We have arrived in Alaska!

We finally made it to Palmer today (Tuesday) at roughly 5:00 pm. What an incredible journey of over 2,200 miles from Anacortes!

We actually arrived in Alaska last night at 9:30 pm Alaska Time (by the way, Alaska has its own time zone–Alaska Time–which is one hour behind Pacific Time). We got to the border at Alcan, Alaska, and then drove until midnight or so to finish up the day. It was the longest day of driving that we had during the trip (12 hours and roughly 650 miles).

We actually could not find a spot to dry camp in Tok (pronounced “Toke”) so we decided to hit the road on the Glenn Highway toward Palmer. We made it about an hour and decided to take a risk and set-up the camper at a rest stop at mile marker 95.4. We were in the middle of the wilderness with no cars on the road. Maybe not the best choice but we were tired and ready to call it a night. We cannot remember a time that was quieter in our life. Candy told me this morning that she had lots of dreams last night about various scenarios that required us owning a gun to survive.

Which brings up another thing about Alaska…the sun doesn’t set until very late. Last night we set-up the camper at 12:30 am with sunlight…very surreal!

We got up this morning around 9 am and hit the road for the final section of our journey. The Glenn Highway goes from Tok, AK, to Anchorage and winds alongside the Matanuska River. We had overcast skies and some rain but saw some distinctive places such as the Matanuska Glacier and Glacier Point (also known as Lion’s Head). It was the first rain of the entire trip.

As we think about the trip, a couple of things come to mind. First, we felt like we were in “awestruck overload” the whole way. Do you remember having the View-Master toy with the picture discs when you were growing up? We felt like the whole trip was one big View-Master disc show. We were blown away by the beauty…it never ended. It is a trip that everyone should make at least once…just our opinion.

Next, we thought the road would be more difficult. Yes, it was a two-lane road the entire 1,314 mile stretch. In fact, there was hardly ANYONE on the roads. We were out there alone for most of the journey. Just us and the beauty of this great area!

We heard people say “the road is dangerous” and “your vehicle will take a beating” before we headed out for this entire journey. It was a little shaky at times but the only sections of roadway that were bad were right outside of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, for 15 miles and for 35 miles outside of Burwash Landing, just inside the US Border in the Yukon. It was a pleasant roadway but if you want creature comforts, forget it! The only community that had any chain restaurant was Whitehorse, YT.

Also, I have to say we are just getting over the whole conversion from kilometers to miles. When we got to Alaska we saw a sign that said “Tok- 95.” We honestly had a hard time figuring out if it was kilometers or miles. Tim was a runner so he could figure it out using “10 kilometers equals 6.2 miles…so we have roughly 45 miles to go.” Candy just used the speedometer. Tim is good at making it hard for himself sometimes!

Also, the whole liters thing is ridiculous…we paid a fortune for gas for the trip (roughly $4.50-$5.00 a gallon). Our gas budget may have been blown, unfortunately!

Lastly, we are so happy to be back to the world of cell service (no data service for Verizon…“Can you hear me now…NO”) and Internet access. It was nice to be “unplugged” for the last four days.

We did not see as much in the way of wildlife but did see a coyote and a bald eagle. Chase got his swim fix in Kluane Lake in the Yukon right before we headed into Alaska.

We are really glad to be here and our campground is nice with fast wireless access, a must in our world of computer careers! We know we are so blessed to have this opportunity and our mission is to “be present” during our stay here. There is so much to see and we are going to set out to see as much as we can.

We just went into Wasilla for dinner. It is just a short distance from our campground and is a lovely town with great mountain views. Maybe we will run into someone semi-famous during our time here!

Thanks again for following along. We hope you have enjoyed the footage on the blog and on our Facebook fan page. Go out and enjoy your day…know that we will!