Drove out of Whitehorse, YT this morning, shortly after daylight to find dry roads for the remainder of the 381.4 miles to Tok, Alaska. It is good to be back home again. Total trip mileage as of today is 11,576.7 miles so by the time we reach the most westerly highway point in North America, our total accumulation will exceed 12,000 miles.
A quiet day on the road today, no traffic at all and even less "wild" animals to look at. Southbound and northbound, we have yet to see any wildlife in the Yukon Territory, perhaps a telephone call to their Fish and Game Department is in order.
Daughter Heidi has decided to start a new photography project by capturing"church steeples" as her subject, so I could not resist this shot.
This Catholic Church is located in Haines Junction, YT, originally founded by a traveling priest in 1954. The church was adapted from an old "Quonset Hut" that had been abandon by the U.S. Army after completion of Alcan Highway during WW II. You will have to look close, but hanging from the belfry at the rear of the church is the ideal bell for the HITW. Once again, my drive along companion would not scale the wall and secure the bell for safe keeping. I tried to convince her if we did not secure it into our custody, someone was going to steal it. That is the second bell that she has declined to retrieve, I am starting to run out of churches! Does the Jehovah Witness Church in Homer have a bell? I know the Salvation Army has a lot of bells, I here them twinkling throughout the Christmas season.
Did discover one thing today, the short time that we were gone, the Alcan Highway came alive and grew. Southbound, we found the typical "frost heaves" associated with this section of the highway since it as built. A problem that has never been resolved despite the best plans of the engineers that have tried to solve the problem. On our return trip, five weeks later the entire highway has decided to move up and down, it was ugly in some spots. You hit one when you are not expecting it at 79.6 mph, it will make you clutch the car seat as you catch air. Fortunately, because of the way we are loaded, the back of he truck is heavier and we always had a rear wheel landing. Good thing Grandma is little, anymore weight in the front and we may have been out of balance. I now know what it feels like to make an "arrested landing" on the deck of a aircraft carrier.
We will move out slowly, but smartly in the a.m. and poke our way along the highway inbound for LA. Susie has you locked in on GPS at 318.6 miles and 4 hours 52 minutes driving time. Perhaps unless we encounter a "kodak" moment, snow, ice, wind, or highway closure. See you soon. Happy Birthday Devyn!!!!
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