Thursday July 15, Into Alaska’s large interior: This was day 2 on the Alcan, or Alaska Highway. It’s 1,390 miles long and was built in just 8 months in 1942 in response to Japan’s expansionism. Alcan is short for “Alaska – Canada Military Highway”. These days, it’s mostly inhabited by pick-up trucks and RV’s and we were beginning to see the same folks over and over again, as we all made our way in the same direction on the only road around.
The last 2 nights had been disconcertingly bright, despite the almost continuous rain. The sun sets around 10:30 or 11 PM, but then it stays dusk all night long. Our body clocks were confused, no longer able to rely on the cues of light and darkness to tell us when to go to sleep and when to get up. We don’t wear watches, and time became a guesstimate. A summer day in Alaska is more like 2 days at home. We stay up late and get up whenever we wake. It’s weird.
We pulled into Delta Junction in the late morning (I guess…) and immediately felt a bad shimmy when we accelerated the old Suburban. There were showers and laundry available at an RV park on the edge of town, and we parked there and detached the trailer. John took the Suburban back to town and Don (of Don’s Auto Repair) pretty much immediately diagnosed a broken U Joint. If it had been any more broken, the car would have come to a complete stop. Breaking down is a bummer, but with towns hundreds of miles apart, we were really lucky it happened when it did. We showered and did our laundry and the Suburban was fixed and ready to go within a few hours, thanks to Don. Pete wandered the RV park while we waited and brought back a handful of tiny, very tasty wild strawberries.
I didn't take any pictures - another rainy day!
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