It took us a few days to get from Haines, Alaska to Valdez, Alaska, and we had to go through Canada again to get there. We took our time and enjoyed some sights along the way. 
Our first day out took us through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve just outside of Haines. This 48,000 acre preserve is critical habitat for the Bald Eagle. They come here by the thousands late in the fall when most other rivers are freezing over. The waters of the Chilkat River stay warmer longer, so it’s the last of the spawning areas for Salmon, a staple of an eagle diet. 
There’s a Bald Eagle Festival in November when the eagle population is at its highest. This is someone else’s picture, not mine. I didn’t get any pictures of eagles, because we only saw two. 
We saw some great scenery, and several glaciers, but only two eagles. I was a little disappointed, but we saw tons of eagles in Juneau and I spent a fair amount of time enjoying them, so I am not feeling like I missed out. I just thought that they’d be more of them on the preserve, even though its summer.
Our first night was spent at a campground on Kluane Lake in the Yukon. I’ll remember this area most for the beating our truck and our bodies took on this section of road. One of the things that’s drilled into you when you plan this trip is that the roads can be AWFUL. We’ve had pretty good luck so far, but this part of the highway had places where we were going only about 30 mph and even that seemed too fast.
After another full day of driving and crossing back into the U.S., we spent the night at Mosquito Lake Recreation Area in Alaska. Mosquitoes are another big topic for discussion. Paul and I have bug spray, of course, plus we have sprayed some of our clothes and jackets with a special repellent. If we get desperate, we have nets to put over our heads. We are well prepared!
I have only been bitten once this whole trip. That may have something to do with the fact that its been cold and rainy most of the time, but still, maybe our precautions are helping. There weren’t really any mosquitoes at Mosquito Lake-just a great view at a free campground.
All roads lead to Tok- or at least, most major routes through Alaska go through the town of Tok. We stopped here overnight to get groceries and rinse some of the grime off the truck.
We stayed at the Sourdough Campground. This place is full of friendly people and every night they have live music. They also have a Sourdough Pancake tossing contest. Anyone camper who wants to play gets two tries to toss a pancake into a bucket. The emcee did a great job of teasing people and keeping the crowd laughing. 
The prize for succeeding is a free, all you can eat, sourdough pancake breakfast the next morning. About 40 people played, and much to my surprise, I was one of the few who actually got the pancake in the bucket. Paul followed after me and he got it in too!
When everyone was done, the winners were called up and offered the chance to trade their breakfast for whatever was in mystery bucket number 1, 2 or 3. No one was interested in trading, so for the heck of it I traded for whatever was under bucket number 3.
I am very happy with my new prize, a small container of Chicken Shit. It will be our new Christmas tree ornament :)
