Nabo's Adventure to Alaska 2017

[jjwink]

DirecTv has told us no satellite service in Canada and of course the person I talked with wasn't sure about Alaska and wouldn't check with someone else - REALLY - grrrr. I forgot to check with Sirius radio. We do have a couple of books on tapes to listen to just in case.

Not to worry , local stations have lots of reruns . We had SiriusXM most of the trip .

 

[Nabo]

👌ok doukey

 

[RandyDeb]

G614"s will be here on Wednesday, so that should take tires off the list for awhile.

 

[Nabo]

Well the adventure begins. We left East Tn on Sunday, stopping at Whispering Hill RV Campground in Georgetown, KY (1 night) before heading up to Fletcher, OH, camping at the Poor Farmer's RV Sales, Service and Campground (2 nights). Whispering Hill is a nice campground. Poor Farmer's was quite interesting. Had 50 amp and well water but no sewer. And last night there was a car wreck which took the power out. After 90 minutes, we decided to pull the generator out and ran it for about 3 hours before power came back on. We spent a day at the National Museum of the United States Air Force and walked 4 hangers of wall to wall airplanes. Great history from the beginning of flight thru the planes used in the different wars. If you haven't been there, it's well worth it and free. The new exhibit of the Presidential flights is really good.

This Air Force One was used from JFK to the Clintons and was the plane that carried JFK's body back to DC.

Now we are in Hillman MI and have found a gem of a little campground called Thunder Bay Golf and RV Resort. The campground only has about 30 sites but paved and the grounds are well maintained. The restaurant was really good too.

 

[RandyDeb]

Nathan,
At the USAF museum, did you happen to notes if the F-4U corsair simulator was operational? I think that's where it is...

 

[Nabo]

Nathan,
At the USAF museum, did you happen to notes if the F-4U corsair simulator was operational? I think that's where it is...

There were 2 different simulators running but we didn't check them out because of what seems to be at least 1000 school kids in the museum. The next day, a tornado went just north of the Wright Patterson Air Force Base doing some damage.

Today we ventured out to Apena MI, a town on the western coast of Lake Huron, in weather that was not as good as I would like. It was cold, misty rain and heavy fog with temps only about 47 degrees. We visited another free museum called The Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Museum. Unfortunately with summertime not here, the glass bottom boat was not going out to the different shipwrecks in Thunder Bay but the museum did a good job showing pictures of the different wrecks. They also built a full scale replica of one of the wrecks inside the museum.


From there we headed north to Presque Isle to one of the lighthouses. Again we were there before the season is open but it's a wonder lighthouse and park. The lake was angry with northeasternly winds pushing some pretty good size waves.

 

[JohnD]

If you haven't yet ever seen the Mackinac Bridge . . . you are in for a real treat!

 

[Nabo]

Thanks John - not the view we had but what a treat you had seeing the bridge from a different advantage point.

Easy drive to Sault Ste Marie ON Canada. Loved crossing the bridges with wonderful views. Even going thru the border crossing was a breeze with only 3 questions and have a good trip - WOW. Here we were all prepared with pet health certificate (didn't even ask for it), all insurance info and food list (didn't ask for). Only ask if we had any guns (no) or alcohol (no) and our id's. Again wow. The last picture is the Canada's border crossing facilities. We are staying at a KOA which were working hard to get the campground open for the summer. I would give it a B+ or A- rating. Only problem is that they have had massive rains and the grounds are way too wet with the black flies everywhere. We will be here to 2 days.

 

[Nabo]

Yesterday's travel was from Sault Ste Marie to Marathon Ontario thru the Lake Superior Provincial Park on Hwy 17 also called the Trans Canadian Hwy. Hwy 17 is mostly 2 lanes with some truck passing lanes every so often. There was little to no traffic. Again we have found a gem of a campground in Marathon which is city operated. It only has about 18 sites with only 2 being 50 amp which the city gave us one. All the others were full hookups with 30 amp service. Marathon is a non-shipping port on Lake Superior with a population of about 3000. Seem like summertime fishing is the big draw. Unfortunately I can not upload more pictures in that we are in a very poor wifi area.
Today we traveled from Marathon to Thunder Bay Ontario but do to the bad weather, we didn't venture out. The forecast for tomorrow is better.

 

[JohnD]

Thanks John - not the view we had but what a treat you had seeing the bridge from a different advantage point.

Took that shot from the Mackinac Island Ferry going back to Mackinaw City in 1991 on our honeymoon.

I have a shot of the Mackinac Bridge I took from a small sea plane back in 1985 . . . have a 20 x 30 poster of it hanging in our rec room, but the negatives are buried away deep out in the garage.

I'll try to find a print that I can scan and post it . . . it is the most awesome view of Big Mac I've ever seen!

I was a newspaper photographer in those days, so got to go to a lot of cool places!

This trip sounds like an awesome time for you guys . . .

Glad you are going to share it with us!

 

[dlw930]

Took that shot from the Mackinac Island Ferry going back to Mackinaw City in 1991 on our honeymoon.

I have a shot of the Mackinac Bridge I took from a small sea plane back in 1985 . . . have a 20 x 30 poster of it hanging in our rec room, but the negatives are buried away deep out in the garage.

I'll try to find a print that I can scan and post it . . . it is the most awesome view of Big Mac I've ever seen!

I was a newspaper photographer in those days, so got to go to a lot of cool places!

This trip sounds like an awesome time for you guys . . .

Glad you are going to share it with us!

Somewhere on my portable hard drive are pics I took last summer of the bridge from various angles, including underneath the deck, from the ferry to Mackinac Island.


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[Nabo]

Today we tour the old town of Thunder Bay ON and a fur trading post called Port William Historical Park. This is a shipping community of over 120,000 people. The fur trading post is a replica from a drawing dated in the early 1800's but was first established in the 17th century as a French settlement. Again HL forum and the current wifi won't let me post many pictures.

 

[Nabo]

Long day today in that we drove 474 miles which wasn't planned. We left Thunder Bay with temps in the low 40's and rain. Our plans was to stop in Dryden ON which is about 220 but we forgot about the time zone change so we arrived early at the campground. There was a note on the office door which stated that they wouldn't open until after 2 pm so we scratched our heads, looked at each other thinking that we would be wasting 2 hours waiting on the office to open, so off we went to Winnipeg MB, over 250 more miles. Well 10 hours later, welcome Winnipeg. Can you say pooped. Winnipeg is on a plateau which they call the Canadian prairie. And flat, it looks like Iowa. Tomorrow we are going to explore the Winnipeg area.

 

[smrkelley]

Don't necessarily discount going with a group such as Adventure Caravans. (They are the best and most reasonable as far as cost in my opinion.) I recommend spending at least 60 days on your Alaska trip so you will have adequate time to do some of the many things that may interest you. A tour company can give you recommendations, advice and suggestions based upon what you have in mind for the trip. For example, the Calgary Stampede can be included in your Alaska tour. Friends that you make on some of these caravans will be friends for life and possibly travel companions for future adventures. I really recommend that you look at all options.

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[Nabo]

We decided against going with a caravan because of the strict schedule that you have to stay on. This way if we find that we would like to stay longer at one place we can.

We had fun wondering around Winnipeg. Found some huge executive homes that had to have been built around the early 1900's. Also went to the Royal Canadian Mint. Couldn't believe it but this mint makes coins for over 75 other countries (see all these flags). In the middle of no where is this statue of a white horse. Very interesting story. And for those that liked to watch Ice Road Truckers, found Polar Industries. Nathan wouldn't let me go in to see if Mark was in

.

 

[speedcat]

I love your posts and pics...keep them coming. My travel friends and I have been discussing your trip as we have this for our view...just a little reminder of home from Anchor Down

 

[Nabo]

Glad you are enjoying the posts. We elected to head to Canada and then across to the Al-Can hwy up to Alaska is because the exchange rate is in our favor. Campgrounds that charge $45 are about 30 percent off after the exchange rate is processed. The only major downfall has been the cost of diesel fuel. Today's cost was $1.009 / liter. The other shocker is the high taxes these folks pay 13 percent. One young lady we talked to said she just can't afford to go anywhere.

 

[travelin2]

Glad you are enjoying the posts. The only major downfall has been the cost of diesel fuel. Today's cost was $1.009 / liter.

The single largest cost of our road trips has always been fuel, either cost/gal or gallons used. Sometimes both!!!
Gas Buddy App indicates fuel in Alaska is the same price as or less than Pennsylvania!!!! It'll get better!


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[Nabo]

Left Winnipeg on a very breezy but sunny day - yeah. Got to Indian Head Saskatchewan, got set up and oops, a major problem. Nathan was doing his suspension check and found that we had a breaking weld. Thank goodness the Joy Ryder Shocks and Center Point Air Suspension did their job. The campground folks directed us to a welding shop - yeah. Indian Head is a small community of 5 blocks long and about 2000 people. Has some interesting buildings and a huge indian head which I couldn't find any history on.

FYI- we have been able to get DirecTv satellite so far all across Canada.

 

[Nabo]

Today's travel was from Indian Head Saskatchewan to Medicine Hat Alberta. The drive started out in the flat prairie to later small rolling hills. The rolling hills reminds me alot of South Dakota. Once in Alberta and in the Medicine Hat area is the start of the Canada's Badlands. Medicine Hat is known as the "Gas City" because of the natural gas fields all around the area. We also went to the world's largest teepee called the Seemis Teepee. It was built for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics and was later moved to MH. For the olympics, the total height was as tall as 20 stories but had to be lowered by 15 feet after damage by a windstorm. And then we found our little buddy

.