We got up early this morning and headed for Alaska. The border was 52 miles from the RV park. The crossing was easy with very few questions and we were on our way. We were very excited to have finally made it. It took us 10 days, driving about 200 miles per day on average. We stopped for lunch in Tok Alaska. We chose Fast Eddy’s because it was crowded and offered easy on and off. Lunch was awesome. We even had real fountain Diet Coke for the first time since entering Canada. We hare hopeless, huh? We initially thought we would stay in Tok in a highly rated RV park but it was so early with the time change that we decided to go on to Delta Junction. Tok also had cheap diesel fuel but I thought Delta Junction would be even cheaper, I was wrong. We ended up dry camping in Delta State Recreation Area. The park provided no hook ups but nice long and wide back-in spaces in the woods. When we setup the temperature was 75 deg F and I thought it was probably at its peak. Wrong again, it hit about 80 by 10:00pm. We were able to sleep comfortably but it was warmer than I would prefer for dry camping. By the way, I got up at 3am to go to the bathroom and it was very light outside. We made preparations in Washington by making sure we had foil insulation panels for the windshield and most windows. It is already paying off big.
Twenty-six years ago I stayed in Delta Junction at US Army base Fort Greely for work. Fort Greely is the home of the Army Cold Regions Test Center. Back then I was here in the dead of winter with a high of -25 deg F. It was so cold the Army wouldn’t let us use our own coats or boots because they were not considered adequate for the conditions. I’m glad its not cold now. In the winter it gets very dark by 3pm.
Just a few words about roads on the Alaska Highway. We found nearly all of the road to be in good repair with a few gravel/construction sections along the route. The longest gravel section was about 15 miles long but was very smooth for gravel. Other gravel sections were pretty rough but not too long. Just about any time it wasn’t gravel we could set the cruise at the speed limit without worry. The road from Whitehorse to Tok is not so great however. The road has very rough patches and pot holes. Worse than the rough sections are the undulations where the road has sunk. The road will oscillate up and down suddenly, enough that at any speed above 45 mph you are very likely to bottom out or nearly get airborne in our big coach. It might not be too bad in a car, but in a big rig it is very uncomfortable and very tiring. The undulations can be hard to see so often you are surprised by them.