Monday, May 2

This is a quick post to let those of you who wonder what became of us know we are alive and well. Campgrounds across Canada were not open yet, and thus no internet access to post.

Last Wednesday we looked at a British Columbia Road site located by Sheepish and realized upper western Canada had three days of good weather forecast ahead, with decent road conditions. So Thursday morning we hit the road, drove north across Washington State, entered Canada without any customs problems, and proceeded another 200 miles north before stopping for the first night. That was the only open campground we found for the 1500 mile trek across upper Canada. Everything north was unopened because the ground was still frozen and thus no water to the campsites. They seemed to not have emerged from winter yet. We traveled with only a few gallons of water to reduce weight, but managed to do fine pulling into turnouts to spend the night. There was almost no traffic on the AlCan Hwy, and a LOT more snow bordering the road than last year. Despite the good weather forecast we got snowed on twice, sleeted on once, and hailed on once. Both snows the buildup on the road worried me, but about the time I figured we should pull over the roads cleared well enough to continue. It was a comfort having chains along for both the truck and trailer, even though I didn't use them. The rig shows the effects of driving through snow and slush. The truck and trailer were both filthy with road grime. The second morning temps were in the 22-23 degree range when we hit the road. After 3.5 long days we pulled over the top of famous White Pass and dropped into Skagway, Alaska on Sunday morning. The pass is justly named. From mountaintop to horizon white snow is everywhere. The first two campgrounds in Skagway were also closed due to frozen ground. The third, down near the ocean, apparently had a slightly more marine influence and thus had running water, though the office was closed. We backed into a space for the night. About four o'clock a truck pulled up to the office and noticed my note on the door. He turned out to be the manager. We were the only folks in the whole campground, though he did have one other RV'er from the Yukon a few days earlier and another showed up the next day. We managed to move our ferry reservation up, which was originally for May 6, to Monday May 2. We boarded the ferry about 5:30 PM, and after several delays off-loaded into Juneau-Auke Bay about 3:45 in the morning. After a mostly sleepless night we were both heavy-eyed. We caught about four hours sleep in our usual campground in Mendenhall Valley. The owner treats us with fantastic care, was glad to see us, and greeted us both with hugs. There is obviously more to the trip across Canada, and I will try to post better details with pictures asap. Just wanted to let you know we are ok.