On July 20th, 2019 we officially left Canada and drove the 19 miles/30 kms of no man’s lands to arrive and clear customs at the USA Alaska Border. Very smooth transition between countries.
We drove to Delta Junction the official end of the Alcan Highway, so we have now completed the whole of the highway Mile 0 to Mile 1422, Bert drove the entirety of the highway. The road was rough in parts with road works, some frost heaves (frozen permafrost makes the road buckle or dip) but nothing as bad as we were lead to expect, we slowed down and came through “unscathed” and very pleased about it too.
We had a picnic lunch at the Mile 1422 marker and Information Centre and then did the last 200 miles into Fairbanks, found our RV park and got set up and it was only 3pm – we are now officially on Alaska time (-1 hour on Pacific Time). Absolutely exhausted after 320 miles (500+ km) and 8 hours in the car.
Sunday we rose late and went to the Fountain Head Antique Auto Museum (https://www.fountainheadmuseum.com/) about 10 minutes from our RV park and it was fantastic – $10 entry fee each and we loved looking at the beautiful shiny cars and the matching period clothes for each of the cars and the colours even matched. More images to follow on the next video….. to be posted shortly.
We sat around in the afternoon and had drinks with new friends, Tim and Mary and Pepper the dog – from Southern California, we have been running across them on and off since Watsons Lake, Liard Springs, Whitehorse and now Fairbanks, they head off to Valdez tomorrow. Bill and Lisa are in the next row at the RV park here and they hail from California and New York before that, we thoroughly enjoyed their company.
Monday morning, up and going – Ford F250 getting an oil change after 2500 miles and Tim and Mary invited us to the North Pole with them. Yes there is a real town here called North Pole and they have a Santa Claus Lane with a Santa building and reindeer stables – with 8 reindeer just like the real Santa Claus.
Picked up the car and spend an hour or so at the Verizon (internet and phone company) and got our services sorted so we are not paying huge fees to be connected in Canada (and still have lousy service) – like we did getting here. Enough of that – it is all fixed now.
Wander and Move 