andy'sgreatadventure

Donna, David and Andy's great adventure. This is a synopsis of our trip. I have included tips and some of the things I did on our trip to Alaska. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions. I have given a slight synopsis of each day. On certain days I give tips, locations, and comments regarding a trip. Everywhere I stopped I would talk to people and gather info. Prior to the trip I probably e-mailed over 50 people asking questions. Additionally must have read over 20blogs to gather information. So research, ask, and read, especially if your planning your first trip.. BTW,, were going again in 2015 already have the route planned.. PIC Donna,David, Andyboy in front of Mt McKinley.

Click on the points on the map to see what we did at each location.

Aug 18, 2012

Day 0 One Week to go

Anticipation and nervousness... wow... what a trip to plan. Bring the beast over on Tuesday to start loading. I have spent hours upon hours planning this trip. Changing locations, adding, adjusting.. the wife Donna has not been involved very much,, she told me, put me in the drivers seat, turn on the GPS and lets go. Yeah, she does about 90% of the driving,, not a good rider,, I love it,, I relax, navigate and read the whole time. Andy is getting ready also.

Aug 25, 2012

Day1 Salina, Ks

The adventure begins, up till about 130am getting the house ready to leave. Up at 6am.. on the road 630am first stop 645am Starbucks had to have some coffee. Goal for today was to drive to Salina,Ks. Since is was still warm and knew we would get in late, decided to use a hotel for this night. Good planning got to the hotel around 9pm. long day.

MILES TODAY 681 TOTAL 681

Aug 26, 2012

Day 2 Cheyene, Wy

Got up early, picked up some breakfast and of course some Starbucks (SBs.). On our trip(s) I always plan where we will be stopping and try and find a local SBs, yeah I know but got to have your coffee. Again another long day planned, headed to Cheyene, to continue the trip. I will add some notes and other stuff to this trip as we go along so bear with me. Had made reservations at RV park in Cheyene, weather was 90 during the day but 50's at night. Big difference from Texas. And yes I do drive once and awhile.

MILES TODAY 676 TOTAL 1351

Aug 27, 2012

DAY 3 Billings, Mt

More driving,, got up, hit the local SBs and headed out. Another long drive day. Since this trip was about Alaska/Canada, did not do a whole lot on the way up. Drive and get there. Since Donna is doing most of the driving, I'm getting a lot of reading done, started the Jack Reacher series,, started book 3, now on 5.
Also we did do a blog on our trip.. I'm going to include it now if you would like to see it. Gives a lot more details regarding planning and day to day. Again made reservations at RV park in Billings. Hot days,, very cool nights, nice.

http://andysbigtrip.blogspot.com/

MILES TODAY 457 TOTAL 1814

Aug 28, 2012

DAY 4, Lethbridge, Alberta

Oh Canada here we come, excitement this morning, hit the local SBs and head out with anticipation, going across the border. On our planning decided to go this route to hit some Eastern areas of Canada on the way up. Since this was our first visit and so much to see, was not sure how to plan the trip. So decision was made lots of driving and see everything possible. We had all our papers, passports ready at the border. Made sure had Andy boys health certificate ready. I don't think they ever asked for it the whole trip :), but had it ready. Just went to the Vet and had her fill it out for us week before the trip. Anyway excitements building.
We entered Canada at Coutts, stopped at visitors center, then headed out to Lethbridge. Decided on a small RV park in Lethbridge after some research. Very small park, nice and clean, would stay there again if we come this way. Lots of elk running around.

MILES TODAY 404 TOTAL 2218

Aug 29, 2012

DAY 5, Jasper National Park

Up early headed Highway 2 towards Calgary. Read so much about Calgary but had to pass on staying there, we were on the outskirts as we drove by the city and even saw the Olympic village on the way to Jasper NP. I read a lot about this park and decided it was a must see, did not disappoint . After heading north on Hwy 2, then west on Hwy 93 we noted a very very large change in the scenery, mountains, rivers, forest everywhere, spectacular, matter of fact was like that for the next 3 weeks.
I had made reservations for Jasper (Whistler) and what a beautiful park. Would love to spend more time there. Picture as we headed towards Jasper.

Okay decided to add my flkr account if your still reading this.haha... If you go to this site I have broken down all kinds of pictures..clik on albums and you can view them.. also some of our other adventures.. BTW,, we estimated we took over 10,000 pictures on our trip. love digital cameras. Go through them delete delete and save..easy breezy. Note.. since we were doing a blog, one thing we tried to do each day was to file pics in folders for each day so we could keep up with them. Lot of work but saves time later when your going over you pics. We purchased a telephoto lens just for this trip. I already had a tripod for my spotting scopes that we could use. More tips later.

MILES TODAY 580 TOTAL 2798

Aug 30, 2012

DAY 6 DAWSON CREEK, BC

. Left Jasper headed up Hwy 16 toward Hinton, then took Hwy 40 to Hwy97 to Dawson Creek. Beautiful, beautiful the drive is just breath taking. Stopped in Hinton got gas 4.20 gallon ouch... also went to Tim Hortons,,(TH) similar to Panera Bread,, very good wish they had some in Texas.

MILES TODAY 331 TOTAL 3129

Aug 31, 2012

DAY 7 FT NELSON

Another chilly start,,, as we drove up from Dawson Creek notice lots of roadside vegetable stands,, they sale corn (called Taber because it is grown in Taber, Canada. (Delicious, golden corn!) She also bought 3 beefsteak tomatoes for $5, also very tasty. She refused to pay $20 dollars for a small basket of plums or $10 for a small tub of cherries! We then started our adventure traveling the Alaska Highway heading toward Ft Nelson. Miles and miles of valleys, trees, and some smaller mountains. We arrived at Fort Nelson and stopped at the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum, the owner must be 90 years old, even said he worked on the Alaska Hwy,1942! Also went to the visitor’s center. We then drove about 40 more miles to a Canadian Provincial Park, Testa River, it was very nice, parked next to a river which we could hear all night. Our site had no hook-ups so we had to depend upon the generator and the batteries on the RV, went pretty well though Donna did not like the lack of electricity or water. Made a nice campfire, sat around and drank coffee and enjoyed the night before bedtime.

MILES TODAY 282 TOTAL 3211

Sep 02, 2012

DAY 9 TESLIN, YUKON

After leaving Watson Lake,, sort of a change of plans,, I had originally planned on going up Hwy 4 toward Ross River, but according to everything I read, some of the road was unimproved and after talking to a few people decided to not to take this road, some people advised it was very rutted. Additionally I had pre-planned this and had some alternative sites set up to go to. So we stayed on Hwy 1 toward Whitehorse, Stopped at Rancheria Falls very nice.

MILES TODAY 170 TOTAL 3700

Sep 01, 2014

DAY 8 WATSON LAKE YUKON

Up and at em this morning, 37degrees... saw lots of wildlife on this segment of the trip,,,, followed Highway 97 to Watson Lake,, more and more beautiful scenery.. Got into Watson Lake fairly early, gain an hour of time. Not very many people at the RV park. Walked over to the signpost forest, amazing all the signs..if you stop here get your own sign made and ready,,, find a spot and nail it up...We also went over the Northern Lights Center another great tour.. This RV park probably has room for about 200 RVs.. think there was 6 of us and a couple of more pulled in late in the evening..

MILES TODAY 319 TOTAL 3530