We Made it to Alaska and on to Valdez

Because of the road conditions, this has been a tough driving day. We left Burwash Landing, YT with about 215 miles to drive to Tok, AK. The border crossing was about half way. With a two-man crossing station, we encountered a few questions and were sent on our way. Easy. I'm a huge fan of Canada and have been there many times but always enjoy coming back to the USA.


It's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that you are driving over permanently frozen ground (permafrost) because the landscape looks normal with trees, plants, rocks, lakes, streams, etc. But that upper surface (don't know how deep) is simply insulating the permafrost—the permanently frozen ground underneath. If you scrape away the top, the permafrost melts and turns to mush. The highways are built on top and the freezing/thawing underneath creates the frost heaves in the highway. They've tried to solve the problem since 1942 when they built the ALCAN highway. It's still not solved.

We stopped at Buckshot Betties for lunch (a tiny place but one of the few that was open) and shared one of the three tables with a man who was in the area helping set up a research facility to test the highway/permafrost situation. It is ongoing research funded by the US, Canada, and private companies. Interesting to talk with him.

Arrived in Tok, AK, got a campground and did some laundry. With two restaurants (Fast Eddy's and the Grumpy Grizz) in Tok (1,400 people) and only one serving wine, we decided not to unhook and just cooked in the coach.






We left Tok the next day and headed for Valdez—our first major, lengthy stop—and drove more than half the 270 miles. We stopped along the way and parked in a rest area, high on a cliff, overlooking a gorgeous lake. Alaska has many highway rest areas and pull-offs—many, many—it's not uncommon to have more than one per mile! I called the Alaska State Trooper main information number and asked. It is legal to pull off the highway and spend the night. You NEVER set a bag of trash outside or put one in your car or you will be visited by a bear who WILL get to that bag. With views like this outside our window, who could resist an overnight stay!

Approaching Valdez, you go through spectacular canyons and with the snow melt, waterfalls are everywhere.























Arrive in Valdez


Our original plan was to pull in to the campground at Valdez and do a major cleaning on the coach and car before parking it for the week. We spent the night in that great rest area and woke up to 42° and rain! Everything was in a mud-coated mess. Every cavity (diesel engine, generator, car engine, battery compartment, others) and dry surface has at least a 1/4-1/2 inch of fine dust/dirt on it including under the hood on the car. My plan was to blow everything out first and then do a thorough exterior wash. I even planned to pull into that campground about noon to beat the others so we could take our time at the wash area.

I decided to blow out the dust at the rest area (they would probably have tossed us out of the campground if we blew it out there) since it was a mess. It helped that there was a good wind blowing, too. Finally, we left the rest area and got to the campground in Valdez. Nice site, big campground (200 sites), well done. We can wash the coach at the site—all we want—a really rare treat! It’s Saturday and we will wash on Monday as it will be the warmest day this week—it may get to 60°—and no rain predicted. Took the car to a local car wash and it did a pretty good job.

Pulled into the Eagle's Rest campground in Valdez for 6 nights.




There are things to see and do here. Interesting, we saw the Alaska Pipeline several times since it follows this highway to Valdez. I certainly remember the controversy over building that—both the environmental concerns and the economic factors. It was a big deal in the late 1970s following those gas shortages. Actually, the first barrel of oil was brought from the North Slope on dog sled—not pipeline.

I think that history may repeat itself on the pipeline experience and the next administration will open up ANWR for new drilling. Just my personal speculation. We shall see.

We are now officially hanging out in Valdez for six nights—but it was too long—four would have been plenty. Three good-but-small museums here. One of them specializes in ivory carving—really well done. Another had a section on the big earthquake in 1964 and the building of the pipeline. We saw a 1970s-era bumper sticker that said, “Happiness is 10,000 Okies going south with a Texan under each arm.”




Lots of fishing going on for Halibut and charters go out daily. There are fish cleaning stations everywhere. This halibut weighted in at 145 pounds.





Interestingly, we have taken a drive every night (at dusk) but NO wildlife at all except some ducks. Salmon are not running. Streams are full of glacial silt so all the water is grey/green and as they clear, the salmon should increase. That, in turn, brings out the bears. We will wait and see. We have driven around the bay to the oil storage facility (the end of the pipeline) and there are lots of boondocking sites on the way. The city even put in drinking water for the campers out there.

It’s been overcast all week in Valdez but they tell me that's normal. Last Sunday was clear and sunny but that's the last sun we have seen. Tackled washing the coach (with the high at 52° and a brisk breeze)! Not sure I was gonna survive that brisk effort. A ton of work! About two hours later, we quit. Mud layer was just caked on and took lots of scrubbing. Bug layer on front was welded on—lots of rubbing. Washing at the site is really convenient. We were both whipped!