Monday, June 22, 2009

Delta Junction, AK

It’s been a while since I posted…time flies when you are having fun.  We left Whitehorse on Tuesday, June 16 in drizzling rain…we were headed to Destruction Bay, YT for the night.  Susan and Mark left Whitehorse at the same time but headed toward Dawson City, YT.  We were not as brave as they were…we had read that a part of the road they would have to travel before meeting us in Tok, Alaska could get very, very bad especially if it got wet…and the forecast for the next few days included rain.

We met Joe and Loretta in Haines Junction and we stopped for some sightseeing and lunch. This was a “statue” we found in HJ  which probably has a population of 50.007  We wandered thru the general store…which included a bit of everything including bananas at $1.49 a pound.010

I never knew that Checker was a make of cars…I have always heard of the Checker cabs but thought they were actually made by some other company.  This was a Checker Marathon.011

This Catholic Church was built from an old Quonset hut and is said to be the most photographed church in the Yukon.  025 020 021 023 024

We arrived at Destruction Bay, YT to spend the night.  This was the view from one side of the motor home.044

The next morning we went into the little cafe to have a great breakfast including blueberry pancakes.  We were the only 2 patrons until a woman came in.  She had a very heavy French accent and after conversing with her for a few minutes we invited her to join us at our table.  What a delight she was.  Her name was Carmel and she is from Quebec.  She is a social worker and has taken a year off to travel.  Even though we speak no French and her English was meager we had a great time visiting with her…so sorry I did not get a picture.  We wish her safe travels.

We left Destruction Bay about 9:30 am…weather was cold but sunny and we were headed to Tok, Alaska.  Before we could cross the border it happened…dum, de, dum, dum…049

Yep, that’s our motor home windshield with a great big ding in it…compliments of a U-Haul truck on the gravel road.  It finally happened and was almost a relief to get it over with. 

Soon after we came across these two guys meandering down the road.055

Well, actually you only see one as his buddy headed for cover right after we spotted them.  I wanted them to be wolves but believe they are coyotes.

Before we got to Beaver Creek, we started seeing these old cars heading south. These are just a few of the ones we snapped.064 062 063

We rolled into Beaver Creek and headed for Buckshot Betty’s for lunch…hello, Joe and Loretta were already there.  They had stayed at a different campground the night before.  We found out that the cars belong to people from all over the world…California, Sweden, Australia, England, etc.  They belong to a Bentley club.  Some were having lunch at BB while we were there. 081 083

These little cafes are really just tiny places but the food is remarkably good…we had a burger and it was the best I have had in months. Just as we finished eating, it started to rain so I made a run for the coach as I knew Cissy would be upset.  I am glad I did as it was quite a while before Bob was able to make it…we had hail!!!!!095

We continued on toward our goal…Alaska.  I have to tell you that by the time we reached the border we were both ready to walk away from the motor home and leave it.  The last 100 miles or so before the border were horrible.  Joe and Loretta decided to stop at a campground not far after the border but we continued on to Tok.  We felt like we had been “rode hard and put up wet”.  It was a grueling day for us.  But I have to say once we crossed the border from the Yukon into the USA it was like we were driving on a superhighway…the road was actually paved! 103 107

The border crossing was a piece of cake…the American border patrol guy was actually friendly…something we have not experienced at precious crossings.  He was more interested in seeing Little Buddy, our 21 pound Yorkie, than anything else.  We really have not had any problems with crossings…just that the people have not been friendly at all.  But that’s done for the time being.  We rolled into Tok, found our campground and basically collapsed.  Welcome to Alaska!

Moving on.

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