July 4 & 5 – We finally made it to Alaska! We didn’t have any real difficulties with crossing the border. I did learn that if there is an overhang, I need to know that I can clear it. The over hang is 12’10” and we should have used the truck lane. I had read on other blogs and several websites not to use the truck lane unless instructed to do so. I pulled up and paused and wasn’t instructed to go to the lane. I’m supposed to be 12’7″ max with roof a/c. I learned that 12’10” is too short. Thankfully my antennae are flexible and we survived a close one.
I have to say that from Whitehorse to the border contained some rough roads. I learned early to slow down for any discoloration I saw in the road so we fared well on the roads. The worst part of the road is after White River, YT. Most people have read in other blogs that Whitehorse to Tok is a rough road. I am sure it’s not as bad at Top of the World, but as long as you give yourself extra time and take it slow, it’s not too bad. Of course we expected the worst and when it wasn’t as bad as we thought we ended up being pretty happy.
Parade in Tok
After crossing the border we headed to Tok, AK. Everyone who drives into Alaska can either a) take a ferry out, b) fly out, or c) drive though Tok twice. Ferries are very expensive so we will be driving through it twice. We were happy to arrive back in the USA just in time for the 4th of July celebration. Tok had a great parade and afterward we headed to Sourdough Campground. We preferred this campground to others as their sites have trees. We figured we would have plenty of camps without trees so we better enjoy them while we can.
Needs a Bath!
Sourdough is a nice campground just outside of the main portion of town. One of the benefits of staying there is the rv wash. It does cost you money but $12.00 in quarters was worth getting all the muck and dirt off the rig from the Whitehorse to border portion of of the trip. The jeep is twice as dirty as it looks. Now imagine all that dust (and even mud) up and down both sides of our 40 foot rig. We sprayed off all the main dirt and when the water stopped I used a bucket full of soap and water and my extension pole with a sheepskin cover to get the rest of the grime. While I scrubbed, Brian washed off the dirt on the other side. When I finished soaping my first side, we switched and he rinsed. We had a pretty good system.
Play me some country music!
This campground has a nightly pancake toss where you get two pancakes to toss. First one is practice. If the second one gets in, you get a free all you can eat sourdough pancake breakfast the next day. In addition to the toss, we enjoyed (ok, my mom and I) listening to some country music. He took requests all night and of course sang North to Alaska and On the Road Again. They even had a couple of guys get up to sing with him. The boys declined an invitation to go and instead watched a movie in the RV.