Moose Abound

(posted by Layne)



It's that time of year when the moose are lean, and are willing to hang out in the open in large numbers anywhere they can browse. That means daily sightings around the house where the young trees still have some branches that haven't been browsed off yet.





Dino's doghouse seems pretty small when watching a moose casually step over it.



Speaking of Dino, I think it's safe to say once he's reached the point where he'd rather sleep on the snow than inside his warm, comfortable doghouse, he's acclimated.



Here the wind catches his ears just right to give him a little bit of a Dumbo look.



Dino's not the only one sleeping on the snow around the house.



Occasionally they block the driveway as well. Luckily this time was on a weekend, so I wasn't in a hurry, and could just drive back into the garage and find something else to do until the moose gave me back my driveway.







So far, the moose are still fairly easy going, but by next month the long winter and persistent hunger will turn them into grouchy neighbors. In April, some will become winter kills due to limited access to food.



Last summer we only had one eagle return, and our old friend, "Spot", was feared lost. He has showed his age since we first moved here in 2008, but last Summer was the first time we didn't see him return. His younger-looking mate dutifully began building a new nest by herself, but without a mate bore no clutch. Thankfully, last week I looked up and saw both Spot and his mate had returned together this time. They are working on the partial nest the female started last year. Don't know why Spot was absent last year, but glad he's returned this year. We'll look forward to another clutch to view in the new nest, which is a little further from the house than years past, but still visible from the back yard. (Truthfully, we don't know which is the female and which is the male - but we've always assumed the older scraggly Spot was the male. Probably will never know for sure.)



I really have to stop taking pictures of every moose I see, or people are going to start thinking I'm not from around here.

Home at Last!

(Posted by Layne)



There's nothing quite like that feeling when you cross the final border going home.  It's been 7 years since I was able to officially live in our house in Alaska (Jolene and the boys stayed for 2 extra years after I left for my Command tour, since I was going to be deployed most of that 3 year tour anyway, so it's only been 5 years away for them).  We visited every year, for a couple weeks or a month each Summer.  But that felt different. This time it feels better, permanent.

Whitehorse to Haines Junction was the last bit of the ALCAN I hadn't driven before. From Haines Junction to home, I traveled along a route I had driven a couple times previously.



This is the section of road I remember from 9 years ago, where we lost the windshield to the SUV after getting hammered by a truck that passed.  It was under construction and all gravel then.  I had it all to myself this time.





Crossing Kluane Lake at Destruction Bay - some pretty spectacular Winter views.



Burwash Landing, Yukon.  On the banks of Kluane Lake.



The scenery kept getting better as I got closer to home.



Matanuska Valley and the glacier was a sight for sore eyes.





We only had one moose sighting the the entire route of the ALCAN, but as we pulled up to our house, we were greeted by a couple of our favorite long-nosed visitors. Based on the amount of moose poop in our yard, I would say these two moose have been acting as house sitters for us this Winter.





Then, finally home!





Clearly I have some snow shoveling to do.

Took some time last night to de-winterize.  Get the heat back up, reconnect the water supply, flush the air out of the pipes, and get the hot water heater going.  So far, everything is working fine.



Except for Dino, who was excited and running all over the snow last night, but won't come out of his kennel this morning after realizing that he will not be a house dog here like he was in California and Maryland.  He'll get used to it, just needs to grow his thick coat back.  Until then, the heated garage is all his.







Woke up to a beautiful view of the sun rising across the Hay Flats.

Lots of work to do today.  Signing off.

The Canadian Rockies and Yukon Territory

(Posted by Layne)



If you're scared of heights, I highly recommend you cross the Canadian Rockies in the dark.

Early start to the day allowed me to make it into Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. Thankful for the good weather, because the news today is showing parts of Saskatchewan (which I drove through) getting hammered with a blizzard.  In the Yukon, it's clear (and cold), with decent road conditions.



Turned out to be a little colder than I expected crossing the Rockies.  Yep, that's -40F you see on the thermometer.  It was actually colder than that, but I found out my thermometer in the truck only displays down to -40F, below that it shows "OC".






Today was the wildlife day I had been waiting for. I did see some moose, too, (no pics) but it was a little dark for pictures, and they turned out too blurry.  Next up was some Elk.  Still a little dark, but good enough to post these two pics above.







Sunrise presented a great opportunity to show some of the scenery along the route. God's creation is magnificent!

Then I learned how to share the road with herds of wild bison.







Beautiful animals up close, and they're not shy about exerting their claim to the roadway.  Seeing these animals free-roaming, using their noses to push away the snow from the grass along the roadside, was certainly the highlight of the day. The dash cam has some great videos of the bison, but I'll try to upload those to FB since it seems my past videos haven't been working on this site.



Then it was into the Yukon Territory, with a first stop at the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake (below).













Normally you can walk around Sign Post Forest, and see the signs up close.  Today it was evident (by the few feet of snow piled up) that no one has walked through that forest in a few months, so I admired it from afar. I didn't bring a sign of my own to post, maybe next time.

Tomorrow, God Willing, I'll drive the rest of the way home (and then sleep for two days).

So what will be the first thing I do when I get to Wasilla?  Probably replace my windshield, mud flaps and bug deflector, cause they're all trashed.....but they did their job.

Busted up windshield....expected, practically mandatory at this point.

Bug deflector now in three different pieces.......not expected, but not surprising either.



But the damage to the mud flaps took me a little by surprise.  I guess the -40F temps coupled with lots of rocks on the mountain pass just ate them up, and even bent up the metal support strip. Custom Truck Accessories will be glad to see me again.

Random thoughts for the day:
#1 - Bison are real road hogs, and clearly have no understanding of the law of gross tonnage (or maybe they do).
#2 - When a 6 ft sheet of Styrofoam comes flying out of a semi at high speed and careens into your windshield, you'll hear a grown man scream like a little kid....then feel real stupid as the Styrofoam shatters harmlessly into a thousand pieces and flutters away.  (Who carries Styrofoam on the ALCAN, anyway?)
#3 - Canada has done a great job of putting up signs explaining how to drive in snow, with detailed information about tire type and such.....but you can't read them because all the signs are covered by....well, snow.
#4 - Lanes are clearly advisory in nature on the ALCAN.
#5 - Nothing brightens your day like seeing a momentary peek of the center-line stripe underneath the snow-pack, confirming that, "Yes, you are still on the roadway."
#6 - Dwight Yoakum's song "A Thousand Miles From Nowhere" never made more sense to me than it did today.
#7 - On the 8th day of my trip, XM Radio FINALLY plays Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again", just in time for me to be ready to be OFF the road.
#8 - Sometimes snow plows are the most welcome sight on Earth.
#9 - A "Rest Area" covered by 3 feet of snow doesn't provide much rest.
#10 - When the Canadians advise you to take a curve at 70 kilometers per hour, take it at 60.
#11 - Don't tell Dino, but my plan if we became stranded in the -40F temps was to cut him open and climb inside like Luke Skywalker did.
#12 - Fuel at Muncho Lake costs $8/gallon, but more importantly, THERE IS FUEL AVAILABLE at Muncho Lake (and I was happy to buy it).

Home, James, and don't spare the horses!

On the Alaska Highway

(Posted by Layne)



Here's a good view of all the other people on the Alaska Highway with me today.  Yep, pretty much just me.

A quick video of the turn onto the Alaska Highway, with some appropriately themed tunes on the radio, of course.

Today's drive was short, and uneventful. Had the road to myself for the most part. No wildlife to speak of, and the roads were in good condition. Last weeks' cold spell is still hanging around here, and that makes for mostly clear skies and ice-free roads, albeit a little chilly.  It was -12F when we pulled into Fort Nelson, and it should drop another degree or two overnight.  Noticed Tok was at -32F this morning, hoping it warms up a bit there before I pass through in a couple of days.



The truck's bug deflector took one for the team today, right in the middle.  That rock was 'yuge', and would have slid up the hood and done a number on the windshield, but the deflector took the brunt, and paid the price. Not many vehicles on the road with me today, but those that I did see we're mostly large trucks. There's a lot of gravel on the roads for traction, which results in a rain-shower of gravel each time you meet another vehicle.



Clearly someone at the hotel has too much time on their hands.

Will be an early morning tomorrow, and maybe a longer leg than originally planned, depending on the road conditions. Regardless, I should see Watson Lake tomorrow, and maybe out as far as Whitehorse, and will cross into the Yukon Territory.

I'll close the post with another short video, on a rare straight stretch of road, with another appropriately themed tune playing on the radio.  Now back to watching a "riveting" Canadian curling tournament on the tube (eh?).