Marking time in Tok Alaska for repairs..

so we made it to Tok Alaska which is the front door to Alaska.. two roads depart from here one to Anchorage and one to Fairbanks.. we are here until the welding shop can fabricate a mounting bracket for the left front shock absorber, which broke off somewhere along the Top of the World Highway.. this is not a bad spot to be for a while, the RV park has shade and the bathrooms and laundry are close by and we were able to power wash the RT yesterday to clean it up a bit after the dirt and gravel roads we have been down..

fellow travelers speak about forest fires around Denali NP, where we wanted to spend some time..travelers who went through Fairbanks said smoke was so bad they kept going rather than stay there.. so part of our job today is to find out what the story is about a number of items.. there appears to be construction delays along the Kenai Peninsula, which we have encountered with some regularity.. no big deal just a little waiting until the pilot car leads the line around the worker bees..

there has been a heat wave with temps in the 80's and 90's.. tee shirt weather, except with out mosquito repellent one gets chewed on to distraction.. so repellent is as essential as putting on your shoes..

backtracking a little.. out in the wilderness on the road to Whitehorse we spotted a small sign which said Moms Bakery.. Cinnamon rolls and other baked goods.. we are often game for little sidebars so off we went down this desolate road for about 2km and came upon a house with one parking spot and Mom was out weed whacking her front yard.. she told us to come on in and she put on her bakers hat and showed us what she had baked since 4am.. sourdough bread, white and wheat, big 9 inch cinnamon buns, bear claws.. which were made with apple and filo dough.. we thought it was more like apple strudel, but they were delicious.. she even cut one large cinnamon roll in half, heated and buttered it so we could eat it along the way.. she had pictures of grizzly bears that had come within camera distances of her home pinned to her bulletin board along with other memoriabelia..it was one of our special stops and views into life in the back woods of BC..

well.. that's all folks..
i will fill you in on the repair and what we decide to do about fires and construction delays..

take care be safe and bea utiful,
love Pegndon

Probs on Top Of The World Highway

We are spending 4th of July in Chicken Alaska the largest town on the Top of the World Highway which runs from Dawson City in the Yukon to Tok Alaska.. across two countries and two time zones.. it is mostly dirt/gravel with occasional paved sections which have not disintegrated over time.. it appears that the paving was placed directly on dirt without a base, but whatever the reason paving is scarce on this long road.. it took us 6 hours but our top speed was 35 sometimes but mostly under that and we let all comers pass us along the way.. it was dusty and washboardie with chuck holes and some portions very narrow.. travelers told us oh it’s no big deal.. well we might not be that encouraging.. at one point near what had been touted on billboards as food, gas, tire fixing we hit one of the washboard sections and the bolt that held the left front shock vibrated loose and we began to hear metal against metal when we hit bumps.. by this time we were passed the tire fixing place so i turned the roadtrek around on the narrow dirt road by tooing and froing until it was turned around and i only held up one small car for a short time.. so we clackaty clacked our way back to the store and we find out it is boarded up.. closed.. now what.. so i got out my 4x4 rubber mat laid down and began to look under the RT for evidence of something loose and i finally notice that there is a shock with no bottom attachment and it is hitting the axle when i hit a bump.. by now we figure it is 40 miles to Chicken, so i get out my tool bag and think about what to do when up drives a pickup with a cab over camper from Palmer Alaska and the Gary Feaster asks what is happening.. so i tell him what i think it is and he says he could take off the shock and it would stop the noise and we could get it fixed down the road.. so he picked through my tool bag and found two crescent wrenches and said this will do the job.. and he proceeded to remove the top bolt and the job was done..

we started talking and Peg had told his wife we were going to visit a friend in Palmer, who he asked and I said Charles Reynolds.. oh yes i know him and his family.. he asked if we liked tomatoes, and i said we sure do.. before we left san jose i planted 33 plants for the people staying in our home while we are away.. he went into his camper and and brought out a small basket of cherry tomatoes and a cucumber and one larger tomato.. we fell over ourselves thanking him for his help and for the tomatoes and i went back to the RT and got a ten pack of Panda note cards that we brought along for just such occasions of thanks.. Cari his wife love them as did their three young children.. we exchanged cards and he invited us both to his shop in Palmer when we get down there.

as we parted i thanked him again and told him he was an answer to an unspoken prayer which went something like.. what the hell am i going to do now ?

Whitehorse, Yukon Territory on my birf day

As we were leaving Atlin BC yesterday the local Canada Day celebration in the 350 person town was a parade.. Cindy's husband Will and his late family lived the summers there for 20 years so it's like home to him.. and Cindy is the celebrity, Dawson Dolly from Skagway.. she doesn't like to be in parades but they begged her and Will finally suggested that they bribe her. So the Brewery Bay Chalets offered a free night at their wonderful facility at the lakes edge and she relented.. the picture shows she got into it and was a hit.. the First Nation Tlingit's families in Atlin dressed in their parade best as well.. there were not too many by standers in this small town to watch the parade most of them were in it..

As the parade ended Peg and i drove out of town heading for Whitehorse in the Yukon.. i always had a thing about the Yukon, i considered it far and remote and often wondered what life was like up there.. well we are up there and life is much the same here as anywhere.. we are seeing the lamb of the Yukon now in the summer, the lion of the Yukon comes out in the cold winter weather which lasts maybe 8 months.. when we arrived in Whitehorse we were warmer than we have been for many days.. but i did buy an insulated flannel shirt at Canadian Tire in anticipation of it being a little more cold as we continue on up into Alaska from here..

we are aiming next for Dawson City the heart of the Yukon Goldrush.. we saw where the stampeeders started in Skagway and Dyea and now we want to see and experience the actual destination where the gold was found.. perhaps i mentioned before that the claims had all been staked out by the time the stampeeders reached Dawson City.. not all gold had been found but it had been staked out so that there was nothing left for the new arrivals.. how's that news after suffering through the worst winter in history to finally get to Dawson City..

from Dawson City we are going to take the Top of the World Highway to Chicken and Tok.. it's not as far north as Fairbanks which will be our next destination so we will see what we see but our fellow travelers who have driven the road say it is worth the time and the road is good with a little dirt in one portion.. but we have dealt with that.. one deals with it by going slower and i do that anyway so we can look for wild animals..

the nights are getting shorter and the day light is getting longer and it is beginning to mess with my mind a tad.. today i woke up at 3:30 yesterdays time in Atlin and it's 4:30 here in the Yukon.. so i stayed up and wrote you deez woids.. hope all is well with you.. it is still well with us.. our bums are getting sore from riding in the RT but we take frequent stops and makes us feel better, but over all this is a wonderful trip and true adventure.. we don't know what we will see, where we will stop, who we will meet and everyday is met with anticipation..

take care of yourself and we will talk when next we have wifi.. which has been often surprisingly..
Pegndon

Atlin BC on Canada Day and Donald Day July 1 2009

we have been with Cindy for about a week now.. mostly in Skagway and now for the last 2 days in Atlin.. one of the most beautiful settings we have seen, next to the Icefields Parkway.. last night it rained nearly all night, the mountains are all fogged in or clouded in, not sure what they call it here.. but the result is nothing but lake can be seen.. it's Canada day and a parade is planned in town, but it remains to be seen what will take place, but when life goes on at 40 below zero what's a little downpour to do to stop these rugged people..

there is only one road into town, there used to be no road and people could only arrive by boat.. there was no air travel then.. Juneau is same way, no roads into the capitol, what other state can say that.. anyway the road out is paved near Atlin and near the beginning of the road but inbetween it's compacted dirt and gravel, not loose gravel unless some has been just laid down.. on the way in our nice blue and white van turned chocolate and vanilla.. with an all night rain on the road we may be chocolate chocolate going out.. haven't had chance to wash it off yet but we will see what's available in Whitehorse or Dawson City.. our itinerary has built in flexibility to stay one place longer or shorter than planned so we have absorbed the change.. going forward we can't say with certainty what will happen the next few days.. so flow along with us and you will find out when we do..

we are now nearly six weeks out from san jose and approaching 4,000 miles from home.. we have spent about $1,000 for fuel.. we have some wonderful pictures to show for the time.. the ones that we get most excited about are the wild animals that we see along the road.. we keep the long lens on the camera and shoot from either window when we see something.. Peg has caught some wonderful shots from her side.. perhaps most prized is a golden eagle that just sat still while she took maybe twenty shots..

stuff to do so take care all, we think about you and love you all,
Pegndon on the road

5 nights in Skagway, Alaska - Gateway to the Klondike

hi from Skagway Alaska..
a town of 382 people when it's 50 below zero and 8,382 when the summer cruise ships are in town.. the town is 4 blocks wide and 22 blocks long.. downtown reminds me of big ant hill with ants going in all directions up and down a jaywalking across the streets.. it is a colorful town which is what attracts the ships.. it was the route to Klondike Gold Rush in Dawson City, Yukon.. 10,000 people came here and then discovered that they had another 600 rugged grueling miles to go to the Yukon.. there was no railroad, like now, the poor among them had to hike 3,800 feet up and over rocks in the coldest winter on record - 50 below zero.. to make matters worse the Canadian govt required that each miner have 1 ton of supplies to last them for an entire year in the remote Yukon area.. that meant 50 trips up and down the Chilkoot trails hauling that 1 ton of provisons to the customs station and have a partner watch it while the other went down for another load.. it took them two years to get to the Yukon and by that time all the claims had been staked and they were out of luck.. very sad story..

Peg and i rode on Dawson Dolly's Parlor Car a couple of days ago.. Dolly is my sister in law who i helped raise from age 8.. in Columbus, Ohio.. i have attached a link to the pictures in facebook that shows her in action and also the scenery along the train ride.. spectacular..

we are ready to move on to Atlin, Yukon with Cindy and Will.. they have gold mines in Atlin which is where that gold nugget in the pictures comes from.. From Atlin we will go on to Dawson City, the heart of the goldrush.. it remains much as it was at the turn of the century complete with dirt streets and old buildings.. hope to have plenty of pictures from there..

we are 3,800 miles from San Jose at the moment.. the night is shorter and shorter as we go north, it doesn't seem to bother us however.. we pull the curtains in the RT and we are in our only little world and we go right to sleep.. Peg reads herself to sleep and i usually fall asleep over the computer looking at pictures or writing..

Well time to go do something else like enjoy the town and capture it's beauty..

love to all ..
Pegndon

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121914&id=749024017&l=5bd5b4de7b

We are in Yukon Territory at Watson Lake tonite..

Hi all.. we are in the wilderness, no cell ph or wifi svc so communication back home and around the world has been sketchy.. but for us we are both feeling well, no sickness, just pesky skeeters, but we have a tennis racket electrocutor for flys and pests that get inside the RT and we have no mercy.. i let every car and truck pass me and then i poke along about 40 to 50 mph and we look for wildlife.. i keep my 80 by 400mm lens connected to my nikon D2X and we can get good closeups.. peg shot the running grizzly and got good pix.. the moose is shaking itself like a dog after a bath that was at our stop over in toad lake.. the mt sheep posed as if he was in a contest, i loved that look..

the red and white heart with harmony in center was on the hillside after a first nation settlement on the way into watson lake.. the canadian indigineous people are refered to as first nation or aboriginal people..

we have met some interesting people along the way and exchanged cards and will probably see more of them at the stops ahead.. by now nearly all the people we stop with at night are heading into various parts of alaska.. a caravan of adventerours.. there are quite a few europeans traveling north as well as young people and motorcycle riders.. we have encountered ten to fifteen couples of bike riders heading south out of alaska.. the hills are fierce.. today we had an 8% grade and some hills i have to use first going down to slow down the RT..

we are only a few days from seeing my sister-in-law cindy, aka "Dawson Dolly" in Skagway. we are not sure how we are going to get to see her because she has written a book and is doing book signings every night in Skagway or Whitehorse.. she plays a goldrush madam on the White Pass & Yukon Route narrow gauge railroad from Skagway to Whitehorse..

if and when we get internet connections again we will tell you what has been happening and perhaps show some pictures of interesting sightings along the way.. i hope you are liking what you see, we love doing it..

all our love to you all, Pegndon

High Country hello from Grand Prarie, AB, Canada

Friends and relies..
we have now entered new country to us.. we had been as far as Jasper before, but today we drove hwy 40 in Alberta which went through 3 towns all day.. 300 km. Meskeg, Grand Cache and ended in Grand Prarie a town of 50k.. big for up this far.. oil country.. funny thing on this long isolated 2 lane road there was quite a bit of traffic and trucks but hardly any visible wildlife although it was a wildlife preserve.. we did see one deer spring across the road, but that was it..

tomorrow we cross into BC and one step closer to the Alaska Highway.. forgot to say yesterday we took a detour to a hot spring in the mountains outside Jasper.. we had stopped to photograph the Mountain Goat and kid and someone else who spotted it first told us about the hot spring and we followed them off the road about 17km but it was so worth it.. Peg loves her hot tub and this was a hot tub fix extraordinary.. he noticed the sprint car on the back window of the RT and said he raced Miata on a road course.. nice people..

we have been in and out of internet connections.. yellowstone was blank.. some say they have it then it doesn't work.. this one right now is going in and out so we will see if you have something to read or not.. the blog is autosaving when it can, but then it will say it can not contact blogger so saving and publishe may fail.. then it saves.. so it goes in the wilderness with new technology..

i have been putting more stuff on facebook and the links below will take you to two albums you might want to see because the pictures are quite nice.. today was frolicing foxes, a family of red foxes caught on my long lense and then the pictures from the ice field parkway between Lake Louise and Jasper, one of the most beautiful stretches of landscape either one of us have ever seen and some of the pictures will give you a good impression of its beauty..

we are just a day or two from the Alcan highway so no telling what our communication ability will be.. i am still tweeting little bits and pieces here and there, ususally at a restaurant or the like.. so take care be safe and so will we, love you all,
Pegndon on the road to Alaska and loving it..

Frolicking Foxes..
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=119290&id=749024017&l=c33010f309

Beauty on Road to Alaska..
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=119012&id=749024017&l=eeb39cb79b