Tok, Alaska

We spent Father’s Day driving the third leg of the Alaska Highway - and we still didn’t get there. We left Watson Lake, drove 372 miles, and got to Haines Junction - still in the Yukon Territory. At least the road was much better than the day before - was able to do 50-55 mph most of the way. There was one stretch under construction for about 8 miles and was gravel - slow going there. Also, for 25 miles or so out of Whitehorse the road was pretty rough. Other than those minor stretches, no complaints. The scenery still remains awesome - high snow capped mountains in the distance and beautiful lakes all along. Teslin Lake is something like 86 miles long and we followed it for many of those miles. Here are a couple more pictures of driving the Alaska Highway.





We had to spend an extra day in Haines Junction - had a flat tire on the motorhome and it took all day to get someone out to fix it. We left there yesterday (Tuesday) and finished the Yukon portion of the Alaska Highway. The road along this portion of the highway is still very scenic, but is the roughest we have seen. Did see some wildlife - several Bald Eagles and a moose.





We crossed into Alaska about 1:00 PM and made it through the US customs with no trouble. Had to set our watches and clocks back another hour - we’re now on Alaska Time - 4 hours behind Eastern.



Well, we thought the highway across the last part of the Yukon Territory was rough, but once into Alaska it proved to be just as bad - and in some spots worse. With all the frost heaves, it was like riding a roller-coaster and we were only able to drive 30-40 mph for the last 92 miles to Tok, AK. In addition to the rough roads, there was also some serious road construction in one spot.



However, bad roads and all, the scenery is still spectacular!!




We made it to Tok (pronounced like Token without the ’en’) and found a campsite for a couple of nights. Hopefully, now that “WE’RE HERE!!”, we can slow down a little from the long drives and poke around up here awhile.

Today we checked out the Visitor’s Center here in Tok that covers all of Alaska. Got lots of good material to help plan the rest of our Alaska Adventure. Tomorrow we’ll head toward Valdez.