24 June 2007 – day 2
Up at 0600. This ain’t no vacation. Steve and Drew went out to jog the dog. They actually did go running. During their adventure, they found the big track used by the Tok Mushing Club. How cool, a sled dog track for Malley! They all ran around the track a few times and came back tired.
Places to go, things to do, 490 miles to drive today. But first, sourdough pancakes and reindeer sausage. Yes, reindeer sausage. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. So we got ready for the day and decided to let Malley hang in the motel while we went to breakfast. Steve carried the kennel into the room, we locked her up and off we went.
Breakfast was at the café at the Sourdough Campground about a mile outside of Tok. We’ve been here before. Their sourdough starter dates back to 1956 – how cool is that? I can’t keep sourdough starter going for more than a few months. I’m a pretty good cook, but a lousy gardener, so I’ve deduced that sourdough started is much more like gardening than cooking. If you ever get the chance, try sourdough pancakes. YUM! We shared a side of reindeer sausage and some bacon, along with a bunch of fruit & coffee. The owner introduced us to the sausage as Dasher and Fred. It is much like smoked kielbasa and not game-y at all.
Here’s breakfast:
Here are the guys in the café:
Breakfast over, we headed back to the motel to pack up and check out. Much to our surprise, Malley greeted us at the door. This is not good. We were warned that huskies tend to chew and destroy when they are bored and being such social animals, they are pretty much bored any time they are alone. When we got Malley at 4 months, she was already crate trained so we kept it up. Luckily, all she did was chew up a roll of toilet paper and dance in the bathtub (muddy paw prints gave her away). So we loaded the car and headed to Haines.
About 5 minutes outside Tok, Steve said, “I wonder if we should have stopped for gas in Tok.” My response? “Well, you’re the one who’s going to walk when we run out.” We had about ½ a tank, but that doesn’t always mean you’ll make it to the next stop on the AlCan. Eventually we came upon the: Naabia Niign Gas Groceries Alaska Native Crafts Camper Park Laundry Showers. Unleaded fuel $3.51, 13 gallons set us back $48.03, OOMMFFFFF!
We stopped at the border for a few pictures. I have a great photo of us when we arrived at this sign 3 years ago, but it was packed and taken away by the lowest bidder last week, so we’ll just have to make due with the most recent one.
Can you tell how happy we are to leave?
All this and we would be back in Alaska before the end of the day. Imagine how thrilled we will be when we leave for several years…
The border crossing station is a good 30-45 minutes after we crossed the actual border. Up until Friday, we thought I might have to skip this leg of the trip and fly to Juneau to meet the guys on the ferry. You see, the Coast Guard told us that we needed passports to go through Canada. So we applied for no-fee passports that can’t be used for touring, but work with Steve’s orders to get us civilians into and out of the country. The boys’ passports came about 3 weeks ago, but not mine. It’s a Murphy’s Law thing. I have a spare copy of each of the boy’s birth certificates, but I only have one of mine. So last week, when they relaxed the border crossing regulations, I still didn’t have what I needed since my birth certificate was conveniently located with my passport application. It worked out OK, my passport made it to Steve’s office on Friday – 24 hours before we left. Look at me, I’m legal! Yay!
Shortly after entering Canada, we solved one of the great auto mysteries of all time. Well, not really, but it has been bugging us for 3 years. Canada apparently has a law that all vehicles must have their light on at all times. It has always bothered Steve that it is impossible to dim the lights on my Explorer. We thought it was a Ford thing. Now we aren’t so sure. What does one have to do with the other? I bought my car 1-year used from Canada. Even scraped a sticker off the window that read “Object’s du mirror blah-blah-blah” So now we know.
So, Canada roads are awful! Talk about frost heaves! Crazy, crazy, bumpy roads. Some of them are even paved. Remember those frost heaves from yesterday? They were much worse today. So we bounced our way through Canada. Steve did a pretty good job of slowing down or avoiding many of the bumps, but as we were trucking along we hit a series of them. They were spaced just right, so that we hit the second or third bump at about the point that the shocks were compressed from hitting the first bump, so it felt like we didn’t really have shocks at all. Of course, Malley sat up in her kennel on the first bump, only to have it come down and hit her in the head on the next one. This is an adventure, right?
About 2 minutes later, Steve thought to pull over to check on the boys bikes that are on a rock on the back of the car. It’s a good thing we checked, because here is what we found:
Let’s just say that I am sooooo glad, Steve was driving. That way it can be the road’s fault, not mine! It gets better. Drew’s bike as cool-guy trick pegs on it and the peg smashed into the back of the Explorer, leaving a lovely gouge. It took about 1/2 an hour to reset the bikes, so in the meantime, the boys walked the dog along the tree line near the road.
Then we set off again. Without getting into too many details about boys and the woods, I was the only one who needed to find a rest area after our roadside delay. I mentioned this to the driver and he slowed down a few minutes later at the next rest stop – right before he passed it up! I had flashbacks to road trips with my Dad when I was a kid. I once mentioned making a rest stop in Tennessee. We stopped in Cincinnati. Yes, there is an entire state in the middle there. (Kentucky for the geographically challenged.)
Not long later – BAM! We pulled over to check the bikes again. Again, good thing. They were tweaked and we came to the conclusion that we actually broke the bike rack during the first catastrophe. Steve reached for the duct tape and we jerry-rigged a quick fix. Looks like we’ll be buying a new rack in Seattle.
It’s not a move, it’s an adventure.
Tune in later, for day 2 part 2. I hope to get this done before we get onto the ferry. If not, it will most likely be Friday before you hear from us again.
Up at 0600. This ain’t no vacation. Steve and Drew went out to jog the dog. They actually did go running. During their adventure, they found the big track used by the Tok Mushing Club. How cool, a sled dog track for Malley! They all ran around the track a few times and came back tired.
Places to go, things to do, 490 miles to drive today. But first, sourdough pancakes and reindeer sausage. Yes, reindeer sausage. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. So we got ready for the day and decided to let Malley hang in the motel while we went to breakfast. Steve carried the kennel into the room, we locked her up and off we went.
Breakfast was at the café at the Sourdough Campground about a mile outside of Tok. We’ve been here before. Their sourdough starter dates back to 1956 – how cool is that? I can’t keep sourdough starter going for more than a few months. I’m a pretty good cook, but a lousy gardener, so I’ve deduced that sourdough started is much more like gardening than cooking. If you ever get the chance, try sourdough pancakes. YUM! We shared a side of reindeer sausage and some bacon, along with a bunch of fruit & coffee. The owner introduced us to the sausage as Dasher and Fred. It is much like smoked kielbasa and not game-y at all.
Here’s breakfast:
Here are the guys in the café:
Breakfast over, we headed back to the motel to pack up and check out. Much to our surprise, Malley greeted us at the door. This is not good. We were warned that huskies tend to chew and destroy when they are bored and being such social animals, they are pretty much bored any time they are alone. When we got Malley at 4 months, she was already crate trained so we kept it up. Luckily, all she did was chew up a roll of toilet paper and dance in the bathtub (muddy paw prints gave her away). So we loaded the car and headed to Haines.
About 5 minutes outside Tok, Steve said, “I wonder if we should have stopped for gas in Tok.” My response? “Well, you’re the one who’s going to walk when we run out.” We had about ½ a tank, but that doesn’t always mean you’ll make it to the next stop on the AlCan. Eventually we came upon the: Naabia Niign Gas Groceries Alaska Native Crafts Camper Park Laundry Showers. Unleaded fuel $3.51, 13 gallons set us back $48.03, OOMMFFFFF!
We stopped at the border for a few pictures. I have a great photo of us when we arrived at this sign 3 years ago, but it was packed and taken away by the lowest bidder last week, so we’ll just have to make due with the most recent one.
Can you tell how happy we are to leave?
All this and we would be back in Alaska before the end of the day. Imagine how thrilled we will be when we leave for several years…
The border crossing station is a good 30-45 minutes after we crossed the actual border. Up until Friday, we thought I might have to skip this leg of the trip and fly to Juneau to meet the guys on the ferry. You see, the Coast Guard told us that we needed passports to go through Canada. So we applied for no-fee passports that can’t be used for touring, but work with Steve’s orders to get us civilians into and out of the country. The boys’ passports came about 3 weeks ago, but not mine. It’s a Murphy’s Law thing. I have a spare copy of each of the boy’s birth certificates, but I only have one of mine. So last week, when they relaxed the border crossing regulations, I still didn’t have what I needed since my birth certificate was conveniently located with my passport application. It worked out OK, my passport made it to Steve’s office on Friday – 24 hours before we left. Look at me, I’m legal! Yay!
Shortly after entering Canada, we solved one of the great auto mysteries of all time. Well, not really, but it has been bugging us for 3 years. Canada apparently has a law that all vehicles must have their light on at all times. It has always bothered Steve that it is impossible to dim the lights on my Explorer. We thought it was a Ford thing. Now we aren’t so sure. What does one have to do with the other? I bought my car 1-year used from Canada. Even scraped a sticker off the window that read “Object’s du mirror blah-blah-blah” So now we know.
So, Canada roads are awful! Talk about frost heaves! Crazy, crazy, bumpy roads. Some of them are even paved. Remember those frost heaves from yesterday? They were much worse today. So we bounced our way through Canada. Steve did a pretty good job of slowing down or avoiding many of the bumps, but as we were trucking along we hit a series of them. They were spaced just right, so that we hit the second or third bump at about the point that the shocks were compressed from hitting the first bump, so it felt like we didn’t really have shocks at all. Of course, Malley sat up in her kennel on the first bump, only to have it come down and hit her in the head on the next one. This is an adventure, right?
About 2 minutes later, Steve thought to pull over to check on the boys bikes that are on a rock on the back of the car. It’s a good thing we checked, because here is what we found:
Let’s just say that I am sooooo glad, Steve was driving. That way it can be the road’s fault, not mine! It gets better. Drew’s bike as cool-guy trick pegs on it and the peg smashed into the back of the Explorer, leaving a lovely gouge. It took about 1/2 an hour to reset the bikes, so in the meantime, the boys walked the dog along the tree line near the road.
Then we set off again. Without getting into too many details about boys and the woods, I was the only one who needed to find a rest area after our roadside delay. I mentioned this to the driver and he slowed down a few minutes later at the next rest stop – right before he passed it up! I had flashbacks to road trips with my Dad when I was a kid. I once mentioned making a rest stop in Tennessee. We stopped in Cincinnati. Yes, there is an entire state in the middle there. (Kentucky for the geographically challenged.)
Not long later – BAM! We pulled over to check the bikes again. Again, good thing. They were tweaked and we came to the conclusion that we actually broke the bike rack during the first catastrophe. Steve reached for the duct tape and we jerry-rigged a quick fix. Looks like we’ll be buying a new rack in Seattle.
It’s not a move, it’s an adventure.
Tune in later, for day 2 part 2. I hope to get this done before we get onto the ferry. If not, it will most likely be Friday before you hear from us again.
