Alaska Highway to Fairbanks

A short tow this afternoon after watching a last couple sets at the bluegrass festival took us along the Kluane National Park (those mountains in the back of this and the previous pic) including views of Mt. Logan, Canada's highest peak, and our first roadside grizzly bear sighting. We pulled up at an RV park highly recommended in the Church & Church book hoping for some laundry. Half an hour later, a bright red classic VW bus belonging to "The Bodeswell's" (http://bodeswell.com) - a family of three who have been on the road between San Francisco, South America and here for over 5 years - pulled in. We'd been trying to coordinate a meet up for the past few months. It's a good thing they chose the same place to stop for laundry! And no, it turns out the park *doesn't* actually have laundry, but we're looking forward to getting to know them and picking their brains on long term travel with kids. #airstream #airstreamtoalaska #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #lakekluane #kluanenationalpark #yukon #bodeswell #fulltimefamilies

Not a bad walk back to the silver tiny home after decent box wine and better conversation with "The Bodeswell's." Next time I whine about living in 200 sq ft, they have the right to slap me (but check out their bus on their FB page, it's beautiful). The only problem is hanging out while the sun feels like it's just starting to set for about 3 hours and then realizing it's 10:00 pm and the baby will be up in another 3 wanting food or a snuggle. #airstream #airstreamtoalaska #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #kluanelake #yukon

In case anyone was looking for any inspiration on how to start their day... #childhoodunplugged #airstream #airstreamwithkids #fulltimefamilies

So far, our route up the Cassiar and detour to Skagway and Haines has actually resulted in us missing some of the worst delays and muddy roads caused by construction on the Alaska Highway. In fact, people had been asking us how our trailer was so (comparatively) clean when theirs were caked with dust and mud. Well, we paid some dues today with a few long sections of single lane with a pilot car, lots of gravel and endless orange flags by the side of the road indicating anything from a small bump to a huge crumbling dip. Luckily, I happened to check the side mirror as our "stinky slinky" went flinging down the road behind us on one particularly bumpy section, the twist cap for its storage tube under the trailer having rattled loose. We circled around to grab it with no damage I could see right away. Let's just hope there aren't abrasions that "become apparent" the next time we dump... #airstream #airstreamtoalaska #alaskahighway #stinkyslinky

Just a plane old rest stop along a remote stretch of the Alaska Highway through the Yukon. @advodna_ann didn't hardly seem concerned that we were down to our last three diapers that had to last until the next grocery store in Tok, Alaska. #roadbaby #seeplane #fulltimefamilies #airstreamtoalaska

Another day, another lakefront. Okay, actually, the last three nights have been in dusty parking lots, and we were about ready to be somewhere a little more scenic. Plus, to make it even nicer to look at, if you could pan this shot a little to the left, you'd see the awesome red VW bus carrying @angrehm and family, ("The Bodeswell's"). This morning, we crossed the border into Alaska for the final time and will be exploring through mid August or so (other than a two week visit to the Bay Area). We should be in Fairbanks, our farthest point north, for the solstice before heading down to Denali. #hopetheyselleyemasks #24hoursofsun #airstream #airstreamtoalaska #myrivetedlife #liveriveted #moonlake

Turns out installing a set of airbags to augment the rear springs of the truck in the Alaskan woods is a do it yourself job. Well, technically, it's a mention it to Jason from Bodeswell who's worked on just about every inch of their 70's VW bus in even more remote locations on (and off) the PanAmerican Highway between here and Tierra del Fuego and before ya know it he's under your truck gettin' it done kinda job. Pretty straightforward to jack up the truck, deflate the bags and squeeze them into the springs, run some air lines, add pressure and hope everything holds when you drop it down. I'd ordered these bags and had them sent to Juneau after suspecting that overworking our electric tongue jack while sliding in the bars for our weight distribution setup each day had been responsible for its demise. Without the bags, our rear would dip from 35.5" to 33" and the front rise from 35.5" to 36.5" when hitched without weight distribution. With the bags, we were at 34" and 36". Once I'd reconfigured the WD this afternoon, we're at 35" and 36" with the trailer riding perfectly level and a lot less tension on the WD. I'll take it. #airstream #airstreamtoalaska #mobilehomeimprovement #airliftairbags #thosearenotmylegs #gorillaissupervising

With a 500 acre fire burning just behind us in Tok and a 2500 acre fire in the (general) direction we're headed tomorrow, a wind shift brought in a lot of smoke this afternoon. Doesn't really affect us too much other than creating an actual semblance of a sunset. #airstream #airstreamtoalaska #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #tokfire #moonlake

Whoa, it's Denali! ... is what we said when we saw the peak on the left poking above the cloudline before reading the entry in The Milepost that told us it was Mt. Hayes (13,832 ft), though it is the Alaska Range of which Denali is a part. The other two peaks to the right are Hess Mountain (11,940 ft) and Mount Deborah (12,339 ft). #mountherihardlyknowher #richardsonhighway #nextstopfairbanks #airstream #airstreamtoalaska

School is hard. #firstdayofroadpreschool #schoolinsummerhasnoclass #roadschool #fulltimefamilies #airstream #myrivetedlife #liveriveted #airstreamtoalaska

It's 85 degrees, mid June and Xmas in North Pole, Alaska. #childhoodunplugged #northpole #fulltimefamilies