DAY 59 DEPARTED FAIRBANKS FOR TOK, AK

Day 59. We were up and out by 8 a.m. this morning. We grabbed a bite of breakfast, filled out some get-well cards, and got some last minute provisions. We stopped by the Carlson Center to watch the athletes preparing for the meets. Opening ceremony is this evening. We stopped by the Episcopal Diocese office to say good-bye and headed out around 11:30 a.m. We stopped at the North Pole to make some arrangements with Santa (yes, he's there!), stopped outside Delta Junction to pick up some exotic meats that we are bringing home in our cooler: reindeer summer sausage, elk kielbossa, yak meat sticks, and buffalo jerky. We arrived at Tok around 4:15 p.m. We are staying at the Tundra RV park and campground. We have a nice wooded spot and plan to make a campfire this evening. Tomorrow our destination is Dawson City. It will be a 200 mile drive, which normally wouldn't be too bad. However, the road is gravel so the going will be slow. If we can average 40 mpg (perhaps a little optimistic) the trip will take 5 hours. We'll spend one day and two nights in Dawson City so we can pan for a little gold. I'll let everyone know how we do in an upcoming blog. It feels good to be back on the road again.







Mileage for the day: 260 miles
Mileage for the trip: 6,997 (excluding air miles from Fairbanks to Fort Yukon and back)

DAY 17 NORTH POLE, AK

Day 17. Today we visited the North Pole! Not the magnetic north pole, but North Pole, Alaska, which is about 10 miles out of Fairbanks going south on the Richardson Highway. North Pole is repleat with Santa's house, candy cane light posts, and Christmas decorations throughout the small town. The attraction for us was to send postcards to our small nieces and nephews depicting Santa's house (in winter) and postmarked from "North Pole, AK". They should bring a smile when they arrive. We have concluded, upon further research, that it will be too difficult and costly to travel to the Artic Ocean. As a compromise, we plan to drive to the Artic Circle on the Dalton Highway, about 1/3 the distance to Prudhoe Bay. We are not equipped with the necesssary emergency equipment should we have a breakdown along the Dalton Highway. Perhaps we will do in on another trip in the future. Tomorrow we plan to take the Discovery Steamboat up the Chena River which flows through Fairbanks. It is a 3 1/2 hour tour revealing the history of the city and its earlier inhabitants. The weather today has been perfect with highs in the mid 70's. The low last night had to be in the low to mid 50's--perfect for camping. Even the mosquitoes have not been too bad, although we did break out the Deet last night. We are looking forward to seeing our daughters, who will be flying up on June 12 for a week. Plenty to see in the mean time...

DAY 16 FAIRBANKS, AK

Day 16. The night in Delta Junction was cool--low 40's--but comfortable. We had a casual morning including repeat trip to the visitor center to purchase some memorabilia commemorating our completion of driving the Alaska Highway. By late morning it was off to Fairbanks. We had our first sighting of the Alaska pipeline--impressive. We arrived in Fairbanks mid-afternoon. The weather is warm--mid to upper 70's. We are camping at the River's Edge RV campground, which is very nice. We are now researching the best way to get to the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay. It is a public road but a bit rough. The literature cautions about flat tires and broken windshields. In addition, Prudhoe Bay itself is private property; it is owned by the oil companies. So we will need special authorization to reach the Arctic Ocean. In addition, after 9/11 security was tightened. We have been told we will need to fax our identification up at least 24 hours in advance to receive clearance. It all sounds pretty complicated. But I am determined to do it because of what I have read we will see along the way. We also want to collect a vial of sand from the Arctic Ocean to add to our collection. In addition to Prudhoe Bay, we want to take the Discovery Riverboat tour, visit North Pole, Alaska (about 10 miles outside Fairbanks), and possibly take the Alaska Railroad from Fairbanks to Denali National Park. We have been blessed with very good weather for which we are very thankful. There are many things outside of our control. Thankfully, everything is under God's control. We are counting on that. Tomorrow we continue our preparations from Fairbanks.

Mileage for the day: 122 miles
Mileage for the trip: 4,073 miles

DAY 14 TOK, AK

Day 14. Saturday night was bitter cold in Haines Junction. Even with sleeping bags rated to 0 degrees we froze. You could see your breath in the morning, so I'm guessing the low was around 30 degrees. It took half the day to thaw out! We broke camp late and spent the day driving the worst part of the Alcan Highway. From Destruction Bay to Beaver Creek the road is in very poor shape because of the permafrost. East year the road bed heaves and produces all manner of pits, depressions and upheavals, and just bad driving conditions. We were able to drive 50 mph a good deal of the stretch although it was like driving an obstacle course. We ate supper at Buckshot Betty's in Beaver Creek (a recommendation from my brother, Bruce) and continued on to Tok in the good old US of A. A bonus upon arrival was that we once again had cell phone service. Canada has Northwestel, a system that does not cooperate with USA carriers. We found a nice campground with hot showers and retired early for the night. Forcast low was 40 degrees. It should be okay.

Mileage for the day: 300 miles
Mileage for the trip: 3,836 miles