Back in the USA

Thursday, May 28, 2015
Tok, Alaska, United States
I do not know what happened to my blog post last night. I kept sharing it but I never got it so I resent. It seems some got it, but my replies do not show on my notifications. If you did not get it you can see it when you get to the blog site. We have a fan over the bed. It is set in a bubble like material. The light always comes in. Ed took some card board and made a cover to make it darker for sleeping. Well, let me tell the long days and the full moon let in a lot of light last night. I did not sleep so I keep waiting for the sun to set. It was light all night.The owner of the park says that they do not get much snow in this area but it gets to 40 below. Today begins another and final day of the Alaskan highway. We leave destruction Bay in dense fog. The temperature got cool last night.We will search for the illusive cinnamon bun. We must have seen them on the stretch of the Alaskan highway that we did not cover this year. They were advertised in each town as the best. We start out on descent roads and they deteriorate to horrible! Then it got worse. Permafrost is a bear. The base of the highway is built on glacial matter that is not able to support roads. This road was built in 10 months in 1942-1943 by the 18th engineering division as a way to get to our Alaska. Can you imagine how long it would take now to build a 1390 mile road. Not 10 months. The road was just a military route then. It was turned over to civilians in 1948. The road has been under reconstruction ever since. The Yukon government has been dealing with the frost heaves, with US help of course. The worst section is from destruction bay to the border, our route for the day! Sections of the road are being scraped which leave you driving washboard mud. They wet down the dirt to keep down the dust. Other sections are just pot holes on top of heaves on top of gravel or black top. It was so bad twice I videoed the ride. They mark some of the bad spots with flags but could marks them all. Because if the cloud cover we could get a glimpse of the snow covered Ice Field Ranges. These form the St Elias Mtns. The highest peak is Mt Logan at 19545 ft. Five others are over 16000 feet. The small window of opportunity was mostly obscured. The ice fields send glacial fingers between the peaks. The ice is 2200 feet think! Amazing. We made it finally to Beaver Creak, the last town in Canada, the home of Buckshot Betty's where we finally get a cinnamon roll, well two actually. They are delicious. We could not finish one in a sitting. Just past this is the Canadian custom. We only have to pass by. The US customs is 20 miles down the road. We breezed through with just a few questions. Why are you here and do you have firearms. We stop at the sign for Alaska and see the actually cleared border line, as far as you can see both directions a cleared debarkation line. We remembered that the roads on the US side are being really bad, but there has been road improvements since we last came this way. They were spreading fresh tar on the cracks at frequent intervals across the road. It looked like wide stripes of fresh black tarry pavement!We pass a resent forest fire with the Hotshots still present. We changed to Alaska time, another hour back. We arrive at the Sourdough campground early. We have stayed here before and Ed has his heart set on a sourdough pancake for breakfast. The only Internet is at the office and they ask that we do not upload photos. We will see if I can this out. We saw a rabbit and Ed got a glimpse of a moose. There were swans on some of the ponds. We drove 225 miles today. It is 74 here, much warmer than we expected again. There is a marshmallow roast at 7:30, but it is starting to rain and the sun is out. Susan does not want to go to the roast so she will have to miss out.
Other Entries

Comments

Benny Maggart
2015-05-29

Cinnamon bun looks good. Welcome to America! Glad you made through Canada. I'm impressed you made it so well. I didn't know y'all spoke a foreign language. Hope you have smooth travel to Anchorage.

dwlp.travelkids
2015-05-29

If you guys were able to stay until late August or early September, you would be able to come back out over that same stretch of road at 60 MPH with no trouble whatsoever, believe it or not. The frost heaves level out and you get a flat road. It is amazing.

Glad you got your cinnamon buns. That really looks tasty. Keep enjoying your trip.

Melva
2015-05-29

Thinking of you this morning and hoping you have a wonderful day. Please give Susan a BIG hug for me. We celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary yesterday.

Dave
2015-05-29

The "final leg", too bad it's on the "highway from hell".At least you don't have to worry about "de-tarring" the MoHome. Let GAH take care of that. The mountain pictures make me want to be there. And the cinnamon bun REALLY makes me want to be there, lol. Sorry Susan go cheated out of her marshmallow roast, you can always do them over the stove. Microwave s'mores are delicious by the way.Hang in there Ed, smooth roads are a coming....
Be safe and have fun....

vistasbygod
2015-05-29

We did receive your "Destruction Bay" post. Really appreciate all your efforts in getting these blogs out. You are all such troopers. Seeing Mt. Logan in person, even at a distance, must have been some sight to behold. Well, hope you catch up on that sleep Betty! Take care & drive safely. xoxox, Ginny & Gary

2025-02-06

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank