ALCAN 2024 Epilogue

 Mileage: Home to "Mile 0"---3,286.3;  "Mile 0" to Home---8,430.4   Total mileage---11,716.7  

    

We will be spending the next few days washing clothes, cleaning the camper and truck, etc. Our front yard is so shaded the grass was just a bit high, but the back yard was a hay field.

This was a great trip. The one thing we want to do and did not do is take the Dempster Hwy to the Arctic Ocean, but we were worried about getting home because Lynn's Iceland trip is at the beginning of September.   Also in retrospect we should have laid over a few of our overnights. 

I think my favorite part of the trip was the Yukon, but everything was great.

Next year we go to South Carolina for Lynn's sibling reunion and then we plan on doing the Canadian Maritimes. We should have the new rig before then. 

Open for cleaning 

ALCAN Day 51 Lima Township, MI (home)

 August 25, 2024

JUST get home, but I needed to make one stop at the Iowa City Hy-Vee. There I struck out try to find my favorite Cedar Ridge Single Malt whiskey. So it on to John's Grocery where I did pick up 4 bottles.

The rest of the drive was the typical slog along I 80, with the traffic slow downs in the Chicago area and the constant road construction in Michigan. We made it home in the evening in 90+ weather with a closed up house. Our new AC unit takes several hours to bring the inside  temp down, but by Monday morning things were fine. 

ALCAN Day 50 Mitchellville, IA

 August 24, 2024

We are now into heads down and let's just get home mode. 

During the evening we were texting with our Iowa City friend  Margaret Pardini. Turns out she was heading west and was supposed to be at the Sindney Cabella's that night on her way to Idaho, but got a late start and was in Kearney. During our drive east across the plans of Nebraska we saw her (and David) in their rig heading west.

Then it was a matter of crossing the Missouri and head to the Des Moines area. We eventually stopped at the Mitchellville rest area where we spent the night with about 30 semis and various other vehicles.

The Arch in Kearney

ALCAN Day 49 Sidney, NE

 August 23, 2024

Returning to Loveland via the winding road, we got to the Mountain West Expo. Zac had a good time as it was dog friendly. We looked over several exhibits and finally went to the SuperTramp Camper one. Here we ordered a new camper which we should be able to get by the end of the year or early next. Now when we get home I have to look for a new truck also as this camper will not work on my Tacoma.

In Colorado we returned to the heat we had when we started this trip. It was above 90 by noon. Having completed our order of the new camper and it being so hot we hopped back in the rig and started our drive home. We headed to Bridgeport, NE for a campground there. As we were setting up we looked west and saw a Wall Cloud coming towards us. Consulting our weather apps we decided to head south to avoid the storm (there were predictions of  golf ball size hail). South was Sidney, home to the headquarters of  Cabella's. There they have a first come first serve RV park next to the store. We did a minor bushing of the storm; mostly rain.

Elk eating flowers in downtown Estes Park

Double rainbow after the storm

The front of Cabella's

ALCAN Day 48 Estes Park (Rocky Mountain National Park)

 August 22,2024

We left Pocatello and headed for the Denver area. We stayed the night in Rocky Mountain National Park. A beautiful drive from Loveland to the park; about 30 miles that took well over an hour. This road was so fun to drive I wish I had our Miata. It was raining when we set up, so this was one of the few nights we just stayed in the camper. We decided to stay here because we had tickets to go to the Mountain West Expo the next day.

sorry no pics today

ALCAN Day 47 Pocatello, ID

 August 21, 2024 

We drove from Baker City, OR to Pocatello, ID. for convenience we stayed at a KOA which was in town so we could visit our old friend Tracy Payne (she was my partner on RAGBRAI 2018) after visiting her father and sister two days ago.

ALCAN DAY 46 Baker City, OR

August 20, 2024

Another day of just driving. We drove over the mountain pass and then on to Oregon (I think this was my first time in Oregon).  We stopped at a RV Park in Baker City for the night.

ALCAN Day 45 Lunden, WA

August 19, 2024 

We drove across the border today; thankfully we  have Nexus cards. The crossing took less than 5 minutes including the wait in line. They didn't even ask us about Zac. Then it on to the Lunden KOA. A nice clean ghetto. Of course showers and laundry were taken advantage of.

Then we went into Bellingham and met up with our old friend Jerry Payne (former Chair of Physics at Iowa). His youngest daughter Beth came over and we went to a seafood restaurant on the harbor.

ALCAN Day 44 Emory Creek Provincial Park

August 18, 2024 

Another day of just basically driving to an overnight destination.  During the drive we went through the Canadian high desert. And the Faser Canyon.This will be our last night in Canada. Emory Creek is a nice park on the banks of the Faser River. One downside is the railroad runs between the park and the highway and the trains ran about every 30-40 minutes.

Desert mountain 

Faser River 

Emory Creek dumping into the Faser

ALCAN Day 43 Chubb Lake Recreation Area, BC

August 17, 2024 525 km/ 328 miles

This was just a day of travel. We are in heading home mode now. We will stop in Bellingham to see our old friend Jerry Payne and the move on to Pocatello to see his daughter and our friend Tracy. 

Tonight campsite