RV Adventures

FINALLY! It’s really happening. Third time’s a charm.

After two aborted attempts to spend the summer in Alaska (2023 = I needed a knee replacement, 2024 = RV issues), we are finally heading to Alaska. James got a “go ahead” from the doctors last Wednesday (begrudgingly) and early Thursday morning we set off.

We’ve been putting in some long days, with a stop every couple of hours for James to stretch his legs and get his blood moving. No more pulmonary embolisms for this guy! By Friday evening, we were up in Denver where we had dinner with James’s nephew Andy. It had probably been five years since we had seen him! We had a lot of catching up to do.

We are driving, driving, driving. A lot of these parts of the USA we have been through before. So there really isn’t a reason to stop. Plus, we need to be in Anchorage by June 6th to pick up Janelle at the airport so she can join us for a week.

Canada welcomed us a few days ago with no issues. Yay! We love you Canada.

We are now in Hinton, Alberta, a town we first visited 11 years ago. From Hinton, we can pick up the scenic road to the ALCAN (Alaska-Canadian Highway). Then the real adventure starts.

We are enjoying the views of the Canadian Rockies off to our west. Again, we are skipping that area. We have visited the Canadian Rockies twice.

The shorts and short sleeve t-shirts have been put away (for now). It colder up north here! This morning, we woke up to 24 degrees. I’m thankful our RV is on 50 amp power. We are also definitely noticing the longer days. The sun set at 9:45 last night. The days are only going to keep getting longer!

It is amazing how much connectivity technology has changed since our last visit 11 years ago. I remember then using a payphone and a AT&T calling card to check in with our kids. This time, our cell phones work all through Canada for voice and text plus we also have 2 GB of data a day. We aren’t going to be watching Netflix while going down the highway, but Google Maps and email are working flawlessly (as long as we have cell service of course).

When we first moved to New Mexico, we had very few options for Internet at our new house, so we bought a Starlink setup. We used that for the first year until a cheaper cellular option came along…the Starlink has been packed away for the past year. Our USA based cellular hot-spots serve us well for Internet when traveling in the States, but they won’t work in Canada. So we got the Starlink back out. It takes a few minutes to set up and we can’t use it in motion. But it is working GREAT at campgrounds. No cell connection needed…which will be the case the further north we go.

We are going to spend today regrouping, doing laundry, etc. Before crossing the border, we had to use up all the fresh veggies and chicken products/eggs (due to bird flu), so a stop at the grocery store is a must. Basically we will be catching up on life. Tomorrow we head further north.

Our next blog post will be from the ALCAN. Alaska, here we come!