometimes considered the hardest dog sled race, is a 1,000 mile trek from Whitehorse to Fairbanks. Pretty cool to walk among the dogs and visit with them.

Dog yard

Cynthia with her friend!

After a 2 night rest here we moved on toward Valdez with an overnight stop at Blueberry Lake SP. This was a great SP park near the top of Thompson Pass. This pass is said to be the snowiest place in AK with an average annual snowfall of 551.5 inches per year! When we arrived the view was spectacular but the weather soon moved in and we had rain all night and awoke to fog in the mountains. It was only a short drive into Valdez from here.

Campsite view!

Almost to Valdez!

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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK

These are two small towns with not much to them but are located in a very beautiful area. Hyder is about the southern most AK city you can drive to, most others you need a ferry to get to. Just as we turned the corner into Hyder a mama bear and her two cubs rumbled across the street just down the road from us. I barely had time to get the camera out but got this shot.

Hyder is known for it's salmon run and bear fishing. Just past town is small stream with a boardwalk above that is used for viewing. In late July, early August as the salmon return upstream the bears come out to feast. But unfortunately for us we were too early again in the season to see this.

View of Fish Creek

Another important sight is Salmon Glacier, one of the largest in North America. To get above the glacier you drive about 20 miles out of town, up the mounatin.

Pano (bad shot but you get the idea) of Salmon Glacier

Cynthia at the glacier

Overview from parking area

Drive up

We spent one night in Hyder which was still about 1,300 miles from Anchorage. In case you are wondering British Columbia is HUGE!!! It is about ⅓ larger than TX and while the drive south to north is only about 800 miles it is very slow going. The roads are in bad shape with numerous frost heaves (but not quite like further north) potholes and gravel sections. So if you can drive 55 you are doing good. So we spent the next couple of days getting to Watson Lake, YT. An overnight at a Lion's Club campground and a quick visit to Jade City (where much of the world's jade comes from) brough us to Watson Lake and the famous sign post forest.

Jade City

In the Yukon!

Sign post forest (we will add to it on our return)

We continued on to another provicial CG just outside of town then moved on to Whitehorse, YT. We decided to take a two day break at Whitehorse, the road was wearing us down a bit.

More to come....

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We made it to Valdez, AK

It is Sunday morning, June 22, the day after the summer solstice. The solstice is usually not too big a deal for us Texans but up here it is quite different. We went to bed about 11:30 last night and the sun was as bright as it is about 3 or 4 o'clock back home! We are in an RV park near the waterfront and looking out my front window, the clouds and rain have moved on and the sun, mountains and birds are in full glory this morning! But before I go on I need to step back and get you caught up.

Still in Kelowna, BC, Cynthia and I went for a great bike ride on the Kelowna Valley Rail Trail. This section, the Myra Canyon portion, is a 12 mile roundtrip that traverses 18 trestles and 2 tunnels. This rail trail was built on land acquired from the Canadian Pacific Railway and is now a national historic site in Canada. In 2003 a major forest fire swept through the area and destroyed many of the trestles and bridge decks but since then all have been restored. What is great about this ride is that since it is on a railroad bed the gradient is very mild at about 2% thus there was only a 100ft rise in the 6 miles out.

Display board showing fire

Cynthia heading out

You ride in a U shape

Looking down

Tunnel braceing 12x12s

The next morning with Mark back in town, I joined him and Hayley for another ride to the same place Hayley and I went a couple of days earlier. Although we only rode about 6 miles the first 45 minutes or so were up hill so it was a good workout. Of course coming down was fun!

Thursday was time to move on and begin to work our way north with our next destination the Stewat, BC/Hyder, AK area. It was mid day by the time we actually were on the road. The late start kept us from getting too far so we made camp at a nice provincial park at Lac la Hache. Another overnight in Smithers, BC and a long day driving put us in Stewart/Hyder late the next day.

Stewart and Hyder in the next post...

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Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Chilliwack, the Escape Rally and Kelowna

Chilliwack, BC is a short 60 mile drive from Surry. This is where Escape Trailer Industries is located-this is the manufacturer of the travel trailer we own. Since we knew we would be in the area we planned a maintenance stop to add a few things and gets some other items checked out. We arrived Monday afternoon (appointment was for Tuesday) just to confirm we were on the schedule. Upon walking in the door we meet Tammy and Reace the owners. This is literally a Mom and Pop operation with Tammy handling the office and paperwork and Reace dealing with manufacturing, desgin, etc. They currently have 48 employees and have been in business for 10 years or so. It was great to meet them, then meet another new trailer owner just getting his new unit. We arrived early the next morning left the trailer, then headed to town. On our list of work: opening window in the kitchen, opening window in the bath, check bearings and brakes and some updated graphics (and a few other minor checks). Unfortunately we did not get a tour of the facilities as the commotion of manufacturing is just too great during the day. Our unit was ready by 3 when we returned.

Finished trailers waiting for pickup

Our new Texas graphics!

Tuesday night we were invited to join several other Escape owners at the Canyon Springs CG which was on the way to the rally site. Although the directions to the CG were accurate the distances were off by a bit but we still managed to find the site and meet the other owners. Tammy and Reace showed up about dark and several of us gathered around a great camp fire for a while. It is nice that the nights in many of these areas are still cool to cold with temps dipping into the 40s.

The next morning several pepople departed for the rally site but we stayed at the CG one more day and had a nice day hike along the river.

Log bridge crossing the Similkameen River

View from the trail

Road sign in the area (but none spotted)

Early Thursday we departed for Osoyoos (sounds kind of like OH-soy-use), BC for the rally. For the past 5 years the Escape company has put on a rally for their customers. This year there were about 200 people and 100 trailers, the largest rally yet. It is a great time to meet other owners, drink some wine or beer, share ideas, drink some more wine or beer, well I think you get the idea. There was no specific agenda planned but we did partake in a wine tour of the area, that, while great fun with new friends, the wines were not the best. But a good time was had by all. This area of BC is in their desert (looks somewhat like Big Bend country but no where near as dry). The area is full of orchards and wineries and is a destination vacation area as well.

We spent a long weekend at the rally and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was great to meet other Escape owners from all over and especially to spend some time with the owners of the comapny and get to know them better. I certainly feel that I can know recommend this comapny without hesitation-they listen to their customers, make changes as needed, are very inclusive and were a blast to hang out with!

At the rally

One of the vineyards

"Ali" the winery dog

Sunday was time to move on again and we packed up and headed to our next stop Kelowna, BC. Here we are "car docking" again at our friends Hayley and Mark. We met them a couple of years ago in Lajitas at the MTB festival there and I made contact before our trip. They were gracious enough to offer their driveway for a few days. Kelowna is a beautiful town on Okanagen Lake. The lake is about 83 miles long so it stretches through many towns along it's length. The town of Kelowna is very outdoors oriented with bike lanes everywhere, bike maps posted on some corners and has a great laid back feeling. Our friends run a B&B from their house as well which is a one block walk to the beach. Quite nice! Our first afternoon here Hayley took me for a MTB ride in the mountains nearby-my first ride in several weeks. I did OK considering and had a great time. We hope to go again tomorrow when Mark returns to town.