North To Alaska : 2017

Summary

For a trip that started on May 31st and ended on September 22nd I put 12,172 miles on our 2012 GMC Duramax, its 5th trip to Alaska and back. The trip included spending most of the summer with my good friends Bill, Les and Nancy as well as a few weeks with my friend Brian and uncles Rick and Paul. I caught over 125 salmon, picked several cups of wild cranberries, saw lots of wildlife and enjoyed God's creations. Of course there were trials; like truck repairs in Whitehorse, rainy, cold weather, snow and a late trip cold. All of this was possible because my dear wife, Rosalie agreed to stay home and take care of the homestead and our two dogs. I hope everyone who reads our blog enjoyed following us this summer and will join us again, maybe next year for trip #6.

Odds & Ends and our travels home

Paul & Rick rode the train from Anchorage to Fairbanks on Wednesday the 13th getting into the Fairbanks depot about 8:30 p.m. After picking them up we stopped at McDonald's for a quick snack before heading to the rig at RiverView RV Park near North Pole. Thursday morning after loading up we started the first leg of our journey towards home, but first stopped north of Delta Junction to meet our friend Bruce Grossman who showed us how to gold pan on his claim. We were lucky enough to find a few flakes of gold and have more diggings to pan through when time allows. After panning we headed into Delta Junction and stooped at the north end of the Alaska Highway for pictures. IT was then off to lunch and then head south towards Tok and the Border. After crossing the border at Beaver Creek we stopped at and RV Park there and were visited by a black bear who came for breakfast. It was then on to Whitehorse for a couple of days. (See previous posts). Saturday morning, the 17th we hooked back up for the remainder of our trip back to Wisconsin. By this time we were all feeling the effects of our colds and sounded terrible, coughing, sneezing and hacking. Saturday night after 474 miles we stayed at Toad River, then it was off to Hythe, Sunday night. After an interesting day and almost staying overnight in Whitecourt because a snowstorm, Monday night found us in Battleford, Saskatchewan. Tuesday we crossed back into the U.S. and spent the night at Lignite N.D. As the push for home got stronger we stayed one last night at Bena, MN, then it was off for Coloma, getting home at 3:45 p.m. and 3641 miles after leaving Beaver Creek.