Even better travel day

Got away from the crowds and settled into serious hunting.

First spruce grouse

Many AK lakes have boats for anglers to use. Add Alaska Boat Captain to my business cards. 

The free boats come with challenges however. 

Great travel day

Been a while since we've had wifi so catching up. Left the comfort of Cantwell headed north to Fairbanks, stopped at the Tanana State Forest and Emil scored a ruffed grouse.

Had to stop at Skinny Dick's Roadhouse for local color and brews. Got the full treatment for travelers including all the bar jokes and gags.

"Do what?"

Designated driver beer

Never seen this sign before. 

New moon pie from Gold Hill

First northern pike! 

Can't well get along in Cantwell

Labor Day corresponds with caribou and moose openers in Alaska so the crowds encroaching on where WE wanted to hunt were a bit of a buzz kill. Shut down in Cantwell and found the Longhorn Saloon & Cafe. Kinda rough place even with our winning personalities. Started with a guy confronting Burf! With "what are you looking at" and ended with me squaring off with a guy bragging about Alaska size vs. Texas. And he was from Pennsylvania!
Got out in time with good food and beer, plus Emil got to put his XXX sobriety dollar on the ceiling!

Meanwhile, Kali starts and ends the day with equal enthusiasm.

Grayling

Fishing has been high on our priority list (along with hunting, exploration and local brews) and we had good luck with flies at Poplar Grove Creek north of Gakona. Grayling are small very pretty fish and good fighters.

Kali has hunted for forest grouse and Ptarmigan without success so far but finds fishing equally entertaining.

Alaska! Finally

Took 4027.2 miles but we made it. Hunted immediately due to rising temperature and found feathers but no birds. Rest of the day spent visiting with biologists, sporting goods salesman, and waitress. Some hunting and fishing and scouting.  Mostly just excited to be here!

Dad,I'm ready!

Did hit 1 ruffed grouse. Actually she hit me on the driver door!  Promising start. 

Fishing in the Little Tok River. 

Yukon scenery

Yukon River

Alaska Highway

St. Elias Mountains

Hanging with the Tlingits

Stopped at the Tlingit Heritage Center to look at totems, dugout canoes, and for a native made basket to shake dominoes along the highway.
Met Tim, Jr, and Sonny building a log cabin from spruce and visited over an hour. Trappers, hunters and lifelong Yukon residents. Plenty to sit a log and discuss.
They decided they like Texans, so our Ambassadorial Skills work.

Tim has a hat it's easy to envy.

Log scribe, a tool I don't have. Yet!

From across the globe

The sign forest in Watson Lake YT merits a stop. No signs from Helena TX but just about everywhere else. Over 75000 in all.

Had a real Yukon breakfast at Rancheria with 3 eggs, tons of bacon, sourdough pancakes. Played dominoes in the warm café.  Great start.

BC is "Beautiful Country"

The drive from Ft Nelson to Watson Lake is spectacular and full of wild life. Also in much better condition than when I last traveled it in 1998. Since pictures are worth thousands of words and I type with 1 finger. ....

First caribou

Still some construction

Smith River Falls

Whirlpool Canyon

Sawtooth Mountains

Fun with local tool materials

Mile 0

After our stay in Red Deer it was more NxNW through Alberta. Breakfast stop in Sangudo at the Coffee Connection introduced us to Sunny Moser, a musician who played the Kerrville Folk Festival and rode the bus with Asleep at the Wheel. Repaired a mesquite thorn hole on the right rear at a friendly shop then off for BC.

Hit Mile 0 in Dawson Creek at 1600 and made it to Ft St John to shut down. 200 miles to next stop.

Also picked up a new trail rider. We call him Domino. 

On to Alaska! 

Canada is cool

The cooler weather followed us into Montana and across into Alberta, even though there was steady rain all morning. Had a great breakfast at the Lariat Country Cafe in Hardin, WY, including the best strawberry rhubarb pie I've ever enjoyed courtesy of Lori.

Did catch a glimpse of sunrise against the Bighorn Mountains.
Central Montana has received over 8" of rain the past three days so we had to go to an alternate border crossing due to flooded roadways, but that worked out just fine as the mounties at the Wild Horse crossing were great.
Made it to Red Deer for dinner and sleep. Not bad for two days. Yukon tomorrow.

Love Wyoming!

Left Ft Worth at 1600 on Friday because we were packed, antsy, and Susan didn't want to put up with us. Also 112°!
Plenty of room in the efficiently packed rig.
Stopped in Clarendon for the night and rolling NxNW by 0500.
Breakfast with blueberry pie at the Longhorn in Springfield, CO.
Hit cold front and rain north of Casper. Great buffalo ribeye at Wyoming Rib&Chop House in Sheridan, one of my favorite American towns then in one of my favorite motels. Kali knows exactly where we are and is very excited. Doesn't know we're only about 3/8 there.
Currently 39° wind chill so we get to wear the mountain man vests we never imagined we'd need.
Favorite state! !!!!!

Ireland Dos and Don'ts

Believe that this is the first time I've been gone for 2 weeks and not wanted to get back home. Just love Ireland, but confess a bias towards the north and northwest, as there's way too many tourists south of and along the line from Galway to Dublin.
So what if we're tourists. Our goal is always to hang with the locals, do what they do, eating and drinking like them and generally blending in, especially when driving!
As a wrap up, some observations of what Ireland has to offer.....

Ireland Do:
Have Guinness everywhere, some fresher than others based on how busy the pub.
Have a surprising and tasty selection of microbrews that has grown over the past decade, wish they were available in the States.
Have great breakfast that'll last all day, just don't ask what's in the black pudding.
Have great veggie soups and brown breads at every stop.
Have nothing but friendly folks.
Have fresh foods - not processed packaged stuff like in the States, but really fresh breads, meats, and veggies.  You can taste the difference.


Ireland Don't:
Have great roads. The M routes are like US 181. The N (National) routes range from our two-lane FM roads and worse, none with shoulders, and lots of curves and hedges and walls. The R (Regional) routes are FM or worse. And the L (Local) routes are two tracks or driveway sized with curves and walls.
Have abysmal weather, at least not while we were there. Rain?  Wind? Cold? Hah! I went to Ireland and got a tan. Longest drought in recent history was 37 days without rain. Must just follow me cause we got them through 14.
Have air conditioning. ...see heat wave comments above. Only one hotel had A/C.

Ironically, despite the drought we brought/enjoyed in Ireland, it has rained in South Texas every day since we got home!  So much for the argument that dry weather just follows me around...

Cheers!

And Sláinte!

Headmasters

Nearly forgot about getting the best hot towel shave I've ever enjoyed at Headmasters in Galway. Shops that still provide this service are few and far between but it sure is worth it when you find a good one.

Pretty cool shop too. Bat Out of Hell on the CD player, Pulp Fiction posters, lots of GAA and World Cup chatter. Did ask if the Scarface poster in front of my chair was a warning. ... took him a second to catch on.

Spanish Point

So we were gonna go see the Cliffs of Moher,  perhaps better known as the Cliffs of Insanity from The Princess Bride movie, but the freaking tourists were on it like sheep on an Irish hillside. Since we'd already been to the higher and more remote Slieve League cliffs, our interest in fighting the tour busses and 35mm cameras was, predictably, "Inconceivable!"
So we continued down the coast to Spanish Point which just happens to have a nine hole links course along the Atlantic. Drove past Lahinch and its €135 green fees to get there too.

The course was having a women's tournament, but when they heard I was passing through from Texas, they decided to squeeze me in between the two flights as they made the turn.
Rushed out to the first tee and got my shot off as two determined looking ladies approached glaring at me. Promised to be out of their way in a jiffy and they only sorta jokingly threatened me with their drivers that I better stay out of their way!
Pretty little course with elevated tees and greens, and an Atlantic breeze that was definitely in play.

Approach to elevated 7th green.

Retrieving pitch shot that hit pin and dropped. 

Finished with 4 pars and well in front of the ladies.
So glad I hassled with taking my own sticks. There's great golf and friendly golfers all over Ireland.