Home at last

Saturday, August 18, 2018 Twin Falls ID to HOME

The 106 degree heat was fading as I drove into Scottsdale with the jeep Saturday night.  Mike was following at a slow pace in the RV which had engine trouble and finally got in Sunday night.  It was an exhausting end to a fantastic trip.

We went 11,447 miles in 97 days, 1500 more miles and 31 more days than two years ago.  The newly opened US Highway 11 out of Las Vegas had the "Welcome to Arizona" sign posted.

US 11 AZ sign

A big thank you to my niece, Erin, for watching our place and to Pam and Jeremy for collecting our mail.

It is good to be home and we'll have great lifetime memories of this trip.

I can see clearly now...

Sunday, August 12, 2018 Smithers, BC through Friday, August 17, 2018 Twin Falls, ID

Last Sunday we left Smithers, BC, a beautiful little town with a great campground by the river and a glacier-fed waterfall hike...

view from Smithers campsite

folks river rafting in Smithers

waterfall hike near Smithers

Since then we have been in a perpetual haze...of smoke from the multiple forest fires across British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Colorado.  Checkout INCIWEB to see where they all are and you can click on each fire icon for details on the specific fire.

We've did a one night stay at Irvin's RV Park in Valemount, BC then a night in Harrison Hot Springs, BC where we had a so-so dip.  We drove through North Cascades National Park though the vistas are invisible in the smoke and then moved on to Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area near Grand Coulee Dam, Idaho where we saw the late night laser show.  Last night we stayed at Sloway Campground in Lolo National Forest, Montana. 

Irvin's RV Park Valemount BC

North Cascades NP

Grand Coulee Dam

Sloway CG Lolo NF

Even the RV didn't like the smoke...it's barely chugging up hills but it should get us home by the end of the week.  We've stopped for the night in Twin Falls, Idaho after driving through some beautiful scenery on route 93 where the smoke finally dissipated and we had some refreshing rain.

Route 93 south of Salmon ID

Route 93 South of Salmon Idaho

A dip in the pool and dinner delivered to the RV...now that's the way to wrap up the day!

We're baaaacccckkk.....

Thursday, August 2, 2018 Fairbanks,AK through Wednesday, August 8, 2018 Tok, AK

On the road, that is...finally!  We waited in Fairbanks for a new exhaust manifold for the RV and it was installed on Wednesday.  It had rained every day while we waited.  I went to three movies, we read multiple books, visited the library, the local fair and just....waited. I felt like these squirrels outside our RV

The flowers around the library were a cheerful note 

 

 
I was so happy to have the repair done that I talked Mike into hitting the road when we picked it up at 5:00 pm on Wednesday.  We traveled south and saw multiple moose and a fox on the way.  We spent the night Wednesday at a rest stop the far side of Tok, Alaska next to the river.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018 Tok, AK through Saturday, August 11, 2018 Smithers, BC, Canada

We left Tok early Thursday and headed about 100 miles south to cross the Canadian border.  We drove all day until we got to Whitehorse, the capital city in the Yukon Territory, Canada.  It was raining again and we spent the night in the Walmart parking lot.

Friday we headed out to the Cassiar highway and passed Kulane Lake, a beautiful, vast lake and looked for a camping spot at Boya Lake but no luck although I did get some pictures.

Kulane Lake

Boya Lake, Canada

We ended up at the north end of Dease Lake in a pullout that we had all to ourselves.  It was so quiet all you could hear was your own breathing.

We drove from Dease Lake to Smithers, BC, Canada, a pretty little town with a beautiful city campground.  We snagged the last electric hookup spot and decided to stay a couple nights after boon docking the last three.  After picking up groceries, we're catching up from four days without Internet.  It's great to be on the move!