March, 2007 Share our excitement as we prepare for the vacation of a lifetime!

The Carters, human and canine, are preparing for a motorhome trip through British Columbia, the Canadian Rockies, the Yukon and Alaska. We will be traveling in our 31-foot motorhome, a Holiday Rambler Admiral 30PDD, and towing our 4-wheel-drive Suzuki Samurai for off-road exploring. We rented a motorhome in the summer of 2002 for a tour of the National Parks of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. After 17 days and 3000 miles, we returned the rental coach and went RV shopping almost immediately. We bought a 25-foot Georgie Boy Landau and traveled frequently for the next 3½ years. Then, we decided we wanted to go to Alaska and began preparing for the trip. First, we traded up to a roomier coach, our current HR Admiral. We ordered the coach from the factory, waiting over 3 months for it to be built with our chosen options. We included a bigger AC, dual-pane windows and extra batteries, all with an eye towards this trip. We have installed solar panels and an inverter so we can camp without services anywhere along the way. Now, with 2 months remaining before departure, we are packing and organizing our supplies for a 3-month adventure through all types of terrain and climate.

California sunset

California sunset
One of our favorite camping spots on Rincon Parkway, old Route 1, between Ventura and Santa Barbara, CA

Route Map

Route Map
58-Day Alaska RV Caravan

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Departure Day - at last!

Our departure was delayed due to several unexpected problems at home. The house refrigerator died just days before leaving. We had to shift all the food into the RV 'fridge (even food not planned for the trip). Then we had to shop for a new one and wait for delivery so we'd have somewhere to put leftovers on our return. Also, packing just took longer than planned. We finally left LA on Tuesday May 22. We had to skip a side trip to San Francisco to visit friends. Instead, we zipped up the I-5, stopping for dinner at Harris Ranch (>$100 for Beef Wellington, a nice grilled steak and 2 glasses of Pinot Noir!), and stayed in their truck/RV parking lot for the night. (After blowing the daily budget on prime ranch-raised beef, it was nice to have a free, if noisy, campsite.)

Wednesday found us at Lake Shasta, in the wooded Forest Service campground at Lakehead. We noticed that the blooming wildflowers changed as we drove north - here the lupine was just finishing its bloom while at home it was long past. However, the lake was low - about the same level as we saw on our stop last August, despite the winter inflow. Just north of the lake, Mount Shasta still has a deep snow cover.

On Thursday May 24 we passed into Oregon and stopped at a membership RV park in Sutherlin, OR, north of Roseburg. Then we spent Memorial Day weekend with friends at Silver Falls State Park near Salem, OR. We had a light shower Sunday morning. It was nice to see water falling from the sky after Southern California's winter of drought. The woods are lush and green in Oregon and there are ferns and wildflowers everywhere. The lupine is in full spike and so thick at the edges of the woods that the ground is solid purple or blue. Silver Falls State Park is known for its waterfalls, including several where the trail goes behind the falls. We visited four waterfalls in two short hikes during the weekend. It's a unique experience to have water cascading over you while standing behind the fall. Each of our trips seems to develop a theme without our planning one. This time, the theme seems to be waterfalls - more about that later.
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