And That's a Wrap!

This was our fourth Alaskan RV Adventure; the others were in 2010, 2014 & 2016. (See my other blogs on each of those trips.)  This was a trip made possible through friends we have in Fairbanks, with whom we have been bartering our timeshare in Hawaii for their 29' Winnebago. It's worked out well for both families!

RVing is liberating, allowing you to really go with the flow, so long as you don't overbook things or underestimate the drive times between places. We pushed the limits a couple of times, but we knew what we were in for. Also for the first time ever (for us) . . . it rained EVERY SINGLE DAY! Some days there were also times of clearing and sunny skies, or the rain was mostly overnight. But it was weird to have rain throughout Alaska (Fairbanks, Denali NP, Kenai/Homer, MatSu Valley, Valdez and back up the Richardson to Fairbanks). Fishing was pretty miserable 2 of the 3 days out in Prince William Sound too, due to the rain.

Regarding the RV and gasoline expenses . . . we drove the motorhome 1,547 miles. We purchased 225.34 gallons giving us 6.87 MPG (which is consistent with prior years with this same 2006 29' Winnebago). We spent $553.01 for fuel, so the average cost/gallon was $2.45. We also used 7 gallons of propane @ $3.49/gallon for the 15 days (for cooking & heat).

For those who are interested, the lowest we paid was gasoline was $2.27/gallon (Trapper Creek . . . almost always the least expensive in AK when we've been there over the summer). The most expensive, again consistent with past trips, was in Valdez at $2.93/gallon.

This year was unusual in that the only meals we ate out were our very first (breakfast our first morning in Fairbanks) and our very last (dinner just hours before catching our flight out of Fairbanks 15 days later).   Dinner aboard the Sea Duction with Jan & Eric were our two really nice meals . . . steak dinner our first night, and fresh halibut w/roasted carrots the second.

We shopped at Safeway and Fred Meyer for groceries, and ate pretty well. Breakfasts were everything from eggs & bacon to pancakes and sausage.  Dinners were generally pretty simple . . . spaghetti or sandwiches . . . or a nice DiGiorno frozen pizza!  And some evenings we indulged with s'mores or freshly picked raspberries over vanilla ice cream.

Here is a sample of our meals and desserts over the two weeks!

I really hope folks have enjoyed this blog and the photos!  David & I believe this very well may have been our last trip to Alaska.  Those who know me, know I say "Never say never . . . and never say always" but we simply don't see us returning in the near future.

We are now in "retirement planning mode" which means saving money, focusing on getting our home ready to sell and downsizing from a four-bedroom home FULL of stuff, to far less when we leave Wisconsin for a smaller retirement size home somewhere in the rural south.

I love Alaska and hope to maybe make it back one day . . . so who knows?  We've been blessed with many fabulous trips and wonderful experiences.  We have made friends over the past 15 years, since that very first "once in a lifetime" trip to Anchorage that we took thanks to my work sending me there in June 2006.  I know, rough break!

Once in a lifetime!  HA!!!  That was how I convinced David to join me that very first time . . . and now we've been back five times together (2010, 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2020)!  I have also been five other times solo or with other friends interested in Alaska (2007. 2008, 2010, 2011 . . . all winter trips involving sled dogs,  mushing and winter activities; plus my solo trip in 2011 for the Denali Road Lottery in September).

Thank you ALASKA for being there . . . thank you for the gift of adventure and marvel.  But I want to especially thank all of the wonderful people I've met and learned from.  The Alaskan culture is unique and inspiring. I truly hope this isn't "goodbye" forever.

And Some Familiar Sights - They Never Get Old

  

One of the best things about RVing in Alaska is enjoying the scenery, especially when the weather is nice and if there is wildlife to be seen.  On this year's trip, we saw a lot of both!  I was really surprised by the number of moose we saw throughout our trip.  We saw them while driving through Soldotna, on the Glenn Hwy as well as the Richardson Hwy.

We also saw bears (both black and grizzy in the same area within about a mile or one another) for the first time outside of Valdez on Dayville Road, where the Soloman Gulch Fish Hatchery is, as well as one of our most favorite boondock locations.

While at the fish hatchery weir, we enjoyed watching the sea lions feast as the pink salmon returned to spawn.  It was pretty surprising there were no bears when we were there, but we enjoyed our time there just the same.  There were also plenty of eagles around, both out in the flats at low tide and up high in the trees.

In past years when we left Valdez, we traveled over to Tok in order to camp at a place that had a nice large freezer to store our fish boxes overnight.  Unfortunately, the Golden Bear Campground went out of business a year or two ago so that left us needing to find an alternative for our fish.  We ended up just staying in Valdez an extra night and then driving directly to Fairbanks on our final day of vacation, allowing the fish to stay in the deep freeze at the fish processing place in town.

It worked out perfectly, as it gave us the opportunity to drive the entire distance on the Richardson Hwy.  Some of the most beautiful glaciated areas of Alaska are along this stretch of road.  Also along this drive are several viewing spots for the Alaska Pipeline.  Our Sunday drive of roughly 375 miles was lovely.  It started out foggy with some rain, but by the time we were to around Glennallen, it was clearing up.

I am really glad we were able to enjoy the drive north to Fairbanks!

Some New Places to Visit This Year

 

 

This year we included the Kenai Peninsula on our itinerary, largely because we really hadn't done much there on prior trips. Last summer much of Alaska was on fire . . . literally, With one of the hottest summers ever and wildfires raging out of control, several areas of the Kenai were devastated.  The photo above was taken inside the Skilak State Recreational Area (part of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge) where we stopped for the night as we made our way down to Homer.  You can see how the trees were destroyed, and yet the fireweed was already growing back.

When we left Denali National Park on Friday morning, we weren't really sure how far we would make it before wanting to stop for the night.  While I had noted Skilak as "pristine bear country" in our Guidepost road book, I really didn't think we'd get that far.  But amazingly, David continued to drive into the evening landing us at one of their two campgrounds around 10pm.

While all of the "general use" campsites were filled, we were fortunate to be able to score a "handicap" site.  WHO KNEW?  David had suggested we bring my handicap placqard just in case we needed it, but I scoffed at the thought.  After all, handicapped parking spaces do little good for a 29' beast of a motorhome!  We were able to register using my Federal Access Pass, allowing us to camp in a handicap designed campsite!

There is a gravel loop road through Skilak State Recreational Area, much of which was washerboard . . . but going slow (under 20 mph) we rolled through safely and without incident.  Unfortunately we did not see ANY wildlife . . . zero . . . zip . . . nada!  I was pretty bummed by that but I did enjoy the roll through anyway. 

Some of the scenery was very beautiful especially when the elevation provide views like this!

On Saturday morning, we continued our trek on down the Kenai Peninsula to Homer.  We did not make a campground reservation, not knowing if we would actually make it to Homer, or if we might opt to boondock there.  As we got closer, we started to look into campgrounds on the Homer Spit.  With the pandemic, I assumed it would be pretty easy to find a campsite rather last minute.  While not a big mistake, it could have been had we waited another couple of hours to start thinking about possibly making a reservation.

There are a couple of campgrounds on the spit.  One (Heritage RV Park) had plenty of space still available, but priced at $70+ for a site with hook ups! YIKES!!  The other campground where we ended up booking was appropriately named the Homer Spit Campground.  We paid around $44 (including tax) for our site, which we booked by phone at 2pm that afternoon.  By the time we arrived around 3:30pm, they were close to full so we were happy we were able to call ahead.

The campground was nothing specially other than being on the Kachemak Bay with a beautiful view of the Grewingk Glacier across the water.  When we arrived in Homer, it was sunny and clear, but I wasn't able to snap a photo as we rolled into town.  My hope was to stop on the way out the next day to get my photo.  It was very overcast and rainy, however, preventing me for getting any photos of the glacier.  I'm still bummed!

Homer Spit was an interesting place, and I guess I can now say "been there . . . done that."  Had it not been for COVID, we would have done more including eating out at Captain Pattie's and perhaps enjoying an evening cocktail (or two or three) at the world famous Salty Dawg.  But because they had an outbreak the week prior, and few people in town appeared to be respecting the mandatory face mask order, we opted to stay safe in our motorhome.  It was a disappointment for sure, but better safe than sorry.

There was one big HOLE in our trip this year, something "new" that I had really hoped to be able to check off my personal bucket list . . . Katmai National Park and Brooks Falls.

We had originally built four days/three nights into our two week vacation, planning to fly from Anchorage over to King Salmon where we'd stay for the three nights.  The plan was to take the relatively new water taxi service over to Brooks Falls as two day-trips to watch the bears of Katmai do what they are so famous for doing . . . fishing & eating at the falls as the salmon swim upstream.  This year has been especially exciting to watch on their livestream because of the relatively few visitors plus the number of bears and cubs in the area this summer.

Unfortunately, the service vendor Katmai Water Taxi decided to not operate this year due to the COVID pandemic.  I can fully understand AND appreciate wanting to protect this small rural village. With very little in the way of resources and medical facilities, and outbreak could be devastating.  BUT this vendor also decided to not issue any refunds under their "NO REFUNDS PERIOD" policy . . . instead telling guests who had booked and prepaid to file claims against their travel insurance.  Our travel insurance company TravelEx said such an incident is not covered.  Seriously . . . why would it be?  The vendor cancelled.  It wasn't like we had to cancel because we couldn't travel or got sick.

What a bogus bunch of BS that is!  Not only did his cancellation cost us the $780 paid to him, but we also had to cancel the other travel logistics of the trip including our lodging reservation (which also had a non-refundable payment on account) and our round-trip flight from Anchorage on Alaska Air.

Antlers Inn in King Salmon was very understanding, and did provide us with a full refund of our deposit, even though they had no reason to do so other than being understanding of our bad situation thanks to Katmai Water Taxi.

Alaska Air was not as sympathetic to our problem.  So rather than refunding the $716 for the two round-trip fares, they provided us with travel vouchers good until the summer of 2021. I just hope they survive this pandemic and we're somehow able to use the vouchers. Personally, I don't see it happening so that may be a bunch of money we're out because of this sketchy transportation vendor.  Personally, nothing would make me happier than to see them lose their concessionaire rights with the National Park Service!

The whole situation put a grey cloud over the trip, leaving me feeling unfulfilled and angry at the same time.  I am still hopeful our efforts through our credit card company, the Alaska Attorney General's office and the Better Business Bureau will be successful in getting the $780 back from these terrible and unscrupulous people.

"We're Fishing in the Rain" - Sing it Loud

Oh how we enjoy the fishing in Alaska!  This year was our third year going out with our friends Jan & Eric, who own a charter company out of Valdez.  G'Day Charters aboard the Sea Duction is a fabulous way for visitors to get out into the Alaskan open water to sightsee as well as fish!  The beautiful snow capped mountains surround you.

The glaciers are accessible as well.  It was really cool to see icebergs as big as fishing trawlers as we navigated out of Valdez.

This year we were once again out for three days/two nights, but the weather was perhaps the worst in terms of rain.  Heck, it is Alaska so there is seemingly ALWAYS rain.  On our past fishing trips with them, we've had rain, but this year, our first and last days out were very wet.  Thursday, however, made up for it, as it was really a nice sunny day out on the water.  The fishing was also better that day, as I admittedly just gave up on Friday in the rain having gotten drenched to my underwear Wednesday.

Some are probably reading this and wondering why I didn't have appropriate rain gear.  That's a great question, as I thought I had it covered.  Unfortunately my rain jacket (which is probably 15 years old) had lost much of it's waterproofing and my rain pants had too much exposure on the sides where the pockets are providing direct access to my thighs.  David was a trooper though, fishing through the weather, regardless.  The fish were not cooperative on Friday however, so he could have just as easily stayed inside with Jan & me that day.

The fishing was good on Thursday, with David catching a nice 52" halibut estimated to dress out at about 35 pounds of fillets.  With some other rock fish like quill backs and a yellow-eye, we brought home just under 70 pounds of fish for the freezer!

But it isn't just about the fishing!  Like I said, there is beautiful scenery all around and being with Jan & Eric is like being with old friends you just don't get to see often enough.  We enjoy our time with them and this year, there was a new crew member . . . Jaxson!  The young Australian Shepherd was up and busy any time something was going on.  He was right there when "fish on" was yelled . . . he wanted to know where Eric went when he had to drop the anchor . . . he was in David's lap inside when it was time to relax.







 

 Here are a couple of photos of the scenery of Prince William Sound.

Denali National Park - God's Country!

I am always in my happy place in Denali National Park.  Every trip and every day is a different experience!  Being able to camp at the Teklanika Campground, 29 miles inside the park and beyond where other personal vehicles are prohibited, provides a true sense of seclusion.  Being "off the grid" here is a reality as there is no cell phone coverage . . . and you do not have the luxury of going back to the park entrance until you are leaving the park.  For us, this year we were doing five nights at the Tek CG.

Another added benefit of staying at Tek CG is the "Tek Pass" for unlimited use on the shuttle system, beyond the campground.  In normal years without COVID, you can use the shuttle buses all the way to the end of the road.  But this year, due to severely limited visitors, safety precautions in place, plus the simple unknown of how the pandemic would affect day-to-day operations inside the park, there were far fewer shuttles operating . . . and only to the Eielson Visitor Center.

While understandable, we were disappointed that would rule out getting to some of the best bear viewing as well as the wild blueberries at Wonder Lake.  Because of David's back pain, we opted to not do the daily ride on the school bus from camp further into the park.  He encouraged me to go about my day and enjoy the park, which I did!

The wildlife was seemingly much further away from the road this summer.  Many of the bear sightings we had were too far out to get great photos.  Add to my personal challenge, I bought a new camera, finally retiring my old Olympus DSLR set up I ironically bought for my very first Alaska trip back in 2006.  I worked to learn my new Nikon P900, which has a long telephoto range. But even so, there were issues when I tried to shoot from an idling school bus with the zoom out to 1000 mm and beyond.

On this trip, however, there were seemingly caribou EVERYwhere along the road, particularly around Polychrome Pass.  I was also delighted to see a pair of sub-adult grizzy bears right in the Tek rest area, which was about a mile from our campsite!

Regarding time spent in Denali and the COVID-19 pandemic . . . it was clear the park service and staff were working to keep the virus from infecting their guests and employees.  The visitor centers were closed, with only the restrooms and water bottle refill station open at the Eielson center.  High touch surfaces like the spotting scopes were all covered and unavailable for use, plus the toilets at the Toklat River stop were reduced to roughly one-third being available for use.
 
While face masks were required while inside the shuttle buses, there were some who disregarded the directive.  Additionally, there were a couple of buses that were over their half occupancy limits required to provide adequate social distancing.  All in all, however, I felt safe as a single traveler unwilling to "share my seat" with a stranger.

The landscape and views throughout Denali National Park are amazing!  With rain and clouds every day, we never got to see Mt. Denali, but the views in the park are still worth sharing!

And here are some of the wildlife photos I took during my four trips on the shuttle buses.

First Day - Milwaukee to Fairbanks

We were scheduled to fly out of Milwaukee at 9am on Saturday 7/11/20.  Because we still didn't have our COVID-19 lab results from Thursday morning's testing, late Friday afternoon, I called Delta and had our departure flight changed to later in the afternoon.  That actually worked out much better as it saved us roughly 6 hours of hanging out in airports during our two layovers (Minneapolis & Seattle).

Besides the testing requirements, social distancing (keeping 6 feet from others) and wearing masks have become the norm this summer.  Also, the airline industry has taken a huge hit with passenger load dwindling to next to nothing in April and May.  Flights were continually being cancelled and consolidated.  Our wonderful one-stop trip into Fairbanks, became and more drawn out ordeal.

David has never enjoyed the long flights and this year's trip to Alaska may have been his breaking point!  It didn't help that the day prior to our departure he tweaked his back while doing some home improvements at Casa Bennett.  He was pretty uncomfortable throughout our travel day.

But the good news is we did make it safely to Fairbanks, and on schedule arriving at 11:15pm local time. Our friends who own the motor home met us at the airport and got us over to the RV for a night of boondocking in their work's remote parking lot.

It is always weird the first couple of nights with the fading daylight after midnight.  It seemingly never really gets dark when you are in Alaska in July.

We got up after roughly six hours of sleep.  Admittedly we were both pretty tired, but with an easy day ahead of us we got up and around.  We discussed whether to go to the grocery store and then fix breakfast in the RV, or just do our "usual" favorite breakfast spot in Fairbanks . . . The Cookie Jar.

Not know exactly how things would be, we decided we'd head over to the restaurant for breakfast.  David really needed coffee before thinking about doing much more!  We agreed that if we didn't feel safe with whatever was happening there, we would move to Plan B.

Fortunately, the employees were mostly wearing face masks and the dining room was appropriately spaced out to make us feel more confident about dining in.  Breakfast was excellent as usual and we got one of their large cinnamon buns to go for later.

After breakfast, we did our grocery shopping and headed south for Denali National Park.

With intermittent rain and clouds, the drive wasn't as spectacular as in past years.  I'll admit, though, the skies were interesting as we passed through the mountains and valleys. 

2020 - Travel Unlike Year's Past

Our RV in the TEK CG

This was our fourth Great Alaskan RV Adventure over the past ten years.  Thanks to a connection made back in 2008, we've been able to  have some amazing vacations.

This year however there is a global pandemic, creating new challenges and requirements to travel.  With this trip being a year in the making, there was no way to know that in March of 2020, the world would be turned upside down, with "Safer At Home Orders" and travel restrictions including advance medical testing before being allowed to enter other states.

Alaska was one such state that had particularly onerous requirements largely because of the remoteness and limited medical facilities, personnel and supplies.  Prior to leaving Wisconsin, we had to be tested for the COVID-19 virus AND obtain written lab results indicated we were negative.  This Alaskan requirement to enter the state without subsequent mandatory quarantine, was very strict.  Fortunately we had no issues complying!

There were other challenges due to the pandemic, including how the National Park Service would be handling visitors if open at all.  We had pre-booked six days/five nights camping at our favorite place in Denali National Park, plus had a four day/three night trip to King Salmon in order to watch the bears at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park.

Planning continued to evolve as state health mandates from Alaska's Governor Dunleavey were updated and changed based on the COVID cases there.  For the most part, we were able to fully experience Alaska as we had hoped.  There were some hiccups along the way, which will be covered throughout this blog.

I will say here in my initial post, DO NOT USE Katmai Water Taxi for your transportation needs from King Salmon to Brooks Falls.  They have a very rigid, no exceptions policy . . . NO REFUNDS for any reason.  They decided in June not to operate this year, AND enforced their no refunds policy expecting prepaid guests to file claims for reimbursement from their travel insurance companies.

We are still fighting to get the $780 back that we paid back in November 2019.  We hope to prevail having refuted the charge with our credit card company, as well as filing complaints with the Alaska Attorney General's office (Consumer Protection Unit) and the Better Business Bureau.

In spite of the challenges created by the pandemic, we had a nice trip and enjoyed Alaska . . . AGAIN!