Womble's-Wanderings

Ghost town and steam

2009-11-25T07:57:00.000-08:00

SATURDAY 18th JULY

From out of the campsite we climb some 8,000 ft to the ghost town of Brodie, half way there my engine boils over - we had just pulled in to let traffic past, was that steam or dust? It was steam, the cap had not been put on correctly from the garage, or left off, not sure which. We waited to cool down and then continued, I had been in the “shed” to get some more antifreeze and left the back doors open, not swinging but fastened open!!!! The last 13 miles were on unmade road so how much dust? or was there no dust? In the shed!
Bodie was named after William S Body in 1859, prospectors had crossed the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains to see the Elephant (to search for gold). A rich discovery was made in Virginia City. This huge gold strike was later known as Comstock Lode, this started a rush to the surrounding high desert country.
By 1879 Bodie had over 10,000 residents and was second to none for wickedness, bad men, and the worst climate out of doors. Killings occurred almost daily, Robberies, Stage Coach hold ups and street fighting were just the norm and of course a Red Light District. The town had 65 saloons and a selection of churches. In 1881 Bodie was described by Reverend F.M.Warrington as “a sea of sin, lashed by the tempest of lust and passion” it was by all accounts the wickedest of the wicked western towns!
Now a fifth of Brodie remains to act as a reminder of those days the climate is still wicked but the visitors are not!!!

Nice curtains!! The really fun part of this ghost town is that it looks as if everyone just up and left. Leaving behind everything they could not carry, looking through the windows is so interesting wallpaper, curtains, beds, chairs and tables, one house had a whole kitchen and laundry. Only one house has been made safe to walk into, there is work in progress for more. A very interesting museum with a large collection from the late 1880’s. The energy for the mills first came from steam generated by wood fires. Then a Hydroelectric Plant was built 13 miles from town with the idea of running the electric along wires! In 1892 the first test was made along with the telephone which flashed the message to throw the switch! (some of the poles that carried these lines are still there, in a straight line because they could not believe electricity could or would go round bends) The generators began to hum and the first motor to be operated over long distance power lines was initiated in Bodie.
It took us a couple of hours to walk around this ghost town peering in windows etc. $900million in gold and silver came from the ground here. We had a great time but could find no gold or silver!

SUNDAY 19th JULY.
We had a lovely drive from the mountain and Brodie to Mammoth Lake where we camped last night. Very large camp site we couldn’t camp together so Carol came and picked me up to go and eat with them on their site, Diane lit the camp fire.
We are going to catch a shuttle to “Devils Post Piles”.

As Basalt lava erupts from volcanic vents and then cools it shrinks and splits, sometimes vertical columns will form. These columns, formed as homogenous lava cooled at a uniformed rate, were exposed during the last glaciations. The tops of the columns look like a well polished tiled floor after being polished by past glaciers. These columns at Devils Post pile have from three to seven sides. In the foreground of the photo are broken poles/column. We climbed to the top of the columns to look at the “tiled floor” we were then at 8,000ft it was a very slow climb for me, no breath!!!!!!!!! It was a great and interesting visit. They tell me the other examples are in Scotland, Ireland and Iceland I have not seen them.
We left Mammoth Lake which is a huge tourist area, year round outdoor pursuits great skiing here, we also saw countless mountain bikes, I don’t think I have ever seen as many in one place and of course hikers. Mammoth Lake is on the east side of Yosemite and we have to get to the west, After lunch we head over the pass through Yosemite National Park which climbs to 9945 feet. This drive is awesome, on the west side the mountains are rugged with a fair bit of snow and beautiful lakes, we stopped a few times just to take in the view and let the engines cool down but once over the peak the landscape changes; we still have mountains and lakes with more trees, but the rocks are smooth they look polished as they sparkle in the sunshine, like little tiny pin points of light; it is amazing and very beautiful, we find a camp site which again is very crowded. Today we saw some Deer, no bears (I looked very hard) I got a nice photo of a Blue J and also saw a Western Tanager which is very yellow with an orange/red head beautiful.

The dog is Ting belongs to Carol and Diane she is beautiful and made a friend of me! Yosemite has Red Pine trees which are reddish to look at their nick name is “widow tree” because they rot from the inside out so no one knows when they are about to fall!!!!!!!! A bit of trivia for you
Tomorrow we head for Sabastopol and Carol and Diane home, where we will have fun with a waste tank............................................

My First Blog, back on the road

2009-07-29T02:59:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone, family and friends.

I am now back on the road and will resume my ramblings from time to time, if you do not wish to receive this amazing piece of literature please let me know and I will delete you from my blog list! But not however from my life.

I left the UK July 3^rd which meant I would arrive in the USA July 4^th (well that is in my world, with the time difference I was still in July 3^rd) apart from the effects of 28 hours travel time, it was a very silly time to arrive in the US, crowds everywhere, it’s holiday weekend, the whole of the country is celebrating independence, this happened in 1776 after a war with some bullying little island people! I at last arrived at a very nice hotel where I spent a couple of very enjoyable days, visiting the casino for their wonderful buffet at tea time, no gambling though! My friends J and Laura were away for the holiday enjoying Baseball!

J came to pick me up Monday morning by which time I was fully recovered from the 28 hours of travel. J and Laura live on the outskirts of Reno in what I guess is desert. Their house is very cool even in the high temperatures of the desert; I stayed in their house whilst sorting the truck out! For those of you who know me well that is quite something, to sleep in a house when my truck is around. I am very pleased to say the truck started on the first turn of the key, the whole truck was in very good order if a little dusty, well a lot really. J is working Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so I amuse myself getting the truck sorted and some work done, I had to have it dewinterized, having had it winterized before I left, that is all the water cleaned out filter dismantled and then a mild antifreeze pulled through all the pumps and pipes so back at J’s I had to run copious amounts of water through the system to ensure I do not get poisoned! I did this over a couple of days as outside in the afternoons was very hot. By Thursday all the jobs apart from new tyres were done.

J was off work Thursday, Friday, Saturday and this week Sunday as well. In that time he did some amazing work on the truck, several little jobs, but 2 jobs that I considered very big. I have a wooden panel above the windscreen (shield) behind which is a mass of electric wiring. The panel holds lots of clocks and radio’s, the few times I have had to get some work done behind this it has been a nightmare. J has now put some very easy fasteners and a strap to hold the wood when working behind it, I bet you cannot make head nor tail of all that but it was a big job and is an improvement. BUT the best of all is the littleJ work he did in the boot/trunk or as Les calls it the shed. This houses 2 very large and heavy spare wheels, many spare parts, some parts waiting to be returned to Gerard Mann in the UK and all the dross a girl just cannot live, without along with mounds of dust most of the time all of which has to be removed if one is unlucky enough to get a “P” when changing the wheel becomes the easy part. Because the wheels were stored at the very rear of boot/trunk/shed everything had to be taken out before you could get the wheels out and then of course put back again, this may have to be done in very high temperatures, of course you never break down in the shade, the very thought makes me sweat!

Well “J” has fastened the wheels to the side of the truck (with the help of a sketch from my friend Clive) so that now only 1 box and a couple of small bits of dross need be removed, I also have a cargo net across the back which stops all the above from moving around!

As you can see BIG space, note the nice cool beer on the left, some things never change! You can see where the wheels were fixed and tied in with the straps! Which was hard to do? I have to tell you I am ecstatic, so excited. I can now use the shed for everyday things its great!! J did suggest making a ramp but I thought that was a job to far!!!!

This is one of J’s toys he has a lot!! He builds them from scratch and is an amazing and very clever guy!

On Saturday night we picked Laura up from the airport and went for an awesome Thai meal in a lovely restaurant, Laura’ choice of wine was delightful, Laura takes her wine very seriously and makes some very good choices, good wine is always guaranteed at their house!

Sunday we all went to a Baseball game (my first) we had very good seat just to the right of the catcher, the first 15/20 minutes for me were just very confusing, but I was with very good teachers and soon really got into the game, I really enjoyed it. Had an all American hot dog, well, at an All American Game you have to don’t you, however it tasted the same as an English hot dog with the same rubbish bread bun!!. But to be there in this all American place eating the hot dog was real good fun, I had a wonderful time. Thanks to my wonderful friends.

Monday I had new tyres fitted, very, very painful for my wallet! I am now getting ready to leave Reno and join my friends Carol and Diana form California. Then Tuesday morning, horror of horrors, the bolt in the housing on left hand shock absorber has sheared off!!!! Panic. I ring Gerard Mann in England trying to get new housing sent out. J is adamant I am not travelling with it as it is, he says he will do a temporary repair so that I can journey with D & C but must come back to his house for the repair. He goes off to work around noon, but returns in the afternoon, removes all the housing, takes it to work saying I can repair this!!! His boss has said go fix Maureen’s truck. These people are so amazing they are all so generous, kind and friendly I have only met his boss for like 10mins. The long and short of all that is J repaired left hand shock also replaced rubbers in the right hand shock and had me on the road by noon Wednesday to meet my friends. How brilliant is that I am so very grateful, I am very sad to leave J and Laura but hopefully we will meet up in Seattle along with Les and Margaret to go see a Baseball Game.

Wednesday 15^th July

I met up with Carol and Diana in the car park of a supermarket around lunch time as arranged, we went into a Jack in the Box for a burger and to decide where we would be going, also to enjoy their air con, whilst we chatted. We are going to head for Virginia City of Bonanza fame, this is an old mining town between 1860 and the end of the 1890’s it was one of the largest and most sophisticated cities in the west, now it is the liveliest ghost town of them all. Some of the buildings are amazing, the light fittings and shades are just beautiful. The town is a little touristy, we had a nice walk around and I enjoyed it. The ride up through the mountains was very beautiful we were able to go back a different way thereby making a loop, I love a round trip, we then drove towards Lake Tahoe were we found an overnight stop in a car park not very salubrious but ok for me, I had my evening meal with Carol and Diana.

Thursday 16^th July

Late start for me- 10am we are now heading for Bodie, another ghost town, Diana is riding with me we are chatting all the way when horror of horrors I run out of diesel!!!! The spare tank is full, we are able to pull off the road a little; there is no shade and its 95!!! Luckily Carol and Diana are in the AAA, we had our lunch and waited for the guy over an hour, he came in a very small truck, he changed the fuel filter and tried very hard to get me going but failed (this took another hour) whilst he was in the engine I noticed a broken plug. We do not know what it is but nothing to do with the fuel, it’s oily, he phones for a bigger truck and we wait playing eye spy and other silly games to pass the time we are waiting 4 hours in total!! A much larger truck arrives with an exceedingly nice guy to help; we had to return to Gardnerville NV. The first garage he stopped at could not fit us in- too busy until a week next Friday! I also now have a flat tyre- the fact that the running out of diesel was my own silly fault it is proving to be a blessing in disguise. At this garage I will have everything fixed including an oil change and grease (lube) which cannot be done until tomorrow, the garage stayed open to receive us. Once again the American kindness and hospitality is overwhelming I cannot imagine a garage at home staying open to receive a stranger (maybe a regular customer). Diana will not hear of me staying in the garage in the truck so we go to a Motel

Friday 17^th July

Whilst there, until noon today, I have had 2 baths and 2 showers. I am now very clean. Diana went swimming and Carol went to the casino, I dog sat and read my book, I cannot open the door because we have the dog “Tring” the hotel says no pets, housekeeping is outside I will play English dumb (not difficult) if anyone comes to the door but I have put the “do not disturb” on the door! The truck will be ready around 3pm, they cannot repair the broken plug I noticed but they think it’s a coolant sensor I will need to get one from home! We go out for lunch and then on a shopping trip, I need a deck chair I must have left mine somewhere last year on a camp site or something. We get back to the garage just after 3pm, all is repaired and ready to go.

Once again we set off in search of the ghost town of “Brody” we have a lovely drive through the forest along a rivers edge lots of fishermen very pretty, we park up in a campsite very close to the river surrounded by trees lovely evening

We continue our journey tomorrow and finally find the ghost town of Brody......................................

Almost at Virginia city....

2009-04-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

Thursday 4th September 2008

I am still heading towards Yellowstone, but there are many lovely diversions along the way.
My first diversion is the NinePipes Museum of early Montana; this was very well done, with a lot of information, incorporating Native American history along with early settler’s history. Lots of interesting artefacts with lots of information.

I then went to find the National Bison Range Park, did a huge loop but somehow managed to miss this huge park! Managed to find it on my second circuit. This was a ‘drive-thru’ park, getting out of vehicles strictly forbidden. Once again there was lots of wonderful wildlife, lots of Bison/Buffalo along with Prong Horn, White Tail and Mule Deer, along with a couple of Musk Rats and a herd of Elk – great excitement!! The complete drive was really good and I was so glad I went back to find it.

I spent the night in good old Wal-Mart whilst on my way to Missoula.

Friday 5th September

Missoula was a busy town, getting around it was quite difficult on my own. After doing my laundry I went to find the beautiful, hand-carved, hand-painted carousel which was a ‘must-see’ according to my travel books. The work on this carousel was all done by volunteers and it is really very lovely. I didn’t have a ride on the carousel due to my travel sickness!! In the photos below you can see the carousel, the workshop and a volunteer and then the third picture, also of the carousel has a flying dragon (or similar), at the top leftish, this had a string coming out of its mouth which could be pulled and, occasionally, dispensed a prize!

I also wanted to find the Historical Museum of Fort, Missoula, which was a bit tricky. But I found it in the end – however, the pouring rain meant it was too wet to walk around the outside. I did go to check out the inside of the museum where a very nice lady took me under her wing, she told me about the white people who had moved into the area, built the fort and the troubles with the Native Americans who were eventually pushed out of the whole area. The fort is still a working fort and some areas are still occupied by the military or government agencies.

After Missoula I had a pleasant ride to Hamilton and managed to get a free sleep near the fairground. I plan to spend tomorrow here and go to the museum of a Copper King!

Saturday 6th September

I went to the Daly Mansion Museum. This belonged to a very poor Irish immigrant who came to the area in the 1800s and found copper. He then eventually built this very beautiful mansion for his wife and family. Mr Daly was a friend and rival of Mr Conrad whose mansion I visited several days ago. Mr Daly was also friends with and keen rivals to Mr Clark whose house I have yet to see. All of the furnishings in the Daly house came from Europe, with many from England. It always surprises me when I visit these carefully preserved ‘old’ homes – because of course they are really very recent, I often forget what a young country the U.S.A is. My daughter and I both lived in very ordinary houses from the mid-late 1800s, when I think of old I think of pre-16th century! Nevertheless these places are very interesting and I get a huge amount of pleasure visiting them. I also discovered, from my very informative guide, what ‘alooominum’ is! The American English pronunciation is so very different to the English, so when the guide told me that the Daly Mansion had a very modern ‘alooominum’ sink. I went to have a look – to find it was we would call stainless steel or just ‘alyouminium’ – but with regard to a kitchen sink we would always say ‘stainless steel’. Just goes to show we speak the same language very differently!! I found a campsite at the side of the river which was again lovely. The next day I spent my time cleaning, sitting in the talk and chatting to various people.

Monday 8th September

I continue my journey onto Yellow Stone, passing through Big Hole Battlefield National Park. There was a huge battle here with the Nez Perce Indians, very bloody, awful battle. The drive was very beautiful through Bitter Root National Forest and Mountains. The battle was fought in a stunning valley. The countryside is generally very different, still lots of trees, but many meadows and clear creeks - no more raging rivers. Lots of folk standing in the creeks doing what I imagine is fly-fishing. Many farms, some very old, interesting small towns. A great day!!

Tuesday 9th September

A small black bear ran across the road in front of me this morning!! I watched it for about 10 minutes, incredible. A beautiful scenic drive followed, the route went to Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Park, this was once one of the largest ranches in the United States. The ranching started late in the 1800s when these two men realised that the huge amount of pasture in the area would facilitate big ranching in Montana – until then the ranching was small. This would enable them to compete with the big ranches in other states such as Texas. This is still a working ranch today and the house is another interesting museum. The old out buildings have been preserved. I had beans and coffee from the back of a chuck wagon in true Rawhide style – the coffee was disgusting, the beans were delicious!! Another excellent and interesting visit.

In nearby Deer Lodge I went to prison!! This was again so interesting; if not a little scary being the only modern prison I have ever been in! This prison was built by inmate labour and was home to at least one member of Butch Cassidy's "Wild Bunch". One display shows sturdy work shoes with concrete soles instead of leather ones. These shoes, weighing 20 pounds each, were ordered to be worn by convicts thought to be potential escapees. There were some tiny, tiny cells, just concrete, used for prisoners in solitary confinement. I also walked ‘The Mile’! There was a decent exercise area and kitchens. Some of the memorabilia was quite horrifying. But again another very enjoyable and interesting visit.

In the same small town there were several other museums which I briefly wandered round, also very interesting. I had Montana beast liver with mashed potatoes and garden peas for my lunch – absolutely delicious, liver is one of my favourites.

Next stop was Butte. Here I did a city tour in the morning, the guide, who was Butte born and bred and had worked in the mine until he was injured, talked very quickly, non-stop, I had trouble understanding him and developed a head ache! This is a copper mining town, once very prosperous now struggling and very, very poor. The city tour took us to the old workings and showed what the copper mine had done for the town when it was so wealthy. There is an amazing children’s play area and park which the guide raved about.. Mr Clarke was the copper king of this mine, he really looked after his workers and did a lot for the town. His house was truly stunning, the current owners are restoring the house to its original glory. It is a family run business also doing bed and breakfast. The house is full of antiques including some of the original pieces which they have been able to buy back, everything is in the style of the period 1884 to 1888 when the mansion was built as the residence of Mr Clark - the last of Montana’s famous three ‘Copper Kings’ whose homes I have visited. These men helped to establish the young Montana territory through their business ventures. It is interesting to me to see how each state seems to have grown and been establishes almost like small, individual countries. Each state building on and utilising their own natural resources. For my lunch this day I decided to follow the recommendation of one of my guide books - ‘Cornish Pasties’! As with many mining areas Cornish men had emigrated from Cornwall, England and took with them their pasties, my guide book recommended both the restaurant and the pastie. The restaurant was, as far as I could see, straight out of a Doris Day movie!! I even sat at the counter on a swivel chair, the restaurant appeared unchanged from the 1950s. Once again I enjoyed a first class lunch!

My next stop will be Virginia City – not of Bonanza fame.

On my way to Yellow Stone......

2009-04-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

I am sort of going to Yellow Stone National Park but I am definitely taking the long route, in fact it could be the long and slow route!

I have a very good guide book called “Road Trip USA” - Cross country adventures on America’s two-lane highways! This book has some really good road trips with lots of really quirky stuff to see, so I decide to take highway 93 through Montana as far as “The Big Hole National Battlefield” then head east to Virginia City (which I think must have something to do with Bonanza!) This is cowboy and Indian country with Big Stetson’s, cowboy boots, long jeans with big and beautiful silver buckle belts, some guys even have spurs!

I start off with snow and rain in the Blackfoot Reservation. I have to say this is the poorest area I have seen so far. Everywhere looks sad and dilapidated; I am crossing the plains or prairies which were once filled with 100’s of thousand’s of Buffalo, that must have been an awesome sight and dotted with Indian Tipi villages. Now it is just a sad place.

Once out of the reservation the houses improve and I go through some really nice old style towns. I stopped at one that had a farmers market I think the farmer's were Mennonites. I got some corn which I have to say was the most delicious I have ever tasted. I only got 2 which I regretted after eating one, I wish I had moreJ

The road climbs back into the Rockies with lots of fresh snow on the tops and it is snowing quite hard.

Once the snow stops the weather is ok, cold at night but sunny throughout the day. The mountains look beautiful in the sun with lots of fresh snow. The roads in the reservation are pretty poor, with the rain and snow I got covered in mud so am now on the hunt for a decent supermarket and a car wash!

I have a slow and beautiful ride, passing beautiful lakes, some with lovely pretty little islands, the mountains in the back ground are snow covered, the towns are quaint with log homes and shops, some clapboard (I thinks that right) or shingle and really cute old style motels (like we see in old films).

My first fair size port of call is Kalispell where there is a museum of the “Conrad Mansion” this was built by Pioneer and Trader Charles Conrad, very interesting, very well presented with an excellent guide, well worth the visit.

As I drive onwards I pass Flathead river and lake, Swan lake and Clearwater, I also, once again, see Ospreys nesting at the top of the specially built poles along the side of the road this time there are babies too!! Wonderful!

My next stop will be “Miracle of America Museum” which both of my guide books say is a must. On the way I stop in a very small town for lunch which proved to be delicious, I had Huckleberry Cheese cake for pud, this was a vanilla cheesecake with a good size portion of Huckleberries on the side. Yum! I have never had Huckleberries before they are delicious. I believe they only grow here in the Rockies wild, they cannot be cultivated, have to be picked from the wild AND they are a favourite of the bears! Consequently they are expensive I have a jar to bring home which I hope will survive the trip!

The Miracle of America Museum may have been wonderful once upon a time but now! I have never seen such a collection of junk in my life. In and among there are some very interesting pieces but there is to much of it, each display is so over crowded its difficult to appreciate what they are trying to display, there is no order and the explanations are very hard to read and long and tedious!

A short way further along the road I stopped at a “Flathead Indian” museum and culture centre, what a difference every thing is well displayed, labelled with easy and comprehensive descriptions I enjoyed that little visit very much

Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump?

2009-04-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump National Historical Site. When you read that on a map you just have to check it out, I could not even begin to imagine what it was.

By the way it is also a World Heritage Site.

Well here is the explanation. Before the white man ever came to North America there were 100’s of thousands of Buffalo/Bison roaming the great plains, the Native American’s who also lived on the plains depended on the Bison for their survival, Thanks to their excellent understanding of topography and Bison behaviour, groups of native hunters killed bison by driving them over a precipice, Remember the Native American had no guns and no horses, these hunts required a lot of organization and skill to lure the Bison from their grazing and into special lanes and finally over the cliff. There is evidence that these Buffalo Jumps were practiced by native people on the Great Plains for over 6000 years. There were a number of these jumps depending where the Buffalo were grassing, the Indians would use the nearest and have their camp near by so that the animals could be dealt with straight away.

What the native hunters, and every one at the hunt camp, did was to make a kind of ”road way” very wide at first, then running narrower until just animal size at the cliff edge, to do this they staked each side of the “road” with rocks and small trees or bushes every few feet, Buffalo apparently have very poor eyesight and when they stampede the whole herd will follow 1 female, she is the only one who looks where she is going (not very well by all accounts) the braves then put other animal skins over their bodies also making them selves smell pretty bad with animal fats. One brave with the skin of a wolf or bear will torment the herd until a female thinks her calf is in danger, sometimes the calf will run off first then the stampede starts. The other braves stand at the stakes covered in their animal skins shouting and waving a small branch from a tree, the stampede hurtles down the “road” when the leader comes to the edge of the cliff she cannot stop because of the herd behind her, she goes over with everyone else following. This hunt was in the Autumn/Fall when the Buffalo’s coat was thick and long.

Legend has it that a young brave wanted to watch the buffalo tumble past, standing in the shelter of a ledge as if behind a waterfall, he watched the beasts fall. The hunt was unusually good that day and as the Buffalo bodies piled up the brave became trapped between cliff and the animals. When the people came to do the butchering, they found him with his skull crushed by the weight of the buffalo carcasses! Hence the name.

The museum at the site is excellen,t telling the whole story of the Buffalo and the Plains Indian. The whole of the buffalo was used to feed, clothe, and make the Tipi, their tools and utensils; even games were made - everything they needed to live their life! How this whole animal was used is quite ingenious. All of the bones were not used over for 6000 years, the white man has since mined these bones for use in fertilizer and explosives during WW2 (I think it was 2 not 1) But now of course all of these sites are protected areas.

A jolly good and interesting visit, I had Buffalo Burger for lunch but wasn’t keen!

After lunch I went to the historical town of Fort Macleod (I love historical towns)

This town is 1^st class having a self guided walking tour taking in some excellent preserved buildings. I had a leaflet with an explanation of each building, jolly good. There is also a fort to view, which turned out to be even more interesting then the town. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are one of Canada’s most recognized symbols. The Mounties were created in 1873 as a police force to establish order in the west! The North West Mounted Police were formed May 23^rd 1873. 1 year later they began their trek west and arrived at Fort Whoop-up 3 months later, they built their first fort on an island on the Oldman River in 1884 a new and larger fort was built and named after the man who led them Colonel James F Macleod, this post served at divisional headquarters until 1920’s

The N.W.M.P were formed and sent west not only to keep the Indian – settler problem but also to stop Americans, who were in the area, selling home made whisky to the Indians, making the whole situation worse. Apparently the whisky sellers were gone by the time the N.W.M.P arrived.

We were told when in the North West Territories that the “Mountie always got his man” because there was only one very poor road out of anywhere and if the criminal went overland they either froze to death or were killed by Grizzly Bears.

Fort Macleod was totally self contained and the town grew up around it, there was never much trouble with Indians.

The visit was very interesting with pictures of Queen Victoria everywhere, there was also a display of the Mounties on parade and a riding display, I believe this was from the local riding school it was definitely not the real thing! They did however put on a good show.

Great day,

I then went to a campsite in Cardston I stayed 2 nights doing the cleaning, internet and used my Canadian phone card up ring home to my girls. Tomorrow I will be back in the USA………………that is if they let me in!

30^th and 31^st AUGUST 2008

The next two days are spent in Waterton Lakes Canada and Glacier National Park USA. The two parks are joined with the border running through. The two national parks were named an International Peace Park by the USA and Canada in 1932 and the whole thing was designated a World Heritage Site in 1995, they are also Biosphere Reserves. I have to tell you they are stunning, absolutely beautiful………

Waterton Lakes is so pretty and peaceful, with the lakes surrounded by mountains; I had a couple of nice walks through the forest to the lake but am very nervous of bears, I only went where there were other people.

I had a great lunch in a very western Indian restaurant the burger was the best I have had so far! This is Blackfoot Indian Country with the reservation running along side Glacier Park.

Dramatically beautiful Glacier Park is Montana most treasured attraction; Both Parks have rugged and desolated alpine terrain full of lush valleys, clear crystal lakes, Glacier has amazing waterfalls. The wildlife roams across both parks they have no boarders. I saw the largest and closest Grizzly to date!!!

At Saint Mary’s visitor centre just outside the front door (on a pole provided by the rangers) there is a nesting Osprey with 2 babies getting ready to fly, they kept bobbing up and flapping their wings Mum or Dad fetched food while I was watching! Awesome !

I have also booked an interpretive trip on a 1936 Red bus for tomorrow which should be fun!

The bus is great. I get there very early and manage to get the front seat, the weather has changed and it’s freezing with snow forecaste, I wish I had another layer of clothes on, also some warmer socks!

The bus has been refurbished by Ford to its original classic design, with a few modern things added like flashing yellow indicators and a demister for the windscreen/shield, the doors are very heavy, the inside is made of wood - we are asked not to bang them because the old style catches break and sometimes the glass will break!! The whole of the roof folds back making the bus an open top! The seats are like old double decker buses, 4 or 5 across on the one seat, some people cry off because of the weather so the bus is not full.

The trip its self was superb, at the first stop I brought a pair of warmer socks. The guide was excellent, talking about the bus and the park. It rained most of the morning but we were able to get out and the views were good. Because of the canvas roof there was quite a wind coming through out! In fact across the windscreen/shield there was a gale!! This prevented the windows from steaming up, Oh by the way everyone had a blanket. Stopped at the oldest hotel by Lake McDonald for lunch. The first tourists came to this park by train, and then a horse and cart took them to the lake, they then took a boat arriving at the hotel from the lake, which of course was the front of the hotel, but now that guests arrive by road the hotel is back to front! But still beautiful with a huge log fire and cosy chairs. Lunch was very good, I had liver but declined the sweet when I saw the size of the people sat next to me, They offered me a spoon! The weather has also improved. We were able to have the top rolled back, but as we climb higher the rain comes back but we all say its ok but then the snow comes and we cannot stop to put the roof back as the road is too narrow and twisty, we are at 8000+ft but no one seems to really mind. We have seen lots of Big Horned Sheep. Learnt more about Lodge Pole Pine, after a fire they grow the fastest, straight to the sun, they do not like shade however their quick growth allows the slower growing trees like Cedar and Douglas Fir to take hold, the slower trees will over take the Lodge Pine spreading their branches putting the Lodge Pine in the shade, they then dye but their cone can live on the forest floor for over a hundred years waiting for that forest fire which gives them another turn to rule the forest!!.......................................

Jasper National Park........Canadian Rockie Mountains

2009-04-14T03:11:00.000-07:00

Monday 11^th August 2008

I get repaired in the morning and head out for Jasper Park, fingers crossed nothing else goes wrong!!

The weather could be better, the cloud is very low spoiling the views of the mountains, I cannot see the top of McBride mountain which is a shame the pictures look amazing. The scenery below the cloud is stunning. My first day in Jasper is lovely the weather has improved; I have sunshine with clear blue skies - great!

I pay my entrance fee but do not understand the system, the lady is not very helpful, I keep smiling, but I think she is having a bad day, so I only pay for 1 day and head for Jasper Town. I did not like it at all far too commercialized for me. I just had a walk to the visitors centre, got all the information I needed along with an understanding of the entrance fees, I am ok in Jasper Park until 4pm tomorrow.

Jasper is lovely, mountains and lakes with lots of wild life, one of the lakes even had a beach complete with deckchairs - I thought I was in Scarborough for a minute! One lake, that the Indians named Medicine Lake, has no outlet, it empties every autumn/fall, there are, apparently, 3 bore holes in the bottom. Once the weather in the mountains turns cold the glacier melt stops; the flow out from the lake is greater than the flow in so by the end of autumn/fall there is just a very small stream down the middle of the lake bed, then once the melt starts in the spring the lake fills up again!

The Ice field Highway, which runs through Jasper and Banff National Park, takes you past amazing waterfalls, the Columbia Ice field with many glaciers and wonderful snowy peaks. I spent one night in the park at great expense, it was worth it, this park is truly beautiful.

I have decided to do a detour to Vancouver to see Mary and Carl to do that I have picked a very nice looking round trip starting with Kootenay National Park, the weather is also picking up and getting warmer, Kooteneay is a lovely small park with some very pretty and interesting walks/hikes. One I took was to “Paint Pots” both Indian and European Settlers came to collect the red earth to make paint. The Indian people came to collect the clay which they made into balls, then dried in the sun, ground them up and mixed with fish or animal oil to make paint. In the early 1900; s settlers did the same thing when the big paint company’s also used this mud. Mud mining in a big way was started with the mud being sent to the large towns of Canada. Mining was stopped in the 1920’s when Kootenay became a national park.

I had another expensive nights sleep!

The weather is now very hot! A visit to Fort Steele had me hurrying from shade to shade. This is an early fort in what is now a heritage town. The fort was built to house the North West Mounted Police. Superintendent Steele, with 75 troopers, was sent to resolve the problems between settlers/miners and Indians. Steele developed a very good relationship with the Chief Isadore and the settlers making things very peaceful.

The origin of the fort is linked with the 1860’s discovery of gold on nearby Wild Horse Creek and continued until 1904 by 1910 it was in a state of decay. Local residents started, in the late 1950's, petitioning the government to declare Fort Steele an Historic Park, that came in 1961. Now it is a living museum with folk in costumes of the 1880’s and carrying out activities of the day, making fresh bread. Good visit, I enjoyed myself.

AUGUST 15^TH 2008

I had picked myself out a scenic route taking me to Vancouver (Mary ‘n Carl’s) Mary had told me that the town of Nelson was one of lovely old buildings and very pretty, also her mum had grown up there. Checking out the map I could drive along the side of a lake, cross over by ferry, then come down the other side passing through Nelson, this I decided to do. The drive was amazing. Snowy mountains, beautiful trees, some very interesting little village/holiday areas with a most beautiful lake and some lovely houses. The Ferry was very busy and very well organized. When I arrived I thought I would be ages, but no, everything went like clock work. I guess when you have as many lakes and sea areas as they have in Canada you get jolly good at running ferries! Anyway, my ride to Nelson was very enjoyable, however the temperature had been rising all day, by the time I got to Nelson it was 38.5c or 101.3f - much too hot to leave my air conditioned cab! So I drove around the town as much as I could, some of the buildings are lovely. I leave after a ride around the town heading onto Vancouver and look for a shady spot to sleep, which I did manage to find, the night was quite cool I am pleased to say.

AUGUST 16^TH 2008

I had found a bit of a forest to park in last night, after I had been there around an hour another truck came along and went a little further into the forest than I had. I have also come from mountain time to pacific time, which is back an hour. I had changed my clocks hoping I had gone the right way, but really, when travelling like I am, it doesn’t really matter an hour here or there!

This morning at 5.45am there is a knocking on the door. I was asleep and because it had been so hot yesterday I was also naked! So I ignored the first knock, started to get up at the second, then the banging started on every part of the truck going round. Well you know it takes a girl a while to wake up, get up, get some clothes on, find the glasses and have a quick drink of water by this time the banging is very loud, “I’m coming” I shout. I go to the drivers' seat, (door is double locked and I only need open the window a little). It’s the guy from the other truck; he has come to invite me to breakfast!!! Do I kill him now or later???? I open the window half way telling him I was asleep, he is obsessed with going for breakfast and keeps talking, driving me nuts at that time of the morning, but then I do find out it is in fact 7.45am I had already been in Pacific Time - changing my clock had in fact put me in 'no-time' - i was already in Pacific Time when I changed the clocks, I think I was 2 hours out!! Told you the time is matterless!! I told him I had to get showered and dressed and also my breakfast was ready. He said he would go have his breakfast and return!!! I got dressed P.D.Q and left, I had my breakfast at the next rest stop alone!

This day continued to get very hot with a high of 38c, but also very beautiful - mountains with snowy peaks, so many lakes and trees, stopping at the most awesome overlooks for tea breaks and lunch. This area is the fruit basket of Canada with fruit shops every few miles, I got a box of peaches for Mary and some cherries to nibble on. Gorgeous. By the way, my fridge is now broken, I can manage to keep stuff cool but have to turn it off at night and there is no ice on the freezer. There are also a lot of wineries along the road, I do not visit any of them I think you need a mate for wine tasting.

Sunday 17^th August.

I arrive at Carl and Mary’s in the afternoon after a very pleasant ride through Vancouver on the main highway.

It great to see them both again Carl is leaving early tomorrow on a business trip. I plan to spend a couple of days with Mary……ha! ha!

My fridge does not work at all; I ring around on Monday and to try and find a Waeco 24 volt fridge in Vancouver. The shop that eventually decides it does have a 24volt in the correct size and in stock gives me the name of a guy who may fit the fridge. So far so good. I make arrangements to take my truck for him to see at his place of work on Wednesday morning BUT on Wednesday the truck will not start!!! Mary lives on a hill so I am able to roll backwards and get a jump start………….been here before. In Vancouver there is a Mercedes garage, so I give Hans a ring and arrange to take the truck to him Thursday.

My couple of days does become a week! I have a lovely time with Mary, beautiful walks with Riley the family dog. West Vancouver where Mary lives is very beautiful with forest walks and coastal walks it great. A wonderful evening spent with a friend of Mary’s who made us a gorgeous meal with very nice wine; I think I was a little tipsy!! We also had a great girlie day with another friend shopping and lunch.

The morning trying to find the fitter for the fridge was hilarious, he was working at the side of a dog kennel on a boat in a car park when we stopped (I dared not turn the engine off) the dog went crazy there were loads of them, what a din, well we walked around, went into the kennels which drove the dogs even crazier, a lady, who I guess was the owner, was not impressed until Mary told her how much she liked dogs…….. We had also got the guy a large coffee and a bun, the coffee I keep spilling. We decide he is not there and will leave if only to shut the dogs up. Back in the car park the guy’s phone rang and he popped out of a boat to answer it! After all that he couldn’t do the job until, oh, I can’t remember, I think it was 6 weeks from next Tuesday or some such.

Back at Mary’s house Mary calls a friend of theirs who will do it on Friday!! double smiles. Then the shop say they have only got 12volt - I tell him we were assured it was 24v, after hanging on and fiddling around he came back to say yes it is 24v, the confusion arose because the fridge is either or. So I am happy again.

Thursday I take the truck to Hans, who also fiddles around checking, I don’t know everything he needs to check, in doing this he knocks the wiring from the isolation switch for the batteries and every thing goes crazy. This switch is really malfunctioning, he believes this may have been the problem all the time, but we will not go there! He has not got a new switch but is able to join all the wires and bypass the switch making everything safe. Phew! I’m back on the road again.

Friday Carl is home. We go to pick the fridge up in the morning, it is larger than the one I already have in, which has a draw underneath, Carl takes this out for me and puts in a new shelf for the fridge to sit on. I am so lucky to have such good friends. I have put the draw in the “shed “ to have it resized at a later date. Their friend came late afternoon and I now have a lovely new fridge, black in colour, with a much larger freezer section I am a very happy bunny!!

Saturday I would like to take Carl and Mary for a meal, instead we go to the pictures/movies, a Canadian film made in India; it was very good we then went to a drive in. Which I thought would just be a take away that you eat in the car from the boxes. Wrong! The menu is written on the wall a waitress comes out and tells Carl to put his head lights on when we are ready to order, she then comes back to take our order. I have a British Columbia Burger with a Caesar Salad, I still believe it will come out in polystyrene boxes. She then comes out with a very long tray and asks Mary to lower both windows, the tray fits across the back of the car from window to window, the food is on plates and dishes (paper but what the heck). She then brings another tray to fit across the front from window to window with Carl and my food on!!! Well it was lovely; I guess this is a real Canadian/American thing. Carl put the headlights on when we had finished and all was cleared away. What fun, a Canadian night out, movies and a drive in, apparently these places were a hang out for the guys and dolls!!

What a lovely week I had with 2 very special people.

SUNDAY AUGUST 24^th 2008

I leave Carl and Mary’s after breakfast which followed the Canadian flavour of last night with home made waffles, lovely, with of course Early Grey tea!

It is raining very hard, but my engine starts!

I am heading now for Banff, Glacier National Park and Yellow Stone National Park in America, but I am going to take a few detours on route! ha! ha!

I have picked a scenic route from my map and head up the Frazer Highway which even in the rain is stunning. I park up very early because it really is raining very hard.

Monday August 25^th 2008

The rain has stopped, I had a very peaceful night then an early start driving along the Fraser Highway at the side of the Fraser River. The drive is amazing, beautiful snow capped mountain, trees and the awesome fast flowing river, it was a beautiful day I never get tired of this beautiful country. I parked for the night in a rest area at Craigellachie which is where the last spike was driven into the railway lines which joined both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts also joining British Columbia to the rest of Canada…………

Tuesday 25^th August and 26th August.

I spend the next couple of days driving 4 National Parks of Canada. Mount Revelstoke, Glacier, Yoho and Banff.

In Mount Revelstoke I took the high road to the Meadow in the Sky, this amazing road twists and turns to the very top of the mountain, which is covered with flowers. I guess there is also an amazing view but the cloud is very low spoiling it. However the drive and the flowers made the side trip worth while, it is also of course very high, I had no breath so did not take a walk.

There is also quite a lot of rain through out the 2 days. But once back on the main road and a little lower the views are stunning. I stop a couple of times to take a walk but there are large red notices stating there are bears in the area. I get quite scared and do not walk.

At Takakkaw Falls in Yoho N.P. I ask some people if I may walk near them because of the bears, they, of course, said yes! The falls were beautiful especially with so much rain.

The railways goes through these mountains, the gradient was so steep in one spot that when the line was first built there were a lot of accidents; so now the line twists like a cork screw inside the mountain, the trains are so long that the front of the train comes out of the tunnel and over the top of the back of the same train going in the tunnel! This has reduced the gradient from 4.5% to 2.2% and stopped accidents. Amazing. I was lucky enough to be there when a train was going in and out of the tunnel!

This drive has taken me through some awesome country, there is fresh snow on the mountain tops, I am surrounded by rugged mountains, tall trees, raging rivers and some of the most spectacular lakes I have ever seen.

From Banff Nation Park I go into Kananaskis Country Valley and the beauty continues with the addition of meadows! Kananaskis Village is from the 1988 Olympics.

This has been an amazing drive one of the very best I think, Just wonderful.

Tomorrow I head for “Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump”…………………………………

Stewart-Cassia Highway

2009-04-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

The Stewart-Cassia Highway is a turn off from the Alaska Highway to the rough-and-ready border town of Stewart, BC

Canada

population around 600 and Hyder Alaska , population around 100. This is going to be a round trip of 1500K aprox, if the guide book is right it is worth the effort! It is! I hope and pray that we will be able to see Bears fishing for salmon!! The scenery on the way is breathtaking we pass wonderful waterfalls, hanging Glaciers, the stunning Bear Glacier the largest ice tongue of the Cambria Ice fields.

We also had a great time wildlife watching were able to watch at length a family of foxes, Mum, Dad, 3 kids! Mum and Dad were so skinny, their den was on a rise at the side of the road giving a good viewing position for us. The babies were playing, when we pulled away Dad walked along the road in front of me, I drove very slowly behind him, then suddenly he pounced to his right coming back onto the road with a chipmunk which he appeared to be taking back to the kids! No wonder he is so skinny! We also had a very nice view of a porcupine, after watching his rear end for some time as he kind of wandered away, they do walk very slowly, he changed direction and came straight towards me giving me a first class view - I was so excited I failed to take his photo!

What else did we see ? A Cow Moose, Ptarmigan, Black Bear - the best view I have had,

I could not stop as traffic was very close behind, more foxes and Ptarmigan. It was a very beautiful and exciting ride. Oh yes at our night stop we were able to watch beavers playing in the water.

We also met a lady with a Mercedes truck, smaller than mine, 400 series I think. We had a long chat, she had purchased the truck from a guy from Belgium only a couple of weeks previously. I gave her all the information on the Mercedes garages in Canada we had been able to find.

Arriving in Stewart we were able to get fresh bread, a car wash, a visit to tourist information who gave the info on the Salmon Glacier which sounds amazing.

Then it’s a drive into the USA and the town of Hyder, there is no border going into the US. Hyder is so small, unchanged for number of years. These 2 towns were once 1 whole town then the Canadian and American Authorities checked the border line and cut the town in half, leaving the larger half in Canada and the small community in the US! This small community has kind of got left behind, where folk just get along with living with their own rules and regulation. It all seemed like a great place to live away from the bureaucracy we all live by! There was a restaurant called “The Bus” we are told it’s the best fish and chips in town, guess where I am going to eat!!!!

But right now we are going to the river where with any luck we may see some fishing bears!

A quick lunch, then friends we met with in Whitehorse, Bev and Laurn, stop by for a visit. They have been to the Salmon Glacier and tell me it is a must see. They also invite Les and I for an evening meal (BBQ Fish) they have been told that the local tip is also a good place to see the bears; they will take us in their jeep! They have a medium RV with a jeep in tow.

We hang out along the walk way at the side of the river there are a few Salmon looking for their very own spawning spot, they looked very tattered! We did not see any bears, so we decide to go to the Glacier and try to catch the bears later. We have been told first thing in the morning or late at night. I will drive and we will only take one truck.

I do not know how to describe what I saw. This is just magnificent the glacier is on my left therefore in my left hand drive truck I get such a good view; I want to stop every 5 minutes just to look. The first part of the trip is along the side of the river which is raging glacier melt surrounded by amazing mountains, once alongside and overlooking the glacier it is just awesome you can see right inside right down the crevices into the deep blue of the ice, there are smaller glaciers coming into the side of the large Salmon Glacier it is all breathtaking. The ride back down was just as lovely because you see everything at a different angle I was also at the side of the mountain on the way down which is beautiful in its own right, but very over shadowed by the beauty of the glacier. If nothing else this journey down to Hyder was worth it to see this amazing sight.

When we got back to the car park near the walkway for the salmon river we had left it very late to get back to Stewart and our meal with Bev and Laurn, we decided to go straight to their campsite, Les did not have his passport but we had not needed it to get into Hyder so we figure going back a few hours later should be the same. Wrong! Les needed his passport we smiled, explained, begged; we said how long it would take to open the safe ect! ect! The guy reluctantly agreed to let us through back into Canada.

We spent a lovely evening with our friends he took us to a pier to check on some crab pots they were all empty (he had been speaking to a guy earlier whose pot they were) we then went to the tip (this guy really knew how to show a girl a good time) hung around for a while but did not see any scavenging bears. So back into the US and the river this time we did see a couple of bears but none fishing. I also met up with the young nurse I had met in Inuvik ,she had a friend from England on holiday, they were on their way to Whitehorse where her next job will be. They were 2 very nice kids, I told them to go see the Salmon Glacier.

We were all back at the viewing walk at 6am! Still no bears. There were around 6/8 people we all had a really nice chat al from different areas of the US mostly. There was another nurse from Canada who had just started working in the area, she was with her mum who was visiting. Around 10am we were rewarded with a very handsome Grizzly Bear who walked the whole length of the river, he kept looking at us as much to say “are you taking my picture” it was quite a swagger, he did not fish.

There were, in the little river, around 8 fish - the ranger told us the numbers reach around 50,000 THEN there are lots of bears and Bald Eagles picking them from the river, but no one knows when they are coming but come they will. I guess we are just too early, I am very disappointed.

We go to The Bus for our fish n chip lunch; it really is a bus with a couple of tables out side. We have been told that the lady's husband is a fisher man and she cooks the fish he has caught, it has therefore come straight from the sea into her frying pan how fresh! Perfect! And yes it was beautiful, I really enjoyed it we shared a table with a couple of people from the US so had a very nice lunch time!

This day I am in Les’s truck we have to go back into Canada we both have our passports no problem there. The guy asks if we are going to Stewart as that is the only place to go Les ask “Why does he ask such stupid questions” the guy was not amused. I nearly got under the seat I was very embarrassed this is the border of a country, these guys have enormous power, he could have held us there for how ever long or maybe refused us entry! Anyway I am very pleased to say after some very curt remarks and an apology from Les he sent us on our way!!

We kinda left after this and headed back along that amazing road to Watson Lake. Apart from the beauty of the road you all know what happened my batteries boiled!!!!

The Alaskan Highway

2009-04-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

The Alaska Highway reaches 1390miles (2237k) from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. To Delta Junction, Alaska, there is then another 98 miles to Fairbanks Alaska this is nominally Richardson Highway, but is universally considered the last leg of the Alaska Highway. The highway is commonly known as The Alcan, short for Alaska-Canada Military Highway. In June 1942 the Japanese opened their Aleutian Island campaign, bombing Dutch Harbor for two days then taking Attu and Kiska Island. The US recaptured these islands after a very bloody battle. This made congress realise that Alaska needed to be protected. The road was built in 8 months through the wilderness by the military in military fashion. I saw an original film of the building this road in Fort St John, there were some very steep hills, one when it rained or snowed was so steep that cars just slid back down again and became known as suicide hill which is now the official name, I parked on this hill in the middle of my trauma the engineers who rebuilt the road made the rise on this hill much more acceptable, it was however a good roll start!! The military forded rivers using trees/logs, when the river was full these logs became unstable, water was poured all over the bridge which then froze the logs together making the bridge stable again! This road was good enough for military traffic, but a little scary for others. A crew of aprox 25000 civil engineers followed, building an all year – round overland route joining the 49th state with the lower 48 states. Most of the towns along the highway were first Military Camps then Road builder’s camps. Fort St John has a great museum about the building of the road. One of the houses was a 3 bed family house I was told it was a “Hudson Bay House” I think they came as a flat pack reminded me of a prefab. A very interesting piece of history. Not only was the road built but several war time airfields as well, planes and military equipment were flown to Russia from here on the US lend lease scheme, this must have made a huge difference to the outcome of the war, the Brits were struggling to support the Russians by sea and losing tons of shipping, valuable equipment and men in the effort. The road is not only interesting it is beautiful, jaw dropping at times. We did a side trip to the old small mining town of Atlin our friend “J” had been there telling how lovely this place was. The drive there was beautiful mountains on our left with lakes and mountains on the right. The highlight of the trip for Les, we were able to watch at great length Common Night Hawks
these are huge birds (looked to me like Gulls) they also catch insects which apparently for a bird that size is unusual, Les could not find the birds in his book.

In Atlin a guy in (birdwatcher) stopped to chat Les asked about these birds we had seen the guy was puzzled as well. When Les at last found them in his book he was so excited, these birds hunt during the day in groups when they have babies meaning you only really get to see them for a short time each year. Very Exciting!!! We have seen so many birds a lot of which are not easy to see I now have a “Bird Bragg List” In Atlin we also saw 3 Osprey! Lots of chipmunks. Most of the building in the town are original, it had been a thriving gold rush town, in the library there was an art and craft exhibition which I must say is one of the very best I have ever been to, the quality and variety is excellent, some amazing quilts  by a very talented artist. We continue along this amazing highway to Watson Lake. Here, in 1942, a private who had been sick and on light duties was given the job of repainting the road signs, while he was doing this and feeling homesick he decided to paint one of his own - “Danville, Illinois” others added their own signs and there are now nearly 100,000 signs from all over the world, “Signpost Forest” After our side trip to Stewart and Hyda we spend a couple or three days at Lake Watson getting my repairs at least lined up for a repair in Prince George. The road is beautiful, the wild life amazing, we saw a couple of herds of Bison, which I was very excited about, along with bears, sheep, mule deer and lots of birds. This road for many reason has been quite a journey, as far as the truck is concerned the worse for me BUT nothing can be taken away from its beauty, the wilderness, the awesome wild life, the many interesting people I have talked to and the achievement of building the road. It has all been quite an experience. One I am pleased not to have missed….. I say that with hindsight ha! ha! I arrive in Prince George with relief after a visit to the tourist information and Freightliner. We park up early at Wal Mart and I have a McDonalds!! While we are in Prince George Les and I go to the pictures/movies to see Mama Mia Julie has told me it is very good also that I am in it! Not really sure what she meant. Until I saw Julie Walters and oh yes there I was, I even recognised myself and my behaviour when all the girls were at home, Julie will tell you she has the photos to prove it  The film was on a very large screen we were sat I think too near the front - I had to put my sick bands on!! We also found a very good wireless internet restaurant “African Food” it was lovely we could also get cover in the car park. While I was parked in the Wal Mart car park a small truck came and parked next to me the couple sat out side, of course we got talking, then the guy said whilst waving is cam-recorder “I guess you have one of these” what says I. No I just have a still camera which I can take small films with. We have been to Alaska 6 times says he would you like to look at the DVD’s!!!!! Well that would be nice says I but I have purchased a film about Alaska and have just returned. I excuse myself and sit reading out side my truck the guy comes over to continue his conversation telling me he has 14 grandchildren AND would I like to watch the DVD’s of them……………. Quick thinking is needed here…..my DVD player is from England and cannot play American DVD’s phew!! I do know he was being kind and friendly but can you imagine watching DVD’s about kids you do not even know and have never seen! The fridge is still not working, every day I think it is running on “T” Cakes When I leave here I am heading for Jasper Park………………………………

What Happened Next?

2009-04-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

You will not believe what happened to me next!!

Friday 8^th August I spent nearly all day in the garage getting fixed, the new alternator on, a couple of fuses replaced and was assured that everything was good to go.

I drove to the car wash had a good clean and filled up with water, then went to the launderette getting all my clothes clean as well, by this time it was around 7pm. I was very tired so went to a restaurant that had internet for my tea and to finish what I was doing earlier in the day, after this I went back to Wal Mart to spend the night, It was very warm so I sat outside, a guy came over to speak about the truck, he ended up staying a couple of hours (I am never up this late!).

Saturday morning I filled up with diesel, did a food shop, finally leaving Prince George around 11am feeling happy and confident. Before noon I had no powered steering and the temperature gauge was through the roof. Pulling into a rest area, I could see broken belts, 2 of which were from the new alternator, the other one was the powered steering. Also my coolant was all over the engine and ground. I filled the coolant, took out the broken belts, which were shredded, waited an hour to cool down and started the trip back to Freightliner. After only 10-15mins I am boiling again so must stop for another hour, going at this rate 10-15mins, driving a little extra when I was going down hill, then stopping around an hour to cool down, it took me nearly 8 hours to get back to Prince George. I knew the Tourist Information was at the side of the road I was on, also it had a good parking area, so I went there parked up and asked permission to stay the night, after telling my story, they could not believe I was laughing!!!

Sunday Morning I have no batteries, I am a no start again! Tourist Information rang Freightliner; spoke to them very disapprovingly asked for a tow truck to be sent. So there I am on the back of a tow truck!!!!

A couple of truck drivers stopped to help when I was limping back, both were from the US and had no Canadian phone both looked at the belts I had taken from the engine and called the mechanic ****************** for putting belts in old belts back on the new alternator. Even the new mechanic at Freightliner said the belts should have been replaced. I have a whole selection of new belts so that was not a problem. We will see what happens when I ask for a reimbursement for the tow 64.5$ (£33 aprox) I hope they have the good grace not to argue. But we all know what garages are like it must have been my fault!!!!

Also it rained very hard all Saturday afternoon; I had left a window not closed properly and have a wet seat. It rain twice as hard all day Sunday……………………..

I Just Want an AA Man!

2009-04-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

Oh dear! Why does everything come at once? When we arrived in Whitehorse I had a terrible noise from under the front of the truck, it sounded very serious and knowing that all my brakes had been checked only around 6 weeks ago and were passed as excellent for the front and complete new brakes at the rear, I was very worried. A guy stopped to help, turned out he was a mechanic and said it was a “solenoid jumping” ????? which worried me even more. Any way I spent a whole day trying to get the truck looked at, everyone was busy; I was finally directed to a guy who could and did help me. I had a stone in the front brakes which took a few minutes including “popping” the front wheel, we also found a loose shock absorber in the rear, easily fixed and a strap holding the grey water tank had broken this was fixed as well. My worry had all been for nothing.

The next morning, when the engine would not start, I just thought I had left something on. I have a panel above the windscreen (or windshield) which I do sometimes forget to turn off, I did not think anything off it, Les gave me tow around Wal Mart car park and we left Whitehorse.

Heading for Watson Lake (some 700k or 435miles with very little to no services) one lunch time I have a flat tyre, I could see there was a screw in the tyre. This is my worst nightmare the wheels are at the very back of the trunk/boot/or shed as Les calls my storage area also they are very, very heavy to get at them is a very heavy and dirty job. UG! The screw was very well embedded in the tyre, so as my truck had an air line we decided to blow the tyre up and see if it would hold………… yip! It did I was able to drive to the garage in Watson Lake and get the wheel fixed without getting the others from the shed! We then spent a couple of days at a campsite before heading to Stewart/Hyda which is approximately 1600k/nearly 1000 mile round trip.

Tuesday 22^nd July we set off for Stewart, I again failed to start but the young lad who repaired the tyre towed me off, Les was at a garage having a wonky starter motor changed. Again I though nothing of the failure to start I had been using electric for a couple of days and just thought a good drive would sort everything out. How wrong could I be!

On the return journey approximately 500k/330miles from Watson Lake, I start getting very warm, my left arm is receiving a very warm breeze, feeling around to try and find where the warm breeze is coming from my fingers touch the battery box under my seat (I am still driving) this is boiling hot, too hot to touch. PANIC! My friend Stephen Stewart (China Trip) once told me a battery can blow through the roof of a car, I am sat on it! At that moment we had to stop at road works, OH! By the way it is 5pm Friday night; I jumped out, up turned the seat to see smoke coming from the box! Thanks to Ian I have 2 switches to isolate the batteries, these I turned to 'off' very quickly. Les came to see what was up. **** **** was his reply when I told him. Please remember Les is only 1 rung above me on the mechanics ladder, but of course we are holding up the traffic queue/line. A couple of workers came in a truck, one guy said he would go and find the mechanic who was working on the grader, they came back to tell us the mechanic could not leave the grader but we should disconnect the alternator which was over charging, or turn everything on and go to their work depot which was 30k away, where there was a mechanic. Well neither of us could dismantle the alternator, I was too scared to turn the batteries back on (you could hear them bubbling) - I could remember too clearly Stephens words. As I was just at the top of a small rise Les gave me a nudge enabling me to jump start. Slowly we arrived at the works depot but because it was so late on Friday afternoon the mechanic had gone home, he would not be back until Monday. What to do? We parked for the night, me on a slope and went to bed! Next morning I rolled and jump started, my biggest worry being - was I doing further damage? Neither us knew, but we were miles from help, we stopped at a garage, Les rang the guy who had fixed his starter, telling him what had happened and we would be at his garage first thing Monday morning (we hoped).

With great relief we arrive in Watson Lake and back on the campsite I am very worried about the truck and the lack of help available in this country with such huge distances between anything. We spent the Sunday doing laundry, washing the vehicle, odd jobs and email.

Monday 28^th July. I am at the garage for 7.30am, because I have been able to jump start most of the time I can still use the battery when I have no slope, the batteries are nice and cold now! The garage was very good, although could not repair me as the alternator was now burnt out, because the electric had no where to go, but at least I had not been blown through the roof. I think my girls would not be pleased had I blown myself up to try and save £500. The garage guy was great and tried to help as much as he could, told me I would not do any more damage driving with batteries isolated but he could not guarantee this, which is fair enough and that I had 10 to 12 starts before the batteries went totally flat. Of course I have no lights which are mandatory during day light hours, here in Canada. I just hoped if I was stopped the fact I am an old lady and a Brit would get me through. Very worrying though. He also told us it could take anything up to 2 weeks for the part to arrive in Watson Lake, once the part arrived in Vancouver it would have to wait for a flight to Whitehorse - which he said do not go everyday, once in Whitehorse it would then have to wait for something coming down to Watson Lake! I really did not want to wait with such an uncertain arrival time.

Back at the campsite, I used the phone to ring several tourist information centres, all of which are miles and miles away, to try and find where we could have a new alternator from England sent. We needed a fair sized town which we hoped would have a garage and a UPS or similar to have the parcel delivered. This proved to be hopeless even the UPS and DHL could not help along our route there were only delivery boxes, which enable a customer to post a parcel and UPS/DHL would pick it up but no drop off’s. All of this took a couple of hours to sort out at the end of which I was very stressed and getting up set.

By the way I am in the AAA/CAA and, just for the record, the AA, but the AAA or CAA only send a tow truck to tow for 100miles free in the US the rest is to be paid for (which I understand is very expensive). I am not sure about Canada but guess it is very similar, they do not send a nice man with all his tools to try and fix the engine and if that is not possible he will arrange to take you and your vehicle home, where ever that is, or drop the vehicle off at a garage and then take you home all this is included in the price of your membership at home - the joys of living on a small island!

Back to Watson Lake in the wilderness of Canada. We decided the biggest place we would be going through was Prince George but that is some 1600k or 1000miles away from where we are, this would make a total of 2000k driving - without an alternator. We have good internet cover so Les checks out the truck garages in Prince George he found 3, one of these is a “Freightliner”, we know these from South and North America, they belong to the Mercedes Group, our experience with them in South America was excellent, I had the bearings on my truck repaired by Freightliner in Denver, Colorado so with fingerers crossed Les rang them up. They tried to get an alternator but said we would may be get one quicker from our own source, which could be then delivered to them in Prince George. This we did, our friend Wayne at Gerard Mann, Wolverhampton. UK had all I needed on its way by the time I rang the next morning, which of course is the afternoon in the UK. Les had emailed Wayne once we had found Freightliner!

TUESDAY 29^TH JULY 2008

We leave Watson Lake for the long trek down the Alaska Highway which is very beautiful and interesting; I will tell you about that later, I need to get all this off my chest! I found it very hard that first day driving without electric - no clocks or gauges. I nearly ran out of diesel at one point, I am also very worried about the vehicle. We stop at the hot springs by the Liard River, when we stop Les said he could smell burning! Then told me I had another problem the left rear wheel (I think it’s the hub the bit in the centre were all the nuts are) was so hot you could not touch it!!! I feel sick!! Another chap with a Mercedes parked at the side of me joined in the discussion; we all think I have a big problem. I am feeling too ill to go into the hot springs or eat lunch so I go back to the main road where there was a garage and hotel, telling Les I will meet him there when he has finished. I phone the garage in Vancouver where I had my new rear brakes repaired some 6 weeks ago. Hans reckons there is nothing wrong with the brakes I must have left the hand brake/emergency brake on. I cannot say I had not as with no gauges , clocks or warning lights I could have very easily, fingers crossed he is right, we was however able to give me the name of a guy at Muncho Lake who may pop the wheel and have a look - maybe blow the dust out.

By the time Les joined me the wheel was cold and I made very sure that the brake was off, by the time we got to Muncho Lake, which is very beautiful, the wheel was still cold so I decided to go further on. I now have another worry - is there a big problem with the rear wheel, every time I stop the wheel is cool, but I think warmer then the other side!!

Wednesday 30^th July 2008

It rains and I have no wipers, also I am experiencing some loss of power, I cannot explain, it does not sound like loss of fuel, just power. I go down the box to 3^rd gear and then we pick up again, I am beginning to get very stressed, 3 big lorries pass me and cover the windscreen/shield I have to stop and clean it. We get to Fort Nelson and I find a garage, again a very nice chap, I explain about the wheel but he said he was to busy to look. I am at the end of my tether. I tell him I am upset, explain about the alternator then, as I feel tears about to come, tell him in a minute I am going to just be a “girl” that the rain and the 3 lorries were just the end! He must have felt sorry for me because he came and had a look at the wheel, told me I must have left the brake on and the wheel was fine, explained a bit more on how the oil and everything worked but promised me all was well.

We sleep in Fort Nelson.

The next day head out for Fort St John, its raining pretty hard, I feel the wheel every time we stop, I still have no wipers so have to keep stopping to clean the window. I cry nearly all day and I am very frightened, why am I here? My small island mentality kicks in why am I not at home where help is so easy?

But then tell myself not be so soft, you are here because most of the time you are having a great time, so just get a grip. I spend 3 days in this state getting down and telling myself off, but of course I can only go on, I cannot just sit and cry, apart from anything else its not my way - never has been.

Saturday 2^nd August we arrive in the afternoon at Prince George going to Freightliner. I am so worried that they will not do the repair I feel sick and have a blinding head.

We speak to parts first and Curtis who Les spoke to about the part is not there but he has left instructions with everyone so they are aware that I am arriving, good start! In the service department there is a little hiccup at first, but this is a language problem, the young lady asked is the vehicle a van or a motor home, because I called it a van she said they do not repair vans but they do repair motor homes, then I told her it is a European van because that is what we call them but it could be a truck or it could be a motor home what ever she wanted to call it! at which point I think she was very confused so went and fetched the service manager. He was not fazed at all, yes we will repair your vehicle, unfazed that it did not plug into a computer, so some time next week when the part arrives I will be fixedJ

I am exhausted but relieved so relieved. I didn’t mention that my fridge is broken, we think it may just need its tubes and pipes cleaning at the back but I cannot get the thing out, the couple of places I stopped at on the way down could not fit me in for a week, but just up the hill from Freightliner is an RV repair shop I have an appointment for Wednesday next fingers crossed.

We head for Wal Mart and an early stop I am so exhausted ……………………

I will tell you all about Alaska and the Alaska Highway before I leave here I have plenty of time. Once I am sorted Les is heading for Reno and home much earlier then he planned so I will continue this adventure on my own, well sorry for the moan but I feel better now

Alaska - part the second

2008-08-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

On the road back up to Anchorage I decided to turn left on a road to Hope, the guide book makes it sound nice, there is a road so, off I go. Around half way to Hope I came over the brow of a hill and could see 3 cars travelling in different directions all badly parked with their doors open, I thought there must have been an accident so went forward very slowly and carefully, then I realised everyone in the road had a camera and were all looking towards the trees on the right, it wasn’t a bear ‘cause you stay in the car for a bear, so clutching the camera I walked around the parked cars - it was a Moose with her baby, nonchalantly eating the trees, the baby was quite unperturbed by the audience and attention they were getting, both just carried on munching the baby getting quite near, there was then a rustling in the bushes, out popped a 2^nd baby they were twins!! Everyone got very excited, the little family were there ages and were still munching when all the spectators left, I am sure more followed us.

Hope itself was just beautiful, with a wonderful view of the Cook Inlet and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, the best historic “down town” with old and very quaint log homes, shops, restaurants even a library and post office. I am told again it is a gold rush town but here even more then Talkeetna very little has changed. I would love to have stayed here a couple of days, the RV Park is at the very edge of the water - people were fishing from the beach. Near the library, well in the same parking lot, there is a coffee/muffin stand (very old caravan) a second hand book shop and a local artist’s gift shop. First I went to the book shop and did a book swap had a chat with a really nice lady, then I went to the gift shop which was empty had a little wander round there were 3 rooms the door bell rang I thought there were more customers when I got back to the counter it was the same lady from the book shop, she ran all 4, the library which she had started herself for the local people, coffee shop, second hand book shop and the gift shop, she said it is a very short summer and long winter! She had been born in Hope and lived there all her life, still in the house she was born in and had raised her own family in the same house, I thought that was lovely. She also told me when she was a little girl she believed “Goldilocks” was written about her and that all children had bears in their yards/gardens. nice little story.

Back on the highway I spent the night near Portage Glacier, I never get tired of looking at glaciers they are so very beautiful the colours are amazing.

I arrived early on the 10^th July at Charlie and Martha’s Les had gone to a garage and would return later, Charlie fitted my reversing monitor and gave me home made Clam Chowder for my lunch, spent a couple hours chatting and left theirs around 3pm stopping out side a Laundrette in Palmer, after doing our washing we spent the night it was a good stop.

JULY 11^th 2008

We are heading for Valdez. To get there we must travel along some of Alaska’s most jaw-dropping drives, it has just been declared a National Scenic Highway, this is really our main reason for taking this route and going down as far as Valdez. We also plan to visit “Copper Centre” and “McCarthy and Kennecott” all of which sound most interesting.

Unfortunately there is a lot of low cloud particularly in the morning. We do get the amazing view of “Matanuska Glacier this is one of Alaskas' most accessible ice tongues nearly licking Glenn Highway, it stretches some 27 miles from its source in the Chugach Mountains. We had some really good views from the road and could very clearly see the ice below the moraine, I think it is the first time I have seen it so clearly, we still managed to have some amazing views of snowy summits, panoramic passes, gorgeous gorges and of course gigantic glaciers, we have to come back along the same road - with luck we will have less cloud, what we have seen so far is mind blowing!

Our first turn off is to Copper Centre a pretty little town situated on the sockeye-salmon rich Klutina River, this area was long used by the Ahtna Indians but at the turn of the last century was a pit stop for thousands of prospectors stampeding to the Klondike and Fairbanks goldfields. There are now only around 400 people living as permanent residents. There is a very interesting museum inside a couple of old log cabins with Russian religious artefacts, Alaskan native baskets, mining memorabilia from Kennecott and the gold rush, the lady attendant was a resident born and bred, she knew a lot of stuff and was very eager to share her knowledge, interesting little visit.

Once we turned left from the main high way toward McCarthy and Kennecott we had some spectacular views of the Chgach Mountains we also crossed the mighty Copper River where there are dozens of fish wheels working, we took a walk to get a little nearer to them, there had been a very bad flood a couple of nights before which had done a lot of damage to the wheels, one guy spoke to us who was really fed up. There were several guys, their wheel looked to us a total wreck, but he said they would repair it tomorrow! A lady came to look at hers she spoke to us for ages, it was a shared wheel from where she worked, there were 10 people, she said last year they had lots of fish to share, their wheel was ok but the walk way to it was broken down, she rang her husband to bring some waders.

To accommodate the hordes of people who come to look after the wheels and dip net for Red and King Salmon it is possible to camp free along the whole river bed there were loads of people camped looking after their wheels, so we just joined them! Some have boats and go out fishing I am not sure if they were dip netting, I watched a boat with 6 guys coming in with their catch, all had large freezer boxes they cut and divided up the fish at the side of the river, the gulls were going crazy!

July 11^th 2008

The road up to McCarthy and Kennecott is dirt and rough. As there are only 2 of us I suggested we both go in my truck. The road was not so bad apart from 1 spot where I hit a large hole which I did not see, but missed it on the way back.

The McCarthy Road starts at Chitina by passing through a single lane notch blasted through a granite out crop, from here we traced a 60 mile route along the Copper River and Northwest Railroad bed that was used to transport the copper from the mines, the dirt road has just been laid on top of the railroad bed in places the sleepers can be seen very clearly. Apart from the dust and pot holes the drive was very beautiful.

The road ends at a foot bridge from where you can either walk the mile or so to McCarthy and then the 4.5 miles to Kennecott or pick up a shuttle (5$) which will take you first to McCarthy and then on to Kennecott. We took the shuttle!

Kennecott was the biggest copper find in history at the beginning of the 1900’s, the prospector who found it had broken his leg and was looking for a place to lay up, looking up the mountain from the ice field he saw what he thought was a green meadow, when he and his mule got there is was the green copper rocks just laying on the surface, this mountain contained some of the richest copper deposits ever uncovered. The syndicate first built the railway 196 mile through wilderness it reached the mine in 1911. Then a company town was built, this included bunkhouses, very nice homes for the management, a school, company store, recreation hall and of course the Mill. Everything that belonged to the company was painted red; there was no alcohol or ladies! As in other boon towns hence McCarthy 4.5miles away where the guys would go if and when they had the time and the money, the mile was in operation 24x7x363 the only holiday the workers had was Christmas day and Independence day, July 4^th everyone went to McCarthy for a grand parade and party, this tradition is carried on to day 1000’s come for July 4^th in McCarthy.

From 1911 to 1938 591,000 tons of copper had been got out of the mines at a profit of more then $100million. In November of 1938 the mine was closed, the workers were given less then an hour to collect there belongings and catch the last train. In consequence the memorabilia left behind was colossal, a lot had been lost but there is still an awful lot of very interesting stuff to see.

At the very edge of the mine and other building is the Kennecott Glacier which has retreated a lot since 1938. There is also a smaller glacier higher up the mountain which we were able to see.

I wished we had our own trucks I would like to have stayed over night there were a couple of hikes I would like to have done.

We had a lovely meal in the hotel which was the bunkhouse for managers the walls are covered in interesting memorabilia.

Great day. Our drive back was good the views were stunning I missed most of the holes I hit in the morning. We spent a second night at the river bed.

JULY 13^th 2008

I go in Les’s truck for our trip to Valdez, the journey there just gets better and better with Spectacular views of the Chugach Mountains, Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls to name just a couple of the stunning waters falls we passed along with what seems like glaciers at every turn a Magnificent drive.

I had rung a head for a boat tour we had decided on the Columbia Glacier Cruise this is a 7 hour trip leaving at 2pm and cruising through Prince William Sound we hope to see wild life, the Columbia Glacier is the last of Alaska’s tidewater glaciers to go into a retreat this retreat started in 1978, by 1983 had moved off the terminal moraine, there is approximately 18 miles to go before reaching bedrock on shore.

We get there in time for an enjoyable lunch before we needed to board the boat, there will be an evening meal served on board.

Valdez was and still is a fishing village, until 1977 when the first tanker of oil issued forth from the Tran Alaska Pipeline Terminal across the bay, Valdez became an oil town. It was here in March 1989 that the tanker Exxon Valdez against port regulations, with its captain tippled grounded on a reef spilling at least 11 million gallons of oil into the Sound! The residents still claim to be able to collect oil from that spill nearly 2 decades laterL

Our trip was awesome my very favourite the Sea Otters, they are so cute, when they are not eating they float on their backs grooming and resting with their front paws/hands crossed on their tummies. We also saw Orcas and Humpback Whales, Horned and Tufted Puffin they are so beautiful, Cormorant, Kittiwakes, Murre and Bald Eagle also Harbor Seal and Steller Sea Lion.

The company on the boat was good and interesting, our tea was lovely and I only felt a little bit sick! But I do have to sit down a lot; its looking through the binoculars I think makes it worse.

The Glacier was amazing as always there were lots of Iceberg’s I have not seen a Tide Water Glacier before, we did not see it calf, but you can’t have everything!

Our ride back to my truck was even more amazing going later in the day and in the opposite direction. Fabulous!

JULY 14^th 2008

We are now heading for Canada and leaving Alaska, I have loved it, it is so different and so very beautiful, we leave through Tok. The road is magnificent Snow capped Mountains, Raging Rivers, Terrific Trees Awesome.

By the time we get to Tok I discover I have a shock absorber broken from its bracket. I am able to get this fixed in Tok. Nice young lad who lives in Tok year round the coldest it gets is -70c can you imagine that, they do not go out when its that cold the schools close -50c he said -40 or -50 is ok but you must cover your face eyes will freeze your spit freezes and your snot UG!!!

Sadly I leave Alaska, may be I will come back some time!!

Alaska....

2008-08-12T02:46:00.000-07:00

JUNE 26^TH 2008

ALASKA.

A thousand WOWS’ describes this amazing state.

The Yukon, North West Territories and Alaska are described as wilderness, Alaska is called the last frontier I do believe it is the last state in the US to be homesteaded, in the 1920’s when Oklahoma became a dust bowl “Okie’s”, as they were called, came to Alaska under a government scheme, to homestead, thereby cultivating some of this wilderness.

For me the wilderness of this whole area is truly magnificent there are hundreds of miles of tundra, forest, mountains, glaciers, rivers and creeks some of which I bet have never seen a human, there are of course flowers, birds and animals everywhere, To see all this wild life is just awesome, I thought if I saw 1 bear I would be ecstatic, now I have lots count of how many!!!! The flora here grows very quickly in the long 24 hour sunshine; I think some of the largest vegetables in the world have been grown in this state. It is just magnificent so read on, I hope I can do it justice … ……..

Our first drive into Alaska was lovely, mountains, forests and snow peaks, we stopped off in Tok, - everyone that drives into Alaska comes through Tok usually as we did twice - 2^nd time going out! We stopped at the visitors centre to collect brochures and had our lunch, then pushed on to Fairbanks, we drove into very large road works with very little to no signs, (remember we have lost our navigator this is our first big town,) On the diversion signs instead of putting towns or direction like North, South, East or West, which Americans are fond of doing, the signs that were there just had street namesL For tourists and strangers this definitely is not a good practice, Les used the GPS and followed that east, by the time we got sorted out away form the road works we had missed Fairbanks altogether L just done a complete bypass L well neither of us felt like going back, we were both a bit fed up so we just pushed on. I am sorry really because I wanted to go to Barrow the most northern town in the US; I also think in the world not to sure about that, does anyone know? In Barrow there is a very good chance of seeing Polar Bears; you have to stay in a hotel, not allowed to camp in case you get eaten! Apparently Polar Bears walk down the street looking for food in the early spring; they are very hungry at that time. Like all the bears they have to eat as much as they can before winter comes back! Any way I missed that trip silly me.

Also I need a supermarket I am very low on fresh food.

We went into a small town called Nenana looking for a grocers shop there was one but it did not have much of what I needed only fresh oranges so I got those! We found a nice park for the night free and just at the side of the river.

The village of Nenana is at the confluence of the Nenana and Tanana Rivers, the name was given by the native people who have lived on this land for generations and means “ a good place to camp between rivers” it was a good place for us. With its close proximity to the Alaska Railway and Tanana River which flows into the Yukon, what appeared to be a sleepy little town is in fact a bustling riverboat and railroad terminal, 2 barge lines are based here these handle all the freight bound for the many outlying villages.

Nenana is also famous for its Ice Classic; Since 1917, in late February, a 26 foot tall five legged black and white tripod is set in the ice of the Tanana river, tickets are sold throughout Alaska, (Les and I got one each) In April a cable is attached to the tripod from a clock on shore, when the ice moves and the tripod moves approximately 100 feet the cable then trips a mechanism which in turn stops a clock. So if your guess at the day, the hour and the minute is correct you get a split of the pot, which in recent years has been well over $300,000. This event announces spring’s arrival and a party I am told! So fingers crossed I get a share!

A further piece of local history. In January 1925 there was a possibility of a diphtheria epidemic in Nome which is on the North West coast of Alaska at the Bering Sea. Serum was rushed by rail to Nenana and from there was taken overland by dog slay, A relay of musher’s travelled in high winds and -60F temperatures. Today a 1,000 mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race commemorates this lifesaving run.

We stayed later in the morning so we could have a good look around and a long chat with the guy in tourist information. This was a great night stop; there is also a very pretty log church with native paintings inside.

JUNE 28^TH 2008

DENALI PARK

Encompassing both the north and south flanks of the Alaska Mountain Range Denali Park is an immense subarctic wilderness centred on Mount McKinley North America’s highest mountain, this looks so impressive because it rises 18,000feet from the elevation of 2,000 feet we were very lucky; this mountain spends a lot of its time hidden by cloud but we had some very good views, once seen it is unmistakable, rising, covered in snow, way above its neighbours.

Denali is an almost perfect eco system which has not changed for 1,000’s of years, the park was enlarged to enable the animals to stay with in its bounds, therefore protected, there is only 1 small community that is allowed to hunt within the park, this they have been doing for generations, the community was cut off from the outside world therefore without their hunting they would not survive, it is now reached by air. So Denali lives and dies within its own boundaries just as it has done since time began. It was founded in the beginning to protect the Dall sheep which were being killed in huge numbers to feed the “Stampeders” during the gold rush.

Vehicles are only allowed a short distance into the park, the best way to visit is by shuttle bus or a tour bus depending on how long you have and what you want to see, we took 2 tour busses and 2 shuttle busses over 3 days this worked out very well we were able to see a lot.

We took the free shuttle to Savage River (which is as far as visitors can drive) at the river we did a short hike, we met a Marmot which is bigger then a ground squirrel it was just playing around and let us watch and take photos for ages before it disappeared done a crack in the rock, it always amazes me how these little creatures slide down the smallest cracks. Further along the we were able to watch a Ptarmigan sitting on at least 5 chicks, there were also a number of Ptarmigan with their young running around, these birds turn pure white in the winter so they are not such easy prey in the snow. On that trip we also saw some Caribou and Dall sheep. We then took the next shuttle back to the car park and had lunch followed by a further shuttle to dog kennels, this was such an interesting visit, Denali has its own dog sled team that tours the park in the winter, delivering goods and generally checking that every thing is ok, also some hikers/campers are allowed in the winter months so they are checked on by the dogs as well. We toured the kennels where the dogs live most of them were standing on top of their houses. There were also 3 babies, a small museum, we had a demonstration by a ranger of how the dogs work this showed just how much they love working, once the sled came out the dogs went wild to get going, the ranger also told quite a history of working dogs in Alaska, they are still used for hunting and delivering, snowmobiles are taking over these everyday tasks, I guess racing will always be around, when you look at the map of Alaska there are very few roads, most of which are closed in summer!

We hiked back to the car park through the woods we did not meet a Moose I am very happy to say, apparently they are very unpredictable and will stomp you to death! Each tour guide we had said they are more frightened of a Moose then a Bear.

I think the main reason people come in droves to Denali Park is to get a view of Mount McKinley, the second highest peak in the US, the scenery and the wild life.

To get the best and most out of our visit we took 2 trips the first to the new Eielson Visitors centre which is built into the tundra slopes with the roof serving as an observation deck, providing an opportunity for viewing, wild life, the outstanding tundra landscape and on good clear days Mount McKinley. When we were there the weather was awful rain and cloudy so no view of the mountain, but we had had an earlier view, the wild life was all hiding from the rain while the mist shrouded the landscape. However I did see the most beautiful quilt I think I have ever seen! In the visitors centre at the far end on a very large wall is a magnificent picture of the 4 seasons in Denali, the picture is so lovely you feel the need to get closer as I drew closer I could see several ladies with their noses nearly touching the picture, I then realised that this was infact a quilt, it is stunning! The fabric is hand dyed, hand painted, hand painted using fabric dye, hand and machine quilting, which I think covers just about everything one could do on a quilt! This amazing picture all achieved by a local artist, by her name I think she is Native American, they had no information on the quilt or the artist and seemed unable to answer questions, I must have picked a bad day.

This is the whole quilt all 4 seasons

And 2 very small sections:-

This is truly exquisite art work!!

We were very disappointed not to be able to have a hike here at this centre, but the rain was very steady and heavy this would have been quite a problem sitting in wet things for 4 hours on the ride back.

The following day our tour, which was narrated, took us to the very end of the road Kantishna once a gold mining town is at the end of the 90 mile park road, here we met with a ranger for a walk and a talk about the area we had a visit to an old cabin, lived in by a lady who had spent her life in the north prospecting and keeping road houses, she had built this house with her 2^nd husband and lived here until she died, when they took her to Anchorage to be buried, I think that was awful she should have been laid to rest in her wilderness! This was also the only place where the mosquitoes were thick, very thick, our tour guide provided everyone with a hat net, I have my own, this is a mosquito net that just goes over your hat or just over your head, is big enough to cover your neck and tuck into your jacket, there were 1000’s of the little beasties all around each person head, they were horrid and even followed us back into the bus, I think we have been a little early for the mossie’s. We were told they were this bad in the north and although we have had some this is the only time we have been swarmed with them.

Over these 2 days our wild life sightings have been great, Moose, Grizzly Bears, Caribou, Dall Sheep, Fox, Marmot and Snowshoe Hare, Eagles

We watched a Bull Moose for ages in a large lake/pond dipping his whole head in to drink and eat water vegetation, we also saw a Cow Moose with her baby that was very exciting. We also watched a Grizzly (they are by the way blond here in Denali because they live mostly on vegetation and roots) digging for roots he was, of course, a long way off but with the binoculars easy to watch, he dug and dug pulling and pushing eventually getting a good length of root which he sat with and was eating when we left.

We also got 3 or 4 good sightings of Mount McKinley.

I went out for my tea and had Fish and Chips, Halibut it was very good !!

JULY 1^ST 2008

We are leaving Denali after 3 nights on our little bit of free gravel, Les went a head of me as he had a few jobs to do, just as I was getting ready to go a couple of workmen came along and measured up something in the scrub and banged a post in with a little pink flag on the top, then a couple more guys came along in a different vehicle with a sign in the back. They seemed to have trouble making a hole in the ground just where the little flag was, so after a bit they left leaving the sign on the ground it read “No Overnight Parking” phew we had had 3 good night and were leaving!

I followed Les to fill up with water and loo dump; whilst we were doing this another RV came in and the chap asked had we been on that bit of waste gravel as they had just put a sign up, we were glad our little stay was over, but this guy had only arrived the night before so was looking for a new spot, we told him of one we had spotted a little further along the road with no signsJ

Tonight we are stopping in the small old railroad town of Talkeetna this is where miners, prospectors and adventurers used to live, it is at the junction of the broad Talkeetna, Susitna and Chulitna Rivers, the word means 'where the rivers join'. The town was built along the rivers and the railroad track. Today this old town has evolved into a place where mountain climbers prepare for their trips to climb Mount McKinley and others.

This has kept this wonderful old place alive, my guide book says that in Talkeetna there is an old original road house still in operation which is what I wanted to see, we have seen lots of road house sights and ruins; a couple preserved but closed, they seemed to play such a large part in the development of the north I thought it would be good to see one open and maybe have a meal. The town was a great surprise. Talkteen has retained much of its Alaskan flavour, log cabins and geriatric clapboard shop fronts line the streets, there is a self guided tour of the oldest buildings each with a notice telling who lived there, who built the house and what method was used, also what the building was used for, this was interesting, most buildings had been built late 1890’s early 1900’s. The road house was open we had a good look around lots of old memorabilia, but the food was mountain size, plates were huge and full, this always puts me off, but what we did find was a pub selling good beer with live music. We decided to have a quick tea and go out for the evening J It was great the band was very - good mum on the old Joanna, her son on guitar and ukulele, with another guy on Bass and a nutty drummer who did not smile, they were playing good old “Eastend Songs” the singers had American accentsJ amazing we had a couple or three drinks and enjoyed the music and the fun great night out.

July 2^nd 2008

We go to Anchorage and meet up with some members of our Silkroute Club. Charlie and Martha, there followed an evening and 2 of the craziest days of the trip.

Charlie and Martha are lovely and made us so very welcome, Charlie had a huge UniMog/ UniCat brand new. It is beautiful, Charlie is a GP and drives this truck to work can you imagine, your doctor turning up in one of these things, Martha is “Yokon Yupiit Bering Sea Eskimo” they have 3 beautiful daughters and live overlooking the bay

We leave them the next morning and will meet up at a camp site on the Kenai Peninsula

The drive down was awesome, mountains to left river and trees to the right, it took us an age to reach the campsite. We did find a very good shop on the way, only had a look as we had already shopped; We also met up on the camp site with a couple from New Zealand we had met on the boat we had a nice visit with them and a long chat about were we had been and where we were going! All that travel stuffJ

It was very late by the time Charlie and Martha arrived and the campsite was full, well it was full when we got there our friends from NZ had the last spot (it is bank holiday weekend) But, we found a little hole for all of us and it was free!!

On July 4^th they took us clam digging we did not find any, but I did get to see one - I have never seen a clam, this of course was on the beach. Les egged me on to follow Charlie onto the beach, which I did and of course got stuck!!! Charlie pulled me out. I then nearly ran out of diesel because the gauge on my spare tank has failed, Charlie siphoned some from his tank. Phew! Then we drove countless miles to find a night camp ending up at the bottom of a gravel pit! We were going to Martha’s sisters for July 4^th feast, after the party we moved to a better campsite. The party was great I had some of the best fish I have ever tasted. The people were wonderful we were made so welcome. Great!

Oh! I forgot I was also stopped once again by the police this time for going too slow and not yielding. I seriously struggled with this one and still do. We are on a very narrow 2 lane road much like we have at home, very twisty blind corners, very up and down blind summits, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend so traffic is very thick AND there are warning notices very regularly to say “Be careful MOOSE on the road.” 117 killed last year.

I was doing 50 m.p.h. in 55 m.p.h zone. This cop said I had 7 cars behind me and I am only allowed 5 and the side of the road was a drop, no shoulder. I could not believe my ears BUT I was very good and only said sorry I did not know it is against the law to have more then 5 cars behind you!!!!! Can you imagine going to Scarborough Bank Holiday Monday counting the cars behind you, apart from that how the hell do you get back into the line of traffic? I could really go on about this one…….

July 5^th 2008

We leave Charlie and Martha, we will visit them again as my reversing camera monitor has packed up, I have ordered a new one which will be delivered to their house and Charlie will fix it for me.

We are now driving down to Homer. The journey is wonderful, there is still a very big Russian influence here. We stopped at a Russian Orthodox Church for our morning coffee, the Church was closed but very pretty as Russian Churches usually are, the view over the bay was amazing with hundreds of people digging for clams.

We met Gail, Brian, Hook and their Uncle from Hawaii they have invited us to a party next Tuesday, unsure if we will go.

In my guide book I had found a Russian Village, Nikolaevsk. In 1968 with 640 acres and only tents for shelter Nikolaevsk’s 5 founding families carved this small community with the financial support and help of the Tolstoy Foundation of New York, the village roots date back to the early 1900’s when Old Believers sought a place to worship openly in the way of the Old Rite Russian Orthodox, their journey took them first to China then South America, Oregon and finally Alaska. In addition to the school there is a post office the beautiful Church of St Nicholas and this wonderful Russian Café named “Samovar” selling authentic Russian food, sounded good, so we went to find it. This turned out to be the craziest lunch we have had but very enjoyable. When we got there the café was open but no one was in. Whilst we were looking a Russian lady came hurrying over, her name is Nina, she rushed past saying 'come in, come in' - we kind of hovered. Nina came running out of the back room she had just rushed into with a very hot pan, very panicked and shouting someone’s name, she tipped what ever was in the pan on the ground just around the corner, then back into the shop saying 'come in, come in' many times whilst fastening the door back, I went in, then blink the kitchen was on fire! I mean really on fire, I laughed like you doJ she told me off! I said 'get some water'. I am jumping on this fire with plastic shoes (crocs) - not a good idea!! She starts waving a fire extinguisher at me saying This! This! But she did not know how to use the thing. Jocelyn all that fire training was not a waste of time!!!! I put the fire out.

Well Nina was so excited she hugged me kissed me by this time Les has arrived and another couple, 'she saved my life' she kept saying, getting more and more excited - of course we have no photo’s. What had happened? What ever was on the bottom of the pan was red hot and melting, dropped onto the carpet, when Nina opened the door and tied it back what do we have? Heat! Air! Fuel! Whoosh a fire.

It took ages to simmer her down to make our lunch, every time she looked at me she said 'she saved my life, she saved my life' everything she said twice, it was hilarious

THIS IS OUR CRAZY LUNCH NINA IN THE MIDDLE!!!!

We did manage to get our lunch which was very Russian, delicious and entertaining Nina was just so excited we had to keep reminding her we were waiting for our meal. A young man had arrived and was cleaning up the remains of the fire.

We shared our table with the other couple, before we could eat our sweet or have our tea we had to get dressed up in Russian traditional gear for photos, with Nina dressing us up at a huge rate if knots and taking pictures of everyone with everyone’s camera we were all in hysterics by this time, I did refuse to wear a head scarf makes one look a hundred and ten! :-) So I got the lovely pink headdress that Nina had had on, I did try and buy one for “The lovely Alex” but that was the only one so she then tried to sell me a blue one more hysterics whilst I explained there is only pink in Alex’s world. Once things calmed down a little, when we were settling the bill Nina realised just above the fire there is a statue of St Nicholas, off she went again with the excitement St Nicholas had helped me put the fire out, she kissed him, she kissed me and so it went on againJ

This is a real little piece of Russia in the middle of the US, Nina has only been in the US 10 years she came from very eastern Russia where she was an Electrical Engineer, since she has lived here she has helped raise the cash and to build the lovely little Church. She has also married her very Russian husband Dennis Fefelov.

A truly enjoyable experience one I will never forget. All things must come to an end we left this wonderful and fascinating lady finishing to finish our journey to Homer where we were able to park at the very edge of the sea.

July 6^th 2008

We walk around the headland here, hoping to be able to pick up a tour boat, in my guide book it says there is a ferry but we do not seem to be able to sort that out, the walk is nice lots of sea birds I am hoping for Puffin!

We find a trip going to Seldovia which takes in Bird Island and a general drive around the bay looking at sea mammals and birds with a narrator

I did get to see Horned Puffins - lots of them and very good views; we also saw Sea Otter, Harbour Seal, Loons, Cormorant’s and large selection of sea birds. Looking through the binoculars made me feel even more sick then normal! However I had a good time and enjoyed seeing the wild life. I had decided to have lunch in Seldovia, Les had got a pack up! The recommended restaurant was full, there was a large party in front of me, also very slow, another couple asked if we could share a table as this might speed things along, this I did it made for a very enjoyable lunch time, we all had the same “Daily Special” deep fried Salmon and chips (no tea bread and butter or mushy peas) All the people going out as we were waiting said the food was good and well worth the wait, they were not wrong, delicious, I had tea with the tea bag going in first, Lunch was a long time but very enjoyable. I then went for a walk around the town.

Seldovia goes back to a time when fishing was the mainstay of the region and was the busiest seaport on the Kenai Peninsula supporting a population of some 2,000 people working on fishing boats and in the town’s canneries. The 1964 earthquake destroyed most of the industry and today fewer then 300 residents live in Seldovia. Fishing sill plays a large part in the town’s economy along with tourism some annual festivals the biggest being July 4^th when 1000’s flock to this town, all giving a good financial boost.

It is a very pretty town some of the buildings have been lovingly restored, there are a lot of artists selling their work and living here, there were lots of flowers and memorabilia in yards on top and hanging on walls.

We watched the fishermen cleaning and gutting their catch. The fish, mostly Halibut, are huge! We spoke to a couple of guys at their cleaning table, as a family they had chartered a boat, 6 of them - all guys, have a jolly good day, share the catch, get it fast frozen and they have enough fish for all year!

I wish I could get these pictures to go side by side!!!!!!!!!!!!!

End of another awesome day!

From Homer we went to Seward. On the drive there a Moose and her baby crossed the road.

Gail and Bryan who we had met at the Russian Church were on their way back from Seward so they met up with us in a lay-by, at the side of a lake very pretty spot. Les made tea and we had a little visit, we were again invited to the party on Tuesday, I am thinking I may go. I am not very well today my chest is not good, see how I am tomorrow.

We go to see the Exit Glacier it was given its name by explorers crossing the Harding ice field who found the glacier a suitable way to exit the ice field and the mountain. Now only 3 miles long it is believed the river of ice once reached all the way to Seward!

I found this really interesting as we were able to walk to the glacier’s alluvial plain – a flat expanse of pulverized silt and gravel cut through by braids of grey meltwater, we were then able to take a steep climb to an overlook at the side of the glacier on this hike you could see very clearly the scrapings on the rock where the glacier had pushed its way down and so make this u shaped valley, the trail back to the visitor centre and car park took us down a nature trail through cottonwood forest, alder thickets and old glacier moraines. It was very clear to see that the further from the ice we were the land became more vegetated – the result of having had more time to recover from its glacier scouring.

Seward itself is so very scenic flanked by rugged mountains and sparkling Resurrection Bay it serves as the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park, we had decided not to take a boat from here but to see the “Alaska Sealife Centre” we were able to park right next to the sea, wonderful, I enjoyed a great walk around the very nice town with a number of amazing buildings and murals on each gable end depicting the history of the town.

Sealife Centre is fantastic (same as Scarborough different fish!) The most interesting for me was to be able follow the life of the Salmon with pictures and explanations, do you know they change completely when then come back into fresh water, colour and shape even their mouth and teeth (it may just be the jaw) change, when they are in fresh water again they do not feed, by the time they get to their spawning ground they are nearly dead once they have laid their eggs fertilised and covered over with pebbles, they die! Apparently the river stinks with all these 1000’s of dead fish; their nutrients keep the river bed healthy for their babies, the circle of life.

It is Tuesday 8^th July Les is trying to sort his home life out. So I leave him to go to a party!! We will met up again at Charlie

My hair needs washing and my colour needs doing, afternoon tea time I park in a nice lay-by at the side of the river by this time I have a tank full of nice hot water, I make the tea colour my hair have a shower and get ready to party!!!!

They live in Soldotna from the guide book “at the junction of the Sterling and Kenai Spur Hwys this would just be another ugly, over commercialized roadside service centre, save for one fact a river runs through it and is filled to bursting with the biggest salmon on the planet, the largest sport-caught king salmon was reeled here in 1985 weighing in at 97.2lb”

My friends live out in the forest but very near the river, Hook who is Gail’s brother came to meet me. The party was for Hooks birthday I found out when I got there. There were around 30 of their family and friends I feel so honoured and privileged to be so welcomed into the heart of people’s homes like this.

The party was lovely lots of very interesting people to chat to and the food was gorgeous, fresh caught fish, fabulous ribs, some Japanese dishes, AND homemade baked beans!!!! To name but a few of the dishes, people kept asking had I tasted this and that, I ate loads. Then a whole array of delicious sweets just to die for arrived on the table - all home made.

It was not a late party and when some people had gone home Gail took me to see the new house they are building, very big, very beautiful, with amazing views.

I parked the night in their yard, to me it’s a gardenJ in the middle of a forest so quiet and peaceful it was lovely. There were 2 other trucks stopping over, 1 was a huge 40-footer, the couple have sold up and live in their truck full time, it was lovely, plenty of room. We all went in together, when they came in mine they had to form an orderly queue coming in 2 at a timeJJ, the other truck was medium size also very nice with lots of room.

I was invited to breakfast next morning I had “grits” I’m not sure about that spelling, I had them with salt, pepper and butter on I really liked them.

I learnt loads about fishing at this time of year it is all hand catching fish, when I was there I think the “reds” were running after that come the Kings, as residents they are allowed to catch a certain number each family, but they are not allowed to sell them, so they get them smoked, speed frozen, and they can their own, I didn’t really understand that but it is what we called bottling exactly the same. I was pleased to find that out because a lot of people have talked about canning their own fish. So after an amazing and interesting 24 hours I said good bye to my new friends and headed towards Anchorage to meet up with Les…………………………………..

The Gold Rush 28th May - 10th June

2008-08-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

I hope you are all having a great summer, at the moment I am as far north as I can drive in Canada with 24 hour sunshine!!! I do not like it, I kind of thought with 24hr sun the night would be like twilight forget it, it is bright midday sunshine, its really hard to get to sleep I am still wide awake at midnight just not tired I guess that could be something to do with all that goodness the sun gives us. NO winter blues here! but of course they then have 6 weeks with no sun!!! that I think must be worse.

May 28^th 2008

We have sailed along Alaska’s Inside Passage going between all the small islands just off the coast of Alaska. Our first stop is Ketchikan. There are very few roads but we drove them all, first travelling north stopping off at a variety of interesting stops one being the Bight Totem State Park this was a lovely walk through the forest, each Totem had a good information board with the story of that particular Totem - this included who had carved the Totem and the date also if it was a copy, a couple of the Totems were very old. Stopped at a wonderful old fashioned American Diner for lunch, the food was excellent all freshly cooked. I had fried chicken, mashed potato and corn, with gravy on the side, fresh home made coleslaw for starts, served with a biscuit, butter and honey, the biscuit is, in fact, what we would call a scone, fresh, home made and very lovely, I had mine for my pud yummy, I was very full the meal was American size. The service was brilliant our waitress was the owner/cooks mum and she was 80 years old (her name was not Edith an 'in' joke)

We had a lovely long walk in a temperate rain forest. I found a lovely little bay where I could have my “Airstream” but! Then I thought of mosquitoes in the summer and -40 in the winter decided not a good idea. We visited a couple of lakes which were still frozen over, just beginning to break up. Then we had a second night at Wal Mart!!

May 29^th 2008

We took the road south today, we only have the morning we leave on the boat this afternoon, our first stop was at the Totem park/village (cruise ships call in here so everything is very expensive) the tour around the totem village was $100 so we walked on our own and tagged on to listen when a guide was telling something of interest. We were lucky enough to get into the carving shed there was a guy working on a Totem and another working on a beautiful box; these boxes are made from Cedar in a continuous piece of wood with just one join they are then painted in the traditional colours of black and red in traditional patterns, they are truly beautiful. The chap carving the Totem told us he had a letter from someone in England wanting a Totem, but he said they wanted it yesterday so…. grump grump! (he was a bit grumpy) any way he found the letter and read it out to us it was from “Blue Peter” (program for children on BBC TV) We told him what a very good program it was and how long it had been on TV and that all our children had watched it! Also that it was a very educational program. Do not know if he was going to make the Totem, he got fed up with talking to us. But if any of you see this on Blue Peter let me know!!

On our little ride towards the south we passed a tree at the side of a very small bay with a river running into it, (this was a salmon run) on the tree were around 20 Bald Eagles full grown and some juvenile, they were feeding, we watched for ages, fascinating some times they would pick a small fish up with one claw then just pop it into its mouth! larger fish they took back to the tree, it was an amazing thing to watch.

From there we went to see the old town, this is preserved and very much for the cruise ship tourist I have never seen so many gold shops, well apart from the bazaar in Istanbul !

This is a collection of ancient frame houses and shops resting on pilings over the water, joined by board walks and bordering on Ketchikan Creek, this area was the red light district where most girls had a house to themselves because then it would not be classed as a brothel and the police left them alone, it was also the only place a miner could get an illegal drink. The most famous being “Dolly’s” this house is still there as a museum along with a DollyJ

From here we went back onto the boat, tonight we sleep on the boat, and it’s a change from Wal Mart …………

The Boat.

The boats were very comfortable, very nice observation deck where we were able to sit with our binoculars watching the shore’s for bears, the water for Whales, Seals and anything else we could see, and the sky for Bald Eagles and other birds, we did not see a Bear but lots of Orca Whales, Seals and Eagles. Each time someone saw a creature everyone on the deck crowded around the same window. There was also a quiet room with comfortable loungers, on our last morning before Skagway I slept there most of the morning!

It was also a good opportunity to meet some very interesting people who have been on some great travels, we met some ladies making beautiful native craft going to a conference, Cathy and Cub were on all the same boats as us, this was really nice its good to see a friendly face, there was also another great couple Brenda and Lee from Alabama.

May 31^st 2008

Yesterday we landed at Juneau. Booked a boat trip for today, We then went to see the Mendenhall Glacier, like all glaciers this is an awesome and beautiful sight the colours are amazing so many shades of blue but sadly this glacier is shrinking at a very fast speed, although it is moving there is more being lost at the front then being gained at the rear (hope that’s right!)

We did not see it calf. We have seen that in Patagonia

Spent the night at our favourite campsite Wal Mart!

Early start for a full day cruise to Tracy Arm a large Fjord where the sea is jade green, Icebergs redefine the colour blue, deep colours come with the rain and the brilliance of the sun. Granite walls reach for heavens. We cruise along in the chill air watching for bears, seals, mountain goats and of course Eagles.

We spotted a bear, lots of seals and their pups resting on ice flows, some seals very heavy about to give birth. One baby goat trapped on a ledge, the guys on the boat think the mother must have fallen off they have been watching this goat for around 3 weeks the mum was there in the beginning, the guys threw ice up to the ledge also some lettuce just to be sure the goat had water and something to eat, they told us they would let the rangers know, no one is allowed to touch wild animals. We saw lots of Bald Eagles swooping the skies, the whole day was terrific wonderful waters, beautiful icebergs, and 2 breathtaking Glaciers, we could not get very close because of the ice flow (shades of TitanicJ) however we got close enough to see the beauty of the whole thing, shape and colour awesome!

A truly memorable day which ended with a Mongolian banquet (Diane and Carol we recommend both of the above) this was followed by a sleep at Wal MartJ

June 2^nd 2008

We leave our little cruise along the Alaska Marine Highway at Skagway made famous by the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898 the biggest gold rush in history and the last great adventure that griped the world, 10’s of 1000’s of “Stampeders” came up the inside passage on anything that would float from Seattle to Skagway (which had been a native trading crossroad) to get to the Klondike River.

Skagway is the Klondike Gold Nation Historical Park the shops and houses have been renovated to the late 1800’s

We watched the video at the visitors centre; we walked the self guided tour of the town which was very interesting the little booklet had lots of “gold rush” stories. This is also called the Garden City of Alaska at the height of the Gold Rush people began growing vegetables, a combination of good soil, adequate moisture and long summer days translate into good crop with very large vegetables , they grow a huge amount of rhubarb!

My friend Cathy told me of a quilt in the museum made from duck necks! I could not imagine this, so off I went to the Skagway Museum, it was the first thing I saw just inside the door, beautiful.

I also purchased “Quilts of Alaska” so this is from the book about the quilt. “The lady who made it was named Jenny she came from Sweden, Jenny loved the colours of the neck feathers of Mallard, Canvasbacks, Pintails, Bluebills, Teals and others, Jenny was shown how to preserve the skins by Tlingit Indians (who used them for their ceremoniel capes and head dresses) this was done salting them and then sewing them together, she lined the quilt with peppercorns to keep away the moths, the backing of the quilt is made of old cloth, it appears Jenny used muslin to support the skins. “ A lady in the museum told me she had handled the quilt it was so very light and very warm. I have to tell you it is the most interesting and beautiful quilt, I will bring the book home so you can read and look at the picture and listen to the lovely song Cathy sings about it.

June 3^rd 2008

We leave Skagway and head along the Klondike trail over the mountains and into Canada, the weather is much cooler, the drive is stunning up there with the best! We climb and twist and turn over these mountains with the river below, we see some of the trail that was used before the railway was built, wow! The people who took this trail had to carry 1 ton of goods enough to last 1 whole year, if they did not have a ton of goods the Canadian Mountie’s would not let them into Canada - you had to prove that you had enough provisions to be able to live for a year in this harsh country, can you imagine climbing over a snowy mountain pass with a ton of kit! Oh, nearly forgot they had to pay a tax on the ton of goods as wellL Well I drove over these not very snowy mountains; the Mountie asked me if I had any alcohol! That was all but it was very cold.

June 4^th 2008

I left my lights on all night, flat battery this morning Les gave me a tow startJ

We drive into Whitehorse take the wrong road at a roundabout and ran (not literally) into Mary’s (from Vancouver) sister and brother-in-law, we knew they were going to Alaska but did not expect to find them so easy, they told us about Whitehorse a good place to eat and a campsite*

We had a lovely meal at their recommendation I had Halibut yummy! Then Margaret and I went to see “The Frantic Follies” good old time music hall it was great, very good infact. Then we went to sleep at *Wal MartJ

June 5^th 2008

Les repaired the drain pipe on my hand wash basin!

We visited the “Old Log Church Museum” built in 1900, is still an active church showing Yukon mission activities, First Nation interacting with newcomers from 1861 to present day. We heard stories of early missionaries such as why Bishop Isaac Stringer ate his boots. While out visiting his “parish” he and his companion got lost in the winter time with a snow storm, all their supplies ran out his boots were made from seal skin so they cooked the skin up and ate it!! Saved his life!! It was a very interesting museum.

Next came S.S.Klondike. This sternwheeler represents a time when Whitehorse served a major function in transport taking miners, their families and those who wanted to take advantage of the gold rush.

This vessel was employed primarily as a cargo vessel taking mainly 1^st class passengers it could carry in excess of 272 tonnes of cargo, Whitehorse to Dawson took 36 hours with one or two stops for wood; she would consume two cords of wood per hour, wood stops were provided along the river. From Dawson to Whitehorse her cargo was mostly silver or gold, the work for deckhands was so heavy/hard they seldom came back for a second season. If you could not afford the 1^st class fare your bed would be down stairs with the cargo, but women had to sleep in a tiny cabin on the 1^st class deck because a woman could not sleep where the men were!

We then did laundry and paid a visit to a small farmers market, this is new, just getting started we were too late for the food!

Then we slept at…….Wal MartJ

June 6^th 2008.

We leave Whitehorse continuing along the Klondike Highway to Dawson City.

Driving a very beautiful road with forest on each side, we go up hill and down dale whilst we twist and turn along the Klondike River this is very high and fast flowing not as much snow on the mountains as we have been seeing. There are markers at the side of the road telling of the forest fires 1953, 1958, 1965 and 1995 its very interesting to see how each area is recovering. The seeds for new trees need fire; they are stored for decades in a pod that is sealed with resin the heat of the forest fire opens the pod enabling the seeds to drop onto the new revitalised soil, sprouting new trees, there’s clever and interesting.

There are several “Road Houses” most of which are derelict, in a small town “Carmack” the Road House has been restored, not much to see a 2 story log cabin we could not go inside, there are also a couple of old prospectors log cabins. These Road Houses were used in the winter when the river was frozen and the Sternwheelers were laid up in Whitehorse. Horses pulled carts/sledge carrying mail, goods and people from Whitehorse to Dawson City, the conditions must have been terrible, with huge snow drifts in temperatures well below zero, this is real wilderness country,

In the summer months the sternwheeler we visited yesterday took its cargo up and down the Klondike River between Whitehorse and Dawson City, as well as mail, goods and people the boats take gold and silver from the mines, she carried these cargos until 1952, when the train line was finished (I hope I have got that right) from then until 1955 the Klondike Sternwheeler was a cruise ship up and down the river.

Surprise, Surprise today we met with our friend “J” (from Moab folk festival and a couple of weeks ago) we thought he was in Alaska did not expect to see him again, he had come from Alaska to Dawson City over the “Top of the World Highway” We parked in a lay-by (pull in) for a hug and a chat but again we were nearly eaten alive by mosquitoes so into Les and Margaret for a nice cup of tea! It was lovely to see him again; we have the offer of leaving our trucks at his place in Reno, Nevada when we come home later in the year.

8^th / 9^th June 2008

Dawson!

This is were it all started the Klondike Gold Rush. August 1896 3 “Sourdoughs” (so called because they have seen the ice freeze and melt on the Klondike River thereby becoming old timers, a newcomer is called “Cheechakos”) found gold in Rabbit Creek, later renamed Bonanza Creek. It was a whole year before it reached the out side world it was July 1897 when a steam ship carrying scruffy miners and thousands of dollars in gold reached Seattle.

By 1898/99 Dawson became a city of tents, shanties and log cabins with a floating population of some 20,000 people, this was a wild town but the mounted police kept order, no guns were allowed, nothing was open on a Sunday and the “girls” were allowed to be there but had to behave J the red light district was on the other side of the river. We were told that it was from Dawson that the Mountie’s got their tag “They always get their man” there is only one way out not only of Dawson but Canada to take another route would mean certain death.

This is a huge gold field which is still being worked, (we didn’t find any) we did go visit Bonanza Creek. For 60 years the ground was dredged by huge machines the same machine that dredges a river bed or harbour, there is one that tourist can visit it is huge worked 24 hours times 7 times 52 extracting gold from the ground, there were numerous of these machine that worked the valleys of the goldfields, around Dawson today are 100’s of mounds containing rock and stone left by the machines

When the Sternwheeler started to cruise the Klondike River in the 1950’s bringing tourists to Dawson they were greeted by a small groups of locals dressed in 1890s costumes “The Klondike Tourist Bureau” wanted to give people a feel of the old “Gold Rush Town” this is still done today all the tours we went on the guides were dressed as 1890s they work hard at tourism which makes it great fun.

10^th June 2008

Spent the morning doing chores including emails left Dawson City after lunch for the Dempster Highway which will take us to the town of Inuvik on the east channel that leads into the Beaufort Sea…………………………….

Please Note - not having the tech know how to send my own photos my daughter has used images from the web to illustrate some posts, check out this web site for more amazing pics
Hicker's animal and travel photography

24 hours sunshine....

2008-07-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

At last I have managed to get this off to you all, I hope you enjoy the reading as much as I enjoyed the doing.

I have had a really bad day to day we are back in Whitehorse, Yukon. the truck has been making a very strange noise no one seemed to be able to fix it, then after spending a little time and laugh with a lady in a shop she sent me to a large truck stop, they knew what it was but could not fix it - too busy, so they sent me to another work shop, Hey presto he could fix it, it was a stone stuck in the wheel/brake workings. I really thought it was something very bad and that I would be here weeks, but now all is well :-)

so love and hugs to you all,

INUVIK in the NORTH WEST TERRIOTRY

We arrived in Inuvik Sunday 15^th June 2008, having had a safe and successful journey up the infamous Dempster Highway, well that is the truck has had no major problems it is incredibly dirty, so the first job was a car wash, the wash machine only uses water, no detergent so the truck now has a biscuit colour tinge! We parked on the campsite “Happy Valley” which is in the centre of town most shops etc. are within walking distant, lots of fellow travellers on the camp. Margaret has taken up residence in a very nice hotel, things are a little stressed!

Inuvik is a very new town 50 years old this year, it was built to replace the hamlet of Aklavik which was in the Mackenzie Delta and subject to flooding and offered limited space for expansion, this of course makes Inuvik a very modern town with brightly painted houses which they call “Smartie Boxes” all the buildings are on pilings which go down into the permafrost and have a crawl through to prevent the warmth from the buildings melting the permafrost, then falling over! There is also a snake like tube running all over the town behind and between the buildings this is an “Utilidor System” which carries all the utilities including hot water for the whole town , apparently the hot water is included to stop the rest from freezing in winters of under -40c

I saw this in Mongolia where temperatures reach the same horrific sub zero’s, there the whole town received free central heating from this system.

For 56 days each year Inuvik has 24 hour sunshine, with the sun shining at midnight just as if it were noon, the sun is just on the other side of the sky ! The first snow falls in September. In early December the sun sets and does not rise until January, I will tell you now that these long sunshine days are bizarre, I have so much energy, I am wide awake from 6am everyday until midnight even when I feel tired it does not last long, Am I hyperactive? 24 hours of night must be awful. The population here is equally divided between Inuit, Dene and non-aboriginal; the Aboriginal people are what we would call Eskimo (which means eaters of raw meat) I asked if it was ok to use the word Eskimo because it is a name we know, I was told that for us to use this was ok, but amongst the tribes it is not.

There is an amazing church built like an Igloo which used very unique methods of construction in its building, I cannot describe these but they were fascinating to see.

The town also has a Community Greenhouse, this is the most northern greenhouse in North America and the only Community Greenhouse in the world, the purpose of the greenhouse is to ensure a more successful harvest and allow production of a greater variety of crops in an area where fresh economical produce is unavailable. 4,000sq.ft. is for commercial use the remaining area is for the community to use as garden plots like an allotment undercover.

I spent a very strange week trying to helping Les and Margaret, I ate at the hotel each evening with Margaret which was jolly nice,

I also spent time in the little town and their shops chatting to folk and trying to get a feel for this most northern town with 24-hour sunshine!

On Tuesday Les and I went to Tuktoyaktuk, don’t even try and say it the locals call it “Tuk” this is the land of “pingos” these huge ice covered hills, provide a startling backdrop to the community. They are formed by a combination of frost and abundant water, which freezes and expands pushing the excess frozen water upward. We were told it is like water freezing in a bottle when the ice expands rising up and popping the cork.

Tuk was the original home of the whale hunting Inuit, It now is home to oil and gas explorations also home to an early warning system for the US back to the cold war days. (Looks just like the early warning system at Goathland)

The Aboriginal peoples here have had a land agreement with the Canadian government which includes all their old hunting ground in the sea and on land, the guide we had was a hunter and gatherer, gathering berries, roots and plants for the traditional diet these folk eat, they live a subsistence life style; hunting and fishing like their forefathers, each hunter shares his catch with the elders and single families. He told us that they will take a meal to the elders and eat with them spending time and listening to their stories, this is how the traditions are handed down from generation to generation, they will also go and catch fish in an elders favourite lake or river then taking the meal to the elder get more stories, with memories. Care in the community surely works here!

Our guide had just returned from a hunt which takes him away from home for weeks and even months at a time. When we were there the harbour was still frozen shut but once the ice thaws enough the Beluga Whales come in to calf and some get killed, the whole community share the proceeds of the kill, every single part of the whale is used.

Our tour took us to see Lady of Lourdes a Catholic mission ship that transported supplies from 1931 – 1957 also children too residential schools so that they would forget there birthright and learn to be white! This was also the habit of the Anglican Church.

We saw houses made from drift wood and sods these are traditional Inuvialuit dwellings

The very best of the day was the community Ice House, from the outside this looked like an old outside toilet (at the bottom of the garden) once inside there was a trapdoor when opened revelled a 30ft hole into the permafrost, we climbed down the ladder the rungs of which half way down were frozen, that was a bit scary I had no gloves the cold hurt my hands, once down at the bottom there were 3 passages leading from this central point in each passage were several rooms all cut out of the permafrost. Down here the hunters would keep their meat, like a whole whale!! But our guide who does still use this ice house said most folk like their freezer in their back kitchen, he says they find this easier then getting out the snowmobile driving to the ice house climbing down the ladder, walking in the freezing passage to their “room” collecting what ever meat they wanted then hoisting it up the 30foot ladder before taking the meat home, cant say I blame them that seems harder then having the freezer in the cellarJJ The rooms and passages have amazing crystals on their roofs, the whole place has to be cleaned and fresh snow fetched in once a year, I expect this is done in something like -40c. I will never mind cleaning my freezer again.

We then went to someone’s home for lunch there was caribou soup which was to die for with a homemade doughnut. Then caribou meat, potato and rice with trout this was lovely, the bones from the meat were fed to the dog that lived outside all the time, even in winter. There was tea to drink which was good. We also had a taste of whale, it was ok!

A great and very informative day we were able to learn a lot about the people, their way of life and how hard they are trying to preserve their old customs.

Margaret left on Thursday I had a nice lunch with her then drove both Les and Margaret to the airport, I really did not believe she would go, but she did. We are now just 2!!!

There are 2 big UniMogs on our campsite; one of them has been on the road for 9 years! There is also an 814D this is the same as mine, it was very interesting to see the different layout, they liked the cosiness of mine I liked their big bathroom!! It’s really good speaking to other crazy folk like us! Sharing their notes finding out good free camping, also good places to go.

Saturday 21^st June Mid summer’s day

Festival Day.

We have a program of events, so Les and I take ourselves to the start of the parade, thinking there will be a lot going on, fancy dress to see, finishing touches to floats to watch with everyone having fun.

Nothing was happening, BUT 2 Canadian Mounties in full dress uniform but no horses were waiting outside the hall, and this however made my day all the Mounties we have seen so far just look like policeman, very boring, lots of photos were taken and a long chat about being a Mountie and explanations of their badges and stripes.

The starting time for the parade came and went, we had a chat with a lady I had spoken to in one of the shops she was with her husband a Scot who is now mayor of Inuvik he was driving a very large White ATV which was the main prize in the draw, he also led the parade, the Mounties walked followed by the Police Chief and the Fire trucks all had their lights flashing and sirens at full volume, one float bringing up the rear that just had a tent pitched on the back of a lorry with a bunch of children throwing sweets. Les and I followed this parade to the field outside the school were a stage and seating had been erected.

Once at the field the Master of Ceremonies took to the stage and discussed the day’s program, he then discussed it again, and again everything was going to happen in a short while, he just kept talking and making jokes, we were sat in the sun it was a lovely day, then a 3 piece band played some very good music and some couples got up to dance around noon our very over worked M.C announced the food was ready (which was free) Beef burgers, Hot dogs both with all the trimmings and grilled fish huge lump! A fish I had never had but it was gorgeous (I had 2 pieces) and the MC just kept talking none of the events had taken place, the band kept playing and folk kept dancing, it was all very relaxed, sunny and pleasant. Then came the only event that did take place awarding the children their school prizes this was just a shambles, no one had got the children in any kind of order or I don’t think anyone even told them what to do, some came forward to collect their prize some did not, some ran on and ran off twice as fast, some came so slowly the next child would push them out of the way, I sat and watched clapped and enjoyed, the children were all lovely. We are by this time well into the afternoon when our MC says please eat up the remaining food Burgers, Fish and Hot dogs because the people have worked so hard and are now packing away, because the feast is about to start!!! At the end of the stage there was a line of tables groaning with food all prepared by local folk, all arrived in pick ups and cars.

Our MC announced the start of the feast, reminding everyone to look after the elders and any one who needed help; this was all done by young people who did not have to queue or get in line J they just went to the front loaded plates and took the plates to all the oldies there, food was also taken to girls with babies in buggies as some were their own, this was very nice to see, there were some old folks sat near me, they were well looked after. The food was very traditional, meat, fish, salads and some rice and pasta salad, bread and cake. Les had some Muskrat (this is a water/riverbank rodent, which in the winter lives under the snow making little runs and stacking up twigs to make air holes!) which is smoked with very little meat, not that I could see any way, Les was going to have a go (I passed) when he came to eat the thing he broke it in 2 it was full of maggots YUCK which of course were nicely smokedJ this caused much interest amongst our German friends all of whom came to inspect, Les did not eat it!!!!

Our MC then told us that the program would continue at 9.30pm, we had been waiting since noon for the program to start J I had my truck parked across the road, there were no toilets at this event J So decided to take it back to the campsite and was not really up for coming back, but then when Les said he was going back I though “don’t want to miss anything” so I joined him, so pleased here was a long program of local drum dancing in their National costume, this was brilliant, a lot of hard work had gone into this the costumes were all home made the boots and slippers were amazing, lots of the children who were not part of the troupe just got on the stage and joined in it was really great, I so enjoyed this and was very pleased I had not chickened out.

I think the star of the day was the MC he worked so hard with good humour all day.

For me this was a great end to a very interesting day mostly spent just people watching, but what interesting people with customs and habits so different from my own. This day is what the travel I so love to do is all about, being apart of this amazing world not the tourist part (although that is fun as well) just real folk doing what they do………..…..

Tomorrow we head back down the Dempster…………………………………….

If anything the drive back down the Dempster Highway was more beautiful then the drive up! There was not as much dust, but still plenty!

We spent the night at Eagle Park and had “Liver and Bacon” for our tea, yummy! We met up with the Unimogs spending quite a time watching Dall sheep, coming down the mountain side across the road to the small river/creek most were mums with babies wonderful. We also saw a Golden Eagle

I also meet up with a couple I had met in Argentina, it was lunch time I had to go and tell them they had a punctureL it was great to have a chat about were we had been since last meeting, they asked about Olwyn’s leg

It was a wonderful drive back; the most amazing thing is that we are in true wilderness, just to see the trees, animals, rivers and mountains that have been untouched since time began just brings a lump to ones throat, nature has even hidden the oil pipe that runs through this area it can be seen as a lighter and straight line meandering across the landscape, lets hope it never changes.

Tuesday 24^th June

We spent 2 days on a campsite cleaning the trucks doing laundry and email

Thursday 26^th June

We leave Dawson City to drive the “Top of the World Highway” and into Alaska, I have had several different stories about this road most of which are not good, dust, pot holes, with the road hanging off the mountain there was nothing good about this road, the alternative was a huge detour back the way we had come so with a deep breath off we go!

There certainly was dust (we had just cleaned the Dempster off the trucks) lots of snow on the mountains, I kept expecting around ever corner and over ever hill this terrible road to appear, it did not, I have certainly driven on much worse pot holes and driven roads hanging off much higher mountains, I remember driven across the Himalayas in my right hand vehicle and being unable to see the bottom of the drop off, on my left hand side was a Tibetan lorry, parked and waiting for all of us to pass I snuggled up close and friendly getting a tear/rip in the side of my van, this had a temporary repair with “gaffer” tape writing “wounded by a Tibetan lorry” J this repair lasted until I got home. The top of the “World Highway” was dusty and beautiful with the smallest USA boarder crossing where the custom officers get a very good bonus, so they told me!

My girls will be very pleased to know I did not leave my knickers in “Chicken” neither did I get laid in “Chicken” I did not therefore buy a T shirt stating either of these factsJJ

We found a lovely lake for a night camp, but were very worried about mosquitoes. I put all my mosquito killer devices in to action including a “Citronella” candle which horror of horrors burnt 3 holes in the mosquito blind above the kitchen sinkLL I have this window open more then any other, I have to repair the blind a.s.a.p I tried with “Gaffer” tape but this did not work when the blind closed the tape came unstuck, some deep thinking is needed!! I have a very large mosquito net I cut one corner from the net; in my sewing box I have a circular needle (I knew this would come in handy) so I make a very neat patch on each side of the blind ! result……………………………..

We are now in Alaska again …………………………………………

Totems and Tinned Salmon 10.6.08

2008-06-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hi here is my latest very overdue ramble. but better later then never as they say. One day I will catch up and keep up ;-) :-)

I hope you are all well and enjoying what ever you are doing, My Jack and Alex are in OZ! so I hope they are having a great time.

May 22^nd 2008

The journey is so lovely the road follows the mountain forests of tall pine with snowy mountains, raging rivers, many beautiful lakes, we stop to watch the wild life I am becoming quite a good bird watcher - I am Les' star student! Osprey and Bald Eagles flying overhead, we also stop just to admire the amazing scenery the outstanding variety of greens in the forests. Parking up for the night at the side of Burns lake we were able to watch Beavers doing what Beavers do, fascinating watched them through the binoculars. Les has a problem with his powered steering a bolt had fallen off he was able to get this fixed reasonably easily.

May 24^th 2008

We were able to visit a reconstructed Gitxsan (first nation) Village “Ksan”. This village is committed to demonstrate the richness of the Gitxsan culture and heritage. We had a superb guide, he was a member of the “Eagle House” we were able to visit the “Frog House” which focuses on the life style of the people before contact with the outside world. “Fireweed House” displayed an amazing variety of “regalia” the ceremonial clothing is still used for special times. The description and information our guide gave us was excellent.

There is also an excellent display of “Totem Poles” each of the poles tells a story of the history of the clan, some tell stories much the same as our written stories, some factual, some not (fairy stories)

Check out the web site www.ksan.org to learn more about their amazing history.

Today I am wondering about Mikie and J who we met on route to Moab then spent a great weekend with them at the Moab Folk Festival, they are coming to Alaska this summer, I wonder if they made it, where are they. We stop to admire the view and take a couple of photos a guy comes over for a chat, a motor bike races past and skids to a holt. Turns around with a very loud “whoop” its “J” (Mikie did not come after all) much hugging, laughing and talking followed, we are all going to Prince Rupert so decide we will park up together for the night Les ‘n M and myself pooled our food and made a 3 course meal plus wine, which we ate outside whilst chasing mosquitoes away, after eating we all retired to L’nMs truck, where the mosquitoes bomb barded the fly screen but could not get us!! it was a great evening. We will meet up with “J” again in Prince Rupert he is going on a different boat to us, he has a ticket we do not, everyone keeps telling us the boats are booked months in advance :-(

However we managed to get tickets on the dates and times we wanted !

Spent some time with “J” until his boat left, then went to explore the town, there are several very good and interesting “Totems” we can read them a little, only a little!

The visitors centre is in “Cow Bay” so called because a pioneer unloaded his herd of cows here it is a very amusing little bay with black and white spotted décor everywhere one of the restaurants is called “Smiles Seafood” because the lady who opened it in 1934 had a lovely smile! but they make awful tea!

26^th May 2008

Laundry day, van cleaning, a visit to the museum and a couple more “Totem’s” we then drove out to Prince Edward, stayed on a campsite had a lovely hot hot shower.

27^th May 2008

We went to the Salmon canning plant; this is an original plant, built when everything was done by hand which must have been a terrible job wet, slimy and smelly. Later some of this work became mechanized, but I don’t think conditions improved much. It has now been taken over by “Parks Canada” and is a very interesting historical site. Helps in the learning of how Canada developed. It could however put you off tinned salmon for life !!

Workers came from all over the world for the season, living and working on site, all of which was company owned. Japanese and Chinese had to pay a tax just to work here, this tax was then taken from their pay cheque along with the price of their food and any goods purchased from the company shop (there was no other shop) what was left was sent to their homes, so they never really knew what they earned!! I guess this happened all over the world when you were at the bottom of the heap it was hard to climb up!

This afternoon we leave Canada go through customs onto the ferry into the USA and the Alaska Marine Highway. The boat is very comfortable I had lovely Clam Chowder for my tea. We left the boat around midnight at Ketchikan and found a Wal Mart for the night! I meet a lovely couple Cub and Kathy from Escondido California, like so many Americans we have met so warm and friendly I felt I had known Kathy for ever.

We are now back in the good ol’ USofA………………………………

Canada, Friends, Rain, Garage, 23.5.08

2008-06-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hi, here I am at last driving to Alaska we are on the long hike to Prince Rupert. Les has a breakdown - his powered steering has lost a bolt!!!

Today the weather is lovely and sunny!!

We arrived in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada, at our friends Mary and Carl on Saturday 26^th April; it was so lovely to see them and we had a great weekend, on Monday we went to a Mercedes Garage that Carl had found for us at Fort Langley about an hour from their house, the trucks were inspected and an appointment made for next Monday 7am, (we will arrive Sunday night), we then went to another work shop that Carl had used for Big Foot (his truck) I would like the spare wheels taken from the inside of my “shed” and put on the back doors, the guy said he could do it but Mercedes have said NO! I will have to try and come up with another plan! The wheels are so big and heavy as you can imagine and they live at the back of the shed I cannot manhandle them (or even lady handle them) there is also so much of my and some of L n M’s dross in front of them, if I had a “P” it is a nightmare and very hard work. So any ideas of how to store 2 large tyres in my shed will be gratefully received!

While at Carl and Mary’s we met lots of their friends all with travel stories also their lovely family, one of their grandchildren is the same age as the lovely Alex which made me feel home sick! We also had a fair drop of rain. Because we have to wait until next Monday we decided to go over to Vancouver Island paying a visit to my friends Cathy and John whom I met in Blanding Utah last year www.singingquilter.com check out the web site its lovely, we had a really nice visit with them, they took us to an English pub that sold English beer, best pint since I left home! they also sold English food. In fact thus far Vancouver, British Columbia is very very English no one pays any attention to our accent, the other day we went to an English butcher and got PORK PIE it was very good I also got Robertson’s Ginger Jam (jelly) but drew the line at £4 for a jar of Branston Pickle - decided I didn’t really miss it!!

We spent a couple of days driving into the Island and The Pacific Rim National Park, the weather is very damp! On our second day it rained the whole day none stop - am I at home? I wonder, I thought the weather was only this awful in England! We did have a wonderful walk in the Temperate Rain Forest, all the animals were in hiding, the walk was very enjoyable and we were very soggy at the end of it, did not feel up to putting our soggy things back on for a walk in the bog - hopefully tomorrow it will not be raining.

No rain so we walked the bog which is very interesting, there were more birds and insects around it is so amazing that all this and the rain forest all work together to make this wonderful place. We have to head back to the ferry and the Garage for Monday. I went on my own because before I leave Vancouver Island I am going to a quilt show, this for me was a wonderful, I also met up with John and Cathy for lunch - 2 treats in one day.

On returning to the garage it was decided that I really needed a complete set of new rear brakes which had to come from England!! this would take a week and cost £600 postage. Les needs some body mounts so they will all come together. We have all the other work done that is needed then head back to Mary’s we spend another weekend with her, take the dog for a walks, Les is having problems with his laptop he has bugs, Trojans or such like it is serious some one has stolen his address book, awesome!!

Monday 12^th May we head back to the garage Les has a couple more jobs done on the way. Oh! It’s raining, it rains all day today, all day tomorrow and all day Wednesday, this is worse than at home.

Les and Margaret have an unwanted passenger a mouse!

The parts arrive on Wednesday, I am in the garage by Thursday 6am, the truck is sorted all new brakes every thing done and the sun is shining its a beautiful evening I sit out!

Friday 16^th May Les is in the garage, got fixed and we are back at Mary’s for the night, we hope to leave tomorrow.

Unable to leave Les’s computer still infected, I went to the beach with Mary and her friend Ann whose daughter is on a visit from Manchester, it was lovely, I so love the beach.

We finally leave on Sunday 18^th May 2008 heading north

Monday 19^th May 2008

You will not believe what to day is in Canada - a holiday for Queen Victoria’s Birthday!! Can you believe that, we do not even have a holiday for Queen Elizabeth 11. There are more Union Jacks' flying here than there ever is at home, Canada is more English then England! People who have lived here years still seem to keep their accent.

We drive through Cariboo Country along highway 97 as it follows the Goldrush Trail passing a series of small towns with such names as 100 mile house; there are historical road houses, with names depicting a different distance like 70 mile house and so on. In Canada the metric measurement is used so the sign post will say 60K to 150 mile house!!

Tuesday 20^th May 2008

We continue along highway 97 or Cariboo Road which is the name given to the rolling uplands of the interior plateau - on the west the coast mountains and the east the cariboo mountain range, with the Frazer river winding its way on the plateau floor, this is gold rush country rich with forestry and ranching, there are many traces of the thousand of prospectors that arrived here in the 1860’s along the road side, we are heading for Barkerville this is now the finest example of a gold rush town in Canada, there were more then 10,000 inhabitants, in 1868 it was burnt to the ground but was substantially rebuilt but by the 1930’s had almost faded away

On the ride here we past many frozen rivers and ponds/small lakes, the rivers not frozen were in flood and very fast flowing carrying logs and other debris down stream we also saw 2 beaver dams. AND a very rare trumpet Swan all alone, they are so rare that they are now being reintroduced into the area, very impressed with this.

We have parked up for the night in the car park of Barkerville, which is now a historical site, there is a very lot of snow around and it is raining!

Wednesday 21^st May 2008

The town is open at 8.30, we will be the first visitors, it has rained all night, it is very cold and is now snowing as well, we are going to be walking round an outdoor museum!! But you know what they say, “you have no fun if you only go out on sunny days”

And what a fun day we had.

The town has its own theatre group with its own Victorian Theatre Royal where such delights as The Gold Rush Revue, Diller’s Luck and An Evening of British Music Hall are played.

The wonderful professional (these is no Am Dram’s) actors and actresses also perform around the town all day playing Barkerville residents of the late 1800’s early 1900’s

Telling and acting out stories of big gold finds, disappointments, love stories and murder tales, the joys and hardships of living on the frontier.

On the tour of the town we had an actress as our guide who was in the present time. Walking around the town we meet up with people in costume going about their daily tasks, they would then stop and interact with the guide, telling stories and what life was like, i.e. the outside toilets are frozen up, I did not wish to know any more then that!! but this all made everything much more interesting and a lot of fun. We went to the court house where Judge Begbe and his clerk reminisced about justice in the early days of BC again with stories and how the judicial actually worked. The best for me was the Cornish Water Wheel where 2 guys acted out as a mine owner trying to con investment out of us, a group of “green” investors and his works engineer/manager. With much laughter we had a very good geology lesson and an excellent demonstration of the Cornish Wheel.

We also had an interesting tour of China town, this is the oldest China town in Canada, most of the Chinese who came here were male and from the River Pearl delta, (we did learn that in San Francisco) we were also told a lot about the Chee Kung Tong (secret organisation) who helped the Chinese to get here from their village and helped them once here. We ended a great day with a superb Chinese meal.

It rained on and off most of the day; the ground was very muddy as there was no tarmac in 1860!!!! Puddles everywhere also small rivers running down Main Street!!! But it was a very good and fun day.

We drove back towards highway 97 on the way we saw a “Grizzly Bear” not as large as I thought they would be, however it was on all fours and I was inside my big truck, I did not get out.

Tomorrow we head for Prince Rupert which is some 800K………………………………..

Trees and Snow 10.5.08

2008-06-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I am now in Canada waiting for new brakes to arrive from England postage 600pounds :-( Les is waiting for body mounts!!! I offered my bra :-)

enjoy

Friday 18^th April 2008

After spending a couple of days in the garage while Les had his truck repaired we head north for Canada and Alaska. Yesterday we had the most delicious Indian meal, superb; we had a doggie bag for lunch tomorrow.

We are on the motorway (freeway) all day getting to Sacramento and route 16, parked at the casino for the night, free and very quiet.

Saturday 19^th April 2008

We continue on route 16 and 20 joining up with route 1 (The Pacific Highway) the ride was so very beautiful, the coast is amazing. Arriving at the coast we thought we may give the trucks a wash, so did a round the block U turn - you know right, right, right, right, then I was stopped by the police again! This time he did not have a smiley face, when I opened the door he said “why do you and your buddies’ think you do not need to stop at a stop sign” this was a bit scary, I am frantically trying to think what stop sign we had not stopped at, in front of us there is a stop light (which we call traffic lights) we did not stop at that but here in the US one can do a right hand turn against a red light, soooo I said nothing, “have you got your drivers licence” says he, which of course I have and gave this to him , the grumps left his face to be replaced with confusion “what are these numbers here for” says he, “my birthday” says I “take a seat mam I will be back” says he. I spoke to L n M on the CB we did not know what stop sign we had been through, after a few minutes the policeman came back with smiles all over his face, “are you from the UK mam?” yes, was my answer (obviously!!), it turned out there was some kind of convention in town, the big white police chief was English, were we her friends I told him no, apologized for myself and my friends for driving through a stop sign but some how this did not matter any more, could he help us in any way told us just to be careful etc., etc., he was by now charming!!! I think the licence saved the day!

Sunday 20^th April 2008

An amazing drive through the giant redwood trees, Les has a leaking hose on the coolant system of his truck. We park up trying to fix this he is able to do a makeshift job of it. We then drive through the Avenue of Giants which is Ancient Redwood trees between 500 and 1000 years old, this area is national park, very well protected, since logging was stopped in the early 1900’s and has become a perfect eco system it takes the fallen trees hundred’s of years to decompose, and in the mean time provides a wonderful home for, plant life, animals and insects. We parked up on a car park at the side of a closed road, (there had been a land slide) in front of The Immortal Tree which is aprox 1000 years old - original height 298ft; current height 248ft; it has survived a lighting strike which took the top off, the loggers axe, a forest fire in 1908, huge flood in 1964. There is enough wood in this single tree to build several houses. We had a very nice quiet sleep it was however very cold in the morning.

Monday 21^st April 2008.

Les got his hose repaired today in Eureka, we were then able to continue our journey through these amazing trees and mountains, we have left the coast and heading east.

It is raining.

Tuesday 22^nd April 2008

It is still raining, we stopped in a nice little town to do our laundry, I was in the launderette reading my book I looked up standing in front of the window was a man in total pure white clothes I thought he was an angel but then he walked past saying good morning mam I then thought he must be an escapee from the South Pacific. He was infact in the US Navy!! it was raining and he was walking about in pure white how did he keep that clean?

We are heading for the Volcanic National Park but the snow is getting thicker and the rain has turned to snow, the trees look beautiful all we need is a robin to make a lovely Christmas scene. The snow gets worse we are in fact driving through a snow storm. The Volcanic Park is closed because of snow as are many of the side roads. We spend the night in a very small town/camp/fishing area named “Old Station”.

Wednesday 23^rd April 2008

More snow another snow storm, the road over the mountain had a lots of snow on the road we turned around once to retrace our steps but, this would mean we had to go through the snow of yesterday plus a full day before we reached another road going into Canada, so after speaking to some road workers who assured us the road infront was ok for our trucks we turned again and continued forward into the breach!!!!. However we did decide to abandon the rest of our trip in the mountains and head for Canada and our friends Mary and Carl; we travelled with them in China.

So taking interstate 5 we head for Canada and Alaska....................................................................

Happy trails!!!!

A Day in the Park 23.4.08

2008-06-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

This was such an awesome visit. This country has so much beauty and it is all so huge! my country is so small, but small is beautiful as well. I find the size so amazing. I hope you enjoy my day in the park!

Tuesday 15^th April 2008

YOSEMITE.

WOW! Breathtaking, Magnificent, Stunning, Amazing.

And we saw our first Bear! Had a very good view for quite a time, he was a Black Bear, the ranger said about 2 years old, he was actually brown and very scruffy looking, he was walking around a meadow area looking for food, it was great, Very exciting.

In Yosemite natural beauty is just all around you, towering granite cliffs, with waterfalls in abundance, because of the time of year the waterfalls were huge with water cascading over the edge of the granite cliffs, I guess in the summer time they are not as spectacular, some of the roads are still closed because of snow. There are more giant Sequoias groves and of course wild flowers everywhere, a new one to me was the Pacific Dogwood,(I think this beautiful flower could have a nicer name) this is white daisy style but so delicate grows on the tree before the leaves come out, the flowers do not last long and then the tree is all green for the rest of the summer.

ps we are seeing them now with leaves on the trees, they are beautiful.

We stayed on a campsite inside the park, each pitch has a metal Bear proof cupboard for all food and drink, any food that is left in sight like on the front seat of a car the bear will wreck your car to get to the food or drink, Bears can smell food from 3 miles away, a notice read “if a bear takes your food do not try and get it back” as if!! Yes Boo Boo you can have my dinner says I !! it is very serious not only for our health and safety but if the bear gets aggressive it has to be put down, So it is up to everyone who visits this amazing place to be “bear responsible” all the trash cans are bear proof as well. I did not dare leave my window open, found it very worrying really, there were folk having BBQ’s how brave were they!

The valley which makes the park was carved out by glaciers in 2 ice ages, at some of the overlooks you can really see the U shape of the valley that the glaciers make as they push and cut their way along the valley floor.

There was also a controlled forest fire as we were leaving the park the smoke was awful made ones eyes sting also did not do my chest much good, but at least there was no danger, just fireman and fire trucks all over the place.

What I haven’t told you about these amazing trees is - the reason they do not die but fall over is because

1) the bark is so thick that insects and bugs etc. cannot reach the inside of the tree and cannot therefore do any damage or cause disease.

2) When there is a fire the bark may be burnt, BUT the clever tree can repair it self,

3) the lower branches fall from the tree; only the big, thick branches which are above all other trees are left, these are of course above the fire line. Some of the trees can be seen with fire scars, when a tree falls the rangers can tell how many fires the tree has survived. Isn’t nature a wonderful thing.

It Just gets Better....18.4.08

2008-06-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hiya

Well I am still wandering around California having a great time. the WOW factor just gets bigger and bigger it really does.

I hope you are all ok and enjoying what ever it is you are doing.............. let me know

3^rd April 2008

Lake Mono

Our journey continues down route 395, stopping many times to admire the mountains and overlooks, arriving in the Mono Basin which has a very impressive history of volcanic activity, there is also the very unusual Lake Mono which is surrounded on 3 sides by volcanic formations, this lake has no outlet only mountain streams running in to it carrying their minerals. Over the years a problem has arisen, along with evaporation and the fact that Los Angeles has over the years diverted some of the stream water for the use of their ever growing population the lake is now much lower then 150 years ago, the mineral content of the water has risen by 10%. Although no fish can live in these alkaline waters the lake is very productive supporting millions of brine shrimp, alkali flies and migratory birds, birds rest here on their way to South America from Alaska, the sea birds from the coast come here to nest (Les was in bird heaven). Above the surface there are an amazing number of magical shapes called “Tufa” these are formed when fresh water springs containing calcium bubble up through the carbonate-rich lake water, the combining of these waters form calcium carbonate, a whitish lime stone deposit that forms the tufa formation, they are quite beautiful and create quite a fairy land scape.

Lessons have been learnt and the level of this lake is increasing, the levels had come very close to creating an ecological disaster.

Friday 4^th April

To day nearly become a disaster for me! We drove to Mammoth Lakes, there is a very nice town there, I was able to get some cash from the ATM at the bank also to do some shopping in a very good supermarket (Vons). My chest was not good, I did not feel myself; we are very high - well high for my poor old chest!! I didn’t get out of the truck much, we just plodded on, parking up at a casino for the night which had a petrol station I decided to fill up I asked the guy on duty if he would clean my wind screen which was covered in dead fly’s and butterfly’s (‘cause I had no breath) I was then going to give him a tip. NO Wallet!! There was around 600$ in it!! anyway I rang the shop up and would you believe “Yes we have your wallet here” was the reply to my question!! How lucky am I.

Saturday 5^th April

This was the most interesting of days. We went to “Manzanar National Historical Site” this was one of the relocation or interment camps for the Japanese early in 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbour December 1941

We had a little lecture from a ranger who showed a complete model of the camp and asked what we thought it looked like, both Les and I said “Auschwitz” which is what the overall model looked like same, same, The ranger said it was a town, which it was - having a better hospital the then local people had access to, he went on to explaine the town - how it worked, there were some very good things and of course some not so good. The Japanese built some beautiful gardens, making their own very small living quarters very nice, the building we were in was the High School. We spent nearly a full day here, looking and reading all the exhibits, then doing a self guided drive tour. This was no concentration camp. Some of the occupants believed it was ok to be here because this would help the Americans with the war effort but of course others did not think like that and condemned America. However in 1943 the US army formed the 442^nd regimental combat team a unit for Japanese Americans who served with 100^th infantry in Europe. In 1952 Japanese aliens could become naturalized citizens and in 1988 an apology along with $20,000 was made to 82,000 former internees.

Our conclusion was that America did the best it could, with what it had, at a very very difficult time, when the whole world had gone crazy, good and interesting day.

SEQUOIA and KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS

7^th 8^th 9^th April 2008

This forest is like nothing you have ever seen these trees are big, huge!

The giant Sequoia has a massive trunk, huge stout branches, with cinnamon-coloured bark, it is sometimes called “Sierra redwood”, its scientific name is Sequoiadendron giganteum. The taller and more slender coast redwood Sequoia sempervirens is more conifer-like in profile.

Sequoias grow naturally only on the west slope of California’s Sierra Nevada range; The Redwoods grow naturally only on the narrow strip along the Pacific Coast.

Redwoods grow to 367 feet aprox weighing in at 1.6 million lbs. Sequoia grow to 311 feet aprox. But weigh in at 2.7 million lbs. The Sequoia is the largest living thing on the planet. The General Sherman Tree is the world’s largest living tree this lives in Sequoia National Park the General Grant Is the Nations Christmas Tree and lives in Kings Canyon Nation Park. Both these trees I can tell you are enormous.

Sequoias do not die of old age, they are very resistant to fire - infact they can repair themselves from fire damage, they die from falling over. When the gold rush of California was happening so many of these wonderful trees were cut down they came very close to being wiped out, a tree would be felled to protect a cabin now they move the cabin to protect the tree. A lot have been damaged by fire because natural fires were put out quickly which allowed the floor of the forest to become clogged with fuel, small trees grew forming ladders which enable the fire to reach the tops of these giants. Now fires are controlled the forest floor is kept clean very small trees do not survive (no ladder) the tops of these wonderful trees are safe from fire also every thing gets more light and nutrients making the whole forest more productive. We have seen a wild Bob Cat sat in a tree, also White Pelicans on a lake we have had three awesome days, it is truly amazing I can not get over the size of these trees. Magnificent.

All good things come to an end on the third day Les has an engine problem we need to find a garage. Found a good Ford garage in Fresno but a part has to be flown out from England, this will take around a week so we will move on, coming back for the repair. Whilst at the garage we did laundry, they have wireless internet.

Friday 11^th April 2008

We drove all day on the motor way (Interstate) boring to the top of Route 49; we will then drive down Route 49 to Yosemite National Park.

Saturday 12^th 13th 14^th 2008

Route 49

Along California’s historic highway 49 which is in the Sierra foothills we hope to find many interesting gold mines and old gold towns

In January 1848 A carpenter named James Marshall was building a sawmill for John Sutter (who incidentally purchased Fort Ross from the Russians.) James found several flakes of gold in a stream bed this was the start of the California Gold Rush. This find brought many thousands of people from all over the world to California for Gold, and many more thousands to support the miners, Merchants, doctors, lawyers, gamblers, ministers, Ladies!, everything a miner needs to find his gold and to be relieved of it! Towns grew up over night as gold was found in different places and of course closed just as quick. Within 2 years hordes of 49ers (as they were called) had panned out most of California’s gold bearing streambed. Only a few miners had any real idea that quantities of gold were still locked beneath the surface of the sierra. We visited “The Empire Mines” opened in 1850; it tells the story of hard rock gold mining, this was the oldest, largest and richest gold mine in the Grass Valley area. A lot of the miners here were from Cornwall they were very experienced tin miners, fetching with them their tools, their knowledge, their singing and their pasties!

There was also a MG rally in the car park!

The little town of Coloma where James Marshal found his gold is a Historic State Park with the houses and buildings being renovated or rebuilt to the original plans. We tried to get on a camp site in Coloma as we had not seen everything but the price of $48 each truck was too much for us, did they think we had found gold! Remember we want no facilities - just a parking place. We found a scruffy layby opposite a restaurant parked, up had a lovely meal, the owner gave his permission for us to park there - said his guests used it all the time, we had change!

The other town we payed a visit to was Columbia State Historic Park, this town, founded in March 1850 when gold was found, has never been a ghost town but by the 1940s buildings were very deteriorated until 1945 when a state park restoration began. Columbia now contains the largest single collection of gold rush-era structures which continue to tell the stories of these enterprising miners and merchants

Water is essential for placer mining, when the rains were gone most of the miners left until June 1851 a water company engineered and built a complex system of wooden flumes, pipes and ditches to convey water 20 miles from the Stanislaus river the miners were charged a very high toll to use this water they tried to build another but this failed. Columbia also had a bad fires in 1854 which destroyed six blocks of the town leaving only brick built buildings. A company then constructed seven cisterns beneath the streets to hold water for domestic and fire fighting in the town. It was quickly rebuilt in 1854 using locally made red brick and iron doors so that in 1857 when another fire struck all the brick builds with iron doors were left standing. One merchant doused his building with barrels of vinegar.

We also visited Indian Grinding Rock Historic Park please do not forget that before this mad gold rush Native Americans had lived in peace for centuries in this area. Once the gold rush started the people who came brought illness and disease with them which killed off hundreds of Native Americans, their food and homes were destroyed; when they tried to fight back they were killed and forcibly removed from the place they had known as home for so long. There is a great outcrop of limestone with 1,185 mortar holes these people were called “Miwok” their village and a round house (sacred dancing happens here) have been reconstructed in the middle of this valley were their history is being told.

Beautiful California 10.4.08

2008-06-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

Hi,

We still continue in this most beautiful state, meeting some amazing people, I truly did not expect this when I came to America, it is an amazing place, their hospitality is like everything else huge!!!

I am enjoying it so much. Oh, by the way, we are in a garage again. Les has clutch problems with the throw away bearing!! I think that's what they are called so fingers crossed we are not here long. The up side is we have internet cover. so reply's please.

24^thMARCH 2008

We continue along this amazing coast line, it is over 1000 miles long!! Today we found Fort Ross Historical Park which turned out to be very interesting, this was built by Russian fur trappers in 1812 who came here to trap local Seals and Sea Otters for the European fur market, The Russian’s brought people from Alaska to catch the seal and otter, they also trained the local Native American to catch the animals. The fort and workings were closed in 1840 with the near destruction of the Sea Otter. After failing to make a success of farming the Russian’s sold the land, the buildings and left. The fort has now been renovated to the original style using old methods, there is a large Russian grave yard and in a nearby town there is a beautiful Russian Orthodox Church which is now a bed and breakfast. Our next stop was a small park overlooking the sea, this stop was for tea and a spot of Whale watching, met 2 lovely ladies, Carol and Diana, who were with their camper van, very close to the sea bird and whale watching, their camper is very small by American standards, much more like a European van, we were invited inside and had a lovely cup of tea and stayed for a long chat, they gave us lots of tips on where to visit, also where to park up for the night very useful information! We were then invited to visit them at their home in Sebastopol, which we hope to do.

25^th March 2008

Continuing our drive we arrive at Mendocino, we are told this is the prettiest village/town on the Californian coast with its New England style clapboard houses, a former lumber port, it is now a charming village/town with quaint shops and buildings, peaceful and unhurried, the Mendocino coast line is a great winter whale watching spot, It is also a setting for many films and TV series, I think the best known being “Murder She Wrote”

After lunch we turn south to go inland to the Wine areas of Napa and Sonoma Valley’s

We again meet up with Carol and Diana, who renew their invitation to visit, we will try and do this within a couple of days, but first some wine!!!!!

On our drive inland we have been driving through a Red Wood Forest. These trees are huge I believe they are the biggest trees in the World one tree is 362 feet tall and 1600 years old, there are also two tree’s over 360 feet tall and 17 feet in diameter, this is comparable to a 30 storey building. I guess this at least puts them up there with the biggest (I have now been to Sequoia N.P. Sooooo more about trees later)

26^th March 2008

There are over 500 wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties; we did not sample them all !! our friends from Encinitas had highlighted a few for us to visit, following their advice we spent a very enjoyable day and a half tasting all the reds in each winery, We do however think the wine is very expensive here, we felt they were all very over priced; really, most of what we had at home would cost maybe £5-£7, but for me nothing came up to the OPOL winery where I paid £20 a bottle I will bring this home!! I only got one bottle from Sonoma Valley @ £10

In the early evening of the 27^th we went over to Sebastopol to spend a couple of days with Carol and Diana. This was so lovely, again we have been made so welcome into the home of such nice people, their hospitality is enormous and their shower is great!!! Their house is so homely, beautiful outlook at the back with great a deck and hot tub! At the front of the house there is a porch AND a swing seat! Carol and Diana are going to Alaska in the summer so we look forward to meeting up with them again, I do hope so. It is always sad when we leave such new friends whilst we are on the road because you feel we may never see them again but this time may be we will!! In Oregon I hope to meet up with some one I met in St Petersburg, Russia. I am looking forward to that.

30^th March 2008

Today we drive to Sacramento to meet up with a couple who have joined the Silk Route Club, Linda and Tommy, we spent the whole day sat in deck chairs talking, then we went to Wal Mart for the night and talked some more.

1^st April 2008

Lake Tahoe.

Totally amazing, for me this is the very best time of year to visit, enough snow to make the mountains so very beautiful, enough snow in the trees, houses and towns to give a very good impression of how much snow has fallen over the winter, the roads are clear, well, the ones we drove were, several are closed, not 1000’s of people - apparently in the spring and summer every where is packed. For me it was perfect!

I have never seen so many huge piles of snow, the houses that were obviously for summer use were just covered with snow, the drive, garden, just a roof. Some of the houses that are in use were just covered at the front with a drive cleared, garage and walk to the back, the thing that amused me the most, some house that had the front cleared had a veranda which was just full of snow even covering the windows. I guess when that much snow falls clearing is a big job, so you would only clear were you needed to, wouldn’t you? I was also puzzled to see the sides of the road which had been ploughed were black not just dirty but black. Well today we found out, the volcanic rock/cinder is mined and crushed then used for the iced and slippery roads, better for your car than the road salt we use.

Had a great view of a Bald Eagle soaring high in a very clear sky! The trees around the lake are Pine Ponderosa and Jackson they are described as twins, the difference is so slight.

We have had morning temperatures well below zero with warm and sunny days; we seem to spend the day changing clothes taking off layers and swapping thick and thin trousers, apparently this can still happen in June!! The weather in this country has such extremes unlike ours which is just bits and bobs and down the middle, rarely do we have extremes of any kind of weather, an American once said to me in the UK we do not have weather only samples, I understand that now.

San Francisco

2008-04-08T05:11:00.001-07:00

We are at the moment staying with 2 ladies we meet Whale watching on the coast, the people in America are so lovely their hospitality is awesome.All take care, enjoy the coming springsend your news

SAN FRANCISCO

20th March 2008

Arrive San Francisco late morning; we had booked a camp site. We drove over Golden Gate Bridge WOW did I ever think I would do that!!

I was very disappointed with SF, I was hoping to be able to see the Ballet, Opera or at least some theatre all were dark L Alcatraz was fully booked until well after we had leftL I then found a very interesting walking tour to a Victorian Area which included an inside visit to a Queen Ann B/B, because it was Saturday there was only a skeleton service on the ferry which made the time very tight, ofcourse we missed the tour by 5 minsL We also failed to arrive in time for St Patrick’s Day we did think we would miss it by a couple of weeks in the end by a few days, but we cannot see and do everything. We also missed the antiwar march, quite pleased about that we may have been arrested which would not have done our immigration any good, I heard on the radio the police blocked whole streets off and arrested everyone!

However we did get to ride on a cable car, I rode outsideJ, and we did get to see Fisherman Wharf, China Town, and lots of other very interesting spots I also had Clam Chowder lots!! Some of the old buildings are beautiful, the old Del Monte Canning plant is red brick very spectacular also an old chocolate and ice cream factory near by is built of red brick very different from most of SF.
We also found a plaque in the pavement which said “The Barbary Coast Trail” both Margaret and I were puzzled as we thought that the Barbary Coast is in Africa, but on our map there was a marked trail in the town and along the water front. Which we followed for a while. When I got back to the truck I checked just where the Barbary Coast is, well the Barbary Coast in SF is named after the Barbary Coast in Africa , this is what I found on its web site:-

"The Barbary Coast is the haunt of the low and the vile of every kind. The petty thief, the house burglar, the tramp, the whoremonger, lewd women, cutthroats, murderers, all are found here. Dance-halls and concert-saloons, where blear-eyed men and faded women drink vile liquor, smoke offensive tobacco, engage in vulgar conduct, sing obscene songs and say and do everything to heap upon themselves more degradation, are numerous. Low gambling houses, thronged with riot-loving rowdies, in all stages of intoxication, are there. Opium dens, where heathen Chinese and God-forsaken men and women are sprawled in miscellaneous confusion, disgustingly drowsy or completely overcome, are there. Licentiousness, debauchery, pollution, loathsome disease, insanity from dissipation, misery, poverty, wealth, profanity, blasphemy, and death, are there. And Hell, yawning to receive the putrid mass, is there also."[1]

I promise you girls it is not like that now I was quite safe and enjoyed our stroll along the water front to Fisherman’s Wharf this was very busy lots of tourists, lots of fish restaurants. The fish is landed at 4am so we missed that as well!!
When in China Town we went to a Chinese Museum which tells the story of the Chinese in SF, surprisingly they were amongst the very first immigrants; they first came as fisherman some in Chinese Junks most left their wife’s and families in China it was therefore a very male area. I guess I thought they had come as fairly new immigrants as they have in England. China Town SF is the first.
The ones in England are very new really.

23rd March 2008

Today we continued our coastal journey North, the weather is lovely we have seen Seal’s with their babies suckling, with the odd sea gull try to push in, mum did not allow it!
We stopped for our afternoon tea at Bodoga Bay some of Hitchcock’s “Birds” filmed here, the Church in Bodoga town is the Church in the film. We are parked for the night at the very edge of the water and have seen an Osprey it did not dive! the other sea birds are amazing . Les is in heaven...........................

California Coast

2008-04-08T05:10:00.001-07:00

Sorry this is very late, I have not had email cover for ages, when we did I was having my solar panels repaired. I hope you enjoy this, I hope you are all well and enjoying what ever you are doing, we are having great weather at the moment are in San Francisco.
Pat and Peter who I meet at the wine tasting I hope you enjoy xx
26th February 2008

Back in the good ol’ USA we headed to the coast of California, Encinitas when I broke down in the Rockies, a very nice lady came to speak to me about the trucks as they had a very old Mercedes truck as a camper van, Shelly’s husband is a mechanic, running a European car company, both he (Charlie) and Shelly were able to tell me what was wrong also not to drive my truck. We chatted to them for about 10 minutes, they invited us to visit on our way up the coast of California, they were also kind enough to allow us to use their address for our vehicle insurance and to have a parcel delivered, very kind. So, this is were we are heading we drove a very scenic route very beautiful, flowers, birds and wonderful trees some amazing old towns very picturesque quant lovely mostly wooden houses with a porch AND a swing seat!
Shelly and Charlie actually life in the next village to Encinitas where their garage is this village is called “Cardiff-by-the-Sea” they had told us of a campsite on the state beach but we could only stay for the Friday night after that we were able to park on their property at the back of the information in the village. Shelly and Charlie walked down to see us in the trucks for the evening we ordered 5 pizzas to be delivered, my English friend’s can you imagine how much pizza that is, we did not. Les and Margaret put the boxes in the oven, the top box set on fire but we managed to safe the pizza ha!ha! as if we needed it 3 would have been ampleJ any way we had a lovely evening and were invited to their home the following night for dinner.
Charlie picked us up from our new campsite on his parking lot! And took us to their house, which is beautiful in the most wonderful setting, a small canyon, the trees were terrific we had oranges picked from the tree but the most amazing thing we saw a nesting humming bird, we had also seen one flying, can you imaging how tiny the nest is, about the size of half a chickens egg with this tiny bird sat in it so proudly she sat a little while allow us a very good view then flew I wish I was taller and could have seen inside the nest how big are the eggs they must be minute.
Other friends had been invited, we spent a wonderful evening with some great people hearing lots about America and of course us telling lots about England and our travels, the food was to die for as was the wine we certainly had a lovely time. One of their friends Jack and his wife Glenda invited us to their home the following evening.
Sunday Charlie came and took us for a lovely walk around the town showing us all the places of interest and tell us about life in a fairly small American town, very interesting he left us at the Botanical Gardens around lunch time coming back for us after a couple of hours, the gardens were just beautiful we had a lovely time.
Shelly came to pick us up from our trucks and take us to Jack and Glenda’s for the evening they life on the other side of the same canyon, they have built their house up having a flat underneath so that they have a wonderful view of the ocean we watched an amazing sunset, had another great evening with great people, wonderful food and wine terrific conversation it is really lovely to be invited into homes and hear from ordinary Americans comparing our lives which are so different yet so similar, very interesting we are all 3 enjoying the election which is going on at the moment between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Monday 3rd March
Well after such a wonderful weekend I for one am feeling very alcoholic! Les is having some work done today on his truck so for me a very quiet morning, we were also able to sort out our vehicle insurance with the help of Shelly and Charlie’s fax machine and their address, I bet they never speak to English travellers for 10 minutes again!! I jest, they made us so welcome I hope they enjoyed our company as much as I enjoyed theirs!!
Wonderful!

We now really have begun our journey north more or less up the California coast on Highway 1 popping inland as and when there is some thing we want to see; we are following the California Missions there are 21 in all.
These 21 missions were built along the El Camino Real between 1769 – 1823 they reflect the simple tastes of the Franciscan Monks who founded them, they are built of stone and adobe and finished inside and out with white washed mud plaster the roof was made of thick timber and covered with red tiles the purpose of the missions was to convert the Indian population to Catholicism but after the secularization around 1833 the missions began to fall into disrepair and earthquakes took there toll, but now they have and are being restored most have a very active church and play a large part in the local community they all have very interesting museums, we have not seen them all but have very much enjoyed what we have seen.

5th March 2008

We are going into Los Angles to try and see the daughter of a close friend of Les and Margaret who now lives in Hollywood we have agreed and hope to be able to meet her in some where in Santa Monica, I remember the pier very well from my visit 30+ years ago when I had clam chowder for the first time ever and it was so delicious I have never forgotten it, I am hoping for a repeat. We had a very nice lunch in a nice local pub food was good, the pier was nothing as I remember all very “Blackpool” (a grotty seaside town in the north of England) now with NO clam chowder, however we were able to meet up with Les and Margaret’s friend in a supermarket car park, who then allowed us to stay the night, we are always happy to get a free sleep over supermarkets are good because we have the use of the toilet, they are flat, they have fresh bread in the morning and are usually quiet, this one however was very busy.
The journey up to San Francisco has been sooo beautiful the road for most of the time is very close to the sea with the mountains on our right some times the road seems to be clinging on to the mountain, there are wonderful white beaches, little coves, beautiful rocks with the sea pounding lots of surfers, for most of the way we have had whale spouts sometimes to many to count, we have seen Elephant seals and Harbour seals, Les has seen sea birds some have been endangered, Snow Plover for one (I am not good at remembering their names) it is fun when Les points out what he has seen and I can find it! When we got to Santa Barbara I had a problem with my solar panel, they were not working I was lucky enough with the help of the tourist information to find a guy who would and could fix it for me. We had to wait 3 days for his to be able to fit me in to his schedule so we took a little detour into the mountains lovely, the big problem I had was that this guy only took cash or cheque (which ofcourse would have to be an American cheque) I have 2 bank cards which I can use at the ATM but the bank for one of them must have increased their security because it would not give me any cash which meant I had to go to the bank everyday to get cash out what a bind!! Then I was worried I would not have enough, so L&M got some out as well to lend me, but thanks to our good exchange rate I was able to manage, solar panels fixed and working great. We had been told of a Farmers Market at San Luis Obispo (also there is a Mission) so off we went, our first Californian Farmers Market, found a supermarket to park in (but not to sleep) we would have to move later, whilst getting ready to go out 2 guys came looking my window was open so I spoke to them, they were so nice very interested in what we were doing, then offered us a tiny no through road to sleep in just 2 blocks away, when were returned from the market Eric had been back and left a map on Les’s windscreen, how kind is that!
This meant we had a very short drive knew were we were going and a good sleep. The Market was very good we were going to have our supper there, they had Clam Chowder which was wonderful just as I remembered Les enjoyed as well.

14th March 2008

Eric came to invite us for breakfast we had already eaten so went to his house for a coffee/tea instead he was also going to show us an interesting and beautiful route to take. Another amazing American house the floors upstairs and down stairs also the stairs were made from sustainable mahogany can you imagine that, awesome, his house was from reclaimed old houses all original fixtures and fittings I loved it. The entrance hall was a library the shelves went to the ceiling with a library ladder, very “Enry iggings” we spent a couple of hours with Eric and his wife Cynthia who is a painter her pictures were very good for me very likeable, it was such a lovely time again with lovely people showing us their way of life talking about their country, great.
Now we go inland again to the wine area were we hope to taste some good Californian wine, I know nothing about this wine area or the wine I hope to change this! Now we head for Paso Robles the drive through vine yards was lovely with all the tree’s in blossom and flowers out, we had a job to find a campsite ended up outside a church which was ok no toiletJ but flat which is the most important.

15th March 2008

Today we find a vineyard for the sampling of their wines. It is all very busy lots of people about, we stopped a couple but were not very impressed, did not really feel very comfortable we then wound up at “OPOLO” vineyard which again was very busy but had a great atmosphere so paid our 10$ which included lunch and as many samples as you could drink!! Before we started drinking Les asked one of the owners if we could stay the night in the car park, he said yes so no driving, great! The reason for the crowds it was a festival weekend at all vineyards the “Zest Fest” we had a great time lots of folk to chat with, met a lovely couple and their 2 friend from Vermont, we have promised to visit when we are on the East Coast, I hope to be able to keep that promise
It was a lovely relaxing day my favourite was a “Petite Verdot” 2005 I hope to be able to get this at home, very enjoyable.
The following morning was -6 with a very thick frost!!

16th March 2008

We paid a visit to Heast Castle, this was the home of newspaper publisher William Randolph Heast very rich very famous, the film “Citizen Kane” was based on his life story, the house is now a museum full of antiques mostly from Europe purchased after the 1st world war, it is by far the most over the top, ostentatious house I have ever seen, but I imagine it is a portrait 0f the time, it was a great and fun visit we did only see a small part of the house and 1 guest house also a film, this was enough for us.

17th March 2008

We drove the Monterey Peninsula which is stunning, spectacular, amazing. Or just plain beautiful! There is a 17 mile scenic drive which really takes your breath away, the charming village of Carmel (Clint Eastwood was major, I was told Doris Day lives there) we did not see them but we did see seals, see birds and whale spouts along with the most awesome scenery.
From there we did a little inland detour (trying to hit San Francisco at the right time, we have a camp site booked) driving through the mountains and a red wood forest the trees are huge, magnificent, we camped in Half Moon Bay ready to hit SF tomorrow……….

I have to say this part of our journey has been mind blowing, we have meet some amazing and wonderful people, the coast is magnificently beautiful those 2 alone are enough but, add to that the flora and fauna an amazing ocean, mountains and ……..

The Desert in Bloom.........

2008-04-08T05:08:00.001-07:00

This will give you the idea that I love flowers, I do! I have tried to tell you how wonderful our journey so far has been, I do go on a bit, sorry.I hope you are all ok and enjoying what ever you are doing, we are just outside San Diego at the moment.I will try and send some photostake care with much love

Tuesday 12th February 2008

Well here we are in Mexico, Baja California. The scenery is amazing; these America’s are astonishing so much variation, rocks, trees, and cactus and flowers.
Back in the US the trip from Death Valley took us through the “Mojave National Preserve” The area has, like every where such a changing scene, as we drive through, we have sand dunes and because we are here in the early spring flowers in abundance, both on the ground and flowering cactus, we drive through Pinyon-Juniper trees and because we are in Mojave country Joshua Trees these trees can grow to 50ft!! they are however not trees but Yucca, in this preserve they grow very close together, making amazing weird and wonderful shapes in the desert ones imagination can run riot, we pass cactus – yucca scrub with cactus of every shape and size.
We also found a restored two story mission style building “kelso Depot” which was the rail road depot for the Union Pacific, very interesting, in the middle of the desert, a small town (we would call it a village) grew up around the depot this very small town had 2 post offices, 1 for black people, 1 for white people these folk lived side by side and depended on each other in all the problems life would have thrown at you in such a small desert town, to an English person this is very weird and uncomfortable even now, the weather here is very hot. We also went to the “the hole in the wall” (those Mormons again cutting the rock by hand to get their wagons through) had a nice walk here until things got a bit of a scramble over rocks (I am terrified of braking something) found a free camp for the night, tomorrow we head for the Joshua Tree National Park

Wednesday 13th February

On route to the Joshua Tree N.P. we drove some of route 66, this was so sad, all the glory days gone, most of the houses, motels, truck stops, have all been left to fall into disrepair, (unlike in Arizona where everything has been revived) a long the side of the road on a sandy rocky ridge 100’s of people have planted their names with rocks, there was also a tree covered with shoes 100’s of pairs, all that was left of this road that once was so full of life and fun.
We parked up for lunch, Les, Margaret and myself thought we heard people walking on the roof of the trucks, did not know how they got up there, it was however guns/bombs we had parked next to “Twenty-nine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Centre” whom I guess were having some kind a drill !!!! We ate our lunch without being blown up I am pleased to be able to tell youJ
Once in the park we went for a walk to see the Desert Fan Palm which is a native of California, in this hot and sparse environment a palm oases makes wonderful shade and in the pioneer days must have been a blessed respite, there are only 158 oases left in the whole of North America 4 of these are in Joshua Tree N.P.
We drove and walked round the upper area of the park which is the Mojave Desert to see the Joshua Trees, none grow in the southern area which is the Colorado Desert, These trees are totally amazing every one is a different size and shape they are twisted and spiky and I guess prickly but I did not check that out! Some of the shapes are grotesque; the tallest tree in the park today is 40ft high and is estimated to be 300 years old. Another truly wonderful day.

Thursday 14th February 2008

It is a cold cold day. We are still in the Joshua Tree N.P going south into the Colorado Desert which this time of year is famous for flowers, but there is no sun so all the flowers are closed up, sad, we went for a walk around the Cholla Cactus Garden the top of these cactus appear to have soft silver bristles these account for the common name “Teddy Bear Cactus” or “Jumping Cholla” they do not jump but will if you brush against them stick into you and brake away from the main plaint, this apparently is very painful and removing the spines from your body is even more painful. The main cactus drops this small ball, which looks very pretty onto the ground from this a new cactus will grow, I touched one with the toe of my shoe and it stuck into my shoe (much laughter) it was very hard to dislodge, dare not touch it, then I had all these whiskers sticking out from the toe of my shoe which I had to scrap along the ground to get out, didn’t do the shoe much goodJ it was a wonderful little walk with a leaflet tell about what we were looking at. The most widespread plant is the “Creosote Bush” which really does smell just like creosote. We even saw several “Desert Wood Rat” nest’s, an empty nest is never vacant for long, as another Wood Rat will take up residents adding more debris to the pile, Nests have been found that are over 10,000 years old, complete with ancient plant remains buried in the centre.
I have never seen a desert in this season it is so beautiful, the flowers were amazing some so tiny, some so bright in colour, it was a shame they were not open but the colour and the amount was terrific.

Friday 15th February 2008

To day we head for the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, this proved to be very similar to the Joshua Tree N P with Octillo which is a tall spindly plant whose leaves sprout from its straight spindly, well I would call them twigs they are not branches, stems? may be sticks! On the very top of the sticks their flowers are bright red, they look like candles as each bush had a number of sticks the desert looked full of candelabras! There were more Cholla and flowers, today the sun is shining they are just beautiful. We took a walk to an Oasis with over 100 Desert Fan Palms that was lovely.
We could wild camp here in this park we found a nice spot, flat ect Les went of birding watching Margaret and I were having a cup of tea, a very nice young man came to tell us we had parked in the middle of the YMCA weekend boys camp there were going to be over 100 children with their dads, I think he was more concerned about the noise the dads might make at night then the children, any way we decided to stop we leave at 8 o clock every morning, much to our surprise the night was very peaceful.J

Saturday 16th February 2008

Well today we arrive in Mexico, the boarder was very easy infact we just drove straight into Mexico no barrier, nothing, we got some money then walked back to get our passport stamped with an entree visa, this caused a little problem because we did not get an exit visa stamp when we left!!!
We then thought we should at least try and get an exit visa from the USA, going back to the gate we then got stop by a soldier with a gun!! He just laughed and told us to go to the entrée into the USA, this caused quite a stir, with us being told to go back to the stop sign and wait!! The out come was that a stamp to leave the US was not required, we hope that is correctJ
Back into Mexico! With its loud music crowds of people, broken cars, speed bumps (hate them) bad drivers and the most delicious fish for lunch in Ensenada.
We spent the next 3 days driving to Nuerroro Negro through the mountains and high desert, this drive is awesome flowers, cactus, wonderful very tall trees with no branches, just leaves growing out of the tree all the way to the top, and on the very top red flowers or leaves, making some looked like Christmas trees with a fairy on the top! It was such an enjoyable drive, arriving at Nuerroro Negro we stopped on a campsite for a couple of days because tomorrow we will go Whale watching!!!! Which I have already written about.

Friday 22nd February 2008

Today we drove to San Ignacio this is a lovely little town with one of the finest Churches in this part of Mexico, started by the Jesuits in the early 1700’s and finished by the Dominican’s in 1786 the church is a fine example of a Spanish building of that time, we walk around the very small village, The first Dominican bishop had also planted a large number of date palm’s which are still there today we were able to buy a very enjoyable date flan. After a very nice lunch at the “Rice and Beans” restaurant we turn around to start our journey north into Canada and Alaska.

Monday 25th February 2008

Tomorrow we will be back in the US.
The journey through this part of the country has been magnificent so very beautiful, “The Desert in Bloom” when parking in the desert each morning there is a carpet of colour flowers everywhere so many it is impossible to walk without treading on them, everywhere you look there are carpets of flowers, yellows and purples seem to be the most common but sometimes a mix of the two in amongst there are whites and orange, ofcourse green so many different shades each corner we go around has been a surprise and a joy to see, with cactus standing high, or clinging to rocks and little tiny ones so many shapes and sizes. We have been in this wonderland for a week, travelling some 1108 miles I have never seen so many wild flowers any where in the world, we have been so luck to have come at this time of year, it does not seem possible that in a couple of months the sun will have turned all this brown and barren I have so enjoyed this trip to Baja, also diesel is only 25p Litre! BonusJ I have just read all that I have written and I guess you know by now that the flowers and the desert are beautiful, I have gone on a bit!!

Sprayed by Whales..........

2008-04-08T05:07:00.001-07:00

hI Guys,
I have just had the most amazing day. to protect my breakfast I did not take any photos but Les will let me havecopies of his sooooo photos later!just share the joy of my day

FEBRUARY 21ST 2008

WOW! WOW! WOW!

I have been sprayed by a California Gray Whale, I have touched several times a California Gray Whale, can you believe that, they were that close, there were Whales to left, Whales to the right, Whales in front and behind us AND underneath the boat. One word AWESOME!
The best of all I was NOT sick, I just enjoyed a wonderful 4 hours on a boat in the lagoon (Laguna Ojo de Liebre better known as Scammon’s Lagoon)
The Whales come here to spawn from Siberian and Alaskan waters some 10,000KM they slide majestically at some 5 – 7KM per hour before reaching the warm and protected waters of Baja, today the estimated number in the Lagoon is 800, 300 of these are babies.
Today I was lucky enough to be able to see them Mummies, Babies, and three whales mating! One female in the middle one male pushes up from underneath! So 3 Whales together splashing and rolling around this is what they are doing ….. So we were told.
We are in Guerrero Negro, Baja, Mexico. I have jumped days a little but was so excited I wanted to share, but will go back to Joshua Trees
If we do not start looking after our planet this wonderful sight will not happen. The northern seas will be so warm the Creel will not be there and the whales will die !

Death Valley

2008-04-08T05:03:00.000-07:00

This is the largest National Park in the US outside Alaska; it is also one of the lowest places in the world 282feet below sea level it is also one of the hottest places in the world, summer temperatures reaching between 110f and 120f the highest recorded 134f !!!!! I am very pleased to say the winter temperatures are very pleasant making our visit very enjoyable. Summer time also brings thunderstorms which send flash floods tearing down narrow canyons the average rain fall is less the 2ins a year, we were lucky enough to see 3 different flowers in bloom, 2 yellow and 1 purple which I think was a “desert five spot”
The valley got its name from a group of pioneers and gold seekers who in 1849 decided to cut across the desert, this would save them 500 miles from their journey it took them over 3 months to complete their journey, only 2 man died in the valley but the journey had been so hard they gave it the name “Death Valley” There are mines all over the valley and many precious metals have been found, but the discovery of a mineral – Borax- initiated the exploration of the valley “The Borax company” built the roads and 20 mule teams drew wagons weighing 40 tons across and out of that desert, some of the wagons are still here also the remains of a The Harmony Borax Works and ofcourse the white Borax is still all over the ground.
As we have seen in the other parks the whole area is a wealth of geological phenomena, large sand dune formation, sculpted rocks, volcanic craters and isolated valleys and ofcourse the colours which change with the sun and are so very beautiful, none of the red we have seen in other parks but wonderful greys, browns, yellows, blacks and whites with strips of green, reds and orange thrown in, awesome, the shape, every where you look this is different sometimes smooth and round sometimes sharp and pointed a huge mishmash of shape and colour, wonderful just to drive and look!!

Les and Margaret broke down on the campsite in the valley, starter motor I had to give them a tow to start, and then we did that park on a hill with a roll start going back to “Pahrump” a largish town we had passed through just before Death Valley. There we were able to find a garage that can repair but a new starter is required which will not be here until Monday, why do we always brake down on a Friday?

Saturday we went for lunch at the casino a lovely buffet meal as many visits to the table as you want for the very princely sum of £3.50 it was very good even had a chocolat fountain. We also found great internet cover in the library

On Sunday Margaret and I went to Scotty’s Castle, this is amazing built in the 1920’s a wonderful Spanish Style Castle/House in the middle of the desert, this opulent home’s name is “Death Valley Ranch” having been built by a wealthy insurance guy from Chicago, whom Scotty a cowboy/miner/conartist had convinced to invest in a mythical gold mine, the two became firm live long friends but Scotty a conner to the end told every one it was his castle build with cash from his gold mine, it is a wonderful story you may be able to find more on the web he is known as “Death Valley Scotty”
The house now belongs to the country (I am not sure what this is in the US at home it would belong to the National Trust) The house now stand as is was in 1939 when the Johnson’s and Scotty lived/stayed here it contains all the beautiful furnishings and artwork also decorated in 1939 style, the ranger who gives a very good tour telling lots of “Scotty” stories is also dressed in 1939 clothes, it was a good fun visit, lovely to and very interesting to be able to view and walk around an American house from this period of time.

Historical York to New Las Vegas

2008-02-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

Feb 8^th 2008

Our trip from Manchester UK to Chicago USA was pretty uneventful the food was good, seat not bad, films terrible but I had a good book! And all my cases were under weight!

Once in Chicago we had to get past the immigration officer I was very nervous, convinced I would be sent home.(my children had said they had had a whip round to bribe the officer to let me in) In fact the officer was charming, he asked us what we were going to be doing in the US, had we a house in Florida, we answered his questions and he LISTENED then checked our finger prints and eyes, then hey presto we are in the US for 6 months with his blessing, what a relief all that worry for nothing, We had a long wait for the connection to Phoenix Arizona which is always very boring, on arriving in Phoenix I was a case missing, not the small case with all my clothes which would be easy to replace, the large case with all the spares and stuff I cannot get in the US, like “Lady Grey” tea, my tablets, a shelf my brother had made me for the wardrobe, books and BBC DVD’s I was gutted. The airline however promised the case would be with me within 24 hours. It was, very impressive, it took 3 days when our bags were left in London after we had flown on to Manchester and Les’s bags took over a week.

It is very cold, like freezing, the truck has been frozen, I have a leaking water pump also the water filter is leaking, everything else is ok. I am booked in tomorrow for some work doing, it will therefore not be much of a problem, this first day in Prescott was terrible snow, rain and wind all day next morning the outside of the truck was well frozen but inside I was snug and warm, we spent a very busy week in Prescott getting jobs done and the truck up to speck, then headed off for Las Vegas for a couple of days R’n R.

Las Vegas, WOW! It is 32 years since I came to Las Vegas (my stepdaughter got married in a pretty little chapel) 32 years ago I stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton in a suite, this time I parked for FREE in the parking lot of Circus Circus, what a come down!! Last time I saw Frank Sinatra at Caesars Palace, the supper show (Lobster Thermador) I remember every detail. This time we saw Cirque du Soleil’s at theatre “O” in the Bellagrio Hotel/Casino after we had their wonderful buffet for lunch, of course we ate too much. All of this was wonderful Cirque du Soleil’s is an amazing show. Les and I went for a walk to see the Venetian Hotel/Casino which is just a cardboard copy of Venice, amazing, we also watched the lake outside the Hotel Bellagio which has a series of fountains spanning the quarter-mile lake and blasting water 240 feet in the air. Musically choreographed water shows are presented daily, we were lucky enough to see one, amazing, On our second day we had buffet lunch in “Paris” I did not think cardboard France was as good as cardboard Venice, Italy but it was amazing. The change in Vegas is awesome, all the small houses and wedding chapels are gone, all replaced with gigantic hotel/casinos/resorts, and I have to say this really is not my thing after 2 day’s I was very happy to leave. Before leaving we went to the “Liberace” museum which houses all his costumes, cars, jewellery and antiques if Las Vegas is ott this guy was OTT but how wonderful to have such a gift and be able to just express how you feel like this. a little bit of me was very envious!!!! It was a very good visit. However a visit to Las Vegas twice in one life time is enough for me, there are too many people by far, too much retail, but it is wonderful and fun!!

From here we head for “Death Valley”

The Lovely Alex....

2008-01-15T05:15:00.000-08:00

Here I am in damp soggy yorkshire, frantically trying to get ready to come back to the States, it's been a nice break to see all the family and friends, hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I am just having a lesson in blogging and thought I would take the opportunity to share a photo of my youngest grandchild - The Lovely Alex, teenagers being teenagers I can't share a photo of my older two grandchildren.

I have updated the blog with the remaining entries from 2007, hope everyone enjoys 2008 as much as I hope to!!

Pink Cowgirl!!!!

Two of my daughters and Alex in Spain

Back in the UK........

2008-01-15T04:53:00.000-08:00

A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS

AND A GREAT NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

I am now back in the good old UK, with no snow but very cold weather I had forgotten how cold England can be, it’s the damp yer know!!

Yet again I had a very wet departure from Prescott, Arizona. It rained a solid 36hrs before
we left. After packing the trucks up we spent our last night at the St Michaels hotel which proved to be very noisy the night porter decided to throw another guest out (for making to much noise) right outside my door at 1.57am I read this on my clock as 7.57am jumped out of bed and woke Les and Margaret up, our lift was coming at 8am L then getting back into my room realized my mistake and went back to themL then of course I couldn’t get back to sleep for an age!

Arriving at the airport our plane was delayed 3hrs, because of a mechanical problem when the plane was leaving Chicago. The staff at the airport were very good keeping us very well informed on what was happening, there was also a storm sweeping the US the eye of which seemed to be Chicago the flight should have taken 2hrs 20mins infact it took over 8hours, we were lucky enough to be put into a hotel and given food vouchers. We had ofcourse missed our 6pm flight to Manchester, which we found out next day did not leave passengers were put in hotels at 2am after spending 4 hours in the plane on the tarmac, so we faired very well being into our hotel by 1am!

The following day was spent at the airport, Chicago was very cold with a lot of snow which stopped us from having a little sight seeing trip. We then found out that there are NO restaurants at the airport only take away spots, we had McDonaldsL for breakfast. Once on the plane the journey was ok we arrived back in Manchester 24 hours late. My girls were late arriving because of traffic on the M62 (motorway over the Pennines) I had a lovely cup of tea whilst waiting for the lovely Alex to arrive.

Since then I have been trying to get the phone sorted out the account now stands at £3.500 no one at “orange” (service provider) seemed to want to talk to me, my solicitor is now trying to sort it out. I now have a new phone and provider the number is:- 07752825211.

I have been looking for some parts to take back with me.

Enjoying my family, friends and the delightful, funny Alex with lots of baby sitting Jack says she has to get a whole years worth in at one go!

We have had our annual family visit to “Panto” (pantomime) this is such a wonderful outing getting us all into the Christmas spirit; it is just 3 hours of belly laughing. We always go to the same one at the Theatre Royal York, it is very old fashioned keeping all the traditions going, the main characters are played by the same actors each year NO soap stars we have been going now for 15 years sit in the same seats front row, middle we all have lunch together first it is great.

I have also been down to South Wales to visit my brother Peter and Linda. I was baby sitting so took the delightful Alex who had a wonderful time, Pete has a granddaughter same age. On the way back home I stopped off at my travel friend’s house in Birmingham for lunch, this is OJ; we travelled with around South America

Now I am as ready for Christmas as I will ever be, it is very strange going to the girls houses and not doing anything myself

So I hope you will all have a wonderful time and a brilliant New Year. We hope that the immigration let us back into America when we return at the end of |January to continue our trip up to Alaska.

Santa Fe........

2008-01-15T04:46:00.000-08:00

New Mexico’s capital city is nearly 400 years old; the Pueblo Indians had lived here before the Spanish arrived; as the Spanish colonists built their Churches, homes and government buildings they used the Indian method of adobe, which keep the interior of the buildings cool in summer and warm in winter. Now very strict rules govern the buildings and the look of Santa Fe - every building must be painted in the officially sanctioned hues of brown and conform to the traditional adobe style. The result is a very charming and unusual Spanish-Pueblo style, which I liked very much.

Adobe Church

We enjoyed a very interesting tour of the city, in a tractor/train; our guide obviously had a great love of his city, which always makes for a good trip because they fill lots of little bits in. Santa Fe is also a very large and important Art Centre mainly because of the beautiful scenery and the south western sunlight! There are dozen’s of galleries I saw some wonderful Bronze works of art - one of an Indian lady had a patch worked quilt bronzed as her cloak/cape it was sooooooo beautiful. We all know Santa Fe from the silver screen with cowboys, gamblers and lovely ladies along the “Santa Fe Trail” which was more of a trade route then for pioneers This wonderful bronze wagon with horses and driver, In front a young boy waves a welcome along with the trail boss, this is to mark the end of the trail which lasted 60 years until the rail road arrived. After the tour we went to see the “Palace of Governors” this adobe building was built in 1610 and is considered one of the oldest buildings in the United States, it was the seat of government under Spanish, Pueblo Indian, Mexican and the US territorial rule until 1909 it then became the state history museum, the building was very impressive and the museum it self was extremely interesting. Next we visited the San Miguel Mission Church another very old building which has been in constant use since 1610 when it was built, the bell on display was cast in Spain in 1356 but the most amazing feature is the staircase which has no nails or screws the wood was shaped using water when the carpenter had finished he left without payment for his very skilled work, the hand rail was added at a later date because the choir of girls were nervous climbing up to their seats. The staircase is quite something to see.

The Staircase!!

Our second day in Santa Fe we spent at the Museum of International Folk Art which I think is one of the most impressive museums I have been to, well we were in there ALL day, there is a collection from “The Girard Foundation” which consists of over 106,000 items !!! Made up into scenes of market places, villages and docksides from all over the world over 100 countries. It was amazing. Santa Fe was a wonderful experience. From Santa Fe we did some scenic driving to get to Taos which is an old Pueblo Indian village, still with a few people living full time, lots of people spend their days there making and selling their beautiful craft and art work, also home made bread and pies yummie!!

The End of the Sante Fe trail - the bronze statue is amazing to see!!

we are now travelling along the places I covered in June and July - seeing them at a different time in the year is very good, I am also able to seeing a little more as it is not so hot and so walking around is much more enjoyable, we had to go back to the garage in Farmington for Les, he was expecting some parts these had not arrived so we pushed on once again covering the San Juan Skyway which is so beautiful it’s a joy to repeat. I called into the visitors centre in Blanding to see the friends I made at the Quilt festival in June I was lucky enough to meet up with Norma, she was very pleased to see me made me feel very welcome and special I shall never forget that place. At Newspaper rock we meet 2 guys “Mike and J” on motor bikes they were so interested in our trucks we thought they would stay the night!! They were on their way to a “Folk Festival” in Moab which we decided to go to after we had been to Needles National Park I think this is one of the very best from a whole area of very good, the rock formation and colour is brilliant I felt as much overcome as I did in June. This part of the United States is truly magnificent also with lots of interesting history. Arriving in Moab we were able to find good parking for the day and stay the night, we were then able to enjoy 2 wonderful days, with glorious weather, fabulous music and great company, these were 2 very interesting guys who loved to talk and I have to say listen to our stories as well, we are hoping to be able meet them again next year in Alaska which would be great fun We then moved on to Arches National Park once more the shape, the colour, the splendour of the rocks takes your breath away - us Brits can only look in wonder all this beauty made from wind, rain, ice and sun. We had to go back to Moab and try to book our storage for the trucks over the phone!! Well what a laugh how frustrating that, these kind of things are so different here some times it’s very hard for us to understand, over the phone adds a further dimension, we managed after many phone calls a visit to the visitors centre for help and advice on said phone calls, then we had to get a money order because this company did not take credit cardL we went to a bank but they would charge us 15$ so they sent us to the post office where it was only1.5$ the poor guy in there retired after we had left!! He had, after lots of questions etc. made the order out for the wrong amount so we had to start all over again; thank goodness I had paid with real money and not a card!!! At last the company have their cash and we have 2 storage places in Prescott for our home coming!! We drove the wonderful scenic routes the ladies from Blanding sent me on last visit Bridges National Park, The Hole in the Rock road, wonderful, then down a huge cliff down which the pioneers had taken their wagons on the way to Bluff, I can only say what ever made them do it? I would have gone home long before I ever got here!!!! We parked at the bottom of the cliff for our night stop, ready to drive the Valley of Gods in the morning this is a very bad washboard dirt road; Les had first thing a starter problem a further problem round the drive. Once back on tarmac we had our morning cup of tea stop and decided to go back to Blanding to try and get Les’s starter changed as he had had one refurbished last time we were in Prescott. This seemed very simple and straight forward as we knew Blanding it would be a quick job, ha! ha! she says. When the guys in the garage changed the starter it blew the battery up, one terminal completely melted, melted to nothing, zap!! So we spent the rest of the day there (well and the night) with the garage trying to repair or get new starter and or new battery, in the end Les settled for a repair to his brand new battery and no starter, we were approximately 450 miles from our favourite garage in Prescott, with no starter we had to find hills to park on to get a running start, Oh! I nearly forgot the boys in the garage came back next morning to give Les a tow from outside the garage, then a tow down the road. Had we got really stuck I could have given a tow, (but I am only a learner) anyway we did good managing to get to Prescott where we parked in Wal-Mart on a hill. So now we are both in repair shops poor Les getting the starter fixed, it has blown up again, the guy in the electric repair shop had put a 12volt solenoid onto a 24volt starter! he had actually done this twice!! Me I am in the caravan repair shop having some running repairs done after 2.5 years on the road, tonight I am in a hotel having a very long shower!!!!

So my darlings that is my news up todate!! Take care all of you, see some of you soon

Onwards from Farmington

2008-01-15T04:38:00.000-08:00

Today we drove from Farmington New Mexico to Ridgeway in Colorado by way of Durango and Silverton, from Durango we travelled along the San Juan Skyway which is one of the most scenic drives in North America and spanning elevations from 6.200ft to 11.008ft at the Red Mountain pass. This is the most beautiful of roads I have actually been along it 5 times now, when I came in July the flowers were out, every where you looked was a mass of colour the sun was shinning everything was bright and clear, it was ofcourse very hot with a very clear view over all the mountains and valleys. I then took the train to Silverton from Durango which was amazing, I took the bus back to Durango, I then came this way when playing catch up with Les and Margaret that time it was snowing, I think very hard there was lots of snow all the trees were very full, some of the Aspen trees were still golden, with every thing else so white and beautiful. Today it is a very winter picture with snow on the mountains and the hedge bottoms (as we say) the Aspen have lost their entire beautiful golden autumn (fall) colour, the ride has been just stunning. Each trip has been so beautiful and different. I had my lunch in one of Silverton’s amazing elaborate Victorian buildings now a restaurant/bar built in 1876 as a gambling hall/saloon most of which is still the original, the bar and the back bar had been rescued from a store hose in Durango where it had been painted with several coats of purple disco paint it took a whole year to restore back to it original state it is beautiful. So very beautiful.

I have missed some of the journey out but we will have email tomorrow, I will go backwardsJ

Aztecs, Kivas and Chacos....

2008-01-15T04:35:00.000-08:00

We left the garage in Farmington today, the garage in Denver honoured the work they had done and the guarantee so I did not have an account to settleJ they would not however (garage in Denver) honor the work they had done for Les which I felt was most unfair. We did not leave until nearly lunch time, it was one of those mornings when you wish you could go back to bed and start the day again!!! Our journey took us to he Aztec ruins just out side Farmington, this is one of the largest and best preserved Ancestral Pueblo (native American) in this area (south west). The misnomer Aztec was given by early settlers who believed the ruins were connected to the Aztec from Mexico. It is infact much older then the Mexican Aztec buildings THIS POT IS 8 The builders carried sandstone from quarries many miles away each stone was dressed using stone hammers, mauls and pecking stone. Some unusual coloured stone was used to decorate (we think) but then the outer walls were plastered with mud. There are the original logs still inplace in these walls.

One of the most interesting buildings for me was the reconstructed “Kiva” this is a ceremonial building and I think the heart of the village all of the villages we have seen have had many “Kivas” so to be able to see on as it would have been was quite something. Kivas are still used today by the native American’s because their culture does not write down their history only pass their tradition down by word of mouth the core of their culture has not changed, so with their help this “Kiva “ was reconstructed.

A very interesting visit, from here we are going to “ The Chaco Culture” I went to Chaco in July, but this visit was no where near as HOT!!! The weather however was very warm. I braved the road again which I told you last time is the worst corrugated/washboard road I have ever been on 15 miles of it!!!! I enjoyed the visit as much the second time in the evening we went to a solar talk and enjoyed the moon and stars through the telescope, the evening however was very cold.
I hope that you enjoy these pictures and my little writing Take care you all

Back on the road............

2008-01-15T04:29:00.001-08:00

At last I have left the garage, all repaired and glad to be back on the road. I left at 3pm the truck having been in the garage 12 days with no solar; also we cannot plug into American electric I have no power in the house which means no fridge therefore no food!! To remedy this I have to run the engine, so I may as well be moving, also I would like to get out of the city as soon as possible, it is so noisy. Les has been emailing me almost every day so I follow the route he has sent me I am soon out of the city and Into mountains and scenery. Looking for food and a night stop finding a supermarket this solves both problems. A good night’s sleep follows. I have to tell you here that Halloween and Pumpkins have taken over this country I have never seen so many pumpkins in the whole of my life, Halloween decorations and costumes are everywhere as bad as Christmas at home, every shop, every house, some trees I guess on the night there will be folk dressed up every where we shall wait and see! Just passing scen
Well I followed the road through the mountains heading for Aspen; the mountains are beautiful the colours of the trees amazing much more golden then at home, not as many browns and reds I also think the colours are much brighter, in England the autumn (fall) colours are more subdued. In Aspen it’s self the streets are lined with Aspen trees! Which turn the most gorgeous orange/gold and the leaves kind of dance in the wind it is a most beautiful site, unfortunately I could find no where to park to take any photos (sad)

I stopped for lunch at “Sally’s Breakfast” well I can eat breakfast any old time, I bet they have burger’s and steak’s as well, there were a number of people sat out side which was to cold for yours truly On opening the door my mouth dropped open. The room was not large and had a 3 sided counter with bar stools/chairs (they had backs) in the centre was the kitchen, the music playing very loud was the Beatles, the chef was shouting at the waitresses for not paying attention to the customers needs, I was told to sit where I liked in shock I just sat! Next to a Buffalo Bill look alike his plate of food was HUGE, I had taken my book to read whilst waiting but could not take my eyes off what was going on. The chef would have given Jamie Oliver a run for his money, every thing was home made, everything was cooked fresh in front of your very eyes I have never seen anything like it, the atmosphere was great. I ordered Manhattan Eggs, which were scrambled egg with smoked salmon one of my favorites, well my food came on an enormous plate I dread to think how many eggs were in the scrambled with lots of thick pieces of smoked salmon, home made Hash Browns gorgeous and a large home made scone (biscuit) Buffalo Bill laughed when he saw my face!! It was good I managed to eat all the egg n salmon most of the hash browns but failed with scone, the only down side is you cannot get a decent cup of tea in this country, a nice pot of tea would have been the icing on the cake. However I give the whole experience 100% excellent food, good music, good company at the counter it was great, I think so American !!!!! I had a nice cup of tea!!! Then got back on the road to catch up with Les and Margaret, the mountains are just beautiful with lovely log cabins some of which are very old, small townships, apart from Aspen which was not too large but very touristy, I pass mines most of which I think are coal also an old coke making plant. I came to the Town of Montrose and decided to park up for the night following a sign to “local car park” had a good and peaceful night, starting off fairly early I am still on catch up with LnM on the way out of town I pass a Wal Mart, thinking I could have parked there, little did I know that LnM had parked there and were still there. I continued on heading for Durango where I saw the 4th July parade this is a high Mountain road winding through old mines and mining towns, there had been a lot of snow when I passed the old mining town where I had stayed in June it started snowing not very much just enough to make every so beautiful This is just a winter wonderland like driving through Christmas However the road was clear!!!!! The road was fine but very slow but I am happy with that, Silverton was covered with snow but the just in a blink NO snow all the trees were green it was so sudden it was quite a shock. When I got to Durango I went to Mc Donald’s to use their internet. Les and Margaret had not come on the same road as me but were heading for Mesa Verde vie Cortez, Mesa Verde is between Durango and Cortez, So I head for Cortez asking at the gate of Mesa Verde if another truck like mine had gone in with the people speaking like me, they said no. so driving into Cortez deciding were to park so they could see me. Bingo there they were in the car park of a hotel emailing me to tell me where they were. I have a problem with my brakes the ABS (anti locking brake system) light is on and I keep getting a crunch when I brake moving slowly. Sooooooooo we have to go to Farmington to the Freightliner garage there Les will get his light fixed. So after a day visit to Mesa Verde which was just as wonderful and interesting as last time we are now in a garage AGAIN At the moment for me there is some discussion as to the payment, after only 5 days mine must be covered by guarantee, I am waiting for the other garage to ring back, I was told that all work is guaranteed by any freightliner garage in the US so fingers crossed.