Talkeetna

We are here about 15 miles from Wasilla. From Denali national park we went to Talkeetna, where most of the mount McKinley senic flight companies are located. Talkeetna is a pretty little town, lots of stores with handmade Alaskan crafts, Bakery with homemade bread and a Pub ect. The Talkeetna campground we selected was booked out. But they refered us to a boatlaunch campground near by very nice but dry camping. We liked it so much we stayed an extra day, since we wanted to do a senic flight of Mt. McKinley. We cheched all the flight service companies out and booked with Talkeetna airo service. The flight we choose would be 0ne hour and a half and over 20.000 feet. we had found an advertisment in the milepost with a note of $20 off per person for direct booking,it was honered, not bad since the prices are high.
The plane was a Piper chieftain with 8 seats and nice big windows. We had headsets on, so we could listen and talk to the Pilot. I can not discripe the beauty of the flight, it was awsome!!!! At about 10000 feet we had to to put oxigen masks on and circled around the mountain. Mount McKinley is 20320 feet high,we climed to about 21400 and flew over he top, while slowly circleling and desending the pilot told us he would cut the flight short and headed back to the airport. Dave the Pilot told us not to worry, but he decended faster then normal. It turned out we had a little problem with the oxigen system. We had 1 hour flight when we landed. They charged the oxigen system while we watched and then asked us if we wanted to complet the flight.This time we went up the Tokositna Glacier and back down the whole Ruth Glacier,what a sight,sometimes you think the wings would touch the mountains.Dave pointed out a plane,which was at a Glacier,that plane and the people around it looked like ants.It was the base camp for the climbers,an incredable feeling.When we landed,we had been flying one hour again.So,it was actually a good deal,even with the little scare for a while.
Yesterday we left Talkeetna and visited on the way the Dream of Dream dog farm of
Vern Halter,a veteran Iditarod multible winner.He and his wife are raising and training sleddogs for the yearly Iditarod race from Anchorage to Nome.He is also training people for the run.The dogs are very lovable,want to be hugged and patted all the time,especially the young ones.We took a walk with 3 puppies in the woods.Then we went on a 2 mile run in an ATV with 12 of the dogs pulling it.In summer they cannot run too long,it's too warm,they are sled dogs,as colder it gets,the better they run.We had a wonderful 3 hours there. We are going to stay here at the Hudson Riverside Campground an extra day to take care of the shopping,since there is a Safeway,Fred Meyer and Walmart Supercenter in Wasilla. I hope we get this still on the blog,then we are finally up to date.For the next week or more,we will travel the Kenai peninsula and we may not have any WiFi in our campgrounds.So bear with us,we will continue,when ever we can.

Talkeetna

Monday,june 29th

We are here about 15 miles from Wasilla.From Denali we went to Talkeetna,where most of the scenic flight companies are located.Talkeetna is a very pretty little town,lots of stores with handmade alaskan crafts,bakery with homemade breads and a pub,etc.The talkeetna camper park we selected was booked out.They told us there is a boat-launch campground with some spaces avalable.So we drove there,it was pretty in the woods,but dry camping.We liked it so much ,we stayed another day. Since we wanted to do a scenic flight of Mt.Mc.Kinley.We checked all the flight service companies out and booked with Talkeetna Airo service.There flight would be 90 min and over 20.000 feet.We had found an advertisement in the milepost with a note for $ 20.- off per person for direct booking.We cut it out and got $ 40.- off not bad,since the prices are high.The plane was a Piper Chieftain with 8 seats,nice big windows.We had headsets on,so we could listen and talk to the pilot,his name was Dave.I cannot explain the beauty of that flight,it was so magnificent.At about 10.000 feet we had to put on our oxigen masks and he circelt around the mountain.Mt.Mc.Kinley is 20320 feet high.We climed up to over 21400 feet and went over the top.While slowly going around the mountain and down again,the pilot experienced some minor problem.So Dave told us it's nothing to worry about,but he will go back to talkeetna and cut the flight a little short,to have somebody check it out.So we went down faster then normal.We had one hour flight as we landed. After 30 min.Dave ask us if we wanted to complete the flight.This time we went up the Tokositna glacier and back down the whole Ruth glacier,what a sight,sometimes you think the wings would touch the mountains.Dave pointed out a plane,which was at a glacier,that plane and the people around it looked like ants.It was the base camp for the climbers.An incredable feeling.When we landed,we had been flying one hour again.So,it was actually a good deal,even with the little scare for a while.

Yesterday we left Talkeetna and visited on the way the Dream of Dream Dog Farm of

Vern Halter,a veteran Iditarod multible winner.He is raising and training the dogs for the yearly Iditarod race from Anchorage to Nome.He is also training people for the run.The dogs are so lovable,want to be hugged and patted all the time,especially the young once.We took a walk with three puppies in the woods. Then we went on a 2 mile run in an ATV with 12 of the dogs pulling it ,what fun.In summer they cannot run too long ,it's too warm,they are sled dogs,as colder it is,as better they run.We had a wonderful 3 hours there. We are going to stay here at the hutson riverside campground an extra day to take care of the shopping, since there are a safeway,a fred meyers and a walmart supercenter in Wasilla. I hope, we still get this on the blog, then we finally are up to date. For the next week or more, we will travel the Kenai peninsula and we may not have any WIFI in our campgrounds. So bear with us, we will continue when ever we can

Denali National Park

tuesday,june 23rd
We arrived at the Denali National Park yesterday afternoon. As we got up this morning,it was raining,it started already during the night.The clouds were so low,we could not even see our
cb antenna.It is now 9.30am and we have reservations for a 6 hour tour into the park at
12 noon and also reserved an RV space in the park for tomorrow.Well,we will see what will become of that. Will talk to you all later !

Friday,june 26th
We did the 6 hour trip.It was raining lightly.Our driver told us,since he has to watch the road,we have to watch for animals and call out ,so he would stop for us to take a photo.This was easy to say,since it was cold outside,the windows fogged up,but they could be wiped off.But then after the first 14 miles the dirtroad started.In a very short time th windows where splashed with mud and there was no way to look out.We where lucky,had the second seat behind the driver and could look out the front.But all we could see on the entire trip where one Lynx crossing the highway,two Seagulls,one Bear and her cub.Everybody was hanging out of the windows and trying to make photos of the bear?{it was far away} So Heinz took an photo of the people hanging out of the windows. Each stop we had some fun with buckets of water and squeegees to clean the windows,they stayed clean for about a mile,but someone always tryed it the next time again. We went in for 53 miles and up to over 4000 feet(snow on the ground). But the scenery on the trip was phantastic and we enjoyed it anyway. The next day we had booked at the
Savage River campground,13 miles in the park.That day the sun was shining and warm and we just relaxed,took some hikes to the river,watched a big moose on the river a little distance away.Next morning a big moose and her calf came right next to our camp,and in our exitment we forgot to take a photo.Well,maybe next time.
PS:sorry no photos for now,something went wrong and we cannot get them on to our computer.
If somone is worried about us,we are ok and enjoying every day,but we do not have WI FI all the time .we will stay here until tomorrow and with a little luck will catch up with our blog.

Hello Fairbanks,

We stayed one night at Delta Junction,had to do some shopping.It's funny,Alaska has the same laws as Canada,you have to buy beer and wine at the liquoer store,you can not get it at the supermarket.Next morning we left for Fairbanks.We wanted to make 2 stops,the knotty Shop and Delta Meat and saussages.As we got to the Knotty Shop,the whole parkinglot in the front was full of motorbikes,at least 300 of them.There was no way to get to the RV parkinglot on the side,we just had to keep on driving and we really wanted to see that store.We did not even have time to make a photo.At the next stop we bought some Buffalo-steak,Elk-saussage,and smoked Salmon.We also stopped at the Alaskan Pipeline crossing the River.But then we came to
North-Pole,Alaska.We had to make a stop to see where Santa lives.We did not see any Elfes,since they where too busy.We bought one ornament as souvenier for our Christmastree. We arrived in Fairbanks where we stayed 4 nights.We took a cruise with a large Paddelweeler on the Chena River,with a one hour stop at a native indian village. W e also took a tour to the El Dorado Goldmine,did some Gold-panning and a City tour which included a visit to the Pionier-Park, and the downtown shopping disdrict. A stop to the Visiter-center. Then out of town to the Alaskan-Pipeline,and finally to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska{by that time the sky cleared up for the rest of the day.We had 3 interesting days.Tonight we will go out for dinner Chena's Fine Dining & Deck,it is next to our RV park,right on the Chena river.We had walked along the river to the restaurant yesterday,it looked very beautiful there and the menue is superb.It will make a nice Fathersday and Birthday celebration.
Tomorrow morning we have to get an oelchange on the motorhome,we already drove 3500 miles.Then we are off to Denali National Park.

Entering the 49th State

The last night in Whitehorse we had some havy showers.When we moved on in the morning, it was cloudy but dry.When we got to the area around the Kluane Lake,the road-constraction zone started,first 15km,the next 20km,and nothing but gravel and mud.We had put the cover over the windshield of the tracker. We wanted to drive to Burwash Landing,but it did not look very pleasent.Next one was 40 miles further and there was a sign: Closed for the season. So we finally had to drive all the way to Beaver Creek,one mile before the Alaskan Border,and 280 miles since Whitehorse. As we got out of our motorhome,we could not believe our eyes.The Tracker was completly covered in mud,windows,lights,everything.The motorhome was not much better,and no carwash anywhere. We hosed douwn the Tow-car a little at the RV-park anyway.But now we had to cross the border as messy as that,but all the other motorhomes and cars looked just as bad. Border-crossing was easy and we where on the way to Tok. It took us more then 2hours to pressure-wash our motorhome and car,so you could see again,what colour it was.

Watson Lake to Whitehorse

Watson Lake is not a large city,but the town is well known for it's Sign Post Forest.At the entrance to the town the highway is lined with the flags from around the world.We stayed two days.The sign post forest is incredible,65000 signs by now,adding more everyday.We brought ours from home and finished it on the way.We where so sorry that we did not find the one from Al from 1994 and from Manfred and Edda from 2006,we spend over 3 hours there,must have looked at every one of them.We where getting real tired,so we went back to the RV park.
The next day we went back to hang up our own sign .We found out,that the tradition with the signs started doing the second World War.Some signs we could still read where from the 1950's and 1960's.There where a lot of signs from Germany,many from Citys or smaller towns,also a lot of Licendsplates from around the world.
Next destination on our trip was Whitehorse with a stopover in Teslin.A fairly smooth ride with no wild animals on the road but beautiful scenery and still sunny sky.We had our first Rhubarb-pie a la mode on the way,hmm,yummi. But then came some road constraction,dust,dust and more dust,so we had to wash d0ewn our RV in Teslin.
Whitehorse,the Capital of Yukon,was interesting.We did a trip to the Miles Canyon,what a breathtaking sight.So we drove douwn to the suspention bridge,walked over and hiked about a mile along the Yukon river through the canyon. Next day we toured the SS Klondike,and later took a 2 hour boattrip on the Yukon river and through the Miles canyon,just georgious. On the way home we took a pizza,put it in the oven and voila,dinner finished,tasted real good after a busy day.

Hot pool and cold shower

We made it to Fort Nelson.Next stop Liard Hot Springs. We saw a lot of Moose on the way{but only on the yellow road signs}.Later in the higher regions a whole family of Stone-Sheep where grasing on the side. The whole trip was awsome,unbelievable beautiful. We stopped many times on the road beside a river or just to admire the view of the snowcapped mountains. The highway followed a long way along the Toad River. The waterlevel was almost level with the highway.We both thought our friend Al would have parked his RV anyplace,pull out his fishingpole and catch something for supper. In the Liard Hot Springs campground we met Peter and Pat again.He is from Kiel and she is from Ireland. We first met them in Chetwynd,they live in Toronto.In the afternoon we hiked to the hot pools.It was very relaxing in the water,but a thunderstorm moved in fast,so we had to get out of the hot water and took a cold shower on the way back to the RV.In the evening we had a campfire going, with Peter and Pat and some Jaegermeister.At that time we found out ,another wildfire had started and the highway was closed again. That night we had havy rain for several hours,so in the morning the highway was open again. We went one more time into the pools and then on our way.We saw many smoldering hotspots along the way between the burned out trees. This was actuly the first rain we encountered since we left home.

The Wildfire

We made it via Prince George to Chetwynd, the town famous for all the chainsaw-carvings.It's really a sight to see,over 100 ot them. But now we have a problem.We where informed ,that the Alaskan Highway is closed because of a major wildfire between Fort Nelson and Watson Lake,so all campgrounds south of Fort Nelson are overfillt. So we stayed another day in Chetwynd. Today we where informed that the Alaskan Highway has been open again and running convoys with pilot cars,but with hours of delays.So we decided to take the chance to drive to Fort Nelson.
O,jes,in Chetwynd we met two couples from germany,one was from Kiel,who saw the
"Hamburger Wappen"on our sparewheel-cover,and then was there Andrea and Frank from Cologne,they sah the "Koelner Wappen".With them we spend a nice evening together.It seems we having fun with our wheelcover. We are now in Fort Nelson,leaving here tomorrow morning for Liard-Hotsprings.

Barkerville

We did the sidetrip to Barkersville.It was 51 miles throuvh the mountain,it is 4300 feet high and still had some large snowpatches on the ground.It is much larger then Body or some other goldrush towns we have seen before.It was a very interesting trip. They also had an one hour show at 2.00pm in the old operahouse,which we attended. We really enjoyed it and also had a good laugh{tears running,that funny}. On the drive in the morning,we already passed a few Deers,a Moose{our first one}and a Caribu. But on the way back,we had a thrill,our first Blackbear,it was just on the side of the road looking at us,as we slowed to a stop.Open our window and could take a picture.Then a bus drove by,that noise scared him and he ran back trough the trees.What an interesting day. Today we are in Prince George and start early tomorrow morning for Chetwynd. For that we have to cross another mountain,the Misinchinka and Hart Ranges.

Oregon to B.C.Canada

The next day we drove into Washington. Up untill now ,we had nothing but sunshine and

warm weather. It was a terriffic view and feeling crossing the bridge in Portland over the Columbia River.We found St.Helens Rv-Park and got a space,even on friday.Something like that would never happen in Southern-California. There was an RV-Club { 9 RV's},all seniors like us. People standing in groups,talking,but not a single one had a bottle or can of beer in his hand,even that it was after 5.00 pm,ha,ha. Well ,the sun is down and it is finally cools down.

It's saturday morning and we wanted to hook up the tow,battery dead,jump-start it hook up and go,have to charge over night.We had made a reservation at an RV-Park,about 20 miles from the border,because of the weekend.The sun got warm again and we could shed the sweatshirt,t-shirt would do just fine. Coming toward Tacoma,the traffic was getting havyer until we came to a stop. The problem: a car went down an embankment and landed on its roof. After that,traffic was normal again until we hit Seattle. We had expected havy traffic,but this was stop and go through the whole city.After that,what a beautiful scenery all the way to Bellingham.We turned on to the 539 only to start driving in slalom for miles and miles,since one side or the other was dug up,major road construction for the Olympic games,we almost missed our RV-Park. Next morning up early to the border. It took about 30 min,our mirrow on the right side scratcht the pole{we where not the first one to do it } since it 's very narrow.We had to park the RV ,go inside and were asked to wait.After about 20 min. they called us,gave us back our passports and wished us a nice day,no checking the motorhome.

Next stop Hells Gate Canyon .It was phantastic. it is the narrowest canyon of the Fraser River.We took the gondola down and across the river,walked over the suspencion bridge,through the museum etc.and yes,had a big icecream,spend over 2 hours there.Since it was already 3pm,we stopped a few miles further at Boston Bar and stayed over night.

Next day more mountain driving.After about 24 miles we stopped for gas and would you believe,on the rear bumper was Heinz's coffee-mug,after all the curves still in place{but the coffee was cold}

We are now in Quesnel. Here we have Wi-Fi and finally can continue our blog.Maybe we will make a side trip tomorrow to a little gold rush town called Barkerville,50 miles east of here.

By the way,we got already our first moscito-bites,even with protection,this guys are mean!!!