Week Ten ~ Alaska Trip June 18-21

After we finished our chores in the morning on Friday, we headed out of Whitehorse YK. Whitehorse is really a neat city, but we were more than ready to move on. We met two other very nice couples that were also stranded at the Kenworth dealer, but I will tell that story in another post.
We did not make it a long travel day. There is not really any half way stopping point between Whitehorse and Tok Alaska. We stopped just before Destruction Bay at a very nice campground called Cottonwood. It is right on the shore of the Kluane Lake. The lake has a unique blue-green color that comes from glacial melt off and sky reflection. Kluane lake is also the largest lake in the Yukon territory.
Phil snapped some pictures after we arrived. Not much more to say about them except that we will enjoy our time here. Who wouldn’t??




 So tomorrow we will head for Tok. It is about 250 miles from here so we will probably not make the Post Office to get our mail until Monday.
Wildflowers of the Yukon.



Well, we arrived in Tok AK and were all set up at 3:45 PM Alaska Time. We are having our own Happy Hour! The road from Destruction Bay up was awful. Terrible dips and frost heaves. We had about 150 miles of AWFUL road. At times it makes you wonder if it was worth the trip! Scenery was wonderful but it takes a terrible toll on the RV and truck. The roads in the Yukon are BAD. Worst part is that we need to go back out that way as well. 20 to 30 MPH was the fastest we could travel at times.
However, roads in Alaska seem to be better, so we will enjoy our time here and then travel back out VERY SLOWLY!
We spent three nights in Tok. Notice the grass on the roof…..


On Sunday we spent a day cleaning the RV, it really needed it. Phil washed the outside and the truck, while I did laundry and washed mirrors, windows and polished cabinets. Phil took out all the screens and vacuumed the dust out of them. It is so nice to see out clearly again. Monday we set off for a day trip. We planned to drive up to Chicken, across the border and do part of the TOP OF THE WORLD highway. The trip was almost 100 miles to the border. There were miles and miles of forest damage from fire. It is recovering, but slowly.
  Sad to see so much damage.
Well, it was a rainy dismal day and after about 50 miles, we agreed that we had seen enough so we turned around and returned to Tok. As Phil said, we chickened out of going to Chicken. When we returned to Tok we had lunch at Fast Eddy’s Cafe. It was excellent. We had the best meal we have had since crossing into Canada. Once we got home, we had mail to take care of. Hurrah, we now have new debit cards and our tax refund was also in the mail. Whoo Hoo!!
Tuesday we set sail for Fairbanks.


Ice on river. Yes, it is June 21st.

                                                                  First view of the pipeline.
 
We passed through the North Pole. It is only about 15 miles south of Fairbanks, so we will need to return there to get some pictures for the grandkids. Got settled in a campground on the outskirts of town, the site is a little tight, but it will do.