Summer Solstice in Alaska!!

Today is the longest day of the the year.  From here on out the days of sunlight will be getting shorter.  We haven’t seen the night sky since we’ve been here.  We go to bed when it’s light and when we get up it’s light.  We’ve resorted to putting dark towels on the windows and that helps some but haven’t figured out what to do with the skylight in the shower yet.  I may yet resort to using the dreaded tin foil on that.

We left Haines Junction yesterday with the plan to stay in Beaver Creek just a few miles short of the U.S./Canada border.  This had to be the worst roads we’ve encountered on this trip so far.  There were LOTS of frost heaves, LOTS of gravel roads and LOTS of dirt roads with potholes everywhere!!  We were going about 20 mph in most spots and were still getting our teeth jarred.  My jaw was SO sore last night just from gritting my teeth.  When we finally stopped for the night and went inside there was a layer of dust on EVERYTHING.  It ALL had to be swept up and wiped off.

Really???

The dusty road

You can’t even see the car in front of us

We still saw amazing scenery.  This is Kluane Lake

We did see our first grizzly bear!!

He actually ran away from us!

When we arrived in Beaver Creek we didn’t like the looks of the RV Park so we continued down the road just a bit.  We saw a place called Buckshot Betty’s so thought that would be a good place to eat lunch and decide what to do.  We had some things that were considered “contraband” for crossing the border.  We decided to just go for it and use the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.  It was nothing major, just things like bagged salad, tomatoes and potatoes.  The Customs Agent didn’t even ask about those.  All he asked was if we bought liquor in Canada (we lied) and if we had any citrus fruit (nope) and if we had any firearms (nope).  “Have a nice day, folks and enjoy your visit to Alaska”.  Easy Peasy.

After leaving the border crossing we thought the construction mess was over but we were SOOOO wrong.  Again, more dirt roads, more gravel and more potholes!!

The first campground after the construction mess was the Border City RV Park.  It had a large gas station so we fueled up and asked about the campground.  It was $20 for full hookups with Wifi so we paid and went to our site.  OMG, this place was a dump!!!  The sites were incredibly uneven and had boards with nails in them laying around.  There were only 2 other rigs here that weren’t part of the Highway Construction crew.  There were potholes everywhere.  We decided to go ahead and stay since it was only one night.  During the night it rained pretty hard so this morning when we got up it was a HUGE mud pit.  We were really glad to leave.

Today we left the mud pit and headed for Glennallen.  We had been told by our friend, Mary Jo that it was a nice park so we were really looking forward to that.  Of course we first had to go through MORE road construction.  The only thing different from yesterday is that today it was raining!!  OMG, we have a TON of mud!!  Again, frost heaves, dirt roads and gravel with lots of potholes.  Luckily, I had secured everything inside and none of the cabinets came open.  I used bungee cords and Reilly’s hair ties.  Not a single thing got broken.

It’s going to take a week to get all this mud off the truck and rig.  Trust me, it’s a LOT worse than it looks!

We stopped for some pictures of the Copper River Valley.  All I can say is, again the scenery is amazing!!

Today we saw a black bear and a fox but they ran away so fast there was no time for a picture.We also saw a bald eagle and a golden eagle but they were pretty far away even with my lens.

Tonight we’re at Northern Nights RV Park in Glennallen.  Mary Jo was right.  It IS a nice campground.  They even have free dessert every Monday and Friday.  I don’t think we’re going to go though.  Again, it’s raining!  The plan is tomorrow to head for Valdez.  Maybe we can even try our luck at catching some fish!!