WHITEHORSE, YUKON TERRITORY, to TOK, ALASKA

After a "down" day in Whitehorse--meaning a break from driving to the next destination, which was welcome after 4 straight days of on down the road!--we cranked up the engines at 0830 and set out for the Alaska/Canada border.  Jack kept telling us that our ETA in Tok, Alaska, was first 4:30, then 5:15, then 5:45.  He was reading his GPS, of course, but it didn't know about the road we were on, nor did he tell us his GPS was compensating for the one hour time change to Alaska time!! 
After Whitehorse, the ALCAN highway gets a bit dicey and very crazy:  in fact, at one point, there was a flashing warning sign which read, "Use Caution; Unstable Road Next 115 km"!  Note that number:  "115 km"!  Not "Construction next 6 miles"!  No, this is for 115 K!  Best speed at times was 20 mph as we dodged ruts, washouts, pot holes, and frost heaves!

Frost heaves?

Well, as we learned, the road is built on top of the permafrost, which means the top layers of the road are paved, but underneath all that paving is permanently frozen ground.  The top layers of road--and soil off the highway--insulate the permafrost, so it never thaws!  Now and then, a small area in the roadway does thaw a bit--just a bit--and the ground sinks, causing a dip in the highway.
The dip might be 4 or 8 feet wide...but when you are in a 43 foot motor home, that dip causes a lot of bouncing--some call it porpoising!  Like riding a bucking bronco!!  And it sure isn't good for the coach to go through all that down/up torque in a short distance at too much speed!  CREAK!  CRACK!  Dishes clattering!  And the driving concentration to judge the heaves and miss the ruts and potholes?  TENSE, very TENSE!
So, when we elected to pull off into a campground to stretch and "toilet", the Murleys and I said we had had enough--time to stop right here for the night!  Poor Jack:  he didn't get to Alaska this night! (But I think he was glad to get off the VERY bumpy highway!)

The Good News!!

The scenery was incredible!  All along the west side of the highway, we watched the snow-capped Rockies march along with us!  Especially the next morning!  We will post lots of photos of these moments, I am sure--we want to put up a Web Album with all the pictures and hopefully I can do that in the next few days.  Here is a taste:

The Rockies looking west from Haines Junction, CA

The campground we stopped in was right on the White River.  We were parked in a chevron for some reason we never truly understood--something about saving a space for a bigrig who had reserved his spot.  So, here is our configuration the morning after we jumped off the Bumpy Highway:

Dawn..Parked on the Alaska Highway a bit short of the Alaska border!

We were all up early after a good night's rest and got back onto the Bumpy Highway!  It was full of lots more dips and ruts, and then we hit 22 km of graveled pavement before the US border--boy, did our rigs change colors!!  From whatever to dirt brown!  So, once we landed in Tok, we washed because the campground had a wash station!  HURRAH!  All three rigs and toads got a hose down!

Everybody pitches in--and Tam sprays anybody in range!



Jack gets ready to scrub his toad!

BACK IN THE US!!


Not long after leaving the 'rest stop' campground, we passed the Canadian Customs booth--went right on through with no stops.  About 30 km up the road, we reached the US border and cleared customs with no problems or any serious questions!  Maybe we looked like decent citizens--we sure qualified with our big rigs and old age!  Just up the road about 8 km--or several miles since we are now stateside again!!--I pulled off in the first parking area so we could celebrate our making it to Alaska in our RVs!  Photos document our celebration:

A bottle of Mumm's to celebrate our crossing!
 

A mid-morning toast to achieving our dream!!

The Road Improves!!

Amazing that the road on the Canada side was a real mess and the road on the US side was drivable at speed limit!  Two different techniques of road preparation that I won't go into here:  essentially, the Canadian's "seal coat" and the Americans use asphalt.  Both require a lot of maintenance, but the US side was drivable at speed limit, whereas the Canadian side was 20 to 40 kmh versus a posted limit of 90 kph!

The Scenery Just Keeps on Giving!

If you look carefully at the previous picture, you might see some snow-capped mountains in the far background--they are nestled right in the "valley" over Betty's head!  As we drove along, they came slowly closer, giving us spectacular views out our front "bay windows"!  On our radios, we "oohed" and "awed"...at least, I did first since I was leading!  As we closed in on Tok, they were right up front and personal...here is a taste:

On the Alaskan Highway just south of Tok, Alaska

Entering Tok, Alaska, with the Rockies in the background

 Tomorrow, we will drive to Valdez and stay for two nights.  Then it will be onto Anchorage for three or four nights...we are all feeling the need for a good break!  Camelot House has been over 4000 miles since leaving NC; the Murleys are up over 5000 since leaving Florida!  DAMN, SAM!  It is a long ways up to Alaska, eh?  Oh, shucks, I forgot:  we are back in the States and the "eh" is now dereguer!!

Anyway, our best regards to all who are reading our posts!  We are thoroughly enjoying this trip!  I thought I would do it this one time....hey, I could be convinced to do it again!  It is SPECTACULAR!!!