Journey South

Apologies for the recent silence on the blog; we have been rather preoccupied with tending to the whims of a diva Winnie (no that's not my new pet name for Adam) and been generally hitting the road hard in between. I think it’s fair to say that we have not been having the best luck recently, resulting in rather elevated stress levels and a distinct lack of fun!  However neither of us would swap it for a day back at work so it can't be all that bad.  To hopefully make up for the absence, here comes an epic super-blog!

After finally getting back on the road and visiting the fantastic Denali National Park, we headed off towards Anchorage.  We were not really planning much of a stay there as we had spent much more time in Fairbanks than we had planned due to our mechanical problems, so we were already 2 weeks behind schedule.

We had originally planned to head straight through Anchorage to spend one night on the Seward Highway, which is a renowned beautiful coastal/estuary area with a section of coast called the Turnagain Arm, where snow white Beluga whales are often spotted amongst the chilly glacier-fed waters. But once again Winnie had different ideas!

It's only around 265 miles from Denali to Anchorage but in that short distance we developed another worrying noise from the front driver's side tyre – a sort of clunking when we braked.  The noise persisted and got louder as we made our way through the more rural outskirts of Anchorage.

We stopped off and jacked her up to see if we could figure out what the problem was this time.  Nothing was obvious but we were still worried.  We already had first-hand experience of brake failure and it could be a while before we passed through another major town.  So despite our tight time schedule, we decided to stay put for the night and try and get ourselves checked over at another garage in the morning.

We spent the night in the Sam’s Club (similar to Costco) car-park next to the blatant "No Overnight Parking" signs and in the company of a few other motorhomes, some of which were for sale and a few that were very dilapidated but, amazingly, occupied.  The morning came and after a few hours of ringing round we managed to find a garage that was equipped to take a look at us, but not until the following day.  So once again we were grounded and just had to sit tight.

You’d think that this would be a great opportunity to explore the city of Anchorage, but there is always the worry of leaving Winnie in a car-park unattended, especially when every lamp-post sports a sign stating that unauthorized vehicles will be towed.  Plus with the worry of another huge mechanical bill, we were not really in the mood for exploring.  

To cut a long story short, the garage took a look and said the noise was nothing to do with the brakes – just the wheels wobbling side to side as we brake!  The upper and lower balls joints were shot on both sides this time (the same parts we had just had replaced on the drivers side less than 400 miles ago in Fairbanks).  Not happy, to say the least!  The parts were going to take at least 2 working days to arrive and of course it was Friday again so no chance of getting going again until at least the next Wednesday.

We were assured it was safe enough to drive a short distance so we took the opportunity to explore the Turnagain Arm as planned and made a short visit to the unique port of Whittier and Portage. The Turnagain arm is a spectacular estuary which is subject to huge swells at high tide due to the bottle-neck effect. Sadly  the famous white beluga whales were not playing out on our visit, don't blame them really -  the weather was shite and the tide appeared too low anyhow.

Whittier is accessible only by water and a two mile single-lane tunnel through a vast mountainside.  The tunnel is shared with a train track (in the same lane) which made an interesting journey with our wobbly wheels and only inches to spare either side lol!  It's fair to say Ad was perspiring a little by the time we made it out the other side and I swear I gained a few more grey hairs!  The harbour's turquoise waters provide a dock for many cruise ships which run day trips out to see a huge glacier.  The weather was a more than a little disappointing: blustery, cold and it barely stopped raining all weekend so visibility was poor.  So much so that we didn't bother with a boat trip to the glacier. 

 The weather finally cleared up the following Tuesday and we had a fun afternoon at an animal sanctuary.  The stars of the show for me were an inquisitive red arctic fox getting frustrated and angry at a provocative bird that had found its way into his cage.  The bird managed to continually outsmart the fox by staying just out of reach- very entertaining!  My other favorite was a pair of lynx cats.  Their long-haired coats and whiskers were just gorgeous.  Later that afternoon we headed back along the same coast to Anchorage and the Turnagain Arm was even more beautiful with the sun shining down.  Once again the beluga whales eluded us.

We spent an interesting day in the garage with Roy, our mechanic, hammering out our broken ball joints.  Roy was a great character who could hardly understand a word I said – I believe the phrase "she talk funny" was used for the second time this trip!  We had a lot of faith in Roy’s skills; you need only look at his 30 year old car which he maintains himself and has managed to get a ridiculous 400,000 miles out of it (across 2 engines).

While we were there, we also got the engine pressure-tested to rule out a head gasket problem, which would have explained our occasional, mysterious loss of coolant.  In a rare stroke of good luck, this was all fine and a radiator hose was responsible for the leak.  For the time being we're just topping the coolant up when it gets low, which isn't often.

The journey south was a bit of a blur to be honest. There were a lot of glaciers, forest, lakes and spectacular mountains all showing off their unbelievable autumn colours. We were also fortunate enough to get another glimpse of the Northern Lights one clear chilly evening on Lake Klondike Campsite, Yukon.  We will definitely miss that!  We were driving hard -  often 8 hour days for 2 weeks solid on a tight deadline to meet our good friend Marcus in San Francisco on the 3^rd October.  It seems that we left just in the nick of time too: we headed south on a slightly different route than we came on which covered a lot of high ground between Anchorage and Tok.  There was evidence of new snow fall on the mountain tops and it was actually sleeting as we drove at high elevations along the Glen Hwy and Tok Cutoff road.

We encountered quite a lot of roadside wildlife on our way back.  We saw two bears at the edge of the road peering out as if trying to see if it was safe to cross, and a huge moose ran out in front of us too.  We are only too glad we did not get into a collision with anything or anyone.  The scenery was absolutely beautiful and we are very grateful we have safely made the trip, just not sure we'd do it again though!  The journey is very long and the road conditions are very taxing in places, which has certainly taken its toll on Winnie, the driver and my nerves. 

The landscape changed significantly as we came though western British Columbia, rolling fields and farmland valleys replaced forest as far as the eye could see.  We had a fairly uneventful boarder crossing much to my relief - no handcuffs this time!  We had to try to extend our VISA's for another 6 months to take us through til April 2nd.  Unfortunately they were only able to grant us 6 months exactly from that day which leaves us a week short.  This means we have to either apply online for a further extension or head out of the USA again - which will mean a trip into Mexico.  I think we'll weigh up the cost vs risk of that scenario at a later date

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Our only planned stopover between Alaska and San Francisco was in Oregon at Crater Lake National Park and wow it was worth a stop!  It's literally a huge crater left behind by the collapse of a volcano 7700 years ago.  These days the caldera is full of the clearest, deepest blue water you can imagine.  Usually the rim of the crater is drivable, offering a 360 degree view of the spectacle.  When we arrived, the north rim road was covered in snow and already closed for winter.  This wasn't a disappointment though; the dusting of snow on the hills and trees around the rim made the scene all the more enticing.

We also visited a natural hot spring near our campground at Crater Lake.  After a fairly tough cycle and 10 minutes trek up the forested hillside we arrived at the breathtaking edge of a cliff where a series of natural hot spring pools had developed.  There was only one other couple there who were just leaving, so we happily selected the most popular (and hottest) pool which was covered with a wooden shelter.

We had the place all to ourselves, the warmth of the pool soothing our aching muscles, the view and sense of freedom relaxing us.  We couldn't be more comfortable.  At least until a few minutes later when some more people showed up and we discovered just how much emphasis they put on the "natural" aspect of this experience.  Adam had a full-frontal view of a rather rotund and very naked regular to the area for about five minutes while he chatted away to us.  He commented on my new running trainers, which are a particularly bright shade of blue and orange, saying "people will spot you a mile off looking like that!".  People in glass houses, mate!

Fortunately I had my back to him the whole time, so I was spared.  Adam's grimace as the guy bent over to retrieve his towel said it all.  I had to assure him several times that rubbing the hot, sulphur-infused water in his eyes would not help him "unsee" it.  To be fair, we had been warned on a review of the hot springs to avoid it if you are offended by nudists or ganja smoking. We were sadly only confronted with the former and not the latter.

As we got further south and towards California there was another dramatic change in the landscape as the weather heated up again.  You can't miss the bright orange sandy soil against the low waterline of turquoise blue lakes in the dried out valleys.  The grass turned to a yellow parched straw with desert shrubs which is equally beautiful but in stark contrast to Canada and Alaska.

We arrived in San Francisco on time and spent a cheeky night at a rest area right at the end of the Golden Gate Bridge with fantastic views of San Fran, Alcatraz Island and the bridge itself.  We also became acquainted with the local wildlife that appeared after dark when all the tourists had disappeared.  An un-phased skunk and a family of bob cats strolled the car park checking out the bins for scraps of food. We had one of the best views from an overnight stop yet.  I think we were lucky in a way – with the government shutdown there appeared to be less security to be bothered to move us on from our spot which doesn’t officially allow overnight stays.  Marcus arrived on time and at last we could relax a little and let our hair down in the beautiful San Francisco and Pacific Coast.