I drove through the Yukon and all I got was this lousy metal shard in my tire

Metal shard in my tire

 Lucky for me, I stopped and got it fixed before I had a flat tire in the middle of the Yukon in the middle of the near blizzard I was driving in.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Yukon, near the AK border, May 7, 2012

Fishing season is upon us!  It starts next week actually, we got a 12 hour opener May 17th for the Copper River.  Fish on!  The fish buzz is in the air as we all gear up for yet another season.

It was time to make my way back up to Alaska after visiting family in Ohio.  I packed up the car and headed north.  Well, west first, around Chicago then north. 

I entered Canada from North Dakota, drove across the plains with their lovely old wooden grain elevators and their old farm equipment turned into statues and endless fields.  And, of course, their larger than life statues of Paul Bunyan and a disturbingly large beaver statue about 25 feet tall.

Once I hit Edmonton, the road goes more north again and skirts the mountains.  The landscape become more rustic along with the buildings.

Camp ground in Fort Nelson where it costs $37.00 to pitch a tent.  Showers are extra.

Who knew they even allowed guns in Canada

Rustic justice. 

 I also saw a picture of a revolver that said "we don't call 911". 

 Soon, if you are not shot first, you are passing more wildlife of the roads than cars.

Stone Sheep in BC & Yukon

Caribou, aka Boo

Stone sheep 

Ewe

Wild bison littered along the highway

Boo

Moo

Little black bear in the Yukon

More boo outside my window

In between dodging wild animals on the road, snow storms and metal shards, I did get to enjoy some local R&R at Liard Hot Springs in BC and local sign post forests like this one outside of Whitehorse.

Sign Post Forest of the Yukon

Liard Hot Springs

Some of the drive was just breath-taking, like this lake the just disappears into the mountains and the road, that goes right through it.

BC

After 4000 miles and about 8 straight days of driving, I made it to Alaska.  Ah, it was good to be home where there are glaciers along the side of the road.  And planes parked at rest stops, also along side of the road.  How did it get there?

plane parked on turn-out along the Glenn Highway

Matanuska glacier

Tune in next week to hear all about the Copper River's first opener of the season.

Until then, eat fish, live longer.

Ohio or Bust

4100 miles, 50 bison, 11 states, 9 days,  2 black bears, 2 countries, and 1 tumbleweed.

leaving Cordova on the ferry

otters floating in Prince William Sound

Worthington Glacier

Driving north on the Richardson Highway, AK

Fall along the ALCAN highway

Drunken electric polls near Northway

Permafrost affects everything up here

my truck all loaded and ready to go

self portrait at the Alaska/Yukon border

Beautiful Yukon

Hunter, my travel companion, taking a snooze on my lap

wild bison near Watson Lake, Yukon

bison in the Yukon

Liard Hot Springs, Yukon

Sleeping in the back of my truck along the way

Roosevelt National Park, ND

Roosevelt National Park, ND

Roosevelt National Park, ND

Tuckered Hunter

Ah, Ohio

Ohio

4100 miles, exactly.  Final destination: Ohio.  Visiting the fam here for a week or so then I'm off again, heading south and east to North Carolina.  Next adventure, SAILING!

P.O.C.?

You've heard of P.O.W., right?  Prisoner of Whittier.  A term used when you could only leave Whittier once a week by throwing your car on the train.  This was back in the day, about 10 years ago, of driver licenses valid without photo because Whittier didn't have a camera.  But, now days, you can drive though that tunnel and into Whittier any old time you want, between the hours of 6 AM and 10 PM.
Cordova, on the other hand, you cannot drive to any old time you want. Or, anytime for that matter. Not only does our 52 mile of road not connect anywhere, but currently, there is a bridge out at 36 mile and is as far as you can go.  No, we rely on plane or ferry to escape.
We have this new fast ferry, and she's a beaut.  Will take you to the other side of the Sound at 37 knots in 3 hours.  But, she has these nice weather limits.  Weather usually isn't nice this time of year.  She didn't run for three days last week leaving folk stuck on both sides.  Waiting to get in and waiting to get out.  Shops were closed or had shortened hours.  The hair dresser didn't make it back and I had to run around town with my uneven hair cut for one more week (but that, really, is neither here nor there)
My own ferry escape was all planned for Wednesday, Sept 21.  Monday's forecast was for a 50 knot blow.
I spend the weekend schlepping my shit through rain and wind, packing up the truck.  Sunday gave me a break in the weather and made it hard to believe it was to blow 50 the next day.  But, blow it did.  Gusts to 65, actually.  Rain.  Wind.  Repeat.
It was supposed to come down on Tuesday and be blue birds by Wednesday, escape day. I finished packing in the rain.  Nothing like packing wet bags and boxes for a 4000  mile road trip.
Then the rain really came down. I mean, it didn't just rain cats and dogs, it rained elephants and hippos.  The cap on my truck started to leak.  Now my wet stuff was getting even wetter.  Nothing like starting a 4000 miles road trip with a cap that leaks.
And it blew. All day Tuesday and all night Tuesday.
The wind woke me up about 3 Am. It sounded like a freight trian coming through the cabin.  A freight train that was going to take the roof right off!  As I lay awake in bed, I kept thinking that I needed to get back to sleep.  I start my 4000 mile road trip from Cordova, Ak to Ohio tomorrow.  Then the other part of my kept thinking, I can lay awake here all night and it doesn't matter.  There is no way the ferry is going to leave.  Then it would calm down and get real quiet.  I'd think, maybe I can leave tomorrow.  It's been quiet for about 20 minutes now.  Blamo, the freight train would come back.
5:45 AM.  My alarm goes off.  I have  a few more things to do, like finish this blog and a few more things to gather up, like my cat, Hunter.  I find outmy fate, whether I can leave today or not, in 15 minutes when the ferry terminal opens up. Wish me luck!