ATM Alaska

Aug 7 blog 1.  In an earlier blog, I mentioned Dave and Arlo, the two friends who tried to teach me how to not be afraid of fish (as much as you can teach a 65 year old pescaphobe.) It allowed me to enjoy the deep sea charter out of Homer and salmon fishing on the Kenai River. Peach and I met Dave and Arlo, and their wives, Bonnie and Dianne, several years ago at pickleball in Whitewater. We became fast friends, getting together frequently for  pickleball, to play euchre, or to have a fish fry of Dave and Arlo's captured haul. Arlo had been battling cancer all year and defied the odds many times over as he kept playing pickleball, kept playing very good euchre, and kept enjoying his Early Times and Coke, long after his predicted survival He never complained and was always a joy and inspiration to be around. Peach and I were very much hoping to get back from Alaska in time to play another game of euchre with Arlo and everyone, to share some laughs, and to perhaps have an Alaska...

We struggled across another 500 miles of Hwy 2 yesterday, finishing off Montana and nearly all of North Dakota. We were both very tired from the lousy sleep at Glasgow due to the railway noise, and I had some kind of intestinal ailment. Maybe it was from the twelve different samples of beer the night before, including pickle and jalapeño flavored. We stopped multiple times, totaling several hours along the way, to try to take a nap, and for me to try to clear my dump tank. We were unsuccessful on both counts. We finally arrived, as it was getting dark, at an RV park near Grand Forks around 9:00: much later than we'd planned. As we approached the RV Park, up ahead we see flashing red lights on our road, then see those lights swinging down  on crossarms to block the road. Sure as shit, here comes a huge BNSF train, going between us and our campground. As we sat there waiting for the three engines and about one hundred cars to pass, we weren't sure if we should laugh or cry. Then ...

 Aug 5 Day 36 We both had mixed emotions yesterday morning as we crossed the border into Montana. It felt good to be back in the States, and the fact it meant we were only a few days from home. But it also meant saying goodbye to the mountains and glacial streams, and to all the fine people we met across Canada and in Alaska.  We thought about swinging straight south from Kananaskis and spend a day just driving through Glacier National Park. But we need to get home, and to do Glacier now on a pass-through, after Alaska, Banff and Jasper, might diminish its impact, and lessen our experience due to supersaturation. We'll save Glacier for another day, when we can do it right, and enjoy it like we should. So we headed southeast out of Lethbridge to the border north of Sterling. Going through border checkpoints with a gun, a freezer full of fish, and a contraband basil plant is always a bit stressful. The American border guard was pretty stern, as if he was compensating for a small...

Aug 4 Day 35 We only made it three hours from the golf course. Didn't make it to Medicine Hat, or to Montana. Didn't make it to any nice boondock sites or scenic sleeping places. We made it only as far as Lethbridge, Alberta. This is the junction of the roads that either take us east to Medicine Hat, or south to Montana. We were just two tired to go any further. We actually ended up at a KOA campground. Lots of RV's, lots of kids, lots of noise. Fortunately for us, the folks who usually come to KOA's want to be close to the office. That's where the pool and the bathrooms and the laundry and kids games are. We wanted to be away from all that, and this place actually had a very nice remote spot in the woods by the river. It also had electric to recharge everything, since one of us knocked the extension cord out of the truck outlet earlier in the day, and the batteries were nearly drained from lack of recharge. It's unusual for a KOA spot to be this nice, and it ca...

Aug 3 from Bonz Up at 5:00 to play golf in mountains since we changed our route completely yesterday. Day after losing truck keys, I lost my sunglasses. Need to do something totally different. So here we are. I'm sure Peach will have a few words later. Yep, this is PEACH again, which means another Bonz story. So, 2 days ago is when he temporarily lost his keys, I found them. That evening is when I stopped a couple who had just finished fishing and they gave us a ride to Pickleball. Then, after Pickleball a very nice young mom and her 2 young kids gave us a ride back to our camper because the weather looked menacing. I'm wedged between the kids' car seats-Dick is lounging in the front seat holding his court shoes and his prescription sunglasses in a case. Wellll, yesterday morning, we're all packed up, ready to roll and Dick says he can't find his sunglasses. The truck and camper are searched-nada. He "woes is me" again. I suggest we drive to the arena wher...

August 1, Day 32. Piech here which, to any of you that know Bonz, knows that he did something stupid, but I'll get to that later. Yesterday we read the Milepost, the Bible of western Canada and Alaska, trying to figure out where to stay for the night. We like boondocking (stopping at pretty FREE places along the way like we did 2 nights ago) but we do like places with amenities (electric, water, etc.) every so often. We chose a nondescript but nice, very clean campground in Houston. This morning when we left,  we intended to drive to Prince George, BC. While driving into Fraser Lake we stopped at the Visitor Center as we frequently do. The 2 workers there, Ruth (about 90) and Steve,  showed us around, opening locks to the old post office and cabin. They told us to check out the wharf that juts out into Fraser Lake. As we drove the winding road down to the lake we parked our rig in a free GORGEOUS campground right on the lake. As we walked to the wharf I told Bonz I didn't want...