TOUCHDOWN

We made it home......11,454 miles after we left. What a trip.....more later, have to attend to things....

PS

By the way, for a bit that bear was only 10 ft from us.....

Dancing with the Bears

Our side trip this time went beyond what we thought we would see.. We did see a nice grizz sow doing her version of fishing...I got a lot of it on film...The road going into Hyder and Stewart was above the 10 scale...of "ALL" the mountains we have seen, these were supreme...better than Glacier Park in Montana many times over...Dont know why we dont hear more about them...We have seen some actual darkness the last five nights, but last night it was dark "all" night,,,,I was scared...I think I saw the boogey man....We are now down in BC where its hot and will be rolling into Bend friday afternoon......More tidbits to follow...I am dog tired after getting no sleep cause of the boogey man...

South to Alaska

Our southern return route took us on the Cassiar Highway. There is a side road off the Highway that goes to Stewart B.C. and into Hyder, Alaska....the only town in southeastern Alaska that can be driven to. For those familiar with Alaska, it is on the other side of the mountain from Ketchikan. Some views along the amazing road.....

Being a cinnamon roll freak, I had to stop at a lodge advertising "world famous cinnamon rolls"...here is what is left after 3 meals....it weighed about 3 pounds....but probably added 6 to me!

In Hyder is Fish Creek, where there is a viewing platform where people can go to watch the bears catching spawning salmon. We made a brief stop there, and were lucky to be in a good viewing spot to catch some action. At the end of the photos is a short video I shot.....

Downtown Stewart B.C.

One of 20 glaciers along the road to Stewart. This one is famous for being so blue.

And the bear video.....

More Tidbits

The people from the town on Inuvik say thier town is so far north they have to look south to see the northern lights.....I like that one.....We went through 3 time zones the last few days. Whitehorse Yukon is a great town, looks clean as a whistle, very livable...It has 34000 people in the area which is around 70% of all the people in the Yukon...Casper has been a great traveler...he has his spot on his dog bed right between us in the back seat..He can look out and see the road coming...you never know he is there..Good boy...June has been a great navigator. She has the milepost [ a big book with all the info and maps and storys etc...] It keeps us on the right road and is very interesting. [ask her about Tubbys]. The ipod has been a great item...As I said the music up here sucks, dont even know where they get it...Alaska is just like in the lower 48 but Canada ?????? wow....By the way when Alaskans talk about anyone living anywhere other than Alaska, its "the outside"

The Dempster or Die

What a great trip this was. Its a real do-it-yourself trip. Not much help along the way and be prepared for anything. The Dempster, [highways around these parts have names, in Alaska they all have numbers and names but no one knows the numbers like I84 or 26 or 97, they are the Parks, the Steese, the Richardson and on and on. Tomorrow we will be doing the Cassiar,] took 20 years to build and is 417 miles long, it has many surfaces, none pavement. Its unique in construction as it sits on top of a gravel berm to insulate the permafrost in the soil underneath. The thickness of the gravel pad ranges from 4 to 8 ft thick. Without the pad the road would sink into the ground. When it rains they say you should stop and wait for it to dry then continue on. Well in rained the 2nd day and it was slicker than a cats butt in a rainstorm. It was 4x4 for some time. We made it up in 2 days and back in a marathon 9 hrs. They say it should take 12-16 hrs one way.. It was raining on the way back, but when did mud and rain and dirt ever phase this boy. I would not do it that way again...One thing, home is calling. Anyway, its a wow trip..Around many corners and hill tops and view would show and take your breath away.. unlike anything we seen in Alaska or on the way up.. A real thrill was the Artic Circle, something I never thought I would see..[by the way, this trip was planned for 2 years, the main reason we got the truck and camper, not a trailer or motorhome, and it was the only way to fly] It was a feeling of accomplishment to be at the Artic Circle, especially with my lady, my wife the sweet woman June. After that we went into Northwest Territories which most of my life I have been intruiged with because of its being so remote, never thinking I would see it and there I was. Zounds......Its so sanitary, so pristine, its untouched, never seen anything like it. We saw herds of caribou crossing, didnt get good video of the big herds, but got some of a smaller herd... We crossed 2 rivers in ferryboats, one was the MacKenzie, which is one of the biggest rivers in North America. Its mostly natives and eskimos that live on the road. A few tourists we did see. We could travel a lot of miles before we saw any rig. The radio stations are very few and a lot were native with their tougne which we could not understand but thier music was way better than the Yukon or norther BC. There was a few places for gas at $1.35 a liter. I think it cost us over $400.00 in gas that trip. Worth every penny. Back to the road...toward the top the road was better, still muddy but solid and and slippery, but 6 miles before Inuvik, PAVEMENT....smooth but real rolly...Norwest Territories is mostly permafrost so it makes the roads real wavey..Then the town which is not that old. It started in the late 50's, has about 3400 pop., lots of natives and eskimos and many whites..The buildings are built on pilings so the permafrost wont melt. If a building is built on the ground it would melt the permafrost and start tilting and fall over and dissapear...I cant describe the feeling of being in the Artic that far north. Everything was different, the sky, the air, the trees, etc....I was going to get a large order of whale blubber to go and the local McDonalds but they ran out...By the way, the truck and camper was totaly coated with the worst damn mud I have ever seen...from bottom to the top of the camper....nothing showing but mud....We went to a station that had a power washer and it came right off otherwise we would not have been able to get into the camper with out being mudded out...it was ugly. We did the town, didnt take long, a few drunks on the street, and decent resturant, checked out the above ground heated sewer, the buildings were in colors of the rainbow and you could tell, built for snow and cold....They get 56 days on 24 hr daylight and 30 days without. It can get to 70 below or 89 above... Anyway had a nice afternoon and evening.. It was clear as a bell when we went to bed, when we got up it was cloudy and knew it would rain...So off we went to get half the way there, but then decided to make a run for it...Got up to 60 miles a hr a lot of the time, but also slow 4x4....BUT, the highlight of the day and what I have been want to see for years was seeing the grizzly bear in the wild...We saw 4... Altogether....what a thrill...I got lots of video of them. They started out as dots but they got larger...They must of had a dead caribou down and thats what they headed for and started lunching on....1 brown and 2 blondes and the last I never really got a good look at....We also saw a large fox,,,great shape, huge tail. Then we saw a wolverine.. Nobody see's those things...I really didnt know for sure till today when I looked them up on the internet and there it was and June verified it....We later got back to camp and washed the rig again as it was in the same dirty shape as in Inuvik, only this time washed the whole thing...Tomorrow we are headed down the Cassiar to Hyder Alaska to see if we can see some more grizzlies...Today we traveled through the Klondike, we didn't find any gold but we sure hit gold on the Dempster..........

The Dempster Highway

Here are some pictures I took along the route. Tom will be giving you "the rest of the story" in is own unique style.


With a magnifying glass, you might see that these are 2 grizzlies...Tom fortunately did much better with his video camera. Next trip, I'll have a better camera for shots like this!

Tombstone Mountains

And at the end of the road, the farthest north town in Canada....

Downtown Inuvik

Their famous igloo church...

The above-ground septic system goes from house to house.....!

On the return trip, we had some interesting weather.....

It was another great experience!

The End of the World

We have reached our goal at the end of the Dempster Hwy to Unuvik, Northwest Territories...A real many wow trip..We will be doing a post soon but wanted to let you know we did it..It was a feat,4x4 today...We are heading back tomorrow, stay tuned

Tok to Chicken to Yukon to Dawson

It was great to be on the road with no smoke...It had been really bad and I was glad I was in the Barr house in Fairbanks with a air purifier...When I walked in after 2 days in heavy dangerous for the health smoke, my lungs were killing me and my voice had changed...The whole area was burning all around Fairbanks...things are fair now with a bunch of rain...Tok to Chicken is a small road that turns to dirt...It happened to be caribou season and the hunters were out big time...lots of game going back...With no roads the camps are right on the side of the road..it looks like small citys..Lots of 4 wheelers. Chicken was a nice stop, I think we slept 12 hrs. Today we were on the "top of the world highway"...which is mostly gravel and dirt and follows the top of a ridge for 60+ miles to Yukon and Dawson. Going through customs out in the middle of tundra with nothing around is interesting and kinda cool.. We made it to the river, did a ferry across the Yukon and are now in Dawson..We did some eating, [very expensive town, so is all of Canada] and boardwalking and store shopping , watched a movie from the Northwest Territory people about driving the Dempster Hwy, which we are starting to do tomorrow. Look it up on your computer. All gravel, sometimes its not fun, sometimes dangerous, depends on the rain and snow and we have had rain so we will see. We have 2 spares and good tires.....We will be heading past the Artic Circle...This should be fun. Its one of the reasons we came north...

Dawson City Yukon Territory

There are several family pictures which I will send next time...but for now, here we are at my daughter's in Fairbanks....



Downtown Chicken, Alaska

Driving on the Top of the World Highway, we are approaching the Canadian border, buildings in the distance.

a cool house in Dawson City

Robert Service's house

Jack London's house...some famous people hung out in Dawson!

downtown street

Apparently just before we arrived, a satellite fell from the sky and landed right here, leaving a big furrow...! Amazing!

PS On the Road

Its not from this trip that we are homesick, its that we have been home only about a month this year. I miss the lawn...and football season is getting close...

On The Road Again

We have just taken off from Fairbanks, or Bareflanks as June says. Its Tuesday the 11th...We are camped at the great town of Chicken Alaska....head for Dawson City, Yukon Territory....We are rather homesick, so who knows what we will do...

Chevelle Barr One week old...

Baby Barr,,,

Chevelle Madison Barr...36 hours old...still at the hospital

With Mom and big brother, Logan

Dad and big brother

and, with Grammy....

Spelling Bee King

Sorry about the spelling of the previous blog. I thought I ran spell check but instead my arm was evidently used by the tipping of a glass...cant tell you what was in it..

Life in the Slow Lane

Well after sitting on the porch in Fairbanks for days, waiting in the smoke,reading 3 books, looking at the green garbage can, and waiting for the babe to be born, [which was going to be 4 more days], I had to get out and see the country that have had already, but more defined. My main goal was to see a grizz or maybe even wrestle one...What I should not have done was buy two books that contain at least 40-50 stories a book of bear maulings and bear killings and bear encounters. We be talkin' bad shit...I couldnt put either book down, but at every camp spot I was on higher and higher alert...I was glad I had a 12 gauge sawed off shotgun with a pistol grip with slugs and 00. I knew that was a good weapon to have, thought a 300 mag was better, but after reading these stories, the 12 ga was the real deal..Thanks to LJ, Junes son in law for the loan of the gun and peace of mind. I would have brought mine up here but Canada has a lot of hoops to jump through...But as I said, reading those books and those stories really make a night long, 2 hrs now with the days getting shorter..lol...buy the way those are real factual stories. Anyway I hung out on what they call the Denali Hwy which is 135 miles of gravel and beyond, some 45 mph and some 5 mph...and views up the a--....Great stuff...I had one morning I woke up and there was frost on the chair and the truck, 75 to 80 in the day...I was at one camp where I was 6 moose the first night and 5 the next day.. one baby, I have them all on video....I was camped on a spot if I was going to be creamated , thats were I would want my ashes....Overlooking the Susitna River...[i just love that name, if i have another girl Im going to name her Susitna, I will call her sit for short] snow cover mountains all around and views beyond the eye. I never saw a grizz, but I did get a lot of time to admire what the man upstairs did in creating this earth...WOW FACTOR scale 10. I was lucky to be where I was at as there are a lot of fires going on in this state and most are suffering from the smoke, I had none where I was at, no wind, 70-80, no clouds...got a few chances to check out our outside shower..[please visualize postive rather than negative] The lower part of the state had clouds and rain and the north had smoke...Ya gotta know where to hang. I did venture into the land of the populated today to see whats the haps on the internet and email....Went though a lot of smoke but went south to get away and ended up in Tok and thats no Joke....lol....Now I will spend a few hrs here then head north to see the little new one and maybe head out the first of next week to Chicken Ak and through Dawson City and up the Dalton hwy past the Artic Circle to Inuvik, Nortwest Territories, one of only 2 roads that go past the circle in North America...Then back down to see how the lawn is doing in Bend.