And Now It Begins!

 The campground is open!

Today Cantwell RV Park is officially open!   We have only cabin guests right now, but it’s still darned cold out so no surprise 

This week to prep I learned the reservation system, cleaning priorities for the office, laundry room, showers and bathrooms. I learned how to drive the 4-wheelers, and how to use the wood splitter. How to turn over the bedding in the cabin and yurt 

Russ worked to put out picnic tables, built a wall for the tent sites, hauled trash, and did other handyman things.  We got the water lines flowing after nights of freezing temps  

We had some communal fires around the fire pit with our nice work family 

We learned the owners’ priorities:  no one parks on the water lines!

Tomorrow we have a day off and then we start our usual Sunday-Monday work schedule.  Next Tuesday we will start off on our first 5-day exploration of new parts of the great state of Alaska!

Oh and I learned finally, after a gazillion years, how to successfully fold a fitted sheet!!!!!

We Made It!

 

This is the view from our campground, Cantwell RV Park

We drove during a beautiful sunny day yesterday with views of the Alaska Range all day.  

It’s going to be an amazing summer!

Once the snow and ice melt, that is

We Should Have Eaten More Tangerines!

 We crossed into Alaska this afternoon wondering if maybe we had too much beer in our fridge for Customs to wave us through.  But they didn’t ask about beer or wine or dope…the question on CBP’s mind today was “any agricultural products.”

We ended up surrendering a bag of delicious tangerines from Morocco that we picked up in Canada.  We ate only 2 of them, we should have eaten more!  We surrendered a dozen eggs (which we could have kept if only we had already hardboiled them.).  We gave up packages of chicken thighs, frozen but not in their original packaging.  Sigh 

We did get to keep frozen pre-cooked chicken, an unopened bag if potatoes and part of an onion. So a few small wins! 

Some of this is to prevent the spread of bird flu.  I support that!

And we kept all our beer!

Are We Crazy?

 Probably.

But the real question is are we crazy to pull a travel trailer to Alaska in late April/early May.  

Exhibit A— the weather.  It’s cold at night and sometimes below freezing.  We have figured out how to manage that IF we have plenty of heat in the camper ( electric hookup and plenty of propane to keep the heater running and doors open where vulnerable water pipes live.). And plenty of water in the fresh water tank.

As we move further north we are finding campgrounds that are barely open at this time of year  Some have electric only.  Some can give you potable water to fill your tank.  Some have electric, water, and dumping at the site but no open showers.  Some have only a few sites open.  There has been a LOT of snow here in British Columbia until this week. So sure per exhibit A we are crazy

But exhibit B is also compelling.  I will produce photographic evidence to the jury —taken on the road today  First is folded mountain, an amazing exhibit of eons of geological change

Next is amazing wildlife we saw—

Caribou

Stone Sheep

and finally 

Bison!   Including a frolicking calf 

Also the scenery takes my breath away!

So maybe we are crazy but it’s worth that chance!

New birds today:  Say’s Phoebe and Violet-Green Swallow

Deja Vu All Over Again

Today we arrived in Dawson Creek, British Columbia where the Alaska Highway begins.  We are staying at the Mile 0 campground on the first day they have been open this season. That photo is from last years trip   But I’m wearing the same shirt today so I think we can let this one slide.

Until today our route to this point is completely different than last year   So we saw some different things:   The Canadian Rockies from a great distance (instead of up close.)   We have seen huge flocks of migrating snow geese and MAYBE some Ross’s Geese which I have never seen before. We saw an Elk Farm. We saw a herd of bison at the Elk Island National Park.  And we drove through Beaverlodge, Alberta.

That sure is one gigantic and angry-looking Beaver!

So Many Ducks!!

 We spent a day in North Dakota as a mini-hiatus from driving.  It was windy so a good day to rest.  We spent part of the day at the Audubon National Wildlife Refuge  in Coleharbor    

The landscape is not spectacular but it’s ideal for waterfowl.  The Missouri River flows through here and it’s been dammed to create a few lakes.  The area also has lots of “potholes” —big ponds among small hills in the grassland.  Ducks love it here.  We saw pintails, lesser scaup, blue winged teals, mallards, buffleheads, and northern shovelers.  We also saw American White Pelicans, lots of gulls, pheasants, and an American Bittern (my first!!). 

We saw a couple birds we couldn’t ID as well—possibly a western meadowlark and some kind of shorebird foraging in a plowed field.  

Today we drove into Saskatchewan and as we drove further north the numbers of ducks dwindled.  But we saw a nice stately antelope by the side of the road.  And here in Regina we saw a big ole jackrabbit hop across the road!

To get us in the state of mind for Alaska we listened to The Call of the Wild.  I don’t plan to run with wolves but I did enjoy the book 

Tomorrow onward to Alberta!

Baby, It’s COLD outside!

 Our campground in Iowa was nice and the weather was great.  As we move further north it’s getting pretty darned cold at night!

Last night we were in central South Dakota and the temperature overnight was 35.  Today we are in North Dakota and it’s going to be about 30 degrees in the morning!   Brrr!  But we do have heat in our trailer and lots of blankets!  Keeping our water pipes from freezing is our biggest worry but we think we have that figured out!

We saw lots of pheasants, some wild turkeys, and a variety of migrating ducks today:  wood ducks, scaup, pintails, and more in ponds and fluddles along the way

Tonight we are at Fort Stevenson SP in ND near an Audubon National Wildlife Refuge where I hope we can birdwatch tomorrow!