SOMETIMES THERE'S BUMPS IN THE ROAD

Yes there have been bumps in the road, but  we'll get to that later in the blog. 
After the Bear tour we stayed one more night in Wrangell, then the next afternoon we took the ferry out and headed to Prince Rupert B.C.  Since it was going to be almost a 16 hour ride we decided to get a cabin.  Here are some pictures of the ferry and the cabin.

                                                

 

We paid the extra 5 bucks for a window but it got covered up when we went to bed

                                   He lost the flip of the coin & ended up here (no not really)
                 

 

We did sleep really good and didn't get up until it was almost time to get off the ferry.  We could have overslept real easy.

After getting off we headed into Prince Rupert.  We were hungry so we found a McDonalds and got some grub.

 

 

The drive down through Prince Rupert was really pretty in the first part of the drive.  I could not take enough pictures.  Then the further we went it got not so pretty and we saw a lot of fields of hay.  Hay must be a big crop in that area cause there was a lot of it.   The last part of the drive was so dry and looked like a desert.  So here are some pictures from each area.

 

 

 

Someone relaxing and taking a break amongst all the beauty

 

 

 

 

 

And there are sooooooooooo many more

 

 We did get behind this car and obviously they had already done Alaska and was heading south, but Why didn't they take the sign out of the window ?

 

 

 

 

This is not one of the big big fields but there were fields of bales all over for quite a lot of miles.  There was one place that was maybe a 40 acre field or more just all one solid field of hay.

 

We came to a town of West Quesnel B.C. and there was a wooden bridge so we stopped to see what that was all about.  It says on the plaque that it is the world's longest wooden truss bridge.  So we walked over and back, so now we can say WE DID THAT.

 

 

Another big industry in the B.C. is logging****Lots of logs

 

 

Stopped in Houston for a photo shot

 

 

Largest fishing pole ?

 

Stopped to take some photos

 

 

After taking this picture we both stepped on this cactus & I looked down & had a little ball of it on my leg.  That sure came off hard and it hurt taking it off.  Kents was on his shoe (sandal) and I liked to never get it off.  Using bare fingers to boot to take it off...DUH (well I had nothing else at the moment)

 

We FINALLY made it to the border YEA!  We are back in the USA!

We drove to Bellingham, Washington and stayed the night in the Walmart parking lot along with about 10 other campers.  The next day we met & made some New Friends.  They are Gary & Diane and they are Super good friends with Kent's sister Marsha & brother-in-law Don.  They said we could  not be that close to The Knutzens' and not stop.  So we gave them a call and we met up with them and they are such hospitable people.  They have a cottage or (cabin as they call it) so we went out there and Gary was going to set crab pots because Shaun their grandson was coming the next day and he would pull them back out and take the catch to eat.  Good thing about all that was he shared them with Kent & I.

 

 

This is Gary & Diane

 

 

Thank you so much Gary & Diane.  The invitation to visit & stay with you was so nice.

 

This is Shaun

 

These were the Freshest crap we have ever eaten.  By the time he brought them in from the cages he pulled out of the water and back in to shore He  cleaned*cooked* and ready to eat in 25 minutes.  Thank You so much Shaun!  Delicious!   Also I want to thank Kathy, Shauns' mother.  She baked cookies for Shaun since he was coming from 3 hours away and I guess he gets a batch of cookies when he comes, so anyway she shared some of his cookies with us.  Thank you Kathy they were scrumptious!  Sorry Shaun.

 

Beautiful Sunset out at the Cabin

 

 

Leaving there we stopped in Everett, Washington & toured the Boeing plant.

 

                                                         Fuselage section of a 767

 

The Dream Lifter is a specially designed plane to haul parts from Europe for the 767

 

Then the next day to Seattle, and the Space Needle

 

 

 

 

Mt. Rainier

 

We caught this picture just as the cloud was around the mountain & within 3 minutes of taking the picture the clouds engulfed it.  I just thought the picture was so pretty.

 

 

Now back to the title of this blog

We have traveled many bumpy roads on this trip and were doing so again yesterday (Monday) so with bumpy roads you must go slower, just a constant slow up speed up a little, tight turns, etc.  Well yesterday we were going to see Mt. St. Helen and we did not make it.  We started loosing transmission fluid and we could not go on up the mountain.  Since there was no cell service some nice people behind us took Kent to the ranger station and after 2 hours finally came back.  The truck was ON THE ROAD & with a steep drop off on our side.  The guys blocked the tires but I was so afraid if I got in the camper I could make it shift & roll back.  Never happened but I was afraid to move the slide out or anything.  We waited for 5 hours before the tow truck came.  He was very nice and he got us towed to a Ford dealership.  We are getting another transmission put in as we do not want to break down on the way home.  So we took the camper off the truck and the back lot of the dealership is going to be our home for a couple days.  They have been very helpful.  They have worked us in and have let us plug in to their electricity while here.  They even have free Wifi.  Can't beat that.   Some pictures of the dilemma.

 

 

The transmission is out & hope the replacement arrives in the morning

 

This is Dave & Trevor the Mechanics working on the project** I told them they just made my blog.

 

 

 

 

Well I have been  a bit long winded but there has been so much to share, so I hope you enjoy

 

 

 

Until next time

Kent & Martha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VISIT OVER * BACK TO REALITY

Sheila came to visit us on July 14 and we had lots on our agenda to do, but the time came she had to leave and go back to reality.  She got to spend 18 days with us, and we sure enjoyed having her.  Even though we were traveling in a TC I think we did really well with 3 bodies.  We all needed to do our duties and we did.  Everyone had to take their turn to do whatever and it all worked out.  She did say the first thing she was going to do is take a nice LONG hot shower.  We have a shower, but when you're not hooked up to water you must limit your usage when it is pumping from the tank, so you don't stand & let the water run.  Even with 3 people using water we were able to dry camp without facilities for 3 days and we could have gone 4. The biggest thing without utilities to us is keeping all the devices charged using the truck as the charging station.  It kept Sheila busy in the front seat keeping all the chargers straight **  3 phones, cameras, movie cameras, dvd player, but she kept them all straight and we didn't lose a cord.  It only cost us $33 for lodging in Juneau for 4 days.  We stayed at an rv park the first night then dry camped the next 3. 
        One of the things we did while she was here was geocache.  Here are some pictures of our finds.

 
 

                                                 
                                   I was the official photo taker  UNTIL  I finally found one

                                                                         

    

     We certainly had fun geocaching & Sheila is all versed up on how to make a bug travel from cache to cache.  She found a travel bug here in Alaska but wanted to take it back to Indiana to place it so there is something about you can have a bug VISIT a cache but you don't have to place it until you get it where you're wanting to take it.   I don't understand all that but it is fun looking for them with friends, family or ourselves.

           We took the Alaskan Highway Ferry from Haines to Juneau.  We spent 4 days in Juneau because we didn't have time to ferry to Wrangell (we didn't think) and see the bears.  Turns out Alaskan Air does fly out of Wrangell which is hard to believe cause there is NOTHING here in Wrangell except the tours, and seeing the bears feed on the salmon per the dvd we are following, was one of the things I really wanted to do.    So anyway back to Juneau.  We visited a salmon hatchery & it was really interesting.  It is NOT a fish farm where they raise them by giving them steroids and growth hormones as she pointed out.  The hatchery incubates the eggs for quite awhile then they are tiny looking minnows (?) and keep them until they grow to about18 inches or so which is about 8 or 9 months, then they are released out in the water to feed and grow naturally, then they come back to that hatchery and complete their process in a few years.   When I wanted to know the difference from what they do, to what a fish farm does, she showed me the minnow size at 7 months but a fish farm puts all the growth hormones in them and makes them grow really fast so at 7 months they are about 12 to 15 inches big with no nutrients to us when we eat them.  Really interesting.  John & Linda make sure you go to the Hatchery if you get the chance. 


                                                These salmon are about 7 months old
                                              

                       I don't know how old these are but they are getting ready to release them to the ocean.
                                                        

                                 So word of caution Don't buy if it says they are farmed fish.

          We took Sheila to the airport in Juneau.  Was sad to see her go but we had a good visit.


                                                         

          After Sheila was off we booked a ferry for the next afternoon leaving Juneau to head for Wrangell, which is still on the inside passage.  After leaving Juneau and before porting in Petersburg (where some passengers got off )  We had the most fabulous whale show right outside the boat.  There were whale everywhere & for about 1/2 hour we got the show of a lifetime.  Now I know I already told you about the tour we took to watch the whales and we did see 5 or 6, but there must have been 20 or 30 that we actually saw but who knows what was beneath the waters !!  It was so exciting!   We got a few on snapshot but we got a lot on the movie camera.  We watched it last night on the movie camera and we must have got at least 20 tail flips....

                                          

 

While watching the whales the sun was setting

 

 

 

Yesterday we finally got to go to see the bears.  We arrived here on Friday morning but the tour was booked until Sunday.  They only have so many permits per day they can have, and you have to have a permit to view the bears.  The tour is on a very nice jet boat (Alaskan Waters Tours) that takes you about 35 miles out to an island that the bear are very wild.  They are not caged in any way.  There is a boardwalk that you have to walk back into the island on and the bear are on that boardwalk at times and they were yesterday, so we had to stop and the rangers had to shoo them off the boardwalk before we could continue.  It was a big brown grizzly.  They all carry guns and bear spray.  You cannot even go to the bathroom in the outhouse out there without a ranger explaining the procedure.  The bear path passes right in front of the outhouse and they don't want you coming out of the outhouse and hitting a bear SO  There is a little round hole cut in the door at the top and when you are finished you have to put your fingers through it to signal you are done, then they give you a sign yes or no to come out.  If a bear is on the path of course it is a definite NO !     Very interesting....

We did see bear and it was fun.  They say at times the stream is loaded with them.  They are there catching salmon.  We were out there watching for 3 hours.  Time went fast and then it was over.  We are taking the ferry tonight (Monday) out of Wrangell to Prince Rupert, British Columbia.  From there we will drive the rest of British Columbia to the lower 48.  We will be on the ferry for about 16 hours so we decided to get a cabin and get some sleep.  It was only $88.  So for today we will try to find SOMETHING to do, WHAT I don't know since there is NOTHING to do.  Saturday we walked downtown from the RV park.  It was about a mile.  We already did the 3 stores they have but we will find something.

 

A few pictures of Wrangell

 

                             This building is made from semi trailers and a vinyl enclosure top

 

Lots of Indian heritage everywhere in Alaska

                                   A price we  HAVE NOT paid and hope to not have to pay

 

Our new way of life schedule **lol

 

 

                                You need it they got it** BEAR BASICS  DUDS & GRUB

 

There are so many mountains with names that I could never remember, BUT this one is named Elephant Nose  and I think I can remember this one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were some views from outside our camper at the pull off where we stayed in Juneau.  Ships coming in and the bottom the ship was leaving the night before.   We were talking to a waiter at a restaurant right downtown by the docks, & he said the ships have to pay a $40,000 docking fee and they MUST be out of port by 11:00pm or they have to pay a $3,000 penalty per minute !

 

 

This was another of the Mendenhall Glacier

 

 

 

I guess that's it for now, hope you enjoy the pictures.

 

 

Please enjoy

Until next time

Kent & Martha