Two Alaska

[dtcerrato]

To it - yes & in it over & over & over again....

[windtrader]

Wow! It's been an incredible journey and thanks for sharing so much detail. Wishing you both a safe and wonderful return leg, keeping us posted here, naturally.

[dtcerrato]

Brian whenever you get the chance to do it again, we highly recommend a campground called Brushkana. It's on mile 30 (from Caswell) on the old Denali hwy. Not paved but good road. The recommendation comes from the abundance & concentration of blueberries, not to mention the arctic grayland fishing. It's a BLM facility @ $12/day ($6/day w senior pass). Another good one is  Cripple Creek on mile 29 of the Steese Hwy less than 2 hrs north of farbanks. Also a BLM facility @ $6/day ($3/day w senior pass) but only a 7 day limit. There the berries are not at the campsite but across the road covering the ground after a past fire took out the overhead canopy. Hope everything is well with you & yours.

[DoubleEagle]

I suspect you have had a good amount of fresh Salmon, but have you come across any Salmon Jerky? It has a great taste (in my opinion) and it can carry the memory of Alaska a long time. Great snack for the trip back.

[dtcerrato]

Walter yes - as a matter of fact the very 1st salmon to my taste was from our fine neighbors from a tight Athabascan friend of theirs so it was native Alaskan prepared - I got to say it is potent and stays with you longer than general. Lots of ooosing fish oil on a ribbon of leather tough skin that you can hardly chew the taste out of. They call it salmon candy. A little went a long way...

[Linda-XL40-FL]

Hey guys! Great to read of your journey, progress in setting up the homestead, and all the stuff you've seen/done up there. Very glad to hear the bus ran well and hope it does so on your return to the lower 48.

Kirby & Linda

[DoubleEagle]

Dan, that style of Salmon Jerky sounds a lot different than what I had. The type I enjoyed was from fillets of Salmon smoked/dried, and was easily eaten with no oily quality. There are probably plenty of varieties of Salmon Jerky, but it definitely is an unusual snack. Thanks for sharing your Great Alaskan Adventure.

[dtcerrato]

Thanks Linda & Kirby
Yes, at least for this trip - less coveralls, more playing & relaxation. We're proud of the ole' girl. It hasn't missed a beat. We're hoping (certain?) You're enjoying your new (er) ride... 
Walter, overall I enjoy the salmon jerky & the smoked salmon much more than the fresh cooked salmon.

[dtcerrato]

This photo isn't directly trip related but thought I'd share it anyway.. lol. We're tempted to beeline it home (FL) with a possible cat. 4 hurricane headed for the FL ponderosa but wouldn't be able to beat it there anyway so we'll just have to see how this one pans out. Wish we were talkin' bout gold panning here! 

[dtcerrato]

We'll be sharing our trip expenses with all who may be interested. A trivial piece of info we discovered that overwhelmingly pleased us is at this point in time on our current trip @ 118 days into it - our overall expenditures are over $4800 less than our 2016 AK road trip at just 79 days into it.  No coveralls yet (except for tightening slack adjusters) & one gallon of crankcase oil added with a relatively dry rear of bus & toad.  It's been running great... We'll be on the road back through Canada this time next week.

[dtcerrato]

Forgot to mention that the total days for full round trip on our first (2016) road trip was 119 days. We like this current trip schedule better because it actually encompasses the three seasons of the north and puts us into & out of the northern 1/2 of the Continent w/o the tourists, tourist attractions & all the hoopla that goes with it... Different strokes for different folks...

[dtcerrato]

Last round of AK galivanting behind us, chilled with full hook ups in Tok for a spell now on our way home, eventually... It's been an amazing summer, no need for A/C - intermittent freezing mornings with fall colors in full swing. Enjoyed an Aurora Borealis display over top of Camp Malemute during Labor Day holiday. The days are getting shorter with total darkness at night now. Nice to see the constellations again... We're currently in Yukon Territory of Canada (really in our back yard from Tok AK. Tripped into Skagway with the Jeep. Impressive place with three cruise ships sitting in port & lots of train & tour bus activity. Aside from that hoopla Skagway still retains it's quaintness & history. Nights & mornings sometimes in the low 30s. Fall colors among the dark conifer Boreal forests are awesome (although none of Skagway shows any signs of fall). Alaska Hwy is rather quiet with very few vehicles most are road work crews. The last two days I saw a large wolf & wifey saw a black bear. Bus is running like a champ. Life is good.

[dtcerrato]

four more

[chessie4905]

Beautiful! We plan to go to Alaska in 2021. Been following closely.

[dtcerrato]

We're over 7000 miles into the trip & the only preventive maintenance items have been adding a gallon of oil to the engine & adjusting the slack adjusters... that's it! (so far...)The in-frame engine rebuild has the bus running much stronger - w/o using propane injection. Still keeping an eye on the fan (hub)
The return trip has been awesome. Going North early in the spring and returning South late in the fall really puts a spin on the attachment to all three seasons. There is some risk - Liard Hot Springs for example had a freak snow storm in August and the campground had to be evacuated for two days for bent & had to be cut down trees - thus we do carry chains & tow a four wheeler... but the rewards are many - much more wildlife much less traffic (only from a standpoint of us being alone in the wilderness for long periods of time). Careful on everything you read in the Milepost - only a small percentage of all the services listed are actually still open for business - take our word on that... Another great thing on this trip is the multiple destination points on the return home - currently headed for Paso's to caravan to Blytheville which we hope will be as uneventful in the mechanical arena as the last 7000 miles. Some great stop overs on the way back (besides Skagway) have been Wolf Creek Prov. CG a stone's throw out of Whitehorse Yukon - that is where the bus securely sat before during & after Skagway. Liard Hot Springs - definitely the most natural of all the hot springs we've been to with "sulfur water" as the main perk - great for the aches & pains but hell on jewelry! Summit Lake In Stone Mtn. Prov. Park - its 4200' elev. Stayed there last night with the ranger knocking on the bus this morning to tell us to make the 11 am checkout time as they're shutting the park down for the season - it was hard frost at 31F no block heat, no ether, quick start up with 40wt - thanks again Scott! Tonight we're at Pink Mtn. BC in a pull over @ 3800' elev. It will freeze tonight. There's a reason for the high elev. cold temp madness - its called looking ahead and still seeing triple digits temps in our travels home.