Sunday

Good road headed west. Straight and smooth.
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Got to drive 65. That lasted until Delta Junction (the end of the Alaska Highway).

The road got a little rough and winding from there to Fairbanks, but no problem. We're impressed with the number of roadside pullouts that are open to overnight stops.
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Just like in Canada.

And here we are, at the end of the day, in Fairbanks!

The Great 2019 Alaska Trip map<https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1gQhkqA-_uK5oVdT-VaiK8uk1VaXOqsGQ&ll=57.34268898268604%2C-100.42129583011854&z=3>

No miles to go!

We're now as far north as Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. If we went as far south from our house as we've gone north, we'd be in southern Argentina, south of Australia and South Africa.

Sunset, 12:46am, tomorrow. (It will be up again before 3am.)

Now, only 4,219 miles to get home to Sandpipers!

Friday

  

From Whitehorse to Haines Junction, there was more traffic than we’ve been seeing; meaning sometimes we could see more than one car at a time; sometimes several all at once!  The traffic went away and the road got rougher when we turned north from Haines Junction; frost heaves and patches where the asphalt erupted.  For the first time we ended up driving slower than the speed limit of 90kph.  Spent a fair amount of time riding the road waves at 45mph.

 

The Alaska Highway takes the smoothest route, so we’re not always in the mountains, and usually they’re just the rolling variety.  The scenery started to get more dramatic as we approached Haines Junction.

 

We got right up next to the mountains for a while.  Then we got right up next to a grizzly on the roadside.

 

We stayed inside and shot him through the windshield.

 

 

Lots of bears, but our first grizzly of the trip.

 

Moving on,

 

We found another night in the forest.

 

 

 

 

 

…this one compliments of the Yukon Government (and 12 dollars Canadian.)  I’d take a cool nighttime picture of the campfire and coals, but it never gets dark while we’re still awake!

 

No update on the trip map. The Great 2019 Alaska Trip map Don’t know what time the sun sets, when last light is, or how many miles to Fairbanks.  Off the grid.

 

 

 

 

Thursday

 

On the road again.  Across the border, back to the Yukon.  The drive from Skagway to Whitehorse is ridiculous.

 

 

 

 

 

Settled down for a night in the forest.

 

 

 

No update to the trip map.  Not enough internet.

 

The Great 2019 Alaska Trip map

 

Sunset tonight 11:36.  Pacific Time again.  Last light 1:10am.  The big change every day in how late the sun sets isn’t really related to the length of the day anymore.  We’re right at the longest day of the year.  Daylight only changes by a minute or so each day now.  The change is due to the curvature of the earth, and how we travel on it.  West in a time zone and north make a big difference at this latitude.

 

591 miles to Fairbanks.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday

 

 

Hey everybody.  Let’s ditch Steve and Judy!

 

We got up this morning at 8 and looked out the window.  Every other RV that was camped here with us.

 

They’re all gone!

That was weird.

 

There is a tide here.

 

About 17 feet today.

 

And bald eagles.

 

We took a drive to the tidal flats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the boat harbor, we saw arctic terns.

 

And what’s that?

 

It’s a harlequin duck!

 

Had a walk to a mountain lake.

 

 

 

 

 

And picked off a chestnut-backed chickadee.

 

And found we had a new neighbor for the night.

 

I’m sure there is a more complimentary name for them, but Judy and I call them coffin buses.  They sleep 26!  Imagine that.  You ride in the bus part in the front all day, then crawl into your 3x3x6 cubby at night to sleep.  In our experience these are always German or Japanese tours.  This one happens to be German.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday

 

It’s a cruise ship port.  People fill the town and tours all day long.  There are tour buses, shuttles, trains, ferries, tour boats, float planes, helicopters, and pedestrians.

 

 

By about six pm all the cruise passengers are back aboard their boats, and by eight, the boats are backing out, turning around, and leaving.  The port and town will be empty until the next ships arrive in the morning.

 

Everything happens at our doorstep.  We watch the process unfold,

 

 

 

… and admire the scenery.