We Are In Alaska

We finally made it into Alaska yesterday (05/25) shortly after noon.  The road between Burwash Landing and Beaver Creek was the worse we had, lots of roller coaster heaves and sunken spots, so we had to go slow and pick our trail.  We could see a distinct haze in the air from the fires burning on the Kenai, close to the area we will be staying at later.

Diesel prices are crazy in Canada with the average being over $6 a gallon, one fill up cost $191, yikes!  Many RV parks are still closed or have limited services as the ground is still frozen and things haven't really picked up yet.  Lakes Muncho and Kluane are just starting to break up and there is lots of snow on the mountains yet.

We didn't have internet the last couple of days, so we weren't able to post and didn't take to many pictures.  We have seen lots of black bears, some moose, caribou, elk and a wolf and even a pair of Sandhill Cranes.

We spent last night with Bruce Grossmann in Delta Junction after finding the local RV park closed yet.  We had a nice visit with Bruce after supper and will spend some time today with him touring Delta Junction and maybe panning for some gold on his gold claim.  Then it will be off towards North Pole Alaska and then on to Fairbanks before heading south back towards Anchorage and then Seward.

Where are we?

Well we left Lignite Tuesday morning and about 7 miles later made it to the border at Portal, after the usual questions at the checkpoint we were told to park and bring in the slip of paper the agent gave us.  Once inside were greeted by a friendly and polite agent who asked a few more questions and then used our firearms declaration form from 2012  and collected the $25 fee and we were on our way in less than 20 minutes without incident.

We continued our way northwest on Hwy 39 across Saskatchewan seeing HUGE fields and a coal mining operation.  I would say the fields are 2-3 miles across. The fields were wet and every pothole had ducks and geese on them.

A little northwest of Moose Jaw we took Hwy. 2 north to Chamberlain where we stopped and put the trailer slides out and ate some lunch and stopped at a local ice cream shop for dessert. This picture was taken in Chamberlain.  The sculptures you see are made by Don Wilkins and are placed along Hwy. 11. A website talking about these sculptures can be found at: www.donwilkins.net

We then picked up Hwy. 11 and continued towards Saskatoon until we decided to stop at North Battleford for the night.  We stayed in a township campground that was very nice and only had about 8-10 sites occupied.

We began Wednesday morning by picking up Hwy 16 that continues northwest into Alberta at Lloydminster and goes through Vermillion and on towards Edmonton.  Driving through Edmonton was like driving through any big city, lots of traffic and stop and go.

A ways northwest of Edmonton we picked up Hwy. 43 that runs through Whitecourt and up to Valleyview where we have pulled into a place we have stayed before Sherks RV Park.  This place is top notch and I don't think you could find anyplace better.

Now we are catching up on e-mails etc and relaxing a bit before bed.

Tomorrow we will officially begin our journey on the Alaska Hwy. at Dawson Creek.

I should mention today temps were in the low 70's and mostly sunny.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more.

The Train, The Train! Canada here we come

Good Morning from a cold NW North Dakota, after a good day driving we found a place to stay in Lignite North Dakota.  There is still frost in the ground here and lots of water on the fields and all the potholes.  Seeing LOTS of ducks, they're everywhere.  The place we stayed hasn't turned the water on yet and there are only 6-7 sites.  It is all gravel (mud), but a nice place and nice people.

This morning we will head north to Portal ND where we will cross into Saskatchewan and begin our journey through/across Canada.  We will head NW towards Saskatoon and then on towards Edmonton.

We only took one picture yesterday during our travels and it was of this train.  Note, Ken took the picture and Rosalie was driving.

More as service/time allows

Monday Morning in Fosston, MN

We awoke to a rainy morning in Fosston, took our time getting started and are taking a slower pace to get on the road.  Rosalie took these pictures of our rig while we were out walking the dogs in the small village RV Park we stayed in overnight.  It was just what we needed to pull in and relax a bit after a good day driving.

Minnesota

We left Chetek this morning at 10:00 a.m. and made it to Duluth about 12:30 p.m.   On the way into town and across the hwy. 53 bridge we noted the south shore of Lake Superior was packed with ice.

After hunting for a station with Diesel we finally found one and topped off.  The truck computer showed we got about 11 mpg.

After getting fuel we met a friend of Rosalie's, Carol Northcott and enjoyed some appetizers and coffee at a Duluth establishment.  We then headed west on US 2 and ended our day in Fosston, where we found a small village RV lot to stay at.  There was one other rig in the park.  It only had electric, but we have enough water on board to get by.

We enjoyed a nice salad and spaghetti for supper and then it was e-mail and computer time while watching season 1 of Duck Dynasty.

Now it is off to bed....

On The Road Again - North To Alaska

05-17-2014 The rig in the driveway only minutes from departure at 9:40 a.m.

We made it to Chetek, WI where we stopped to visit and spend time with our friends Jim & Donna Meacham.  They had a nice spot for us to park our rig, so we decided to make it a short day and stay overnight.

After a great nights sleep and waking up to a beautiful day we will be off for our next adventure.

A Link to Picasa To View Pictures From our 2010 Alaska Trip

Just click the link and click view slide show.  Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kenrosiepictures/Alaska2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCN2MlYOItZqTPg#

We have created a new blog for the summer/winter 2013, as we bought a cabin in the woods at Coloma.
You can access and follow that blog here:

http://logcabinlivingcoloma.blogspot.com/

Sunrise at Green Lake, WI 11/20/2012

Completely calm, A bit foggy and a spectacular sunrise this morning.

My brother Phil & I cut several box elder and locust trees this past spring to clear an area for the 4th pond at the farm.  We stacked the brush to be burned later and stacked the logs into piles to be cut up for firewood. We spent 2 1/2 hours each Tuesday & Wednesday cutting up the logs into firewood.  The locust was cut into 26" lengths for sale to a guy with an outdoor wood burner and the box elder into 16" lengths for splitting and burning at the farm.  A job well done....Let the splitting begin:)

Here is a picture of a load of box elder (1 of 4).

We are enjoying our stay on the shores of Green Lake.  Here is a picture looking east across Green Lake about 5 minutes before sunrise this morning 11/01/2012.