we mentioned in our last posting that we felt we had driven back into civilization...we don't want to offend anyone and we don't want to give the wrong message. not that alaska is not civilized...guess it seemed a bit that way because it's so far away from most anything or any place. the journey to get there is miles and miles of miles and miles. amenities are sometimes limited or even closed, power and phone lines don't exist across the vast open space and vehicle circulation in some places is sparce...we actually loved the 'being out there' feelings we had, but at this stage in our lives, we are happy we live where we live...with hot and cold indoor plumbing, 24/7 web access, grocery stores, gas stations, shops of all kinds, restaurants, medical facilities and all that comes with 'civilization'. now, being that we live in the country, we do get our fix of open space, walking gravy off leash on our property and enjoying the big sky uninterrupted by neighborhoods or city skylines, so we feel very lucky.
our journey to the last frontier has helped us realize a few things that we'd like to share...these realizations are in no order of importance or ranking, just how they we remembered them...we realized:
lots of quirks about our rig...like after opening the propane, give it a minute and even light the stove burner so the frig will turn over to propane (if you're boon docking).
all the squeaks and creaks are normal noises that come along with carrying 12,000+lbs down the roads...and some roads, mind you...
food cooked on the road always tastes better, especially the 'other' food group of ours, our favorite--popcorn!
we tried much of the food that alaska prides itself on and all of it was delicious--salmon, halibut, reindeer sausage, and sourdough pancakes. we didn't get around to trying moose or alaskan king crab on this trip.
we didn't find many families with children traveling and we were some of the youngest alcan highway travelers--we met more retirement age folks (and they are wonderful, mind you!)...we also met people on a mission, like military being posted to alaska, families moving to/from alaska or the rare business person traveling by road.
people are really super helpful on the roads...if you are pulled over for any reason, people will stop...so, regardless of if you are watching wildlife or broken down, someone will soon stop!
when people pass you from behind, they usually wait longer than normal before pulling back in front of you...we really appreciated this as sometimes with chip sealed roads or gravel, it helps not to throw rocks up in your window, and we have been lucky not to return so far, with a broken or cracked windshield.
we didn't listen to books on tape, cd's or local radio, and didn't miss it either...the entire trip was like being on an african safari...you are constantly looking for wildlife, beautiful scenery or something new around the next corner. all that, was enough to occupy your senses.
after visiting a couple of museums which are interesting and informative, that is probably enough until you get to another region...too much of the same information is overload.
every traveler has their own agenda. we learned to listen to each's story and not criticize or judge. some people wanted to get 'somewhere' quick or just do it to say they've done it, others wanted to do it in record time, others like the free camping (even parking lots suited their tastes), and others liked to do it in groups or caravans, but all liked to do their own thing.
**true short story--we were camped in dawson city, yukon and met a middle aged couple traveling in a small sedan pulling a teardrop trailer from fort worth, texas. we chatted with them for a few minutes and asked how their trip had gone, where had they come from, etc (the usual campground conversation). the woman told aly they left ft worth last sunday (this was sunday), so they had been on the road for 8 days and had driven 3,600 miles! wow! that's a LOT of miles in 8 days--that's averaging 450 miles/day. another wow! they then ventured off by foot into the small town of dawson to sight see and within ~45 minutes they came back and said they had seen everything in town and that they got a refund for their campsite and were headed to chicken, ak, another 100+ miles west. again, wow! we thought, gosh, if they saw this town of 1,300 in less than 1 hour, they would surely breeze on through chicken a town of 17 in about 2 minutes! we didn't say anything except good bye and realized the above, that every traveler/s has their own agenda!
beauty is all around, but it helps if it's sunny and you can see it!
there is a lot of free firewood.
we have seen very little livestock...it's too cold in -40+ degree winter temperatures and with perma frost, there isn't much food...wildlife survives, but horses and cows are far and few seen.
food and gas/diesel prices didn't seem all that bad in anchorage. other places were much higher.
there are only a few sitka deer that live in the wild in alaska. the main hooved animals are the moose, caribou and reindeer.
wildlife is a highlight to any trip, in our opinion.
there are a LOT of people who live in alaska who do not have running water...and when they do, some of them have water delivered into cisterns which is gravity fed into their homes as the ground is too frozen to have under ground water pipes due to perma frost (especially outside of city or town limits).
we learned what perma frost is--ground that has been frozen for 2 or more years! amazing stuff.
we will probably always be cheechako's--that's alaskan for newcomer or someone who has not experienced an alaskan or yukon winter!
a man we met in a campground, roy, told us that if you don't ever do
things in life to create memories, you will have nothing when you get
old, because at that stage in life, when you do get old (and we felt
that at the ripe ole age of 82 he was an expert on the subject), you
only have memories--so get out there and make those memories!
besides hooking up with many old friends on this journey, we met a bunch of super nice folks as well...just wanted to share some of those with you...
gene and his wife on a motorcycle--we met them in the columbia river gorge, talked with them again in skagway and we all wanted to be in anchorage by the 19th july...we never saw them after skagway...
loren and joe--father and son canadians on a camping trip together whom me met in glacier national park, montana...
john and evie--folks traveling the alcan highway and were in the visitor information center the same day we were, with whom we hooked up with towards the end of our alaskan adventure as well...
klaske and rick, dutch cyclists we met on the alcan highway whom we later met on the road outside of chicken, alaska...
kay and perry from fairbanks whom we walked around dawson city with and learned a ton about alaskan wildlife from...
and roy and mary ellen from new hampshire who have done this trip a number of times to visit their son who lives in fairbanks and whom we hope to see in new hampshire on our way through!
our travels have been safe and full of fun and adventures as you have read. we look forward to sharing the canadian part as well. stay tuned to our next update on traversing canada...
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