Whoop Di Doos

Day 12

    Today is a very big day for us.  We are finally going to leave Canada and the Yukon Territory and will reach Alaska.  Canada has been magnificent showing us lots of fantastic scenery and a ton of animals, but we are really anxious to see Alaska. 

    We have heard from some of our fellow GAH travelers that the road from Whitehorse to Tok, Alaska will be the most challenging yet.  This is the part that we start to really encounter the frost heaves in the road.  Quite a bit of road construction with the road stripped down to gravel and hard pack.

     We left Whitehorse at 7:30am with a 386 mile journey ahead of us.  Leaving Whitehorse we watched a Lufthansa 747 with its wheels down start its landing at the airport just north of town.  That started our day off with great conversation about not knowing the local airport could handle a plane theat size.  Very shortly, about 8:30am, we came upon a Black Bear grazing on the side of the road.  Stopped and watched for a while and it did not seem to bother the bear.

     We did not have any idea of what we were going to see or where we would stop along the way.  Kind of a neat feeling to be off exploring totally blind as to what lay ahead.  All previous days we had scouted out alternatives for overnight stays, fueling stops and so on. This would be unique.

     Ok, so we did have one little stop planned.  Reading our travel bible, the Milepost, we discovered about an hour and half north of Whitehorse is a small community named Haines Junction.  They have a local bakery that makes world famous Cinnabons (sound familiar?).  We decided not to stop as we did not really want another world famous Cinnabon.  Uh oh, our Motor Home stopped right in front and we were forced to buy one. Or two, I forget.  We than spent all of our remaining Canadian money in the Bakery, buying a cookie, a loaf of fresh sourdough bread, and a couple more cookies.

   Mornings and just after lunch seem to be the most difficult time driving.  I don’t know why but we both seem to get sleepy about an hour or so into the day.  We have a pattern now.  Jim will drive to start with, Irene will get the day organized via maps and The Milepost.  Sometime about an hour or hour and a half into the day, Irene will go back and take a nap for a bit.  When she wakes up, she will relieve Jim from driving and he will take a nap.

   We stop for lunch at an overlook of the Kluane River.  Fabulous view of the river below and the valley going both ways.  We are traveling by the Ice Field Range with 7 mountains taller than 15,000 feet.  Mt Logan is Canada’s tallest mountain at 19,545 and is part of what we are looking at.  Fantastic views.

   Continuing north after our brief lunch stop, less than a mile up the road we scare a gaggle of geese off the road.  We tried to count but think that there were between 25 and 30 together.  Like to know why they chose the road to rest on. Warm their toes I guess. These were to be the last wild animals we were to see today outside of a couple of squirrels.

    We are about to enter the area with frost heaves, and constant road construction and repairs. Basically frost heaves occur in areas where there is glacial soil and/or permafrost that is unstable under highways.  Anything that causes the soil or permafrost to melt causes it to liquefy and become unstable.  This will cause the highway to sink.  When the permafrost freezes again the following winter, it causes the road to rise or heave.  This leaves the road with undulations and cracking.     

    Approaching Beaver Creek, the frost heaves become more frequent and severe.  It has to be a little like riding a bucking bronco or bull except it lasts longer than 8 seconds.  Maybe the best way to describe it is to compare it to motocross riding.  Part of many motocross courses is a section that they call Whoop Di Doos, a series of bumps that the riders have to go over in a very short distance.  Imagine hitting the Whoop Di Dos in a 5,500 pound motor home at 55 mph.   For 100 miles!  

     Because of the frost heaves and highway construction, we slowed down to about 25 or 30 miles per hour for a significant part of the drive. The frost heaves and construction are pretty well marked with warnings, but every once in a while we got a cheap thrill.

    Just outside of Beaver Creek we discovered Ida’s café.  It was too much of a coincidence not to stop, but we did not want to drop in unannounced, and then we remembered it was Thursday, and we had missed Taco Tuesday.  Ah Shoot.  We drove on by.

  

   We arrived at the border at 3:03 and did not know if we were supposed to kiss the ground or just what.  We decided that there were no reporters around so we did not kiss the ground, but took many photos. 

 

 

                

                                                                                                           Is it this crowded at the Mexican Border?

                                                            WOW! ARE WE REALLY HERE?

 

 

No more Canadian money to confuse Jim, no more converting from Kilometers and liters to miles and gallons.  Jim does not have to multiply by .62 anymore.

 

 

 

    We arrived at the Tok RV village at 5:00 pm.  Tired but not cranky and ready for our first night in Alaska.  We are really looking forward to this part of the journey as we are going to slow down and take a couple of days at several places and will not have the long days driving anymore.

                                        I am not Cranky, No I'm not, but it is 10:00pm and I am tired

    We retire about 8:30 knowing that tomorrow will be the first of a bunch of red letter days in Alaska.  Irene cannot stand it and goes outside at 9:30 pm to take a picture. It looks like Noon in Sacramento.  Bright sunshine, no northern lights and no stars.