NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - BUDGET RECAP - FINAL 30 DAYS - TOTAL FINANCIAL REVIEW OF ENTIRE TRIP TO ALASKA AND BACK

Now that we are home, it's time to do a final budget and expenses report. Also, we would like to do a recap of our trip with "Top Five Favorites" in various categories....

So far, we have done a budget blog post on the first 30 days:

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-31-days-one-month.html

and the second 30 days:

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/07/north-to-alaska-2025-budget-recap-for.html

Now it's time for the third 30 days and a wrap up of our total costs for the trip!

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FUEL, which is the one everybody asks about the most, came in well under budget. 

For the last 30 days we spent $1,201 US currency. That is after the Canadian exchange rate has been applied through our credit card. We also spent $23 on a container of DEF fluid which is necessary for our Mercedes-Benz diesel engine. 

Total fuel costs were $2,696. Our budget was $3,200. So we did really quite well. That is over a span of 9,500 miles.  We averaged about 14.5 miles per gallon.

Most expensive was $6.07 a gallon in Jasper / Banff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CAMPGROUNDS: For camping the last 30 days we spent $535. Monthly budget was $750 so we were below budget in our camping. We did have five nights of zero cost camping either at free campgrounds and at one Walmart this month. 

Total cost for camping was $1,730. This included 18 free nights. Our budget for camping was $2,275 so we came in under budget.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FOOD:  Our grocery items only came to $443 this month. The budget is $500 per month. And we definitely came home with groceries that got brought back into the house. 

Our complete cost of groceries was $1,156. That was well under our $1,500 budget for the entire trip. Granted, we left with some groceries from home. But just as well we are coming home with groceries to put back into the house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PROPANE: Our propane costs, which weren't really budgeted, were only $38 for this month. Of course we ran the furnace less often and really only used propane as needed for the stove, refrigerator, water heater, and sometimes to run our propane generator.

Our total propane costs were $285 for the 90 days. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LAUNDRY: came in at $31 this month. Our budget was actually $120 per month. So we were well below on that. 

Total laundry cost for $98 for the entire trip. We had budgeted $360 so we were well below on that. 

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DUMP STATION: Dump station fees and water fill fees for this month were only $5. And that was after we got home at our own little city dump station a mile from our house. 

The total we paid on the entire trip was $47 for dump station costs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RESTAURANTS:. I know this is a high item for many people but that's not the way we travel. We prefer to cook our own food. This month we only spent $26 at a restaurant. That was for my beloved Godfather's Pizza the day before we came home. The entire trip was only $147 for restaurants. That was including two Godfather's pizzas, one on the way out and one on the way back, and the rest was cinnamon rolls at various places that Steve wanted to try out. That was it for restaurant eating. 

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GIFTS & SOUVENIRS: This month we spent $195 on gifts and souvenirs for ourselves and for family members. We needed to pick up a few things to say thank you for some people that made our trip easier, and some special things for the grandkids. In total we spent $460 in souvenirs. Part of that though was my beautiful Alaskan jacket and my rabbit fur mukluks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TOLLS / FERRIES: We had zero expense of those this month, and over the entire 90 days we spent $260. Our budget was $500. This included the ferry we took from Skagway to Haines, the toll for the Whittier tunnel, and the shuttles that we used going from McCarthy out to the Kennicott mine and back. 

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MISCELLANEOUS: items little odds and ends we picked up. $27 this month and a total of $96 over the entire 90 days. These items range from repair clips for our recliner chairs to some bungee cords to some extra tape etc 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our total financial expenditure for 90 days was $7,028. 

That comes out to $2,342 per month 

which averages out to $77.23 per day 

We traveled a total of 9,500 to miles

 and we had budgeted for 9,000 miles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that we are home there are some minor repairs that we are taking care of ---

Our doorstep became erratic in operation. We had of course lubed it with dry silicone and did the good old hammer on the side of it to make it work again. It worked from time to time. But we knew on the inside the gear was stripping out. We've done this before on our last motorhome. We ordered a new one for $34 to replace. Easy peasy.

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

Our water pump for the Coach water system had vibrated so much that the screws stripped out of the four holes that hold the impeller against the drive shaft. We did a temporary fix while on the road. We ordered a new one for $74 to replace it now that we are home. 

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

The d-ring cable pulls on our recliner loveseat had broken during the trip. We did a temporary fix, but we ordered the identical replacement pulls once we got home for $13 each. We also ordered an extra set to keep on hand in case these ever break. 

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

The propane valve with electronic solenoid was acting up during our trip. We did a somewhat temporary fix to make it operational. We ordered a new one for $200 to do a replacement in the future so it operates correctly every time and we are confident in it's performance. 

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

The door strut for our side entry door had weakened and was not adequately holding the door in an open position. For a mere $9 and free shipping we ordered a new one. It's just an easy "snap in place" procedure. 

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

We got a second rock chip on the way home, and opted to wait for Safelite to repair it until we got completely home, as it was not too big. They came right to our house and the cost is free with our American Family automobile policy. We gave the gentleman a $20 tip. 

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

Steve performed maintenance after we got home which included a complete oil change. The cost is $250 for the Mercedes Benz specific oil, and filter. He also replaced the fuel filter and the air filter and the cab filter as well. $42

He topped off the DEF with what we had on hand. 

He replaced wiper blades to the cost of $13 

This one is a biggie, we decided that we had quite a bit of wear on our tires, and we are not sure exactly when they had been put on by the previous owner. Before our next trip, we decided it was best to invest in all new tires all around. We purchased Michelin Agilis Crossroad 2, to the cost of $1,700. 

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

We decided to do a few upgrades, at this time, before our next big trip. 

First and foremost, I invested in new wireless microphones! My original ones went haywire during the trip, and I was unable to find microphones that were compatible with my GoPro 8 and the specific media mod device.

At a cost of $119, it is going to make my future videos much more enjoyable, less road noise, and hopefully more professional looking and sounding. 

The original mattress on the queen bed in our motorhome is a specific two-piece mattress that folds and unfolds when the slide pulls in or pulls out. It is now 10 years old. We decided to upgrade from Wilderness RV with a custom-made 10-in memory foam mattress. Cost of $788 + free shipping 

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

The seat covers on our driver and passenger seats are of an imitation vinyl that has started to flake and peel. After 91 days of use, they are looking worse for the wear. We ordered a custom set of new seat covers that will be in shortly. We will install them ourselves. Cost $343 

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

During our 91 day trip, we had our 28th wedding anniversary. We decided to splurge ourselves with a gift of new cooking pots and pans. We wanted the Carote brand, with removable handles that stack conveniently for RV use. We ordered them on a special prime sale from $300 down to $139. This is our anniversary gift to ourselves. 

THERE WILL BE A YOUTUBE VIDEO COMING UP DETAILING THIS REPAIR/REPLACEMENT

Although our Blue Eddie (Bluetti AC200L) power station performed flawlessly as a supplemental source of power, we are considering upgrading the two wet cell Trojans over to LiFePo batteries in the future. Stay tuned for upcoming plans on that. I'm sure I will make a video of it.

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Now for the recap: 

HIGHLIGHTS

I tried to pick out the top five highlights of our trip. That was pretty hard. So we picked out our top five, and a secondary top five, to give it a total of 10:

1. McCarthy & the Kennicott mine, so special I did 3 blog posts:

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-day-34-driving-to.html

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-day-35-touring.html

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-day-36-touring.html

2. Seeing Denali 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-day-44-we-finally.html

3. The White Pass to Skagway 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/05/north-to-alaska-2025-days-15-16-alaska.html

4. Hyder AK and Stewart BC

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/08/north-to-alaska-2025-day-79-back-to.html

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/08/north-to-alaska-2025-day-80-stewart-bc.html

5. Liard River Hot springs

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/05/north-to-alaska-2025-day-12-wildlife.html

6. Whittier tunnel 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-day-49-taking.html

7. Skagway to Haines Ferry 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/05/north-to-alaska-2025-day-19-dyea-and.html

8. Homer Spit 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/07/north-to-alaska-2025-day-58-homer-spit.html

9. Sign Post Forest at Watson Lake 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/05/north-to-alaska-day-14-sign-post-forest.html

10. Keystone Canyon to Valdez although Bear Canyon to Stewart was just as beautiful! 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-day-29-thompson.html

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-day-32-fish.html

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/08/north-to-alaska-2025-day-79-back-to.html

MOST BEAUTIFUL CAMPSITES:

1. Morley Lake 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/08/north-to-alaska-2025-day-74-morely-lake.html

2. Skilak Lake

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/07/north-to-alaska-2025-days-59-62-skilak.html

3. Quartz Creek 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-days-54-56-quartz.html

4. Meziaden Lake 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/08/north-to-alaska-2025-day-78-cassiar.html

5. Toad River Lodge

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/05/north-to-alaska-days-10-11-wildlife.html

WORST ROADS: 

1. Tok / Glenallen

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-day-29-thompson.html

2. Destruction Bay 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/05/north-to-alaska-2025-day-23-destruction.html

3. McCarthy 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/06/north-to-alaska-2025-day-34-driving-to.html

4. Top of the World/Taylor 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/07/north-to-alaksa-2025-day-67-taylor.html

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/07/north-to-alaska-2025-day-68-top-of.html

5. And the longest stretch of construction was south of Dawson City to south of Whitehorse. 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/07/north-to-alaksa-2025-day-73-picking-up.html

AMAZING ANIMAL SIGHTINGS: 

1. Grizzly in the tree at Carcross

2. Baby Moose at Willow River 

3. Mama with two baby black bears 

4. Orca whale at Hyder

5. Bison itching his back on a road sign

FIVE TOP EVENTS: 

1. Picking up the Yoopers on the side of the road and giving them a ride to Whitehorse

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/07/north-to-alaksa-2025-day-73-picking-up.html

2. Both of our ferry rides, Skagway / Haines and Dawson City 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/05/north-to-alaska-2025-day-19-dyea-and.html

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/07/north-to-alaska-2025-days-68-69-ferry.html

3. Steve cinnamon rolls testing at various stops, Tetsa River Lodge was the best 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/05/north-to-alaska-days-10-11-wildlife.html

4. Parked out at the harbor of Portage Canal by Hyder Alaska 

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/08/north-to-alaska-2025-day-79-back-to.html

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/08/north-to-alaska-2025-day-80-stewart-bc.html

5. Walking around Dawson City early on a Sunday morning

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2025/07/north-to-alaska-2025-days-68-69-ferry.html

MOST IRRITATING: 

For me: my microphones not working!!!  Now I have a new set, I hope future videos will be better.

For Steve: having to think ahead and plan out fuel stops in the remote Alaskan wilderness. Usually you just look at your gauge and decide to stop in the next town.  Can't do that on the Alcan or the Cassier Highways. I was having to plan ahead and figure out necessary fuel-ups when available.

Would we do it again?  Hmmmmmm --- maybe in a few years to get to the places that we missed this time around???

9,502 total miles traveled

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THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME! 

Here is the you tube video that goes with today's blog: 

NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAYS 90 & 91 - PATTERSON LAKE ND - TO WISCONSIN - HOME!!!

As I mentioned in my last blog, leading up to this one, we were really tired after driving all the way to Teddy Roosevelt National Park. We had made some reservations at Patterson Lake campground in Dickinson, North Dakota. This is the second time we have ever made reservations on this entire trip.

 Since we knew we didn't have to rush now to find a campsite, we took our time enjoying the rest of Teddy Roosevelt Park while we were in the comfort of the air conditioning in the motorhome.  We did a lot of driving through the park, and only stepped out a few times in the high heat and humidity. It was wilting us!! 

The campground at Patterson lake was just a bit out of Dickinson on the southwest side of town. I looked ahead on Google Maps and searched for Godfather's Pizza! If you are a long-time blog reader from the beginning of our trip, you will remember that I found a Godfather's Pizza in Minnesota, just before we crossed the border to Canada on our second day.

 Now we were lucky enough to find one more in North Dakota before heading back to Wisconsin. There aren't any Godfathers in Wisconsin anymore. Sigh.

We ordered a Classic Combo in deep dish before going to the campground. We picked it up, and Steve actually grabbed the video camera and filmed a cute little bit of me bringing the pizza back to the motorhome. It is on the YouTube link at the end of this blog.

Can you almost smell it?

We each ate two pieces, and packaged up the remaining slices and put them into the freezer. They will make two more good lunches after we get home. We learned that putting leftover pizza in the air fryer at home really makes it taste great!

When we got settled into our campsite #2, (the same one we had last year), we turned up the air conditioning on full blast. It had been up to 93° today, and extremely humid. We definitely needed to run the air conditioning the moment we pulled in.

Each site has electric and water. There is also a dump station, dumpsters, and a nice swimming beach and picnic area. We didn't check out the bathrooms or the showers. But knowing this is such a nice park, I'm sure they are fine.

https://dickinsonparks.org/patterson-lake-recreation-area/

Something sweet that I noticed at this campground is that each site is separated by a row of thick lush lilac bushes. There's also some other plant mixed in with it that has little berries that attract the birds. Each clump of bushes is just twittering and warbling with bird songs. It's absolutely delightful, and what a great way to separate the sites from each other?

There are large cottonwood trees down the middle of the row of campsites that provide beautiful shade on a hot day.

Right now, the cottonwoods are releasing their little bits of fluff and seeds into the air.  It's almost like little bits of snow along the edges of the drive, catching in the gravel.  It reminds me of our large cottonwood in the backyard at home. I wonder if it is also releasing its fluffy seeds right now?

The only downfall to the campground is the railroad track that runs along the back side of the property.  Where I am pointing with my finger down below. We only heard one train go through during the night. Either that, or we were sleeping so deeply we never heard any more?

It really never cooled down that much overnight, because the humidity was so high. We got up early and took our showers to cool off and have fresh dry skin for more comfort during the next leg of our journey.

The wildfire smoke from the North was increasing. We made our way quietly out of the campsite by 8:00 a.m. We didn't want to disturb anyone else. Although it looked somewhat clear to the East, we could see the haze in the North.  

To keep out the smoke smell, we have to use the dash air conditioning on "inside circulation". It tends to freeze up after 15 to 20 minutes of operation. We have to turn it off to let it "thaw ". Literally, chunks of ice come spitting out of the vents at us as it thaws!!!  Then we can start it up again and it works well for another 15 to 20 minutes.  Repeat.  We had recently had the control panel replaced to try to correct that very problem.  There is a known service bulletin on it and I think it needs to be recalibrated by Mercedes-Benz when we get back home.

So in the meantime, we fired up the onboard propane generator. This allows us to also operate the rooftop air conditioner in the ceiling of the motorhome. This gives us more cool air throughout the coach, and helps with the lag times that we have the dash air thawing.

It also keeps the living room portion of the motorhome nice and cool for Nicholas. He looks pretty comfortable, doesn't he?

Yes, we are driving on the Interstate... as much as we don't want to. We do want to get some miles underneath these tires to get beyond the high heat, humidity and wildfire smoke. 

We neared the community of New Salem. We could tell it was coming up in the distance because we could see Salem Sue!

Yep, that is exactly what you think it is. A big huge cow--- her name is Salem Sue.  We had stopped to see her close up last time, so we really didn't need to do it again this time. But she is something that you should stop to see at least once in your life. 

(Note the size of people in front of her)

The smoke was increasing as we entered into Minnesota. It was getting worse and worse as we were heading East. It was blowing down from the North and there really wasn't any way to escape it.

So we just kept on driving. And driving. And driving. There wasn't much else of anything we could do, other than find a campground and plug in and close all the windows and hide for the afternoon. And for sure, the next few days were all forecast to be just as bad, if not worse.

We decided to keep on going right across Minnesota. By 5:00 p.m. we were nearing Minneapolis and St Paul. 

Oh goodness, RUSH HOUR! There were barrels on our side of the road but they were pushed aside and no construction was really taking place. Google Maps said entire huge sections were under construction, but they were wrong. 

We flew through with only two small slowdowns, no stopping. We were on the 694 bypass around the North side of town. Mostly 65 mph all the way. 

The oncoming traffic heading westbound at times were slowed down to a dead stop. Sometimes for miles and miles they were backed up. We are so thankful that was not our case in the Eastbound direction.

Before we knew it, we were out of the city and crossing the St Croix River. I cannot imagine all of those people out there in their sailboats enjoying the day with that heavy smoke in the air? We could barely see across the river to the shore on the other side. And it's not that big of a river...

There it was, that large brown familiar sign that is at all the major entrances to the state of Wisconsin!!!

We have pictures of ourselves as children lined up by those huge wooden signs every time we would go up to Michigan to visit family. On the way back, we would stop and get our picture taken as we headed back home to Wisconsin. Very fond memories of traveling and seeing that sign as we came "home". 

We drove along to the first large town by the name of Hudson. We decided after 600 miles of crazy driving today that we would overnight it at the Walmart.

Nooooo no overnight parking allowed at the Hudson Walmart. Dangnabbit. We cooked up a little bit of supper, and debated about overnighting at a truck stop or trying the Home Depot which had a very small lot. Steve made the decision that we should just drive on towards Eau Claire. That town has a Walmart that overnight parking was allowed. It was 60 miles further, which meant another hour of driving. But it also meant we were another hour closer to home for the next day! 

We made it to the Eau Claire Walmart and found a level spot to park. It was still very hot in the 80s. We did not want to run the generator all night. So we opened up the windows at bedtime and dealt with the humid and smokey air. It wasn't very comfortable and we didn't sleep very well. About 2:00 a.m. a crazy Zamboni-type street sweeper came along to sweep the parking lot! Then about 4:00 a.m. big tanker truck came to the gas station next door to fill their underground tanks. I could smell the heavy fuel odor wafting in through the open windows. By 5:00 a.m. we got up and took showers. It felt strange showering in a Walmart lot. Lol. 

By 6:00 a.m. we decided to hit the road and head towards home!!! 

It was only 200 miles further to get across the state to where we live along the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

As we got close, we had to be careful to not say the words "home" or "house" in front of Nicholas.  It sends him crazy because he knows what those words mean. 

We got to Oconto, and pulled first over to the dump station at our little Holtwood City Campground. We paid our $5 fee and dumped our tanks so everything was empty at the end of the trip. Steve gave things a good rinse so it took a little bit longer. Of course, we were anxious to get home and in the house and get comfortable and rest a bit. 

Our central air conditioning is controlled through Wi-Fi, so we were able to have the house nice and cool as we rolled into the yard.

Little guy Nick was just beside himself to be back home. I quick turned off the alarms and the cameras so it didn't set things off coming through the door. He was rushing around and checking his toys and wanting to go out in his potty yard and just make sure everything was exactly the way he remembered it!

"C'mon, let's go potty in my OWN fenced in yard and not have to be on a leash!"

We put fresh water in his dish... and it was right where he expected it to be. 

I kind of did the same thing too. I wandered around my She-Shed, touched my looms and my quilting machine, stroked my sewing machines and thought about the next quilt I'm going to work on. 

After a rest, we called up the kids and grandkids and set up times to get together and hug and give them their souvenirs from Alaska. 

After 9,502 fun and adventure-filled miles, it was great to be 

HOME!!!

We will do a wrap up and budget of the entire 90 days in the next blog and on YouTube. 

Here's the video that goes along with today's blog: 

653 miles travel from Dickinson ND to Eau Claire, Wisconsin

then

205 miles traveled from Eau Claire Wisconsin to home!

9,502 miles traveled in total!!!

NORTH TO ALASKA 2025 - DAY 81 - CASSIAR HIGHWAY DONE, UNWANTED INTRUDER IN CAMPSITE

Waking up in the crowded RV park at Kitwanga was not as bad as we thought. Everyone seemed to be wanting to hit the road early and were quite courteous and quiet as they were packing up. We weren't hearing a lot of slamming doors or shouting or vehicles idling. 

Instead, people were walking around their rigs quietly stowing items away and getting ready to hit the road. I watched out the window as people were carefully shutting their compartments gently with two hands instead of giving it a slam. It was pretty interesting to see such thoughtfulness at 7:00 a.m. as they were getting ready to hit the road. 

By 9:00 a.m. almost everybody around us was gone! We were getting together our bearings and sipping a second cup of coffee. I decided to cook up some breakfast... One of our favorites.

I make French toast but I add cinnamon and vanilla to the batter. Then I fry them with the liberal amount of oil on the pan. So the edges of the bread are actually "crunchy". Drizzled with a little bit of maple syrup from Canada, and a couple dabs of Wisconsin butter, it made a very delicious breakfast.

After we cleaned up and I did the dishes, we looked around and almost every campsite was just about empty. Folks had moved on in their journeys, and we will too. 

Thank you Kitwanga RV Park for a good night's rest even though it was a crowded park. We enjoyed your electricity to keep ourselves cool overnight.

We were sad to end our route along the Cassiar Highway.  We are now turning to the east and we are going to be on the Yellowhead Highway.  

The terrain is still beautiful, and we had a really beautiful blue sky day to travel with. We noticed less mountains and more rolling hills. A lot of the terrain is looking almost like Wisconsin! Can you tell we are thinking of home?

We made it as far as Smithers BC and Steve had something in his mind...  He wanted to stop at this Canadian Tire store. They're kind of like a farm and home type chain in Canada, similar to the Fleet Farm Stores of the Midwest.  Or maybe like a smaller version of Home Depot or Lowe's. 

Steve had looked something up online and it said they had it in stock. So we hoofed it on into the store to buzz through and see if we could find it. On the video link below, you can see how fast Steve zoomed through the store and how I had to practically run to keep up with him.

Yup... He found what he was looking for!

He hugged it tight to his chest, like it was a prized possession.  It's not too often he decides that he wants to buy something. So if he was happy hugging this box, that's good with me too. 

What was it? 

A PROPANE TREE

I will explain more about that later after he actually puts it to use. You'll just have to stay tuned for another blog to see when he's really going to use it.

Now that my man got his tool gadget fix, it was time to get back on the road again.

We could see mountains off in the distance, and it was a perfect day to put some miles under our tires and outrun the wildfire smoke that we were seeing to the west. It wasn't by us... Yet. 

We drove another hundred miles or so, and looked ahead on the internet for a campground. Imagine our surprise to see a city by the name of Burns Lake showing that they had a FREE city campground! 

https://visitburnslake.ca/to-stay/village-of-burns-lake-municipal-campground-free-camping-in-town-on-burns-lake/

It didn't have hookups, but the temperatures were not too bad today. It was only in the high 70s and there was very low humidity. We would not need electrical hookups overnight. So we drove on in and made ourselves at home. 

We pulled down to the end of a row of sites. Each one had its own picnic table. It was level and shaded.  We got set up and decided to make some lunch. We had taken Nick out to walk him around a little bit, and then we decided to check out what else the park had to offer.

There was a pleasant little boat landing with some birds and baby ducks floating around. Off in the distance you could see the rolling hills and the puffy clouds. A few of them looked dark that perhaps might contains some raindrops. But there were no storms or heavy winds forecast for the next 24 hours. This looks like it would be a great place to spend the night.

Beyond the boat landing was a really nice play area for children, grassy area for picnicking, and ample parking that was separate from the campground area.

There was a "kayak o mat" that you could go online and pay to rent a kayak. Then they would give you a code that you could use to unlock the particular kayak you rented. What a wonderful idea. 

When you are done, you put it back into its proper slot and lock it up again, and they know that it's been returned. Otherwise your credit card will be charged for the cost of the kayak and the paddle! We have seen these now at a few different Alberta municipal parks. I think it's a really good idea.

This was a really neat swimming area with a slide right off the dock into the water. We could hear children having fun with shouts and laughter coming through the trees. It was a good family park. Or so we thought.

We took a nice afternoon nap, and then proceeded to start to get dinner going.  It was nice to have the door open and have the fresh freezes blowing in through the motorhome.

A few other campers joined us down the line. In all I think there were five of us in a row.

As I started to cook dinner, that's when things went awry.  A young man, obviously inebriated, not in control of himself, decided to sit down right on our picnic table in our campsite!

He was mumbling and swearing and arguing with some invisible person in his mind. He would lean over and alternating spit and then vomit on the ground next to our table.

(This was right outside of our camper door, I took this photo from inside)

From time to time, he would alternate his vomiting or spitting along with swigs from this bottle of what I think is vodka.

It definitely was not pleasant. We could hear him verbally arguing with the demons in his head. We were not about to engage in any type of contact with him whatsoever.

We called the non-emergency number of the Canadian Royal Mountain Police who service the area. They came to speak to him, and as they conversed with him, he was nodding his head and fully understanding what they were saying. And then they let him walk away right back over to our picnic table again! He sat right down and started spitting on the ground again!!!

The officers began to drive away. Steve got right back on the phone and called them again.  The dispatch patched the call through to the officers, and they said that there was no disturbance so they weren't going to do anything about it. We said we could not even leave our camper to let the dog out to go to the bathroom because he is sitting within 5 ft of our door!

The officers came back a second time and Steve went out our driver's door to go and talk with them. They said he is a "known individual"  and there really isn't anything they can do, because it's a FREE public place.

Yes, this free campsite meant that he could come and sit on our table and do what he wanted with his puking and his spitting, and it was okay to drink alcohol in the city park.  They said there was no reason to detain him or to make him move on. We would just have to deal with it. 

Poor Nick wanted to go outside and go potty....

So we packed it up and pulled in our slides and decided to drive away.

It's a shame that Burns Lake has put up this beautiful facility and family-friendly park, and it seems to have attracted people who are sorely in need of help or guidance or rehab. 

We had also seen two other "shady people" suddenly scatter when the officers entered the parking area, behind our campsite and off on a trail through the woods. One of them was carrying a large knife like a machete style.  He took it out from a sheath on his back and carried it as he slunk off into the woods. That was enough for us.

So we moved on. 

That's what's nice about having an RV. It has wheels. We can move away from places that we feel are less desirable. 

It is now about 8:30 at night.  We looked at the maps and found there was another municipal campground in the town of Fraser Lake about 45 minutes away.  We set it into our GPS and headed out on the highway. Goodbye Burns Lake. 

We drove along as the sun was setting. It was really looking very pretty. But there was no time to stop and take photos. We wanted to get to the next campground to get set up before dark.

We made it to the community of Fraser Lake, and easily found our way to the White Swan RV Park. Guess what? This is also a municipal park that is also FREE!!!

https://www.fraserlake.ca/municipal-hall/village-news/1259/white-swan-rv-park/

JUST LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS SUNSET!

We pulled in and found our way through the picnic area and over towards the campsites. I had just enough time to snap this one photo before I had to help Steve find a campsite and help get set up. I think we missed a fantastic sunset!! 

We found the free campsites. They were all level and nice and in a row. The front ones, about 10 sites, were all pull throughs and already occupied. The four rear sites were back-in types, and were all empty. So we found a site, backed on in, and said "GOOD NIGHT"! 

We knew when we pulled in that we were right next to a train track.  One train went through during the night. It wasn't that loud,  but we did notice it.

For FREE, we weren't going to complain one bit. 

The next morning, I snapped this pic of how close the train was. I put a segment on the video clip down below. 

We woke up to sunshine and blue skies!!! (and no smoke) Ahhhhhh

No mosquitoes and comfortable temps... With a beautiful view out of the front windshield.

All of the other rvs in the front row left ... Vamoose and hit the road.  We hung out a bit and made some breakfast. 

This really is a very very nice park. The lake stretches out in front of all of the campsites so everybody has the same view. There is a large community fire pit with benches around, that we can assume becomes a nice place to visit and meet people in the evenings. 

The picnic area that we drove through seems to be very well kept and has some large fields maybe for sports. We didn't check out the actual facilities for bathrooms or anything, because we have our own. But I am sure everything is pretty much up to snuff.

Even the four back in sites that we were at seemed to have a little bit of a slope at the beginning, but as you backed in deeper they leveled out. Each campsite had a concrete patio and a very heavy stone/concrete type table and benches. This was a very nice, well thought out, well made campground. I just can't believe it's all FREE!!!

There's a nice little sign, partially hidden by some shrubbery, that asks that you please only stay two nights.

Thank you Frasier Lake Municipal Campground... We really enjoyed our stay overnight.

Steve's cell phone was having some issues, so we decided to contact customer support and deal with that while we were settled in one spot. Much easier to do sitting stationary then trying to talk as we were going down the road and have the calls drop out. It took quite a while and I must say, the team that was working on his problem really took it seriously and kept contacting us back each time as promised. 

This phone is from Visible and they get their cell service through Verizon.

They followed up with emails and escalated his situation to the next level up. We were still having issues and we really couldn't resolve them unless they shipped us a new SIM card. We didn't want to do that while we were on the road. So we let them deal with it further for the next couple days and said we are going to shut down now and hit the road ourselves.

We have my cell phone which is through a different carrier. So we were okay to continue without his actually being operational cellular-wise. He could still use it through the Starlink as data and make Wi-Fi calls if he needed to.

We will deal with that another day... Time to get traveling again!

Here is the YouTube that goes along with today's blog: 

212 miles traveled today 

7,087 miles traveled so far