About 80 miles into our journey, we came to some road work. One of the workers came to the car and told us that the bridge at mile 13 was partially washed away and they were letting some cars through. We had two choices; turn around now, go back to Tok then head to Delta junction, which was about a 350 mile detour. Or, drive to mile 13 and take our chances that they'll let us through. If they don't then we have to opt with plan A. We drove on. During our drive to the bridge we were both worried that it will be closed and we would have to turn around. Several dump and construction trucks passed us going the other way, was that a good sign?

As we drove along, I noticed something in the road, and told Ken to slow down. From a distance it looked like a moose, so we thought. Nope, too small, a deer? Too big. Then another one appeared on the road, and a third, then a fourth. As we drove closer we realized that the animals trying to get to the other side of the road were caribou. We sat, waited, and took a lot of pictures. Ken figured about 60 or so crossed the road. How neat that was, to be so close to wild animals. Hopefully that's as close as I will get.

We finally reached the bridge that was in question, stopped and one of the road workers came up to us. "Stay as far right to the orange cones as possible and drive real slow." Hu? Cool, we can go though. We inched along as far right as we could, thinking the whole time, "this is it. The bridge is going to collapse, we're going to die." Well it didn't. The part of the bridge that met its demise was about 3 feet wide and 3/4 a lane long.

Well that was exciting. The rest of journey was pretty much uneventful. We arrived to ft Richardson and checked into our room. We couldn't stay on Elmendorf because their TLF doesn't accept pets.

Well, that's it. The end our our big trip to Anchorage. We've been here for about a week now and Anchorage is a very wonderful city and Alaska is a very beautiful state. Four years is going to go by way too quick.

The Canadian boarder was about 35 miles from Haines. We drove up to customs and the custom agent greeted us and began her list of questions. "Do you have any firearms?" "No." "Do you have any hand guns?", "No.", "Do you have any shot guns, explosives, revolvers, pistols, rifles?", "No.", "Ok, well come to Canada." And like that, we were on our way through British Columbia.

The drive through BC and the Yukon were just amazing! I'm not going to explain, I can't, you're just going to have to look at the pictures below.

After several hours of driving and occasionally stopping for pictures, we finally arrived at Tok, Alaska. We stayed at the Burnt Paw, it was pretty neat. We stayed in a cabin with a sod roof. The kitties, unfortunately, could not stay in the cabin with us, so they hung out in the car.

Since tourist season doesn't start for another two weeks, pretty much everything was closed. Tok was literally a ghost town. The only things open were the local restaurant and grocery store. One friend of ours described Tok as a wide spot on the highway. Yep, he was right.

During our journey to Tok we saw some wild life; a wolf, a few ground squirrels, and a large beaver/porcupine looking thing. We had no idea what it was. Ken thinks it was a marmot and I say it was a porcupine. What do you think?

Next Day

Ken and I are now enjoying a cold local brew on the deck of our motel room. Tomorrow we take off for Tok, Alaska, Hopefully someone out there will have high-speed wireless as well.

Next Day

We landed at Ketchikan about 0750 and our first plan of action was to find breakfast. Since the official tourist season didn't start for about two weeks EVERYTHING was closed. We did manage to find a small cafe that seemed to be the favorite local spot. Maybe because it was the only thing opened. After a very decent meal we wandered over to Creek Street, a typical tourist trap that used to be home to about 30 brothels in its hay day. Prostitution was finally banned in 1954. One of the more famous brothels was Dolly's. Their slogan was "The salmon and the men come here to spawn".

After spending a few hours in Ketchikan, we made or way to the bar on board the ferry. The room we did want to hang out in and do our computing was over run by high school kids returning from a music festival in Ketchikan. One of the kids had blue hair. We wound up spending a few hours chatting with a local Petersburg gal about life in Alaska. She hates Anchorage because of its high crime rate. Did I mention that she's from a town of about 3,200 people? She's been hunting since she was a baby and her dad used to be a logger. I don't think PETA would like hanging out with her. She definitely gave me and Ken a bit of insight to how life is with out Wal-Mart and Starbucks since her town banned franchises. We have a lot to learn about Alaska and Alaskans.

After a few hours and beers we ate dinner, then docked in the booming metropolis of Wrangell; population 1,200, give or take. The whole ferry of 179 people disembarked and reeked havoc amongst the locals. The guy who ran the ice cream shop was overwhelmed. The view from this little coastal island community was magnificent. Ken and I walked down to the petroglyph beach, what a neat little beach. Stone engravings that were about 3,000-10,000 years old.

We only had 2 hours to spend in this place, so we grabbed some ice cream and went back to check on Max and Sophie. They were still annoyed. Tomorrow brings Haines, our final destination before we drive onward to Anchorage.

I couldn't pass this up. Ken and I are in the bar right now having a beer, reading. A table across from us is doing a group singing thing. I can't tell what they're singing, cause one of them, actually all of them, are drunk. Ken says they were singing Aretha Franklin's Respect, ok. One guy is playing his guitar, actually he's pretty good, and this chick is accompanying him, poorly on the piano. I don't know why, but I think Ben and Nikki would totally hang with these guys.

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During one of our many strolls in and around the ferry, we noticed several people who decided to take up residence on the top most part of the ferry called the solarium. These adventurous souls have pitched their tents in the hopes to save a little cash. It gets kind of cold and windy up there, especially at night. So what do they do to keep their tents from blowing away? Duct tape.

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There was a neat running dirt trail that snaked its way in and around the woods, houses, factories and went down by the bay. I ran about 3 miles and Ken ran a little less. He had to stop for a potty break and I kept going. We inadvertently got separated and wound up running in different directions. Despite the slight mix up, we both had an awesome run. After our run, we went down to the hotel lobby where they had a nice small continental breakfast set up. We then meandered back to our room, packed our things, and packed the cats back into their cage.

Let me take a brief moment to describe the Cage. The Cage, or Cat Condo, is a medium size dog cage, with added features. Thanks to the awesome building talents of Ben, and with the assistance of Ken, they erected a second level to this Cat Condo. It's carpeted, for their comfort and has a hole so they can, at their leisure, hop from the first to second floor. The first level has a small litter box, food and water, and the second level is where they relax. Trying to move this monstrosity is a challenge. It by itself must weigh about 30 pounds. Add two, 11-pound squirming objects and you have party! So, did I mention that our room was on the second floor? Good thing this place had an elevator, unlike the crack house we stayed in the night before. Yes, our room in that place was on the second floor too.

Ok, where was I? Run...Breakfast...Cats.

Ok, we managed to get the Xterra packed up. When it comes to packing cars, Ken wins hands down. That boy can fit every stitch of luggage of a whole deploying squadron into a Mini and still manage to drive it. I don't know how he does it.

We drove down to Fairhaven for some lunch. Fairhaven is a neat little area of Bellingham. It's the usual little town with quaint stores, bookshops, and cafes. We had lunch at one of those cafes called The Colophon Cafe. It's decorated with a cow theme. I thought I got rid of the cows when I left Beale. Ken had clam chowder and salad, and I had a quiche and salad. For desert we shared a strawberry and rhubarb pie, yumm-o!

1500 hrs, or 3 pm for you non-military types, rolled around and we drove in line to board the ferry. Two hours later, we finally were able to drive up the gang plank and onto the ferry. During our travels to this point, Max and Sophie were relatively calm. Except when we open their cage in a hotel room, then they make a mad dash under the bed. But this time, they were down right freaked out! Max tried his hardest to bury himself has far back as he could in the back of the cage. Sophie, who seems to be a bit more braver about it, her ears erect and forward, and her eyes couldn't get any wider if you propped them open yourself. I felt so bad for them. Luckily the ferry allows everyone to visit their cars 3 times a day, 4 times for pet owners. Visiting those two doesn't seem to help, they just want to be left alone.

After we dumped our belongings off in our 4-berth cabin (4 beds, actually two bunk beds), we explored the ferry. It's laid out like a normal ferry with basic comforts. A place to watch movies, a game room, cafeteria,  a bar, and several lounges. That's were I am right now typing this. Ken got a bit sea sick, so he's off somewhere resting. The ferry finally got under way about an hour later. Because of the requirements of the Dept of Homeland Security, we had our own Coast Guard escort, two of them! They pretty much just followed along side us until we reached open waters.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and exploring. We had a drink at the bar, we ate dinner in the cafeteria, checked on the cats and finished the lovely evening off by watching Kill Bill Vol 2.

Next Day

Next Day

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