Friday morning dawns – no wait - remember the “rustic” description? I am ready to leave rustic about 5:00 am – actually before dawn. We are about an 30 minutes from Alaska and I really want to try a different restaurant for breakfast. Surely there is something by the customs area as they staff 24 hours a day. Robert agrees to the plan and off we go – down the bumpy bumpy road.
Arriving at US customs just at daybreak I am amazed we are the ONLY car coming or going. Once again we have the passports and vaccination papers ready and this time we need all three. Squirt sits patiently as we declare our goods and then we hear “Welcome to Alaska”. Almost home and look – there is a restaurant about a mile down the road that has lights on. Looking good for breakfast and what do you know we have cell phone coverage again!
We pull into the parking lot – not many cars here for a hotel but the door is open and we see someone working inside. Sauntering to the entrance with visions of eggs and bacon in our heads we peek around the corner and ask the lady if they were open. She said “Oh no…we don’t open for another hour.” Then it dawns on us - we entered a new time zone and have to set the clocks back again. Rumble Rumble – on to Tok for breakfast.
Tok – The Tok Cutoff - where we turn South and head to home (even though we went South quite a bit on the northern highway). Opening the Milepost (required for this trip) I find Tok does have restaurants and from the pictures they look busy. We leave the nice little border hotel and pick up some speed (roads are back to normal and not bumpy). The sun is just coming over the horizon and we are cruising along. Enter one of the most exciting “cut-offs“ of the trip.
Coming around a curve going at least highway speeds and there’s a moose crossing the road. Now, up close and personal when slamming on the breaks, moose are really big. From later encounters, they appear to be big in general but sliding that last 10 feet before the moose joins you in the front seat of the SUV - they are REALLY big. I would compare this specific moose to a Clydesdale except she is taller, heavier and has skinnier legs. Thank goodness we don’t hit her and no one hits us (but remember there is no traffic right now).
OK –watch for moose on the side of the road. You would think that is a very simple task but moose are incredible at camouflage. They disappear once that rump goes through the trees. (I assume they disappear if the back into the trees as well.) But this also counts the second time I have seen a moose in the wild and this one was alive (and scared by the end of the encounter).
Here’s Tok and there’s the restaurant. Look at all of the cars. Must be good. We head inside, sit down and order, warm our hands on the coffee cups and here comes the food and it IS good. Of course there's LOTS of it. We could have ordered one breakfast and had enough but we never think to share a meal. This breakfast and one more fuel stop should get us home early afternoon. Sounds like a good plan and except for the construction and a little slow down from curvey roads.
We pull into Anchorage about 2:30 Friday afternoon. We drive through town taking a couple of turns to get to our housing edition and there is our house. Everybody out – stretch – walk around a little bit. Squirt runs around through the yard (there are some unusual sniffs here!) and we are ready to go inside. We are home.
And thus starts our Alaskan adventure….
As a side note, this was the third time I have actually traveled the AlCan highway. My parents, brother and myself journeyed to Fairbanks by car in the late sixties to visit my sister. I only have spotty memories of the trip (something about my brother tossing my nose out the window somewhere in the mountains comes up at every family gathering). However, seeing what the roads are like today and the few and far between gas pumps and accommodations, I wish I remembered more and have even more respect for my parents in the fact they took us to see my sister in the first place. I recently commented to my brother about that trip and he said he kind of dropped one of the wheels off the road (remember the guard rail statement in yesterday's post?) which made everyone nervous. And I’m thinking…what do you mean “kind of”…. :) I believe they had to replace the gas tank and do some other repairs upon return…..things are definitely better!
And yes – I would drive it again. I just hope next time it isn’t at such a hurried pace so we can stop and enjoy the scenery, take pictures with a working camera and swat more pesky little black flies.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Another day in the car??
VERY foggy today with a high around 34 degrees. We had 8 hours and 36 min of daylight.
On with the travels....
In the middle of Dawson Creek there is a sign post listing distances. Dawson Creek is mile 0 and Delta Junction (the end of the highway) is only 1398 miles away with Anchorage and home just 335 miles further. The AlCan was a project between Canada and the US for an overland supply route to Alaska during World War II. If I remember correctly, they started and finished construction in 1942 taking just over 8 months to complete. While traveling the highway, I am constantly amazed at the engineering feat the soldiers accomplished in the time frame and weather conditions.
It is brisk Wednesday morning when we get up and head down the road. Not much traffic but the scenery is very pretty fall colors are really coming out. Lots and lots of yellows and oranges. The road is a little bumpy here and there and we had to stop for about 30 minutes for road construction. Somewhere along the way we spotted Dall sheep on the side of a mountain. Destination for to day – Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. Not much occurs during the drive which is fortunate as we still don’t have cell phone coverage. (Ok – the book said it was spotty.) We do seem to go South a lot on the road heading to Anchorage. Interestingly enough, the GPS tries to send us off onto some dirt roads. Remember – there is only one paved road to Alaska. Why is that thing trying to get me to turn left? Must be another setting somewhere. (Btw - I would argue whether the entire road is paved. I believe some of the paving as worn off and needs to be repaved.)
Coming into Watson Lake I ask for the address of the hotel. It is milepost something or other. Many places don’t have street addresses like we are used to. It is a mile marker. Mile markers work except road construction and improvements over the years have shortened the highway. This means the mile markers aren’t always exactly where they started. But luck is riding with us and we find the hotel, get checked in and unload the car. Squirt is SO happy to get out for what appears to be the evening.
Once we get settled, we decide to look for a restaurant. There is one in the hotel but we want to see what our options are before opting to stay inside. Hopping back in the car (Squirt is so disappointed) we get back on the highway and drive to the other end of town - about ¾ mile away. Looks like we will eat at the hotel. We did see the gas station and decided to fill up before they closed. Gas is HOW MUCH per litre? I don’t remember exactly but at one point we were paying well over $4.50 a gallon. And what are these pesky black nasty flies that won’t leave us alone.
We hurry back to the hotel to eat dinner before they close. Food was good but I did notice they didn’t have any sugar substitute for my coffee. Forced to use real sugar – what a treat! After dinner, it is time to take Squirt for a stroll to the other end of town. We meander outside, start down the path - oh no - here come the flies – big black clouds of them. EGAD – hurry up Squirt we are going back inside. (Hey – any chance you have cell phone coverage?)
Due to the early evening we are up and about before dawn Thursday morning (days are still fairly long right now) and head downstairs to the café for breakfast. These people serve LOTS of food. Pack up the car and we are off – destination Beaver Creek. Thursday ended up a lot like Wednesday except the road was extraordinarily bumpy. Bumpy enough I was able to wake Robert up by just driving on the road like I am supposed to. :) I hope the Canadian/Yukon Territory government got a good deal on the bumpy road indicator signs. If there were red flags by the road, you were in for a treat. That was where you had better SLOW DOWN or there was a chance of becoming airborne. No need for a radar detector here. I don’t think the Camaro would have made it or it would have taken an extra day. I also noticed there were some spots that I would have probably put a guard rail. But then I tend to be a little tense next to drop offs when there is nothing there to help stop you. Today was a day for Elk and Buffalo right by the side of the road. Squirt was fascinated by them and wanted to get out and play. I was trying to take pictures. (Unfortunately, the camera was broken and we didn’t know it until later.)
We arrived at Beaver Creek at about dinner time. It looks very similar to Watson Lake in size and number of buildings. We found our hotel which again had a café and souvenir shop in the check in area. The hotel was very, very rustic and I look forward to getting to Anchorage. Once again, we unload, eat dinner and start off for a stroll the highway always watching for bears but never saw any. (Good grief - what is happened to the front of the car it is totally black. Oh - little black fly bodies. We should be rewarded for taking out so many.) Back to the hotel to watch the football game – and still no cell coverage.
Friday is almost here! The home stretch - we will be in Anchorage tomorrow if we get through customs successfully.
OK – if anyone noticed, the days did change. I realized we actually left on Sunday – not Monday. I took creative liberty and changed yesterday’s posting! Good catch if you noticed!
On with the travels....
In the middle of Dawson Creek there is a sign post listing distances. Dawson Creek is mile 0 and Delta Junction (the end of the highway) is only 1398 miles away with Anchorage and home just 335 miles further. The AlCan was a project between Canada and the US for an overland supply route to Alaska during World War II. If I remember correctly, they started and finished construction in 1942 taking just over 8 months to complete. While traveling the highway, I am constantly amazed at the engineering feat the soldiers accomplished in the time frame and weather conditions.
It is brisk Wednesday morning when we get up and head down the road. Not much traffic but the scenery is very pretty fall colors are really coming out. Lots and lots of yellows and oranges. The road is a little bumpy here and there and we had to stop for about 30 minutes for road construction. Somewhere along the way we spotted Dall sheep on the side of a mountain. Destination for to day – Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. Not much occurs during the drive which is fortunate as we still don’t have cell phone coverage. (Ok – the book said it was spotty.) We do seem to go South a lot on the road heading to Anchorage. Interestingly enough, the GPS tries to send us off onto some dirt roads. Remember – there is only one paved road to Alaska. Why is that thing trying to get me to turn left? Must be another setting somewhere. (Btw - I would argue whether the entire road is paved. I believe some of the paving as worn off and needs to be repaved.)
Coming into Watson Lake I ask for the address of the hotel. It is milepost something or other. Many places don’t have street addresses like we are used to. It is a mile marker. Mile markers work except road construction and improvements over the years have shortened the highway. This means the mile markers aren’t always exactly where they started. But luck is riding with us and we find the hotel, get checked in and unload the car. Squirt is SO happy to get out for what appears to be the evening.
Once we get settled, we decide to look for a restaurant. There is one in the hotel but we want to see what our options are before opting to stay inside. Hopping back in the car (Squirt is so disappointed) we get back on the highway and drive to the other end of town - about ¾ mile away. Looks like we will eat at the hotel. We did see the gas station and decided to fill up before they closed. Gas is HOW MUCH per litre? I don’t remember exactly but at one point we were paying well over $4.50 a gallon. And what are these pesky black nasty flies that won’t leave us alone.
We hurry back to the hotel to eat dinner before they close. Food was good but I did notice they didn’t have any sugar substitute for my coffee. Forced to use real sugar – what a treat! After dinner, it is time to take Squirt for a stroll to the other end of town. We meander outside, start down the path - oh no - here come the flies – big black clouds of them. EGAD – hurry up Squirt we are going back inside. (Hey – any chance you have cell phone coverage?)
Due to the early evening we are up and about before dawn Thursday morning (days are still fairly long right now) and head downstairs to the café for breakfast. These people serve LOTS of food. Pack up the car and we are off – destination Beaver Creek. Thursday ended up a lot like Wednesday except the road was extraordinarily bumpy. Bumpy enough I was able to wake Robert up by just driving on the road like I am supposed to. :) I hope the Canadian/Yukon Territory government got a good deal on the bumpy road indicator signs. If there were red flags by the road, you were in for a treat. That was where you had better SLOW DOWN or there was a chance of becoming airborne. No need for a radar detector here. I don’t think the Camaro would have made it or it would have taken an extra day. I also noticed there were some spots that I would have probably put a guard rail. But then I tend to be a little tense next to drop offs when there is nothing there to help stop you. Today was a day for Elk and Buffalo right by the side of the road. Squirt was fascinated by them and wanted to get out and play. I was trying to take pictures. (Unfortunately, the camera was broken and we didn’t know it until later.)
We arrived at Beaver Creek at about dinner time. It looks very similar to Watson Lake in size and number of buildings. We found our hotel which again had a café and souvenir shop in the check in area. The hotel was very, very rustic and I look forward to getting to Anchorage. Once again, we unload, eat dinner and start off for a stroll the highway always watching for bears but never saw any. (Good grief - what is happened to the front of the car it is totally black. Oh - little black fly bodies. We should be rewarded for taking out so many.) Back to the hotel to watch the football game – and still no cell coverage.
Friday is almost here! The home stretch - we will be in Anchorage tomorrow if we get through customs successfully.
OK – if anyone noticed, the days did change. I realized we actually left on Sunday – not Monday. I took creative liberty and changed yesterday’s posting! Good catch if you noticed!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
And We're Off
Snowed about 4 inches at the house Sunday. Welcome to shoveling!
Oh - and then it snowed about 4 inches on Monday too. Thank goodness for the snow blower.
And to quell the questions - A moose dropping is about the size and shape of a golf ball. Too bad they leave about 2 dozen golf balls at a time. Plus I caught all kinds of guff for describing us as middle aged...
But back to the START of the story...
Late August and the house is all packed. Luckily we stood our ground and stopped them from loading the bed until the very last thing. Little did I know that an air mattress would be a part of my life...but that comes later.
We loaded up the very necessary items the packers wouldn't pack in our two cargo containers and some things we thought may be needed on the AlCan in the little SUV that could. I convinced Robert we didn't need to carry the propane tanks with us. One can of gasoline and the ammunition was enough. Squirt's bed was set up the back seat and rather high on top of the coats and "just in case" towels/blankets. (He didn't understand he would be living in the car for several days.) With a full water dish and full gas tank we said good-bye to our Houston house and neighbors and headed north.
Over the first four days we stopped off and saw family and friends in Oklahoma and Kansas. Then we got serious about driving to our new home. We left early Sunday planning to drive between 500 and 700 miles a day. OK - we really didn't plan. Our plan was to drive until we were tired of driving. The total trip (from Houston) was about 4500 miles give or take 100.
Made it through Nebraska and stopped in Wyoming the first night. Beautiful evening for a walk and we gained an hour of sunlight by crossing into Mountain time zone. I didn't know how important that would be later. May have to wear jeans tomorrow as it is a little cool here in the high plains. Glad I packed some.
Monday morning up and off to Canada. Going through Wyoming and Montana, we saw large herds of antelope and a lot of road kill. There were also these giant windmills - huge - spinning away making electricity. There weren't a lot of trees in this part of the trip - nothing to block the wind for the windmills. Saw a lot of interesting signs discussing where to put on and take off tire chains.
As we neared the border, I had the passports and rabies vaccination certificate ready for inspection. We had to wait a few minutes for our turn to talk to the customs agent. We declared everything we needed and passed right through with no problems. On to Lethbridge for the evening. We walked to dinner and around the town for a little while - may have to get a jacket out.
Tuesday morning we headed north again. According to the Milepost, Canada doesn't allow radar detectors - a bit of a frustration. We passed through Calgary and Edmonton with little event. We ate lunch in a quaint little town and filled up with gas in a 20 mph gale (where's my jacket and gloves).
We spent the day traveling through British Columbia watching the fall colors become more and more prevalent. I was lucky enough to see my first moose in the wild. Unfortunately - it was road kill. That has to be a shock to hit a moose. (Definitely getting cooler. I may have packed too many tank tops for this trip.) British Columbia was also where we had our black bear encounter. Past Edmonton, we saw a car about once every 30 minutes or so. We had just come up over a little knoll and I noticed a tree trunk by the side of the road. I remember thinking - what an odd place to leave a tree trunk- so close to the road. Then the trunk got down off of its hind legs, watch us go by and then crossed the road. Due to light traffic (ok - no traffic) we stopped and watched it for a couple of minutes. They are amazing animals.
As I mentioned before, we typically drive until we are tired and then look for a place to stay. Being a bit concerned about what we would find, I had actually created a tentative plan in Houston before leaving. (Did I mention the GPS?) An important tidbit for GPS usage is to know if it is calculating miles "as the crow flies" or actual road miles. The little GPS said Whitehorse was only 600 miles away....my hand calculations were more like 900. That's when we discovered how important the setting was and how critical the Milepost. We decided we needed to do some real planning and actually try to find hotel rooms. Robert did an excellent job while I was driving.
We finished the driving day at the famous town of Dawson Creek. (Hey - did you know we lost cell phone coverage somewhere...after Edmonton.) This was about two hours after Squirt was ready to get out. I was pretty sure he thought we were lost and he was never going to see home again. Dawson Creek is the start of the Alaska-Canada (AlCan) highway - the only road to Alaska. We had moved into Pacific time zone which was really good. We needed that extra hour.
Only a couple more days to home!
Oh - and then it snowed about 4 inches on Monday too. Thank goodness for the snow blower.
And to quell the questions - A moose dropping is about the size and shape of a golf ball. Too bad they leave about 2 dozen golf balls at a time. Plus I caught all kinds of guff for describing us as middle aged...
But back to the START of the story...
Late August and the house is all packed. Luckily we stood our ground and stopped them from loading the bed until the very last thing. Little did I know that an air mattress would be a part of my life...but that comes later.
We loaded up the very necessary items the packers wouldn't pack in our two cargo containers and some things we thought may be needed on the AlCan in the little SUV that could. I convinced Robert we didn't need to carry the propane tanks with us. One can of gasoline and the ammunition was enough. Squirt's bed was set up the back seat and rather high on top of the coats and "just in case" towels/blankets. (He didn't understand he would be living in the car for several days.) With a full water dish and full gas tank we said good-bye to our Houston house and neighbors and headed north.
Over the first four days we stopped off and saw family and friends in Oklahoma and Kansas. Then we got serious about driving to our new home. We left early Sunday planning to drive between 500 and 700 miles a day. OK - we really didn't plan. Our plan was to drive until we were tired of driving. The total trip (from Houston) was about 4500 miles give or take 100.
Made it through Nebraska and stopped in Wyoming the first night. Beautiful evening for a walk and we gained an hour of sunlight by crossing into Mountain time zone. I didn't know how important that would be later. May have to wear jeans tomorrow as it is a little cool here in the high plains. Glad I packed some.
Monday morning up and off to Canada. Going through Wyoming and Montana, we saw large herds of antelope and a lot of road kill. There were also these giant windmills - huge - spinning away making electricity. There weren't a lot of trees in this part of the trip - nothing to block the wind for the windmills. Saw a lot of interesting signs discussing where to put on and take off tire chains.
As we neared the border, I had the passports and rabies vaccination certificate ready for inspection. We had to wait a few minutes for our turn to talk to the customs agent. We declared everything we needed and passed right through with no problems. On to Lethbridge for the evening. We walked to dinner and around the town for a little while - may have to get a jacket out.
Tuesday morning we headed north again. According to the Milepost, Canada doesn't allow radar detectors - a bit of a frustration. We passed through Calgary and Edmonton with little event. We ate lunch in a quaint little town and filled up with gas in a 20 mph gale (where's my jacket and gloves).
We spent the day traveling through British Columbia watching the fall colors become more and more prevalent. I was lucky enough to see my first moose in the wild. Unfortunately - it was road kill. That has to be a shock to hit a moose. (Definitely getting cooler. I may have packed too many tank tops for this trip.) British Columbia was also where we had our black bear encounter. Past Edmonton, we saw a car about once every 30 minutes or so. We had just come up over a little knoll and I noticed a tree trunk by the side of the road. I remember thinking - what an odd place to leave a tree trunk- so close to the road. Then the trunk got down off of its hind legs, watch us go by and then crossed the road. Due to light traffic (ok - no traffic) we stopped and watched it for a couple of minutes. They are amazing animals.
As I mentioned before, we typically drive until we are tired and then look for a place to stay. Being a bit concerned about what we would find, I had actually created a tentative plan in Houston before leaving. (Did I mention the GPS?) An important tidbit for GPS usage is to know if it is calculating miles "as the crow flies" or actual road miles. The little GPS said Whitehorse was only 600 miles away....my hand calculations were more like 900. That's when we discovered how important the setting was and how critical the Milepost. We decided we needed to do some real planning and actually try to find hotel rooms. Robert did an excellent job while I was driving.
We finished the driving day at the famous town of Dawson Creek. (Hey - did you know we lost cell phone coverage somewhere...after Edmonton.) This was about two hours after Squirt was ready to get out. I was pretty sure he thought we were lost and he was never going to see home again. Dawson Creek is the start of the Alaska-Canada (AlCan) highway - the only road to Alaska. We had moved into Pacific time zone which was really good. We needed that extra hour.
Only a couple more days to home!
We're going to what???
Once upon a time, a middle aged couple from the southern Midwest had the opportunity of a lifetime...move to alaska...in September...just in time for winter. Should we go? Should we stay? Definitely - GO! We can't pass this up.
And so we begin house hunting, packing and planning the move. What to do with the boy (Squirt the Bichon Frise) - how do we get him to Alaska. We could fly but that would be a long flight for the little buddy. There's the Alaska Marine Highway - kind of like a cruise but wait - the Squirt has to stay in the car for how long? Well why not drive. It will be early September - past most of the tourist rush. Will the roads be OK? Everyone thinks we need to get a Milepost (http://www.themilepost.com/) in order to successfully make the trip.
With this as the background and because I have received tons of questions from friends and family regarding the trip, climate and general information plus the fact I don't want to forget the things Robert and I experience here, I have opted to give blogging a try. I intend to start the story with what I remember of the trip here and the various things that have happened and the humor found in them. Stop by and check in with us every now and then...
And so we begin house hunting, packing and planning the move. What to do with the boy (Squirt the Bichon Frise) - how do we get him to Alaska. We could fly but that would be a long flight for the little buddy. There's the Alaska Marine Highway - kind of like a cruise but wait - the Squirt has to stay in the car for how long? Well why not drive. It will be early September - past most of the tourist rush. Will the roads be OK? Everyone thinks we need to get a Milepost (http://www.themilepost.com/) in order to successfully make the trip.
With this as the background and because I have received tons of questions from friends and family regarding the trip, climate and general information plus the fact I don't want to forget the things Robert and I experience here, I have opted to give blogging a try. I intend to start the story with what I remember of the trip here and the various things that have happened and the humor found in them. Stop by and check in with us every now and then...
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