Atlastalaska

 

Oh how long I have waited to  post that title.  We finally made it.  We can attest to the fact that there is a land bridge from the lower US and Alaska.  It's called Canada and its a really big place.

Waiting for the follow me

Well, the Alaska Highway is what people say it is.  It is reasonably good road, although after driving all day, one is sick of the vibration and bouncing around.  A few days of this makes you wish for a smooth road.  Worse yet is the highway (de)construction.  For example, it took us an hour to go 26 km the other day with a "follow me" truck leading us in a convoy.  In front of it was another truck dumping water on the road.  The stop light in the middle of nowhere was rather spectacular.  But all the steps of highway (de)construction go on at once in all the lanes, so the convoy is probably a good idea.  By the way, there was as much traffic behind us as in front of us.



No longer a white truck...doesn't do it justice

Apparently they finally give up on patching and just reduce everything to a rock base.  Then they  add water and roll it and add water and roll it until they get tired.  Finally, they oil it and roll a layer of rock onto the oil.  Meanwhile, what a muddy mess. 

However, after we left Destruction Bay, the highway earned its reputation.

WE GOT THE HEAVES

The frost heaves, that is.  By this time we have gotten far enough north that the ground is permanently frozen except near the surface, i.e. permafrost.  As a result, the road suffers frost heaving.  That takes a normal road and converts it to a roller coaster ride with subsided parts of pavement that are deep enough to bottom out the suspension.  Added to that is pavement twisting that results in a ride just like a small boat in a stormy ocean.  NOT FUN!  Even at 20 mph, the road is so rough that it feels like you are going to shake the rv apart.  The best part is that you often cannot see the flaws in the road in front of you.  The road looks normal.  I found the best sign of impending trouble was the sets of skid marks in the bottom of a dip!  If you were lucky, this was enough warning to get slowed down somewhat.  Note that the USS RV neither slows down or speeds up quickly.  This does not happen continuously, just in stretches, usually you get to a new one just about the time you have gotten your speed regulated again from the last one.

Add this to mountain passes and it takes all day to go 230 miles.  Tok, Alaska was a very welcome sight indeed.  We spent two hours washing the rv and the truck, went out to dinner and went to bed.

Black Spruce

Black Spruce

See the trees that look like worn out brushes?   Well there are miles and miles of them.  Most of the time they look like they are on the edge of dying or are diseased. They also don't seem inclined to grow vertically, just every which way.  They are kind of interesting.  Remember the permafrost.  The ground only thaws so far down and remains frozen below that year round.  Black spruce are one of the few plants that can stand to have its roots frozen all year long and live for a long time.  Trees such as these can be 100 years old.   The wood is extremely dense.