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!