We finally started heading into Alaska on June 22nd. We fueled up at Pioneer RV Park in Whitehorse, YT since it was still the cheapest we found. The tip we had for cheaper fuel had raised their price.
Pictures of the Alaska Highway to Destruction Bay
Here is our campsite at the Destruction Bay Lodge in Destruction Bay, YT after 170 miles. It was windy, but we had a clear view for our satellite dish and put it up.
We are using the battery charger we bought in Dawson Creek, BC and haven't had a problem since charging the battery on days we leave the car hooked up:
We could see Kluane Lake from our campsite.
The next day we drove into Alaska
Here is our campsite at Border City Lodge, which is about three miles into Alaska. We again had a clear view for our satellite dish:
The campground processes all of its water so they didn't allow washing, but it was OK to clean the windows and we did make the car windows better.
The 139 miles this day were some of the hardest we have had.
The fuel islands at the lodge are staying busy here.
Here is why, these are actually good prices for local Alaska and great prices compared to the Yukon. Our last fill up of diesel in Whitehorse was about $3.53US/gallon so $3.069US/gallon sounds wonderful.
Evita doesn't care that she is in Alaska for the first time, it is quiet and comfortable and that is all she needs.
The 86 mile drive to Tok on the 24th had some scenic spots, but the clouds were keeping us from seeing most of the mountains. The road was better than the last miles in Canada, but there were still frost heaves.
We landed at Tok RV Village. To wash the motorhome would cost $11, to wash the car it would cost $6. They also told us we would get just as dirty heading south due to more construction, so we didn't clean up the motorhome or car. Here is our campsite for two nights:
We did try to get the satellite dish working and there were too many trees blocking us. We did figure out which campsites would work for satellite if we came back. They wanted $8/day for Wi-Fi but had a DSL Ethernet connection in the laundry room for free. We used the free DSL connection.
We had been told the Gateway Salmon Bake was good so we went out for dinner. It was good, much better than Mukluk Annie's, and the salmon chowder was really nice. The Salmon Bake was playing the CD of the band that was playing a concert at Tok RV Village while we ate, so we didn't feel we missed much. Neither of us is into country music, so we didn't mind missing the concert.
We will probably stop in Tok for one night on the way out of Alaska and will probably eat at the Salmon Bake again.
The next day we played tourist and the clouds cleared over the mountains enough to get pictures. Here is the intersection of the two highways in Tok with the mountains in the background.
We have also been seeing many RVs shipped in from overseas but haven't been able to get pictures. In Tok we saw these two while getting gas:
One neighbor in the RV park had a Puerto Rico plate in the front (we blanked out part of the number to keep them anonymous) with Florida plates on the back. First time we have seen a Puerto Rico plate outside of Puerto Rico. Our guess is they used to live in Puerto Rico.
It was nice to stop for a couple nights to handle a few details. We even ate lunch out at Fast Eddy's, recommended by another camper. Another good choice for food.
The next day we headed out and spent about 80 miles in construction zones with three pilot car sections. The clouds were obscuring our view of the big mountains:
After finding our original choice of campgrounds was charging $18 for no hookups we moved on to Northern Lights in Glennallen after 138 miles and five hours of driving. Here we had 30AMP water and electric for $22. Our campsite:
Since they haul in their water due to permafrost they do not allow vehicle washing. They had free Wi-Fi and we could send email, so we didn't set up the satellite dish though the second picture shows we had a clean shot south:
The campground had homemade cobbler and ice cream at 7PM and they came around to let everyone know when it was ready. They had boysenberry and cherry cobblers and there was enough extra we took a bowl home for dessert the next day. It was fun getting to know our fellow campers and the owners of the campground.