Palmetto State Park – January 2019 and January 2020

This year we stopped at Palmetto State Park for one night as we journeyed on to Falcon State Park where we were officially beginning our winter snowbirding experience. But we have fond memories of our stay there last year when we met up with some of our Wisconsin friends. Since I did not publish the blog last year, I will include both experiences simultaneously.

January 2020

After leaving the guy who repaired our trailer brakes, we had an uneventful drive and got to Palmetto State Park before dark. We got set up, and then Opa took the truck to fuel up and get some great BBQ from the Luling City Market to fuel us up too. We did a walk after dinner on the trails and headed out the next morning to Falcon State Park.

January 2019

We had a little time before our rv park reservation near our daughter’s house, so we met friends at Palmetto State Park near San Antonio.

Driving into the trailer campground is like driving into another world or at least another totally different environment. Dwarf palmetto plants surround the swamps in the park which makes you think that you are in a tropical climate. The palmettos are huge and beautiful and at times dwarfing you. It was fun to walk the trail and photograph the nature there.

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Heading South – January 2020

After a wonderful family Christmas, it was time to pack up and head south again to run away from the cold and snowy tundra. We watched for a good weather opening and took off. We want to officially begin our trip at Falcon State Park near the southwestern border of Texas where the US meets Mexico across the Rio Grande River. We seem to have a good plan now. Our first stop is at Double J campground in Chatham, Illinois. It’s right off the freeway with pull through sites, heated water lines, and nice clean bathrooms. It’s still cold there. Our second stop was Delta Ridge RV park in Forrest City, Arkansas. The RV park is conveniently located right off the freeway near Walmart and a lot of stores. It offers full hook ups and roomy pull through sites but there are no bathroom or shower facilities there. You need to have your own. An overnight stop and continue on.

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Southbound to Tyler State Park – January 2019

We had a late start south this winter. We spent the holidays at home and then took care of some medical appointments. A weather window opened up right after our appointments so we packed very quickly (forgot so many things). Finally got ourselves in order and left on January 6th.

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Back Home after Alaska – Saying “goodbye” to Coda

I think I got a little homesick after having been south for four months for the winter, then arriving home for only one month, and then leaving for our Alaska adventure for another four months. So getting back home, of course, meant lots of maintenance, cleaning and projects.

Coda loved playing in the water
Coda at home with his way-too-big ball

And there was something else. Our dog loved traveling with us. All the new smells, new places, and people fussing over how handsome he was. And he was! But at home, he was definitely in HIS kingdom. He was able to go outside off leash and check out our large yard, chase bunnies and squirrels, and relax. He also protected us from any service workers and deliveries that came to the house. He loved being near us. He loved the spaciousness and freedom of his home. It was a good place for him to be.

But after two months at home, sadly, it was time to say good bye to each other. We found him in the kitchen one morning, unable to move except for his head. We rushed him to the emergency animal hospital but things were not looking good. He was nearly 14 and had mobility, vision, and hearing problems for some time. But this complication did not look fixable. We had to let him go. It was so very difficult to say good bye. But I know that we gave him the most wonderful life a dog could ever have. I mill miss him dearly! He was my constant companion for 6 1/2 years, sometimes wonderful, other times a challenge, but always my protector and friend. I believe that my rescue dog rescued me!

We were able to have two wonderful holidays with the family at our house. And that gave me great pleasure. And then it became time to run from the crazy Wisconsin winters. And plan more traveling. And in my heart, I can’t wait to have another beautiful dog to spoil in the future. Although, I know that another dog will never ever really be able to replace Coda.

A Few More Notes from our Alaska Trip

Oma provided her reflections in the last post, but I thought I would add a few notes on other topics.

Most of the roads were fine. This section of road is, if you’ll excuse me, a “middle of the road” road. Okay shoulder and fairly smooth surface despite the patches. Some sections of road were awesome with nice shoulders and new pavement. Others had no shoulder or some potholes. I found the roads overall to be better than many two-lane roads in the midwest.

Roads

The roads were not nearly as bad as I expected. Most sections were as good or better than many of the two-lane highways we drive in the lower 48. Some sections required slowing down by 10-15 mph, although traffic was usually light and through sections that had potholes, it was often possible to use both lanes, weave between them and maintain our speed.

Frost heaves (really frost depressions) happen. These are among the worst we experienced, but just required slowing to around 35 mph for a couple of miles..

The worst paved roads I remember were a short (several mile) stretch of the Tok cut-off in Alaska that required us to slow to around 35 mph for frost heaves and a portion of the Icefields Parkway in southern Canada that had many huge heaves that were more like 5 mph speed bumps.

The Canadian portion of the dirt/gravel Top of the World Highway wasn’t bad, but the US side was awful.

Gravel/dirt roads are a whole other thing. We mostly avoided them this trip, with the exception of our Dawson Creek to Tok drive (stopping at Chicken) via the Top of the World and Taylor Highways. The Canada portion wasn’t bad, but once we were in Alaska and past the beautiful pavement that runs about ten miles after customs, our average speed was perhaps 25 mph on very rough road. Non-paved roads in northern Canada and Alaska can be highly variable depending on recent weather and recent road work (or lack there-of).

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Reflections of our Alaska Adventure – May through September 2018

I would do it all again in a heartbeat!

We spent 4 months in a Winnebago View class C motorhome driving from Wisconsin to Fairbanks, Alaska and back with our 80+ lb. dog, and 16 lb. cat. We specifically bought this motorhome to ensure easier travel and yet be roomy enough and comfortable for our large senior dog. He was very unsure in the beginning, but we kept making little changes to make him comfortable and he was so happy to be with us.

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Sprinting Home – August/September, 2018

We left our campground at Kleanza Creek Provincial Park and headed east. After passing the Cassier Highway, we reached new roads for us again. Prince George was the next large city on our route, and although there were several provincial parks along the way, most were closed due to fires. Once again we had several hours of smoke, although fortunately it was not quite as bad as it was on the Cassier Highway.

From Prince George, we had wanted to leisurely work our way south and east through the Canadian Rockies, but it seemed like most of British Columbia was on fire. (The 2018 fire season was the worst in BC’s recorded history in acres burned, even worse than the historic 2017 fire season.) Besides the prospect of more thick smoke, there were reports of fires close to the highway along some of our planned route. We’d had enough of smoky roads and fires. So we changed our plans and instead headed directly east from Prince George toward Edmonton instead of south through Yoho, Kootenay and Banff National Parks.

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Prince Rupert and The North Pacific Cannery Museum – August 2018

Meziadin Lake Provincial Park was our last stop on the Cassier Highway. We headed south about 100 miles to the highway’s end, where it intersects the Yellowhead Highway. (We had been on the Yellowhead Highway from Jasper to Prince George at the beginning of our trip, but that was well east of where we were now.) Our choice was to head east toward home, or head west about 150 miles to the end of the road in Prince Rupert. And the Prince Rupert area was pretty much the only reason to head west. It would be a 300 mile side-trip, since the only land route toward home would be back the way we came.

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A Stop in Stewart / Hyder – August 2018

We left the beautiful Kinaskin Lake Provincial Park campground in hopes to find bears in Hyder, AK. Stewart, BC is a forty mile side-trip off the Cassier Hwy, and the tiny town of Hyder, Alaska is just across the border. There is not even US customs at the border, although there is Canadian customs when you return to Stewart.

We drove past these cute black bears that were wandering along the Cassier Highway.
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Down the Smokey Cassier Highway – August 2018

We left our Yukon campground and headed south. Soon, we said our goodbyes to both the Alaska Highway and the Yukon Territory. Although we were excited to drive new (to us) roads on the Cassier Highway, I was a little sad to leave the Alaska Highway for the final time this trip after driving 1,500 miles on it up and back.

The Cassier Highway was in good condition, although it was a bit narrower than the Alaska Highway and without shoulders. (The Alaska Highway varies considerably along its length, but as you’ve seen in the pictures, much of it has some shoulder and most of it is as wide as a typical two-line highway in the lower-48.) Traffic initially was a little heavier than I expected, but still lighter than the Alaska Highway. (I was expecting almost no traffic, but we saw other vehicles at least every few minutes, typically.)

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