Back to Fairbanks

Tuesday - I got an early start this morning as it was cold in the Jeep. Around 48°F without a sleeping bag. The “plan” is to stop at Fast Eddy’s in Tok for their salad bar. But I can’t arrive too early. I stopped in Beaver Creek for coffee and a small breakfast. This sidecar rig was sitting outside. I found the riders and talked to them a bit. 

I stopped at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. They had a pretty good movie and I did remember to stamp my National Park passport book. 

Fast Eddy’s in Tok was the the next stop after filling up. The overall average for this trip has been 28.6mpg. More than satisfactory as was the salad bar at Fast Eddy’s!

But it was a long drive. The is the long, straight road west of Tok.

Day 3 - Into the Yukon

Monday - This is the wonderful view from my overnight spot on the side of the road. A lot quieter than yesterday rest stop. There is much less traffic on the Cassiar than Hwy 16. 

Near the northern end of the Cassiar, there was a lot of smoke. I’m not sure where the fire is but it looks like it’s west of the Cassiar and south of the Alaska Hwy.

Today was another 600+ mile day ending at Kluane Lake. I’m stopped at a rest area near Destruction Bay. No view of Kluane Lake but there is an outhouse. Only 433 miles to go! It may be challenging to get to sleep as sunset isn’t until 11:17! 

North through B.C.

Sunday - I got an early start today but an accident in Hixon on a bridge stopped progress for a while. No roads around the bridge for quite a ways, I’m told. 

Due to the morning delay, only about 625 miles today due to the Hixon delay. Overnight was at a turnout around 90 miles south of Dease Lake. I stopped at Bell II for dinner but the kitchen was already closed. I had a sandwich and tomato soup from the Bell II gas station. It was a tasty meal. As usual, the Cassiar is wonderfully empty. The animal count on this trip so far is 2 deer, 1 coyote, 2 moose, and 12 black bear. All of the bear were along the southern end of the Cassiar. The two in the picture were about 4 miles from Bell II. Note all the smashed bugs on the windshield. This is after scrubbing the windshield clean about 100 miles ago…

Centralia, WA - British Columbia

Thursday - Friday - We are back at the RV switching things out again. We are headed back to AK tomorrow. We don’t need the dressier clothes and, since I’m driving the Jeep, I’m bringing some non-refrigerated food and minimal cooking stuff. Since the drive up wasn’t planned, my camping gear is still in TX. But the Jeep is minimally loaded so I can probably sleep in the back. 

It’s about 2,300 miles so about 4-5 days. It should be a nice trip. Four 10 hr days or five 8 hr days. I’ll probably do a couple of longer days for the first half of the trip followed by a couple of shorter days. I’ll probably head a bit to the east initially to avoid the possible crowds at the Seattle-Vancouver border crossing.

Saturday - A long-ish drive day. I am ~50 miles past Williams Lake, BC, or about 750 miles today. I crossed into Canada at Osoyoos, BC, as it’s usually a very short wait. It was about ten minutes. While approaching Hwy 97 at Cache Creek, the skies were looking pretty smoky. And the temperature was still in the upper 90s so I kept driving. I finally stopped at a rest area around 10:30 or so.