Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Galena Park, Mayo, YK 55 degrees, cloudy, but some blue sky can be seen. Need to get a loaf of bread today. Drove through the community of Mayo to the grocery store---it doesn’t open until 10.00!!! We have discovered that the Yukon govt. helps these small, mostly First Nations communities/villages/towns publish a “walking tour” of the town. Two color printing with drawings and not expensive photos, but still?? It would be like publishing a walking tour of Tucker or Clarkston----here is Aunt Susie’s house whose father fought in the Civil War; here is the fire station that was built in 1955 after the original structure burned in 1954; Fred’s gas station is located here where there was once a house of ill repute----you get the idea. Anyway, we drove around and looked ... read more

Monday, July 18, 2011 Yukon River Campground Sunny and 55 degrees. Mileage at 11945. Hit the ferry wrong again this morning, and had to wait until 2 crossings were completed before we had our turn. The ferry really isn’t very big—maybe 6-8 vehicles at a time can be transported, depending of course, on the size of those vehicles. We stopped just outside of town to have an RV/auto parts and repair place replace a rod in our water heater as it was almost corroded through. We found out about the corrosion when one of the RTers was showing us about the water heater and how to drain it for winter. We could have replaced it ourselves , but didn’t have the huge size socket wrench it required plus the sealant to put on the threads of ... read more

July 16th, 2011 Yukon River Campground 62 degrees with high clouds with possibility of some sun. Starting mileage 11909 Crossed by ferry to Dawson City. Checked out the very small farmer’s market and bought a large sack of really fresh, washed Swiss chard for $3.50 and 1 zuke for $2.00. Town is absolutely full of people!! Lots and lots of them are young people in for the Music Festival plus the usual crowd that come to town on a Saturday to shop. Drove around town and read the historical signs on about half of the buildings. Looked at the fully restored Robert Service’s and Jack London’s cabins which were less than a block from each other. We then toured the ½ of the City Museum and watched a black and white, very interesting, documentar... read more

July 13, 2011 Walker Fork Campground, AK 11796 starting mileage. Overcast and 62 degrees. Got started about 9:25 this morning. After taking pictures of several new wildflowers, we drove out of the campground and headed north, still on the Taylor Highway. Traveled most of the way now on a mountain ridge where you have views way out to other distant mountains on both sides. Now driving way above the timber line. The only animal we saw this day, beside a large tour group of RV’s coming at us from the direction of Dawson City, was a hoary marmot who ran from a patch of dirty snow to some rocks. Finally arrived at the US and Canadian border. Like before, we wonder why the powers that be placed these crossing places so far from anything. These are ... read more

July 11, 2011 Wal-Mart parking lot, Fairbanks Starting mileage for today is 11484 on a sunny morning at 66 degrees. Got started at 9:30. Drove back across the expressway to the McDonald’s to finish posting the blog. Once that was completed, we drove the 11 miles down the Richardson Highway to the North Pole. Thought from the ads that this community was going to be a big deal and I wanted to shop a bit. Turned out to be one building with Santa inside and lots of Christmas stuff you can get in any Christmas store in the lower 48. Heading now for Delta Junction that is the end of the Al-Can Highway. Several weeks ago, we had turned off at Tok and headed south toward Anchorage before completing this piece of highway. When we reached ... read more