2022 Overview
Started out the year with a Summer Trip to Yukon, Canada followed by visiting with family in Alberta and then back to Arizona to spend the winter.
Recap
- 16,000 miles
- 2 Provinces, 2 Territories - Alberta, BC, Yukon Territory
Northwest Territory
- 7 States - Arizona, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, California, Nevada
This is our inaugural trip to Yukon, Canada. Upon leaving Peoria, we made a beeline drive to Medicine Hat to visit family. After that, we are playing it by ear as far as travel time goes, but we are hopeful to make it as far as we can to the Arctic Ocean and the small village of Tuktoyaktuk, YT. We want to be leaving Yukon by late August / early Sept as we understand that the snow could start to fly at that time and we don't want to be anywhere near that cold!
As we travel, the map will be updated as to most current location.
Enjoy!
--Ken & Fran
Spent the month visiting family in Alberta. First we were off to see Carol & Brad, & Jan in Calgary, then to Beaumont to visit with Warren & Jane, then to Athabasca to see Kevin & Dora. Unfortunately we did not have much time with Kevin & Dora (and Greg, Molly & BoBo) as we got a call that Jan in Calgary took a turn for the worse and so we rushed back to be with her. Rozalyn flew back from her trip to Ontario where they were visiting Reynold's daughter and grandson. We put the trailer into storage in Calgary and spent the next 7 or 8 days with Jan as she was now in palliative care. She passed peacefully on Sept 22, just shy of her 68th birthday. We were fortunate that we were close to Calgary and were able to spend time with Ken's family and had the chance to spend these last days with Jan.
Then it was back to Medicine Hat to see my Mom before Jan's memorial, an awesome remembrance put together by Rozalyn and Jan's daughter, Sarah. After the memorial we drove back to the Hat to have a few more days visiting with Mom and we were pleasantly suprised to see Duane and Allyn back early from their vacation to BC (darn that car accident for them!) but great to spend a few days with them as well.
Finally on Oct 5, we picked up our trailer and hit the road on the 6th.
Crossed the border back to the US (yeah we were finally home!). I know our home is where the trailer is, but being back in the states just feels more like home to us than Canada. Spent the night boondocking near a small lake just north of Whitefish, MT. The trains were especially active during the night and seemed to bother Ken more than me as I did not even hear them!
Had breakfast in Whitefish before restocking groceries at Costco and Walmart in Kalispell, MT (who knew that the grocery stores in MT, could not sell any liquor more than 15% alcohol volume (so much for getting that bottle of Costco Port!). Continued on the road along the Lolo Pass adn spent two nights at the Powell National Forest Campground along the Lochsa River. We were lucky they were still open as the state campgrounds had already closed for the seanson. And not a bad deal for $7.00 a night, but had to buy firewood at the really cute Lochsa Lodge just up the road fromt the campground. This was a good change to get caught up on a day's rest.
Drove to Weiser, ID and found a great boondocking site, that is until we found out that Oct 10th was the opening of deer hunting season. Early on the morning of the 10th (well 8am that is, early now that we are retired!), we were awoken to what we thought was something hitting our trailer. It was't until Ken got out of bed and outside to see the hunters not more than 100 yards from our campsite and we realized that it was gun shots we were hearing. They were lucky on opening day as they did take a deer and loaded it into their truck. Not someething we had seen before.
The full moon rising on Oct 9th was pretty specatular (a Hunter's moon as it turns out!) as the sky was clear and Jupiter and Saturn could be seen along with it.
Took the bikes out for a 22 mile ride along the pathway. It was pretty bumpy but scenic along the ?? creek.
Spent the next 5 nights at Antelope Reservoir Campground just west of Jordan Valley, OR. We thought it would be great to spend time around a large body of water as shown on google maps. Not so, as the reservoir was evaporating and it was pretty small in comparison to what google showed. However, there was enough water that we were able to see lots of waterfowl. Some of the smaller birds we did not know what they were, but the geese and pelicans we could recognize with our low quality binoculars (time for new ones!).
Took a walk in the area around the reservoir but it turned out that we were actually walking on the dried up bed of of the reservoir itsmore e;lf. Off in the distance we saw what we thought were a couple of deer, but when talking to a couple of locals who were driving in the area looking for sink holes (they came by to check on us as they seemed pretty surprised to see anyone out there walking around!), they mentioned that they were likely Antelope (hence the name of the reservoir!)
Took a gnarly drive up to visit the near ghost town of Silver City, ID where we were going to have lunch. Turns out that the one restaurant at the Idaho Hotel closed at the end of September. Update your google hours people!! I did not much enjoy the drive as the roads were narrow and the last 11 miles took an hour to drive. Good thing we had 4 wheel drive and Ken behind the wheel. Sure wish we had a side by side OHV as that would have made the trip much more enjoyable.
Ken enjoyed being a fire bug for one more night as we still had one bag of wood needing to be burned. The satellites, stars and seeing the milky way were a special treat given the dark sky.
My allergies were given a workout (and I did not have any pills!) as the entire area was a dust bowl and the flies were a nuisance that even the Bug-a-Salt gun could not keep up with. Ken killed a bunch, but given the number of flies that made it into the trailer and the amount of salt that we needed to keep cleaning up we decided that the Bug-a-Salt needs to find a new, much larger home!
Would we visit here again, maybe for an overnight but not for any lenght of time as it really is in the middle of no where and the flies and dust made it pretty uncomfortable. Could be the time of year, but who knows.
Enjoyed time at Janice & Jim's home here in "Parsons' Alley", its too bad that we did not see J&J as they were back in Scottsdale.
But took time to see all the local hangouts that we have enjoyed with them previously and texted them each of our Happy Hour spots (hopefully they were just a little jealous!).
Watched the neighborhood bear chomp down on some leftover pizza at the neighbors on garbage day Thursday. I can see now why Janice says they don't leave out trash until just before the garbage men are due to arrive.
Took a quick overnight side trip to Oakland, CA, to visit with Andrew and celebrate his birthday. We stopped at many breweries over the course of the evening but it all started with a drink at the ???,
Arizona visiting family & friends and enjoying the Christmas season!
