ARTIC CIRCLE & PRUDHOE BAY, ALASKA

Yes --- we are in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska - about as far north as we can get!

Because of the extremely slow internet service ---- the blog will be continued tonight - when we are back in the Fairbanks area -- about 450 miles South.

But just for the record --- I went to bed this morning at 2:30 (Alaska time) and the sun NEVER did go to bed!!!

Til tonight......


Back at it --  We slept in Fairbanks at a Best Western  - very nice place that included a continental Breakfast!!  We love that part!!!  But we still had to make a stop at Walmart --- you know for some of the essentials - M & M's, More Coke, cold tabs for the little sniffles that I got and a bunch of very necessary items!!!  We also took along some fruit from the motel so we are set!!!!

And now ---- North to Prudhoe Bay!!!

 If there is machinery along the road --- pictures must be taken!!!

This is the time of the year that the aspen trees are bursting forth with their new growth.

 The mountains look as if God made a giant quilt with a variety of green!!!  

The Dalton Highway - Length of the road is 415 miles with 25% paved and 75% gravel and some 12% grades.    The Dalton Highway is also called the "Haul Highway" and is the road that you can see on the "IceRoad Truckers" show.  It follows the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, up hills and down, through forested valleys, over the Brooks Mountain Range at Artigun Pass (4800 elevation) and across the treeless North Slope.

The Dalton Highway is unique in its own scenic beauty and variety of wildlife.  It is also one of Alaska's most remote, dangerous and challenging roads. 

The roads were indeed mostly gravel and honestly the gravel roads were much easier to drive and ride than that paved since there were no frost heaves on the gravel.  The frost heaves on the paved roads can make you hit your head on the ceiling and be thankful for seat belts!!!  It is like riding a roller coaster  - sometimes we could see them coming and sometimes they were a surprise.

And being Howard is a South Dakota/Iowa gravel road driving boy --- we were sailing along at about 60 mph most of the time on the gravel!

There were a lot of construction vehicles on the road - I am sure this is job security for the Road workers because there were always pot holes to be fixed and grading to be done.

 We found that the flaggers always appreciated a few Hi Chews and Baby Bel Cheeses!!!  And some conversation!!

We are following the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.  Sometimes it is right beside the road and then again we cannot see it.  It goes up the hills and down, under rivers, over rivers via bridges and through mountains!!  

I don't think I have seen a sign anywhere along the road that has not been used for target practice!!

The mighty Yukon River!!

North To Alaska --

Big Sam left Seattle in the year of '92

With George Pratt his partner & brother Billy too,

They crossed Yukon River in search of bonanza gold........

This is the river!!!

Finger Mountain!  The diversity of the scenery is absolutely amazing.




















Can you believe it????? We are at the Arctic Circle!!!!

We met these people on the road!  They were stopped along the road so we stopped to see if they needed help!  Nope - they didn't but for the next several miles we kept in close proximity with them. They are from Bulgaria and had been visiting their son.  They are both physicians - he a general practitioner and she a pediatrician.  Their English was limited --- and our Bulgarian was non existent.  They stopped at the Arctic Circle and headed back down --- they were in a rental car and most rental car companies do not allow their cars to travel even this far north.  A very interesting couple.

A cute little bird that was so very calm and tame.  Not tame enough to come into our hands but we were about 5 feet away from him and he was not in the least bit concerned.  We were told that it is a Crossbill!!  OK - birders, correct me if I am wrong!!!

And was there just a bear here or????????  I will leave that one alone!!

Steve, the very helpful clerk at Coldfoot Camp.  The half way mark to Prudhoe Bay.  We had a delicious bowl of beef stew here and also filled the car up since it is not a good idea to go too far with not enough gas.

We also talked to a young girl that had just driven up to Prudhoe Bay and she said that we would have no problems from here on out!!!  She was a student from the University of Alaska and was studying wildlife conservation or something like that.  She said that she had a few years left and her comment was, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with a degree like that!!"  I told her that there was maybe a prince in shining armor just waiting to sweep her off her feet!  Her comment- "I can only hope!!"  

On the road again .......

We had a bit of a rain shower and then some fog but other than that the weather was great - starting to get a bit colder but --- we are in the Arctic Circle.  What can we expect????

We are now seeing more rocky crags and fewer and fewer trees.  We are getting to the point where the trees don't grow quite as tall --- I know there is a scientific explanation for that but don't ask me that right now!!!

It is now about 10:30 PM and still very light out there.

There is also still a lot of snow and ice in the streams and rivers.  Some are still completely frozen and others have flowing water under the layer of ice and are slowly melting away from the shore.

This is only a small amount of White Swans.  There are thousands and thousands of these birds here as well as the Canadian Honkers or geese!!  Whatcom and Skagit counties (Home ground for us) are the winter feeding grounds for these birds.

Caribou at 11 PM!!!

David, another new friend.  He was out on the road hanging some chains on his truck so we stopped to ask him a few questions!!  WELL --- that conversation turned into almost an hour of conversation at 11:30 PM.  He is 29 and a trucker that puts in 18 hour days for 6 weeks and then goes home to his family of a wife and 3 little ones for 2 weeks.  I am not sure what we even stopped to ask him but we were soon on the 'big' companies and their control of almost every aspect of our life to Biblical things and his concern for the future of his children.  We exchanged e-mails and I hope to keep in touch with him.    We happened to have a small camping chair with us so Howard got that out and he sat on that chair and drank the Coke that we gave him while we talked and talked.  He was truly a delight to meet on the road.

Now on to Prudoe Bay -

The Road is still pretty good but the closer we get to the fields the rougher the road is getting.  It doesn't seem to bother the truckers though - they barrel down that Road like they have done it a few times before!!!!!!!!!

The last few miles before Deadhorse - Prudhoe Bay.

The sun - there are a few clouds out there too - and it is about 1:00 AM.  

The Prudhoe Bay Hotel --- a beautiful site since it is now almost 2 AM and this old lady is tired!!!!  I went inside to see about a room ---- they had one available.  $115 per person a night!!!!!  That totals $230 for both of us.  I decided to pay for both of us since I didn't think Howard would want to sleep in the car!!!!  Oh, if we wanted a private bathroom it was $130 per person!  I decided that for $30 we could walk down the hall!!!!

And boy did that little twin bed in this oil field camp look good and I slept like a log!!!!!

Good boys leave their boots outside the door!!!

OK  folks - that does it for Thursday.  I didn't work on the blog in Prudhoe Bay because the internet was extremely slow so thought I would just wait until we got back to a more populated area!!

Stocking Hat # 8