Author: Shauna Vugteveen

We are so happy we found McKay Crossing Campground about 30 minutes south of Bend, Oregon. Not only is the campground in a beautiful setting, but the location in the Deschutes National Forest is pretty cool. We enjoyed slowing down and checked out places we might not otherwise stop for. This week has been one of those places that has surprised us and we stayed for 7 wonderful days.

We were kind of lazy this week. It was fun having visitors the past few weeks and we saw some awesome stuff. We always enjoy exploring and seeing new things, but once we found our free campsite on the river, we settled in. We both enjoyed reading the many books we now have thanks to Kristen. I just finished my 18th book but who’s counting. Gus loves the campground too because there are trails everywhere and we enjoyed taking long walks everyday. Each side of the river has a trail as well as a horse trail that goes to Paulina Lake. We didn’t walk that one to the end but what we did walk was nice. We also had some chipmunks that wanted to be friends. They were obviously used to getting people food because they had no fear approaching us. They kept Gus on his toes.

The campground is a busy little place. Not really used by campers but the day use area is busy every day. Many people hike or mountain bike the many trails in the area. We hopped in the Jeep a day and followed a road that led out of the campground opposite of the entrance. We followed what turned out to be a snowmobile trail and somehow ended up inside a fenced “Do Not Enter-Geothermal Project” area. Oops. We made our way to the main road, or trail if you will. We meandered our way through the woods, saw a cool lava rock field, and eventually came up the back way to the Newberry Caldera. The Newberry Caldera encircles the basins of Paulina and East lakes and it is nearly 5 miles in diameter. This collapsed caldera is the result of more than 500,000 years of volcanic activity. We made our way to Paulina Peak where the views of Paulina Lake and East Lake and the Caldera were amazing!

Monday was our 19th Anniversary. When we went to bed Sunday night, we had turned on the furnace and it wasn’t getting warm…not a good thing. Craig checked the propane and it was on E. Once the sun goes down, it gets down to about 35 degrees. With no heat in the camper, it made for a long cold night. We piled blankets on and wore many layers to bed. We made sure Gus had an extra blanket but he kept spinning himself out of it. We both woke up at 5 am with cold noses and chilled to the bone. We put on stocking hats and grabbed our books and chuckled about how our anniversary day was beginning. We wouldn’t change it for anything. It all adds to our journey, teaches us to appreciate things (HEAT!) and continue to take things as they come. I love that after 19 years we’ve stayed on the same page, stayed focused on our dreams and are actually getting to experience them together. We don’t take this for granted and treasure every single day.

We did finally warm up in the trailer, get cleaned up, and headed to Sun River brewing which was the closest brewery to us. Turns out they won best brewery at the Great American Beer Festival last year so we were excited to give them a try. Our meal was excellent and their beer was awesome. We were really impressed and enjoyed all their fresh hop beers that are only available this time of year.

The rest of the week we hung around the campground, continued to read books and took Gus for walks. It was 80 last weekend and now it’s barely hitting the 60’s and the mornings are freezing!! One morning my phone said it was 25 and Craig’s pillow actually froze to the side of the camper wall. Fall is here! Thankfully we haven’t had much rain. We stopped driving the trails because it’s rifle season and the woods are filled with hunters.

We finally left our little haven next to the river and made our way west. It started to rain as we were driving and we made it to Eugene and decided to hang out there for the day. We found a free spot to spend the night behind a mall. Not classy at all but the trails and the parks from the parking lot we stayed in were so nice.

Eugene also has a great beer scene. We went to the Growler Guys, which had so many beers on tap it was hard to choose! They recommended we also go to Beer Stein so we went there too. We love the beer store-pub thing they have going on. The people were great and the beer was excellent. Craig had a Marzen beer from the firkin that came right from Germany. It was pretty tasty. Add the free samples the bartender kept placing in front of us and we didn’t want to leave.

Craig’s parents are coming to visit us for a week. We’ll meet them on Sunday. We are excited to see them and happy they are willing to make the trip out. They have never been to Oregon so we found a cute little house to rent a few blocks from the Oregon coast in Gleneden Beach.

We drove the rest of the way to Gleneden Beach Saturday morning. We scoped out the rental house. We were hoping the driveway would accommodate our rig and were bummed when it was way smaller than we thought. We passed a sign for a marina RV park and since we had good luck with marinas in the past I made a phone call. They could accommodate us for dry camping for a fee. In reality, $20 isn’t a lot but more than we like to pay, especially for no amenities. But they were super nice people and the space was more than enough to fit our rig comfortably. They even recommended another marina down the road for storing the trailer for the week when we are at our rental house. That turned out to be a great recommendation and we’ll get that taken care of tomorrow.

On the recommendation from the folks at Growler Guys, we drove up to Pacific City to Pelican Brewery. The beer was really good, the food was good but a bit pricey and the place was busy. But their location was fabulous. We finished dinner and took Gus for a walk on the beach just as the sun was setting. That’s when we saw all the vehicles on the beach. We love driving on the beach so we hopped in the Jeep and joined the crowd. We got some great pictures and watched a new bride and groom get some great pictures too.

We can’t wait to see Mom and Dad Vug and catch up with them. The weather looks like it will be pretty decent so hopefully we can see some more awesome sights and also relax and enjoy our time together.

Waiting for Mom and Dad Vug…

It was awesome to see Randy and Kristen rolling into the campground on Friday. We’ve known them for quite a while and always have a good time when we’re together. Craig and Randy worked together for many years at JR Automation, and although Kristen worked at the county too, she was in a different department and we didn’t meet her until she and Randy started dating.

These two were our inspiration to get on the road. In 2014, Randy agreed to work in New York on a machine installation for a year. He and Kristen packed everything up and lived in a RV for that year. After that they moved to Nevada and lived in their RV until buying a house two years ago. We went to visit them in New York and loved what they were doing. No house to maintain, new places to see and living simply. It took us a while, but we finally got there! We are enjoying the same freedom they felt when they took off all those years ago. We were so happy when they wanted to meet us anywhere for a visit.

We settled in at adjoining campsites and it felt like old times. Even their dogs Rhianna and Chloe got along well with Gus. It was easy and relaxing, our favorite kind of camping.

We made our way to Walking Man Brewing in Stevenson and Backwoods Brewing in Carson. At some point, Craig stated that the beer was very quaffable. We all kind of gave him a look and after looking it up, he indeed had used it correctly. We all busted out laughing when later we found a menu that used quaffable to describe a beer. To us it was really funny and made for a running joke all weekend.

Saturday was the Hood River Hops festival. Craig and I had found it four years ago when we were in the area and were happy to find that it was going on again. We tried many fresh hopped beers and had a great time even though it down poured for a short time.

Sunday we relaxed and enjoyed not going anywhere. Craig and Randy can talk for hours on end so Kristen and I settled into their trailer and watched a movie and drank some beer. The boys finally decided they could break from their chat to make us an excellent steak dinner. They brought so much great food and fed us well the entire time. They also gave us a 12 pack of Two Hearted which is one of our favorite beers from home. We can’t thank them enough!

We didn’t have a plan after Sunday so when we mentioned we were going to the Ape Cave a little bit north, they were in. We moved our camp to Eagle Cliff Campground and found a pretty sweet spot. It wasn’t busy, it was cheap, and we had a flush toilet right next to us. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Tuesday morning we got up early and got to the Ape Cave before it got busy. The Ape Cave is a lava tube located just south of Mt St. Helens. It’s the longest continuous lava tube in the continental United States at 2.5 miles. It felt weird walking into a big hole in the ground.

Once inside we were all in awe. It was amazing to think about lava running though making the tunnels. All the different formations, ridges and lava balls were cool. We had to climb up and over and jump to get through it. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get through it and was a pretty good workout.

After the cave, we drove up to Windy Ridge which was located on the northeast side of Mt St. Helens. Craig and I had been to the north side the previous week so it was neat to get a different view of it. As we drove up, we saw so many dead trees still standing 38 years after the eruption.

At the base of the mountain is Spirit Lake. It’s a beautiful pristine lake that took the brunt of the landslide when it erupted. The landslide buried the lakebed and raised the water level by about 200 feet and doubled the lake’s surface area. Logs and debris slid into the lake turning it into a bacteria-laden, ash filled lake with no signs of life. Logs are still visible floating in the lake today. Within 3 years, the lake unexpectedly began to recover and more aquatic life is in the lake today than before the eruption.

We all decided we were up to the task of climbing the 503 steps (Randy counted them) up to the lookout. Gus lead the way and made it almost easier than we all did. The views from the top, late in the day were breathtaking. From the lookout, you could see Mt St Helens and Spirit Lake, but also Mt Rainier, Mt Adams and Mt Hood. We were thankful for a nice clear day to enjoy the views.

Eventually the fun had to end. Randy and Kristen and their 2 dogs packed up Wednesday morning and headed for home. We are planning on spending Thanksgiving with them in Nevada so the goodbye was a little bit easier knowing that we’ll see them again soon.

We packed up and headed to Bend. We drove east and crossed the Columbia River by The Dalles. The landscape was different than we had pictured. Huge brown rock ledges with farmland scattered in and around it. We got a better view of Mt Hood and commented how different this view was from where we had been just a few hours earlier.

We made our way to McKay Crossing campground. We had found the campground on our trusty app and picked it because it said there was no fee and it’s right on a river. The 2 mile gravel road in was almost worse than anything we’ve been on this entire time. The chatter bumps were huge and going faster didn’t help at all. We finally made it there and picked a pull through. We were disappointed to find how dusty it was. Our feet were covered in dust almost instantly. We took a short walk to find a beautiful waterfall. That made us like it a little more but the thought of staying for the weekend didn’t sound good to us. Everything would be a mess.

In the morning I took Gus for his walk and came across a campsite right on the river that had been occupied the night before. It was now empty and I was so excited to tell Craig that we had to move. The site had crushed stone and wasn’t nearly as dusty as the first site we picked. Add the soft sound of the rushing river right next to it and we were sold. We got everything moved and are content to stay here through the weekend.

We took the Jeep into Bend on Thursday and went to Earth Cruiser. We had talked to Joe, their salesman, at the RV show in Portland and wanted to see more of what they have to offer. We are only 4 months into this adventure and we already know we need to change things up for the next one. Earth Cruiser seems to have almost everything we are looking for with their truck camper model. We aren’t even close to buying anything yet and will keep looking at all our options but it was fun to see their shop and watching their campers in the build stage. We appreciated the time Joe spent with us and all the information we got.

We went to a few breweries because, well it’s Bend. They are known for having awesome beer. We went to Deschutes Brewing first. We had been there four years ago but it was a busy Friday night and we didn’t really enjoy ourselves. This time we enjoyed the quiet bar and the fresh hopped beers. Randy and Kristen had gone to Worthy Brewing and recommended it so that was our next stop. They definitely had excellent beer. It was “worthy” of the stop.

We ended at Crux Fermentation Project on recommendation from Joe at Earth Cruiser. They are located in an industrial area but have an awesome view of the mountains and we happened to be there as the sun was setting. The beer was amazing and the atmosphere, although busy, was pretty cool. We could see ourselves hanging out there a lot if we lived here. They had a huge outdoor area with cornhole, picnic tables and lots of dogs everywhere. Gus was happy to be out of the Jeep and was excited by all the action going on around him.

The weather has been awesome. It’s chilly in the morning and warm during the day. It’s supposed to cool off this weekend. Hopefully we can get in some nice hikes with Gus, read a bunch of books and enjoy our nice spot free campsite.

Relaxing by the river…

We found a little gem in the super small town of Cathlamet (Cath-lam-et), Washington. The Elochoman Marina was a little farther west than we wanted to go but we are happy we found it. It’s a small little marina that also provides many options for campers. We chose a dry camping spot which wasn’t too bad for the price. We were happy to find a place right on the Columbia River and enjoyed some amazing sunsets. I was also able to do multiple loads of laundry and take showers in a nice big shower. They also had a huge book exchange offered in the office and we took advantage of that as well.

Our favorite thing was that River Mile 38 Brewing was within walking distance and although the website said they were closed, we saw the open sign blinking bright. I went to ask about the hours and if we could bring Gus to sit on the patio. The bartender said “bring the dogs, bring all the dogs. Inside, outside, we want to see them all.” How cool is that?

So we brought Gus into the bar and he did very well meeting other dogs and although he had a couple small accidents, we think the social time is really good for him. We were told they were open until 5 pm but when that time came and went and the bar was still packed full of locals, we stayed and enjoyed talking to many of them. They were curious how we ended up in their little town and we enjoyed learning about their community.

Monday we were bummed to learn that the local mechanic was too busy to take a look at the truck. After some phone calls, we drove 40 minutes east back to Longview and dropped the truck off at a diesel repair shop. They were the only ones in town that could look at the truck within the next day or two. We resigned ourselves to sleeping on the air mattress again and lived out of the trailer for the next two days. I don’t know how the Burnhams slept on that for a week but we appreciate that they never uttered a word of complaint. Rest assured, that thing is going away when we get home!

Tuesday was Craig’s 49th birthday! We drove to Astoria, Oregon which is a cool town that we discovered four years ago on our 15th Anniversary trip. We were happy that the sun was shining and enjoyed the short drive there. We went to Fort Stevens State Park and saw the Shipwreck of the Peter Iredale. There wasn’t much there to see but the beach was beautiful and it was interesting to think about how much was buried.

We headed to Buoy Brewing where Craig got a free beer thanks to a by the way mention that they were in the company of a birthday boy. Hey, unless you ask you never know.

We popped into Reach Break Brewery and the mention of a birthday got us nowhere. We did enjoy a nice conversation with a guy who lived in Washington, worked in Alaska and now lives in Reno. We ended up at Fort George Brewery, a favorite of ours, and made our way upstairs for beer and pizza. Again, just a quick mention that Craig was the birthday boy got him a beer on the house. We hadn’t been upstairs before and quickly realized it was busy, noisy and super hot. So after dinner, we ventured downstairs to the more pub like atmosphere and weirdly enough, Craig got himself another free birthday beer. It was a really fun day and I’m glad we could celebrate Craig somewhere that we really liked.

The truck was done Wednesday. Craig was correct and it was the front passenger wheel bearing. We had both sides done since we had never done them in the time we owned the truck. We got back to camp and put everything back together. It rained just briefly right when we got back but thankfully cleared up so we could finish repacking stuff and make ourselves a nice dinner and finish off some wine that the Burnhams left us.

We made our way to the Mt St. Helens Visitor Center and unloaded the Jeep there. We drove up to Johnston Ridge Observatory and were pretty amazed at the sight of Mt St Helens. We went into the Observatory and learned a lot about the May 1980 eruption of the mountain. We watched a short movie explaining the process of the volcanic eruption and saw actual footage of it. It was fascinating to read some of the stories of the people who were in the vicinity of the mountain when it erupted and how they survived. There was a lot of other great information about how they are tracking the seismic activity today.

We decided not to stay in the area. We didn’t find anywhere to camp that worked for us so we went back to the Gee Creek rest area on I5 where we had stayed before. After a few nice quiet days at the marina, we were okay with another night in a rest stop. It was definitely a very busy rest stop and louder than most.

We got up this morning excited to meet up with our friends Kristen and Randy. They made it to Bend, Oregon last night and were on their way this morning. We got to the campground about the same time and after a few hugs and happy tears, we enjoyed a beer together which we hadn’t done all together since 2015. They moved away a few years ago and although Randy gets back to Michigan for work, Kristen hasn’t been able to come back with him. We are looking forward to a great weekend with them!!

Hanging out with the Timmers…

This week we were really looking forward to having good friends come out for a visit. They wanted to see the ocean, whales and of course us! So I researched all the campgrounds on the Olympic Peninsula and came across a spot on iOverlander that listed a campground as “Nice couple’s home”. We read the reviews and felt instantly like this was our kind of place and we were right.

We made our way to “Nice Couple’s Home” which was between Forks and La Push. We were greeted by Ray and Joan and were happy that the $25 a night camping fee included a shower, a flush toilet and no additional charges for extra vehicles. We were the only ones staying there and with the rain they were forecasting for the week, we figured we’d have the place to ourselves.

Michelle and Kevin finally showed up around 8:30 pm and we were so excited to see them! Michelle had started at the Sheriff’s Office a few years back and her office was in the same hallway as mine. We realized how much we had in common and became fast friends. It was even better that our husbands got along well too. Although a few years younger than we are, they are excited about our adventure and hope to do the same thing only in a sailboat some day.

Our first day it rained nonstop. We had set up a big tarp over an EZ up tent and were happy with our tarp city. We decided to go for a drive and check out the area for a few hours. We drove to La Push but because of the rain and fog we could see nothing. Michelle braved the rain a few times when she thought she saw a sea otter. After that we had fun pointing out anything and everything just to get a rise out of her.

We made our way back to camp only to see that the water from the heavy rains was too much for the EZ up tent. We had to re-evaluate and ended up with a smaller area to hang out in, but we were dry and that was all that mattered. We taught them how to play SkipBo golf and I had to be sure they knew the Rotman and Van De Weg rules. Both my mom and dad’s sides of the family love cards and are very serious, especially when it comes to table talk. We weren’t going to have none of that.

The rain stopped for a bit and Kevin found a huge slug! After looking around a bit more he ended up with a bucket full so we decided to watch them race…slugs are pretty boring but Kevin’s time-lapse video was pretty cool (at this time he was unable to get me the video to share, stay tuned.) Thankfully our week got way more exciting than slug watching!

The week was relaxing and easy. We got up when we felt like it, Craig made us breakfast and we’d hop in the car, raining or not. Thankfully we had some dry spells between the down pours and were able to see some beautiful sights. We had times where the sun would come out and we’d stop to walk on the beach and the rain would start again. We saw many rainbows because of it.

We found roads less traveled that brought us up into the mountains and driving through clouds. If you don’t know, Forks, Washington was the setting for a book series that eventually were turned into movies. None of us are big Twighlight fans, but we did comment on how eerie the weather was and that werewolves and vampires must for sure be hiding out in the misty forests surrounding Forks.

We went to Ruby Beach which was full of huge driftwood pieces. The rocks along the shore were awesome. It was fun skipping stones and exploring. We heard there was a dead whale a little further down the beach. We made our way there to check it out. It was pretty fascinating to see.

We went back to La Push for dinner and watched the sunset and looked for sea otters. There was a break wall of huge rocks and drift wood that we carefully climbed and balanced on to get to the end. The sunset was beautiful but you could see and feel the rain coming in. We got back to the car just in time.

A drive up to Neah Bay brought us to the Cape Flattery trail and the northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States. We donned our rain jackets and hoped the rain would hold off which it did. The trail wound through beautiful big cedar trees and moss-covered rainforest. At the end of the trail, we found ourselves high on the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. So amazing and beautiful! On our drive back, Kevin spotted a golden eagle, “Not a cormorant Michelle!” Mr. Eagle was nice enough to pose for some photos.

Another day we hit Beach 2, Beach 3 and Beach 4. Each one was a little different and it was neat to see the different scenery. On Beach 2, we came across a dead sea lion. A ranger showed up to check it out telling us it had just washed up last night or that day. He said there was a dead sea otter down the beach too. Michelle was intent on seeing the dead things and found the otter and a dead bird.

Beach 3 is where Michelle and Kevin found live sea otters hanging out and had a great time watching them playing in the water. Craig found his talent of stacking stones and Gus and I enjoyed the sunshine.

Our time back at camp was always fun. We took Gus for walks, played cards, enjoyed cocktails and good food and starred in Kevin’s time-lapse videos. Ray, the owner of the campground, bought over a contraption and said it was a shotgun trap for moles and to be careful of it. The next day we heard it go off and he was happy to show Kevin the now dead pesky mole. More dead animals…

Our last day we made our way to Hurricane Ridge. The sights were supposed to be amazing and views of Mt. Olympus were supposedly breathtaking. Unfortunately, all we saw was misty fog. The weather did not clear at all so we saw nothing. But the drive was fun and we enjoyed a nice dinner in Port Angeles.

The Burnhams left Friday morning to head back to Port Angeles to go on a whale watching tour and then fly home Saturday. They reported that they saw 40-60 humpback whales and a pod of Orcas. So happy they were able to check that off their bucket list.

It was such a fun week with great friends. It was filled with so much laughter, fun stories, quite a bit of sarcasm and definitely memories that we will cherish forever. We are not ready to go home yet, but having a little bit of home come visit us was really great. Thank you Kevin and Michelle for coming out to visit.

It continued to rain off and on as we traveled south. Our plan was to hang out in Astoria, Oregon for the weekend. We woke up to a downpour just north of Astoria with the forecast not looking good for a few days. We decided to continue on to Portland to a RV show that was going on this weekend. It’s always fun to check out different types of rigs although most aren’t our style. We got to talk to the Four Wheel Camper dealer and see the new version of our Grandby. We also were impressed with Earth Cruiser and will take a side trip down to Bend in the next few weeks to see what they have to offer. It didn’t hurt that they were serving beer out of one of the rigs.

Camping in this area is very expensive. We ended up staying at a couple of rest areas overnight. It’s not great but considering it has just been raining, we aren’t missing much.

A new noise in the truck presented itself while we were driving to Portland and Craig thinks it’s a wheel bearing. We drove north out of Portland and found a little marina with an RV park and will settle here until we get the truck fixed. The sun is finally out, there is a dog friendly brewery within walking distance, and hopefully we find a good mechanic in the area. We aren’t sure how this week is going to go but thankfully we are meeting up with some more good friends in Hood River for the weekend and are looking forward to that.

Hanging out in Cathlamet, Washington…

We spent a few nights under a powerline in Whistler, BC before we headed back toward the states. Our campsites aren’t always beautiful but after a few long days of driving, it was nice to relax with no one around. Whistler was pretty busy going into the holiday weekend so we didn’t venture around too much. We went to a couple breweries and then hung out in the trailer.

We drove the rest of the Sea to Sky Highway Saturday morning and although so beautiful, it did a number on our brakes. A 15% grade descent was the worst we’ve ever driven. By the time we reached the border crossing, they were grinding pretty bad. The line at the border was a little long, but being a huge rig finally paid off. We zipped through the RV line with no wait and only a few questions. All of our border crossings went so smoothly, we wonder what people do or say to make them rip apart their vehicles.

I had contacted my friend Stacy who lives in Birch Bay, Washington. She was my roommate at the National Forensic Academy in 2009. We lived together for 10 weeks and got along so well. She was pregnant with her first daughter at the time.

In December of 2009, we were able to visit during a family trip to Florida and I got to meet her daughter who was born on my birthday. Her husband is in the Coast Guard so they move every couple of years to a different coastal town. I was happy to be able to touch base with her since I hadn’t seen her since the December visit. She now has two daughters and it was fun to hang out for the weekend.

We went down to the town festival and drank some beers, watched some really talented people do some pretty amazing chainsaw carvings and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day. We were welcomed at her friend’s house in the country and enjoyed food, laughs, and a make-shift ball game in the front yard with all of the kids. It was a lot of fun and once again we felt like we were at home. They even allowed Craig to do brakes on the truck and Jeep in their driveway the next day. We can’t thank Stacy and her friends enough for the hospitality.

While doing the brake job on the truck, Craig found that one of the calipers was hung up, but because it was Labor Day, we couldn’t get parts to fix it. This was so unfortunate because it would’ve been so much easier than what we ended up doing a few days later.

We stayed two nights but felt a little large parked on the side of her street, so we said our goodbyes and hope to be back to visit again in the future.

We made our way to the casino near by which turned out not to be too bad. It wasn’t very busy and they even had porta potties and a hand washing station available for the RVers. I’m sure they hope to lure tired travelers into the casino to spend some money. We did not fall into that trap and were content making our meals in the trailer and reading our books. Yay, us!

The truck needed an oil change and we had a truck tire that Craig had originally plugged while on the Dalton Highway that now needed to be replaced. We went into Bellingham and parked at the Costco after filling up on cheap fuel. It’s so nice being back in the land of reasonably priced fuel. We didn’t feel like dragging the trailer all around town so we unloaded the Jeep and ran our errands. Discount Tire did not have our tire in stock so that would have to wait. The oil change got done but by that time it was late afternoon so we headed back to the casino.

Wednesday we headed to Yakima, not only to avoid the Seattle traffic as much as possible but we also wanted to see the hop fields. Yakima is the “Hops Capital of the World” as it produces 75% of the nation’s hops and are used by brewers around the globe. We went to Yakima Craft Brewing, Wandering Hop, Bale Breaker Brewing, and Valley Brewing. Bale Breaker was our favorite. Not only did they have amazing beer, they had a beautiful building in the middle of the hop fields. It was cool to see.

After a fun day of brewery hopping, we settled in at the Fred Meyer parking lot where we weren’t 100% sure we were allowed to stay overnight.

In the morning we were intent on getting out of there before being asked to leave, when I noticed another one of the trailer tires was soft. Craig pulled it off while I went to get us coffee. He could not find a leak anywhere. He put it back on, pumped it up and off we went. The drive toward Bonney Lake, where the Discount Tire had a truck tire in stock, took us through Mt. Rainier National Park. It was a pretty drive, although a little smokey from the wildfires. We did get a peek at Mt. Rainier which was beautiful.

We stopped at a rest area and Craig checked the tire again and it was losing air pretty quickly. We got to Bonney Lake Discount Tire and they were great. They assured us our truck tire was covered since we had road hazard on it and we only had to pay for the mounting. They took a look at the trailer tire and found a crack in the wheel. This was a brand new spare that we had put on just outside of Prince George when we had two tires with ply separation. We are severely disgusted with Lions Head Tire and Wheel at this point and a strongly worded email will be sent out soon. With a new truck tire and trailer wheel we headed out again.

Our next plan was to find a Napa to buy a new caliper and do the work in their parking lot. The Napa we found had a tiny lot and was on a busy street and of course, there was a carnival in town so it was ridiculously busy. We finaggled our way through the busy streets lined with cops directing traffic and decided to pull into a Fred Meyer parking lot. We found a spot that wasn’t busy in the back with some shade. After weeks of rain and chilly days, it was in the 80’s, which is nice until you’re trying to work on a vehicle on pavement. We unloaded the Jeep, Craig removed the caliper from the truck, drove to the Napa, came back and did the work in their parking lot. We got a few looks from people but didn’t get kicked out so we give Fred Meyer five stars! At this point, we are sick of dealing with tires and brakes and traffic. We have had enough tire issues and hope to go a few days without any problems. I know…I just jinxed us.

After all that, we got on the highway and slowly made our way west. At this point the traffic was annoying and probably not even close to as bad as it gets, but we just hate it. We got past Olympia and were finally able to relax and enjoy the drive to the coast. I found another casino on iOverlander that offered free RV parking at Quinault Beach Resort and Casino near Ocean City. We were happy to find they had separate parking for RVers away from the casino. We found a quiet spot in the corner with views and sounds of the Pacific Ocean and watched the sunset. This casino was successful in luring us in this time with a $2.99 breakfast which was pretty good. They still failed to get us to put any of our money into a slot machine so we’ll call that a win for The Vugs again.

We have friends flying in this weekend and we will head up the coast where we found a place to camp outside of La Push. We are so excited to have our first visitors! Although the forecast is calling for rain almost the entire week next week, nothing can dampen our spirits for their visit. It will be great to see familiar faces and enjoy their company.

Waiting for the Burnhams…

Today marks 100 days we’ve been on the road. We drove away from our home in West Olive, Michigan, excited for what was ahead, nervous about how it would go, and ready to change-up a perfectly great life we had in search of adventure and simplicity.

Living on the road has been wonderful. Our wonderful might be a little different from anyone else’s wonderful. Baby wipe baths, dirt…just everywhere, smelly dog, no cell service, cold nights and mornings, lots of rain, vehicle & tire issues, and long drives aren’t for everyone. But the scenery, the wildlife and enjoying our days together is better than we ever imagined.

The first few weeks felt like we were on vacation. Driving to cool places and setting up camp, sitting by the campfire, and reading was a wonderful change to our busy and stressful days we had before. We’d sleep in until Gus made us get up. We went to breweries and ate out. It was great until we realized we couldn’t sustain that unless we wanted to go home sooner than later.

Now we try to get up before Gus (who is doing much better at sleeping in these days), take him for a nice long walk, snack through lunch and make dinner at camp. We still enjoy stopping in at the local brewery or pub to chat with the locals and learn about things to do. We just try to keep the bill a little smaller.

We have settled into a routine as far as setting up and breaking down camp. We make plans knowing they can change depending on the day.

We’ve learned that we don’t like to pay for camping. We found a few free ones here and there when we started out, but paid for more than we would’ve liked in the first month. We then discovered the iOverlander app (thank you Sporadic Sojourners) and now make it a goal to find places to boondock instead of paying at a campground for amenities we don’t need.

We’ve dealt with vehicle and tire issues that have been frustrating but minor. The weather hasn’t always cooperated with what we had planned, but that’s all part of the adventure. Even when we had a few issues to deal with at home early in the trip, we never once thought about packing it up and going home.

We knew we would meet people on this journey. What we didn’t expect was to connect with some of them so quickly. Bicyclists, motorcyclists, car campers, roof top tenters, other truck campers, RVer’s, gold miners, bartenders, and locals…we met all kinds of people from all over and enjoyed each of their stories. We felt comfortable with them because we were all seeking adventure, living on the road and actually out here doing it. We definitely have some new life long friends.

We continue to talk about the future. We aren’t even halfway into this adventure, but we are so excited about what’s next. Going to the places we’ve been, seeing the sights we’ve seen, and meeting the people we’ve met, just makes us want to keep going.

We’ll keep learning things as we go and adapt and change to suit our needs. Here’s a few things we’ve experienced and learned so far 100 days in:

⦁We’ve traveled 11,215 miles in the 2002 Ford F250 Super Duty which now has 303,182 miles on it
⦁ We’ve traveled approx 4,500 miles in the 2006 Jeep Wrangler
⦁ We found 64 free nights of camping
⦁ We paid for 35 nights of camping ($36 most expensive, $5 least expensive)
⦁ We drove to the Northernmost point you can drive to
⦁ We drove to the Westernmost point you can drive to
⦁ We camped next the Arctic Ocean on Summer Solstice
⦁ We crossed the Arctic Circle multiple times
⦁ Tundra landscape is awesome and everyone should get to see it
⦁ Alaska kicks Montana’s butt for glacier experiences
⦁ We saw the Yukon River many times and it is huge
⦁ Arctic mosquitoes are big and annoying although slow
⦁ We woke up to snow in June in Alberta
⦁ Driving 8 hours is easy now, feels like a short day
⦁ We don’t hesitate to drive 450 miles on a gravel road one way
⦁ Carrying multiple spare tires was not overkill
⦁ A 15% grade is a serious descent with 10,000lbs pushing you
⦁ Overnighting in parking lots and rest areas isn’t as bad as it sounds
⦁ Fuel in Canada is ridiculously expensive…so is the beer
⦁ The camper step can handle a tumble down the Dalton Highway-that’s on the checklist now too
⦁ Keys always seem to go missing
⦁ We’ve never had to pick up so much dog poop in our lives-who owns who?
⦁ It’s easy to finish a book in a day when you don’t have to punch a time clock
⦁ Laundromats are expensive & annoying-I do miss my washer & dryer
⦁ We didn’t need near as many clothes as we brought
⦁ Percolator coffee is growing on us
⦁ You don’t need a shower everyday-baby wipes aren’t just for babies anymore
⦁ Hats are a staple in our wardrobe
⦁ There is more road construction in Alaska than in Michigan
⦁ Potholes and frost heaves are no joke
⦁ Alaska August feels like Michigan October but with more rain
⦁ Our 15-year-old dog is a great hiker
⦁ We are still in awe of mountains & want spend more time exploring them
⦁ Caribou are hard to find
⦁ We aren’t the only crazy couple out here that quit jobs to pursue our dream of traveling

There are many more experiences and things we have learned but you get the picture. We are definitely still having fun and are finally getting used to the fact that this is really our lives and we get to do this every day for a while. We spent 60 days in Alaska and didn’t see enough of Canada. We do know, only 100 days in, that we have just scratched the surface of what this continent has to offer and we want to see more.

We left Alaska on Saturday and traveled on the Alaska Highway to the Cassiar Highway. We had been watching the fires and mud slides and were hoping not to get detoured. We did see and smell the smoke, but it did not cause any travel problems. We took a side trip to Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska and drove up to Salmon Glacier and past the summit. We checked out some cool trails that got us better views of the glacier. We really enjoyed this area and were glad we took the time to go.

Salmon Glacier

We made our way through British Columbia heading south. We had to deal with a U-joint issue and more trailer tire issues and finally made it to the Sea to Sky Highway Thursday morning. We had to wait a few minutes as they were just opening the road after a mud slide.

The Sea to Sky Highway was gorgeous!! It was very curvy and mountainous and had some serious climbs and descents but the views were well worth it.

We stayed just outside of Whistler and enjoyed a day to just relax. We had put in a few long days of driving and needed to just sit.We will cross the border back to the U.S tomorrow and head to Birch Bay, WA to visit a friend I haven’t seen in a very long time.

We’ll definitely keep up with our stories as we head to the Pacific Northwest. We’re excited for friends and family to visit us within the next few weeks and months.

Off to the lower 48…

After dealing with the whole truck issue Saturday, we took it easy on Sunday. We didn’t get going as early as we should’ve and we didn’t plan as well as we needed to, so we ended up driving up to Chitina, only to turn around and come back to the trailer because we couldn’t find inexpensive dog friendly lodging. Which was fine, except we should’ve taken advantage of the few hours of no rain. But we were just not into it. Had we driven all the way to McCarthy, we would’ve had to cut it short and not have enjoyed it as much.

Monday we got up earlier and were on our way again. The road to Chitina was fine. All paved and lined with trees and some lakes. The road after that is reminiscent of the Dempster and the Dalton, especially since it’s been raining so much. The sections that are chip sealed have some pretty significant pot holes and the gravel sections will chatter your teeth out. There was a short section that had just been graded due to a washout caused by some pesky beavers and was pretty smooth. It was a nice break from dodging potholes and frost heaves.

The McCarthy Road was built along the old Copper River and Northwestern railway bed and is one of the two roads that go into the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. It was a beautiful drive even though the mountain tops were under cloud cover. The Copper River is big and wide. Many fisherman could be seen lining the shores. There was an area where we saw camping trailers sunk into the bed of the river. The river is basically slowly eating them up. We found out later that the river changed direction before people could get their stuff out of there. So there they sit.

The drive to McCarthy took us about 2 1/2 hours. We parked at the little visitor center and hiked in the rest of the way. Unless you live in McCarthy or Kennicott, you cannot drive there. We trudged down the muddy, gravel road, laughing at Gus as he pranced through the mud. I think he actually enjoyed it. We crossed the bridge and walked another .6 miles into town. We grabbed a quick lunch at The Potato, which has really great food. We caught the shuttle to Kennicott and weren’t really shocked when it was raining even harder when we got out.

McCarthy and Kennicott both originated with the establishment of the Kennecott Mines Company in 1906. Kennicott housed the mine offices, homes, a hospital and a school. McCarthy provided miners with more housing, saloons, stores and other amenities. A number of the pioneer structures have been restored in both towns.

We originally made the drive because we wanted to hike to Root Glacier but I admit, my attitude about the hike was not all that great. We had left our rain coats in the camper that was now sitting in Glennallen, so we were not prepared for an afternoon hike in the rain and I definitely had my grumpy pants on.

It isn’t always sunshine and rainbows on the road. I know we share beautiful pictures, talk about fun adventures and about we how deal with problems and it all turned out. I’m careful not to say we handle them gracefully every time. Like anyone else, we get down about stuff and are frustrated when the weather isn’t nice for days on end or we have problems with our stuff. It is nice that usually it’s not both of us having a bad day or seeing the situation in a negative light. Craig was very optimistic and encouraging and pointed out that we didn’t come all this way to miss out on walking on a glacier. A very good point and something I needed to hear.

So we headed to the end of town to the trail. It was a pretty easy hike and Gus was sniffing around and enjoying himself. The rain let up a little bit which was nice. We weren’t exactly sure how far it was. We thought it was 3 miles round trip but then the ranger said it was 2 miles to just get to white ice. We got there pretty quickly though and enjoyed climbing up an actual glacier! It was pretty awesome! We had to lick it, of course, but made sure to choose a clean spot. Gus actually ate glacial ice and he didn’t even seem bothered by the cold ice on his paws.

The rain picked up again and this time didn’t stop. We made our way back to town, popped into some of the old buildings to check things out and just barely made the 5 pm shuttle. Gus was so tired he curled right up on the floorboard and slept all the way back to the pedestrian bridge where we were dropped off.

We walked the short distance to the Jeep and got started on our long drive on the awful, muddy, bumpy road back to Chitina. We had stopped in Kenny Lake and reserved a room at the hotel there that morning, so we knew we had a place to stay for the night. The truck was going to be done Tuesday sometime, so we didn’t really want to drive all the way back to the trailer and then back up the Richardson Highway again in the morning.

We stopped in Chitina and were starving. Uncle Tom’s Tavern looked like a good place to chat with locals. Only Uncle Tom was in there and he only had frozen pizzas but a nice hot pizza and cold IPA were exactly what we needed as we warmed up from our cold day. Turns out he is originally from Wisconsin and his wife is from Michigan. They’ve been in Alaska for 40 some odd years. He owns the Tavern, the hostel, a rental cabin, a boat, a couple of planes and a mine. He even showed us some pretty good size gold nuggets. It was a good stop.

We got back to the hotel just in time to check in. The hotel wasn’t what we are normally used to. There were 4 rooms upstairs with 2 shared bathrooms. The shower was in the laundromat downstairs, which had closed right before we got there. So my hopes of a nice hot shower before bed were crushed. We were able to get them in the morning and do a load of laundry. We’d been three nights without our camper and I missed it. I hadn’t slept well at all and couldn’t wait to get it back.

We picked up the truck in Glennallen in the afternoon and went back down the Richardson Highway to our trailer. We had a few housekeeping things to take care of so we stayed once again at our mile 47.8 rest area.

We started toward Tok and stopped in at the ranger station on Nebesna Road. Nebesna Road is the other road that goes into to the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park. We had heard that the road can be washed out and impassable at times, but we decided to tackle it. We drove about 20 miles in with the trailer and set up camp at Rock Lake Wayside.

In the morning we packed up the Jeep and our packs and were ready to hike a trail at the end if we made it that far. We made 6 creek crossings with no problems. We walked the short distance to the trail that went to Rambler Mine. It was a short, but steep hike. Once at the top we could look in some of the old buildings and just get a peek in the mine tunnel. The views at the top were pretty amazing.

We went back to the Jeep and there were 2 couples chatting in the parking area. We joined the conversation and learned that they were from Louisiana and Wisconsin. They asked if we had hiked to the Nebesna Gold Mine and we said we had not. The Nebesna Gold Mine operated from 1923 to the late 1940’s. It is on the National Register of Historic Sites and is privately owned. Both couples had hiked to it and looked around with no problems. So we took off back up the trail and made our way to the old mine. It was pretty cool to see. There were several buildings surrounding the main building, most of them were pretty trashed inside.

When we got back from our second hike, the two couples were talking with another guy from Anchorage. It was getting chillier and hadn’t started raining yet but felt like it was coming. We said our goodbyes and parted ways. We stopped at the bar at Mile 28 and everyone else thought the same thing. We hung out for hours and got to meet another couple from New York during the course of the night too. We had quite the group take over the bar at Sportsmen’s Paradise Lodge.

We learned that Sportsmen’s Paradise Lodge had recently been purchased by a nice young family. Their nine-year old daughter was an excellent tour guide and showed us around the property, answered any questions we had, and provided us with tasty moose sausage and smoked King Salmon and my favorite, warm rhubarb crisp with ice cream. The hospitality there was awesome even though they were in the midst of getting settled and cleaning up the place to make it their own.

Throughout the night, there were many conversations, lots of smiles and laughter and maybe a few too many beers consumed. But as we are nearing the end of our Alaskan adventure, we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. We will definitely be back to this great little place and beautiful area that has so much to offer.

Back to Tok…

Saturday August 18, 2018

When we began planning this trip, we knew we needed to be prepared for a few vehicle issues. We’ve traveled enough to know that they happen, whether self-induced, or mechanical failures, either way we wanted to be as prepared as we could to take care of whatever happened.

We prepared by having three spare tires for the truck, and two spare tires for the trailer. Craig packed extra belts, tools, an air tank, multiple tools and extra fuel.

We were prepared when we had to change out two truck tires and a trailer tire. Craig was prepared to charge the batteries when the alternator wasn’t keeping up with the job at hand and put the new alternator in. And then a few days after that, he was able to change out the serpentine belt. He was also able to change out a fan clutch on the Jeep early on in the trip.

Those are all normal things you think of when you think of the problems you could have while traveling thousands of miles across the country. At this point, day 86, we have put approximately 9,000 miles on the truck and approximately 3,000 miles on the Jeep. We haven’t run into anything we haven’t been able to handle.

We were happy to finally have a sunny day and head to Chitina, where we were going to park the trailer and drive the Jeep the rest of the way to McCarthy. We had been told that it’s a beautiful drive and we were looking forward to it.

We pulled out of our mile 47.8 rest area and began north on the Richardson Hwy. We made it just past the mile 48 sign and we heard a bad noise. Assuming it was yet another flat tire, Craig quickly pulled over. I strained to see my side of the truck and although I didn’t see a flat tire, I saw a very wobbly tire. I told Craig the tire looks weird and he asked what that meant. I just said it was wobbling. He walked around the truck to the back passenger side and quickly realized what happened and that we had a huge problem on our hands.

Seven of the eight lug studs were completely sheared off. We are very thankful the last one didn’t give out which would’ve caused some major damage. As it was, we couldn’t make it to a pull off and were barely off the road. Craig attempted to take off the hub so he could take it in to a shop to get new studs pressed in, but didn’t have the tools to do it.

We questioned how this could’ve happened. We had gone to a place in Fairbanks to replace our destroyed tire from the Dempster. At that time, they pointed out that we had the wrong valve stems on our wheels. We had bought new tires before we left on this trip and the place that mounted our tires didn’t think to change out the valve stems to the higher rated PSI of the tire. We can only assume the place in Fairbanks failed to correctly torque the lug nuts and they worked themselves loose over the last thousand miles.

To make matters worse, this area has no cell service. We were unable to call anyone, or figure out if we should head back south to Valdez 48 miles, or north to Glennallen 68 miles.

We unloaded the Jeep and decided to attempt to use it to back the trailer up to the rest stop/campsite we had just left. We don’t recommend this, but it worked. The Jeep suspension was bottomed out and the hitch was skimming the pavement. It wasn’t far in reality, but it felt like a thousand miles. The Richardson Highway is a busy highway traveled by RVers, fisherman, and really big oil tankers. Craig did an awesome job at this really difficult task as the Jeep was taxed to the max with the big trailer and he couldn’t see anything at all. I walked beside him, trying to direct him, and flagged to the passing motorists to slow down.

We finally got the trailer tucked into a space that was out of the way at the rest area and we felt comfortable leaving it for a few days if we had too. We drove the Jeep thirty miles north to the Tonsina River Lodge where we finally had cell service. The nice Russian man there recommended a place in Glennallen. It was a towing company and mechanic shop. We were able to get a hold of the owner and it took him an hour and a half to come down with a big flat-bed to pick up our truck.

He wasn’t sure if he had parts in stock and thought it would be Monday or Tuesday morning before he could get it fixed. We grabbed what personal effects we thought we needed and went back to the trailer for the night. We had bought an air mattress for any brave visitors that would come out someday and ended up using it ourselves first.

We plan to still go to McCarthy and enjoy the day tomorrow. We’ll probably stay there and then drive into Glennallen once the truck is done. We will then have to drive back down to mile 47.8 and pick up the trailer.

The day was frustrating, sometimes scary, and unnerving. It’s not fun to have all your belongings sitting alongside a busy road. We are happy it all turned out and that we were able to work through it once again. We’ve now added more things to our checklist before departing each day.

That being said, I’m enjoying a nice glass of wine and Craig is sipping on a vodka drink. Our nerves are a little shot and we are happy to at least be in the comfort of our trailer instead of driving around looking for a place to stay tonight.

We’ve traveled a lot before this trip and have had vehicle problems in the past. People have commented that we shouldn’t travel because we always end up having problems. We think just the opposite. If you don’t travel, you will never have problems, you will never know how to handle them and you will never see anything new.

So cheers to a day of well handled problems!

We left Homer Saturday afternoon just as it started to rain. And it didn’t stop for 40 days. We joke, but it feels like that at times. We decided to stop at the Fred Meyer in Soldotna again for free camping because we weren’t going to be able to see anything anyway.

It continued to rain all day Sunday. We were told that Hope was a cool little town but unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans. The remnants of former Typhoon Shanshan swept through the area causing strong winds and rain. Gusts of 50 mph or greater were considered “likely” in the areas expected to see the strongest winds, Turnagain Arm and along the Copper River, right where we were headed. We drove into the small little town of Hope and it was indeed windy, rainy, cold and pretty much looked miserable. We didn’t even get out of the truck. We’ll come back again someday when Mother Nature isn’t on a rampage.

We pointed the truck toward Girdwood, which had a brewery. We used the rain as an excuse but we would’ve stopped there anyway. As we got closer, the truck started doing it’s crazy electrical things and we knew we were going to lose the battery soon. We got to the brewery and searched out the closest campsite. When we tried to start the truck to leave, it was a no go. Dead battery. Craig pulled out the generator and got enough charge on the battery to get us the few miles down the road to Crow Creek Mine where we were going to camp out. Once there, he hooked up the generator again to the batteries to ensure we could make it to Anchorage the next day and have the alternator looked at. We hadn’t planned on staying in Girdwood but because of our truck issues we discovered another cool place.

We toured around the area and ended up driving up to Crow Pass which was pretty. There is a long hike from there 19 miles to the Nature Center. We put that on our list of things to do when we return.

We made it to Anchorage and decided to camp out in the Cabela’s parking lot. Through my Facebook group pages, I found out that they are fine with campers staying for 24 hours. We felt safe here and it worked out well.

We found an alternator specialist shop and were highly impressed with the service and knowledge of the young man helping us. Craig opted to have them rebuild us a new alternator with higher amperage. They had it done by the end of the day and it cost half the price of the ones he was finding on the internet.

We had lunch at Midnight Sun Brewing, because it was still raining of course. The nice waitress agreed to print out paperwork we found out we needed to make a claim on our bad trailer tire. So it was a good stop. We stopped at Resolution Brewery and weren’t all that impressed. Glacier Brewing and 49th State Brewing were downtown and so packed we couldn’t even squeeze ourselves into a spot at the bar so we left. Which is just as well, we drove along the water, looked at the houses, and drove around the airport. We ended up at King Street Brewing which is now one of our favorites. Their building was brand new and the beer was excellent!!

Tuesday morning we got up and took advantage of the fact that it wasn’t raining at the moment and drove out to Kincaid Park which is a 1,516.78-acre municipal park. There were multiple soccer fields, a disc golf course, and nice paths for biking and walking. We took a short walk but didn’t get down to the water. Gus was happily sniffing around and was intent on going into the woods at one point. And that’s when Craig looked up and saw two moose enjoying a morning snack. We now listen to Gus.

We packed up the rig and headed to Costco to restock. I love Costco and I hate Costco. It was busy of course and we were trying to get in and get out. We also had to contemplate if we needed mass quantities of things. Even though it’s a good deal, we just don’t have space for some of it. We found most of what we needed, and some stuff that we probably didn’t and got out of there after spending a small fortune. But we feel good about having things back in the cupboard, knowing we didn’t overpay like we’ve done a few times at the small town stores.

We headed out of Anchorage, not sure exactly where we wanted to go. There was discussion about finding a campground that offered laundry, or do we try to find a free campsite and laundromat later. The laundromats in the Palmer area weren’t getting many stars, so we decided to pop back into Matanuska Brewing in Palmer to fill growlers (remember these are only $7 fills!) and utilize the wi-fi to make a game plan. While there, we met some really nice people, one being the owner of the brewery, and had a really nice time chatting about the area and getting some more info about things we should do.

At this point, we decided to go with what we know, so we headed back to the boondocking spot on the Knik River we had stayed at a few weeks back. Being it was a week night, it wasn’t near as busy and we had a nice quiet night. The rain even stopped long enough for us to have a fire.

The next day, we were able to catch up one last time with our friend, Steve. Steve and Barb are the couple we met on the Dempster Highway over flat tires and we have become fast friends. Barb is visiting family in Colorado and we were bummed to miss seeing her one last time. We met Steve at the Eagle River Alehouse and had a great lunch, talked about the area and what our future plans might be, and really enjoyed his company. We will definitely keep in touch with them and hope to go back country backpacking with them one day.

We took the rest of the day to get some housekeeping things done. We popped into a dog groomer and after my firm warnings about our old ornery dog who hated his paws being touched and growled whenever we got his nails clipped, he didn’t say a peep. He was the best behaved dog ever and he earned his doggy treats for sure. We stopped and did laundry and tidied up the camper and trailer and were on our way headed to Valdez.

Steve had warned us that Valdez was much like Whittier, in that if the weather is crappy, it’s really crappy in a coastal town. We were hoping the weather would clear up but he also said “It’s August. It rains all the time.” We didn’t know this!!

In any case, the sky cleared and we had a nice sunny drive on the Glenn Highway for most of the way. As we got closer to the junction to head south, it started raining again and my hopes for awesome photos of the mountains were not going to happen. We found a rest area/camp site at mile 47.8 on the Richardson Highway in the Milepost so we drove until we got there. It was a little busy but we found a spot and it worked for a quick over nighter.

In the morning we continued toward Valdez, disappointed because it was still overcast and we were most certainly missing some awesome sights. We did get to see the Worthington Glacier. We decided we needed to give Valdez it’s due and wait out the weather. We found a spot at Blueberry State Recreation area shortly after noon knowing we could stay parked there until 6 pm the next day.

We decided to take the Jeep into town and see what it was all about and go back the next day when the weather was supposed to clear up. We drove through town, up and down almost all the roads, went into the Visitor Center, and drove around the marina, but it was just dreary. I didn’t feel like taking pictures even because it just wasn’t nice. We drove down Dayville Road which is just a little north of town. We had read that this is a good road to see bears, sea lions and eagles. We didn’t see any bears or eagles, but we saw some sea lions. We drove by Solomon Gulch fish hatchery on this road and were amazed at all the salmon trying to go upstream.

Because it continued to rain, we went to the Fat Mermaid and sat at the bar. Happy hour on a Thursday afternoon did us well again because we met two guys from Seattle who were there to fish with their brother. We have friends visiting us in Seattle early September and we got a ton of great information on hikes, lakes and floating cabins to stay in. Then a local who was sitting next to us at the bar, started talking with us and he told us to drive Mineral Creek Road. He had lived in Valdez since he was 8 so it was fun to talk to him and getting his perspective on living in a small coastal Alaskan town.

We headed back to our campsite and we were totally fogged in. You couldn’t see anything around us at all. We hunkered down in the trailer with the heat on then moved to the camper with the heat on. We realize we’ve used the heater in the trailer and camper more now in August than we have on the entire trip so far. Alaska summer is pretty much over, it feels like our late fall.

Friday we got up early and we were happy to see that it was somewhat clear and we could see our beautiful surroundings at our campsite. We were hopeful for a good day and went back to Dayville Road. It was worth it because we got to see a black bear enjoying his breakfast. He even parked himself in front of a pretty waterfall.

We went back to the fish hatchery and it looked completely different from the day before. The tide was out, there were thousands of sea gulls chowing on the thousands upon thousands of salmon. We did the walking tour and learned a little bit about how it all works.

After that we drove to Mineral Creek Road. We had to drive through a subdivision to get to it but then it got rockier and it felt like driving through a rain forest. We followed a river for a while and were amazed at all the waterfalls visible high on the mountains. We drove as far back as we could until we hit a rock slide that took out the road. We hiked the rest of the way to see the remains of an old Stamp Mill. We saw tons of bear scat so Gus and I stayed close to Craig who carries our one can of bear spray.

This drive again reiterates why we go to the local watering holes and talk to the locals. Yes, we really enjoy a good craft beer. But when you sit at the bar, the people who live there like to talk about their town. Whether they spin it good or bad, they still live there and when it’s a small town like Valdez, they know the cool places to see.

We headed back to our site, packed up camp and drove back to the rest stop/camp site at mile 47.8. We needed to charge up our camper batteries and we had an annoying squeak under the hood. We were hoping it wasn’t a problem with the new alternator. Thankfully it wasn’t. Craig was able to determine it was just the belt. He put the spare on and all is well.

Even though this week was full of rain, we enjoyed the places we went because of it. You never know how decisions change your path, but we try to make the most of it and think it turned out okay.

Off to McCarthy…

We drove from Seward toward Kenai. We were hoping to camp on the water outside of Kenai at a boondocking spot, but when we got there we realized we could not get our big trailer in. There was a large bump at the entrance, probably to keep larger rigs out of there. We contemplated just continuing down to Homer and taking our chances finding something on the way but it was Saturday and we thought we’d have a tough time finding a spot.

We did spot this guy as we were driving around trying to figure out what we wanted to do and where we wanted to stay so that was cool.

We decided to park in the Fred Meyer parking lot in Soldotna. They allow free overnight parking for up to three days. Not our favorite thing to do, but at least we could park on the edge with trees on one side. And wouldn’t ya’ know it, there was a little trail through the woods that came out by a brewery. It was meant to be!

We went to Kenai to a used book store I had found and traded in some of the books we have read so far. I think we are both on #12. We got a pile of new books and decided to check out Kassik’s brewing since we were so close. The brewery was kind of out in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t busy when we got there but there were a couple local guys having a few and it was fun to hear about growing up in that area and how the winters can drive you crazy when it’s dark all the time. We were invited to go watch a UFC fight and have some beers with them but thought we should probably not do that after the “we go crazy up here sometimes” talk.

Soldotna was a nice place to stop. We took Gus for a walk along the Kenai River and went to St. Elias brewing which was the brewery right by our campsite. It had good beer and cheap pizza.

As we were leaving Monday morning, a guy was walking around his motor home that was parked in front of us, kind of looking around and I thought it was weird. I put something in the truck and he asked if I wanted some pink salmon. He didn’t look like a crazy person so I said sure, if he was looking to get rid of some. As I walked over to his motor home, his wife walked up and was happy to hear that we hadn’t had much salmon and we’d love some. They were from Aspen, Colorado and headed for Valdez to fish more and didn’t have anymore room in their cooler. I walked back to the trailer with a bag of 6 huge salmon fillets and a big smile. Craig shook his head with a grin and said he didn’t even want to know. That made me smile even more.

I had contacted our new friend, Sheri, who we had met at Silver Gulch Brewing in Fox a while back. She is working in Fairbanks but lives in Homer. She let us boondock in her driveway and gave us all sorts of information on Homer and the things to do.

We got to her place and were in awe of her view. She has an awesome view of Kachemak Bay, the mountains and glaciers. If anyone watches Alaska: The Last Frontier, she’s just a few miles from the Kilcher Homestead and we drove past their road multiple times. We actually went to the beach and drove where they run their cattle to the head of the bay.

We spent our time in Homer touring the town, walking down on the spit, drinking a few beers. We went to the famous Salty Dawg Saloon and left our dollar bill.

We walked along the beach and Craig collected his stones while Gus discovered he doesn’t like salt water. A cruise ship was docked at the end of the spit so it was really busy when we were there. But it was a gorgeous day and we were able to take it all in. It’s a cool little town.

We drove 15 miles up to Anchor Point a day and went to North America’s Most Westerly Highway Point. We have a little research to do as we were told at the Manley Roadhouse, that since the Tofty Road to the Yukon River was completed out of Manley Springs, that now goes just a bit farther west than the point in Anchor Point, but we have not verified that yet. We took the picture anyway and now have been to both spots.

Craig had read that you can drive on the beach all the way to Homer. We grabbed a quick lunch and asked the bartender. She said we could as long as we knew the tide schedule. After checking that out, we went down to the beach and drove for a while. It was beautiful and weird because we can’t do that at home. Craig wanted to go all the way to Homer but we didn’t plan ahead and needed gas.

We took back roads back to Homer. We found a road that took us up to the houses on the ridge and got awesome views of the Spit up there.

We spent another day relaxing. Sheri’s views are so beautiful and ever-changing. One minute the sun is out and the view is clear, next you can’t even see the mountains and it’s cold! We were both enjoying our books and a new word game on our phones, so we just hung out in her driveway all day. Watching the sunset was gorgeous and we even had a rainbow appear one day. We would never get sick of looking at this view.

Today we found a short hike. We were all feeling a little sluggish after our rest day so it felt good to get moving. It was easy, but it was good to get Gus out and we enjoyed the sunny day!

We plan on packing up and heading back north tomorrow. We really enjoyed our time here in Homer and would definitely come back.

Off to Hope…