Good morning from Silty Slough, everyone. I slept in this morning, let the fire go out but there is little change in the indoor temperature, about 68. The outside temp changed big time overnight. I knew it would be good when I turned the porch light on and saw snow falling. It is 35 degrees warmer than last night. Plus 10 degrees now. I started a fire in the stove, turned on the burner for the coffee pot, and started this post. The women woke up had some coffee and Jess started breakfast. Bacon, scrambled eggs, home baked sourdough toast, with a glass of tomato juice for $13.75 plus tip.
Moose in the middle.Prime rib and shrimp turned out excellent.
After breakfast I made a swing by the outhouse in my pj bottoms, t shirt, and Crocks. Figured I might as well try the heater one more time since I’m out strolling around. I plugged it in and pressed the power button. No 33 error code yet, it should appear in a couple seconds. But heater lit off, no code. I guess it was too cold for the overheat sensor to operate properly yesterday. Cancel that parts order. I don’t need no stinking repair parts now.
Jess spotted a moose across the river. I took a picture. It is the tiny black dot in the center of the frame. I titled it “Moose in the middle”.
With the warmer weather I should cross some things off my to do list.
Check the generator diesel tank quantity
Replace the shock in the rear suspension on my snow go
Dig out my freight sled
Water solar batteries
Carry in wood
Treadmill
That’s all crossed off. I’ll get to them later today or tomorrow.
Maybe time to take a nap so I can stay awake until midnight New York time.
From the Silty Slough, I hope everyone has a Great New Year!!
-25 now up from -30 when I went outside at 4:30 this morning.
I shot myself in the foot with my post on Friday. I said I wasn’t going outside unless the generator failed to autostart. Guess what….Saturday morning Kari looked downstairs and a light was flashing on the autostart controller. I better check it out. -27 when I went out to check it and reset the control box on the generator. I attempted one start, didn’t start. Ok save the battery. This job is going to take more clothes. The heater in the generator shed that also semi warms the outhouse was flashing a 33 code. I made several attempts to reset it but I can’t get it going. I’ll get the Honda 2000 that I keep in the shop because it is almost impossible to start cold. I try it inside and it won’t start. No problem I have an outlet powered from the house system in the generator shed just in case. Under the deck I have a new bullet heater. Feels light when I pick it up, so I know it needs fuel. Carry it out to the diesel tank. The fuel hose there is so stiff it won’t bend or twist to get the nozzle in the filler. I finally get the heater jockeyed around enough to fill it. I know when it is cold the nozzle sticks and won’t shut off, so I quit early. Let the handle snap. The fuel slowly stopped flowing and the handle fell out of the nozzle and promptly rolled into the snow. I shut the tank valve off, will get to the nozzle repair on a warmer day. Ok take the heater to the generator shed. Plug it in and it fires right up. Position it so I don’t burn the place down. I’m not cold yet so I might as well try to see how much propane is in the 100 pound bottle for the heater. It is frozen down, so I picked up a chunk of 4×4 and give it a couple whacks. The tank rocks, the frozen rubber hose cracks and starts shooting propane at me. I rock the tank back and it stopped, so I shut off the valve. I guess the tank isn’t empty. I took the rubber line off and looked for a replacement in the greenhouse, which is 3 degrees inside without any heat source. Maybe I should move the generator into the greenhouse. Anyway the one copper line I have has too small of a fitting on the end that connects to the regulator. I have another rubber line with the end broken off. I’ll use an air hose barb and clamp to make it work. Ok now I have a good hose with a POL fitting on it to connect to the tank. Do you know why it is called that? Prest-O-Lite is the company that developed them and set the standard. Enough education back to trouble shooting and problem solving. I installed the hose, hooked up the POL fitting to the tank and turned it on. It has been long enough so I tried a start on the generator, started but died, second attempt it ran. We are in business….cooking with gas, diesel, and electricity. I’ll go in and google the 33 code on the heater. With a smartphone, an internet connection, and Google anybody can be a know it all. I need the model number so back out to the shed and photograph the data plate. I’m sure I have a photo in my phone but I don’t want to look through 30,000 picts. Has anyone heard from Kamala lately? She hasn’t checked in with me about this cats-ass-trophy I’m faced with. Probably couldn’t handle it anyway.
After some study a 33 code is a $6 switch. Of course it is a holiday and I can’t get one shipped until Tuesday. I’ll order a couple to have an extra one on hand to be assured that some other part will fail next time.
I’ll leave the generator run until bedtime so it won’t need to start until Saturday afternoon. What’s a couple gallons of diesel fuel in a bankruptcy of this size anyway.
The women are still cooking like some army is coming over.
Needed to get the prime rib to room temp to cook it last night. I guess sewing and quilting got in the way so we had Portillo’s Chicago style hot dogs. One twist, Kari had some relish made with green tomatoes that she canned a couple years ago. Awesome!! Jess made bearing sausage gravy, sausage patty, biscuits, and scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning.
-21 now. Couple more degrees and I will attempt a start on the generator. Their sewing and ironing have sucked some juice. Made sure they took the prime rib out. I’ll carry in a couple loads of wood. Surprisingly we aren’t using very much. It stays about 70 in here. I suppose all the cooking and baking helps. Rattle those pans ladies. Next week is going to be diet city for me.
One more thing… the dogs were going crazy, barking, and carrying on. Jess looked out and 3 coyotes were running down the river. Must have missed the roadrunner.
Everyone stay safe and healthy, and stay out of Walmart.
A couple of the many varieties of cookies.Make your own pizza night. Kari’s pear, ham, blue cheese, topped with hot honey.Sourdough cinnamon rolls.We were hungry and ate before I could get a picture. Blackberry sourdough star.Panettone. Makes wonderful French toast.The women are in the house looking through the screen. Does the screen make me look fat?Full moon from the outhouse.
The View from the Outhouse
Good morning from Silty Slough. This year is rapidly winding down. Soon I will have to be retrained to write 2024, just after getting 2023 mastered.
Woke up a couple minutes after what I read on my phone as 6 this morning. It is clear and bright out. The dogs want to go out and I might as well go to the outhouse. The snow was crunchy and I could feel the hairs in my nose frosting up. I’m in my pj bottoms, t shirt, and Crocks. No socks but I have the winter Crocks that are fur lined. I didn’t have to tell Mayor Cooper and Teddy to come in. It must be really cold out. When we got inside I checked the temperature on my phone with the Weather Underground app. Silty Slough reporting station KAKSKWEN7 if you are interested or even if you aren’t. 27 below zero and the time was actually a little after 5. Must be a different time zone upstairs. Anyway it is colder than a well diggers arse in the Klondike. I’m in trouble, I hear footprints on the stairs and I haven’t started the coffee. Jess is already in the dark kitchen looking for coffee. Luckily the coffee pot wasn’t loaded last night and ready to brew, so I get a pass. I’ll wait till later to get in trouble.
Jess arrived last Saturday on the helicopter with more stuff to cook for the holidays. She and Kari have been cooking nonstop. Cookies, cakes, ham, soup, all kinds of bread and rolls. You name it. We went to the neighbors on Christmas Day for a get together. Took a whole tub sled full of food, had a great time, and didn’t bring too much food home, so they are at it again. Cinnamon rolls for breakfast a couple mornings ago. Macaroni and cheeseburger soup-no Velveeta allowed. Yesterday morning it was quiche with biscuits and homemade jam. Last night was Carne asada. I’m waiting for prime rib and lobster night. I saw it come off the helicopter.
Last night they started making Panettone. I heard them talking about setting an alarm at 1 am to do something in the process when I went to bed. Tomorrow I have to make sure I have a full 100 pound propane bottle hooked up. I would be in deep doo-doo if it ran out in the middle of baking a tasty treat.
Jess is here until the 4th, if I keep up this eating pace I will need to walk to Deshka Landing pulling a groomer.
28 below now. Temp going down and bathroom scales going up.
With indoor plumbing I guess some of you are wondering what I was doing in the outhouse. Let me rephrase that. Why am I going outside in the cold to the outhouse. While I was on my last trip, Kari told me the toilet and shower were draining slow. Then a later report was bring a snake it isn’t working at all. I don’t like snakes that is part of the reason I live in Alaska. So on Steve Gahan’s advice I went too Ferguson and got a couple bottles of Clobber. This stuff is just pure sulfuric acid I think. Instructions are to put on a rubber suit, gloves, and goggles. Poured it down the drain it boils and bubbles a bit but doesn’t go down. I wait a couple days for the acid to neutralize so I don’t kill the snake and try it. No worky. I’ve been outside and checked all the inspection tubes, nothing frozen. So I have Jess bring 4 more bottles of Clobber. Poured one in each drain after I removed the toilets and one in each of the cleanouts outside. Still no worky. There is a clean out downstairs where the drain goes through the wall. This is the lowest point in the system. So far I haven’t been able to talk Jess or Kari into removing the plug so I can run the snake in it.
Christmas Day Roger gave me a balloon that hooks on a water hose. You put it down the drain turn on the water, it inflates, seals off the pipe, and shoots water out the end to blast the clog away. Same thing the doctors had in mind to do to my heart except it was too plugged up. Instead they split me open like a fish and did it right. Anyway back to the sewer. I put the balloon in the first clean out outside and it seemed to help. I did the second one on the other side of the tank. I guess I pushed it in too far and it hung up on the inlet to the leach bed. Anyway I can’t pull it out. So now I have a second block in the system. Can’t get the Kubota to it because the snow is so deep. Probably a good thing. I can just see ripping the system’s gonads out by its vocal cords when I hook the hose to the Kubota bucket and pull, so I cut the hose, folded it over and put the cap back on the clean out. It’s 8 degrees out here and I’m not having a good time. I guess I will wait until the end of May and dig it up. So now it is back to the outhouse and showers over the garage floor drain. I’m thinking I may have covered the outlet to the drain up, because with indoor plumbing we won’t ever shower in the garage again.
In town I could just call someone. But that’s not the way it works 60 miles from the end of the road. You the man. I could write the rest of the day because I’m not going outside, that is unless the generator quits.
I think it is time for Lars to call me to fly a long fictitious trip. (Hint hint)
I better get going. I think the women have something ready for breakfast.
I hope all of you don’t spend as much to inflict pain and suffering to myself like I do, just to say we live way off the end of the road. But after all I have a million dollar view on a sunny day. Show me the money.
From Silty Slough I hope each and everyone has a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!!!!
Thor is buckled in.Ready to depart as soon as I move the snow machine.Our diesel powered Christmas tree.Time to get with it.Turning these on has to waste a lot of electricity.Mayor Cooper checking out the lights.
Hello everyone from Silty Slough. Today is the first day of winter 7 below zero at noon on the shortest day of the year. The sun rose at 10:28 and will set at 3:37 5 hours and 9 minutes of daylight. Tomorrow we gain a few seconds and the salmon turn around and start swimming back toward Alaska.
After Thanksgiving Kari and I trimmed out the beadboard walls and ceiling in the master bathroom.
I plowed snow and did other cabin chores.
I figured flying was over until spring but received the welcomed call letting me know I had won an all expense paid trip to Kelowna, BC, overnight, then to Yellowknife, NT and back to Anchorage. The river is still not frozen good enough for travel so Chris from Pollux Aviation came out and picked me up in one of their R44 helicopters. Life isn’t all skittles and beer flying the jet. Up at 2:30 am to show up at 5 for a 7 o’clock departure. Short day though only a little over 3 hours to Kelowna, have lunch then take a nap before dinner. A lot of my job is efficiently wasting time between flights. Next day, non stop to Yellowknife. It is dark and cold when we arrive. Bought some fuel and the crew we are transporting arrives. They jump off their plane and hop into ours. Back home to Anchorage and in bed by 11pm. Could have been a little earlier but I made a stop at the Country Store for a scoop of butter pecan ice cream. I figured I owed it to myself. Day after tomorrow we do a quick day trip to Fairbanks. That should do it until spring.
I’m going to hang around Wolf Lake a few days. I need to dig the trailer out and go pick up my new snow machine in Anchorage. It has snowed a lot this year and my main chore is blowing snow followed by replacing shear pins in the blower. Got 3 at once when I picked up an 18” piece of 2 x 6 that the trailer tongue I plowed out was sitting on. The stupid operator makes the snow blowers life a hard one. A lot of things are like that with machines and life. I have a few more days to wait to fly back out to the cabin. Our grandson, Thor has a test on the 14th so I’m flying out on the 16th and he will fly back in to go to Hawaii to visit his family there for Christmas.
Kari has a list of food and supplies for the holidays along with all the packages that arrived in the mail. I’ll take the R-66 helicopter back out. It has a turbine engine that takes up less space and leaves room for a baggage compartment. I spent a couple days shopping at Costco and Fred Meyer. I hit the mother lode, Friday is 4x fuel points.
Saturday morning the 16th Jess and Steve Gahan showed up to help me pack everything and get it to the other side of the airport to Pollux. I think they just came over to make sure I was really leaving, since they have been feeding me almost every night. Chris did an amazing job packing the helicopter. You couldn’t have fit another popsicle stick in. Nice flight. Still quite a bit of open water on the rivers. Glad I took the helicopter. Kari and Thor were waiting when we arrived at the landing spot at the top of the ramp.
Chris left it running while we unloaded. Do you ever notice how much taller you feel when the rotor blades are spinning over your head? Everyone always ducks. We load Thor’s bags and give him a hug. He is off for Hawaii. Meanwhile in Silty Slough there are things to put away, snow to plow, things to repair.
While I was away they turned the Northern Lights on. Thor took pictures and wanted me to post some.
There is some traffic on the river now. Mostly iron doggers, no heavy freight haulers yet. Temps are colder now so it won’t be much longer until we can start hauling.
Jess is coming out for Christmas since Steve has to work. We have the R-66 loaded again with food, supplies, and quilting fabric.
Roger and Andy are going to try to make it to the post office today. First trip in almost 3 months. We are going to try to head to town by snow machine right after new years.
On a side note, I just read the truss plant roof in Anchorage caved in from snow. I thought these were the people that knew all about roof design and snow loads.
From Silty Slough, Kari, Mayor Cooper, Teddy, Oden the cat, Piper, and I wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
My ride to work on Oct. 16.My ride to work most of the time this summer.Silty SloughKari splitting wood to fill the woodshed.The new woodshed.More water today. This time two years ago we were riding on the river to the post office and to the neighbors for Thanksgiving.My ride home. Needed a bigger helicopter for all the supplies. Pollux Helicopters. Robinson R-66.
The View from the Outhouse
Hello friends from Silty Slough. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. It has been so long since I posted a view I had to go to the hangar and retrieve the classified archives sitting beside Kari’s Corvette. I want to keep my story straight and not repeat myself. As I continue the journey around the sun I’m trying not to let the old man in. When I’m writing or talking I try to remember if I’ve already told that story. When I’m writing or talking I try to remember if I’ve already told that story.
The river started to freeze up nice a week ago then the temp warmed up and the rains started. 34 degrees today at 11am. It’s not looking good for a trip to the post office anytime soon.
The day after the big road trip adventure with brother EJ, I jumped right into my next adventure.
I may have mentioned in an earlier view that I ran into my friend and former neighbor Lars at Costco. He flies a corporate jet for a company in Anchorage. He mentioned that it was hard to keep pilots, they keep moving on to airline jobs. Now he is just using contract pilots instead of a full time pilot. I made the remark, “Too bad I’m too old”. He asked, “Do you want to fly? I thought about a half second and said sure. It will be good to have to think about something other than building a cabin and doing everything it takes to live 60 miles from the end of the road. One minor problem, since I had heart surgery I don’t have the required FAA medical certificate. I’ll call the doctor and get on it right away. So after about a year of stress tests, heart monitors, doctor visits, and letters to and from the FAA, I finally received my medical.
I let Lars know right away. We set up a time and did some training. Lars is very patient teaching an old dog new tricks. I hadn’t flown a jet in the ATC system for 6 years. Most things in the 747 happen fairly slow like a big truck, this jet is a sports car, like riding a bullet. Time for my first trip. I’m praying, “Please Lord, don’t let me screw up.” It went pretty good; Lars carried me a lot of the way. I got called for another trip, then another, and another. Most of the time the other contract pilots had commitments so I flew most of the trips all summer. The last trip was during freeze up time, when boats and snow machines don’t work for travel. I took a helicopter to Wolf Lake on October 16 to do a 24 day trip to Seattle and fly around the Northwest. I came back out by helicopter on November 16 with the turkey and everything else on Kari’s AnyList for Thanksgiving and until we can get to town again after the river freezes.
While I was out flying around, staying in hotels, eating at nice places, and efficiently wasting time between flights, Kari and Thor were splitting wood and filling the woodshed we built this summer along with all of the day to day cabin chores. For this I must pay on my return.
I did order in all kinds of spare parts for the generator, boiler, electrical system, and everything else I could think of. No breakdowns, so things went well. Mayor Cooper got sick and we thought he may have to helicopter in but Kari was able to nurse him back to health. I hope he didn’t have to take that awful gout medicine she makes for me. It did cure my gout or I just don’t let the Doc know I have any symptoms.
When I had to go to town for flying trips this summer Kari would take me by boat to one of the lodges to get a ride to town on Rust’s Flying Service. Usually in a Beaver on floats. That was an enjoyable way to commute to work. I think I flew about 40 days this year. It is getting easier and is quite enjoyable.
Back in the 70s my goal was to fly a jet for a company. I guess I finally may have made it.
During the summer when I wasn’t flying we cut trees, split wood, built a woodshed and did everything necessary to get ready for winter when we can haul everything we need up the river for the next summer and winter. Still working on finishing the cabin. Some projects like siding were delayed due to weather and flying.
That about sums everything up since the last post.
From Silty Slough, a below average guy, just trying to do an above average job.
I hope everyone is safe, healthy, and happy.
Thank you Lord for your blessings and for giving us enough.
Good morning from Silty Slough. It is 51 degrees at 7am with more light rain. I read yesterday was the hottest overall temperature for Mother Earth ever recorded. Well they need to fire up all those windmills and spread it around a bit, but I guess that would take too much electricity. The plus is the cool temperatures keeps most of the riffraff out of the area. River is high and running fast, nothing like the current in the Yukon though. Now to post the last day of the trip and close out this adventure so I can start another.
Monday June 19
Ed and I are up early again. Places to go and things to see. 290 miles home today. We are cruising down highway 1 from Tok. It is pretty good with only a few frost heaves and loose gravel patches. Better than most years.
Alaska highways are just single digits since there are less than 10 and most have names. No interstates. I found it odd that Oahu Hawaii has interstate highways. Actually after extensive research (Google) Alaska does have interstate highways designated A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4. The are however exempt from interstate standards. The segment of A-2 from the border to Tok must carry a double exemption.
On down Interstate A-1 near Gakona we pass a big building off in the bushes. This is HAARP- High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project. Supposed to be studying the ionosphere. Some think they are controlling the weather, causing a drought in North Korea etc. I think it is how the Northern Lights are powered. Just my humble opinion. The scenery is beautiful along this stretch with Wrangle-St. Elias National Park off the left. It is clear and the mountains are beautiful. Check with my brother Ed, he has all the pictures.
Then it is on to join H-4 for a dozen or so miles to Glennallen. You want to tanker enough fuel to get through here because the fuel is approaching Canada prices $4.84 a gallon. I’ll be glad to get to Palmer Fred Meyer so I can get a dollar off a gallon with my Kroger fuel points. Didn’t stop at Glennallen. Shortly after turning right and leaving H-4 we crossed the Trans Alaska Pipeline. It is above ground off to the left and right side of the road. On past Slide Mountain and Eureka where we spent a lot of time snow machining before we started the cabin at Silty Slough. Now our snow machines are always pulling sleds of supplies in the winter. Gunsight Mountain comes into view. When you see it you will know why it is called that. Soon we are passing Matanuska Glacier off the left. This warrants a photo stop. Then it is on to Palmer and a lunch stop at the Sunrise Cafe. 5 more miles home and Steve is there to help us unload the trailer. He needs a ride to the airport at 8 o’clock. I think we will let him drive alone and pick his truck up tomorrow when I go to the airport to start my new job and next adventure.
Nice leisurely trip, left June 10 arrived June 19. Could have trimmed off a few days but I had stops to make to purchase much needed treasures along the way. 3945.6 miles from North Judson, Indiana, 427 gallons of diesel fuel for 9.24 miles per gallon. Trip number 36 in the ships log. I still need a few more things from the lower 48.
From the Asylum at Silty Slough, friends I wish you well.
Thank you Lord for a safe journey and for giving us enough.
Streets are gravel in Dawson City.This is the highest diesel price we saw $2.049/ liter.Boarding the ferry in Dawson City to cross the Yukon River.
Ferry ride. Very strong current.Northern most US border crossing.
Good morning from Silty Slough. Things got busy and my post are lagging behind as usual.
Sunday June 18
Brother Ed and I are up early in Carmacks, YT. It’s a pretty quiet place. Heading up the road toward Dawson City paralleling the Yukon River. Yes the same river that Ed stripped down and jumped into last night. Something on his bucket list, not on mine. We met the first car coming toward us at mile 21 from Carmacks, the next at mile 27-36-40-52-63, you get the picture no traffic. At about mile 50 there was a dead coyote in the middle of the narrow road. I ask you my friends, just how unlucky does this coyote have to be to end up dead crossing a 20 foot strip of asphalt with all this traffic. I don’t think the Roadrunner had anything to do with this. This shows that when it is your time, it is your time.
On to Dawson about 150 more miles. The pavement ends here and all the streets are gravel. We had some lunch and checked out the sites. Ed had some places to research for another book he is writing. We are on the east side of the Yukon River and Alaska is on farther west. There is no bridge but a ferry. We were ready to head west and got in line. Only had to wait for one short trip and we were ready to drive on. The ferry ride is only 5-10 minutes. Loading and unloading takes the most time. The current in the river is so strong we were pointed almost straight upstream with just a slight right crab to get us to the other side. Now we continue our journey on the Top of the World Highway. After climbing a steep grade the pavement ended in a few miles and we were on a good gravel road with no traffic. The road is almost all on the mountain ridges. They don’t waste any money on guardrails here. If you ever went over the side you would starve to death before you rolled all the way to the bottom. The views were magnificent, I’m concentrating on keeping the rig between the white lines so no pictures. There are no white lines. Somewhere along here we reached the northernmost point of our trip 64 degrees 14 minutes North, the Arctic Circle is 66 degrees 34 minutes a little over 100 miles north of us. On my bucket list to drive up there sometime but near the bottom of the bucket. I’m not sure how much further it is to the US border but after a while we can see the buildings up ahead. I told Ed that if they won’t let a couple of Americans cross here we will swing around and come in from our southern border. Will only take a few more days/weeks. We could unload the Vette for him to drive across and I will fill the trailer with illegals. Should cover our expenses and make a tidy profit. We could drop them off in some sanctuary cities along the way. I’m thinking maybe Seattle and then taking the ferry to Alaska.
Border was no problem. Same questions. Where do you live? What’s in the trailer? Did you buy anything in Canada? Have a safe trip.
The road is paved for 10 miles from the border. I would venture to say the best 10 mile stretch in the state of Alaska then it is back to gravel, not quite as good as the road in Canada but Ok. This route is closed in the winter from outside of Tok to Dawson. Kari and I have ridden it a few times on the “Trek Over the Top” snow machine ride and party in Dawson. The highlight in Dawson is the Sour Toe Cocktail. Google it, I don’t have time here. Anyway back on the road and back to the trip and on to Chicken, Alaska. When the prospectors discovered gold here they wanted to name the place Ptarmigan but no one could spell it so they just called it Chicken. Tastes like ptarmigan. After a brief stop to see the big metropolis it is on to Tok and our room for the night. After fueling and a good meal at Fast Eddie’s it is time for a nap. Fuel is cheaper here about $4.09 a gallon so we added enough to the big tank to get us home to Wolf Lake. It gets expensive again in between at Glenallen.
I had planned to write about the next day when I started but this is too long now. I will try to finish the next leg of the adventure next post.
I hope sometime soon I will get these posts and pictures transferred to my blog at www.siltyslough.com.
I hope everyone had a great 4th. Thanks for listening.
Mile 0. The beginning of the Alaska Highway.One of the many bears.Sign Post Village at Watson Lake. More than 77,000 signs
The Yukon River flows way faster than the Yentna.
The View from the Outhouse
The adventure continues
Thursday June 15
I got a late check out from the Edmonton Airport Holiday Inn and hung around until 1 o’clock. Then I headed for the WalMart to get some items for the trip. Still had time to kill so I stopped in at Costco. A good place to park to wait until brother Ed gets in at 4. I will have a hot dog and a sundae to pass the time. Ed arrived and we headed up the back roads on the west side of Edmonton to one of my usual fueling spots and then on to join Canada 16 headed west. It’s about 300 miles to Grande Prairie, Alberta one fuel stop from the big tank and on to our room for the night. Pretty boring ride but thankful for no problems.
Friday June 16
Our planned stop for the evening is Toad River, British Columbia. I woke up early and aired all 8 tires up to 80psi and checked the oil while Ed was getting ready. The Caterpillar jump start compressor combo from Costco did just fine on the tires. Felt good to use the free electricity I charged it up with at Jim Long’s. We topped off the tanks at Costco first thing then headed to Dawson Creek, BC and mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. A stop at the visitor center for Ed to buy a tee shirt and hat. Then it is on up the road to Ft. Saint John to top off of the fuel tanks for $1.689 per liter. This should get us to Alaska and a refuel at Young’s Chevron in Tok. We are getting 9.1 mpg not bad if you average in the Vet in the back not burning any fuel.
In a few hours we arrive at Ft Nelson. A food stop at A&W for a burger and root beer. In about 50 miles the really pretty part of the trip begins. Up the steep grade over Steamboat Mountain we were able to maintain good speed, about 30 mph, without the transmission or engine overheating. We are really heavy tankering the 100 gallons of extra diesel, but it will come in handy the next couple days. Down the backside of Steamboat “trucks use lower gears” keeping my big #8 shoe off the brake pedal. Anytime your foot is on the brake you are wasting money. On to Stone Mountain Provincial Park and Summit Lake. Then it is a very steep grade downhill. As they said at Mt. Kilimanjaro “Pole, pole” Swahili for slow, slow. Then on to the Toad River Lodge, a Moscow Mule, some cheese and crackers, and a nap.
Saturday June 17
We are up and on the road before 7. Muncho Lake is beautiful as usual even with the clouds and fog in the mountains. This is the very best part of the trip for scenery and wildlife. On past Llaird Hot Springs and the Buffalo on the roadway sign. So far we have seen dead porcupines, a coyote, several brown bears, several black bears, a moose with her calf, buffalo in the roadway, and one live porcupine. At Watson Lake we stopped at sign post village and took some pictures. It’s on to Teslin for a fuel stop and then to Whitehorse for 1 more A&W burger and a root beer. It is reported that the road from Haines Jct to Tok is extremely rough. We are going to deviate and leave the Alaska Highway and head north to Dawson City. 100 miles north of Whitehorse is our stop for the night at Carmacks, Yukon Territory. Same drill. Mule, snacks, nap.
That’s about all that happened except for the Kubota buckets shifting in the bed of the truck. We got those strapped back down. Should be good for the rest of the way. Fuel at Whitehorse was $1.98 a liter x 3.8 liters a gallon divided by the exchange rate of $1.34 Canadian to $1 US equals $5.61 a gallon. Happy to have the extra 100 gal tank and not having to buy any there.
I’m not saying that this trip is expensive but the receipts alone weigh over 6 pounds, but that’s only about 4 pounds Canadian.
Lunch stop near Wisconsin, Dells. Maybe closer to Camp Douglas. Kubota buckets top loaded nice. Redline Systems Hutchinson, MNThe picture says it. No caption necessary.Trophy moose sighted near my hotel in Saskatoon.Starlink Mobile
The View from the Outhouse
Greetings everyone, it’s been a few days since I have checked in, more than 270 I think. I’m writing this from the road in Edmonton, Alberta.
I had a few free days so I decided to fly to Indiana to pick up the truck and trailer that has been down there since before the Covid hoax.
The cabin addition is coming right along but that’s for another post.
Wednesday June 7
Kari took me to the airport for my 10pm departure for a six and a half hour flight to Ohare and picked up our grandson Thor arriving from Hawaii.
Thursday June 8
Arrived at O’hare on time, then waited an hour and a half for the gate. Got to baggage claim and for the first time in my flying life my bag was the first one on the belt. I may have a chance for the 1015 South Shore train to Indiana. Hopped on the Blue Line to the Washington Street station. Took the pedway to Millennium Stataion. The 1015 train left a few minutes ago so now a wait for the 1238. So for breakfast I had my first Chicago Dog that I’ve had in a long long time. Arrived at the Gary station and everyone is getting off. End of the line for now due to upgrades on the track. So it’s a bus for the last leg to Dune Park where Jim Long is waiting for me. Picked up the truck at Anderson Automotive where John had serviced all the fluids.
I type a few words and my phone completes what I’m trying to say. I typed “The View” and the phone completed the rest. Is the the artificial intelligence that has been in the news lately? And all this time I thought artificial intelligence came out of a bottle.
Friday June 9
I had planned to leave on Sunday morning, but the woman added a stop, so now I need to leave Saturday afternoon. Lots to do. On the road before 6 for a quick trip to White Pigeon, MI to a RV surplus place to get a couple spare tires for the trailer. Back to Costco for food for the trip. Boiled eggs, ham, sausage, cheese, lemon juice, ginger beer, vodka, and root beer which will be the majority of my diet for the next week and a half. Then to Home Depot for some ratchet straps and a DeWalt drill and driver set in case I need to screw things down for the trip. On to Michigan City for a couple Chicago Dogs then to Valpo to see Mark, Jess, and the granddaughters. Picked up a solar powered vent fan for the greenhouse that Amazon Prime wouldn’t ship to Alaska. A stop at Tractor Supply for a fuel transfer pump. Back to North Judson to see my friends at NAPA. Joe had some filters and parts for me. He also had a Milwaukee drill driver set that was only a little more than the DeWalt I just bought so I got one of those. Never can have too many drills. At the Longs I moved the trailer down to the shop and unloaded everything that was loose so it could be reloaded for the ride north. I’m too tired to load everything today so it is time to break out the lemon juice and have a Moscow Mule, some pizza, and a nap. Funny thing a Moscow Mule has nothing to do with Russia or mules.
Saturday June 10
Time to load up this box on wheels and get ready to hit the road. About 3 hours Jim and I had everything loaded and secured. What does one haul to Alaska you ask?
A 1974 Corvette, 2 large cookers for Jess to cook bear bait on, tools for the road, a desk that Kari’s dad made, 2 spare trailer tires, an extra spare for the truck, filters, parts, a mirror for the cabin, 4 antique sewing machine frames, and an assortment of other treasures. Air the tires, fuel the truck, get a dozen doughnuts from Fingerhut Bakery and it is about time to leave. Another quick trip to NAPA for last minute items which I promptly drove off and left in Jim’s truck. I’m really sad to go this time because I’m missing the North Judson Firemen’s Fish Fry by about 4 hours. Then it’s through downtown Chicago on to the northwest side of Milwaukee to pick up 13 garbage bags of quilting fabric for the woman. On to Madison Holiday Inn via Johnson Creek Outlets where there is a discount tool store. Disappointed that they didn’t have anything I couldn’t live without. Feeding on doughnuts and food out of my cooler today.
Sunday June 11
Heading north up US12 to Wisconsin Dells. Stopped for fuel when walking around the big rig I saw a screw in the trailer tire. Checked the pressure and it was only down slightly. I aired it up and decided to head on to the next rest stop and change it. I didn’t want people watching the old guy changing it at the gas station. Just when I pulled in the rest stop it started to rain. I googled “tire repair near me”. It’s Sunday and everyone is closed except one guy about 6 miles behind me. I called and he said to bring it down. 8 miles to next exit make a U and 14 miles back. He plugged it and said $20. I thought that was an awful lot so I gave him $30. On to Hudson, Wisconsin and a stop at Fleet Farm where I got a canner and jar lids for the woman. I fuel up here and headed around the north side of Minneapolis to St Cloud Holiday Inn. Cory’s uncle and aunt met me to give me some things to take to him, a table saw, Arctic Cat parts, and other treasures. They also had Arctic Cat parts they had picked up for me.
Monday June 12
This morning I’m headed 50 miles south to Redline Systems in Hutchinson, MN to pick up a quick attach bucket, a rock bucket, and a set of quick attach forks for the Kubota. We loaded them on top of the fuel tank and travel box in the bed of the pickup. Hope customs doesn’t want to look in the travel box. Matt the owner wanted to know what else I was hauling to Alaska. I told him a Corvette. What year? 74. It isn’t red is it? Yes. Do you want to sell it? Do you want to be named co-respondent in a divorce case? I could load you up with buckets to sell in Alaska. Next trip. Off to Devils Lake, North Dakota. I could see the tallest structure in North America a TV tower north of Fargo. Most days you can’t see it from I-29 and I was surprised with the haze from the fires in Canada. It doesn’t look that tall from 15 or 20 miles away. Al and I drove by it on one trip. It looks very tall from the base. Up to Grand Forks and a fuel stop. On to Devils Lake on US 2 I saw a couple billboards and a semi advertising “Home of Economy” tools and hardware. As I rolled into Devels Lake there it was Home of Economy, I had to stop. I was barely in the door and my phone rang, the woman on the wire. Where are you? I figured it would be easier to tell her I was in a strip club than a tool store but I fessed up. “Put the tools down. Step away from the register”. I’ve had interventions like this before. I did find a better pump than I bought at Tractor Supply for $70 cheaper and should have bought it but didn’t.
Tired of eating out of the cooler so I found a steakhouse with a large parking lot for the big rig and had a nice meal.
Tuesday June 13
I was on the road by 630 headed to the next Home of Economy in Minot. The woman won’t be up this early in Alaska. Bought the items that I left in Jim’s truck. It’s about 80 miles or so to the border at Portal. 6 or 8 questions at customs. How long in Canada. Where do you live. Any alcohol. Yes. Any tobacco, firearms, ammo, canibus. No. $10,000 or more in cash? Are you kidding. What’s the black thing in the pickup bed? Kubota buckets and a nuclear reactor. Ok, have a nice day. Up the road to Moose Jaw and an early finish for the day.
Wednesday June 14
Another early start. I saw a Starlink antenna like I have at the cabin mounted in the back of an oilfield pickup in the hotel parking lot. Wonder if it works on the move.
I ate my last Fingerhut doughnut this morning on the way to Saskatoon where the traffic was bad, delayed a total of 7 minutes. Doughnut was a little crunchy but ok. Waste not, want not. Stopped in North Battleford with the fuel low light on. No problem. It’s time to start using out of the hundred gallon tank. Hooked it up to the truck battery, no workey. I knew I should have bought that other pump at the tool store. I wiggled the wires and it is ok. Glad the syphon hose is in the yellow box that is under 600 pounds of Kubota buckets.
Stop at Lethal Sports in Lloydminster Alberta to pick up a part for the Prowler. One of the few places in the world they had one.
Across Canada they have cardlock fueling points operated by various oil companies. The fuel is cheaper and accessible 24/7. One is UFA, United Farmers of Alberta. I tried to get a card from them years ago. Didn’t happen so I forgot about it. I saw UFA prices listed on the GasBuddy app so I decided to pull into the one at Vermillion. I told the lady there I needed a card. She said easy peasy, took my info to enter in the computer and said that a card would be in the mail. She also said if I wanted to fuel today I could use one of their cards if I would return it. Worked great. I can’t believe that I’m getting a card now that I’m in the Autumn of my Alcan trips. Maybe I will have to start hauling and selling Redline buckets.
It was raining when I got to the Holiday Inn at Edmonton Airport. I normally don’t come this way. Usually take the backroads and completely bypass the city. Too many cars. My brother Ed is flying up from California to join me for the rest of the adventure.
I didn’t feel like making another trip to the truck in the rain so I opted to have a steak salad at the hotel restaurant. Plenty of time to forage from the cooler the next 3or 4 days.
Greetings from Silty Slough. 24 degrees this morning with a little less ice floating down the river. Clear and sunny but pretty windy. I think it may have gotten up to 36 degrees in the afternoon. Day 13 with the cell tower down. I have sent many messages to Kari with the Spot Emergency locator. Only a couple of her replies have made it to me.
Yesterday I took my ready heater apart to see why it wasn’t working. This mornings project is to finish checking it out. When I took it apart the motor would barely turn, I freed that up and fired it up on the bench. I could see that no fuel was getting up to the nozzle, since Cory and I had replaced all the hoses last year with clear ones. I pulled the air pump off and cleaned the filters. Fired it up again and the fuel started up the line but didn’t quite make it to the nozzle. Maybe the nozzle is plugged a bit or the pump is weak. I know, I’ll disconnect the line from the pump and blow in the line to the nozzle with the air compressor. I finally found the blow gun by looking for a tape measure I lost. You know that you can’t just look for the item you need and expect to find it. You have to be looking for something else and suddenly the other item you need appears. I still need to find the Milwaukee 16’ tape measure and my good pair of Knipex wire stripping pliers. I blew in the line with the compressor and a fine mist came out of the nozzle. Why don’t I flip the switch and fire it up using the air compressor. What could possibly go wrong. Well I did. The thing lit off and blew a flame out past the end of the heater about 3 feet. Looked like the Bat mobile. Pretty cool. I got it shut down right away so nothing got on fire. Guess I’ll get a new pump on order when the cell tower starts working again.
Now that it warmed up outside the next project is to get a wood splitter going. Worked out good just filled the tank with fresh gas and it started right up. Nothing like a Honda “Easy Start”
Back inside to use the canned foam around the upstairs windows and fill some gaps the insulators couldn’t. I did a little better this time.
I was just taking a break and having a tuna salad sandwich so I could use up another boiled egg. By the way I made deviled eggs last night, turned out good and used up 8 of my boiled eggs. Now it’s Don 35 eggs 15.
I heard this rumble and the boys started barking. Probably the guys from the Air Guard checking up on me with a C-130. I went out on the deck and waited, a Cessna that I didn’t recognize came by for another low pass. I waved and it circled again this time lining up on the cabin. Just as he went over, out the window came a small black package with bright green streamers. I’m thinking it sure is nice that someone is thinking of me. Brought tears to my eyes. Then I remembered the car warranty guy that can’t get in touch with me since the cell tower is still down. The wind blew the package over the bluff about 20 feet so I had to climb down to get it. It is pretty steep so it took me a while in the snow. I’m excited, can’t wait to see who it is from. I went back inside the cabin and finally got it open. It was really packed good for the drop. Inside was a Garmin Inreach Emergency Locator and an Icom aviation band radio from Jess Gahan and Cody Kreitel the pilot. There was a printed message from Kari letting me know that our Mother had a stroke Friday and everyone was just waiting and praying for her recovery. I sent Kari a message right away with the Inreach and asked for any updates about Mother. The dreaded message came back that Mother had passed away 30 minutes earlier. She has had a good long life of 92 years, we would have liked to have had her with us even longer, it is comforting to know that she is in heaven tonight.
Kari is in Michigan with her dad. Her stepmom had surgery on the 17th and is still in the hospital not doing well at all. So she can’t leave Michigan right now.
Tonight I really feel all alone, stranded here for now. I can’t call and talk to Kari or the rest of my family. The boys can tell I’m really sad and have been hanging very close to me. I really can’t thank Jess and Cody enough for getting the Inreach to me.
Well friends, a sad night at the slough, everyone stay safe and healthy.
Thank you Lord for watching over us and for saving a spot in heaven for our Mother for all these years.
The View from the Outhouse 