61 Day Alaska Caravan: Day 52-54

September 1-3, 2016

Day 52

Our first full day in Skagway was a free day. The morning was devoted to maintenance work on the RV. Our living room slides have never closed tightly, today was the day Dave decided to work on them. As is usual in this lifestyle, if you raise your vehicle hood or start working on your RV guys will gravitate around. Shortly after starting Dave had lots of help dropping by, soon our slides were adjusted and closing more tightly than they ever have.

About 1pm we headed out with our friends Mike & Liz, off to the Yukon Suspension Bridge we went. This is the same ride we had done on the way into Skagway, this time though we were able to stop for Dave’s picture taking. 

After the Suspension we rode out to what is left of the town of Dyea AK, once a thriving community but now there is little trace of the people who once lived there. We ran into Jack & Dixie, more caravan friends, on the way to the old town site.

Afterwards we headed to Skagway Brewing Company where we met up with some more of the caravan members. 

Day 53

Today excursion was a ride on the White Pass & Yukon Train Ride. The train gains 2200’ in elevation in 11 miles, quite an accomplishment. The trail the train follows was at one time a gold mine trail across White Pass.

A stop at the Red Onion Saloon followed by dinner at the Skagway Fish CO finished off another great day with friends.

Day 54

Our day started early with boarding a boat to cruise the Lynn Fjord up to Juneau.

A stop in Juneau, of course a stop at the Red Dog Saloon for lunch.

A tram ride up Mt Roberts for a birds eye view of Juneau.

Then a stop at Mendenhall Glacier, with time to walk out to Nugget Falls, boy did it feel good to get a nice walk in.

Then it was time to board the boat to cruise back to Skagway.

We had a wonderful time in Skagway, we'll be on the road for 3 days to reach Stewart BC. 6 days left of the caravan.

Until next time...

61 Day Alaska Caravan: Day 49-51

August 29-31, 2016

Day 49



Today's drive was 255 miles to Tok, some of the route we had already traveled and we stayed at Tok RV Village when we were here the first week of August. The road between Glenallen and Tok were some of the roughest yet. Bad roads aside we enjoyed the scenery, the trees are changing, fall is on it's way.We were almost the last to leave this morning but we were the second to arrive, don't know where we passed all those other rigs but somehow we did.

Day 50

Today we traveled 225 miles to Destruction Bay Yukon, back in Canada again. While the scenery was once again beautiful the roads were the worse yet. Good thing we don't have to go back the same way. A quick border crossing and we're in Yukon, tomorrow back to AK and down into Skagway.

We are at Destruction Bay Lodge, a large gravel parking lot. We were second in, by the end of the afternoon we had rigs on either side of us, good thing we like our neighbors.
 

Unfortunately our Progressive Industries EMS surge protector isn't working, we will be sending it back to them from Skagway and having them ship it back to a friends home so we can pick it up in Oct when we meet our friends in MN. Sure hate being with out it but Dave does monitor our electric with a volt meter.

Day 51

Our drive into Skagway was 270 miles and was overcast for most of the day. Lots of beautiful scenery and by the time we made it to Skagway the sun came out. For those who haven’t driven to Skagway there is an 11% 11 mile descent into town, some areas flatten out for a bit but you sure want to have some good brakes when you do this drive.

Our campground for the four nights in Skagway is Garden City RV Park, sites had a little spacing with grass in between the sites.

Skagway is a cute town that caters to the cruise ships. After 9am the streets swell with all of the cruise ship guests, by 6pm or so they go back to their ship and it’s a pleasure to walk the historical streets of Skagway. Our entertainment for the first evening was a Monte Carlo night with a Soapy Sales Vaudeville Show.

We have a few more days in Skagway but I'll cover those in another post.

Until next time...