Heading South, then East....

I was sure that I had posted to the Internet when we were in Anchorage, but can’t verify that since I’ve had no internet access for over a week.

At any rate, we left Denali on August 1st, and drove down Route 3 to Anchorage, stopped at the Golden Nugget CG where we met Don and Sharron.  On the way down, though, we had a great view of Mount McKinley from around the Denali State Park area.   It’s almost impossible to see from the North side, so we were really pleased that we finally got to see it.  It is quite impressive, just towering over the surrounding mountains who are no shorties themselves. We got some nice pictures, and will try to post some of them if and when  we find a internet access.

After listening to the long term weather reports (rain and more rain) for the Kenai Peninsula, we gave up on our trip there, and decided to move on East and concentrate on the Southeast part of Alaska, and British Columbia.  So…we took off for Tok, made it in one day, and spent the night there.  Lots of nice scenery on the way, and, I kind of hate to admit this, but there is so much outstanding beauty, it almost becomes commonplace, and I don’t think we appreciate a lot of it.

We made it down to Haines Junction by Thursday, stayed at Kulane RV Park, a kind of nondescript, parking lot operation.  It was just as well, we had hit so much bad road that day that we were pretty well exhausted, and went to bed early.  One good feature, though, was the view out the front window of the MH…..magnificant, snow covered mountains.

On Friday the 5th, we detoured down Route 37 toward Scagway, stopped at the Corcross (British Columbia) CG, left the MH and 5th Wheel, then drove on in the truck.  We had heard that things were really tight in Scagway, and that turned out to be true.  Nice drive down thru the mountains.  Had to clear customs going back in to Alaska, then Canadian going the other way.  Sure helps to have the passports….Walked around town for awhile, wooden sidewalks, old West type of buildings, mostly tourist oriented shops.  Two cruise ships at the dock, and passengers walking around town just itching to be seperated from their cash….. We had dinner at  a local sports bar type of restaurant, fish and chips, pretty good!  Got back late to Corcross, tired.

The Corcross RV Park included a free RV wash with their daily rate, so we washed ours next morning….high pressure just knocks the worst mud off, doesn’t really do a great job.  Didn’t matter….about an hour down the road, ran into construction again, and everything was covered back up with mud anyway.

Seems four different caravans (groups of 20 RV’s travelling together) had followed us down the Alaska Highway, and when we started looking for places to spend the night, we found the CG’s were already booked up.  So….we stopped at Jade City (on the Cassier Highway), spent the night in their free CG (no amenities at all).  For the first time since we began the trip, I failed to fill our water tank and had it only about 1/2 full.  So, we went into conservation mode to stretch it out.  Folks at Jade City invited us up that evening to watch videos about Jade mining, the Cassier Canyon area, and how Cassier BC became a ghost town..  Even though we knew that their hospitality was aimed at our falling in love with some of their products, they never put forth any pressure to buy (what I had expected).  Videos were very informative.

Cassier was a company town involved in the mining of asbestos for a long number of years, and because it was so isolated, the Company built houses for their workers, schools, libraries, rec centers, etc.  The video was presented by a number of the former employees, residents of the town, and they told about what a good life they had.  Unfortunately, when the asbestos problems began, sales of the product declined to the point that the Company went bankrupt, leaving a large group of people without jobs.  Everyone moved away, and the whole town was sold at auction.  All of the buildings were torn down, the lumber salvaged, and the only thing left today is the foundations.

A side interest that was not pointed out in the video is that Jade is almost always found in conjunction with asbestos.  In fact, a lot of jade contains strips of asbestos.  The old  site of Cassier has been leased (by the BC government) to a mining company who plans to do test drillings in the area to locate seams of jade.  All of the uninhabited land in BC is owned by the government, and leased for mining operations.  No one can own a mine in that Province.

On Sunday the 7th, we continued on down the Cassier (hitting long stretches of dusty gravel road).  These construction areas really tire me out…the concentration required to deal with the potholes and washboard sections, plus the fact that there are no guard rails, is just too exhausting.  When we get back on pavement, I am so relieved.  Then we hit another one of the same…..

We continue to be locked out of CG’s by the caravans.  Sunday night we went in to a Provincial Park with no hookups, the second night in a row without being able to dump our holding tanks, and low on water.  We just made the best of it, the lake was just spectactular, and we were right on the shore.  It had gotten cold, and we built up a fire, cooked outside, and just enjoyed the surroundings.  The park ranger came by about 7 p.m. to collect the fee, and told us about a truck carrying a load of salmon that had wrecked up the road.  We had seen it on the way down, but it was so torn up, didn’t even recognize it.  She encouraged us to go get some of the salmon  but we declined, since it had been there for so long.