7/25/1991 - Thursday

John:  Well, it was very cloudy this morning and yucky, so we decided to hit the road.  We ran out of propane last night some time, so had to get some today.  We had planned to camp at Flathead Lake, but the sky was full of major black clouds, so we stopped and got a few groceries and hit the road again.  Flathead Lake was quite nice and big.  We saw a nice bald eagle flying in Montana just outside of Missoula.  We drove 181 miles today.  We also washed the truck today with a car wash that did soap... (all the car washes in Alaska & Yukon only had water.)  The truck looks good!  We are camped at Beavertail State Recreation Area in Ravenna, Montana.  Nice private wooded spot.  Plan to make a fire, as there was some wood left here.

ODOM:  30933

7/9/1991 - Tuesday

John:  We drove158 miles on the Top of the World Highway to Dawson City.  It rained and snowed on us along the way.  The rain eliminated any dust problem, but created muddy roads for 200 miles.  The truck was very muddy.  We ran out of propane and waited for almost an hour for the guy who does propane to wake up in Chicken, Alaska population = 25!  He never woke up, so we put our stuff into our ice chest and split.  We didn't get the full effect of the scenery due to the clouds, fog, rain & snow.  We had to take a free ferry to cross the Yukon River to get to Dawson City.  Dawson City is all dirt roads with old old buildings.  We arrived after the bank closed, so we had to find a place to stay, as we need to convert some money.  We had just enough Canadian money left over to get the camp spot (lovely parking lot), wash the main mud off the truck, and to have a pizza in town.  While at the pizza joint, Peter and Betty walked in!  We didn't have a chance to talk much as they couldn't get in the restaurant because it was so crowded... maybe we’ll catch up with them tomorrow.

ODOM:  28358

Kari:  I found a pair of moose antlers today, but I could not keep them.  That ferry boat ride we went on today was barely any fun because it was so short.

On board the Hwy 9 Ferry.

Hwy 9 Ferry.

6/19/1991 - Wednedsay

John:  Low mileage day today... only drove 148 miles.  We stopped in Vancouver, Washington at an RV place to check out the “lean” in the truck... Most likely cause by all the weight in the roof carrier on that side.  Guy said it was still safe & shouldn't be any problem.  Our main attraction today was Mount Saint Helens.  The weather was cloudy...  Like major fog when we were leaving.  You couldn’t see more than 20 feet ahead of you.  The narrow twisty road (with no guard rails) was pretty spooky.  Had to drive very slow (in 1st gear) cause you just couldn’t see where you were going.  Lucky for us, it wasn’t that bad when we first got there, although we didn’t have a clear view of the volcano.  The devastation was unbelievable (even after seeing it!!), it’s hard to imagine the force that came out of that volcano.  You can’t believe what you see!  The literature states the initial blast blew over or left standing dead 230 square miles of what used to be deep dark forest.  At “miner’s car” which is 8 1/2 miles away, the blast reached there in less than a minute.  We got to view Spirit Lake and there’s still hundreds of thousands of huge trees still floating at the end of the lake.  The destruction was so awesome!  We left Mt. St. Helens Mountain to Iron Creek only a few miles away.  The spot is real nice.  It’s got huge trees (150-200 ft tall) all around.  It  started raining right after I BBQ’d hamburgers & it’s still raining.  There’s a lot of great camp spots here. 

ODOM: 25313

Kari says:  the trees left standing on Mt. St. Helens are skeleton trees.  Kari found a 6 in long slug.  She had a lot of trouble washing the slime off her hands.

Susan, Joe, Helen & Kari the morning we left Portland.

Skeleton Trees

Logs In Lake

Logs in lake & felled trees on hillside.

Miner's Car

Kari & Susan in front of the destruction.

Susan, Karen & Kari in front of the truck & camper.

Kari & Susan on large tree stump.

Kari & her Slug.