Day 104: Back to Tok

July 27, 2014

Once again this morning was completely cloudy with a temp of 41. It wasn't raining but not even a peek of sun. That's pretty much how it stayed all day. We did have a couple of brief drizzles, but no real rain.

It is with mixed feelings that we report that today is the day we start our journey back to Alabama. It will be a long, and quite indirect route, but it is in general back toward Alabama. We aren't finished with Alaska yet. We still have some southern areas to visit.

We left Chena Lake Rec Area about 11:00 am en route for Tok, AK. We snapped a few pics along the way but, nothing real exciting. We did see one moose today – sorry no picture. We saw the pipeline one last time as it crossed the river. We traveled through Delta Junction stopping again at the Sullivan Road House. This is where we met Bruce back in June with Barry and Donna. He is the one we first talked to about Aunt Jean's photo album and he put us in contact with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. We wanted to just say thanks for the assistance. Unfortunately, he wasn't there but we were able to leave him a note.

This time while in Delta we met a women named Rachel from Barcelona, Spain. She arrived in Anchorage 10 days ago, has been to the Kenia, Denali and Fairbanks. She is backpacking her way from Alaska to Central America (Panama, we think)! Don't know how she is doing it. She has a huge pack she wears on her back and then a smaller one she wears on her front and plans to take at least 6 months to make the trip. She is a “risk analyst” for a large bank in Spain and is on a three year leave to travel! We weren't quite able to understand all she was saying, but she doesn't plan to hitch-hike all the way, but was complaining about the cost of transportation in Alaska. Anyway, she was hitch-hiking toward the Canadian border today from Fairbanks so we gave her a lift from Delta to Tok. Very interesting lady. On a funny note, she was sitting in “Barry's” chair and shortly after we started on our way she was sound asleep. We just laughed. Barry told us the entire 3 weeks he was here that it was “that chair.” He couldn't help but sleep when he was in “that chair.” Well – guess he is right – it must be something about that chair. Well, meeting Rachel and “picking up a hitch-hiker” was our new experience for the day.

Tomorrow we will leave Tok and cross back into Canada following the Alaska Highway. Recall, coming into Alaska we left the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse and took the Top of the World Highway. By returning this way we will have driving all of the Alaska Highway, but will not drive but a small portion of it going both ways. Anyway – being in Canada again means we will have no phone service for a few days and we don't know about internet for posting the blog. So, if we don't post for a few days, don't worry about us. How long we stay in Canada depends on the weather. We will then re-enter Alaska to visit Haines where we will again have cell coverage and internet – by the end of the week. We will catch the blog up when we have coverage. We will be in some cool places in Canada, so weather permitting we should have some good new photos.

Diesel prices in Tok tonight: Young's Chevron - $4.699; Northern Energy - $4.659