1/26/13 Waco, Tx

Since returning from Alaska we’ve been staying in Belton, Tx to watch our grandkids while Bonnie worked through the holidays.  She now has a job that is Monday through Friday 8-5 so she is able to pick up the kids after work.  We were in Belton approximately 3.5 months.  Then we moved up to Georgetown for 10 days and got all of our annual Dr. Appointments out of the way.  10 days was not enough time to see everyone I wanted to see but we were ready to move on.  Lake Georgetown is a nice campground but because they don’t have sewer hookup we can’t stay in one place much more than 10 days so we moved on up to Waco a few days ago.  We had bought ¾ of an acre here last year and had planned to put in the electric and a gravel driveway in order to live in our RV there.  We’re still trying to decide if we want to do the improvements now or just wait until we return in the fall.  For now we are staying at Riverside RV Park about 10 miles from our property. 

I’ve been looking for a work camping job for this summer.  Yellowstone National Park is where I REALLY wanted to work so we applied and were contacted for a phone interview.  The interview took almost an hour and we were offered a position if interested.  They only have full time work, we don’t want to work that many hours.  It’s an extremely busy park and we don’t want to work that hard.  Minimum wage pay and they charge you for your campsite.  Maybe some other time.  I’m very disappointed that’s not going to work for us.  Maybe we can find something in the area so we can enjoy Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks one summer. 

We’ve applied with several places, Rocky Mountain Recreation Area, Snow Mountain YMCA, Colorado State Parks, a dude ranch, a lodge near Bryce Canyon, Utah (LOVE Bryce Canyon) and interestingly enough we’ve been offered several positions.  However I am being very picky and have certain criteria to be met.  We don’t want to travel far this summer, elevation can’t be too high or too low, temperatures can’t get real high, there has to be plenty to see and do in the area, not too much work or hours involved and I want to work with other work campers, and getting paid would be a big plus as well as a free campsite.  We don’t want to work 40 hours, 20-30 would be good.  After all, we’re looking for a fake job, not a real one!  We accepted a job at Ridgway State park in Colorado.  After much research the area is perfect (near Ouray). Lots of hiking and historical sites.  Within driving distance to a lot of sites.  The job meets all of my criteria except pay.  We get a campsite but it does not pay.  It involves riding around in a golf cart checking campsites, preparing sites after someone departs (sweep patio, clean out fire pit, etc).  It’s a nice area, 7,000 ft. elevation.  No cleaning bathrooms.  We do have to work in the visitor center one day a week.  Oh, and we have to be nice to the campers, that could be hard.  Lol.  What I’ve found out in general is that part time jobs offer a FHU site but don’t pay.  I have seen some jobs in Oregon and Washington that have fewer hours and pay, maybe next year we’ll go there.  I subscribed to workcamper.com where there are many job listed but a lot I’ve found just surfing the internet.  There are free sites that have work camper jobs posted as well.  I’ve kept information on jobs I may want to check on next summer. 

We report to our jobs the last week of May and work through Labor Day.  The plan right now (it changes daily) is to go up to Tahlequah, OK to get Norm’s dental work done in April.  Stay in that area a couple weeks to see family and friends.  Maybe take a trip over to Arkansas (Eureka Springs?) for a week or so before heading to Colorado.  I’m ready to just do something!

Retirement pictures from recent annual staff recognition event at SU:

 

 

 

ALASKA PICTURES

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FINAL THOUGHTS ON ALASKA

Sorry it's taken so long to post. Life happened I guess. 

ALASKA/CANADA STATS AND THOUGHTS:

We left Texas on May 6^th to make our way up North, making a lot of stops along the way to visit family, see sights, etc.  We entered Canada on May 24 and Alaska on June 19, 2012.  We left Alaska on Aug. 24^th and entered back into the lower 48 (Montana) on Sept. 2^nd.   Plenty of time to thoroughly enjoy Alaska, knowing it would be a long trip and we would most likely never return.  A Trip of a lifetime.   We enjoyed the Canadian Rockies on the way up. Most wildlife (bears) was seen in Canada and the Yukon on the way up, when spring flowers were abundant on the side of the road which they love to eat.  The Alcan highway was not as bad as I imagined it would be, still it was rough and you had to be careful, especially in the spring before they had a chance to repair damage from the previous winter.   I don’t know how many times we said we were glad we didn’t bring our nice RV.   We had a guard installed on the front of our truck to protect it from rocks flying through the radiator.  An expense I wouldn’t do again.  Mosquitoes were not as bad as we had been told, take repellant and maybe a head net (they have lots for sale up there real cheap, the only thing that’s cheap up there).  I never even put on repellant or the head net, Norm did but the mosquitoes like him better than me.  Other than Anchorage or Fairbanks, many towns don’t have descent stores, grocery choices are limited. 

There’s really only one road into and around Alaska, so itinerary choices are easy to make.  Go clock-wise or counter clock-wise.  We wanted to end up in Fairbanks where the Aurora is best seen so we went clockwise in hopes of seeing it in August.  The RV traffic wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.  Norms thinks it’s because most people go counter clock-wise.  I think maybe the price of gasoline kept people from traveling so far. Who knows. 

Round trip expenses from Texas to Alaska:

Gasoline  $4,922
Propane  $130
Entertainment $2,385 (Admission fees, day cruises, fishing guide, etc).
RV Park camping fees:   $3,052.70

We drove approximately 10,500 miles round trip from Texas.  We were gone and camped a total of 130 nights.  Boondocked (free) 30 nights making our average nightly camp fee $23.48.  If you don’t count boondocking the average is $30.53 a night for the 100 nights we paid.  We were actually in Canada and Alaska 101 days, the rest in the lower 48. 

Is there anything I wish we’d done?  Not really, we had plenty of time to thoroughly see and do everything we wanted.   It can be done in a much shorter time if you fast track.  We had plenty of time so took it slow and easy.  I do wish we had stayed a little longer to enjoy the aurora borealis.  It was a magical thing that we enjoyed sooooo much.  If you don’t have long to spend in Alaska I suggest you go in August.  It’s the shoulder season so not as many tourist and you get a chance to see the aurora borealis that time of year as it’s getting pretty dark by then.  They usually start seeing the lights the 2^nd or 3^rd week in August, but this year they were spotted August 6^th, which is when I started getting up at night to look. See “The auroral borealis notification” facebook page and sign up to receive a text on your cell phone when the lights are spotted.   It’s also easier to sleep in August because it’s getting dark at night.

Must Do’s:

*Make the trip to Valdez. It’s a BEAUTIFUL scenic drive.  Valdez is the “Little Switzerland” of Alaska.  Unbelievable.

*While in Valdez take a glacier cruise to Mears glacier.  It’s the only one you can get close to that’s calving.  Plus driving through the huge chunks of ice is really something to see. 

*Take a wildlife cruise out of Seward, the wildlife we saw were incredible. I almost didn’t go because we’d been on a cruise in Valdez, but I’m so glad I did. 

*The Ice Museum at Chena Hotsprings Resort.  Although I wasn’t impressed with the resort I did enjoy the Ice Museum there, and the free campground just south of there “48 Mile Pond”. 

*See the Aurora Borealis (mid to late August or later). I can’t believe how many tourist sleep through this! 

*Tour the Museum in Fairbanks at the University of Alaska. Even if you’re not a museum person, this is a must see.

*Denali National Park – Take a bus ride to the Eilsen Center (8 hours round trip). Lot’s of wildlife along the way. 

Things I wouldn’t do again:

*Go on a fishing charter.  Even if I hadn’t gotten sea sick and threw up most the day, It was $300 a person. The guides bait your hook, throw the line in the water, the pole stays in the holder on the side of the boat and the guide tells you when to reel it in. I didn’t see the sport in this, thought it ridiculous. I still don’t know who caught the fish, me?  The guide?  Hmmmm..  BUT, my husband and brother (he flew in for 1 week) enjoyed it very much.  Guess it’s a guy thing.   Here’s a tip: If you like to fish, spend the money on equipment and fish in Soldotna on the bank of the Kenai River.  Lot’s of fishermen pulling in salmon here, but check the salmon run dates first.  It looked like a lot of fun. 

*I wouldn’t spend a lot of time in Homer (although others love it).  It was very “tourist trap” like.  Good to visit a couple days maybe, but I don’t think I would even bother going back.  Same as Skagway, I wouldn’t go there again, but the train ride there was magnificent with beautiful scenery. 

By not making reservations in advance we could decide when & where to go as we pleased.  A good strategy for camping is this:  Arrive at rv parks early afternoon so you have a choice of sites and room to maneuver without crowds.   Also pay for a few days then decide if you want to stay longer. It usually isn’t a problem to extend your stay.  However, if you want to leave early you don’t get a refund. 

Places I would definitely return to:

Valdez (it has the most beautiful harbor I’ve ever seen), Hope (for it’s small town charm and small live band venues), Denali National Park (for it’s forested beauty, hiking and wildlife), 48 mile Pond campground near Chena Hotsprings/Fairbanks (free, beautiful pondside sites), Gerstile River campground (near Tok,free riverside camping, great open space for aurora viewing).  Banff National Park in Canada (lots of scenic hiking), I’ve heard this would also be a good aurora borealis viewing area. 

Places I may visit if I return that I haven’t been to:

Chicken, Dawson City, Top of the World Highway, Manley Hotsprings.  We weren’t real hot on seeing these things, but if I returned and wanted to visit new places I would most likely see these.