HIT THE HIGHWAY, AGAIN

People ask me “Are you taking all seven of your beagles with you on your trip”?  Why of course, I reply. They deserve a vacation also. Some have been across the Denali Highway in my RV before and loved it. So now we got four new ones going also.

Our trip got delayed a day. The fresh water pump went out in the RV. There’s no way I was camping for seven days and not be able to take a shower. The guy at Coachman that decided to place that pump where they did needs to be hung. It took half a day to find it and half a day to replace it. We got it done then we all went for a ride to get gas and propane. That one day delay also cost twenty cents a gallon price increase.

We headed out Thursday morning and made it to the turnoff in Cantwell in three and a half hours. We were in no hurry. Traffic was light because of little or no tourist visiting. The weather was nice and sunny with just a little breeze. We made it to out first camping spot about an hour and a half after that.

Setting up camp was interesting. I don't have an awning, so I use a popup canopy. I got it out of its storage bag and set it on it legs. The wind was making the cloth flap around and Spot didn’t like it. He also got the rest going also. I got video, but to big for my fine internet service to upload. The rest of setting up camp was uneventful.

Sitting here and just looking around really makes me love Alaska more. Our campsite is a caribou and moose hunting camp. It’s empty now except for us because it’s not hunting season. After setting up camp, I spent a half hour picking up bits and pieces of trash. Plastic bottles, broken glass, duct tape, you name it.I was raised to respect the land. To leave it better than how you found it. I wish the hunters and other campers that stay here would respect it that way also.

We took a couple of walks. The weather is perfect, but there are some dark clouds in the distance. What I like about walking along the highway is that you can see traffic approaching a long distance away. The highway is 135 miles long and less than 25 miles is paved. I laughed when we first got to the gravel portion. State highway dept put up a sign that said damaged road. You can’t tell what part is damaged and what part isn’t.

The pups are pooped so we’re going to hit the hay early. It’s so quiet and it’s 10 pm and still bright sunshine out.

I got up about 12:30 to let Lucy out to pee. What a sky to pee by. I sure love it here. Land of the midnight sun.

 

5/30 The pups started stirring about 8 am. I was thankful for a good night’s sleep and a late wakeup. Everyone got to go out and inspect the camp and surrounding area before breakfast.

Everyone ate well. Sorry, just dog food and cereal for me this morning. I’ll get more creative later on. Coffee never tasted so good. For the past few years I had been taking a drip coffee maker that I got from friends that we moving away from Fairbanks to Boise. I loved that coffee pot, but it finally died. Keurig is doing the job now. It’s nice to have a generator on board. I only run it for the coffee pot, Microwave, Power Pressure Cooker and to charge batteries.

 

I wonder why the pups sit in the dinning area while I'm eating breakfast and have to settle for sitting on a cooler.

Around lunch time Cooper decided to give me a scare. My chief of security, my pup in charge, and my knucklehead decided to get my blood pressure going. I had just corrected him for leaving camp and it wasn’t two minutes later I can find him or is he answering me calling him. I checked the RV to make sure he didn’t go in while I wasn’t watching. Nope. I circled the camp I don’t know how many times calling for him. No Cooper. I walked down the highway the direction we last walked. Nope. It seemed like hours but it must have been twenty minutes I decided to walk the road again. The direction I hadn’t gone in. As soon as I got to the road, guess who is strolling back. You’ve been looking for me. For twenty minutes I was scared of anything that could happen and now I want to kill him. I don’t spank, I don’t hit but he got the pointy finger and a stern talking to. He’s now grounded. He’s on a leash whenever he goes out of the RV. He does walk with the look of shame.

We had a good long walk with the three young pups and Lucy. She wasn’t acting her normal joyful walk. She did just fine and kept up and everything, she just was herself. I think she had an upset stomach. Today was the last day for her chemo pill until Monday.

Beef Roast, potatoes and carrots for dinner tonight. Carrots turned a little mushy, but all was good. The pups got a taste and some juice on their meal. Did the dishes, gave meds to who needed them and now I hear snoring.

I’m going to go sit outside and read my book. I bet Macy will join me.

5/31 It’s very chilly and cloudy this morning. I love how nice and quiet it is this morning. I bet we counted maybe 5 campers / RV’s on the highway since we’ve been here. None of them are rentals that I could tell. This pandemic sure has shut tourism down.

It was bacon and eggs for breakfast this morning. Fresh eggs and homemade bacon from some fabulous neighbors we have at the Beagle Ranch. By the time I had cleaned up the kitchen, there was some serious snoring going on. I’m going to see if I can get a walk by myself going. Yeah, right.

 

We broke camp and headed out a little after noon. It was cloudy, but we didn’t hit rain until about the MacLaren River Lodge. From there on, there was snow on the side of the road and raining. It stopped right before Tangle Lakes. We got to our spot and set up. No pop up canopy tonight because I don’t want a wet canopy in the morning. The pups got their dinner and I fixed an easy one, chicken stripes. When it decided to rain again, it poured. We stayed inside except to go potty. I got a lot of reading done.

There’s something about reading a book with the sound of rain hitting the RV roof. I enjoy hearing rain hitting the metal roof at home.

6/1 Still raining this morning, but just a steady drizzle. We had pancakes for breakfast. Sorry, no blueberries. The pups went out to go potty and it’s still a steady drizzle and a little cold. We decided after we cleaned up the kitchen and Dave, we would break camp and head down the road in search of better weather.

We went to stop at Tangle Lakes Lodge for pizza. They say they have the best. Well mother nature and Dave's poor planning didn't let it work out. We got there at 10am and they weren't open yet. We'll make it back someday.

 We continued towards Glennallen and it stopped raining but not for long. We checked out the weather in Valdez. Not any better. We decided to head south to see if it improved. It cleared up in Sutton and that put us about forty miles from home, so we headed home. I'm a fair weather camper.

 

We got home and my friend Kari who was feeding Ghost while we were gone was there with her dobbie Layla. They got smothered in beagles. I think Layla wants to be a beagle now. 

 The next day I'm cleaning up the RV. I don't know if you'd call it help or what.

 Tonight I'm fighting the slow internet and am trying to get this post done. I got a small audience.

 

Be sure to click on the photos to enlarge them.