Alaska - Day One: 433 miles to Clinton, BC

Everything for our trip came together at the end...

Food was prepped. Lists were made. Items were laid out. New brakes and tires for the van. Oil change done. Chris got the bed made for the back of the van with store underneath. We were able to get everything we needed into bins that slid under the bed, or on the hitch rack or in all the various little storage cubbies.

We said goodbye to the boys, stopped at the store and the bank and then we were off...  (about two hours later than we had hoped, but we were off)

Stopped for lunch in Everett and drove up to the border in Sumas.

If I had thought about it for a second, I should have stopped at all the cheap places on the US side and bought more eggs and cheese before crossing into Canada. One stop at a grocery store reminded me why they do that. Wow!

We drove right on by Hell's Gate Airtram. The weather wasn't very nice and we wanted to get further north, so we just kept on driving until the Milepost mentioned a RV park in Clinton with a $10 BBQ buffet and $15 sites.

*Side note: I don't know how people go to Alaska without the Milepost??? It tells you everything you need to know from interesting facts about sites/towns, gas stations, pull-outs, rest stops, campsites, tourist attractions, town descriptions, road conditions, to any other thing you may want or need to know on your journey. It is fantastic!

The Gold Trail RV Park was an interesting first night on the trail north. The host was a quirky sort of guy who made all the food himself. He thought we were crazy for camping in our van all the way to Alaska. He summers in BC and winters in the Philippines and prides himself on being quite a cook. It was fun to look at all the stuff he had and read all the names and places of previous guests...

After our BBQ rib dinner and "better than an orgasm" dessert (his words, not ours), we wandered around town....

When we got back to camp, I just happened to overhear the host talking to another couple about the road north being closed because of floods. We got on-line and looked at DriveBC. Sure enough, he was right. There were horrible rains a few days before, Hwy 97 to Dawson City and the beginning of the Alaska Hwy was washed out and closed indefinitely. 

The mosquitoes were so bad that we just went into the van, wrote in my journal, made new plans for the next day, and played games until bedtime...