Goodbye Canada... Hello Alaska!

Wed. May 15, 2013 - Well, the snow seemed to settle in the upper elevations of the mountains and not down in the valley. You can see the dusting that the trees got and the direction of the wind. Roads were clear. We set out and soon ran into the Alaska Highway that I remember. Roads were rough and rolling. 20-40 mph max with frequent slowing down then starting up. Kind of like driving in town without the traffic. We knew this was coming but still don’t have to like it.  The poor car and coach are looking rough too! Dirt and road grime plastered on them. The poor car gets it double since it is towed behind the big rig. 

Can't see out any window!

Came up on our second bear today. He was a big fellow at the side of the road. As we approached, he jogged across the road and then climbed the nearby hillside into the trees. 

The thing that made the trip tolerable was the magnificent beauty of the countryside! 

The worst part of the whole road was the last 10-15 miles before the border crossing. Yes, that is the road scraped down to the base dirt (photo below). It was really washboarded and even at 10 mph, things rattled in the coach.

Border crossing was easy again. the border guard actually asked to see the dog’s vet certificate. Finally, somebody asked for it! We have paid to have a vet complete the form each time we have gone up or back to Alaska and they never even asked for it. We took everything in stride today and really did enjoy the view along the trip. 

We arrived in Tok after a long day and got in to the campground. There is still a lot of snow piled up around but the sites are clear. Tomorrow we head down to Palmer (near Anchorage) for a couple of days to re-stock and get organized for our summers adventures.