Just More Bears

Sunday 30 Apr   On down the road towards Prince Rupert Port.  We stopped at several pull outs just looking around.  On our adventure down the road we came across these two (mom cub) bears.

They were just munching away like the other three (mom 2 cubs) bears we saw earlier today.  Yes, but no pictures.  FIVE bears today on the drive.

We ended up going 200 miles.  It wasn’t planned we just kept looking for that special spot.  One RV Park didn’t open their door for another two hours when we got there.  We said the hell with that and went on down the road.  Another private park we looked at but we might get stuck in the muddy grass.  No thanks and we went on. 

For those that will be going up the Cassiar Highway you will come to this junction for sure.

It’s at the junction of the Cassiar (start) and Yellowhead highways.  Big gas/diesel station and all that.

We ended up in a little park in Cooper River, BC next to the road backed up to a big river, the Skeena.  Still too windy/cold to set out.  We look thru our windows.  We got 30 amp, free WiFi and filled with water for $32.  That equals out to be about $25 US dollars.

We are about 100 miles from Prince Rupert Port.  Our plan is to go to another park just up the road to check and see if they have a laundry.  If they do, we will stay.  If they don’t, we will go on and look for a laundry in the town of Terrance.  We might go on to Port Edward about 10 miles south of the Prince Rupert ferry.  There’s an RPI Enjoy America park there.  They will take Passport America for one night ($14) but if they let us go under Enjoy America it’s 14 nights at $15 a night.  That’s a deal….

Retirement and looking for the deal more so

See ya when we see ya…..

Broke It

SATURDAY…. After Subway (free WiFi) we found the Municipal Camper Park here in Burns Lake (free-no HU) and got all settled in.  It was easy to find.  Follow the Milepost.  It’s good for about 30’ footers or less, about 6 sites in and around some trees on a lake. 

Getting here the snow disappeared.

We said, “Hi” to 5 local Indians walking by as we were setting up.  Then a Policeman drove in and up to the Indians at a nearby site/table.  He was BSing with them as I walked up to them all.  I asked where the local RV dump was and was so directed.  Everybody was having a good time joking around.  

It’s about 12:30 PM and the temp is 40 degrees and going down with a very strong wind which makes it colder.

A little later on, one of the Indians came over and knocked on our door.  I opened the door and the wind took it.  He told me where there was another dump if the other one didn’t work out.  He left and I checked out the door.  It broke both metal cables that was used as a door stop.  Oh well.  It could have been a lot worse for sure.

I got the LP heater out and hooked it up, no problem.  It’s set on real low and so far it got us up to 65 degrees inside about an hour. 

Carol has long johns on I’ve been wearing two shirts.  We go outside and it’s heavy coats, gloves and something over our ears.  I got my hat with ear covers on it like a Russian hat (?)(cami).  It can be set outside weather if you really want to if you get all dressed up for it.  No thanks, not yet!  Besides, now it’s sprinkling hard but not rain, yet.

SUNDAY…. I got up first (5 AM) and it was 36 degrees outside and 45 degrees inside.  I turned on the portable LP heater and got it warmed up for Carol.  It took about an hour to get up to 70 degrees.

Our gauges for the tanks are just about worthless.  I figure our tanks need to be dumped.  Do a dump them go for breakfast right?

We went to Subway for breakfast and the free WiFi.  Thus this blog went out and I checked our emails.  Then we left and stay tuned……

Retirement is breaking old stuff and not yourself!

See ya when we see ya.

Continued Wow

We are about 20 miles west of Prince George on Canada route 16 west.  It’s Friday evening (28 Apr) when I prepped this blog.

The drive from Jasper was outstanding.  We ate breakfast at a gas station in Jasper.  It was better looking than a Denny’s and the food was really great.  Gas was $1.04 liter.   Said and all done just under $3 a gallon.  Diesel a little cheaper.  Then we drove and stopped whenever.  One place we stopped at was the railroad station in McBride.  It was calledthe Beanery II and had free WiFi.  Thus this blog was updated.  It had a small café with breakfast, lunch and dinner (?).  WELL WORTH THE STOP!

On down the road we saw a wolf out in the field.  Had trouble adjusting the camera to the wolf.  We watched for a few minutes.  It was a wolf for sure.

Next we saw bears.  We turned around and went back for pictures.  There’s a cub with mama just off in the woods.

Places we traveled and stopped to enjoy…….

Friday night on a hill within 50 yards of a cell tower.  Of course we couldn’t use it.  Fresh moose droppings all of over this place.  Yes up on a hill near a cell phone tower.  I found it on Free Camping Near You along with some others we will try.  We are level.

Retirement means you get a discount on a lot of stuff.

See ya when we see ya…

Oh Well, What’s A Little Snow

We’re gonna leave this morning, Wednesday, and head North towards Calgary.  If we make Calgary, which we should, we’re gonna hang a left and go to Bow Valley.  Bow Valley is just before Banff, about 175 miles to Bow.  It should be a pretty white in the area.  Then we will spend the night at a Provincial Park (no HU) in the area.  From there it’s another 75 miles into the Banff National Park.

Yesterday, Tuesday, was just watch some local TV and a movie.  Plus we got to watch some newbies park and hook up.  It got up near 45 degrees and not much wind.  It did snowed here some but it didn’t stick.  Last night it got to 36 degrees.  The weather man said it snowed 2-3 feet in Banff National Park.  We got about 1,200 miles to Prince Rupert and have 10 days to get there…plenty of time.

Alaska bound Loosey Goosey… I wear two shirts inside the camper and a heavy coat outside.  That way I don’t have to worry about what temperature it is.  I’m always warm.  No long johns yet.

I just looked outside (6 AM), the ground is snow covered (1+ inch) and the roads are wet.  Oh well, what’s a little snow?

Retirement is doing more with less.

See ya up there when you get there.

Oh Wow Oh Wow Oh Wow

It’s like we entered a huge herd of these Elks.  We camped and they still were coming towards us slowly and eating.  We got out once we thought they had passed.  While we were walking we came across some stragglers.  No bigee for them or us.  We’re in love with these animals and the wilderness.   Not many people at all, at all, at all.

OK let’s back track to this morning.  We left about 10 AM and it had just quit snowing.  Roads were wet and not frozen.We weren't suppose to get to Calgary due to snow.  Banff had 2-3 feet snow and expecting more.  On the west side of Calgary I got gas for $1.04 a litre.  Convert and exchange the charge it comes to $2.95 a gallon for gas.  Diesel is a little cheaper like it should be in the U.S.

We decided to go to Willow Rock Provincial Park in Bow Valley just before Banff National Park.  We got there and it was $33 for just electric.  Nahhhh.  There was fresh snow but not on the roads.  We can do that good just about in the National Park I thought.  So we went to Banff National Park.  The gate guard saw our free Canada National Park pass and handed us a map of the park.  We got to Tunnel Mountain Village II (RV Pk) and got a site.  We got a paved site with electric for $33 Canadian.  We charged it so it’s about $24.50 US. 

As we were coming to our site we seen all these big Elks.  We got a lot of pictures.

Retirement is doing camping again.

See ya when we see ya….

Over The Border & Thru the Woods

Well, we stopped in town as we were leaving, Great Falls, to get coffee and sandwiches.  Then on to Shelby, MT to top off our gas tank at $2.31 and 8.4 mpg.

Next stop was the border.  Had to wait about 15 minutes in line.  Got asked about 12-15 questions.  Alcohol…told him we had three bottles of booze all opened and not full, OK.   Tobacco… told him I had about 2 dozen cigars – OK,  so forth and so on, off we went.

Next stop was a Coast to Coast (C2C) park called Bridgeview Resort in the Lethbridge, AL area.  It’s right on the National Parks route.  It was FHU 30 amps for $10 (C2C).  I think Passport America is at least doubled.  Nice park.  We got 3 local TV channels.  Free WiFi in their 24 hr building.  We’ve stayed here about 4-5 times over the years.  Hey, $10 bucks we really like it.  Check it out.  Put it on your GPS if your gonna stay.

The check in person said just “snow showers” for the next two days that we will be staying now.   OKKKK.  The Honda will stay on its carrier.  Nothing within walking distance either.

They got Line Dancing here tomorrow.  That’s why we are spending an extra night.  What the hell?  We’re on vacation from full timing in our camper.  Plus, it might be because of snow.  Tuesday morning, snowing a little here, and we can’t go North or West because it’s snowing pretty good.  Chains required in Banff.  We can’t even get there at this point.  They say maybe Thursday.

Retirement is doing nothing special sometimes.

See ya when we see ya….

Pay For Air?

Carol started the day by doing the laundry before we cross over into Canada Monday.  Around noon we unhooked the camper and went to Walmart to get a few things and AIR and fuses.  I pulled up to the air station at Walmart at their gas station.  Everything is new being this Walmart is one month old.  I aligned up with the air station.  Took my hub cabs off and then went to get the air hose.  $1.50 for 4 minutes of air.  You got to be kidding.  I have never paid for air.  Never ever.  I needed air bad so I paid the $1.50.  I could not connect the air chuck to the air stem on the tire.  Damn…… now what to do on a Sunday.  All the tire places are closed.  Then I remembered the gas station in town where I got LP.  They were an old ma pa type station that wasn’t going to be around much longer.  Too many other newer and bigger stations all around it.  We went there.  I asked the guy if he could check my tire pressures and put air in them.  He said he would give it a try.  He used my tire gauge and his shop air hose and chuck.  It all worked.  He said, “no charge.”  I gave him $5 bucks anyhow and he was very happy. 

Then it was a little late for lunch so what the hell.  We stopped at Little Caesar's pizza and got two to go.  We had pizza for lunch and dinner and the rest in the frig.

We got back at our site and got all hooked up again, no bigee.  We watched some newbees come in for some entertainment.  Oh yea, it was raining all day but we had our Alaska rain gear on.  Around 5 PM or so the rain stopped, the wind stopped and the sun even came out for a  little while.

Tomorrow is Monday and we cross over the border.  This will be an adventure too.

Retirement is too tiring to do anything that you did many years ago.

No blog or cell phone while in Canada but stay tuned.

See ya when we see ya.

No 12v At All?!

The morning started out with breakfast at 3 B’s Restaurant.   Every time we come thru Great Falls we stop here.  It’s not really a five star place but it’s kinda nice and homey.

Sunny out and near 60 degrees.  Of course the wind was still blowing pretty good but manageable when outside.  Not too bad when you stay on one side of the camper.

Then things went to crap.  No need to get into how but the results were po po.  I now have no 12V plugs (3) in my dash.  Yes I checked the fuses which caused another problem.  I dropped one and can’t find it.  My 12V cords all have blown fuses too.  In the camper/truck fuse box I couldn’t find any blown fuses.  Now I have no CB or GPS.  During all of this I have low tire pressure in at least one of my tires.  This all happened during the fuse problem. 

Now Sunday  we will go into to town to get some weird looking fuses and also some of those old glass fuses for the 12V cords.  Plus a place that has an air pump device that will go up to 75 psi for my camper tires.  Most gas stations will only go up to 50 psi.

I will forgo the CB and run my GPS thru our inverter system directly.  Just have to turn it on going down the road and run an extension cord with another adapter to switch it to 110V.  Hey, it’s the only thing that I knew to do… make do or go without.  Oh, where is that Mark?

Retirement is still dealing with the mistakes you make but not at work in front of others.

See ya when we see ya……

How Cold Is It?

A cold 43 degrees was the high for today.  It started raining last night and went on until about 4 PM.  That’s bad enough and it was windy.  I would go out and do things but not in the wind.

So I was rechecking our ferry route along with the day of departures and arrivals at each port on the internet.  The Ferry System deleted a ferry on one route that I was planning on using.  Normally that wouldn’t be a problem BUT it was our first ferry leaving on Tuesday May 2 from Prince Rupert.  The next scheduled ferry leaves the following Friday.  That changed every ferry we were gonna go on. You have to remember these ferries do not run everyday.  One port (Sitka, AK) only has two ferry arrival/departures and those are Saturday and Sunday.   Most are 3-4 times a week.  So now we have to change our schedule for each port area.  We still plan to get off the ferry at each port and spend several days.  Changes here and there and go with it.  Even if we had reservations for the ferry Tuesday they would notify me to change the date.  So, we won’t be in Alaska (Ketchikan) until 5 May now.

We watched some local TV and so it was a quiet day even with the rain bouncing off the roof.

Retirement is watching others go outside to get to work in the rain.

See ya when we see ya……

How Did We Get Here?

We’re at Great Falls, Mt which was 2,000 miles to get here from Livingston, TX for us.  Here’s our site in Malmstrom AFB Annex.  FHU, $24 for retired military.

Only a few rigs here.  This is a step off point for some retired folks going to Alaska like us.

Driving here the last day was nice…..

About 36 of these deer decided to cross the road in front of us….cool…

After we got set up in our site the wind started up again.  Seems like the wind is pretty normal up here in the Big Sky Country.

The rest of the day we went over our trip in to Canada and the Inner Passage in AK.  We start that part of the adventure Monday.  The next couple of days we will finalize our food list and do the laundry.

Retirement appears to have some participation of doing nothing.

See ya when we see ya……

OUT THERE SOMEWHERE

We’re about 7 miles above Laurel, Mt just off route 401 and Lipp Rd if you’re keeping track of our route.  It was windy when we left and it’s been real real real real real real windy here all day long.  How windy is it?  It keeps blowing out our frig pilot light.  When I got outside of the camper in the wind my hair looks like Donald Trump.

Last night & this morning it got cold.  It’s 27 degrees outside and 47 degrees inside.  When I got up at 6 AM I turned on the furnace.  Yes, we have a portable LP heater but we weren’t ready for this extra cold.  It’s in an outside storage compartment and I ain’t getting it right now.  The LP heater will be more  available after this morning.

Our plan for Thursday is go the 200 miles via no interstate routes to Great Falls, Mt (Malstrom AFB) and spend 3-4 nights there.  Then we cross the Canadian border, etc…….

Retirement is not worrying about what your boss might want you to do next.

See ya when we see ya….

Off The Grid–kinda

Gebo Ghost Town is up on the hill.  We are camped in BLM land off the back road to get here.  Nothing but silence.  No vehicles except one truck that came by.  It was so nice. 

Now I forgot all what we saw but along the way….. click on it and blow up to read.It reminded us of Bryce Nat Pk but on a lot smaller scale.

Gas was $2.33 in Laurel, Mt. 

Retirement is slowing down…

See ya when we see ya.