The first day of August found us at the Arctic Circle.  We had left Denali National Park on Monday, July 30 and headed to Fairbanks.  In the rain as we left Denali we discovered that our windshield cover had wicked several inches of water into the front seat of the car and that the automatic steps on the Bounder were broken.  The drive from Denali to Fairbanks was beautiful, even in the rain, with masses of tall magenta fireweed blooming along the highway.  Arriving in Fairbanks, we got settled in at the Fred Meyer parking lot and started looking into repair options.  Also while in Fairbanks, the weather improved and we visited the University of Alaska Museum which has quite a collection of history items and also displays on the Northern Lights.  On Wednesday, August 1st Everharts went on a steamboat river cruise on the Cheena River while we took a one-hour flight to the Arctic Circle in a 10-passenger plane.  At the Prospect Creek International Airport we transferred to a 25-passenger coach for the road trip (10 hours) back to Fairbanks.  Along the way we had ceremonies at the Arctic Circle (where it was sunny and 60* - no snow this time of year), a picnic on the banks of the Yukon River, picked blueberries on the tundra, and visited Joy, Alaska where 16 people and 104 dogs live in an "original homestead community" which has no electricity or running water.  It was a great trip.
Thursday, August 2, we made a return trip to the RV repair to see about our light connection to the car which wasn't working, and then headed to North Pole.  Frankly, it is a cute place, but Bronner's in Frankenmuth "has it beat" by far.  Next stop was Delta Junction, the official "end" of the Alaska Highway.  (We'll be driving it backwards!) From there it was on to Tok.  We'd made a full circle of the highway system in Alaska, as we had started there eight weeks ago.  We returned to the same service station for oil changes and lube jobs and were able to stay behind the station in an RV parking area.  We also made return stops to the laundry, cafe, grocery, and internet provider.  On Saturday August 4, we drove the car to Chicken, Alaska.  It is strictly a tourist spot, but once was a thriving gold mine area and has a cute group of shops and gold panning area.  We had intended to drive through there with the RVs and cross the "Top of the World Highway" to Dawson City, but after talking with other RVers who made the trip in the last two weeks, we decided that the road was more adventure than we want to tackle.  So, we will be taking the standard "Alaska Highway" all the way to Dawson Creek, leaving Tok on Sunday the 5th.

August, 2001 page 1

We made it!  We drove the entire "Alaska Highway" from end to end (even if it was backwards because we got up to Alaska on the Marine Ferry System.)  It took 5 days of driving.  The road was often mud and/or washboard gravel, never more than two lanes but sometimes less, hilly and winding.  But there really wasn't much traffic and there is almost never a crossroad.  You can't get lost!  We did get chips in the windshield and visited glass repair places in Whitehorse (for Everharts) and Fort Nelson (for both of us).  The rigs and tow cars were filthy!  We stopped along the way to visit a few tourist spots...a diner called "Mukluk Annie's" where we had a good dinner and an evening boat ride with 30 other tourists on Teslin Lake, Yukon, the Johnston Museum where we saw a 1928 Chevy that George Johnston brought to the Yukon before there were any roads (he used it on the frozen lake), the signpost forest in Watson Lake, and the beginning (our end) of the highway in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.  Quite a few times we had to stop for animals grazing in the roadway.  The views on the Alaska Highway are often breathtaking.  Photos won't do them justice! In southern Yukon and eastern British Columbia there was quite a haze that made the views a little less sharp.  And, it's getting dark at night now...seems strange to us! 

We continued on through British Columbia and into Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  The scenery changed from mountains and spruce trees to rolling plains of wheat fields stretching as far as we could see.  The wildlife changed from bears and moose to bison, pigs and cows and horses. The rest areas aren't as plentiful in the Canadian provinces, but we managed to find free places to spend the nights as we headed east.  We visited the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, supposedly the world's largest.  Other than that, we sort of breezed through the provinces.
 

The End of the Alaska Highway in Delta Junction, Alaska   Milepost 1422
The beginning of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, British Columbia   Milepost  0
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August, 2001 page 2

click on the "forward" and "back" buttons above to see more of our August adventures

We've come to the end of our "Alaskan Adventure."  From Winnipeg, Manitoba we drove south - crossing into the United States again at Pambina, North Dakota on Monday, August 13.  Here we parted company with our good friends, Sandee and Jacques Everhart.  (At least we hope they are still our good friends after spending most hours of the last 4 months together.)  Everharts headed on towards Ohio and we had planned a little more leisurely drive with stops to visit friends in Minnesota and at an RV service provider in Wisconsin.  Our wonderful "Alaskan Adventure"  has been worth every bit of time and effort, concern, aggravation and expense.  (The most we paid for gas was $2.26 a gallon.)  We thought we had learned a lot about Alaska and its history and culture before we got up there.  Boy, were we wrong!  There was so much more to learn. That, along with the whole way of life and the people who live there, are things that you can't understand until you have been there.  Travelling with friends who had been to Alaska twice before also helped us to experience things we certainly would have missed on our first driving trip to the "last frontier" alone.  We appreciate their taking the time to "educate" us as we went along, and to re-visit places they had already been so that we could have some "unique experiences."  We have made our lists of "The Best Things We Saw and Did" (and the worst) and of  "Things We'll Do Next Time."  Believe it or not, four months was not enough to do it all!  We drove about 6800 miles together with the Everharts (not counting the 900 miles we traveled on the Alaska Marine Ferries.)  We'll miss their company at dinner each night and sharing adventures each day. (We can't begin to count the hours playing dominoes!)  We're looking forward to seeing them again soon!

  The end of the "Alaskan Adventure"      August 13, 2001    Pambina, NorthDakota  Jacques and Sandee Everhart and Alyeska with Tom and Mary

Our first real stop back in the "outside," as Alaskans refer to the "lower 48," was in Hallock, Minnesota.  We visited with friends we'd met at Holiday Village where we stayed in Pharr, Texas last February.  Bea and Earl Bahr fed us some delicious home cooked meals and took us on a tour of their farming community.  We got a close-up look at some of the fields and equipment we'd been watching as we drove through the plains of western Canada.

As they say, "the best laid plans" always change.  Within the first 24 hours of our parting, we and Everharts both changed direction.  Our cell phones were now working again and after talking with family, they decided to drive to Vail, Colorado to visit Jacques' twin sister and her husband.  We decided to speed up our travels, but did visit the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, the Power Gear Corporation in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin who designed our coach leveling system, and in Bristol, Indiana visited the Hydro-Life water filter company.  We drove through the Chicago area around midnight and avoided lots of traffic.  We spent the weekend of August 17 with Mary's family at her mother's home in Michigan.  An impromptu reunion with our daughter Ann, her husband Matt and our three precious granddaughters, Mary's brother Bill and wife Beth, and of course Mother and Fran, all came together to help them clear out the lake house which has been sold.  On Tuesday, August 21 Tom will be flying to Florida with his sister to visit their mother and dad for a week and help get things organized there.  Mary will be working on details at the Ohio end of the possibility of moving Tom's parents back to Ohio and enjoying some time with the grandchildren, no doubt.  We're glad that our schedules are flexible, but we plan to be on the road again soon.
Three great reasons to be back in Ohio...my how they've grown up.  Coffey just turned 4 and will start pre-school soon.  Close is 2 1/2 and is a sweetie.  Merrick will be 1 in September and is walking all over the place.

Tom spent the week of Aug.21 to 28 in Florida with his sister, Judy visiting their parents.  They helped Mother clean out lots of closets and cupboards and made preliminary arrangements to move both Mother and Dad back to the Toledo, Ohio area.    Meanwhile, on the home front, Mary and brother-in-law Ron toured various nursing homes and senior living facilities trying to find the "perfect" place for Mother and Dad.  This is not an easy task considering all the medical and financial concerns besides the actual physical move.  But, we're working on it!    Mary also spent three days in Marysville playing Grandma to the three little angels and puppy.  A good time was had by all.