Robert, Tuesday, July 1
We drove from Destruction Bay to Tok, Alaska today. The reports of a rough road were understated. From Destruction Bay to the US boarder was about 100 miles and it was miserable. The road was rough with long stretches of gravel road. The worst part was the frost heaves. This is where the permafrost under the road causes it to sink. The places are not rough like a pothole but rather like an upside-down speed bump. Hit one of these babies at anything more than 20 mph and it can knock your fillings out of your teeth. Most, but not all, are marked by little red flags on the shoulder. For the hundred miles we averaged 25 mph. I hope we don’t see a road this bad again. We crossed the boarder and the road got a little better. The problem is that you get lulled into thinking the road is fine and you start driving 50 mph and suddenly there are five frost heaves in a row and you are bouncing off the roof of the truck. The distance we drove today was 238 miles and it took 7.5 hours. That’s an average of a little over 30 mph for the day. We checked into the campground in Tok and headed for town. The visitor’s center here has brochures for all of Alaska as this is this first town in Alaska on the Alaska Highway. We loaded up on all of the places we plan to go to. We then headed for the grocery store to pick up a few things. Finally we needed to get diesel as we had last fueled up in Juneau. At the first station the price was $5.499 per gallon! Leslie commented that as we were coming into town she had seen a sign for $5.249 per gallon. That is where we went. We needed more than 50 gallons to fill up. This reminds me of the stories of places with hyperinflation where the workers want to be paid and noon and at the end of the day so they can run out and buy what they need before the prices go up more. Saying you can wait for another day to fuel up means that the price is just going to be higher.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Introduction to the Alaska Hwy
Leslie Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Today is Canada Day, a national holiday. We are headed to Tok, Alaska. After using the showers in the campground, Robert unhooked our water telling me that we could use the water pump for the last few tasks. No, sorry, wrong. The water pump has taken another vacation. It doesn’t even make any sounds and it certainly doesn’t pump any water. We’re getting very frustrated/annoyed at our water system. Because we can’t pump water at all or heat water with propane, we can’t dry camp. There are many places in Alaska where dry camping is the only option. We’re making an appointment for service in Anchorage for next weekend. We hope this will fix this on-going problem. (We’ve already had two new water pumps installed in less than a year. There is something wrong here....)
Today was our real introduction to the ALCAN (aka Alaska Highway).
Okay, we were spoiled yesterday. Today was pure agony. It took us 7.5 hours to travel 236 miles of the Alaska Highway. The stretch from Destruction Bay to Tok has the reputation for being one of the worst stretches of the road; we sure hope that it lives up to that reputation (i.e., please, don’t let it get worse). The printed materials will tell you that the Alaska Highway is now paved for its entire length. That is true and false. I’m sure that all of it was once paved, however, not all of it IS paved. There are large sections of gravel road where the pavement has been torn up for re-paving. That’s the good part. We’d take the gravel anytime. The worse part is the frost heaves in the existing pavement. Canada seems to take the approach, plant an orange florescent flag near a frost heave and then ignore it. Oh, but sometimes they fail to plant the flag. Frost heaves can vary from a small hole (unusual) to a huge dip in the road. If you fail to slow down to a crawl and hit a deep frost heave, your vehicle will bounce and then fly through the air. Ouch! Poor Molly and Cody in the trailer. Hitting a frost heave meant that the trailer would pitch and buck. Poor people (Robert and me) in the truck. The road was exhausting. You don’t realize how much you use your stomach muscles every time the vehicle lurches. Once we crossed back into Alaska, the road got better. We still faced the orange flags but the portions that were re-paved were actually pretty good.
See how close these hazard markers are:
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/324393259_ZLd7U-M.jpg
Crossing back into the US was a bit interesting. Our rig is 13 ft 4 inches tall. As we approached the customs station, the signs said, "cars & rvs to the left" (under the over hang) and "only commercial trucks and busses to the right" (outside the overhang). "Do not get out of your vehicle. Wait for Customs Officer." This is a problem. While we should go left, it is entirely possible that we will not fit under the overhang. We approached the Customs station very slowly. The truck will fit. Robert asked the Customs Agent if the overhang was really 13 ft. The agent replied , "well maybe 13' 4" . mmmm We expressed to the agent that we were concerned about fitting. He replied that most people fit, but that someone had left a satellite dish there a few days ago. Grrr. Luckily we succeed in passing through, only hitting some pipes in the overhang. The rig appears to be okay. So now I ask, "considering this is the one and only road into Alaska, why doesn’t the Customs Service have a new overhang built that will accommodate newer vehicles?" Grrrrr.
An additional alert — many, many of the RV parks, motels, cafes, etc., that were listed in the guide book we’re following are now closed. If someone had vehicle trouble on the road we traveled today, it would be a long time before help could arrive (and very expensive for a tow).
Tonight we’re staying in Tok, Alaska. As we’ve come further north, it is light even later. I write this at 11:45 pm without interior lighting.
We visited the grocery store in Tok earlier this evening. I’ve always liked visiting grocery stores when I travel. It seems that I see so much more of the local flavor in the grocery store than in the tourist sites. I was surprised that the Tok grocery store was much like the remote towns of south east Alaska. The grocery store carried everything from washers & dryers to cornflakes. Although the store was small (less than half the size of a typical suburban Safeway), most of the staple foodstuffs were in very large packages (almost institutional sized). I’m guessing that people from more remote places come in to Tok to replenish supplies. As I may have commented previously, many of the private grocery stores in Alaska carry Kirkland brand (Costco) products as their house brand. Interesting...
As I mentioned yesterday, we were able to travel through Canada without needing fuel. That was the good news. In Tok we paid $5.259 for diesel – or $270.00 to fill both tanks! (In Canada it would have been nearly $6.50 per gallon.)
We’re corresponding via email with another couple who are following a similar route. Right now they are ahead of us. We’ve been told that we may face more frost heaves tomorrow as we head to Glen Ellen on our way to Palmer. Glen Ellen is only 136 miles from Tok, so at least the agony will be shorter. We’ve never met this other couple - they are full-timers- , but we’ve followed their blog for a couple of years. We hope to meet up in Anchorage.
Today is Canada Day, a national holiday. We are headed to Tok, Alaska. After using the showers in the campground, Robert unhooked our water telling me that we could use the water pump for the last few tasks. No, sorry, wrong. The water pump has taken another vacation. It doesn’t even make any sounds and it certainly doesn’t pump any water. We’re getting very frustrated/annoyed at our water system. Because we can’t pump water at all or heat water with propane, we can’t dry camp. There are many places in Alaska where dry camping is the only option. We’re making an appointment for service in Anchorage for next weekend. We hope this will fix this on-going problem. (We’ve already had two new water pumps installed in less than a year. There is something wrong here....)
Today was our real introduction to the ALCAN (aka Alaska Highway).
Okay, we were spoiled yesterday. Today was pure agony. It took us 7.5 hours to travel 236 miles of the Alaska Highway. The stretch from Destruction Bay to Tok has the reputation for being one of the worst stretches of the road; we sure hope that it lives up to that reputation (i.e., please, don’t let it get worse). The printed materials will tell you that the Alaska Highway is now paved for its entire length. That is true and false. I’m sure that all of it was once paved, however, not all of it IS paved. There are large sections of gravel road where the pavement has been torn up for re-paving. That’s the good part. We’d take the gravel anytime. The worse part is the frost heaves in the existing pavement. Canada seems to take the approach, plant an orange florescent flag near a frost heave and then ignore it. Oh, but sometimes they fail to plant the flag. Frost heaves can vary from a small hole (unusual) to a huge dip in the road. If you fail to slow down to a crawl and hit a deep frost heave, your vehicle will bounce and then fly through the air. Ouch! Poor Molly and Cody in the trailer. Hitting a frost heave meant that the trailer would pitch and buck. Poor people (Robert and me) in the truck. The road was exhausting. You don’t realize how much you use your stomach muscles every time the vehicle lurches. Once we crossed back into Alaska, the road got better. We still faced the orange flags but the portions that were re-paved were actually pretty good.
See how close these hazard markers are:
http://CarpediemAdventures.smugmug.com/photos/324393259_ZLd7U-M.jpg
Crossing back into the US was a bit interesting. Our rig is 13 ft 4 inches tall. As we approached the customs station, the signs said, "cars & rvs to the left" (under the over hang) and "only commercial trucks and busses to the right" (outside the overhang). "Do not get out of your vehicle. Wait for Customs Officer." This is a problem. While we should go left, it is entirely possible that we will not fit under the overhang. We approached the Customs station very slowly. The truck will fit. Robert asked the Customs Agent if the overhang was really 13 ft. The agent replied , "well maybe 13' 4" . mmmm We expressed to the agent that we were concerned about fitting. He replied that most people fit, but that someone had left a satellite dish there a few days ago. Grrr. Luckily we succeed in passing through, only hitting some pipes in the overhang. The rig appears to be okay. So now I ask, "considering this is the one and only road into Alaska, why doesn’t the Customs Service have a new overhang built that will accommodate newer vehicles?" Grrrrr.
An additional alert — many, many of the RV parks, motels, cafes, etc., that were listed in the guide book we’re following are now closed. If someone had vehicle trouble on the road we traveled today, it would be a long time before help could arrive (and very expensive for a tow).
Tonight we’re staying in Tok, Alaska. As we’ve come further north, it is light even later. I write this at 11:45 pm without interior lighting.
We visited the grocery store in Tok earlier this evening. I’ve always liked visiting grocery stores when I travel. It seems that I see so much more of the local flavor in the grocery store than in the tourist sites. I was surprised that the Tok grocery store was much like the remote towns of south east Alaska. The grocery store carried everything from washers & dryers to cornflakes. Although the store was small (less than half the size of a typical suburban Safeway), most of the staple foodstuffs were in very large packages (almost institutional sized). I’m guessing that people from more remote places come in to Tok to replenish supplies. As I may have commented previously, many of the private grocery stores in Alaska carry Kirkland brand (Costco) products as their house brand. Interesting...
As I mentioned yesterday, we were able to travel through Canada without needing fuel. That was the good news. In Tok we paid $5.259 for diesel – or $270.00 to fill both tanks! (In Canada it would have been nearly $6.50 per gallon.)
We’re corresponding via email with another couple who are following a similar route. Right now they are ahead of us. We’ve been told that we may face more frost heaves tomorrow as we head to Glen Ellen on our way to Palmer. Glen Ellen is only 136 miles from Tok, so at least the agony will be shorter. We’ve never met this other couple - they are full-timers- , but we’ve followed their blog for a couple of years. We hope to meet up in Anchorage.
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