RV Date 170799
We were going to fly over Glacier Bay today but it was too cloudy so took the water taxi to Haines instead. We sailed through Lynn Canal which is actually a fjord but what did the Englishmen who discovered it know? Beautiful, beautiful sights. Huge waterfalls, whales, harbor seals and bald eagles soaring overhead. This is truly magnificent country.
The little town of Haines is nothing to speak of. It is an old fishing village but now has little to offer. But it was here that we were shocked and saddened to learn of the death of JFK Jr. and his wife. No one, tourists or locals alike, could believe it. We still can't.
We have met so many different and interesting people on this trip. People from as far away as Rhode Island and Vermont, from Florida and Texas. We are sort of following a Good Sam caravan around and have made friends with couples from Illinois, Virginia and Oregon. Plus lots and lots of people from Colorado. We all seem to go on the same things so have gotten to know each other. It has made the trip even more fun.
Came back to Skagway which is a totally different place. First of all, all the cruise ships dock here so they get 100,000 tourists a year from that source. There are three docked here today. The entire downtown area has been declared a historic district and all the buildings have been restored to circa 1898 at the time of the gold rush. The national park service has great displays and a movie showing what it was like and what the miners went through. Last night we went to a play about Soapy Smith - the local bad guy who was shot and killed by an enraged citizen. It was cute and entertaining.
Maybe tomorrow we'll get to fly over the glaciers.
RV Date 210799
It was still too cloudy on Sunday to fly over the glaciers so we decided to bag it until we got to Anchorage and will take a boat instead.
Monday we waited for the tow truck to tow the truck back to Whitehorse. He finally arrived at 1 and off he and Mack went, BACK over White Pass. White Pass is one of the routes the gold rushers took to the gold fields. On the south side it is a 11.5 mile steep descent into Skagway. Mack was supposed to stay in Whitehorse for the night and bring the truck back the next day after it was fixed. About 6pm here comes Mack in the door - there was no room in the inn in Whitehorse so he came BACK over White Pass.
Tuesday morning we went BACK over White Pass to Whitehorse to pickup the truck. The problem was that the Pac Brake was wired into the wrong fuse module causing the fuse to blow. Ford replaced the fuse module, the fuse and rewired the Pac Brake to where it was supposed to be. About $300 later we got the truck back.
We spent some time in Whitehorse seeing the sights. The first thing we saw was Canada's smallest National Park - the SS Klondike. The paddlewheeler plied the Yukon River from 20's to the 50's. It is 270 feet long , is the longest boat ever on the river and has been completely restored.
Then we stopped at the Visitor Center. Almost all of these Canadian towns have great visitor centers with wonderful displays and movies about the area. While there we met a couple from Madisonville, KY (where Mack's 90 something brother lives). We had to drive 5000 miles to Whitehorse, Yukon to meet someone from a small town in Western Kentucky.
Then we went to the Beringia Interpretive Center. Beringia is what the scientists call the area that was untouched by glaciers during the ice age and thus became the land bridge. Parts of Yukon, Alaska and Siberia are included. The center has great fossils including a woolly mammoth, a giant sloth and a saber tooth cat. Again, great displays and a movie explaining everything. The gold miners in the area are responsible for most of the fossils found. To get back to the RV we had to to BACK over White Pass.
Today we finally left Skagway (you guessed it - once more BACK over White Pass!). We drove along Kluane (pronounced clew-on-ee) National Park with it's glacier covered peaks, Kluane Lake - at 249 square miles the largest lake in Yukon and it's light turquoise colored also, and through many burn areas. One area in particular was burned in 1958 and there are still no trees to speak of. It really brought home how fragile this tundra environment is.
We went over some very bad roads today. We think maybe still part of the original highway. We also went over a lot of construction where they are trying to make it better. It took us over 9 hours to come about 350 miles. Stopped about 30 miles short of Beaver Creek which was our original destination.
Tomorrow on to Fairbanks!
RV Date 220799
Sort of overcast all day today. Mostly just the same old thing - lots of black spruce and muskeg. Saw some more "drunken forests". The topsoil over the permafrost is so thing that the trees can't get a really good grip. When that soil moves, as it does when it gets wet, the trees start to topple over. They don't fall down, they just stand at all angles.
Were going through a construction zone when we saw another moose. She didn't stand and pose for us like the last one did so didn't get a picture. Not to worry, we've only shot up about 10 rolls of film thus far. We'll get more moose pictures.
Got to the Tanana River and saw where the pipeline goes over it. They suspended the Alaska pipeline in this spot like a suspension bridge right over the river. Don't know if Uncle Dick or any of the Pence's (our cousins) worked on this section of the pipeline, but it's pretty impressive.
Got to Fairbanks! Staying in a really nice park called River's Edge right on the Chena River. Will spend a few days here seeing the sights.