July 23 – August 15: The rest of Alaska
July 23 – 30: Homer to Fairbanks
We couldn’t leave Alaska without visiting Fairbanks, and besides, it was supposed to be warmer up there! Stayed at Quartz Creek Campground on the way up – Site 8. We’d sussed it out on the way past going down, and so reserved that very spot. Very pretty, quiet. No services, but you could fish from the site!
Stayed one night at Springer Park again (Palmer, near Anchorage). Very nice people, and we knew the place. The farms and gardens around the area are beautiful and green; we could walk all round them. Gardens like we would all love to have! Only downside is there is a flight school next door, and they do stop and go’s starting at 7 am!
Stopped at Cantwell RV Park (near Denali National Park) again, on the way up to Fairbanks. It was there that we made the commitment to stay on Vancouver Island rather than going back to Texas for the winter. So even though the park is not especially beautiful, it had good Starlink, so we took the time to re-plan the rest of our trip.
The drive from Cantwell (Denali) to Fairbanks was rainy and boring, but we got through it. Stayed at River’s Edge RV Park, Site I-12, 2 days. On the day after we arrived, it was sunny and quite warm, so we walked up to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska. Up being the operative word. 1.7 miles in each direction, UP all the way there. 13K+ steps for the two of us was quite the hike! Well worth it though, with views across the valley of farmlands and over to the mountains, bracketing a fascinating 2 hours in the Museum. Excellent video on the Aurora Borealis, which is seen frequently from Fairbanks because of its world location. (We didn’t see it, sadly.)
Headed to Valdez, via Paxson Lake, on what is supposed to be the most beautiful drive. Unfortunately, it was raining almost the entire time, so all we saw was fog and drizzle. Dried up a bit at the end, so we did catch a good view of one of the enormous falls (hundreds of feet tall) along the way.
July 30 – Aug 2: Valdez
One bucket list item was a trip on the LuLuBelle, out of Valdez, and to include whale sightings and a trip to the Columbia Glacier base. We had not reserved a spot because of our uncertain timing. So when we got to Valdez, we went immediately to the LuLuBelle office, to see if we could get on the next day – mainly because that was the ONLY good weather day for the upcoming week. Well, our luck was good, and we scored a couple of tickets. Went back to take out all the warm clothes we had with us – the stories of getting really cold next to the glaciers were rampant!
The day dawned completely fogged in, but we could see the blue sky above, and knew we were in for a good day. Captain Fred, at 85 and having done this for 44 years, talked the entire time about the scenery, the history, the stories of Valdez. What he didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing. There were about 50 of us on the boat, the weather was perfect, and we spotted whales, otters, sea lions, puffins, and of course, finally, the glaciers. There was a small kitchen on board, where they served chowders and baked goods. A bit pricey, but all part of the experience.
August 2 – 14: Tok
We decided to make the longer than usual drive to get us to Tok (250 miles), rather than make an interim stop.
We stopped at the Alyeska Pipeline Interpretive Centre along the way. It’s actually just a spot where you can have a look at the pipeline itself, and read a couple of info boards, but it was quite fascinating, actually. We had seen some of the pipeline story at the Museum in Fairbanks, so it was interesting to see the actual pipeline. It’s such a big part of life in Valdez – it’s what brought many of the residents to this beautiful area.
A bit of an overview – lots more can be found on the internet, of course. The Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (Alyeska) owns and operates the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), also known as the Alaska pipeline or Alyeska pipeline. TAPS is an 800-mile pipeline that runs from Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope to Valdez on Prince William Sound in southcentral Alaska. The pipeline is 48 inches in diameter and is supported by 11 pump stations and the Valdez Marine Terminal, where oil is loaded onto tankers for shipment to market.
Anyway, our decision to continue all the way to Tok turned out to be fortuitous. The morning after our arrival, (the 3rd) Garry awoke feeling “off”, so we went to the local (excellent, full-service) health clinic to check him out for low sodium levels, a problem he’d had before. Turned out to be not a problem, though they gave him a saline drip just in case. He felt somewhat better, but it was short-lived.
We’d intended to leave on the 5th, Monday, but Garry was still feeling very tired, so we decided to delay another day or so. Then, no surprise, on Tuesday morning Ann started to feel “off” as well, so on Wednesday we figured we had better go back to the clinic to get tested.
Nothing’s free anymore, but testing is also more sophisticated than it used to be. They have a new DNA-based test for Covid, RSV, Flu-A and Flu-B. Lucky us, we “only” had COVID.
So, for the next week, we slept, ate (a little), napped (a lot), walked (a little), and tried to recover. It was not a fun experience, more exhausting than either of us expected. In the end, we stayed 9 days more than we intended! Luckily the park was large and mostly empty (except for one night when a caravan of 25 Class A’s came through), so we were able to get outside and breathe without getting near anyone.
We had taken our fresh stores down to almost zero, as the day after leaving Tok we would be crossing the border back to Canada, and the border people can be quite fussy about fresh food. But fortunately, we were able to mask up, go to the local grocery store every couple of days, and keep ourselves eating reasonably healthily.
The big problem was that we were both so very fatigued, and the two days of driving right after Tok were expected to be difficult (gravel roads, lots of potholes). So we really wanted to wait till we were in top form. Finally, on Tuesday the 13th, we decided we were ready to go the next day.
August 14 – 17: Tok to Whitehorse
The first day of this leg, crossing into Canada, we kept very short, staying at Beaver Creek just inside the Yukon border. The crossing itself was a non-issue. The only interesting thing is that the actual customs (and immigration) station is 20 km INTO Canada. Another 30 km further on, and we were at our RV Park, Discovery Yukon. Delightful little park that accommodated us (site B2, drive-through) without a reservation.
They have a spectacular vegetable garden with everything looking as if it could be eaten right from the ground. They had lettuce for sale, and of course we bought some. What a treat! Wish we could have bought all the rest of the veggies!
The next day was going to be a short one to a Kluane Lake Campground, with a second longer day to get us to Whitehorse. The short day was to accommodate the fact that the road was supposed to be horrible – gravel and full of potholes. Well, it just wasn’t so bad. So we stopped at the campground, but it wasn’t that appealing, and you couldn’t see the lake. But then, a few miles along, there was an empty rest area, right next to the lake, so we stopped for a little walk and a break. We could have stayed there, but the day was so beautiful, the traffic was negligible, and the road just kept getting better. It was a perfect driving day. 450 km altogether, but we got in by 3pm, and even managed to give the Benz a bath (the bug coverage was intense). And in fact, we had a first post-Covid beer – did it ever taste good.
Whitehorse gave us a day or so to stock up on food and fuel, and so after 2 nights there, we headed out south and east along the Alcan.