Sunday, September 23, 2012

Wagon Ho! Anchorage to Tok

Left Anchorage this morning and arrived in Tok, Alaska, this evening around 6pm. We traveled 318.7 miles. It took us about 8.25 hours. We stopped several times. Distance in Alaska is measured in hours, not miles. The drive from Anchorage went well in spite of the very curvy, 25-mile-long section of the Glenn Highway (Alaska Highway 1) that fills me with fear (drop-off and no guard rails). The scenery was gorgeous, of course. It rained a good part of the way down the Glenn Highway from Anchorage, but began to clear somewhere before Long Lake. Then it sprinkled off and on the rest of the way. There are frost heaves on the Glenn and Tok Cut-off highways that slowed us down, cracks in the pavement, a pot hole here and there. Is this just a sample of what the Alaska Highway will be like?

 

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All my worldly goods fit into the back of my car. Well, not really. I gave away a lot of stuff and shipped a lot of stuff to Georgia, mostly my books. Then anything that I grabbed. I’m sure my family is going to appreciate the massive amount of boxes they’ll be receiving from me. Packing the back of my car reminded me of an old western movie where the wife insists on taking some piece of heirloom furniture in the covered wagon as she and her family head west. Somewhere along the way, they leave the heirloom furniture behind on the trail. I was wondering what I was going to have to leave behind. The big, cardboard box on the bottom contains my bike. Long story. Maybe that should have been the one that got left behind.

 

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If one can have a favorite rest stop/Alaska outhouse, this one is mine. I always stopped here anytime I traveled the Glenn Highway between Palmer and Glennallen. Wonderful views from the parking lot. Beautiful fall colors! (That’s the Glenn Highway running through the middle of the photo. I’ve been blueberry picking across the highway from here.) You can see the hazy, cloudy sky in the background. That’s where we came from. We’ve had nothing but rain for days and days in Anchorage, so the sun was a very welcomed sight. I was a tad upset that I couldn’t stop for photos earlier along the highway because of the rain.

 

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Fireweed in the foreground, some birch trees with golden leaves, and black spruce.

 

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These last two photos were taken along the Tok Cut-off Highway. A lot of the golden leaves had already blown off of the trees. The wind was so strong today. It rocked my car a few times on the highway and caused me to take a few blurry photos. Hard to hold still when being battered by the wind.

Tomorrow we head to the Canadian border. It’s less than 100 miles from Tok. Then we continue on to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. I’m looking forward to seeing Canada!

Catherine

4 comments:

  1. What an adventure! Great photos too. What beautiful country.

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  2. Thanks Jana! I hope to get more photos posted. Access to the internet has been sporadic. It's been such beautiful scenery the whole way so far.

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  3. Hope your journey goes well and I look forward to your photos. Glenn Highway sounds terrifying! I found your blog through Jana :-) Jo

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  4. Thanks, Jo! Yes, I don't like those curvey parts of the Glenn. I'm kind of a chicken. Glad Jana's blog brought you by to visit mine :)

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