Tag Archives: travel

Sign Post Forest & Fans

One of the best places to stop along The Alaska Highway (aka “The Alcan”) is The Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada.  Even back in the 70s it was a sight to behold but now it’s almost too much to take in:  thousands upon thousands of license plates, signposts and pieces of metal or wood with the names of hometowns showing how far people have traveled to get there.

There was also some old heavy machinery that was used to build the Alcan.

That’s one big wrench!

And these are some fans we happened upon.

People are still adding to the Sign Post Forest.  Hope you can make your way there someday and leave your own signpost.  🙂

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Wild – and Not So Wild – Animals

This wolf was the first serious wildlife Jack and I saw, soon after entering Yukon Territory, Canada.  Quite a thrill for both of us.  Maybe a little more for me since Jack drives the Dalton and sees this stuff all the time…

Driving near the border of Yukon Territory and British Columbia we saw some bison relaxing in the late afternoon sun.

And then big horn sheep in Jasper National Park.

And here’s our not-so-wild dog Sport jumping over a log, acting like he is 4-years-old again.

Last but not least… us enjoying the late afternoon sun on a mountain in the Black Hills.

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Elk – Yukon Territory, Canada

Hope you guys like wildlife photos!

This male elk was protecting his harem, watching as we pulled up and snapped photos.

A female was about 15 feet away; she walked up to the edge as if checking in with him to see if it was okay to stay there and graze:

The rest of the harem grazed nearby and stayed pretty calm while we eavesdropped.    The light was poor so these photos needed touching up but we definitely checked “ELK” off our list! 🙂

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Grizzly Bear Close Encounter!

We are absolutely positive that we will never again have this close of an encounter with a grizzly bear!  (Or at least we hope we won’t!)

This “griz” was right on the side of the road, digging up roots and eating them.  We took photos from the truck.  He paid us no heed at all.

To see a video of him/her digging in the gravel for roots, click here.

All we can say is “WOW”!!

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On the Hook!

No, not us!!  This truck here:

A strange way to drive down the highway, with an 18-wheeler facing you.

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This is the last bit of great scenery we saw in Alaska, before crossing into Canada.

The Tanana River.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

More to come!

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Congrats to Jack for winning the load count!

Well the season is over and Jack won the load count!

Jack says it was a hectic season.  We are now on a month long road trip, heading down to the states.  I plan on posting about our adventures when we get a chance.  For now, I want to brag about the AWESOME custom bed cover Jack made to keep our belongings safe while we are traveling.  It had to be custom because of his fuel tank (he hauls heating oil for our house) and toolbox that is already in the back. Here are a couple of photos of him building it and getting ready for our trip:

The end result:

It looks great and even makes the truck more aerodynamic!

We are all having a great time.

More to come!

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Still Hauling Pipe

Here are some photos of the job Jack is presently working on, hauling huge pipe sections from the port of Valdez to Salcha where there is a railroad bridge being built across the Tanana River.

Empty trailers, waiting for the pipe.

This is a photo from an earlier post:  the trucks loaded with 2 lengths of pipe each, and more pipe in the background that still needed to be loaded and hauled to Salcha.  Each section is 6 feet in diameter and 43 feet long.  That stack has been transported by now but more has arrived from other barges.

Eight inch wood dunnage cradling the pipe.  It gives space for the forks to pick it up and set it down, and the pipe chalks (upper wood pieces) stop it from rolling until they get it tied down.  Each piece of pipe is 25,000 pounds.

The trucks have to stop at quite a few roadwork sites along the Richardson Highway.  This is in the canyon just north of Valdez.

A couple of days ago Jack was held up at some roadwork for almost 2 hours.  Since the Richardson is one of only a couple of major highways in Alaska, there  must have been a line of ticked-off tourists 10 miles long!

Anyone interested in more information about this bridge project can go to this link:  State of Alaska webpage.