July 8, 2007 – Tok, Alaska

This morning Andy had his free pancake breakfast (I had to pay – bummer) and we both tried reindeer sausage (pretty good).

We spent the day touring the area outside of Tok – still incredible scenery. Once we left the town (population – 1700 summer and 600 winter), it was wilderness again. We did check out a few of the nearby state parks for our return trip thru here.

Today’s blog is a little bit of a history lesson and some thoughts.

Some history:

The Alaskan Highway construction officially began on March 9, 1942 and was completed on October 25, 1942. Think about the time frame – the US became involved in WW2 in December, 1941 and the constant fear was invasion from Japan. In fact, in June 1942, the Japanese invaded Attu and Kiska Islands in the Aleutians, adding a new sense of urgency to the completion of the road.

For the soldiers and civilian workers, it was a hard life. Working 7 days a week, they endured mosquitoes and black flies in the summer and below zero temperatures in the winter. (The winters here are from September thru May!)

The road officially opened to the public in 1948 and has been changed almost yearly for better routing around difficult areas. When you see some of the places they had to go thru, it is amazing. I cannot imagine some of the hardships they endured for our safety and protection.

The road that we passed thru (from Destruction Bay to near Tok) that had the frost heaves is actually built on permafrost. Every year both the US and Canadian are trying different ways to ensure that the road stays intact instead of heaving – so far all attempts have failed (and some attempts they are still testing).

Some thoughts:

It is very good to be back in the USA!!!

I feel that many of the people that come to the Yukon or Alaska are some of the modern day pioneers. This land can be extremely beautiful and extremely harsh. I cannot imagine what the winters are like here. (Although part of me would like to experience one - as long as I am safe. I guess I am not one of the modern pioneers!!!)

Words cannot express the sights that we are seeing every day. I know I use awesome, incredible, jaw-dropping, often because I have no words to describe the beauty. I have no words to describe this wilderness. And it is so hard to fathom that there are many areas here that a human has not touched.
A simple trip to the store or a Wal-Mart or a dentist or a doctor that we take for granted is a trek for many – in some cases, well over 200 miles away.

Deliveries are made by plane… (Not many trucks can take those frost heaves!!).


Some other comments:

We have seen every type of RV on the road – from the million dollar ones to the home made ones – and almost all are great people.

The black birds are HUGH!!! Makes me wonder what they are eating!!!!

The mosquitoes BITE!!! And they are always here – even on the cold mornings!!! We talked with a gentleman from the Yukon a few days ago that was involved in search and rescue. He told us that in many cases, the effects of the mosquitoes were worse than the injury when they rescue a person. (And I believe it!!)


And my final thought/comment – there is so much to see and do that we will never be able to see and do it all. And to just pick a few things is very hard…

This evening we were entertained again and did the pancake toss – neither Andy nor I won a free breakfast – Bummer!!!

Tomorrow we will head to Chicken, Alaska and stay for a few days. We want to do the Top of the World Highway but will do that in our Tracker, rather than the RV. So stay tuned…