Mile 10,569 – Houston, TX.

Mon. 26 Sept:  Back home in Houston and end of trip.  Temp to was 98 deg.  I am sure we came back 2 or 3 week too soon. (Note to self - don't make this mistake next year).

Doris is been doing her therapy exercises and the wrist appears to be responding very well.  Next appointment with the therapist (physical) is on Wednesday.

Mile 10,518 – New Waverly, TX.

Mon. 19 Sept:  Stopping in New Waverly at Cagle Campground (Sam Houston NF) for a week to visit with friends Ronnie and Cristi Smallwood.  Doris has an appointment with ortho Doc tomorrow.

Tues: 20 Sept:  Doris had her cast taken off today.  Wrist is still swollen and very stiff.  She Starts physical therapy on Thursday.

Mile 10,305 – Grapevine, TX.

Fri. 16 Sept:  Back in Grapevine for a weekend visit with daughter Ginger.  On Saturday we took in Grape Fest on Main Street.  Sunday we had brunch with Ginger’s college roommate Leslie and 10 day old baby boy Shaun Patrick. 

Mile 9957 – Amarillo, TX.

Thur. 15 Sept:  Spent the night in Amarillo at the Oasis RV.  Rain and fog all the way from Raton Pass.  Still heavy fog here in late at night. 

Mile 9705 – Raton Pass, NM.

Wed. 14 Sept:  Stopped for the night at Cedar Rail RV in Raton Pass, NM.  Tomorrow night  we should be at Oasis RV in Amarillo, TX and Friday in Grapevine to visit with our daughter Ginger.  Coach appears to be running fine and based on only one mileage check it appears our mileage may be improved a bit.

Mile 9437 – Denver, CO.

Fri. 9 Sept:  Arrived in Denver at the “Flying Saucer RV Park” for a five day visit with our daughter Robin and hubby Jeff. 

On Saturday we took in the Scottish/Irish Highland Festival in Estes Park, CO located on the eastern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park.  None of us had ever attended one of these events before.  Lots of kilts, bagpipes, jousting, etc.  We all picked up family (or somebody’s family) coat of arms, history, etc.  Jane, you will be relieved to hear according to the purchased propaganda the Roberson name is not derived from son of a robber but from an ancient Scottish tribe.  I’m going with the tribe theory.  See pics below.

On Sunday we drove to Chatfield State Part to check out an alternate place to stay when visiting Denver.  The park is only a few miles for Robin and Jeff and should be a lot quieter than the “Saucer”.  The “Saucer” is an OK park but located next to a busy highway.  Lots of traffic noise. 

Next we headed towards the Black Hawk/Central City area when Jeff’s car gave up the ghost.  This ended with the four of us jammed into a tow truck for a ride back to Robin and Jeff’s apartment.  Doris and I are waiting for Robin and Jeff to check out the Mexican restaurant recommended by the tow truck driver.  Sounds good and this man looked as if he knows food.

Monday was our turn.  I had noticed a new sort of whining or whistling noise coming from the RV beginning somewhere between Ennis, MT and Dubois, WY.  We took the coach to the Cummins/Spartan service dealer located in Henderson, CO. (north Denver).  Turns out we had a blown or leaking exhaust manifold gasket.  No time to repair on Monday and since the service center has electrical hook-ups we spent the night in the RV at the Cummins service center.  Tuesday we got the gaskets replaced, did some shopping, and when the kids got off work we went for pizza.

All in all we had a good visit but we could have done without the mechanical issues.

Mile 9335 – Cheyenne, WY

Stopped for the night at Terry Bison RV just south of Cheyenne.  Will be in Denver tomorrow to spend a few days with daughter Robin and husband Jeff.

Mile 8985 – Dubois, WY

Wed, Aug 31:  Arrived at Longhorn RV Park in Dubois, WY for 8 days.  Hope to get in a little fishing (and hopefully a little catching) during the week.  We have booked our reservations for next season (July 15 thru Sept 15, 2012).  Also good to see the group from North Carolina.  These fellows have been making the trip to Dubois for fishing, etc. since 1967.  Normally two trips per year.  One with wives and another for serious anglers only.

We are looking forward to seeing our Newmar club friends Dick and Peg White and Earl and Lynn McClelland next Wednesday here in Dubois.  Only sorry we won’t have more time to visit.

Sunset on the Wind River

We had a great visit on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning with our RV friends.

See below, Earl, Lynn and Dog (as in D-Oh-Gee) McClelland, Doris and Bill, Dick and Peg White.

Mile 8958 – Togwatee Pass, WY

Spending three days near Togwatee Pass and Brooks Lake at Falls Campground in the Shoshone National Forest (about 20 miles west of Dubois on Hwy 26, El. 8450 ft.).  The campground has been here for years but was recently refurbished and reopened last year.  Very nice place to stay put for a few days but definitely a little remote.

The falls…

If you double click the pic below you can find us tucked in behind a clump of trees.

From the other side.

Mile 8758 – Ennis, MT

We spent two nights in Ennis at the Ennis RV Village (good park).  Ennis is a very small but neat town.  Ennis is on Hwy 287 that follows the Madison River and has a reputation as great trout fishing area.  However most of the river is really only fishable form a float boat.  Bottom line is I didn’t catch any fish.

Mile 8526 – Missoula, MT

Spent three nights in Missoula at the Jellystone RV Park (don’t stay here).  We have stayed in Missoula twice before at Jim and Mary’s RV Park and thought we just give Jellystone a try.  Should have stayed with J & M RV.  Stocked up on groceries at COSTCO and Walmart, the frig is packed full.

We had an orthopedic doctor check out Doris’s fracture.  It appears the bones have slipped a bit since our visit to the orthopedic doctor in Fairbanks.  Unfortunately there was no clear or obvious course of action at this point.  Doctor estimated that even though there will be some misalignment there is about a 50 percent chance the wrist will be acceptable after the cast is removed.  Alternative is to operate, reset the bones, add screws, plates, etc. in order to force correct alignment.  We decided to wait and see how the wrist works ‘as is’ since there is not likely to be any more slippage and only two weeks to the cast can come off.  If necessary the operation can be done in Houston once we are home.  Doris did get a new cast that is much more comfortable than the temp provided in the emergency room in Fairbanks.

Heading to Ennis, MT tomorrow for a day or two.

Mile 8411 – Columbia Falls, MT

Back in the USA.  No more border crossings or custons checks.  Spending two nights in Columbia Falls, MT located just east of Whitfish and a few miles west of Glacier NP.  .   Also appears to be the end of the cool weather, 90+ in the afternoons.

Mile 8121 – Donald Station, BC

Spent three nights at Donald Station (Campers Haven RV Park)  For the most part we just passing time as we have made an appointment with an orthopedic doc in Missoula, MT for Doris on Thursday, 25 Aug.  Pictures below are at the RV park in Donald Station.

On Friday we drove over to the natural bridge on the Kicking Horse River at Field, BC just a few miles west Lake Louise.

Mile 7864 – Cache Creek, BC

Stopped over here at the Brookside Campsite for two nights.  This is one of those rare RV parks in Canada that permit washing the RV in your site.  Couldn’t pass it up.  We were really dirty and the normal sprayer RV washers just don’t get the job done. 

Mile 7601 – Prince George, BC

Spending the night at the “Bee Lazee RV Park” (You have to stay somewhere).  Still raining but less rain here than further west.  We plan to head towards Whitefish/Missoula, MT via Cache Creek, BC, Golden, BC, etc.

Mile 7161 – Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK

On the drive from Dease Lake to Stewart we saw 5 black bears along the road plus another 2 black bears on the raod from Stewart to Hyder.

Below is a glacier along the road as we approached Stewart.

The following grizzly bear pictures were taken at the Fish Creek viewing area.

Scat Happens, Just Leave It.

Can’t pass up fresh berries.

Mom and cub headed for breakfast

.
Cub catches fish

Fish gets away

Mom catches a fish.

Salmon Glacier (20 miles north of Hyder)

View looking south from glacier towards Hyder

Downtown Hyder, AK

Mile 6919 – Dease Lake, BC

One night stop at Dease Lake.

Mile 6772 – Watson Lake, YT

Spent the night at Baby Nugget RV Park in Watson Lake.  Washed the RV just to take a look at the original color (haven’t seen it for several of weeks).

Mile 6625 – Teslin, YT

Travel day.  We drove the 350 odd miles from Haines to Teslin.  While stopped by a flag lady at one of the construction sites along the Haines Highway we spotted the shaggy fellow below lopping along besides a stream.  He appeared to be having a great day and could care less about the ongoing construction.  Stopped to rub and scratch himself against a bush, took a swim in the stream and then bounced on along the stream like a small puppy.

Mile 6272 – Haines, AK

We spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights in Haines one of the nicest stops we have made. 

City of Haines.

Haines boat Harbor.

Looking up the fjord form Haines towards Skagway.

We drove to Chilkoot Lake where we saw a mother grizzly bear teaching her cubs to fish.

Haines is known for a gathering of eagles beginning in early November.  The stream here is one of the last places in Alaska to freeze in winter.  The salmon know this and continue to come to Haines to spawn after other areas are frozen.  The eagles take advantage of the spawning salmon.  Somewhere between 3000 and 4000 eagles converge on Haines during the winter.  We toured the American Bald Eagle Foundation where they take in wounded birds.  Both of the birds below have a broken radius in the fore arm.

Haines is also home to one of only two hammer museums in the world.  The little museum contains over 1000 hammers.

A couple of the more unusual hammers are the poster hammer and the autopsy hammer.  Long handles on the poster hammers allowed poster to be placed at a high position. 

One of my favorite hammers is the drink hammer.  Apparently during the 20’s and 30’s many night clubs provided hammers with the drinks.  When you were ready for another drink, just tap the glass with the hammer.

More bears along the Chilkoot river.

The following video shows a ‘fish wheel’ used by the native Alaskans for catching fish.  The stream current turns the wheel like a paddle wheel.  As the wheel turns it traps fish in the paddles and as the reaches the top it dumps the fish into a chute that guides the fish into a holding tank.

Mile 6124 – Haines Junction, YT

Spending Saturday night at the Kluane RV Kamp in Haines Junction.  Park is just right for a one night stay.  Pull through with no trees.  Considerable repair work has been done on the section of road between Tok and Destruction Bay since we came through in June.  Much better this time around. 

Mile 5836 – Tok, AK

Spent Friday night at Tok RV Village.  Picked up our mail and topped off the diesel and propane tanks before heading into Canada (land of many taxes).

Mile 5632 – Fairbanks, AK

We had originally planned to spend three nights in Fairbanks but have decided to move on to Tok on Friday morning.  Last week we had our mail forwarded to Tok and were planning to pick it up on Thursday.  However traveling to Tok on Saturday will not work since the post office web site states the the Tok post office is not open on Saturday.  No real problem though as Friday in Fairbanks was an extra day anyway.

We did get Doris to Fairbanks Sports Medicine today.  The doc X-rayed the wrist again and determined all was fine.  He did suggest that she have it X-rayed again in about a week to make sure everything was still aligned as it should be and at that time the temporary cast/splint could be replaced with a permanent cast.  If you are familiar with the route from Fairbanks back to the lower 48 you can appreciate the fact that that ain’t gona happen.  However he did say that the current splint was fine although a little less comfortable than a permanent cast.  Guess she is stuck what she’s got for 6 weeks.  In 6 weeks (about 10 Sept) we should be able to find orthopedic care.  FYI in Alaska you can get orthopedic care in Fairbanks or Anchorage.  Other than that you are out of luck.

Mile 5510 – Denali NP, AK

On Friday morning after leaving Talkeetna we stopped one more time to get a glimpse of Mt. McKinley.  Fortunately the sky had cleared up a bit and we were able to get little better picture (still a little over 60 miles away as the crow flies).

On Saturday we drove the park road as far as you are allowed to take your car.  This point is 13 miles into the park at the location of the Savage River.  There is a two mile hike along the river (one mile in and one mile out) which we decided to take.  The following pictures are a snowshoe hare (checkout the back feet), an ground squirrel and a couple of ptarmigan.  The story goes that the town of Chicken, AK is named after the ptarmigan.  The people naming the town couldn’t spell ptarmigan so the named the town Chicken.

Now for the bad news.  After crossing the small bridge over the river and with still a mile to go back to the car Doris tripped over a rock in the trail, fell and broke her right arm.  We first hiked the mile back to the car.  There are really no medical facilities to speak of in the park or anywhere nearby.  We drove to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital emergency room about 110 miles away where she was able to get really excellent care.  The break was near the end of the radius bone next to the wrist.  She now has a temporary splint which will need to be replaced with cast in a few days once the swelling stops and begins to go down.  Since Fairbanks may be the only location along our route back towards the lower 48 for the next 1000 to 1500 miles with an orthopedic specialist we will end up spending a few extra days in Fairbanks. 

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words.  The picture on the left is the wrist area before setting the fracture and the one on the right was taken through the temporary splint after setting the fracture.

On Tuesday we took the shuttle bus tour of Denali NP.  The weather had been cloudy and overcast for several days and we had no expectation of seeing Mt. McKinley and we didn’t.  At least we did have the great view from Talkeetna.

We were able to see brown bears, Dall sheep, a moose, a wolf and too many caribou to count.  The original purpose of creating Denali NP was to preserve the wildlife.  However the uniqueness of the park is really the geology associated with the Alaska Mountain Range and the creation of Mt. McKinley.

Below is one of the large male caribou along the tour.

We encountered the following strolling caribou road block which was eventually broken up by a bus coming from the opposite direction.

The next photo is of the very rare and seldom photographed Caribou Tree.

One of the more interesting encounters was a wolf walking along the road searching for a ground squirrel dinner.  Once he located the den he began digging for dinner which he eventually had.  (Our bus guide identified the animal as a wolf and it may be considering the long legs and  very large feet.  However we think the coloring very much resembles a coyote.)

The following was the best we could do for a moose shot.

And finally the wounded hiker.