It started snowing last night about 9 o’clock. By the time I woke up this morning, there was
1 ½ inches on the car, and it had settled on the ground.
My first thoughts were
for the English cycling couple, Laurie and Edith, who were sleeping in a tent beside the road somewhere
!! So as soon as I had packed up and had
my breakfast I headed off south, in the direction I had come last night, looking
for them. It was still snowing quite
heavily as I drove and after 10 miles there
was no sign of them – Perhaps they were hiding in a culvert, or maybe a hungry
bear had got them !!! Then I saw a car
coming the other way, and jumped out and flagged them down – Yes they had seen
them about 20 miles further back, and they were cycling south OK !! So I could relax, and I turned round and
headed north again. Not soon after I had
passed back through Beaver Creek, the snow stopped, and the sky started to
clear up.
I headed out over rolling
roads, with these funny stunted fir trees – They obviously have a really hard
time in the winter here !! Then we
started up a bit of a hill, and over the state line into Alaska. Shortly after that we went through the
deserted Canadian border post, and about 5 miles further, at the top of the
hill, we reached the US Customs. For the first time, I was asked for specific
car importation paperwork, but the guy was very friendly and after about 5
minutes, after he had given me a few ideas of places to go and see in Alaska, I
was on my way.
Within 20 minutes I decided to take the roof off – It was
about 2 deg C and a cold wind was blowing, but the sky ahead looked perfect, so
I stopped, and boiled the billy for a cup of tea while I took the roof
off. Soon I was back on the road, with a
cup of tea to keep me warm on the inside !
The drive today was long – I left at 10 am and got into
Fairbanks at 7 pm, so 9 hours in the saddle, with just a couple of stops. And the road wasn’t particularly interesting,
with a lot of very long straights, in particular one just on the other side of
Tok which seemed to go on for ever. But
the ever present mountains to the west continued to cheer my spirits – They
really are so majestic. There was one straight ahead between the trees on the long straight out of Tok, and I just watched it grdually get bigger an bigger !! Several peaks
today over 15000 feet, so some big mountains over there.
At one stage we crossed the Robertson River, and as there
was no traffic I was able to stop on the bridge to take some photos. The ice was several feet thick, so there is
still a lot of melting to go on !
Combine this with the other wide (like maybe a mile across) river beds
that are virtually dry and waiting for the snow in the mountains to melt in
order to fill them, and one gets some idea of the enormity of the systems here,
and their dependence of each upon the other.
Hopefully the melt will start soon, so after a couple of weeks I will
see a big contrast when I head down to Anchorage and the Kenai.
I stopped in Tok for lunch, and during lunch I made the decision to go
to Fairbanks instead of Anchorage as it was 200 miles closer ! Additionally, I
decided to start in the north, and try to reach the Arctic Circle as soon
as possible, and then go to Denali NP before all the tourists arrive in
June. Then I can head south and see that
area before heading south out of Alaska, and this will save me doing too much
back tracking. When I came out of
the restaurant in Tok a guy named Bill, and his wife Tracie stopped me for a chat. They live in
the Kenai and he very kindly asked me if
I would like to go out fishing with him when I get down there !!! So we swapped numbers and I shall contact
him when I head down there !!
Had the roof off all the way to Fairbanks, although there were a lot of grey clouds around, and you could see the rain falling locally. But every time I was thinking "I had better stop and put the roof on" the road would suddenly turn away from that black cloud and head into blue skies again ! It was uncanny - Must have happened a dozen times or more during the day ! Hit a couple of minor showers, but nothing that came into the car too badly.
One thing I am finding difficult is the planning and sightseeing. Obviously I have a rough idea in my head of where I want to go and what I want to see, but there is a lot more detail stuff when you finally get there. And you also don't want to miss sights along the way because you haven't read about the day's sights before you set off in the morning !! When you are driving all day you can't read maps and guide books. In the evening it is too cold to sit around and read maps and books, plus I am pretty tired. So occasionally you just need to take a quiet day, sit around and read up on what you want to do locally and what there is to see, and then go for it. But it is just another thing that you don't realise will be the case until you are actually travelling long distances like this on your own.
Eventually arrived in Fairbanks and found a camp site in a place called North Pole just
outside of town. Yes, their entire
industry is based on Christmas – 365 days a year !! (http://www.northpolealaska.com/) Even the local haulage
company has giant candy canes as the supports for the entrance archway to their
yard !! Only in America……!!! I will go into Fairbanks in the morning and
check out what tours I can get on, and then I will be able to work out when I
can go up the Dalton Highway. I might
well take a day tour up there first in a 4 WD to see how bad the road is !!
Will let you know what I find out tomorrow.
Interestingly for Lotus Elise owners, after doing 9 hours in the car, I only got my first "urge" to adjust my seating position just as I came into Fairbanks. Thinking about it, I am quite stunned. I have the original S1 leather seats with minimal padding, but inserted a little bit of hard foam in under the sheepskins when I had them fitted, and they have been absolutely superb comfortwise. Can't recommend them highly enough for anyone doing big mileages in a car. They also hide all the crumbs from the muesli bars I eat along the way !!! Poor Elsie is starting to look like a rubbish tip inside - Although a lot of it does blow out when the roof is off !!!
Photos of the day here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/BeaverCreekYTToFairbanksAK?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmk47Xt19_5MQ#
