Crossing the Canada/US border into Washington

We got up at 8:00 and Mike took some photos of the campground this morning.

From Rosedale to Bellingham

From Rosedale to Bellingham

Then we walked up to the campground restaurant, Country Kitchen, to eat breakfast. Mike had pancakes and sausage and I had eggs with bacon and sausage and toast for $17 - a very good breakfast.

From Rosedale to Bellingham

We went back to the RV and took our time getting ready to leave the campground. Check-out is at noon and we only have about 55 miles to drive today, so it was 11:15 when we left Camperland RV Resort.

We stopped at the Shell station just down the road to get gas in the RV. We got 209.01 liters at $1.269 a liter (55.231 gal at $4.886 a gal). I reminded Mike that we were only a few miles from the Canada/US border and we should wait to get gas there – but he wanted to get gas before we got on the road.

From Rosedale to Bellingham

We drove through Abbotsford where the houses and apartments were built up on the surrounding hills.

From Rosedale to Bellingham

We reached the Canadian/U.S. border at 12:20 and there were only a few cars ahead of us.

From Rosedale to Bellingham

After answering the standard questions at U.S. customs, we were on our way south to Bellingham.

A few minutes after crossing the border into Washington, we passed this USA gas station where regular gas was $3.779 a gallon and we paid $4.886 a gallon in Rosedale! Did I say "I told you so" - Noooo, but there was definite clinching of teeth to keep from saying it. I figure Mike can beat himself up enough for not waiting to buy gas without me saying it.

From Rosedale to Bellingham

We passed by a car dealer in Lynden where we saw this colorful truck parked on the lot.

From Rosedale to Bellingham

We also saw these vintage cars

From Rosedale to Bellingham

and this ‘71 Willys Jeepster.

From Rosedale to Bellingham

We drove south on SR-539 and stopped at the Safeway in Lynden at 12:45 to buy some groceries and we had lunch while we were parked there.

After lunch we drove south on SR-539 to I-5 South to the Wal-Mart in Bellingham where we’re spending the night.

We arrived at Wal-Mart at 2:00 and were surprised to see how many RVs were already parked there. We found a place to park the RV and unhitched the Vue. Then we went into Wal-Mart (not a Supercenter) and did a little shopping.

Mike drove the car over to a car wash across from Wal-Mart to wash the road grime off before we went to dinner.

There is a Taco Time near the Wal-Mart and we drove over there for dinner tonight. Rena at the Watson Lake Visitor Center told me that Taco Time was so much better than Taco Bell and we decided to try it tonight. We don’t eat often at Taco Bell, so I really couldn’t tell much difference.
As the afternoon and evening progressed more and more RVs came in to spend the night at Wal-Mart. There must be at least 25 RVs here and a few of the ones near us look like they have been living here for a while.

Mike talked with a couple who are near us that are from British Columbia and they drive down to Bellingham every few months to go shopping. They had come down and bought a stove among other things. They said they save a lot of money coming down here where the taxes aren’t as high as in Canada.

Tomorrow we are driving north up to Ferndale where we’ll be staying for 5 days and getting new tires on the RV.

Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

The weather had cleared up this morning and it was sunny and blue skies. We now had a better view of the mountains. We left Kluane Lake at 7:45 this morning. Yes we were up early; but with no hook-ups to disconnect, all we had to do was put the slides in and stow the stabilizer jacks and go.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

We stopped at a rest area alongside the Kluane River for a few minutes.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

We passed by this lodge & café north of Burwash Landing that are now closed. This is just one of many businesses that are closed on the Alaska Highway.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

Then we started to come across more rough sections of the Alaska Highway. Fortunately they’re marked with signs or orange flags, so we have an opportunity to slow down before we hit the rough sections.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

We’re always on the lookout for wildlife along the road and I saw this bald eagle sitting high up in a tree near the highway. Thank goodness for the telephoto setting on our camera!

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

We stopped at a rest area about 25 miles south of Beaver Creek for lunch at 11:15. When we were 10 miles south of Beaver Creek we encountered some road construction and had to follow a “lead vehicle” since it was one lane traffic.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

A few miles past the road construction we saw these vents alongside the highway. According to the information in the book, The Milepost, these vents are part of the Alaska Permafrost Research Project. The vents allow cold air to penetrate the road embankment to minimize permafrost melting and hopefully stop or reduce the frost heaves in the highway.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

We drove through Beaver Creek and passed by Buckshop Betty's.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

Just north of Beaver Creek we saw our second bald eagle for the day!

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

We passed by the Beaver Creek Canadian Customs Station before we crossed the border into Alaska at 1:15.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

A little later we came to the Alcan Port of Entry, Tok and stopped at the U.S. Border Station.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

After answering the usual questions – our purpose for entering the US, how long we planned to stay in Alaska and whether we had any fresh vegetables or fruits we had bought in Canada. We had already heard back in Whitehorse that we couldn’t take Canadian produce into the U.S., so we had already eaten up the tomatoes and lettuce that we had on hand.

Once inside Alaska the road seemed to be better and even the road repairs felt smoother and not as rough as the ones in Canada. That's not to say there weren't any rough patches on the way to Tok.

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

From Kluane Lake to Tok, AK

We arrived at Tundra Lodge & RV Park in Tok a little before 4 p.m. After registering  we stopped at the RV & car wash to wash the dirt off the RV and the car before going to our campsite. We paid $15 to pressure wash both vehicles and there was no restriction on how much water we could use. We are in site #39 and have full hook-ups - 50 amp electric, how wonderful! We are in a gravel pull-through site and it is very level. We will be here just for tonight and our campsite cost $32.

Mike called Verizon to cancel our Canadian Calling Plan for our cell phones. It was nice to be able to use our Verizon MiFi broadband card to access the internet now that we are out of Canada.

We're wondering about the folks who decided to travel the Top of the World and Taylor highways from Whitehorse to Tok and what their drive was like. We've heard that the road south from Chicken was very muddy and made travel difficult. Our trip up on the Alaska Highway was pretty good even with the rough areas, so it sounds like we made the right decision to come this way.

We forgot to take photos of our campsite this afternoon, so we will take some tomorrow before we leave Tok.

Mike called River's Edge RV Park in Fairbanks to make a reservation for tomorrow and was told that they weren't taking reservations and to call back tomorrow morning about 10:30. Since we won't have cell phone service once we leave Tok, we won't be able to call until we reach Delta Junction sometime tomorrow.