Tok to Fairbanks

We awoke to rain! So much for a clean car. We are also on Alaska daylight time which is one hour earlier than Pacific daylight time. The reason I tell you that is because our atomic alarm clock doesn't know that. It went off at 5 AM and we got up thinking it was 6 AM. Fifteen minutes later we realized what had happened and went back to bed for another hour.

Shortly after we got on the road we watched a mother moose and her calf cross the highway! And not 100 yards later we saw a huge, beautiful porcupine on the shoulder. We actually saw 3 more moose as we drove towards Fairbanks this morning. Our first stop after Tok was at Delta Junction which is the end of the Alaskan Highway. We can say we drove the whole thing.

We toured Rika's Roadhouse which was built at the turn of the century and was a major trading post and Tanana River crossing until the Richardson Highway and bridge was completed. It rendered the ferry and roadhouse obsolete so it was closed shortly after that. At lunch, we stopped near the Tanana River Bridge where the Alaskan Pipeline also crosses the river. The rain moved out of the area and we could see the Alaskan Range Mountains. Some peaks are 12,000 - 13,000 feet tall.

The day has warmed up to a point that we actually got to put on shorts this afternoon. One more day of rain tomorrow and then it should start clearing up around here, we hope.