THANKS, APOLOGIES AND THE HAUL ROAD

I would like to thank the readers that have commented on this Alaskan journey. Some of you have made the same trip in the past and some of you are planning it in the future. For those who have been there, I enjoyed your comments and for those others I would say this is a trip well worth taking. Alaska is a place you really need to see.
I would like to apologize to the un-named rental car company about their car. I checked in late and the young lady forgot to mention the restricted roads where their cars are not allowed to go. Sorry ‘bout that.
The James Dalton Highway (the Haul Road) is mostly a 414 mile gravel road. The road starts north of Livengood, Alaska and travels north through arctic tundra to the farthest reaches of Alaska ending in Prudhoe Bay. You can travel all but the last 8 miles on the road. After that you can only travel by tour bus or oil field pass. Livengood is about seventy miles north of Fairbanks and by the time you get there you are “off the grid”. meaning no electric service or running water for your house ! There are places off the road, provided by the state, where you can buy water, but they don’t deliver!
Just north of Fairbanks where the sign says no service for the next 118 miles, that’s just what it means. Don’t expect any small forgotten gas station to appear, it won’t. This is not a road for the faint of heart, or those with a brand-new vehicle! It is still the main supply route for the Prudhoe Bay oilfields, and you are sharing the road with large tractor-trailers which have the right-of-way according to the signage. Windshields are easy targets for flying rocks. Most rental car companies will not allow you to drive their cars on the Dalton. Trucks speeding along the slippery gravel kick up thick clouds of dust or mud, reducing visibility to absolute zero; potholes take a heavy toll on cars and services, gas, and repairs are practically nonexistent.

After two hours of driving we reach the Yukon River. It was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine. A very basic café, gift shop (T-shirts & sweatshirts) and motel combination with a large above ground gas tank next door is the entire community. Rooms at $199 per night were in side by side singlewide trailer houses with shared baths down the hall. There were quite a few boats putting in and some hunters also looking about. It was a place for real men, fishermen, hunters and truckers. Here at the Ranger Station they give you a certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle, but the Circle is still sixty miles north. After lunch at the café we charge onward.
My sweetheart was maybe expecting balloons and a circus when we finally reached the Arctic Circle but no, just a small park and scenic view. This was the only place in Alaska we encountered mosquitoes. They were so thick you had to plow your way through them and you could not sit still. If you felt nature call, which we did, you had to make it quick!! We took the requisite pictures and climbed back into the air conditioned rental car and headed south. The only other visitors at the park while we were there were two soldiers from Austin, Texas seeing Alaska before returning home.
This was the opening weekend for moose hunting. You could go three miles off the road to hunt. We saw quite a few hunting groups, fathers, sons & brothers. The weather was wonderful and they were excited to be there.
Once off the Haul Road and headed back into Fairbanks, Sandy spotted something ahead in the bar ditch. Sure enough, we were up front and personal with a moose. We pulled over to the side where she was munching fresh grass. She just looked at us and kept on eating just 15 or so feet from the car. She did not seem to mind our presence and allowed us all the pictures we wanted.
In a couple of days we will say goodbye to Alaska and make our way back home. We have enough time for a couple more coffees at the River City Café and some more sightseeing downtown. It has been a wonderful trip, it could fit into the category of “The Trip of a Lifetime”, I know it sure comes close for us.
Next blog we arrive back in Texas, I’ll call it Home, Sweet Home.