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. . .