Day 29

Day 29, July 12 – Friday

 

This is washday for me but going to the RV parks' laundry center, I’m not the only one with that idea, so tomorrow will be the day to wash, maybe early in the am before new campers/RV'ers come in for the day.  In Alaska and BC, folks drive for long hours because it never gets dark, especially in AK at this time of the year.  Speaking of which, it has been challenging going to bed at what I call a decent  time (10:30pm) because it looks like 4:00pm.  We cover the windows with aluminum insulation that you purchase at places like Home Depot, Lowes, or any home improvement store.  Then you can cut to your specific size.   It helps quite a lot but still the light manages to come through.  I’ve taken pictures in Fairbanks at 12:30am and the sun was shining bright.  SO UNBELIEVABLE!  I guess it’s all what you get used to and what you are willing to accept.   The other side of all this day light is it catches up with Alaska and then they have 20 hours of dark.   Now that would be the breaking line for me to stay away during the winter.  It’s bad enough when day light starts around 7:00am and the  sun sets around 4:00pm around October so I guess I’ll never experience a winter in Alaska.

One RV park is starting to look and feel like the next one.  They are all dusty, rocky and Lord if it rains, muddy.   Not only are the RVs dirty outside but there is no stopping the dust inside in the living quarters as well as all the cargo hold.  At every stop Anna and I are busy wiping the dust away off the tables, counters and dash board.  I don’t know about the boys but the girls always feel dusty when we stop.  So I guess I don’t have to tell you that at each stop the car windows are caked with road dirt, just like a real country road after the rain.  There are many lessons to be learned on this trip, some personal but mostly how to travel more efficiently with a tow vehicle.  Before anyone gets the wrong idea about personal, let me extend this sentence.  Slip on shoes are far better than tie up shoes.   One, for dusty RV parks or when it has rained, it’s easier to slip them off at the door than try to walk into the RV with dusty muddy shoes.  Boots are good.  Get in your mind that you are not going to a 4-5 star RV park so don’t expect a cement pad.  Everything has been rocks and what’s left of weeds, almost like the KOA’s campsites in many parks.  We encountered two wild fires and the first one I wished I had a kerchief so instead I lifted up my blouse over my nose as a barrier from the smell of smoke.  So you see there are several personal lessons I have learned.  OK enough of that.

One thing I’m missing on this trip to Alaska are the real 1^st Nations' villages.  John suggested maybe they are more inland which we have been keeping on the main highway and adventuring off just a little.

Tomorrow we are heading to Ft. St. John, a place we didn’t stop on the way up.