On To Alaska!

 TerraVia’s Adventures 2024

 

June 22 – 29  This summer we continue to “wander the land” in TerraVia, our 25’ Outdoors RV Blackrock towed by our trusty 2001 Ford F150.  We bought the pickup the week after 911 when all dealerships were in shock and hoping that a customer, any customer, would feel safe enough to walk through their doors.  Turns out its towing package is capable of pulling our chosen home on wheels. 

A real treat for us this year is that our granddaughter Sam (Sophia for some of you who have followed along for years) is with us for about a month.  Recently graduated from high school we snagged her before life catches up and finds her busy again.

 

Her family, Dad Zach, Stepmom Viv and brother Aiden, joined us for dinner, dropped her off and entrusted her to us for the duration.  Aiden spent 2 months with us at about the same age, on our boat, ExTerra, as we ventured from Portland, up the coast, down the Strait and into the south Puget Sound.  Canada was still closed due to covid.  It has been an interesting few years for this world we all call home.

 

On to Alaska!  Our first night out found us boondocking in the backyard of a dear friend, Ronalee, in Washington state, close to the border.  We had an absolutely delightful pork roast dinner with lots of stories, followed up by homemade rhubarb cake and ice-cream.  The setting was on her back deck overlooking her beautiful “planted for wildlife” backyard garden.  She sent us off after a nice breakfast with enough pork roast and cake for our evening meal.  Thank you, Ronalee! 

 

Crossing into Canada was easy and we made our way east towards Jasper Alberta, staying in Provincial Parks along the way, Juniper Beach and Mt. Robson Lucerne.  Driving through Jasper in the summer was quite different than last winter when the train took us through there in the dead of winter.  We managed to find the Bear Paw bakery again however and Sam treated us to some of their wonderful baked goods.  We then turned north and followed the Bighorn Highway, staying at Pierre Grey’s Park for two nights.

 

At Pierre Grey’s we deployed our two rigid kayaks and Sam’s inflatable that she has dubbed “Bubbles.”  We paddled around the lake, enthralled by a family of loons.  Their haunting cry has been a treat for years on the boat and we were very glad to encounter them on a land cruise.  While the fishing was quite slow Carl managed to land a nice brook trout that was large enough to feed us all for dinner.  Sam, with her freshly acquired driving permit gets in some practice when we disconnect from the trailer.  The highway and sideroads are a good place to do this. 

 

We have of course read and heard all kinds of horror stories about driving to Alaska.  So far, the worst we have encountered are numerous steep grades and thick fog from Pierre Grey’s to Dawson Creek.  Spending 2 nights in Dawson Creek at the Mile Zero RV Park allowed time for us to do the iconic photo OP at the beginning of the Alaska Highway.  We enjoyed the small art gallery in a historic granary and the railroad museum in, of course, the historic train station.  The visitor centers are full of good information as well as history of the area and building of the Alaska Highway.  We took on water, enjoyed nice, free showers. 

 

 

We headed out, next stop, mile 217.2, an abandoned Provencial Park ‘boondocking’ spot.  We are surrounded by beautiful aspen, a few fellow travelers, no services, yet very nice.  Our self-containment efforts are paying off.  Tomorrow in Fort Nelson we hopefully find some wifi to get this sent out.

 

 

Bug Shelter Deployed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 25th to 29th to the coast house and the annual pig roast

 For the first time since covid hit we gather at the coast house with neighbors and friends and spit roast a pig and recognize the passing of Rich, a long time member of this fun loving group.

May 30^th, Gill’s Landing Lebanon

We spend one night in a full-service site to clean out the tanks and get ready to put the trailer to bed for a while.  We are again right along the banks of the South Santiam River at Gill’s Landing in Lebanon.  We walk a mile into town for a brew and wood-fired pizza at the Conversion Pub where we find great dark beers and entertain the youngsters at the next table.  The next day we head for home and agree that we have had a great short shake down land cruise in TerraVia.  

 

May 22nd – 25th Alsea Falls

We are now in official test mode on the battery system, charging, discharging, jotting stats and trying to isolate what the issue might be. In the mean time we enjoy our very nice space (#15) in the campground after a young man vacated it for us. He had pulled in and set up “just in case” we did not show up.  Protocol is that you can do that the 2^nd day of a no-show but he figured he was fine.  He did politely pick up his camp, re-attach his trailer and move to a different space. “This is a very nice space,” he continued to explain.  We agreed, thus the reason we have booked 4 months in advance for the 3 nights.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Carl fishes and Pam reads, we take a nearly full day hike from the campground, along the Alsea River, and end at McBee Camp, a free private camp nearby.  On the loop back we hike to the river below the falls and Carl catches one “keeper” rainbow and releases other small ones.  

Steaks are grilled on the open fire bed of coals and life is good.

May 19th to 22nd Cougar Reservoir

On to Cougar Crossing Reservoir.  This takes us up a dramatic drive to the dam nestled between very steep, multiple rimrocks and fed by the south fork of the McKenzie River.  We find the small campground empty and unhook The Rig so we can explore the area and find somewhere to put the kayaks in the reservoir.  The campground is advertised as “at the upper end of Cougar Reservoir.”  That may have been true at on point but given the current, and obviously long-term low water level we are a good 2 miles from the upper end of the body of water, the only boat ramp also being high and dry.  

Not to worry, we explore upriver, with the plan to head over the top and into Oakridge.  We get near the top and it is still closed due to snow.  Plan “c” is to head to Hidden Lake and kayak.  That road has trees down. The logging operation helicopter and crew are camped just down from the trees but I guess it is not in their bailiwick to keep the road clear.   

In addition to not being able to kayak our electrical system for the last 2 nights, has drawn down so far that the battery protect gizmo shuts off power. We are able to take on enough solar rays to recharge the battery but the same thing happens the 2^nd night.   

We decide to pull up stakes and find a full hook-up site on the west side of Eugene.  We end up at a Lane County Park, Richardson, a delightful, well-spaced, nicely treed park along the shores of Fern Ridge Reservoir.  We take showers, take on some water, fully charge the battery, and empty the tanks in preparation for our 3 nights at Alsea Falls.

 We are now in official test mode on the battery system, charging, discharging, jotting stats and trying to isolate what the issue might be. In the mean time we enjoy our very nice space (#15) in the campground after a young man vacated it for us. He had pulled in and set up “just in case” we did not show up.  Protocol is that you can do that the 2^nd day of a no-show but he figured he was fine.  He did politely pick up his camp, re-attach his trailer and move to a different space. “This is a very nice space,” he continued to explain.  We agreed, thus the reason we have booked 4 months in advance for the 3 nights.

May 17th – 19th Olallie on the McKenzie Lower Loop

We leisurely take down the hookups and head out to fill the Rig’s tank and pick up a few odds and ends.  We enjoy lunch in the small town of Sisters, opting to not browse in the numerous shops that you find lining both sides of the street.  Instead, we have a nice Porter and fire baked pizza at “The Barn” followed by the smallest offering of ice-cream having pigged out the previous day on the medium at Cold Stone.

 

At Olallie we arrive at what is supposed to be a pull-through, river front site.  Instead, two gigantic boulders now block the pull-through and the site, at best, should be described as a “now difficult to back into” site.  Pam is able to maneuver the trailer into place, having backed many, many trailers in her youth putting up hay and ferrying horses and cattle around Washington County.  The neighbor says “well done” and we settle into a fantastic riverside space with the roaring McKenzie and sunlight filtering through the trees.

May 16th – 17th Redmond Expo Center

Jim departs for home with a couple of ideas about how to improve his Snark.  Carl and I head TerraVia towards Redmond, a very short drive, and our one night at the Redmond Expo RV Park to take on water and clean out the tanks.  Taking on water has a whole new meaning.  On ExTerra it would be a stressful, potentially dangerous situation.  In TerraVia it is a necessity and the generous 78-gallon tank allows us a lot of leeway.  We choose to carry about 30 gallons in the tank, plenty for our needs for a few days.

Our neighbor has just returned from 4 months in Baja in his nice pickup camper.  He has it taken apart and is doing some maintenance.  We yak for quite sometime about the places he has gone and what he encountered.  He puts into Mexico at Mexicali and then heads towards Loreto.  “Take your time, get into the slow-paced life,” he imparts.  We hike to the nearby Juniper golf course for dinner and a dark beer, actually, a German black ale, which is new to us but similar to a sweet stout.

May 14th – 16th Haystack Reservoir outside Madras

Haystack is a delight; one we would go back to.  We have another water side space with the reservoir in the near view and Mt. Jefferson in the distant view.  This makes for an awesome sunset.  We enjoy the catfish, which is good but Carl and Jim try some evening fishing and get skunked.  

We have a very nice day in the kayaks, abiding by out “2 hours, take a lunch break” parameter.  Then, with the thunderstorm setting up nearby we head back to camp.  All the gear is stowed before the literal downpour starts.  By the time it is finished we have a small pond fed by two little rivers going through our campsite.  Dinner is fresh stove top spaghetti and we all stay dry and well fed.