A journey to fill my soul

I find myself in the heart of Fairbanks at an RV resort on the Chena River. I’d love to say I’ve loaded up on pictures but the weather has been a bit less than pleasant.

How did I get here

Let me step back and explain how I got here. The drive up from Haines, Alaska was a story in itself. I had beautiful weather when I left Haines, but after passing through several mountain passes I met Mr. Rain. Now, I don’t have a problem with rain, I don’t particularly like to drive in it, but that’s irrelevant. The road conditions from Haines up to Haines Junction and then northwest are pretty good until they aren’t. It’s about 200 miles up to a place called Destruction Bay in the Yukon. At this point you reach an area where the road is a mix of macadam and loose gravel with lots of frost heaves and dangerous holes. I guess destruction bay leads nicely into what the roads can do past this point.

For those that don’t know, macadam is a road constructed from small stone and tar built up in layers. I would suppose with the weather conditions up here it’s an easy way to quickly tear a road down and repave in order to solve the frost heave conditions. In fact, there are two long section that were going through a rebuild of this type.

Back to Destruction Bay. I’ve explained previously that driving in poor road conditions requires an eye 30 feet out, not enjoying the scenery on the side, or what the terrain may be leading to far off in the distance, but FOCUS 30 feet out. I’ve become accustomed to driving through road conditions like this, but when a 2-foot deep frost heave is filled with rain water your day can turn bad real quick. After coming across several vehicles broken from hitting one of these I knew it was time to find a place to stand down for a day or two.

I’ve previously explained that the roads through the Yukon and NW Territories have many places to pull off and camp. With all the continual road work, and I’m sure snow control, many, I’ll call equipment yards, have been created. In fact, the place I found had a very large road grader parked. Perfect place, far off the road away from road noise and mud spray, and very secluded. I decided to spend one night here and start out early the next morning. I’ve learned this trick well, by doing this you put yourself out of sequence from those driving between major night-stops, and not many vehicles have the ability to get into these sites and park while staying somewhat level. Being out of sequence allows you to drive at your speed, slowing or stopping when road conditions dictate without interfering with other drivers.

Early next morning I started out bright and early with my eyes set on reaching the US border and just beyond where I could stop if needed at a previous stop over, Deadman’s Lake Park. Rain was still pouring down making for a real slow drive, it was only about 120 miles to that destination but it took a bit more than 5 hours. Coming on another wreck that was being cared for by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police caused a stop for a period.

Reaching Deadman’s Lake seemed like the perfect place to stop until the weather would finally let up. The weather was cold with a steady downpour, having a warm, safe place to hang out was welcomed. Two days later I woke to a beautiful scene out my back window.

Down time in Fairbanks

That brings me to today. So I’m taking a nice timeout in a place that has fast food, chain grocery stores, and a place to perform some much needed service on my truck. This is the first place in 8-weeks that allowed this kind of stop. I’m also waiting on two loved ones who will spend a couple weeks with me as we tour greater Alaska. My wife and daughter will fly in at week’s end, I’m looking forward to someone listening when I talk…a little humor from traveling alone for two months. I think of the old song, “Hello Walls” by a young Willie Nelson. Besides, I call my daughter the ultimate travel planner. I get some time off from having to plan the days drive, activities, and meals.

What’s coming next?

I don’t want my drive home to be just a drive home. There is waaay to much to see and do on the left coast and I have a few more bucket list items to knock off. To do this I need some serious time to figure out and complete some plans as I drive towards home, not the camper home but my real home. With lots of time to think and dream about what I could possibly see and do with this long drive home I made some crazy plans, but you’ll need to wait and follow along to see how this comes together.

As always, thanks for following along. I hope my travels may encourage others to follow their own dreams, or bucket list items, and reach out to make them happen. Until next time which will probably be 6-7 days out, peace…