Good Morning from Haines Junction, Yukon...

I know, some of you saw the Facebook post that I had arrived in Alaska.  Nope, not quite yet.  I just changed my current home to Fairbanks, as I am really not a resident anywhere at the moment.  Tomorrow, September 20th, I will take up residence at my sew home.

Yesterday was not anything special.  It was over 6 hours of driving.  The mountains were stunning, but not as snow covered as in previous days.  We traveled along more flat lands, either in valleys or mountain passes.  No wildlife.  The pretty leaves are falling, so much of the stunning colors are now on the ground and blowing away.

We are heading to Tok, Alaska.  Today will be the hardest day of the entire trip.  Today we will drive to the Canadian checkpoint and then there is a 40 mile strip of road that is not paved but covered with chipped base.  It has not been touched this year, according to a young lady who was a flag person at a road construction sight.  She was a talked\r and we were first in line for the pilot truck to come guide us to the other side of the construction.  The US did not send funding for this to be repaired, so it is likely to be really, really in poor shape.

This small section of road between the Canadian checkpoint and the US border may take us an hour or more to traverse as we will have to drive slowly to avoid blowing a tire or causing damage to Gaddy.  It is the sole reason we had the hitch put on my car where we have been carrying a full sized spare.  There will be a lot of praying and careful, slow driving to come out on the other side with no harm to the car and to us.

Rob keeps trying, to prepare me for re-entry into Alaska.  I gather that 18 years ago, when they came through, the people there noticed that the shots for their cats had expired and they almost were not granted entry.  But I made sure all of my documents, shots and things were in order, so I am hoping it will be as disappointing as entering Canada.

We did stop for gas  at a place yesterday called Jake's Corner.  It was a gas stop, RV campground and restaurant.  At this point in the trip, we are driving past gas stations and rest stops stop are manned during the summer but the owners head south before the snow season starts.  That is why we are carrying 5 gallons of gas in the car now.  So, when you are about at half a tank and find an open station, you top off your tank.  Rob says there is a station just before the Canadian border and we will start off with a full tank from Haines Junction, YT and then top off before the checkpoint.  That should be enough to get us to Tok, AK.  We have a room there for tonight and then a 2ish hour drive to Tolovana Drive!!

Keep your thoughts and prayers coming, especially today.