On the way to Haines, Alaska

The last couple of days we have been traveling from Valdez to Haines, not far as the crow flies but almost 600 miles by road. We have to leave Alaska and the USA and enter the Yukon Territory of Canada. Next we pass through British Columbia and then get back into Alaska. Enter Canada Customs and a little later on pass through USA Customs. This time we passed through Canada without spending a cent and we had the easiest US Customs we've ever had. In Canada, our cell phones do not work. In fact, through most of Alaska the cell phones have no service. Therefore we could not reach anyone or hear from anyone. We talked to a guy who broke down on the Alaska Highway south of Alaska and it took FOUR days to get a wrecker. His Motorhome had to be towed to Whitehorse, Yukon, to the tune of $4800.00. His road service picked up all $2300.00. Then the work on his Cummins diesel was $8400.00. Four days for a wrecker!!! At lease he could eat and sleep in the RV.

I was trying to get as many miles behind us as we could because there is really nothing to do between Valdez and Haines. Finally my crew was getting very tired so we stopped at a roadside rest area that doesn't forbid camping. It was one of the better places we've camped. The picture below is from the motorhome looking out.



This is from the water looking back.



Today we drove the rest of the way to Haines, passing this salmon machine on the way. This is built and owned by Indians who have been using such a device for many years. The current keeps the machine moving and is scoops up salmon and slides them into containers on each side. I've seen video of one of these working very well, harvesting two or three salmon in each scoop. This was one of two that were not producing as far as I could see.



Getting in around 10:00 AM, we were a bit early, so we parked in town and grabbed a late breakfast before moving to our campsite for the next few days which are the two pictures below.





I took a ride to the ferry landing where we will be boarding our motorhome and Jeep for a ferry ride to Skagway on Thursday. It's an expensive one hour ferry ride, but it saves a lot of driving and two days on the road. Next, I drove a few miles further to a river and a lake where red salmon, also called sockeye were being caught. It is Sunday and there were a lot of fisherman on my side of the river. There was also a HUGE grizzly on the other side of the river. Humans are not allowed to fish the other side of the river due to the bears. I'm going to fish MY side one day.