DAY 66 JULY 22 BANFF

Day 66. The day was clear and we were off by 8:40 a.m. We went from Pacific to Mountain Time before arriving in Jasper, AB. We traveled through Jasper and Banff National Parks--magnificent! The Icefield Parkway winds through the Canadian Rockies and affords some spectacular scenary. Climbed up to the Athabasca Glacier. It felt 20 degrees cooler as I approached it. We ate supper at Lake Louise and camped at Banff National Park campground. This is a place we will want to return sometime.

Mileage for the day: 427 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 9,081 miles.

DAYS 64 AND 65 JULY 20-21 STEWART AND PRINCE GEORGE

Day 64. Mosquitoes were terrible this morning--the worst we've had on the trip. They were so thick we had to break camp in a flurry and eat breakfast in the car (after killing about a dozen mosquitoes in the car!). We left Watson Lake at 8 a.m.--a good start. The trip down the Cassiar Highway was uneventful, and the trip down the spur to Stewart, BC/Hyder, AK was spectacular. We saw several glaciers coming down almost to the roadway, plus many melting snow packs and waterfalls. The highlight of the evening was watching the bears at the Fish Creek Observation Walkway in Hyder, Alaska. We saw a black bear, two bald eagles, and two grizzly bears, one of which was romping in Fish Creek trying to catch salmon. It was awesome being so close to them and yet completely safe.

Mileage for the day: 417 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 8,222 miles.

Day 65. It rained overnight so we got a slower start this morning. Fortunately the sleeping bags stayed dry, but the tent was very wet, which made for a soggy departure. We left Stewart, BC around 9:20 a.m. The trip went well and the skies cleared as we drove southeast. We arrived in Prince George, BC, around 6 p.m. We ate supper, are updating the blog, and then heading out to our campsite. The destination tomorrow is Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies. It should be a beautiful drive.

Mileage fot the day: 432 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 8,654 miles.

DAYS 62 AND 63 WHITEHORSE AND WATSON LAKE

Day 62. We left Dawson City at 9 a.m. We were thankful to be back on paved roads again after our experiences on gravel. We arrived in Whitehorse around 3:30 and immediately set out finding a tire to replace the one shredded on the Top of the World Highway. We purchased a tire and had it mounted, washed the Jeep and refueled. We got situated in our campground and ate supper at the Klondike Ribs and Salmon Barbecue Restaurant, the same one we ate at on the way to Alaska. I had halibut fish and chips (delicious!) and Gail had the half barbecued chicken. We retired around 10 p.m., thankful for safe travel and reprovisioned for the trip ahead.

Mileage for the day: 341 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 7,530 miles.

Day 63. We were off around 10 a.m. this morning, bound for Watson Lake. This will be the last stretch that we repeat on the Alaska Highway. From Watson Lake we will head south on the Stewart Cassiar Highway, bound for Hyder, Prince George and Lake Louise. The trip to Watson Lake went without hitch. We are doing laundry, revisiting the Sign Post Forest, and hopefully getting some calls out to our children. Tomorrow should be a long travel day, so we'll need to get a good start. We're looking forward to the Canadian Rockies and Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise.

Mileage for the day: 275 miles.
Mileage for the trip: 7,805 miles.

DAYS 60 AND 61 JULY 16 AND 17 DAWSON CITY, YT

Day 60. Today we drove from Tok, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon Territory. The word for the day is: We survived the Top of the World Highway. We did okay through Chicken, Alaska, and to the Canadian border. However, midway to Dawson City from the border we blew a tire and before we knew it, it was shredded. Fortunately we did not lose control of the car and, fortunately, I had a full spare that I could put on the car. God is in control and demonstrated it again by his grace and provision. We even had a good Samaritan stop and volunteer help. We made it into Dawson City around 5 p.m., set up camp, ate supper, and hit the sack early. A little too much excitement for one day!

Mileage for the day: 192 miles
Mileage for the trip: 7,189 miles

Day 61. Dawson City was the destination for the Klondike gold rush of 1897-99. It sits on the junction of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers. This morning we took a walking tour of the town which was most interesting. We did some shopping and ate some lunch. In the afternoon we took a tour of a working gold mine. Let's just say that no one in mining by panning for gold. The process involves moving a lot of dirt that is deep in the permafrost, just above bedrock. It is then sluiced in a three-part process to finally end up with gold dust. It takes tons and tons of sluiced soil to produce and once of gold. Needless to say, when we completed the tour and panned for gold, we only ended up with a few flakes. But the experience was worth it. We ended the day with dinner in town and some relaxing reading at the campsite. Tomorrow we head for Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory.

DAY 59 DEPARTED FAIRBANKS FOR TOK, AK

Day 59. We were up and out by 8 a.m. this morning. We grabbed a bite of breakfast, filled out some get-well cards, and got some last minute provisions. We stopped by the Carlson Center to watch the athletes preparing for the meets. Opening ceremony is this evening. We stopped by the Episcopal Diocese office to say good-bye and headed out around 11:30 a.m. We stopped at the North Pole to make some arrangements with Santa (yes, he's there!), stopped outside Delta Junction to pick up some exotic meats that we are bringing home in our cooler: reindeer summer sausage, elk kielbossa, yak meat sticks, and buffalo jerky. We arrived at Tok around 4:15 p.m. We are staying at the Tundra RV park and campground. We have a nice wooded spot and plan to make a campfire this evening. Tomorrow our destination is Dawson City. It will be a 200 mile drive, which normally wouldn't be too bad. However, the road is gravel so the going will be slow. If we can average 40 mpg (perhaps a little optimistic) the trip will take 5 hours. We'll spend one day and two nights in Dawson City so we can pan for a little gold. I'll let everyone know how we do in an upcoming blog. It feels good to be back on the road again.







Mileage for the day: 260 miles
Mileage for the trip: 6,997 (excluding air miles from Fairbanks to Fort Yukon and back)

DAY 58 JULY 14 RETURN TO FAIRBANKS

Day 58. We woke up early so we wouldn't miss our plane. Rev. Mardow Solomon picked us up and took us to the airport. Our flight, scheduled to leave at 8:50 a.m., actually left about 9:20 a.m. The flight itself was uneventful except for the fact that the skies of the Alaskan interior are full of smoke from all the forest fires. We did not see the ground until we were on our descent into Fairbanks. Rev. Anna Frank met us at the terminal and surprised us with an invitation to stay in the upstairs apartment over the Diocese office. We gladly accepted as our original plan was to tent camp. The balance of the day was spent getting the tires rotated, shopping for supplies for the return trip, and doing some souvenir shopping. This blog is being generated from the Fairbanks public library. I feel like I'm in a race car compared to the internet speed in Fort Yukon. We have modified our plans. Instead of spending two nights in Fairbanks and leaving on Thursday, we're going to spend only one night. We should be in Tok, Alaska, tomorrow night, and then drive on the Dawson City in the Yukon Territory on Thursday. We plan to pan for gold in Dawson City, which was the destination of so many prospectors back in 1898 when the Klondike gold rush was on. Blog updates may not be daily for the return trip since we will need to find public libraries along the way to do the updates. We'll do the best we can. We should be back in St. Louis in about three weeks.

DAYS 54-57 JULY 10-13 FORT YUKON FINAL DAYS

Day 54. Today was spend preparing for worship on Sunday. I am preaching on "Who are you Dancing With?" based upon both the Old Testament and Gospel readings. In the afternoon the Deacon of St. Stephens, Theresa Thomas, stopped by for a visit. She has been appreciative of our service at St. Stephens.

Day 55. The skies were filled throughout the day with dark billowing clouds suggesting heavy rain. We could use them. The forest fires are bad throughout Alaska, the worst since 2005. However, it did not rain and the fires continue to spread. Thankfully we are in no danger. Nancy James, lay reader at St. Stephens are Yukon Flats School Board Member, stopped by for a visit. Nancy is a signficant person in the church and the community. We discussed ways that St. Stephens can reinvent itself and be renewed in its mission and ministry in the community. One conclusion: Begin a new emphasis on children's ministry.

Day 56. Worship was very uplifting with a fairly full church. After church we received and invitation to dinner by the administrator of the Fort Yukon Medical Clinic. It was a delicious meal of king salmon cajun style, moose stroganoff, rice, peas, fresh salad, cake and ice cream. It was an answer to one of my prayers, which was to eat salmon and moose before we left. It was a nice conclusion to our service to the church. We spoke will all our kids, made final plans for Monday, and tried to hit the sack early.

Day. 57. Today is day 24 in Fort Yukon and our last full day. Laundry, final blog posting, last minute visits, and photography will be the order of the day. We leave Fort Yukon at 8:50 a.m. tomorrow morning on Warbelow Airlines bound for Fairbanks. We will blog again late tomorrow after we make camp and attend to some chores in Fairbanks. Among other things we need to rotate the tires on our Jeep before the 4,000+ mile trip home.

Concluding Fort Yukon reflections: It has been a very good stay. It has taught us to slow down and enjoy life. We leave with several resolves that we want to implement when we get home. We shall see how successful we will be after returning to the press of duty and the rush of life in Saint Louis.