August 2018 – MacKenzies on the Road

August 29, 2018

The Ferry South

We boarded the ferry Monday night at midnight and said our final good-bye to Whittier.

We set-up our “stateroom” and got a few hours sleep. The next morning we awoke to rough seas in the Gulf of Alaska and a bit of sea sickness. A little bit of dramamine and a little nap, ok a nice long nap that included a bit of drool and a buckle mark on my face from my sack, and we were good to go.

Late afternoon we arrived at our first port, Yukutat. We wandered off the boat for a quick stretch of the legs while a few cars were loaded.

A beautiful sunset in Yakutat. The first sunset we have seen in weeks!

Our second night we started back out to the Gulf of Alaska to head south and encountered huge waves that turned the ship into a roller coaster. Our “stateroom” is in the back of the ship so it was quite a ride, good thing we were laying down! The waves rocked us into a great night sleep.

This morning we awoke to thick fog, the much calmer waters of the Inside Passage and whales! The Orcas were waving their fins at us and breaching. Sorry, we were too busy watching to get any pictures.

We are now docked in Juneau, well 15 miles outside of Juneau. They are loading cars and we will be heading south shortly.

August 28, 2018

Luxury Suite 2

Our picture windows out the back of the boat.

August 28, 2018August 28, 2018

Luxury Suite

Our luxury suite on the ferry. Our very own stateroom with a water fountain, private bath, window shades and dimmable lights!

It is also known as the Aft Lounge 😁.

The nice lady checking cars in tipped us off that this was a great place to camp out. She said it was quieter and darker than the Solarium where most people camp out.

Score! A private room!

August 27, 2018

And We Are Off

We have boarded the ferry and are soon to be on our way to south!

Goodbye Whittier!

August 27, 2018

The One Thing!

Many have asked us “If you had to pick one thing that bugged you over the past 4 months on the road, what would that be?”

Darrin’s, no hesitation, hands down, response goes something like “The Rover has been totally awsome as a travel vehicle, but it was built for a different era. An era before superhighways and 80 mile per hour speed limits across the plains”

The little Rover, even with the 2.5 liter, is vastly underpowered for the load and terrain when coupled with today’s speed limits. The road from Anchorage to Denali with too many impatient RVs and tour buses to count was the breaking point!

The Rover needs a heart transplant! A New motor.

We have chosen the Mercedes Benz OM617 3L Turbo Diesel due to the availability of a conversion kit for the Rover.

The OM617 is considered to be one of the most reliable engines ever produced with engines often reaching over 1,000,000 km without being rebuilt and is one of the key reasons for Mercedes’ popularity in North America in the 1980s. The engine is entirely mechanical in its systems; there are no electronics, wires, chips, at all. Essentially, you could jump start the engine with no battery and it could sit there running, under water, until it ran out of fuel. The price for this reliability is a bit lower MPG, as the mechanical systems are not as fine tunable as the electronic systems found in todays cars.

Old Motor:

Chevy 2.5L
90 hp 133 ft-lbs

New Motor:

Mercedes 3.0L OM617 Turbo Diesel
150 hp 220 ft-lbs

August 25, 2018August 24, 2018

Boats of Distinction

One of our favorite things to do here in Whitier, when it isn’t raining, is to hang out at the harbor. We try to catch a glimpse of the Harbor Seals with their old soul eyes, talk to fisherman, weekend warriors, vacationers, or Princess Cruise travelers and walk along the docks picking out our favorite boats. So, we thought we would share some of that with you, at least the boats, the seals are too elusive to photograph and we are too busy talking to get pictures of people.

Sit back as we take you through a mini harbor tour!

First, let me introduce you to the Harbor Master. We didn’t get his name, he was too busy working!

I don’t know that these are our favorite boats, but since I used to work with the US Forest Service I felt like I should include their fleet of 4 boats. They are here because Whittier is inside the Chugach Forest.

And another one. And they both had great names.

And then there are the tug like ones like this one,

This one was Darrin’s favorite. It was an Allweather Boat made to travel anywhere.

This boat gets the award for most potential. With a little work and a different color scheme, the Lime Sherbert Boat could be a cool houseboat.

I hope you enjoyed our mini tour.

August 24, 2018August 23, 2018

The 5 Hour Tour

The forecast predicted a fairly nice day so we jumped on it and turned tourist by booking a 5 hour glacier tour in Prince William Sound (there was a 3 hour tour, but we all know how that one turns out😃). It was awesome! We saw 26 glaciers, sea lions, harbor seals, black bears, bald eagles, and sea otters (which are the cutest thing on earth). We didn’t get to see any whales but maybe on the ferry south we will. We had a great time and made it back to The Bunker safe and sound!

And really close up. This one was calving and the resulting waves were rocking the boat.

Sea lions enjoying the warmth of the rocks and the sun.

Adorable sea otters who were smart enough to stay away from the boat.

A fishing boat heading out for the evening.

Whittier from the water. Begich Towers in the middle, deserted Buckner building to the left and Whitttier glacier up above.

August 23, 2018

Four Months on the Road

We left New England exactly 4 months ago today.

New England to Florida to the Arctic Ocean to Prince William Sound and our ferry south.

We have traveled through eighteen states and three Canadian provinces. The temperatures have ranged from 95 to 45 degrees, with rain, snow, hail, more rain, and baking hot sun. We have seen amazing mountain ranges, glaciers and glacial lakes and crossed the mighty Yukon River a bunch of times. We swam everywhere possible including the Yukon and Klondike Rivers…okay we single dunked in the Klondik…brrrrrr. We have camped in state parks, city parks, gravel pits and on river banks. We dipped our toes in the Arctic Ocean and crossed the Arctic Circle four times. We spent weeks in the far north where the sun doesn’t set and your brain gets a bit fuzzy from lack of sleep. We have been lucky enough to spot wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, lynx, artic fox, musk ox, moose, caribou, sea otters, sea lions, harbour seals, too many cool birds and wild flowers to list and mosquitoes that I could have put a saddle on and ridden. We have met amazing people and found a few new friends.

What will the next four months bring?

August 23, 2018

Home Sweet BTI

Begich Towers, Inc (BTI) houses our current home on the road, aka our affectionately nicknamed mini condo “The Bunker”. A quick catch-up for those of you who have fallen behind…weeks of chilly rain, soggy camping, grumpy me, new little mini condo (aka The Bunker) in Whittier, Alaska where we will be catching the ferry south, which is a cool old building built to withstand the Cold War now turned condos when the Army pulled out which now house most of the 200+ residents in town and the ameneties they need. Phew…everyone caught up?

Begich towers in pictures. (The plural ‘towers’ is correct. BTI is actually 3 buildings spaced approximately 8 inches apart to withstand Alaska’s earthquakes, including the big one in 1964 and the resulting wall of water 104 ft high. It is also built to withstand a nuclear blast…remember it was built during the Cold War.) Okay, pictures:

Begich Towers (BTI) in all her freshly painted glory! The town is repainting her and adding some color to spice up the ugly Cold War beige. Very nice job Bob and crew! I am taking this picture from near the harbor. Notice the rail yard between me and BTI? No problem, there is a handy tunnel that goes under the rail yard to connect the harbor with downtown…zoom in and see if you can find the sign pointing to the tunnel.

Darrin in the tunnel…it is a very big rail yard.

I guess our reputation as being a rowdy crowd preceded us. Check out our neighbors?

Down the hall is the main offices (our doorway is at the end of the hallway).

Around the corner from The Bunker is the post office (the post master’s parents just happen to be from Etna, NH!, once again it is a small world), and the little grocery market with the open sign.

And at the other end of the hall is the laundromat, ATM, and the Notary who also happens to be the town sign maker who made all the lovely wooden signs and owns a neat little gift shop down by the harbor!

yes, another underground tunnel…this one connects BTI with the school! No cold walks to school when it is below zero and there is 12 feet of snow! Also in the basement is a room full of freezers. Most, we’ve bee told, are full of fish, shrimp and crabs and whatever was bought the last big shopping trip to Anchorage.

A lot of articles on the web call Whittier “The Community under one Roof”.

I wonder why?

August 21, 2018

Cold War Pink Tiles

Our mini condo is in the Begich Towers (formerly the Hodge Building when it was built during the Cold War). It has all the ameneties we need and we affectionately call it “The Bunker”.