Alaska – The Blue Van – Overland Travels

Le Blog Post

Jennah — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:29:49 +0000

We arrived at a place that looks like Alaska. There are numerous pine trees that frame a marshy river-pond. It smells really good, a mix of pine trees and cinnamon sugar, sort of. Good times. We parked at pullover a couple of miles Validivia. Father and Ryan drove in to the town to scope out camping spots whilst the rest of us just chilled at the trailer. Ryan had used his technical geniunity to have our phone broadcast an internet connection, so that was being used. Father and my bro came back no better places to camp, so we decided we’d stay there. Today we got to the end. The highway ran past the ocean for a bit, and I was looking out the window when I thought I saw penguins. We were all freaking out and whatnot as we camped in a parking lot next to the ocean and I angsted out about tsunamis whilst Ryan told me how if there was a tsunami it would be even more dangerous because it would funnel through the fjords and kill us all. My brother is quite the soothing sibling, isn’t he? The next day we boarded the ferry to get to the island. The water was so clear I could see the bottom, and I saw several starfish. It was partly cloudy and sort of chilly on the boat, but since we were hard core Alaskans we stayed up there until the end. There were hornets zooming around, but I stood brave and didn’t get stung. The island was quite charming, with little water front towns, markets and whatnot. We walked around the first one’s market, which had a lot of knitted wool things. They were all very beautiful, though expensive, and I couldn’t buy anything. We drove from town to town, hoping to see penguins and not seeing them. It turned out that they apparently migrated and were no longer here. It was very sad. It also appeared that the ‘penguins’ we had previously seen weren’t actually penguins, either. The plan was to go out for seafood, since Chile is famous for it, and we scoped out several restaurants that didn’t pan out. In the end, we went to a litte German bakery thing. Down here there are a lot of German things, such as shnitzel. We got a sort of apple strudel and a manjar waffle, which was delicious. It was made of a crispy waffley bread with manjar that tasted like peanut butter in between and coconut stuck to the manjar. Chile’s manjar is considerably better then Peru’s. I’m not looking forward to eating Peruvian manjar again. We drove to a lookout point that showcased an idyllic fjord surrounded by picture perfect pine trees and white flowers. We took a moment to reminscence about the trip, like how everywhere in South America there are amourous couples all over and how they listen to ancient music, like from the eighties and nineties. As if to prove our point, we noticed a couple mere feet from us making out. Good times. Once again we piled back into the van and headed back. It was growing dark and we had yet to find a restaurant. We eventually gave up and took the ferry back. The next day we headed back into Valdivia and camped outside a German pub. Mother, father, Jack, Ryan and Max went there to eat whilst I stayed behind and watched the little ones. Apparently, the meat at the German pub was next to raw and everyone ate it anyway. Ew. I’d become a vegetarian, but I can’t seem to not eat meat… The next morning Lucy escaped and bounded along the highway, forcing Ryan, Jack and father to attempt to catch her. They did eventually and we were about to leave when Jack spazzed out because he had dropped his headphones somewhere in the huge field they had been chasing the dog through. Miracolously, we found them and headed down the road. That night the white phone that broadcasted internet broke, which was unfortunate but unfixable. And finally, we are in Santiago again. The first night we camped in a Copec and not our Shell station since there wasn’t enough room. The Shell station is like my fourth home, but we moved there the next morning and greeted Ruben and whatnot I spent the day taking my siblings to the playground that unfortunately they have here. I greatly dislike playgrounds. Jennah

Halloween in Denver

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:54:36 +0000

Halloween!!

Mark fixed the van and Jeremy helped diagnose a problem with the brakes – thanks, Jeremy!

Then we watched a movie on the biggest TV I have ever seen in a house ever!

We went trick-or-treating in the warm, warm, warm Denver evening with Kelly, a friend from Alaska who just happened to be in Denver!

We bought 6 pizzas from Little Caesar’s – this is a new thing for us Alaskans

Jack and Cassie and Ryan

Then we headed to Chipotle’s for $2 burritos

The candy haul of all time!

From Mark

admin — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:46:10 +0000

So far, I have been pretty busy driving and maintaining and driving The Blue Van and camper. I’ve got a little time right now as we wait for blowing, freezing fog (or steaming, freezing ground, it’s a little hard to tell) to pass in Wyoming. Here is a little of my perspective of the trip.

We tried to get through Canada as quickly as possible. We’ve driven it before so it’s a little long, and we had to be in Denver by October 27thfor Ryan to take the ACT. The weather did not cooperate.

Driving to the border in Alaska from Fairbanks was not much of a problem. Everyone was happy to be on the road. I think there was much Taylor Swift singing, but I could be wrong. We pulled in to Beaver Creek late and could not get gas to continue until the morning. It started snowing as we were waking up. I installed the new car stereo we bought in Fairbanks before we left. Unfortunately, it made the speakers pop with any volume.

It snowed all day as we were driving. I have never driven towing the trailer in the heavy snow we were experiencing or any winter weather. By the time we reached Destruction Bay, there were 5 new inches on the ground. Towing a 30 foot trailer takes quite a bit of focus to begin with. Needless to say, driving was pretty intense. There were some pretty good grades we drove up, and the rear tires slipped a couple of times. Thanks to our Quigley Super Trac Van, we could turn on 4 wheel drive and easily continue on.

We spent the night in Whitehorse and bought new speakers in the morning. The old ones were the original Ford ones installed in 1992, so we thought an upgrade would improve the popping situation. That didn’t work so we returned the speakers and headed to Watson Lake. The driving conditions continued to be pretty bad all the way to Fort Saint John and beyond. Ice, snow, freezing slush and cold weather. It was pretty tiring.

In Fort Nelson, Michelle and went on a date! This is one of my favorite things to do, at home or on the road. It always wonderful to spend some time with just her and it’s really fun to go to new places while we travel. We try to find interesting places wherever we are at. In Fort Nelson, we went to Dan’s Neighborhood Pub. It was a really nice place. Stop there if you get the chance.

Michelle and I went on another date at Liard Hot Springs. I have been wanting to go here with her for several years. We had been here before with the kids, but it was really nice to go the spring with just her. It was cold and there was snow covering everything. Truly a beautiful experience. It was really nice sitting in the springs with Michelle in the crisp, clean air with snow blanketing everything. Two dates so far! And this one a dream come true!

From Dawson Creek on, things were pretty easy going. In the early part of the trip, we can’t stop as often or for as long as I would like. I am looking forward to slowing down a little after Denver and spending a little more time in more places.

We spent a couple of days in Vancouver. Ryan really likes Vancouver and we are trying to visit as many places that he wants. He headed into town on public transportation. The rest of us went into town in The Blue Van together a little later and walked around Granville Island. Then we went downtown to get Poutine, which is French fries and cheese curds smothered in brown gravy. There are lots of toppings you can have put on, from bacon to lobster and beyond. So obviously, Poutine is really really good. And healthy, too!!

The next day, Ryan, Jack and I went on a very nice tour of Simon Frazer University in the morning. I left them there and went back to the RV park to pick up everyone and the camper and go meet Michelle’s old friend Lee who lives in Vancouver. HEY LEE, IT WAS REALLY GREAT TO SEE YOU!!! I hope we meet again in Santiago! Ryan and Jack took the bus from SFU to the park we were. Back on the road…..

All right. That’s enough for now. Next post brings us “Flat Tire in Everett” and “Zombies in Portland.” Tune in then! Mark

Thoughts on Canada — Jennah

admin — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:17:09 +0000

We are in Canada! The land of Tim Burton’s, the biggest mall in North America (Edmonton Mall) Canadian Idol and Canadian-o’s (that’s what my brother Jack called Canadian money earlier). There was a blizzard earlier. We camped in the Fairbanks Wal-Mart parking lot on Sunday night and then drove all the way to the Canadian border. Last night we camped in Beaver Creek, which is a tiny town on the Canadian/Alaska border. Tomorrow we’ll drive another three hundred, four hundred miles and camp. Then the day after that we’ll drive another one hundred and fifty miles to LIARD HOT SPRINGS! Which are an utterly fantastic, brilliant, cool, awesome natural hot springs that is ringed by trees, bushes, and little natural waterfalls that fall into tiny turquoise wavelets that is disturbed by the gently falling snowflakes that drift from the periwinkle skies.

We have driven down the gray ribbon of highway that stretches into horizon disguised by the pearly gray ice fog that drifts in long tendrils, ensnaring the beautiful overcast Canadian skies. It is only disturbed by the sun-shiny yellow line that separates the gray pavement of the road.

Lake Kluane stretched across an unknown amount of terrain, overlapping land with its blue gray tides. Rain is pelting down and causing the H2O to shiver and shake, looking as if the entire earth in moving.

The Wal-Mart sign shines gold in the oncoming sleet, like a beacon to wary travelers such as us. The gray concrete box light store seems to glow with the promise of heat and shelter from the cold Canadian weather. A McDonalds is within the sanctuary, making the already holy store more god like. Car lights shine red in the velvety blackness, interrupting it. Five trailers are already camped there for the night, people already looking to get away from the hellish road conditions.

Fort St. John and Dawson Creek

admin — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:07:42 +0000

We are in dire need of internet access so we are stopping at the Fort St. John McDonalds for soda and 5 large french fries ($24!). Max needs a new library book. This McDonalds has a great playland and Team DeCorso organized a game of tag and had the entire playland playing. Downloaded 7 library books (thanks ListenAlaska!) and bought Cloud Atlas on my Nook. Also a cute little app that lets you dress up princesses and unicorns for long boring stretches of driving.

We bought a *new* stereo. The last new one we bought in Fairbanks 4 days ago was the last one and in a damaged box but they guarenteed it worked fine — but it did not work fine. We had to listen to Billboards Top 100 for 1971 and 1972 very quietly.

Headed on down the road to Dawson Creek. We have no service here but oddly can receive texts. Dawson Creek is the end (or begining) of the Alaska Highway. We camped in a parking lot by Safeway – there is a closed store with a big parking lot. The wind was gusting to 79 km and it was shaking the camper so Mark moved us in the middle of the night. It was next to a bike path and in the morning while Mark installed the new stereo, we walked the bike path. The path led to a cemetary. It was a little unsettling, many fresh graves and wind chimes hung on crosses and the wind blowing trash across the graves.

The graveyard

Camping out of the wind

Bike Path

Left Dawson Creek with a new stereo and Stevie Ray Vaughan breaking it in.

Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway

Fort Nelson

admin — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 03:45:08 +0000

Ft. Nelson IGA

We all really like Fort Nelson. Every time we pass through we try to stay the night. The IGA always has great unexpected deals. Last time, it was perogies. This time it was fresh french bread ($1 a loaf!) so, because Saturday is traditionally DeCorso pizza night, we made french bread pizzas with pepperoni, bacon, roasted chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, jalpenos, barbeque sauce, pizza sauce, olive oil…

We also got a bottle of Canadian blackberry wine which we have not yet tried. We are parked right out front of Dan’s Neighborhood Pub and as soon as we get dinner put away, Mark and I are going for a beer.

Update: Dan’s Pub turned out to be a nice place. Two Kokanee’s and a plate of poutine and we are heading home.

Three Bears in Tok! Almost to the border!

admin — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 02:57:06 +0000

A Late Start

admin — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:21:41 +0000

We were all set to leave, all the kids and dogs and stuff packed and stored and ready for travel. We were filled up with gas and we made one last stop to fill up propane. At the gas station, Mark hooked the two new 6 volt golf cart batteries up. Ryan jumped into the camper to get his headphones, his new, awesome headphones. We had just unpacked the last groceries and thrown out a bunch of garbage and it turns out the headphones were in a case directly above the garbage! Panic ensues! What if it fell into the garbage? Or worse, what if it fell out of the camper and was lying in the parking lot? We jump back in and — the van does not start. The batteries are completely dead. Mark fetches the battery charger and the cables — but the cables are not there! Ryan calls a cab to take him to the parking lot and they say they will be there in 5 minutes. A woman pulls up and offers to jump the van, but that always takes 10 minutes. The cab arrives, Ryan departs. The van gets started and we drive to find Ryan. He has not found his head phones.

After a small family conference, we decide that it’s smarter to spend the night in Fairbanks and run home to get the jumper cables than buy a new set since it’s late anyway. Shana and Mikayla show up!! Jack, Jen & Ryan head to Barnes & Noble.

Mark starts the small generator but it doesn’t start. Its a Honda ue2000i, still under warranty and has worked fine so it seems like we are destined to spend one more night here. We tend to go with the flow anyway, saves a lot of stress. Mark works on the generator and gets it to start but the lights are surging and flickering and it is all wrong.

Only one new event happened and that was the hooking up of the batteries. Mark checks the cables and finds that they are hooked up wrong and fixes it. Everything works fine! That is what drained the batteries and made the generator act strange. The kids come home from Barnes & Noble and Ryan finds his headphones – right by his bunk.

Packing List

admin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 00:40:56 +0000

We are nearly all packed up. Here is what we are bringing:

Technology

Michelle’s work laptop
Ryan’s laptop
Jack’s laptop
Jennah, Max, Ryan, Michelle, Sylvia & Annabelle have Nook tablets
Mifi that works in Alaska, Canada and the lower 48
Three smartphones
Three unlocked phones for local sim cards
One unlocked phone with an international sim card and a Washington DC number
500 GB hard drive filled with music!!
Assorted headphones
One small DVD player

School Books

Enki Fairy Tales (scanned and loaded on my Nook)
Math (Calculus, Geometry, Algebra, 5th grade, third grade) – a combination of a text and Teaching Textbooks
Rosetta Stone Spanish and a headset
Geography
Cultural Anthropology
Veterinary Science
Writing Arguments
Physical Geology
Middle Ages & Renaissance reading list (most on Jen’s Nook)

Cooking

8 bowls, 8 plates, 8 mugs, 8 cups, 8 forks and 8 spoons
Two mixing bowls
2 baking sheets that fit into the camper oven
A whisk, slotted spoon, spatula and colander
2 – 9 x 13 pans
8 quart pressure cooker + directions
three sauce pans + lids
two stock pots + lids

First Aid

Comprehensive first aid kit
Aloe vera burn ointment
Antibacterial wipes
Iodine
Pepto bismal
Advil & Tylenol
Kids Advil & Tylenol
Cough and cold medicine
We also are bringing items we make ourselves such as echinacea tincture, Balm of Gilead, antiseptic salve (wormwood, yarrow, balsam poplar, chickweed, beeswax and olive oil), and lip balm
Sunscreen, all kinds of sunscreen
Mosquito spray

Tools

In Every Tub:

Shower shoes / sandals
Comfortable hiking boots
Wool hat and gloves
Two fleece jackets
Two pairs of PJs
At least 5 bottoms
At least 5 tops
Swimsuit
One nice outfit

Toys

A kite
Sand bucket and shovels
Basket of Playmobil
Basket of wooden people, animals and small dolls
Legos
Games (Uno, Ticket to Ride, cribbage board & deck of cards, Stratego, little kid card games, memory)
Crayons, paper, colored pencils, journals, gluesticks

Dogs

Leashes
Paperwork (international travel card, shot record)
Meds for the trip

Paperwork

Passports
Shot records
Vehicle and camper registration
Vehicle and camper proof of insurance
Dog paperwork

Books

Milepost
Lonely Planet USA
99 days to Panama
People’s Guide to Mexico
Americas Overland
Frommers Bolivia
Moon Panama
Frommers Central America
Lonely Planet Chile
Lonely Planet Argentina

Personal

8 towels
8 tooth brushes
small blow dryer
soap & shampoo
personal care products
glasses, perscriptions, contacts, contact solution
jewelry
hair brush and comb, hair ties
blanket and pillow, sheets

Other

Honda eu2000i generator
Mosquito netting for all beds
two spare trailer tires
Scissors
Candles
Flashlights / head lamps
LED nightlights
magnifying glass
craft items (yarn, needles, beads, pipe cleaners, etc)

Bilbo Brunch – DeCorso Going Away Party

admin — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 07:24:57 +0000

Enjoy the famous Sunday Champagne Brunch at Pike’s Landing and wish the DeCorso’s well at their Bon Voyage party. Not all who wander are lost.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began,
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Brunch consists of a rotating buffet lineup including:

Eggs Benedict
Scrambled Eggs
Patty& Link Sausage
Waffle Stix
Apple Crepes
Biscuits & Sausage Gravy (the best in the world– in my opinion)
Halibut
Chicken
Beef Stroganoff / rice
Spinach Soufflé (House Specialty)
Relish Tray
Smoked Salmon
Smoked Oysters
Assorted Cheeses
Seafood Pasta Salad
Asian Salad
Marinated Mushrooms

Fruit: Grapefruit, Pineapple, Cantaloupe, Peaches & Watermelon

18 Feet of Desserts! Various Cobblers, Chocolate Mouse, Crème Brulee, Champagne Cake, Carrot Cake, Chocolate Cake, Brownies, Rocky Road Bars, Key Lime Pie, Cookies, Biscotti, tarts and many more that our in house pastry staff create from week to week.

It is highly recommended that you call ahead for fine dining reservations.