We Made It to Alaska!

Last week we arrived in Haines Junction, Yukon, on the first day of our high speed trek to Anchorage, Alaska for our broken landing gear and for a medical check on base. If you missed it, here’s the link to Unexpectedly Racing Up the Alaska Highway.

We loved waking up at free camping spot in St. Elias Mountains outside Haines Junction. Canada has been incredible, and we can’t wait to spend more time when we head south. The journey today meant slow, bumpy roads (we averaged 30MPH the whole day), but we got lucky and spilled pantry contents, no major damage. We also spent most of the day driving through Kluane National Park and Reserve, seeing the beautiful lake and wildlife.

We stopped for the night in Beaver Creek, just shy of the Canada-Alaska, and stayed the night at Buckshot Betty’s, a restaurant and hotel that also has some electric RV spots for $25 CAD, which was fine. BJ had a place to run without wildlife or narrow roads and we could recharge batteries since we hadn’t had much sun for a few days. The visitor’s center across the street also had free water. We thought we’d have made it further, and the only free camping was either across the border and would be arriving near midnight, or over an hour backtracking through terrible roads–this was a worthwhile option to us.

Border crossing this week meant trying to eat all the eggs and produce we thought we’d have another week on. Luckily, with a runner and a teenager in the rig, it was an achievable task. We were prepared to toss whatever we needed to, but what we had left was in compliance with border crossing requirements on their website for food, so we weren’t worried.

We woke up early and trekked to the border and no man’s land–a 20 mile stretch between Canada and Alaska. The roads are absolutely terrible through there, so maybe that is why there’s a gap? But we pulled into the Alaska sign for photos and a stretch before going to the border crossing. At the last minute, we saw the 12’10” sign (it was on a cone at the lane entry instead of the overhang, and our rig is 13’6″), so we had to change to the bus and trucker lane and go in. Easy check in–passports and verify verbally everything we have is in compliance.

Shortly after crossing, we saw our first Alaskan animal, a fox carrying rabbit. We drove for a bit, then found fuel, a coffee shop the Spruce Burl, then a wild camping spot just outside Glennallen for the night. The next day, we drove into Anchorage, through construction and frost heaves, along beautiful mountain roads and with great views and pull offs alongside the Matanuska Glacier. It felt odd getting back into “civilization” and traffic after being so remote for the last few weeks.

We made it to JBER (Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson) in hopes of snagging a campsite at one of their two first come, first serve campgrounds. We started at Black Spruce since they have full hookups and had no luck, so we grabbed a spot at JBER FamCamp, which is water and electric only. We only had electric since sites where the water pipes were still frozen were all that were open. We filled our fresh tanks and booked a few days. Both are on base, so you need to have access, and do not take reservations, but at $27-$33 a night, it’s a good deal for the area.

First thing the next day, I got into the ER to get checked out. The lump I found looked to be a 3 centimeter cyst, non-emergency since it wasn’t infected, so I was scheduled at the clinic for later in the week. While we waited, we got groceries, laundry and cleaning done, got the truck and RV in for a good wash, and some down time to just rest and explore. We finally got our landing gear in, only to have had it damaged in transit, so now we wait for replacement parts to arrive, that will be delayed by the holiday weekend.

This campground has a mama moose and 2 babies that spend a lot of time there. Fun fact, twins are common in a healthy moose, they only tend to have singles are if they are malnourished. And she apparently has raised several young in this campground. We saw her several times and she was aware, but not fearful of us. We did encounter them one day walking Luna and, when we tried to cross to the other side of the road from them, the babies were curious about her, so we backtracked and went back over, keeping distance and a guard rail between us, just in case.

We woke up on Sunday and decided to scout out the FHU side since a lot of people move on Sundays and we scored a spot! An inadvertent move day and a day before we needed to leave our other site, but since we have to wait for the replacement and we wanted to be still for birthdays/holiday week, we booked our stay until the 7th. Luther was also able to finish his Driver’s Ed course and get set up for his new online class, too.

Be sure to check out Facebook/Instagram Mondays for the weekly breakdown on expenses, if you are interested in the numbers side of things.

Join us next week as we slow our pace down and make the most of our time in Anchorage, exploring the area, as well as celebrating birthdays, the holiday, and encountering one of the many bears that frequent the campground!

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