Cornucopia, Wisconsin , don't blink

Cornucopia, Wisconsin
July 16, 2009
Marcia’s Home Town. We arrived here and stayed at a new camp ground..no one else here but us wow…campers go wild! We have spent three days visiting with Marcia’s cousins (Walley and his wife Coleen, Delores- the “seniors of their family now”) and other friends in town. We also saw Hillary’s God -Mother’s(Sheri who was also a child hood friend) mother..Dorothy Swensen. She is still looking great and renting cabins and says she is 29(+). We promised to come back for her 100th birthday..but she didn’t say when that would be. “Cornie” is a great town that you would be proud to be from or visit. Very small: one gas station(for sale if you want a new business), post office(the most Northern in Wisconsin), general store (Elhers..wood floors and a nail bin) and two taverns(“Fish Lips” and “Village Inn”..we played pool and ate at the former). Lots (who knows how many that is) of folks are retiring here… but not if you need Walmart or Home Depot! We spent time visiting Marcia’s old “home”. Her Dad sold the property on Lake Superior(150+ acres..1200+ lake frontage, cliffs on the lake with sandy beaches) in order to retire, many years ago. House has been torn down and another is being built…no character like her old one and in a different place. The picture is Marcia standing where her front door step was and the view is something that she took for granted growing up. Not so now. We walked the grounds and got nostalgic. As Marcia said..”Great to be around other people who speak like me!”
So, we’ll be off to Sault Ste Marie and then across Canada to home. I will have put on about 13K miles by the time we are home. Wow. What a road trip. I’ll spend some time reflecting on all of this. I am looking forward to getting back, but it is a bit bitter sweet getting back..I do hate to admit. Eight cord of wood waiting to be cut and split.

Mountains a rear view mirror memory

Banff, Alberta
July 10, 20009
Ok..so I lied. Our next posting is not Whitehorse, YT. It is all the way back to Banff, which was not on the agenda, so to speak. We just started to drive out of Whitehorse, a beautiful day, and figured out a new way back down. The route is the “one less travelled”..The Cassiar Hwy(#37). It tracks down from outside Watson Lake, in between the coastal mountains and the Canadian Rockies. It starts on a gravel road that makes you really question the sanity of your decision, when you are responsible for 4 axles and tires in the middle of no where. I was constantly wondering how good my AAAPlus policy was after a set of pot holes. But we did manage them. Ironically, I got a flat tire pulling in to the campground after two days of rough road. It was caused by a screw, not a sharp rock. After all the miles of rocks and I get a flat because man made refuse…a message in there. The road connected with HWY16, came in the “back way”, West side, of Jasper. Pouring rain, but still beautiful. We treated our selves to an eat-out..a local sports bar and watched a ball game on the big screen..wow. Haven’t seen TV since May1 ! We then cruised down the Ice Field Parkway to Banff. Rain lifted…drop dead beautiful. I am sure we came this way, as opposed to cutting quicly to Edmonton, as we really hate to leave the mountains. This will be our last mountain fix, before they are only rear view mirror memories.
We started taking pictures of signs with wild life warnings..look out for moose /caribou.bear/,etc. We have seen so few mammals, our best documentation is the signs warning us. What’s that all about?
Since visiting Banff back in May, I have put 7500 miles on the rig. Overall, we have driven about 10,500 miles so far. A bit of road time. The dogs won’t know what to do with themselves with more space (nor us). Mickie is still not weight bearing, but seems to have less pain. Gretta loves to point the ground squirrels out side the trailer here. Marcia and are going hiking after our breakfast.
July 13, 2009
Ok, I really lied, about posting (mabe fish sizes too). It has been so hard to find a place to up-load a posting. Most places we started to go had no signals of any king. Actually a good thing, from a “quiet” perspective. We had gotten into the habit of “dry-camping”, choosing spots with no services, but great location. Low to no cost, but also no signal. Anyway…we are not in the mountains anymore. We drove out of the Rockies, heading east, decided to head for cheaper gas ($1.25/G less), cell phone signal, internet signals…you got back to the US. Yesterday we came through “North Portal” , North Dakota and then to Minot, ND (where we are right now….really). I was here at the strat of this trip on my way west. So my “loop” back to here(Minot,ND) has been 9359 miles. The forcast is for rain and severe T storms, so we will take our time going east. We want to catch a reunion in Marcia’s home town, Cornucopia, Wisconsin, so that will be our last “goal” before home.
The pictures are of a hike in Banff, and the beautiful prairies.

Fish,GoodbyAlaska,Hello Yukon

Dawson City, Yukon
July 3, 2009
Greetings from the famous Yukon Gold Rush town of Dawson City of 1896. (I’ll do a bit of editing in my favorite color[Rick])You’d swear it’s still in the old days, as we had to be ferried across the Yukon River to reach the city on its shores. Still very quaint, with dance hall, gold mining throughout the area. As for wild life: we only saw one rabbit since we left Fairbanks, about 250 miles ago! The birding is good though compared to the coast. This morning we enjoyed watching a white-winged cross-bill dad feeding his newly fledged babies on a tree next to our trailer.
This morning we left the Alaska U.S. border behind us(in the remote hills. Marcia was smirking at the border agent when asked about guns and we almost got seriously strip searched, until they figured we weren’t the average gun toting Alaskan.), completing that chapter. Taking another way, the “Top of the World “ Highway, which consists of 65 graveled miles of the 120(it felt like 500miles because of the pot holes, dust, and meeting other vehicles in the most inopportune times). Most of it was hairpin curves over mountains and hill above the tree line. It is REALLY REMOTE, and one can see for miles(if you are looking out the side window…not for the next pot hole!), like being on top of the world!
After we provisioned in Fairbanks, the interior big town of 100,000, we stayed at a local borough called North Pole, with all the trappings of Christmas. Almost as amusing as visiting the village of “chicken”, but I won’t go there!

Rick finally slaughtered me in the fishing department(let’s just say I had “my turn”), our second to last night in Alaska, called Clearwater River, located near Delta Junction. We stumbled across a world class trophy river for grayling, that was ACTUALLY peaking during our 24 hour visit. Rick and I caught 12 the afternoon and into the evening hours of 10:30! Just steps from our trailer! These were all fish 14-18 inches long, unlike the smaller ones we caught earlier in the trip. On the morning of our departure, we got up early and Rick caught 7 big graylings while I got skunked(it was really tough saying “oh..I guess I have another one”). He really deserves to have a good “gloat” on that one, as he usually has to assemble all my gear(the arrival afternoon I had caught four and Marcia, spinning, said “can I use a dry fly with this?” No. So I say I’ll rig up a rod…I didn’t know I meant new line,leaders,etc..then she turns around and out fishes me for THAT day), and consult on my meager casting skills. Being the good “Ranger Rick” that he is, he usually gives me the best spots cause I am so “casting-challenged”. What a wonderful 24 hours of dream-fishing, totally deserted of other fisherman, given no mosquitos, and 70 degree sunny weather.
Believe it or not, yesterday was the first day we wore shorts, and about the 4th day it was warm and calm enough to grill outside. Dawson City is like “Florida”. 80F…sunny, hot. Wow. The camp ground had a vehicle wash that was mandatory requirement for post Taylor Road travel. Anyway. Gotta post this find a fish picture. Next stop, big town wise and posting wise, probably Whitehorse YT.