Travels With Sir Charles: Top of the World Highway, AK

We got an early start today. The border crossing is open from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The road guides say to allow seven hours for the 172-mile drive. That should have told us something. 63 of the 66 miles to Chicken were paved - in most places. Potholes and rough patches were common. We made good time at 45-50 mph. At milepost 63 is a sign that says pavement ends. It should say road ends. We stopped in the small community of Chicken. Friendly people in the trading post made for a fun time. We bought our souvenirs as required. I needed a magnetic moose (see Denali 2) for the collection and I grabbed a bumper sticker that said I survived the Top of the World Highway. The cashier said, “You’re being optimistic” and laughed. Bad omen. With coffee and scone in hand and the sun in our face, we set off for the drive that was described by many as spectacular. I guess they had not yet seen the rest of Alaska. The next 30 miles was over dirt/mud roads. In wet weather this would be treacherous driving.

At home this road would be described as a very poor logging road. My best speed was 30 mph so the going was slow. The scenery was pretty much the same all the way, deep drop offs, no guardrails, and no road shoulders. We have seen much more beautiful, scenic drives on this trip. At the 94-mile marker the road turned to very new pavement and I thought the worst was over. The road felt like it was paved yesterday and we cruised at 50 mph to the Alaska-Canadian border, fourteen-miles away. The Canadian customs guy was great. He asked how we were doing and I told him I was glad to be out of the mud and on good pavement. He laughed and said “Don’t celebrate yet. The pavement ends in 500 feet. OH NO. The next 73 miles was gravel, mud, short stretches of 30-year old pavement and then more mud. Then it started to rain! We spent 2-1/2 hours checking off each milepost waiting for this saga to end. Karen had nothing good to say about this part of the drive and what she did say I can’t put in this blog. At the end of a long day of driving we crossed the Yukon River on the free ferry and arrived at Dawson City. Our first stop will be a carwash! NOW, I can put my bumper sticker on the RV.

Dawson City is a fun stop and we may spend three days here. The history is interesting with many old buildings still standing from the 1898 gold rush. The streets are unpaved (more mud) and boardwalks are the norm on most streets. This time of year they plow the streets with a grader and they are good to go for another year. We walked the town with Charlie and of course he met many people. An Australian guy recognized him as an Australian Kelpie and we had an interesting talk. Most people don’t know the Kelpie breed. The bar in the hotel has a piano player doing old songs on a very old piano. The music could be heard in the street and Charlie decided to join the singing. He does love his music and he thinks he has a good voice. Tonight we will take him back. This is his kind of place. He loves the city life with no bear or other animal smells.