We wake up early, natch, packed up and headed over for breakfast. Trucks were in the parking lot and the truckers were eating breakfast. Many of them order lunches and they were all packed up on several tables for them to take with them in the morning. Ours were there, too. Big meals and I had a protein bar instead. I just can’t eat that much.
These are just 2 of the 4 tables filled with bag lunches: sandwiches, fruit, chips, cookie. Pretty good. They pack the bread with the cheese. Then the meat in its own bag and the lettuce and tomato in their own bags. That way nothing gets soggy. Pretty cool. Mustard and mayo packets included.
I forgot to mention, we saw this sign on our door yesterday when we were checking in. A bear in the hallway?
Look, it’s sunny out today. First day in a week or so.
We have one last adventure: a visit with Jack Reakoff in Wiseman, the only real town on the Dalton.
Jack pretty much lives off the land, killing or growing his own food but makes extra money by giving talks about his way of life to various groups that hire him. We all sat down in a cabin left by a miner who had died and listened to Jack talk about the aurora, his way of life and anything else. He’s lived in Wiseman his whole life. He first gave us a terribly scientific explanation about the aurora which I let fly over my head but I did enjoy his photos.
He’s a hunter, of course and skins and packs all of the meat he kills for winter meals.
He berms his house in the winter with snow to keep it warm.
His garden is huge and he grows lots of potatoes and carrots which he stores under his home in the root cellar.
He cuts and hauls in all his own fire wood.
All togged out for winter. Note that he is dressed just like Bob the Ranger whose talk we listened to yesterday.
He met his wife when she brought a tour group just like ours through Wiseman.
Then a hare posed out side the window.
There is a small museum about Wiseman in a cabin on the river.
Excellent and informative talk but then it was time to move on.
We did see a moose along the way and I got my usual butt shot.
Here are some more shots of the pipeline. Tall enough for a caribou.
If the ground is free of permafrost they can actually bury the pipeline.
They did not lay it straight but with lots of curves so it could expand and contract as the temperature changed.
The road was not always smooth, even though most of it was pavement as we drew closer to Fairbanks. The rutted section is where they have torn out the pavement, added sand and are now smoothing. The smooth section is pavement that was good enough to leave.
We found a cool picnic spot by these rocks. My first climbing in days.
Beautiful wild flowers along the road.
Other beautiful views of the hills as we headed south.
Then we crossed the Arctic Circle.
The Dalton Highway ended.
We crossed the Yukon River.
Check out this photo of mosquitos. Luckily they haven’t been too bad for us. BTW, this is a photo I got from a kiosk at one of the stops.
And, we headed into Fairbanks. An amazing trip and not one many take. I’m glad we took this trip but I’m glad we’re back. It’s been a long 3 days. You can see our route on this map. 414 miles.
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