Here is a link to Kathy Jo singing "Welcome To My World" in Homer, Alaska
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLwH3z1wQpk

Will went to the Rainbow Bridge in November.

He died of Lukemia at the age of 11. He loved

the trip to Alaska!

This blog address - TheBTCruisers-Alaska.BlogSpot.Com will remain as our Alaska Trip Blog.
New trips will each have thier own distinguishing address.

Our next trip will begin in late December 06 and we plan to go "Southwest", spending time in the Rio Grand Valley of Texas, Southern New Mexico, and Southern Arizona.
Therefore we have created a new Blog address for this trip.
Just click on the link to go to the new blog.
http://www.thebtcruisers-sw2007.blogspot.com

Our future plans include a trip to the East Coast - Maine and the Atlantic Provences, and will start the end of June 2007.
Just click on the link below to to that blog.
http://www.thebtcruisers-eastcoast.blogspot.com

Day 77, Friday, September 22, 2006

54 this morning in Elkhart. And you know what? IT'S RAINING!

Day 76, Thursday, September 21, 2006

50 this morning in Keewanaw, Il at the State Park. Nice, clean park with lots of space. We spent our last night here and are ready to drive the last 225 miles home this morning.

It's bitter/sweet. Great to be going home, but sad to be ending this great adventure.

See you all soon.

Ellen, Jim, Will, Isabelle, and Gracie

Day 75, Wednesday, September 20, 2006

36 this morning at Prairie Rose Lake. And a clear, blue sky. This state park has 96 camp sites and we are one of only four campers here. It's like having this whole park to ourselves. The dogs can run off leash, swim when they want, and come and go into the motorhome.

We are going to walk around the lake this morning then head for home. We're 525 miles away at this point and within reach of home today but will probably spend the night just West of Chicago then get home on Thursday afternoon.

Day 74, Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Drove another 325 miles to Prairie Rose State Park in Iowa. Wonderful place in the middle of nowhere. No suprise, most state parks have something to share - no matter where we are. We could spend some time here, but after our long trip and so close to home at this time, we will leave tomorrow after walking around the lake - Prairie Rose Lake.
We will get close to home tomorrow then make the last leg home on Thursday to arrive in early afternoon.

Oh Beth, it was 38 this morning.

Day 73, Monday, September 18, 2006

35 this morning in Rawlins, Wy. Cloudy, but no rain in site.

Drove 340 miles to Ogallala Lake State Park where we stayed on our trip out to Utah. Very nice park. Sunshine and blue sky.

Day 72, Sunday, September 17, 2006

32 this morning in Jackson (Jackson Hole), Wy. No rain or snow and skys are partly sunny so we can see the mountains. Drove into Teton Village to look around. Motorhomes are hard to park there so we just drove through. A moose and her baby came trotting through the village while we drove through. Too fast to get a picture. Tried to enter the National Park from the South gate at the Village, but the road is too narrow for motorhomes. We drove out and then back into the park north of Jackson where we were allowed to enter. I can't find words to describe the beauty! Although Jackson only got some snow fluries yesterday, the mountains got a "dusting". Just enough to enhance their appearance. Made many stops at scenic views to take pictures. Found a lodge in the park serving lunch and went in to eat. Finished the drive through the park and finished off a 325 mile day at Rawlings, Wy. in an RV Park. Experienced ice on one of the mountain passes at 10,000 feet up and snow that stuck to the ground. Out of the mountains the winds got real gusty and bumped us around on the road. Here at the RV Park it's really howling and very cold with the wind chill. High-speed internet again so hope to finish pictures in the morning. Earlier today I went back and posted pictures from every day except Yellowstone. So if interested, go back to previous posts and have a look.

Grand Teton

Day 72, Sunday, September 17, 2006 (continued)

Teton Village Ski Area
Blue Boy at viewing pullout inside Grand Teton National Park
Panorama of the Tetons
Snow in the pass leaving the Tetons
Miscellaneous Teton Views

Day 71, Saturday, September 16, 2006

34 this morning in Jackson, Wy.
Rain is forcast for today and a low of 24 tonight. Tomorrow, snow early then turning to rain. Currently 33 and overcast (10:30am).
Right now as I'm adding pictures to the blog it's snowing/sleeting/raining. Someone said an inch of slushy snow tonight.
Laundry, house cleaning, ND vs Michigan, and maybe dinner in town tonight if Ellen gets the cleaning done and ND wins.
Tomorrow - east towards home. Should be there by Wednesday or Thursday.

GO IRISH!

Ellen got the cleaning done and ND lost but we went to dinner anyway. Our first choice was full for the night so we got into a sushi restaurant. Walked downtown and took the city bus back. Nice service - the bus.

Snow did not accumulate today and never amounted to much. No pictures here, it's too cloudy to see anything.

Day 70, Friday, September 15, 2006

42 this morning in Yellowstone. Forecast is for snow tonight. Early check-out time here (10:00am) so we got an early start. Drove around the park to see some sites and some animals. Lots of elk and buffalo. Some deer. No bears! Nowhere near the wildlife we have heard about. However, lots of people! Unbelieveable for this time of year. The big campground we were in last night filled up. Instead of driving the entire park, we decided to go around half of it and do more stopping for the sites, ending our stay in the park with a visit to Old Faithful. It rained most of the day. We got to the geyser at 5:00 pm and had to wait until 5:52 pm - the next expected "blow". Had a glass of wine at one of the lodges (three of them here at Old Faithful alone) then went out to wait. The performance was right on time! However, the show was pretty much a "dud" this time. Oh Well! Drove 85 miles to Jackson at park speed - 45 mph. Didn't get there until 8:30 pm. Found an RV Park close to town with cable and wi-fi. Going to stay here tonight and Saturday so we can watch the game. During the rain today the mountain tops got a dusting of snow and we encountered some freezing rain.


Elk
Bison on the road
Another bison on the road

Day 70, Friday, September 15, 2006 (continued)

Miscellaneous Yellowstone pictures

Day 70, Friday, September 15, 2006 (continued)

More pictures from Yellowstone

Day 69, Thursday, September 14, 2006

49 this morning in Great Falls, Mt.
Looks like rain and snow for the Yellowstone and Grand Teton areas today and through the weekend. Had our fill of rain in Canada and Alaska. We probably will just head home.

Changed our minds. Left Great Falls and drove south 280 miles to Yellowstone. It started raining in Great Falls and was on and off throughout the day. At least here in the lower 48 rain does not mean MUD.
Entered Yellowstone at West Yellowstone. Quite a busy place for this time of year and nothing like what we remembered it from 23 years ago when we came through here on our “Van Trip”.

Yellowstone is big and with so much infrastructure (roads and pullouts) it’s easy to be seen by auto. However, any park is best seen on foot by hikes into the wilderness for daylong trips, or extended overnight stays. And although we are out on this trip for about three months, we are covering too much ground to really give any one place the proper time to really get to know it. Yellowstone is meant for auto traffic and it has a lot of it even in "off" season.

There is one campground in the park for motor homes with all the hook-ups and “stuff” so we drove about two hours into the park to spend the night. It’s was only 60 miles in, but with speed limits at 25-45 mph and narrow, winding roads its takes awhile to get anywhere. Parking, along the road, was intended for autos – not motor homes. We have to find parking lots and pull-outs to stop for wildlife views. Still, we are going to drive the rest of the road around the park tomorrow before heading south to the Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole, Wy.

Here in Yellowstone there is no cell phone coverage and no internet availability. Tomorrow we have to settle in somewhere at a private campground for two nights so we can be sure of tv reception for the ND – Michigan game on Saturday and hi-speed internet so I can get pictures to the blog. We're falling behind.

It’s getting dark a lot earlier and harder to get anything done outside after arriving at camp for the night. By the time we get set up, walk and feed the dogs, have a cocktail, eat dinner, etc. its dark. Big contrast to the 11:00pm light up in Canada, The Yukon, and Alaska where you could walk for 2 or 3 hours after dinner early in our trip. Summer (and Fall) around here is over and it's feels more like Winter. Did you see the low temperature Wednesday in the US? 24 in West Yellowstone. That's where we came through today entering the National Park.

Day 68, Wednesday, September 13, 2006

50 this morning in Whitefish. Not quite so cold as yesterday. It's overcast today and rain is forcast for the next several days with mountain snow predicted for the weekend. Just hope we can see some of Glacier National Park before "winter" arrives here. Still at the State Park this morning waiting to go into Kalispell (about 14 miles south) for a 1:00pm appointment to service the motor home. Time for a 25K check-up and oil change. Actually have put over 26,000 miles on the motor home since taking delivery last October - and over 9,000 on this trip alone. Got to go, more later. Arrived at truck service center early (11:00 am) and they got me in. Drove on to Glacier National Park but vehicles over 21 feet (we are 30 feet) can only go about 19 miles into the park on Going To The Sun Road. We drove as far as we could then did the turn-a-round. Unless backpacking or hiking going to the sun road is the only reason to go to Glacier. We are not serious backpackers plus we can't leave the dogs so we drove out and around the park and headed south to Great Falls for the night at an R V Park. As we drove out of Glacier we went through a lot of smoke but saw no fire. Later we learned that a big forest fire had swept through the far end of the park. Bad weather is supposed to be moving in the next few days including snow and sub-freezing temperatures so our plans to stay close to the mountains around Yellowstone and The Tetons may change by tomorrow. We do not have a great internet connection here so pictures will not get uploaded before we leave.

This is just here for comparison purposes. It actually should be the last picture here of the three. Shortly out of Glacier Park the mountains were behind us.


Lake McDonald inside Glacier Park

Going To The Sun Road. We were only allowed to go 16 of the 63 miles it runs through the Park due to motor home restrictions

Day 67, Tuesday, September 12, 2006

38 this morning in Eurika, Mt. A 50 degree drop overnight from the high yesterday afternoon. It's the mountains! Cool air, but the sun is really hot when the sky is clear. Another clear day today. You can't imagine how good it feels to have the sun after so much rain. Washed the motor home while Ellen did laundry. Then drove into Whitefish to get Will's prescription refilled at the Vet. Brant met us there and we followed him to the Boat Club on Whitefish Lake for lunch. This is quite the resort area in summer for lake and golf, and in winter for skiing. Big mountain rises on the opposit side of lake from town with a direct view of the ski area. After lunch found a camp site at the State Park just outside of town but on the lake. Brant and his friends Adam, Cassie, and Casey came for dinner later in the evening. Cooked salmon on the grill and had a nice visit with the "kids" (relative to us). All great people and very athletic. In fact the two girls are running a marathon this weekend. They left about 11:30 and this day is done. Could not get pictures to upload yesterday as promised and can't do it here at the State Park. Now back in Verizon areas I can access the internet with my cell phone, but the connection, while very good, will not handle pictures. I'll try again tomorrow when we get to a RV park around Glacier.

Brant and Ellen at the Boat Club on Whitefish Lake
Ellen, Adam, Casey, Brant, Cassie, and Jim

Day 66, Monday, September 11, 2006

55 this morning in Revelstoke, BC. Still sunny and warming quickly. Got another early start but stopped in town to find a refill for Will's thyroid medecine. Vet only works Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday so no refill today.

Drove the 325 miles to cross the border around 6:30 pm. Crossing was another breeze but the agent did come into the motor home and look around. First time this happened. She loved the dogs so she let us go without much fuss. Found a campground about seven miles south in Eureka. We have blue sky, 85 degrees, green grass, full hook-ups, and high-speed internet in the motor home. Happy Campers!

Very beautiful travels today. British Columbia is really a must see. If we had just started our trip we would have dozens of pictures to post, but having just seen so much the last 8 weeks we are a little numb. We will post pictures and hope they are not boring.

The weather here in Montana is warm (but cooling off), clear, and beautiful well into the night. We have regained our Verizon cell phone coverage, DirecTV reception, and our American dollars. We are going to visit Ellen's nephew Brant in Whitefish tomorrow and spend the night in the area - it's about 1 hour away. Then into Glacier National Park for a few days. Good internet here today but too late to do pictures. I will upload pic's from the last few days tomorrow morning. Good Night!

Day 65, Sunday, September 10, 2006

49 this morning at Lac la Hache and looks like a sunny day. Yeh!We are about 300 miles from the U.S.A. and just might get there today. More later. We were wrong about the miles to the border. We drove 264 miles and have about 325 to go. We made a detour so we could do a drive through Canada's Glacier National Park. Stayed at a Provincial Park about 15 miles off the road. Beautiful area. We're back in the Canadian Rockies but west of the Banif and Jasper area we went through on the way up. Unbelieveable beauty and so few people to enjoy it. The weather has finally changed to sunny and dry on a more dependable note. Stayed sunny all day and into the evening. We found a campsite with sun and just enjoyed soaking it up. Another fire and some grilled halibut from Alaska. Going to the USA tomorrow so early to bed!

Next five pictures are a sample of the beautiful scenery between and around Kamloops and Revelstoke, BC.




BACK IN MONTANA, USA!!!!! View from our campsite just inside the border in Eurika.

Day 65, Sunday, September 10, 2006 (continued)

Jim with dogs for a pit stop around Kamloops
bear picture

Two more misc BC pictures

Day 64, Saturday, September 9, 2006

45 this morning in Fraser Lake and still clear. Life is Good!

Left camp very early, for us, around 8:30 am. Had planned the next stop at an RV resort that advertised cable t.v., high-speed internet, etc. We wanted to watch the Notre Dame game so wanted to stop by noon or 12:30 at the latest (kick-off time). Well we made it in time but no cable or internet in the r v park. They had cable in the motel and a slow internet connection in the rooms as well, but nothing for us poor people in R.V.’s.
We moved on to Lac la Hache south of Prince George on highway 97. Close enough to to the lower 48 to try my DirecTV dish. Hey! Got a satellite signal on the first try. Going to get the game after all. Not! In order to re-activate my account with DirecTV I have to call them, right? Well, they have blocked the use of their 800 number from Canada. I tried calling from the pay phone, called the operator, called Verizon, called brother Tim, tried on-line, called every DirecTV 800 number I could find (7 of them) and nothing could get me in touch with them. No DirecTV and no football game this week.

Built a fire for the evenings entertainment and went to bed early.

By the way, it rained today after we got on the road.

Day 63, Friday, September 8, 2006

52 this morning in Stewart, BC. And guess what - it's raining!
It rained the entire time we were looking for bears last evening, rained all night, still raining this morning, and the forcast for the next three days - more rain.
We're out of here! We are going to drive southwest away from the coast until we find sunshine.
Should be home in about two weeks.

Bought gas in Stewart on the way out. $3.66.
Bought more in Fraser Lake where we spent the night for $3.62.
Drove 345 miles and we did find sunshine. Not a lot, but thankful for it anyway. Cleared as the sun set and a beautiful full moon with stars in the sky. Even on one of the few clear or partly sunny days in the last two months it would cloud up at night. So the stars were a big welcome to see. I know this stuff is not exciting to read, but it’s what we are thinking at the time.
We are in a Provencial Park so no electricity or internet today. Pictures, if any, next internet connection.

Day 62, Thursday, September 7, 2006

42 this morning in British Columbia at Kinaskan Provincial Park. Cloudy and raining. Drove 175 miles to get to Hyder, Ak. and see bears. Only one 2 mile stretch of gravel/pot-hole road today on the Cassiar. The last 15 mile stretch of bad road has been paved. Thank God! The rain did not stop all day. Arrived in Stewart, BC then went on across the border to Hyder, Ak. Drove to bear viewing area upon arrival just to see what was there. Stewart, BC is all paved roads. Hyder, AK is all mud and pot holes and basically unfit for motor homes. But we went anyway. Had to drive about 3 miles out of Hyder to get to Fish Creek. Mid-day is not a good time to see the bears. But, we saw one Black Bear with a salmon in it's mouth crossing the road as we left the bear viewing area. We went back to town to get a camp site. Cooked an early dinner and returned to view bears around 6:00 pm when it's the best time to see them. We were not so lucky tonight. Saw one Black Bear eating vegetation, but no salmon feasting and only the one bear. It's a little late in the season so we are now hearing. Bear sightings are hit or miss instead of guaranteed. We've been a little late for best wildlife viewing this whole trip. Now we know why people fight the crowds in mid summer to be up here. Oh well! We cooked salmon on the grill tonight, have cable tv, and internet access. What else do we need? ------- Cell phone access! Nothing here and maybe nothing for days as we travel through British Columbia towards the lower 48. Brucifer, thanks for your input. Brother Tim, where are you?

Bear Glacier on the road into Hyder off of the Cassiar
Our welcome to Hyder - this is Main Street!
Another Main Street view
Town grocery store
Town Center - we turned right to go to Fish Creek
Road to see the bears

Only picture of the only bear we saw for all our trouble to get here. We were on a viewing boardwalk above him as he walked below

Day 61, Wednesday, September 6, 2006

36 today at Watson Lake. But it's sunny and getting warmer by the minute. Sure love to see the blue sky for a second day in a row!

It's 9:00 am right now and we are the only ones left in the park. Going to do some laundry here and wash the motor home before heading out. Also will try to post our bear pictures from Haines so go back and look at Sunday's page.

More later.

Got on the Cassiar Highway just outside of town for the drive south to Stewart, BC and then the cross over the border once again to Hyder, Ak. Hyder is less than 1/2 miles from Stewart and not enough of a population to mention. But it does have bears! And lots of them from what we have heard and read – that’s why we are going. Anyway, the Cassiar is supposed to be one beautiful but very rough road to travel, all 450 miles of it, with lots of wildlife to see. We drove it for 220 miles today and did not find much beauty other than the fact we were about the only ones using the road, we were completely in the wilderness (it used to be a mining road that is now somewhat paved), fall colors in the mountains are spectacular, and we survived it so far. It is mostly paved but not well maintained and very bumpy – drove about 25-30 mph for most of it. But there were two stretches of gravel that were BAD! One was 16 miles and the second was 12 miles. Rough, pot holes, washboard, wet and muddy. Drove them 5-15 mph. Trashed the motor home again but I’m getting used to it by now. We are half way down the Cassiar with two more gravel sections to go tomorrow before we turn off for Stewart and Hyder (about a 40 mile side trip one way). After Stewart/Hyder we’ll have about 100 miles of the Cassier left to travel but it should be easy going. At the end we’ll be back on the Canadian “interstate”. We saw no wildlife today!

Gas in Watson Lake was $4.31 so I did not fill up. Gas along the Cassier was $3.80. Still expensive but $.51 cheaper than Watson Lake. Gas in Canada has been expensive the entire trip.

Stopped at Kinaskan Provencial Park on Kinaskan Lake for the night. Very clean park and almost empty. Dogs made a bee-line for the water, of course. Ellen got to build her campfire and I cooked steaks over it. For most of the day the sun was out and it was hot (and nice) to be in it. But it clouded up as we got back into higher elevations and it eventually rained a little. No hook-ups here so ended the day early.

Alaska is enormous. We drove 100 miles from Skagway to get out of Alaska and have since driven over 500 miles in Canada. After driving 200 miles tomorrow we will arrive back in Alaska to visit Hyder. Big state!

When we leave Hyder we will be out of Alaska for good (on this trip). I’ve complained a lot about the rain, and there was a lot of it to complain about, but it’s a little sad to be facing the end of the Alaska part of this adventure. We still are a long way from home and have lots yet to see, but what may turn out to be a once in a lifetime motor home trip to Alaska is about to end when we leave Hyder.

We’re not taking as many pictures of the scenery as we have in the past. It’s still beautiful but we have seen so much of it we’re a little numb from it all. What we used to stop for to stare at and take pictures we now just comment how beautiful it is and keep on driving. We’re sure you are all tired of pictures of mountains, glaciers, and water as well. As soon as we see something “new” we will put pictures on the blog.

Day 61, Wednesday, September 6, 2006 (Continued)

Some of the Cassiar Highway has great roads
Some, not so great

Skagway north to get back on the ALCAN (next three pictures). These pictures should have been posted on Day 60.