28 June and 29 June

Departed Homer for points unknown at time of departure.   Roger was originally thinking stopping east of Anchorage, but it was raining so we decided to ramble on.  We took the Glen Highway east away from Anchorage and got to Glen Allen.  It was still raining off and on, so we took a right turn down the Richardson Highway towards Valdez.  This highway, (like all other highways in Alaska), is listed as scenic.  Sometimes scenic is a euphemism for curvy and hilly.  Anyway a shade under 500 miles from leaving Homer, we stopped for the night.  We entered Wrangell - St Elias National Park, which is the largest National Park in the USA.  It is also one of the least developed.  Our campsite for the night has water, sewer, and electricity.  This will be the first time we’ll be showering in the RV.  I was just happy to find water, because we had run out of fresh water which we hadn’t topped off when we left Homer.  Lesson learned.

The picture is of a dormant volcano on the road from Homer.  This volcano, Iliamina, is across Cook Inlet from Ninilchik and is listed as being 10,016 ft.  When we turned right at the end of the Glen Highway, we saw Mt Drum, which is listed as being 12,010 ft.  Unfortunately the rain prevented a really nice picture.  However it is one big wide mountain, which has a huge base that rises up to its peak.  These two peaks are different with their defined peaks, as oppose to glacially smooth tops which we’ve seen so many of on the Kenai Peninsula.

The Copper River picture is taken inside Wrangell St Elisa NP. 

Me waving, inside the RV, is my attempt at avoiding getting eaten by bugs.  The bugs don’t seem to bite Roger as much, must be older tougher meat.

his morning we left to go to the end of the road at McCarthy and then hike to Kennicut in Wrangler.  Roger took pity on me, as I think he thought my head might explode (fortunately it didn’t).  The road wasn’t paved and is listed as washboard gravel.  Roger thought it might be similar to the Top of the World Highway.  It wasn’t.  It was a whole lot worse with countless more potholes.  The roadbed is an old 1900ish railroad.  Over time gravel has been added, but the washboard effect is still there.  I thought I was going to be vibrated to death.  At the 10 mile point (out of 60 miles one way) Roger turned around.  That was good for me, bad for him, because I really think he wanted to see the old mining town.  Once we got back on paved road and several Advil later, my head calmed down enough to where I started feeling human again.

So we headed north and east to Tok.  Caught the Alaskan Highway east at Tok and ended our day in White River Yukon, about 40 miles from the Canadian border.  The campground we’re at tonight generates its own electricity and showers cost $1 for 2 minutes.  Don’t turn the shower off to try to conserve water, it shuts off the shower completely.  We’ve come to find out that campgrounds charge for showers in an attempt to force folks to conserve water.  Too bad the system doesn’t allow Navy showers for more conservation.  Live and learn.