Day 10: Home Sweet Home!

as remembered by Stacy

One experiences different emotions upon awaking, realizing the end of one journey is approaching while the beginning of a new journey is about to come. After 9 days of driving we were excited for this to be our last, as we felt all our savings were being left at the gas station, and as pulling the U-Haul had become Jonathan’s all-time least-favorite thing to do. However, the trip had been fun! Full of memories of spectacular scenery we had never seen before, inside jokes on the two-way radios, learning the most efficient way to set up a tent, and most simply this had been the first time in a long time that Jonathan and I had been able to spend this much time together. Sure, it still involved driving several hours, but at least we were going the same direction at the same time, unlike the hours spent driving between Minnesota and Lincoln, or North Platte and Lincoln. Bittersweet that our trip was about to end, we quickly realized that we would be arriving into our new state, our new apartment, and our new jobs.

From Tok, there weren’t a whole lot of ways we could go, so getting lost didn’t seem to be an option. There are 4 main highways in Alaska and a few others, but they are normally not open year round. We just had to stay on Alaska Hwy 1, the Glenn Hwy, for the final 323 miles until we arrived in Anchorage. Fall was in full swing, as the majority of the leaves had changed colors and bright oranges could be seen everywhere!

Lucky for us the straightforward direction allowed for us to gawk and gaze at the scenery this part of Alaska had to offer. It is here where the Chugach, Wrangell and St. Elias mountain ranges converge. The largest National Park in the U.S., Wrangell St. Elias National Park is the size of six Yellowstones and holds 9 of the 16 highest peaks in the U.S. Mt. Blackburn at an impressive 16,390 ft is the snowcapped peak in the pictures on the left. Mt Sanford at 16,237 ft. and Mt. Drum at 12,010 ft are surrounded by clouds in the pictures on the right.

Mt. Blackburn

Mt. Sanford & Mt. Drum

As we approached a construction site, we changed the channel of our two-way radios for the last time, now at channel 5. We did so because the construction crew happened to be using the same channel we were. This confused the sign holder as she signaled our cars to stop while Jonathan and I were talking to each other. It was our longest wait at a construction site, approximately 15 minutes, which is definitely not bad considering some traffic has to wait well over 3 hours for Alaska road construction. The wait would be longer tomorrow, the woman informed us, as dynamite was going to be detonated to cut into a mountain for highway improvements. We continued on and as the mileage signs to Anchorage appeared, the scenery became more familiar, and King Mountain came into view (picture on left). We were nearing the area where we had visited our friends’ cabin near Chickaloon just one month ago. The cabin is located in the mountains of the Mat-Su Valley, where lies the infamous Matanuska Glacier and the Susitna River (hence the name of the Valley). We knew that we had only 1 ½ hours to go! We were eager to continue on the winding highway, and the time seemed to go by faster as we passed through familiar towns and crossed over familiar bridges. At last we had arrived! We drove into our neighborhood to find even more construction! The road in front of our driveway had been torn up, and a new blacktop was being laid. Extremely hungry, we decided to drop off the U-Haul and find some food! We grabbed carry-out and enjoyed our first meal in our new place…Moose’s Tooth Pizza and Alaskan Amber and Summer Ale. I honestly don’t think we could have made a better decision! After our appetites had been sated, we began unpacking the U-Haul. Not surprisingly, it took us less than half the time to unpack the trailer as it had to pack it, and we could not have been more happy to have it empty and ready to return to the U-Haul store. After 4044 miles, the trek to Alaska was now complete. What Alaska now has in store for us, we are anxious to discover….

Home Sweet Home!

Labor Day, Ninth day, tomorrow could it be?

Once again we were able to wake up with showers and a good breakfast. We ate with Ruth and Brian at a shop downtown called Glacial Smoothies & Espresso. The shop is owned by Stacy's friend, Tanner, who is originally from South Dakota, but whom she met her first summer in Seward, Alaska. Unfortunately, Tanner was out of town for the day...playing golf in Whitehorse, Canada. We chatted with his wife Lauren, and Stacy ordered the "Tanner Special" smoothie in his honor...very tasty.

After filling up with gas and final hugs, and surprise apple and cherry turnovers from Ruth, we headed north. Sadly, we had to leave Alaska . . . to get. . . to Alaska? If you look at a map will explain everything. Passing the customs stop that delayed us the night before, (less than a five minute stop today) we got a fresh look at the road we had once before traveled. The heavy fog that had covered everything was lifted, and the landscape revealed.

The theme for Yukon is "Larger Than Life".

I don't really know what they were boasting but, it did seem like there were not a lot of people around. Our road led us through more beautiful scenery. We made our way to Whitehorse for a little break. We purchased post cards along the way and we needed to send them. While Stacy wrote, I went off to find more spots to mark on our tourist handout. It was Labor Day, so many of these places we closed, but I saw the outsides of a Native Heritage Museum, a really old church, and a early settler outpost. We met back at a Starbucks for fuel of a different kind and filled my thermos with liquid gold, a strong Americano. Back on the road we continually noticed the changes in colors that lined our way.

The picture on the right shows a great spectrum of those changes. The time on the road had been long and we were both ready to be there. With that, I had slid into this different phase. Driving through this country had been some of the most beautiful sights from a car that I will ever see. In a small way, I did not want this to end. Looking at some of these pictures out of context, it is

hard to really grasp the breathtaking-smile-forcing-laugh-out-loud beauty of open road. . .

. . . I mean honestly, driving through the country at this time in my life, with Stacy, will always be considered one of the greatest times in my life.

Where was I? Oh, blogging. Right, so at our afternoon gas stop I was able to get the turnovers from Stacy. She told me that she had only eaten half, but I was left with small nibbles. I exaggerate, but those crumbs were the best tasting turnover crumbs I had ever eaten.

The afternoon drive was sunny, which was nice. The last couple of days had been rainy and full of clouds. With the skies opening up, the landscape seemed to grow large. Larger than life, I guess. As we approached Kluane Lake, we hit road construction. This was not our first road under repair, and we had never been delayed for more than a few minutes to this point. Kluane is a huge lake and our lone picture here doesn't do it justice. with construction and slow moving traffic, it was hard to get a great shot. 

 

When we finally came to a stop, a sign holder was telling the car in front of Stacy what the hold up was. We were quite fortunate for two reasons. Sheep and timing. The reason being, sheep were on a mountain. This mountain was to be imploded for a wider road. The road workers were trying to use horns and other devices to get the sheep to move. I never once saw these sheep, but Stacy did and I am just glad they were there. If they were blasting, we would have had to wait 3-4 hours! In our case, we only had to wait 30 minutes. 

Continuing on Highway 1, our road wound through beautiful Yukon, when the GPS system showed a "shortcut." It seemed to follow an old section of the highway that had since been improved. Nevertheless, the road we were on, had character. Passing a few run done stops, we were back on our main highway with the Alaska border in our sights.  

After our last gas stop of the day, it was Alaska or bust. The sun was getting low, and we weren't sure just how far we were from Tok, Alaska.  That was our initial goal for our stop for the evening. Then, like the North Star or a beacon in the night, a sign we had seen before,

but were longing to see again. . . . . . . Welcome to Alaska!

It was a refreshing feeling knowing that we had arrived in our new state(again).  A quick pass through customs, and it was on to Tok. The road in Alaska quickly turned to from solid asphalt to wet shale, the product of more road construction. 

Our evening drive provided us with a wonderful sunset. It was fitting, because so too was our trip ending. 

It was getting dark now, except for the brilliant strobe like effect of the blinking cell towers captured in the photo, right. We were able to find our campsite in the dark, and set up our final campsite. The trip was almost complete. Our last tent was set up. Our ongoing struggle with crappy firewood we bought in Kiskatinaw continued, even the last of our two minute meals was over the fire.

One more day. It was only a matter of hours now before we would be unlocking the door in our new apartment. The road had been long. Nine days had passed us by in the form of gas stops, national parks, wildlife, two way radio conversations, bad firewood, friends and family, and mountains. No matter how I tried to out maneuver it, the U-Haul trailer stayed with me the whole way. 

Our new home just a tomorrow away, the night's rest was peaceful. Tomorrow. . .  

Day 8: Are We There Yet!?!

as remembered by Stacy

We continued our drive through Canada weaving in and out of British Columbia and The Yukon Territory several times on day 8. One of the days first sightings was the "thousands of bison" that the crazy lady from day seven had warned us about...really there were only a fraction of that amount, and they weren't technically ON the road...but it was still really cool. As was the drive that day, sunny and gorgeous! Our morning drive brought us to the first Yukon community, Watson Lake, home of the "Sign Post Forest." It was started in 1942 by a homesick Army G.I., who while working on the Alaska Highway, placed a sign pointing the way and stating the mileage to his hometown. Everyone followed his lead, the 10,000th sign placed in 1990..and over 70,000 as of 2007! When we walked through we found Nebraska license plates, Husker signs, Signs from Hazard and Fremont Nebraska, and even a sign from Jonathan's annual family vacation site in Minnesota...check it out!

...Sign, Sign...



...Everywhere A Sign....














After wandering through the "forest," our growling stomachs encouraged us to get on the road and find some food. So, we did just that and found ourselves at a roadside Lodge called Rancheria. Jonathan had collected a handful of travel guides from the Sign Forest Visitor Center, which included coupons for discounted fuel...Rancheria was the first place with a discount, so we stopped to fuel and calm our disgruntled stomachs. Even with the discounted 4 cents/litre it still costed around $90 together each time we stopped for gas, which averaged 3 times a day in Canada..unfortunately, we planned our 4044 mile trip during the highest gas prices i've seen in my lifetime...BUT, completely worth it! After our meal of hamburger, fries, coffee (jonathan) and a diet coke (me), we were again on our way. We crossed over the Continental Divide..again (see day 3, Yellowstone Park) on our way to our next stop, Teslin. Here we stopped to collect "attraction numbers" for the "Yukon Adventure Contest 2008," another brochure Jonathan had grabbed at the Sign Forest. The adventure was to stop at designated attractions along the Alaska Highway in the Yukon Territory and collect a number from the desk worker at each location. If 5 or more attractions are visited, the form can be mailed in for a chance to win $1000 of FREE gas. Of course we entered. Jonathan did the dirty work of collecting numbers along the way, while I took pics. (In the end, it was a nice thought, but we didn't win...sad.)



We were never really sure how far we would get by the end of any given day, and this day was no different. At this point in the trip, we were close to the "fork in the road" (also known as Jake's Corner) that would take us either: a)Northwest, continuing through the Yukon or b)Southwest into the "Southeast" of Alaska (sounds confusing, but if you look at a map you will understand). I had left a message for my friend, Ruth, who was spending the summer working as a climbing guide in Skagway, letting her know that we would be in the general vicinity that day. Jonathan and I decided we were making good time and why not check out Skagway? That we did! We found ourselves once again leaving the Yukon and crossing back into British Columbia, it was after 9pm, but still full daylight. What a gorgeous drive this ended up being! It was stated in one tour guide that "the scenery around here with blow your hair back!" By that point in the trip, without a recent shower, my hair was so well greased to my head, I don't think the strongest wind could have blown through it....but, the scenery was pretty awesome!




As we continued downward through British Columbia into Alaska, the elevation dropped us into this crazy "Lord Of The Rings" type of setting. Everything was green and foggy...there were waterfalls coming out the sides of mountains and each turn would open up something even cooler! Getting a good pic was no small feat, as it was hard enough to focus on the road with very limited visibility due to the fog. Still daylight, we gained an hour when crossing into Alaska...and nearly lost it when we got to customs. Not really, but it did take us some time to get through U.S. Customs. Our biggest fear finally came true. The Custom Patrolman asked to look in our U-Haul. Let's just remember back to day 1, that this U-Haul is incredibly jam-packed with all our belongings and has not been opened since it was packed. So, approximately 3200 miles of starting, stopping, uphill and downhill....imagine the shifting of all those belongings. Not to mention that a number of clothing items, blankets, etc. were packed in vaccuum sealed bags that had lost their seal and had expanded. I watched through my rear-view mirror as Jonathan struggled to get the U-Haul door open for the Patrolman, and struggled even more to get the door shut. After several minutes, I jumped out to see if I could help. Afraid of losing an arm in the effort, I stood by and watched Jonathan man-handle my bike, several UN-vaccuum sealed bags and random cleaning supplies and hangers that had been thrown in last, until the door finally latched closed. For a second I considered staying in Skagway, thinking it may be less of a hassle just to live there instead of crossing the border twice more before getting to our final destination! :) Coming down through the pass into Skagway was a very steep drop, and all I could think about was how Jonathan was going to pull the U-Haul back up the same pass the next day when we returned. The list of "reasons to stay in Skagway" was getting longer... We were welcomed with huge hugs from Ruth and taken to our "quarters" where we would have a bed to sleep in. It was a loft twin bed, nearly the size of our tent, but it was a bed, no less, and we were excited! Ruth works for Alaska Mountain Guides, and all the employees live in 2 houses. We claimed a bed from an employee that had left as the season was winding down. We walked through the quiet streets of Skagway, and felt like we were in a ghosttown. During the summer, Skagway is a popular stopping point for all the Cruise Ships. The main street looks like the set from an Old Western Movie, and is lined with stores selling furs, jewelry, and anything else tourists to Alaska might be interested in. Apparently the last Cruise Ship had left just a couple of hours before we rolled into town, and there was no one around. We joined Ruth and her friend Brian for dinner and drinks, Ruth and I catching each other up on the whereabouts of our families and our old friends from college. After another long day of driving, Jonathan and I retired to our sleeping bags in the twin loft. Even though we still had a couple of days to drive...it felt good to be in ALASKA!