Washington State

Those of you who follow us in real life and/or on Facebook know that we are currently in New Mexico.  We are a few months behind in writing the blog but hope you are still enjoying our adventure as much as we are.

Here's our post regarding our visit to Ruth and Jim in September.  Enjoy!

Arriving back to the lower 48 was an emotional edifice - we were glad to be heading to see friends and family but the bustle of real life seemed to encroach on whom we'd become in Alaska.  Ferndale, a quaint town just a few miles from the border, is where our friends Ruth and Jim live.  They've been on virtually our entire journey as our consultants in our RV acquisition, mechanical advisers in our Jeep and tow kit purchase, and our "at the ready" technical help via telephone wherever we've been. Ruth and Kathy had gone through most of high school together and are best friends, soul mates and partners in crime.  

Although we came for the company, the Jeep was in need of a new front axle seal and the RV was in need of some maintenance and TLC.  Highly qualified to help, Jim and Ruth had owned a RV business for over twenty years in California before moving to the Austin area a few years ago.  Eventually they moved north of Austin to establish a farm and we moved east to Houston.  With the extensive Texas drought affecting their farm, Ruth conducted extensive research on the best locations for organic farming, water futures and political compatibility.  They moved to their current location near Bellingham, Washington.   

We parked in their driveway and got chauffeured around town by Ruth as Jim provided oversight of the RV and Jeep parts and service.  The list, compliments of our 4,000+ mile trip through the rugged Yukon and Alaska, included:

- two chips in the Jeep windshield
- broken day/night window shade string
- pin hole in the sewer hose
- Jeep rear window zipper separated
- front axle seal on Jeep leaking
- Jeep radiator leaking

We also need routine maintenance, such as oil changes and tire rotations.

Our first day there, we enjoyed driving a few miles to the coast and then visiting the aromatic gardens in Ferndale. The next day, we were joined by Evelyn, Kathy's mom and her best friend Sandy.  Both had flown in from Texas to see us and enjoy a Washington vacation.

While Jim worked, we five women drove around the Ferndale/Bellingham area.  We visited Mount Baker and hiked to a glacier view.  We enjoyed coffee downtown and drove south to Oak Harbor via the Anacortes Bridge.  We had a few great days laughing in the car, seeing sights along the coast and the coastal farmlands, eating seafood and being together.

Evelyn and Sandy are in the over sixty crowd that thrive on trying new things and traveling.  It was great spending time with them.  We teased about going to one of the legal marijuana stores but never had a chance before it was time for us to leave.  We announced we were going to be married in California and had an appointment to get our marriage license and needed to be in Placerville, CA by Friday.  

Leaving friends and family is difficult on a lazy Sunday morning but we had so much to see and an appointment on Friday miles away.  We drove straight through the rest of Washington.  We actually saw a little of Seattle when we decided to exit and find some gas - on a Sunday - during a home football game.  We ended up driving through a mixed business and residential neighborhood and getting back on the freeway without finding a gas station.  Then we saw the Space Needle and the arenas as cars were jammed trying to exit northbound lanes heading to the game.  We were glad were traveling southbound.

Further south we saw Mt. St. Helens in the distance.  Unlike Mount Rainier, it was very apparent through the wildfire smoke and smog that the top of the mountain is missing due to the massive eruption in 1980.  Smoke from the California wildfires clouded the sky toward the mountains and made the cities and ship channels appear smoggy. Ship channel after ship channel, port after port - the Washington coastline is a lively place with bustling businesses.

We followed the coastline into Oregon, where we planned to stop for our next adventure experiencing the Columbia River Gorge.

Side Trip

Hyder is the easternmost town in Alaska accessible via road through Stewart BC.  Stewart, British Columbia, is 2 miles away by road via International Street. No other roads connect Hyder with the rest of Alaska. A Canada Border Services Agency customs post is located 100 yards from the town and used by all visitors and residents as it is the only road out of Hyder.

Gold and silver mining dominated the early economy. Hyder, Alaska boomed with the discovery of rich silver veins in 1918. Hyder became an access and supply point for the mines, while Stewart served as the port for Canadian mining activity, which was centred on the town of Premier, 14 miles past Hyder.  In the late 1950s, Granduc Mining Co. near Premier drove the world's largest one-end tunnel 11 miles to the Leduc Copper ore body. A large avalanche killed 28 men on February 18, 1965 when a snow slide hit the mine camp. Although this community has suffered from loss it bounced back as mining is again an active endeavor.

Fourteen miles north of Hyder, beyond where the pavement ends, is where the Grand Duc mine and Salmon Glacier are located.  The unpaved portion is washboard and you have to dodge some potholes, but clearance is not a problem. This is the only place in the Western Hemisphere where you can drive to a point above a massive glacier and look down on it. It's actually in BC, Canada, but you have to drive from Hyder, AK, to get there.

We made the drive from Hyder to the Gran Duc mine in the jeep.  The glacial views are truly spectacular as you progress up the mountain.  Eventually, you get high enough that you can look down on the moraine and up to the top. It is almost as good as flying over a glacier like Kathy did in the Alaskan interior.  The debris field represented by the moraine is very well defined and has a lot of character. It took us eight hours up and back as we kept stopping to view the different scenery. There is a lot more to see than just the Salmon Glacier, as there are several other smaller glaciers and numerous waterfalls.

 

Back towards town is the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site.  Fish creek bear watching area is on Fish Creek, a spawning ground for some of the world's largest chum salmon, and is therefore very popular with the local bear.  We paid our entrance fee and watched the salmon swim and many die as this was the end of their journey after laying their eggs.  The only bear we saw here was one crossing the road before as we drove into the parking area.

We enjoyed shopping at the Boundary Gifts shop that sold homemade fudge and soaps. Behind the counter, Joy noticed several beautiful dulcimers.  The owner told us how her deceased husband had an ear for wood and how these dulcimers were made.  He could knock on trees and identify if the pitch and tone were good enough for instruments.  He had even sold trees to Martin guitars.  She played a few tunes for us and the moment was truly magical.

We also had dinner at a bar in Stewart.  The decor was interesting enough to to note.  The walls were covered with both Canadian, US, and other foreign currency, some with personal notes.  Also there is a rug with President Kennedy's picture on it hung on the wall.  The waitress was too busy to ask questions so we note it here for you to help us understand these choices.

We stayed at the Bear River RV park.  It was clean but the showers were pay showers and the wi-fi cost money after the first 1 mb.  We couldn't even check our email.  Besides we were ready to get back home to the lower forty-eight.

Back Through BC

Hwy 16 eastward from the Cassiar Hwy quickly gave indication that we were back in civilization by forcing us to share the road with speeders, semi-trucks, and unfriendly drivers.  Fortunately, the highway slowly evolved into farmland slopes, rivers with salmon and bear and humans fishing for those salmon. We never realized how much fishing is available in BC so far inland.

Trucks hauling timber to lumber mills is the number one source of the BC economy, with mining being a close second.  Communities appeared to support each other as Mennonite church members stood with striking school teachers.  Many small BC communities still hadn't gone back to school in mid September because of the teacher strike.   The small farms and ranches were preparing for winter as farmers covered hay bales and removed crops from their fields.

Our journey northward and now southward had been guided by the popular reference guide, The Milepost.  However, this book failed to represent hwy 16 adequately.  We looked for rest areas, as they were not cited in the book.  The kilometer posts were not numbered in alignment with real signposts and even the craziest math didn't help us figure out where the hell we were.  The book also excluded the native villages along the route entirely.

The highway itself is in good to excellent shape - especially when compared to the widened goat trails of the Yukon, but compared to roads of the US we still found them lacking basic amenities that would help us and others.  Often, there were no signs indicating rest areas or turn outs until we were on top of them.  Don't know if you've ever tried to stop a 31 ft fully loaded motor home towing a Jeep on a dime - but trust us, it doesn't happen.  

Being back in farmland made the drive somewhat boring without mountain views but it had been a while since we had seen horses, cattle, sheep, lamas, goats, and pigs so we enjoyed seeing familiar mammals again. As we drove east, the mountains disappeared from our line of sight several times but the calm lakes and streams allowed for some good photo opportunities.  Some communities had local radios and tv stations but we opted to listen to free Sirius XM radio during their fall promotion.  As we neared Prince George, the road widened and traffic increased.  City buses and traffic lights, a casino and a health food store told us that this was almost a real "city."  We turned south onto the Caribou highway just before crossing the city limits.

We looked for the community called Cinema, a location with a store and free camping.  Somehow we missed it and ended up at Canyon Creek RV park.  The park's beautiful setting, friendly owners, and a nature trail were nice but the facilities were old and the noise from the highway was constant.

We departed late the next day and got on the road to find groceries in Quesnel.  After driving in circles around downtown trying to find a store whose parking lot was large enough for us, we settled on a store near Wal-mart.  We used our own shopping bags was our cart in the store and this apparently became an issue during checkout as we had used our own shopping bag instead of a cart. The crotchety cashier was not certain we had emptied our bag and insisted on looking in both bags twice to ensure we had emptied them.  Accused of shoplifting by a rude Canadian!  Did we really look like we were trying to steal a block of cheese?  By this time we had had our fill of Canada and couldn't wait to get back to the good ol' US of A - faults and all.

A little farther down the road we stopped at Gold Trail RV park.  It advertised itself as an Escapees Club resort but trust us, this was no resort!  When Joy confronted the manager about the condition of the restroom and the fact that the campground was not currently an Escapees Club, he was rude and actually sexually harassed her by calling her a bitch.  He justified his behavior as only joking but is an absolute moron! He provided yet another reason we aren't too fond of our neighbors to the north.  Luckily, this would be our last night in Canada and we were looking forward to crossing into Washington and seeing friends and family.