Playing Catchup - Now in Fairbanks Alaska!

The Alaska Highway - what a journey!  Many times we would see more wildlife than vehicles in an hour of driving.  I could not believe how you could drive for miles and miles and see no one.  And when you did come to a "town", it might have 75  people that live there.  Plenty of bear, moose, snowshoe hares, ravens, buffalo, stone sheep.  Had to make sure we got fuel at every chance.  Even though it took us 4 days after the IceFields Parkway and many steady hours of driving to traverse the Alaska highway, it went quickly with many surprising views just around the turn.  I thought it would get long and tiresome, but with everything completely new to see - the lakes, tundra, mountains, permafrost, and quaint little villages - and my favorite, the wildlife - it went very quickly.  The panoramic views from the motor home couldn't be beat.  To keep that view however, we had to clean the front of the RV every evening, with all the buildup of bug goo.  Mosquitos truly are the state bird in Canada and Alaska.  And I think dandelions are the state flower.

Lest you think it was all a walk in the park though, I could talk about the terrible last day of roads in the Yukon.  The frost heaves could take out the best of vehicles in no time, if you weren't careful. It was very slow going, with the roads having been taken up in parts by the construction crews and all you had was wet mucky gravel to drive on.  Actually it was better when it was wet and mucky, because when it was dry, the dust was terrible.  We perservered, but our tow car, Sage, had sure had better days.  We couldn't even see out the windows when we arrived in Fairbanks and had to go to pressure washer ASAP.  And our motorhome, Dragonfly, got the same pressure washing.  Neither vehicle will ever be quite the same.  But, when you think of it, how many RVs just dry rot in driveways and miss all the adventure.  

We enjoyed the places we stopped along the way for a break.. At Toad River Lodge they had a collection of hats that numbered over 6000 hanging in the store/restaurant.  We left one apiece to add to their collection.  And in Watson Lake they have a "sign forest" and we added to that collection as well.  Along the highway near Teslin, there was also rock signage where people made their presence known by leaving their names or messages with rock formations on the side of the road.

We will be in Fairbanks area for the next week.  We are going to be closing on the sale of our land in Franklin, NC and also getting a mail shipment sent.  It is so good not to have to worry about a house and pretty soon our land will be sold.  We are regrouping to rest up and plan some adventure now that we have arrived.  Had to clean inches of mud off of our poor bicycles so we can ride them around town and get some exercise.  I am sure we'll be taking many side trips in our car and hopfully do some hiking as well.  Weather is great.

One hard part though is knowing when to end the day.  When the sun rises at 330 am and sets after 1100 pm, it is hard to know when to sleep.  I was giving the car a second wash this evening and !cleaning up the bikes.  Next thing I know, it is 10:00 pm !