Tok, AK

After a restful, quiet night we decided to not stay a second night at the Discovery Yukon Lodging.  Charlie seemed nervous with the animal smells here. We hit the road late thinking it would be a short drive to our next destination, Tok, AK. We were told the poor roads would only last another ten miles. They didn’t tell us how bad they would be. We crawled along the gravel washboard road at 25 to 30 mph and nearly shook the motorhome apart. Charlie and Karen fought over seat assignments again. Charlie wanted his safe place, riding shotgun in the passenger seat and Karen thought she belonged there. I was an impartial observer and stayed neutral. Karen finally won but it was an epic struggle.

Finally, the road returned to pavement and we were able to pick up some speed but the frost heaves and potholes kept me on my toes for the rest of the drive. The weather turned to rain for most of the trip. As we neared Tok the side winds picked up. I was very happy to finally see the end of this drive.

We did finally meet a friendly US Customs agent at the Alaska border crossing. A smile and a “Welcome to Alaska” was a pleasant surprise. Karen received an Alcan Highway visa stamp for her new passport so now she doesn’t miss her old passport quite as much. After crossing the border, an old song kept running thru my mind. “One Tok over the line sweet Jesus, One Tok over the line”.  Haha. 

When we pulled into Tok I had suggested we stay at a free camping site behind the Chevron station. If you fill up at the pump you can stay at no charge. Unfortunately, it was a dust bowl so after a fill-up (keyword is after) we chose another RV park that advertised a RV wash station. The motorhome was caked with road mud that was like cement so I really wanted to get it cleaned up. After checking in and paying for our site, we were told the car wash had not been de-winterized yet but we could get a free wash at the gas station next door if we bought their gas. Oops, tanks were already full. We did need propane so we went to the station and I sweet talked them into a wash with a promise to fill up on our way back thru on our return to Canada. In Alaska all roads lead to Tok so we will see this place again. We spent a pleasant evening at the park. I decided to try our TV antennae to see if anything was available. The scan found only one channel to watch. To my disgust it was NBC and the only thing playing was Karen’s favorite, The Voice. She enjoyed the finale and I listened to ITunes music on my Bluetooth hearing aids. Being deaf is sometimes a good thing! 

Rainy weather - no pictures today.