Death Valley or Bust!

We are starting out tomorrow.  Can't wait to get on the road.  Rita the Casita and Marco the-great-explorer Tahoe are all packed. We'll keep you posted as we slowly make our way out to Death Valley National Park and back. 

Amazing Coincidence -- Yukon Rock Art

If you read our last post about Yukon Rock Art, you saw that we posted a picture of the word "Trikers" written in rocks on the ALCAN Highway in the Yukon Territory.  We wondered if it was written by our friends, Dee and Cal, who travel around on special "Trikes" -- 3 wheeled recumbent bikes. 

Well, guess what . . . . . . .  It was their writing!!!  We received this message from them:

Yes, that rock art is ours. We can't believe it is still there. Sounds like you are having a wonderful trip. We've been following your blog. We did it June 15, 2009, on our first trike trip to Alaska. The mosquitoes were really terrible at that campground, and I remember we spent hours boiling water there to refill our water bottles. We worked on the art work while the water was boiling. Dee

---

Yukon Highway Rock Writing

As we were driving through the Yukon Territory on the ALCAN (Alaska/Canada) Highway, we noticed all this Rock Art Writing on the hillsides beside the road.  The words and sometimes symbols like a heart are written with rocks on this vast highway (actually just a 2 lane road) which stretches from Dawson City, British Columbia to the Yukon/Alaska border near Beaver Creek, Yukon .  The writers have spent quite a bit of time working on their creations out in the middle of nowhere.  It is hard to read them as you are driving past at 50 miles per hour but we took some pictures when we stopped at the Big Creek Provincial Campground in the Yukon, west of the town of Watson Lake.      

We wondered if our friends Dee and Cal wrote this.  They have 3-wheeled recumbent Trikes which they have ridden up to Alaska twice.  They advised us on our route, and we know they did go this way. 

This is Cal and Dee on their trikes. 

Here is more Rock Writing we photographed on the road beside our campground. 

Someone's initials, we guess.  You can tell this has been there awhile because there is a little tree growing up in the P. 

We think this was done by "Ailie".

This either says "YO" or maybe the "U" was lost with the shifting earth.  Who knows! 

ALCAN Highway Military Convoy

The ALCAN -- Alaska/Canada -- Highway was completed in 1942 in only 8 months.  We had heard horror stories about how bad the ALCAN was and how likely we were to need a new windshield after the experience.  Except for a few places where there are "frost heaves" over which Rita flew a few times, or construction due to rock slides, we found it to be an excellent road. 

This year is the 70th Anniverwary of the building of this famous and historic highway.  We ran into the 2012 Alaska Highway Convoy comprised of vintage military vehicles from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm.   We talked to one guy who had restored a World War II jeep which he and his son drove out here from New Jersey.  He said he had not had any trouble and was surprised at how well it had held up.  Seems like it would be a pretty rough trip in the old jeep today.  Can't imagine what it must have been like 70 years ago.

Note Rita in the background, next to one of the big ARMY transport trucks. 

http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/08/02/historic-military-vehicle-convoy-celebrates-the-alaska-highway%E2%80%99s-70th-anniversary

Watson Lake Sign Post Forest

Watson Lake is a small town in the southeast corner of the Yukon Territory.  They are famous for their Sign Post Forest which was started in 1942 by a homesick US Army G.I. who was working on the ALCAN Highway.  They told us that there are over 72,000 signs now.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_post_forest

We had heard about the Sign Post Forest from several people who have traveled this route.  They told us to be sure to bring a sign with us.  We could not think of what to bring, but finally settled on an old Georgia license tag which our friend Emory gave us.  It has the name of our county (Hall) on it.  Emory visited Watson Lake many years ago and did not post a sign so we decided to honor him and post his old license tag.  Bill mounted it on a piece of wood and Sally wrote our names and the date on it.   We had a great time just walking through the "Forest" trying to find the perfect spot for our sign. 

Here is Bill nailing up our sign.  Interesting that the sign right above it is from another Sally, hung in 2004. 

The finished installation.

Can you find Dolly Parton's hometown?

There were a lot of City Limit signs.  I tried to get a City of Buford sign but was turned down.  The guy told me that they didn't have any old signs.  Maybe I should have just removed a current sign, like a lot of people appear to have done!

 A sign from Sally's hometown.  We could not find one from Gouverneur, NY.

There were some pretty creative and different "signs".

We liked the Moose Antler's sign at the top of this post.  As you can see, there were many international signs.  We have run into campers from all over the world.  We have met Europeans who come over for 4-6 weeks and rent a motor home.  We have met three Australian couples who have bought RVs here in the US and come over each year for 6 months.  When it is time to go home, they store their RV in the US, fly back to Australia, and then come back the next year for another extended vacation.    

from South Carolina to Massachusetts

Bison, Bears & Caribou on the Road

We saw a herd of bison on the ALCAN Highway from Watson Lake to Ft. Nelson in the Yukon Territory.  One mother had two calves.  The littlest one was so cute and I was able to get a picture of it as we drove past.  I was a little nervous having the window all the way down because the mother was VERY large and was pretty close to the car. 

The cute little bison calf

  This might be the calf's mother.  I just looked up whether female bisons have horns and the answer is "Yes", according to this National Zoo website:  http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/NorthAmerica/Facts/fact-bison.cfm

The herd was grazing along the side of the road and then some decided to cross the road.  We just watched and waited for them to get back on the side.   

Two black bear cubs came running down the steep bank beside the road.  The first one ran in front of our car and the second one ran behind the car.  It happened so quickly that we could not get a picture.  Rats! 

We did get some pictures of caribou grazing beside the road.  They are much more docile and not as spooked as some animals.

Someone told us that they believed the mother to this one had probably been shot by a hunter as this young one was wandering along the road aimlessely.  It is illegal, but happens a lot.

Yucky Water!!

We prefer to camp at isolated state and provincial parks in Alaska and Canada, rather than at commercial campgrounds on the main highways.  They are usually in beautiful areas and are much more private and rustic.  They are usually on lakes or rivers and have hiking trails.  We like to go to a commercial campground occasionally to catch up on the internet and do our laundry.  That is where we are now -- at the Rotary RV Park in Ft. St. John's in British Columbia -- and where we are sending this blog post from.   Another big difference between public and private campgrounds is the price.  The public ones are usually $10-$20 per night while the private ones are $25-$45.

Below is a picture of the commercial campground we are camping in now here in British Columbia.  Notice the beautiful setting.  As you can see, it is flat and treeless, with each site very close to your neighbor.  They do have laundromats, showers, free WiFi and cable TV hook-ups.  Since we don't carry a TV with us, this is not a high priority.  They also often have meeting rooms with big screen TVs, kitchens, activities, etc.   We actually have watched a little bit of Olympic coverage at the Chena Hot Springs campground north of Fairbanks.    

Rotary RV Park in Ft.St.John, British Columbia

Now . . .  below is a picture of Rita at a state park on the Cooper River in the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska.  You can see how nice the site is but they have no facilities except a water pump and an outhouse.  Bill backs the trailer in and we are all set in our own little space.  Sally is learning to back, but Bill gets pretty nervous watching and trying to offer instructions which, of course, makes Sally more nervous! 

The only big drawback with state and provincial parks is the water supply, which is usually a hand pump.  Some of the water has been fine, but often it is not so great.  If it looks awful and has a sign saying to boil it, we use our store-bought water. 

We both take turns pumping.

Bill is still holding the bucket, waiting for the water.
  

This sounds pretty bad, doesn't it. 


We decided to dump this out.  It was not a candidate for boiling!