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I have driven through this country numerous times in summer, but I am once again awed by the vastness of it and mankind's tiny presence here. |
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US Customs. The female contingent is happy to see a flush toilet. Fairly quickly the convoy is passed into Alaska. |
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"Anchorage 355." We're in Alaska and our town is on the road sign -- we're almost home! We've been keeping "The Milepost," the best guide to the Alcan highway, handy on the dashboard. |
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We cross the Tanana River. At Tok, Ryan and Wille, Catira, and the boys will continue west and north along the Tanana to Fairbanks, while the rest of us turn south. |
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The road is shiny ice just outside Tok, but we go slow and everyone is careful. |
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We cross the Tok River. It's almost time to split up. Even though we've only known each other a little more than a day, there is something about promising to look out for each other in a potentially life-threatening situation that bonds us. |
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We take some group photos before splitting up. Two vehicles will head for Fairbanks. Two cars will overnight in Tok and drive to Anchorage tomorrow. Christina and Tony, Matt and Carrie, and my daughter and I head south on the Slana-Tok cutoff. |
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At Mentasta we learn that we've just missed snow that fell all morning. The highway hasn't been plowed yet, so we drop back from Tony and Christina. They are a whirling cloud of snow ahead of us. |
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I wonder what impression this country is making on my companions who are seeing it for the first time. Did they even realize there was a place on the globe where you could drive seemingly endless miles with no sign of human habitation? |
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As I assemble this web page three months later, we are still in touch with our convoy buddies. Allison and I are planning a surprise shower for Matt and Carrie's baby due this summer. We'll invite Don, Kristina, and Tony, of course. |
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