Saturday 28 June Watson Lake Yt.

It's time for my side of the travel saga. After only a few minutes with our new grandson, Gary pulled me away from that precious angle and off we went. I will say that leaving at 5:00 a.m. does put one ahead of the traffic.

Our first stop in BC was a snug little campground with wood ferns, tall pines and a little creek running right behind our campsite. Would have been ideal but for the trains running on the other side of the creek every 20 min. At the next campsite, equally beautiful with the tall pines and the idealic lake view we had. Gary was trying to get a straight shot to the southern sky so he could use the satillite and see the Golf Channel. So we camped next to a mesquito infested swamp. We did meet a couple from Vancouver who had been traveling in their View J Model for the past couple of years full time. They had done the four corners of the US and Baja Mexico. They asked us over to visit - and this is what gets me the most - their rig was pristine. Mine starts off clean goes to shabby in a couple of minutes and then gets downright dirty. I'm giving it a thorough cleaning when we get to Fairbanks.

The Alaskan Highway has lived up to it's name. It is just beautiful -the mountains, rushing rivers, pine trees and aspens, wild life. We've seen black bear, buffalo, Stone sheep (they look like small mountain goats) and a grey wolf. We got photos of all but the wolf. Gary was trying to make it up a hill and didn't want to stop for a quick photo. What a loss as they are very rare. This afternoon, we did have a little rain off and on while we were driving. Otherwise the weather is as close to perfect as it can get.

Black bear and her 3 cubs and Stone sheep

Lunch break

Some of the many Buffalo we saw

We are at Campground Cervices RV Park in Watson Lake, Yukon. We hope to be in Whitehorse, Yukon tomorrow night and Tok, Alaska by Monday afternoon?

Start of Alaskan highway

Monday, 23 June, It seemed like it took us for ever to get out of Seattle. Kay and I went to the Boeing Credit Union to open her an account for transferring her 401K to a IRA saving.
They required certain information and Kay didn’t have all of it so we went to the library and she printed it. By then it was to late to go back to Boeing so we went to Costco to get her prescription refilled. That didn’t work either because her prescription had expired and would take a fax from her doctor to get it refilled. By then her doctor’s office was closed and would have to wait for the next day. We drove south on I-5 looking for a FlyingJ to spend the night at but found a very nice Wal-Mart and spent the night their. They did not allow overnight parking but told me if I went to the end of the parking lot she would ignore me. Got to my rv and the parking lot guard was already their talking to Spud. He was good natured and after a brief conversation he assured us every thing would be ok.
Tuesday, we went to Boeing and every thing went well and on to Costco and got her prescription.
Tuesday, 24 June, We finely crossed the Canadian border at Abbotsford, BC. Abbotsford is a little bit east of Vancouver and a really good place to cross the border. The Canadian border guard ask me where we were going, did we have any guns, pepper spray or mace and I said no. She ask me if this was my rv or was it rented. She ask how many was traveling with me and I said, my wife and I and one dog. She did not ask for any shot records or anything else. She ask me if I was aware of the long distances between city’s in the far north and I said yes. She ask me if I had the financial means to take care of a break down or sickness and I said yes. She ask how much ready cash I had in the bank and I said plenty. She said I needed for you to be more specific, so I said seven thousand and she said “happy travels, be careful”. That was it, It took me about three minutes at the border and we were on the road north.
We spent our first night at a Provincial Park (State Park) with no hook-up’s. Very wooded and a large river behind our rv. The couple next door were from Australia and their friend from Denmark were touring Canada in a rental.

1st night at Emory Creek Provincial Park north of Yale, BC

Wednesday, 25 June, By the time we took Spud for a walk, made breakfast and cleaned the rv out, we were on the road by 9AM. Drove all day through beautiful mountains and rivers. The roads are excellent, can’t be beat, so far.
Stopped for the night at 10 Mile Lake Provincial Park. Very nice park but cost $19. Can. The first one cost $17.00 This park had a dump station but had to put $2.00 coin in to use it, so I drove on.

Most of the roads follow large rivers like this one.

One of the things that has surprised me about this trip is the size of some of the city’s we have driven through, like Williams Lake, Quesnel, Prince George and Dawson Creek and others. First of all, I never heard of any of them but Dawson Creek. Tonight we are spending the night at Mile “O” RV Park and Campsite with no hook-ups, cost $15.00 Can. Nice place and Kay has washed all our clothes. Got the grill out and grilled a Tee Bone stake and Polish sausages, a real good meal.

Today we finely reached the beginning of the Alaskan highway in Dawson Creak, BC
We are spending the night at a rv park with no hook-ups, cost $15.00 Can. Nice place and Kay has washed all our clothes. Got the grill out and grilled a Tee Bone stake and Polish sausages, a real good meal. Tomorrow we intend to drive as far as Fort Nelson, BC but we will see.

27 June, were in Fort St John, BC at a Safeway and they have great wi-fi so I guess I better post.

On The Road 18 June 2008

17 June, Keith called and told us Kathy was in the hospital and was hopefully having a baby soon. At 2:46 AM Keith and Kathy became proud parents. For a detailed blow by blow account of the night and a beautiful photo, click on Keith’s blog below. Or
http://fletcherbrathouse.blogspot.com/

Kole Kenneth Fletcher 18 June 2008


Kole, Kathy and Keith

After being at the hospital almost all night I was wound up tight and their was no way I was going to sleep, so we got in the RV and took off for Oregon, the first leg of our trip to Alaska.

We drove until we reached Trinidad, Colorado where we got a parking spot at Trinidad State Park for the night. We were so tired that we went to bed almost immediately.
The next morning we got up and drove to Brigham City, Utah where we spent the night at a FlyingJ travel center. (Next to a rail road track) Got up Friday morning and drove all the way to Nehalem Bay State Park, in Oregon and on the Pacific Ocean. It has been very cool or cold our whole visit here but that’s good sleeping weather and the day times haven’t been that bad. We have seen lots of friends and had a good time talking about our RV’s and our travels. Tomorrow we will head for Seattle and maybe to Canada? We intend to stop by The Boeing Credit Union, where I do my banking and check out some options for CD’s.

We are stoped at a shoping center in Seattle so we could get our computer work completed. We will probably go into Canada tomorrow.

Nehalem Bay State Park, Nehalem Bay, Oregon

Please note: You should be able to click on each photo for enlargement.

Preparing for our trip to Nehalem Bay Or. & Alaska

For the past few days we have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our grandson Kole Kenneth Fletcher. Until he appears on the scene our trip to Oregon and Alaska is on hold and we don’t mind at all. Life is an adventure and Kole’s appearance will determine how we approach our Alaska venture.
The RV is pretty well packed and ready to go. I had the oil changed and the gas tank is full. I will fill the water tank Sunday and wait for Kole’s arrival before we fill the fridge.
After Kole’s birth we will head north and will be going through British Columba and Yukon and on to Alaska. On our return trip we plan to travel through Calgary, Alberta and if we have time, we intend to tour several of the federal and provincial parks. After Calgary we intend to stop by and visit Kay’s cousin, Janice in Dubois, Wyoming. From Janice house we will visit my aunt and uncle Norris and Wynell in Wiggins Colorado.

.Janice on her deck and Norris & Wynell's house

We will then head for Wichita, Kansas to see Riley and Reagan and to watch Kelly play in the Wichita Open. We expect to put around 10,000 miles on our 2006 Winnebago View