If you’d like to review our entire journey from start to finish, Click HERE to goto our first post, “Getting Everything Packed….” post on 11 May.
Then, at the top and bottom of each post, look on the left and right, click there to read the previous or next post.
You can also click on the photos/maps to make them larger for viewing.
John & Jodie
We didn’t sleep very good last night – HOT and noisy. In a way that was good, we got up early and hit the road.
A quick stop for gas, some coffee and off we go.
Iowa should be named the “Rest Stop State”. I swear, along I-80, about every 5 miles there’s a rest stop. Keep this in mind next time we pass through :-).
ALSO – Seen a lot of wind mills, scattered all over, not like a “Wind Mill farm” that you see out west.
It was turning HOT again today, We had the AC working in the truck, so Jodie took the wheel for a few hours and I took a nap in the back.
When we got to Joliet (west of Chicago), the freeway travel STOPPED, All four lanes, stopped. After moving about 1 mile in 1 1/2 hours, we decided to leave this parking lot and managed to get off I-80. A detour about 10 miles north, and we picked up US-6. It went through town, but it was moving. We intersected I-80 again near Gary, Indiana.
We refueled one more time for the final run toward Toledo. (Illinois gas is expensive, try not to re-fuel in Illinois)
As we left Indiana and entered Ohio, we were running low on gas. (I have 2 gallons in a can that is my backup) . I had run the tank low and had a good idea of what happens, but I decided to press it to either empty, or the gas station 40 miles away.
The needle went to “E”. I had seen this before, and knew I had about 3 gallons. It went one needle width below “E”. I knew I had about 2 gallons, but didn’t move anymore (must be a mechanical stop on the needle). I’m now in uncharted territories.
About 3 miles before the gas station, the engine started bogging down, then quit. OK, I now know when the needle drops one width below, that’s as far down as it will go.. so I have about 20 miles to find a station.
Anyway, we put gas in and 30 minutes later, we pulled into our driveway. HOME :L-)
Odometer >> 10,988
John & Jodie
We talked about it last night and decided to press hard to make it home in two days instead of doing a slow easy travel in three.
At one of our Walmart stops, I bought some Freon for the Toyhouse. We replaced the dryer before our trip, and evidently, we had a leak, so our AC wasn’t working. We stopped at the Lincoln Memorial Rest stop at the top of the summit east of Laramie Wyoming, and it took about 30 minutes to add the R134 and we had AC again. 🙂
Passing through central Wyoming the Rockies turns to a high altitude plains. Anyplace that installs Snowfences beside the Highway, you know it gets cold and snowy. The highest altitude of the entire trip happens just east of Larime Wyoming where we hit 8,600 feet,. The highway is hilly, and varies between 7,800 and 8,400 ft. before it starts a slow descend just past Cheyenne.
Cheyenne is a central point for the US, not only for the railroad and highway, but is also a central command and control facitity for most Satellite operations.
As we passed into Nebraska, the altitude slowly lowered. 
Just outside of Kearny, there is the “Arch” that passes over the highway. This was built 15 years ago and has many displays that show the lives of the early pioneers. Kearny Nebraska is just about the half way point, and just about anyone traveling to the west, would travel through Kearny.
We made some very good time today, traveling 65 mph most of the day. After passing Omaha Nebraska and into Council Bluffs Iowa, we decided to stop at the Casino for the night.
Unless you have Coach AC and can leave it run all night, I would not recommend this as an overnight stop. It cost $30, (with electric) parking is right beside the interstate. We would have been much better off to continue for another 20 minutes and stopped at one of the many Rest Areas in Iowa. Oh Well. Chalk this one up.
Odometer >> 10,257
John & Jodie
We got a quick cup of coffee at the Toyhouse and then hit the road.
Heading down US-93 we ran across two of these “Overpasses”. These were built to allow the migrating deer population to cross the road without danger. YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING – Our Tax dollars at work (This is one of the reasons our country is in financial problems!
Anyway After picking up I=80 in Wells Nevada, it was eastbound and our first stop was at Wendover Nevada to get a byte to eat. A very good breakfast Buffet at the Red Garter Casino.
Then a quick stop to view the old “Wendover Air Force Base” Although its been closed for many, many years, Wendover has a place in history. This is where the very secretive training took place for the WWII crews that dropped the Atomic bombs on Japan.
After breakfast, it was out across the salt flats. I’ve driven this route and flew over the salt flats many times, every time I pass the Bonneville Salt flats, I can still hear the roar of Craig Breedlove and his world record jet car “Spirit of America”. This is where it all took place.
After Salt Lake City, the Eastbound climb up I-80. The Toyhouse ran most of it in 1st gear and 30 mph, no overheating.
Then into Wyoming. I love the mountains and the geology of this state, I’d e love to take a few months off and just spend it climbing around these mountains.
A stop for the night at Western Hills Campground in Rawlins Wyoming. N ice place (crowded but quite) Visit their web site at
www.westernhillscampground.com
odometer >> 9,582
John & Jodie
Coffee and breakfast in the Toyhouse. checked our e-mails (I can tether my Droid for Internet access) before we hit the road. We couldn’t do this while in Canada because the Roaming rates for data are astronomical, And we couldn’t do it in Alaska, because I was getting throttled on my data usage, when it was available (URGH)
We missed our I-84 turn off of I-90, so we decided to take the back roads to pick up I-84. Very nice, this route took us through miles of orchards It looked to be predominantly apples and grapes (wine). 
It reminded me of the Central Valley orchards in California, if you ever drive down Rt99 through Modesto. I don’t remember the name of the last dam we passed on that route, but after that, the orchards abruptly ended and we were back to high altitude plains.
For the longest time, we could still see Mt Rainer, even though it was almost 100 miles away.
We followed I-84 to Twin Falls Idaho where we picked up US-93 south. This would take us down to the border gambling town of Jackpot Nevada.
I’ve been to jackpot many times, mostly I flew into their airport for a gathering of LongEZ aircraft. We hold our annual “RACE” Rutan And Composite Enthusiast” gatherings there. It was kind of nice to see this town again, only from the ground level at a much lower speed.
We pulled into Cactus Pete’s RV Camp, had a very good steak dinner at the Casino and dropped our obligatory $20 in the one armed bandit..
Time to call it a night.
Odometer >> 9,030
John and Jodie
2 June – Fraser River – Seattle –
Woke up to a quite campsite. Had Coffee and ate breakfast in the Toyhouse, then its on the road.
It started raining again by late morning. we stopped and had lunch just north of Hell’s Gate.
Picking up Canadian Rt 1 follows the Fraser river, WOW, what a beautiful route, I’m glad we decided to head back this way. The waters were deep and running fast.
(NOTE – The sun wasn’t out so most of the photos didn’t come out very good. I selected these because they may convey the immensity of the Fraser River – Note the train in the third photo)
I noted to Jodie all the RVs heading in the other direction.
We crossed the border into Good Ole USA. First stop was a gas station where we filled up all the tanks at $4.02 per gallon. Just one mile away into Canada the lowest price we seen was $1.40 per liter ( About $5.60 per gallon)
Jodie wanted to go through Seattle, so we picked up I-5. Bad timing as it was rush hour and 6 lanes of stop and go (mostly stop) Man, I don’t miss this at all!!!
We picked up I-90 and started our eastbound trek.
We found a great Place for dinner on the east side of Cle Elum, Homestead Diner – They specialize in BBQ ribs – BE WARNED – If there are two of you, order ONE dinner and split it. Another hour of driving and it was time to stop for the night. We found a nice quite rest stop and packed it in for the night.
odometer >> 8,408
John & Jodie
We have been hearing on the radio about high waters in and around Smithers and upstream (This is where we stayed last night). When we drove through Smithers this morning, they had sandbagged and diked some of the buildings and streets that are right beside the river. We could see that the river was over its banks in these areas, but it looked like the sand bags and makeshift dikes were holding.
Well, the farther south we get, the more into civilization we get. For the last 10 days we could drive for an hour and not see another car, let alone a house or roadside business.
Anyway, CA-16 is a main east/west route, so we’re seeing plenty. It looks like the main industry is wood. you can see along the mountains where the forest are being harvested and re-planted. Also, a LOT of wood mills .
When we passed through Prince George, we decided to stop for something to eat. Carmel Family Restaurant (Shame on them, they don’t have a web site) BUT, if you get through Prince George, They serve up a very good Chicken Fettuccine, (ans all sorts of other Greek style dishes)
It started raining again, so we decided to stop and spend the night at one of the providential camps sites, $16 a night, we won’t take advantage of the firewood tonight, but this place should be very, very quite. (I forgot to ask the attendant about any Bear Sightings!)
C.U in the morning
Odometer >> 7,894
John and Jodie
We woke up to a cold, smooth Simmons Lake this morning. The furnace kicked on several times last night. Jodie made us a cup of coffee and some pancakes and bacon.
I cleaned up the camp site and then we hit the road. 
This camp site is off of the old original Cassair Highway, about 200 ft from the upgraded Highway, so its difficult to find. I seen it from the rest stop and knew from other camps on our route that we might be able to get to it if we could get on the old section of highway.
Needless to say, we were successful, but in a couple years it will no longer exist, it will be completely overgrown with trees and vegetation.
We no sooner got on the road then we seen our first bear for the day, I think he got a whiff of the pancakes and bacon and was going to find out if there was any for him.
Simmons Lake feeds into a larger Dease Lake. This lake runs miles along the valley. There is a lot of water flow, but the lake still has about 50% ice cover, That is the reason for the morning fog over some sections of the lake (the sections with ice)
Just before we turned off for the side trip to Stewart, 
We caught a Red Fox on the side of the road, We slowed and crept up on him, he was within 10 ft of the truck, just gave us a casual glance and kept on looking for food.
The side trip to Stewart was absolutely fantastic (Route 37A), We seen bears, bears, and more bears, We also got to see two active glaciers.
In all, we seen 14 bears today, Most of them on the road to Stewart. This road runs down the valley of two large mountains, I think the bears are somewhat used to vehicles and don’t spook as easily as the bears we’ve seen on other roads.
A couple of the bears were as close as 5 ft from the Toyhouse, as we slowly drove up beside them. They just looked up at us and said “Hey” then continued chowing down on the dandelions. Jodie was talking to a lady at the Ice Cream store, She said the bears were like that, just don’t feed them or spook them. She also warned us about the Moose, they are somewhat reckless They’ll walk along side you on the road, they all the sudden, turn and walk right in front of you (We had already experienced this with several moose we’ve seen on the road.)
Also on the little side trip to Stewart was the viewing of two glaciers.
Summit Glacier is named because its, well, on the summit of the mountain. The photo doesn’t do justice, but you can see the glacier sits on the top of the mountain and when it flows, it actually falls off the edge of the mountain. A lot of the glacier then sits at the bottom in the valley where it rebuilds itself a little before flowing into the river.
The other glacier is “Bear” glacier, Its plain to see it flowing very steep down the valley and into the river.
Moving down the road, we found a very nice and clean RV park just outside of Smithers, named “Glacier View”. I commend the owners of this place, Its clean, neat, and no junk around the parking lots (more on this later) It exactly the way the picture says it is.
If your traveling through this area and need to stop for the night, or a couple days, check o0ut their web site:
ALSO – If your not in a RV, They have Cabins – how cool is that.
odometer >> 7,490
John & Jodie
30 May – picking up the Cassiar Highway
During the 30’s when the Alaska Highway was under planning, the Cassiar highway route was actually the first choice, and the current Alaska Highway route was choice #3. When WWII broke out, The US was sending a lot of planes to Russia, These planes flew north through Canada, Alaska, and into Russia. When the decision to built the Alaska Highway was made, the route that followed the planes was chosen (option #3) and not Option #1 (the current Cassiar Highway)
Very quite at the campsite, We had our coffee and breakfasts at the Toyhouse Inn, and then hit the road.
The farther north you get, the more the winter takes a toll on the road, as attested to yesterdays grueling 50 miles of frost heaves. Fortunately, the roads are fairly easy to repair as they are constructed of dirt and gravel, then coated with chip-seal (asphalt/tar). When it comes time to resurface, they simply use a grader with knives to cut the old chip-seal, regrade it, roll it, then reseal it. Should be good for another ten to fifteen years.
We stopped for lunch at a rest area, After a sandwich I adjusted the fan belt, It would squeal a little when we downshifted on the steep inclines.
A stop at Teslin River for some gas, Then continue on to 37 Junction where we got off the Alaska Highway and pick up the Cassiar Highway.
Traveling south we went through a large burn area, probably 30 miles wide, it looked fairly recent, I would guess within the last ten years. The evergreens take a long time to recover, but you can see the White Burch (the green areas) recover fairly quickly.
We made a stop at Jade City (www.jadecity.com). 
WOW – These folks mine their own jade on top of the mountain, cut it, and do their artistic thing to grind, cut, and shape some beautiful jade pieces. Jodie picked out a couple pair of earrings, very nice.
We continued down the road for about another 45 minutes and found a nice spot to spend the night. Right off the road on the shore line of Pine Lake. The Ice on the lake is breaking up and we can hear waterfalls about 1/2 mile away. This should be a nice quite place for the night (I hooked up the spare Propane tank, as I know the furnace will be running tonight.
Odometer > 6,871
29 May – Heading south Into Canada
We’ll take a different route going home. Jodie wants to swing through Washington State, so we’ll stay on the western side of Canada.
We entered Canada this morning. The First 50 miles of the Alaska Highway going into Canada (southbound) are horrible. Frost up-hieves make the paved road seem like your driving through a bolder field. Not as bad as the Dalton Highway, but real close.
Most of the Alaska Highway has been rebuilt, improved, and modernized over the last 20 – 30 years, At times, you can see the old highway. We passed one bridge that is older than the Alaska Highway. This bridge was built in the late 1890’s to serve gold miners heading north out of White Horse (about 80 miles north). The bridge was used during the construction of the original Alaska highway, but never carried any Alaska Highway traffic. It was rebuilt to preserve its historic nature in 2006 and now only carries the occasional tourist foot traffic.
We got into Whitehorse and Jodie ran into Walmart as I fueled up the Toyhouse. We then had diner at a Chinese Buffet in downtown Whitehorse. Not bad, but I think Buckleys (Milpitas CA) is still number one.
We stopped for the night at Wolf Creek Yukon Park (a state park). We lucked out and got the last empty spot (nice spot also). Not bad for $12 a night. its quite and clean.
Odometer > 6,596
