Day 60 was our last planned drive as part of the caravan to Sintich RV Park in Prince George, BC. It started with Ricky’s last thump of tires. It was only 223 mile and with the good roads we made great time. With the photo scavenger hunt over, we had no planned stops so we only stopped for lunch and walks for Ty. Once we hit Prince George, we did stop at Walmart to stock up on food and supplies.
That evening we had a final all you can eat buffet dinner at Carmel Inn. It was great to be with all of our caravan members for one final dinner. Lynn read a poem she had written, that she shared and I have saved below. My favorite part was the mention of how Randy and Mitch are always the first to leave the campground.
Alaska 2019 Closing Thoughts
by Lynn Yeso
shared by Lynn on our final night at the farewell dinner
Our journey began on July 9; trailer, fifth wheel and bus,
Questions going through our minds….what if we don’t like them or…what if they don’t like us….
Folks from many of the lower 48, couples, pets and rigs to learn,
All from different walks of life, and lots of new friendships to earn
We traveled to many places and got to know each other well…
Some were a little quirky, but most were really swell.
Nancy organized Cluster, and oh what a treat,
To share pictures with all of us
What our cameras just can’t quite reach.
Mitch and Randy were known as number ones in,
With Indy Jim driving faster than some roads would recommend
We crossed the borders; wine in tow
Hoping we can just go…
Yukon Gold In the back
Minus the blackened toe
Our leaders, Carol and John were the best all around,
They worked so hard to make it fun…
Our meals were superb,
And desserts when we were done
Our tail gunners, Ricky and Deb, kicked us out of bed,
Get those rigs moving, set trip meter to 0 and cruise on
White Pass train, Denali rain,
The breweries were found.
The rivers wide, lots of dust inside
And Alaska’s magnificent terrain
Smashed in head buffalo jump,
Was quite a sight to see,
The sled dog runs, and lots of sun,
Made our days carefree
A windshield crack or two,
Some tires going flat
Wheel bearings need replaced
Some tow car problems….a black tank cracked!
This group is special as everyone pitched in
To get us all rolling again!
What made this trip the best, top of the world,
Dawson City, Homer and Tok,
Traveling the roads we soon found,
Frost heaves are no joke.
Downtown Chicken, bears with fish,
Salmon ladders, touches of fall,
Our faces in awe, a driver named Kat,
Tasty dishes adding some fat
Wildlife cruises, Homer’s shore,
Majestic mountains and so much more
Linda played and sang,
Brian karaoked for us all
Jokes were flying, Peaches and Gary played sweet tunes
And The sista’s had a ball!
We’ve shared so much and have come to love these faces,
We laughed, we’ve cried, played hand and foot on a boat,
With wonderful memories of all these magical places
so as your journey in life, takes you to the new….don’t forget these happy faces.
It’s hard to say goodbye and leave all these beautiful places
We’ll meet again, so we’ll just say, not goodbye, but see ya later….
Knowing our paths will cross again, Maybe around the equator
You’ve changed our lives and made the trip sweeter,
Memories made and friendships too
And May God’s richest blessings,…..go with each of you!
Day 61 was a short morning with only the final breakfast and goodbye hugs and tears with all of our new friends that shared our glorious summer traveling with the Fantasy caravan through Canada and Alaska. Gil and Carolyn headed out very early before our breakfast so I did not get another chance to say goodbye to them. We gave our farewell thank you cards and gifts to our Wagon Masters, John and Carol Ruwet Tesley and Tail Gunners, Ricky and Debbie Betts for all of their work during our caravan and for their part in making Randy’s dream of returning to Alaska a wonderful experience.
As we were getting ready to leave, I lost my phone so as I looked, I had an excuse to tell everyone goodbye again. After we found my phone and hooked up the Jeep, all that was left was our final Love Ya, Bye-Bye to Debbie as she was waiting at the exit as we left the park! I think we took a wrong turn after leaving the park because we missed the station where we were going to fill up. It didn’t take us long to get back on track, but I was already missing our travel log to help guide us on our way!
We headed East on 16 to start our journey home where we spotted 5 bears, which is the most for us at one time. We saw a sow with two cubs and 2 young black bears. Probably youngsters. It seemed like a perfect ending to our marvelous trip. We heard later than Roy and Teri had a flat tire, Peaches had stayed to have some work done on their RV and a few others stayed for an extra day. If we had stopped at Hinton’s KOA like we had discussed early in the day, we would have met up with some of our caravan members again. Instead we traveled 456 miles from Prince George, BC, to Edmonton, AB, Canada for our stop for the night. This is the most miles we have done in one day for quite a while. Yellowhead Highway 16 East has been a pleasure to drive with just a few construction delays. The road deteriorates a little after it turns into a 4 lane Highway after leaving Jasper, but compared to the other roads we have been on the last 2 months, you won’t hear us complaining. At least not for a little while!
The Fraser River Valley area was green and lush looking in comparison to many of the areas we have been in lately. Farms and livestock galore. I was glad we did not have to go over the snow-covered Mount Robson, at 12,972 feet, but could go around this highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. This is still short in comparison to Denali at 20,310 feet that we saw a few weeks ago. But we did not get nearly as close to Denali. As we went through Jasper National Park, it was good to see people out in the water enjoying the sunshine and warmer weather.
I finally noticed some fall colors starting again after we passed Hinton but I think their peak is still several weeks away. There were lightning strikes off in the distance, but we maintained our distance from the darker storm clouds following us. I guess some of the dust and dirt on the RV will get washed off later tonight while we are stopped as they are calling for more rain tonight.
