Day 76

For once we managed to get up and leave as planned, by 8 this morning.

Whitehorse is over 600 miles away, let’s see if we can get there today. Whitehorse is the biggest town in the Yukon Territory and we need to get some provisions ( notice how I smoothly slip right back into the local language!), and there is not much between our overnight rest stop and there, so there we headed, down the famous Alaska Highway.

We have been in Alaska for 6 ½ weeks, and we thought by now the roads that were badly bumpy on the way in would be repaired, and smooth and just wonderful. Not a chance. From Tok, about 100 miles from the border, to Destruction Bay, about 200 miles into Canada, we were shaken, rattled, rolled, bounced, and any other adjectived all over the place. It seems that the frost heaves which cause all the problems are a permanent feature of the Yukon. No wonder nobody lives here.

Still, we have discovered a new land, unclaimed by anyone. Heading out of Alaska, you go past the US customs post, and there are then 20 miles of nothing until you get to the Canadian customs, and enter Canada. So, we thought, who owns the 20 mile stretch in between?

We think it should be ours, and as we all know, to claim land you must have a flag. The only flag we carry, apart from the obligatory US and English ones, has a wolf logo and Gold and Black Army written all over it, so we claim the land in the name of The Wolves!!!

And, just as luck would have it, the only things living here appear to be wolves, and a few mooses.

We did see a coyote today, so it’s all coming together nicely.

Anyway, we stopped at several places along the highway today.

There is a viewing point of the Alaska oil pipeline where it crosses the Tanana River, though why anyone wants to stare at a pipeline is beyond me, it doesn’t do a lot, just sits there.

Then we stopped for lunch at Rika’s Roadhouse, an original inn from 19 something, which served truckers using the river ferry way back in the twenties and thirties, and then soldiers who built the Alaska Highway.

We pulled over in Delta Junction, and saw the best “animal” of the day, check the pix.

This beast was once a missile carrier, the owner is from Switzerland, lives in L.A., and the thing has Florida plates. It is converted into an RV, has four wheel steering, eight wheel drive and gets four miles to the gallon.

As the old joke goes, “ Where do you park it?”

“Anywhere you like!!”

Off down the road, through Tok, and into the Yukon. This country/province is stunningly empty and exceedingly beautiful. There are lakes galore, mountains and glaciers all over the place.

We saw the most gorgeous of sunsets, and yet, although the sun was down behind us, in front, the sky was still blue, there were pink clouds and the tops of the snow covered mountains to the west were still sparkling with sunlight. Very pretty.

We actually traveled 391 miles today, which given the road conditions, was pretty good, even though we were on the road for fourteen hours.

Wildlife watch today was a moose early, a coyote, lots of ravens and the “beast”!

Day 75

We wanted to get an early start, and 11.06 am wasn’t too bad!!

At least there was no bear this morning.

It rained all night, and the day started off drizzly, but soon improved to just “All My Children” weather………….dull and overcast.

We headed to Fairbanks and beyond, along Chena Hot Springs Road to ……Chena Hot Springs.

One thing we have forgotten to mention is that all roads in Alaska seem to have a “feeder” road, just for ATVs and other off road vehicles. We can be driving merrily along, minding our own business, when all of a sudden there is a cloud of dust, and a helmeted person appears, on top of some bouncing contraption, sometimes with a gun attached.

Keeping on the traffic theme for a minute, it has to be reported that although Alaskans are some of the most friendly people on the planet, they are lousy and inconsiderate drivers.

We were on the main Fairbanks road, going so slowly over the gravel construction area it felt like we were moving backwards, when not one, but several impatient trucks overtook us. The gravel road repair areas are very tricky, no lines, all loose gravel, construction equipment monster things everywhere, and strictly no passing zones. So, I hope they got where they were going 20 seconds quicker than if they had stayed behind us, must have made all the difference in the world to their day.

Enough complaining, we had a great day!

We went to an Ice Museum.

20 degrees F inside this huge igloo type building, full of wonderful and original ice carvings. There were bedrooms, a toilet, a huge chess set, knights in armor on horses, a fireplace and a bar, amongst other things.

The bar was curved and huge, with stools covered in fur so your bum didn’t get too cold.

We were served with an appletini, in an ice martini glass, which we got to take with us!!

It is now in the freezer, taking up space.

A really neat place.

On the way back down the 50 mile road to Fairbanks, it was Moosetime!!

We saw one moose in a pond, eating happily, and even when I blew the coach air horns to get her attention, it took a long while before she bothered to raise her head.

Then, about 3 miles further down the road, we saw not one, not two, but three mooses all in a big pond busily stocking up on vitamins and calories and nutrients to sustain them through the long Alaska winter months ahead. We spent a very pleasant half hour taking pix and just watching them enjoy life.

Afterwards, we drove to The North Pole!

Actually it is the town of North Pole, about twelve miles outside Fairbanks, and has a huge Santa Claus store, on St. Nicholas Drive, complete with live reindeer at the back, with the biggest antlers we have ever seen.

Of course, we went in and did the touristy thing, and took the obligatory touristy pix outside. All very much over the top, but when in Rome…………

We stopped at a rest area/pull off about 30 miles further down the road, and will get away early, again, tomorrow for the long haul towards Whitehorse, B.C.

As you can probably tell, we are heading out of Alaska in the next day or so, but we will leave very reluctantly.

Wildlife watch today was some kamikaze squirrels, lotsa mooses and some Sandhill Cranes.

Unusual, we thought, to find these beautious birds up here, they are common in Florida, and there are not many palm trees in Alaska.