ATM Alaska

July 31 Day 31 Secure in the knowledge that our portable energy needs were being met, we camped along a beautiful mountain river last night by ourselves. We had spent around ten hours on the road from Whitehorse, driving the lovely Alaskan Highway toward Watson Lake, then turning south on the Cassiers Highway to Dease Lake. The Cassier keeps you on your toes with narrow, rough pavement, no shoulders, and plenty of sharp turns, but it is worth it. The road is lined with fir, spruce, and fireweed. The trees open up often to reveal lakes and streams and frequent views of the nearby mountains. Were tired by the time we got to our camping spot,, but enthused by the picturesque scene of the river and the enthralling rumble of the water, ten feet below our camper. Peach stood by the water's edge after washing our pan from dinner as I stood by watching out for bears.  She was taking it in and said she kept expecting Brad Pitt to show up fly fishing, like in the movie, "A River Runs Th...

Life is good. The lemonade is sweetest when made from the most challenging lemons. The solar generator can run the freezer all night without a recharge! We tested it for six hours yesterday as we visited Whitehorse. We walked the nice river path, visited the very informative visitor center, spent two hours at the McBride museum, went to the world's longest wooden fish ladder and had a flight of beer at Yukon Brewing Company. The generator still had 70% charge left!  The visitor center and museum visits were very good; videos and displays of the rich First Nations cultural heritage, in depth displays of the natural beauty, geology and wildlife of Yukon, fine displays of the gold rush days and the building of the Alaskan Highway, and historical figures from Whitehorse. The fish ladder was kind of cool; built by the hydroelectric power company as a pathway for migrating salmon to swim around the large dam built to power the turbines. The ladder is actually a sloped trough, long and wo...

July 29 Day 29 We've come full circle on this trip. We started out with refrigerator problems due to a bad fuse and our own poor battery management. Now we're dealing  with another battery-fridge challenge. The "fridge" this time isn't a fridge. It's a freezer. Yes, THAT freezer; the one filled with the frozen, fresh caught, and vacuum sealed fish from the Harding Lodge. Turns out the AC power outlets in the truck can't handle the max draw of the freezer. It works OK when the truck's engine is idling, and the transmission is in "park," but not when the transmission is in is in "drive."   Apparently, the 2020 F150's provide 400 watts of power to the inverter when it's in park or neutral, but only 300 watts while in drive. To make matters worse, this truck was originally sold in the Canadian markets. The max voltage for the outlets is their standard 110. The freezer is 115. We're pretty smart cookies, Peach and I, and we r...

July 27 Day 27 The problem with staying at fabulous places with wonderful people is, at some point you have to leave. This morning was that point; time to say goodbye to Evan and Kathy Harding and to the Harding Kenai River Lodge. It's time to start the long drive home to Wisconsin to get home in time for commitments we have. Before the trip, Peach and I had planned to stop leisurely along the way northbound to Kenai, and then also southbound on the way home. We did that and had a great time on the way up, seeing great sights and meeting fine people along the way. Banff, Jasper, Watson Lake, Dawson, Chicken, Fairbanks, Denali and Anchorage (with Raynae and Scott) were all excellent visits, each better than the previous, as we worked our way to Kenai.  After spending a wonderful week with everyone at the River Lodge, we know we're not going to top it, so we're not even going to try. Sure, we'll take a day off a few times as we drive the 4300 miles back, and we'll pic...

 July 24 day 24 My first job after college was as a metallurgical engineer and supervisor at Vollrath Foundry in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The job required a fair amount of flying, often to customers who had a complaint about a casting we sent. I had a lot of anxiety about flying, not only because I'd have a target on my back as I walked in the door of an upset customer, but also because I had some real fear of flying. Being aware of metal fatigue, stress corrosion, and catastrophic failure played on my mind every time we climbed above the clouds. Knowing I'd be flying a lot, I decided to face the fear head on. I got a pilot's license. Ground school was interesting and led up to the first flight with an instructor. I was terrified, especially when he intentionally put it into a stall to demonstrate recovery techniques. Slowly but surely, I learned how to fly. I flew single engine Cessnas and Tomahawks out of Sheboygan Falls for two years. Knowing how everything worked cured my ...

July 22 Day 22.  I've been afraid of fish since I was ten years old. I remember the moment my phobia began. I was sitting on the couch in the basement with my three year old brother, watching  "Leave it to Beaver" after school. We  normally had an aquarium full of guppies on a shelf behind us, above our heads. Mom was upstairs in the kitchen cleaning the aquarium, so she put the guppies in a mixing bowl full of water on the shelf where the aquarium had been. The guppies were all swimming around in the same direction and picked up enough momentum that three of them flew out, landed on my legs from behind, and onto the floor in front of me. It startled the crap out of me. There they were on the floor flipping and flopping all over the place. I yelled upstairs, "Mom! Mom! The fish flew out of the bowl and are flopping on the floor!" She yells down, "Pick them up quick and put them back in the water!" I tried, but just couldn't touch those one inch mon...

Day 21 July 21 It rained all night in Denali, but let up in time for Peach and I to take a nice three mile walk in the woods along and across three rushing rivers. Didn't see the mountain. In fact, Mount Denali (McKinley) is dozens of miles away from the public areas of Denali National Park, and when it's not obscured by clouds, it's blocked by other peaks in front of it that are much closer. Your best bet to see the mountain is to head 30 to 100 miles south and see it from a roadside pullout. That's what we planned to do on our way south to Anchorage. Fifteen minutes into our drive, we remembered that we forgot to take our picture at the Denali Park sign. We had done this in 2001 when we brought our kids here. Peach and I stood in front of the sign and the kids sat on top, with the mountains in the background. We brought the picture with and planned to re-enact it. So we turned around and went back the fifteen miles. Our plan was to  borrow a couple of kids who we hope...

 July 20 Day 20 This is the second time Peach and I have been to Denali. We brought the kids here in 2001 after flying into Anchorage and renting a 24 foot truck camper. We were here three days. We didn't see the mountain then, and we haven't seen it this time. I'm starting to think it's not really there; just a clever marketing ploy,  like Sasquatch and ghost tours, and the Kardasians. We took a fun 3 hour ATV ride on the edge of the park in the morning. Saw lots of great scenery, learned a lot about the glaciers and geology, but never saw the mountain.                            Peach driving the ATV Sat at our campfire last night for two hours in the rain at Riley Creek campground, burning wood that Peach "appropriated" from a neighboring campsitesite before they arrived, and I started it with newspaper I brought from home and plenty of lighter fluid. It was stupid to be out there with the rain and the mo...

 Rolf and Ruth Meyer-ter-Vehn, of Rumeln, Germany, were second parents to me, beginning when they served as my home base during my four month backpacking/train  trip throughout Europe in 1981. Rolf was one of the two most brilliant men I've ever met, and Ruth was full of wisdom, and had a heart of gold. Peach, who also had the great pleasure of knowing them later on, loved them as I did. We've been reminded of them on this journey. Ruth loved the Canadian Rockies at Banff above all others she had seen. They were different than the Alps; sharper and more barren. Rolf  told me years ago that they were amused by the Americans who visit Europe and "see" something like 12 countries in 10 days. "To visit France, a quick photo of the Eiffel Tower, a quick visit to Notre Dame, and a thirty minute visit to the Louvre, and off to the next country!" I've never forgotten that and have tried to experience the essence of places I visit, more than the normal scenic pho...

The "Top of the World Highway" is well named. Running between Dawson City, Yukon and Chicken, Alaska, the road runs along the ridgeline of the mountains for 108 miles. You're above the neighboring terrain, often with steep dropoffs, no guardrails, and soft shoulders. The views are magnificent for the passenger. The driver is mostly staring at the loose gravel, especially during the many steep downhills, sharp turns, and when there might be an oncoming vehicle. I was driving, Peach was often very much wishing she was! We came to the border two thirds of the way to Chicken, and were expecting to have to fill out paperwork or get inspected or something. As we pulled up and handed our passports to the agent standing by our window, the agent inside the building, who had seen our license plates and naturally assumed we were Packer fans, yelled out, "How about them Cowboys!" Peach and I gave him a sparky retort, and both agents laughed. At that point, I knew we were go...

July 16 Day 16: When you order a "Sour Toe Cocktail" at the Sourdough Saloon in Dawson City, you order something rather unusual. There's an old tradition here dating back to the  gold rush prospector days of putting a dead man's toe in someone's drink. If they drink it and touch their lips to the toe, they're accepted as one of the group. The gold prospectors are long gone, but the tourist prospectors remain, so the tradition continues. People actually will their severed toes to this place and they are stored in alcohol, and become mummified, very dark with a clearly visible toenail. As long as you drink the whiskey and touch your lips to the toe (biting and swallowing is strictly forbidden!) You are considered successful. The "Captain, who must witness this accomplishment, awards you with a Certificate of Merit that you take with you to cherish forever. Peach and I both earned our certificates.  The Campbell Highway from Watson Lake to Carnacks, followed...

  Day 14 Follow Up. Turns out you can never judge an RV park by its gravel. The Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake turned out to be a great place to stay for two days. The owner, Archie, is cantankerous on the outside, but has a heart of gold once you crack through the shell. He helped us set up a TV in our camper and strung it up with his cable so we could catch up on some news; something we've heard very little of. Turns out he's a retired deep sea robotics specialist who travels the world during the six months his RV Park is closed for the winter. He  developed some of the systems used to explore the Marianas Trench, and Titanic, and do recoveries of debris and  remains from accidents, including Space Shuttle Challenger and currently of the submersible at Titanic, of what he calls "that irresponsible piece of junk." He ended up having a Spottted Cow with us in our camper. We talked metallurgy, pressure, politics,  and world travel.  Everything we wanted to do in...

July 14, Day 14. “Peach" here! (Actually it's 7/13 but we're leaving early on 7/14, driving further into the Yukon, where it's pretty much guaranteed we won't have much coverage of any kind). So, last night at about 3am we heard an odd noise like someone hitting the side of the camper. We checked it out, couldn't find anything until this morning when I opened the fridge to find 2 cans of pop had frozen and exploded over almost everything inside-great way to start your morning. Another lesson-don't put the fridge on #5. #3 works just fine. Good thing our site has full hook-ups so using water was no problem! Then we went to discover the sites of "downtown " Watson Lake (about 2 blocks long). We knew most of what to find because we have been using parts of a log that my older sister, Maryann, kept from their 2018 trip up here. She and her husband, Hub, + 2 dogs, drove from Savannah, GA in 2018 with their F150 pulling a 35' trailer. We knew about ...

July 13 Day 13: Note to self: When planning a 550 mile drive from Charlie Lake, British Columbia to Watson Lake, Yukon along the Alaskan Highway, don't figure on averaging 55 miles an hour. Don't plan on ten hours. Plan on thirteen. (Sorry Peach) Better yet, don't drive 550 miles in a day at all up here. We were damn tired by the time we got to Watson Lake, but the beauty and variety of the drive, combined with the sharp curves, steep dropoffs, narrow bridges, stretches of gravel, and occasional wildlife on the road, made the drive not seem like 13 hours. (It seemed more like  27!) The road takes you through many miles of burnt trees and close to still burning forest, as evidenced by the heavy smoke in the air. Later on the road brings you back into the Rockies, not as stark or as high as at Jasper and without many glaciers, but beautiful in their own right. This area of the Rockies was formed under the sea, resulting in folded slopes that look like a stack of taffy bars le...

July 12 Day 12 When you head north from Jasper on Hwy 40, you come down from the mountains, literally and figurately. You leave behind the rugged snowy peaks and rapidly flowing rivers and fall into rolling green hills, alternating between heavy forest and open grassland. The road is bordered by purple fireweed and white Queen Anne's Lace. There are large fields of bright yellow canola, bigger and brighter than we saw in North Dakota. This is logging country, and logging trucks are common on the road. There are several huge piles of hewn logs along the way, waiting for  Weyerhauser to turn them into lumber for shipment around the world. Due to the open grassland and vibrant forest understory following logging or fires, this is also moose and caribou country. We drove 200 miles through this stuff yesterday and saw many signs warning us of moose and caribou on the road. We didn't see either. As expected, I mentioned that fact once or twice (or 300 times) until Peach was tired of ...

July 10 Day 10, Evening this time The fridge is out again, so we're drinking up our liquor before we run out of ice! I'm on brandy old fashioneds, Piech on fireball old fashioneds, sitting by the grill behind our camper. So, if I'm less succinct in this particular blog, blame it on the refrigerator. So, the other day on my drive to Maligne Lake at dawn, I came upon a pair of tennis shoes with socks, on the shore by a big rapids of the Malign River. Two possibilities: some dope took a swim near shore before it got surly, and forgot his shoes when he left, or some dope underestimated the current and went a foot too far from shore, and is now miles down river being fed upon by trout, or who knows what. I reported the shoes to the ranger station, complete with a picture of his white, double-wide, size 11 Filas with no ID or car keys in them (I checked.) They're taking it seriously and checking the local indigenous camp for reports of missing persons, and keeping an eye out ...