Alaska via Land, Part 3, Day 4

When we arrived at our destination at the end of day 3, it was at an old skydiving friend of Monique's north of Whitehorse.  He laid out the welcome mat for us, road sign and all!  Fabulous bacon wrapped steak dinner, mmmmm.  The awesome part is that he had sled dogs.  However, I had panthers so a restful night was not had by none.  Monique was a trooper of positive bubbles the next day.  I was a bit tired and all of my positive bubbles had popped.  I did get some puppy pictures though.

This is an aging alpha...he looked part wolf to me, but was a huge gentle soul.

This pretty girl I think belongs to the neighbours...but the call of the pack was too strong so they just agreed she could move in

Another aging boy, but very sweet (the panthers did not care though, they were not going to sleep a wink just in case)

 And so we set out for Alaska.  Today was to be border crossing day...it would be 1100 km to Anchorage and I was road weary and determined to make it if we could.  If not, there was always Tok at the 8 hour mark, but I had not seen any pet friendly hotels advertised in the MilePost so had not been sure if we would stop there or not.  Our Whitehorse host Brian suggested that it would be a reasonable stopping place, and found a few places that were pet friendly in the town.  I was too tired to concede to reason, and ready to just drive straight through.

 

A very despondent, non-eating non-sleeping Aiden was not happy as we set out

 The MilePost was pretty accurate on where things would be on the road for caribou and bison.  It also said to watch for wild horses at one point, and we really didn't believe we would find wild horses on the road.  But....there they were, right where they were expected to be!  There were only 4, but they were neat looking horses.

 

 

 

We topped up with gas at our first stop of the day, Haines Junction, Yukon.  When filling, I let out a loud four letter word when I saw the left rear tire was shockingly low of air.  The digital read out on the tire pressure sensor last night said front left tire.  I gave that tire a good kick in the am before starting out and it looked fine.  I neglected to do a whole walk around, and here we were, exhausted, with 2 cats on hunger strike, in the middle of no where with an almost flat tire.  That gas station didn't have air, but it referred us to a service station that did.  They topped us up with air, but could not repair tires, so referred us down the road, which was closed.  We debated the options, and settled on hope.  We were hoping it was a slow leak.  Or maybe a bump, there had been a few of those along the ways.  We would top up with air and hope it would be ok, and check it at next stop. 

 

And so we headed on to the next stop, Destruction Bay.  We stopped to check our tires, and had lost a little air, but not very much.  There was a local tire guy, but he was off at lunch, so we headed down the road to Beaver Creek.  It dawned on me that in all the emergency supplies, one of those little cans of emergency tire sealant was notably absent.

 

Next stop, Beaver Creek.  Despite the stress, the scenery was certainly beautiful.  And the road was certainly bumpy -- although clear, this was the road that is most in need of repair on the whole journey.

 

A quick stop at Beaver Creek led to the discovery that the tire was now audibly leaking, and bubbles could be seen coming out of the slushy mess on the tires.  We also determined that there was neither tire repair no an air compressor in town, and so made haste for the road again.  Next stop...US Border at Port Alcan, to import 2 protesting cats and one 3 tired car.  We could only hope the border process was speedy as the air steadily left the tire.  Fortunately, it was, and gosh darn it, the border guards were super friendly as well. They didn't even traumatize the panthers, and from inside the office they couldn't hear the hissing of my soon to be imported car tire.  They even said "Welcome home."  The next town, Tok Alaska was only 90 miles away.  The tire had determined what I was not willing to accept all day, that we would be staying over and spending one more day on the road.

Stressful day, gorgeous scenery

We did have to stop for the first Alaska moose, who seemed to be saying "hey, I can hear your tire leaking..."



what better place to have a steadily leaking tire?

And so we limped into Tok, Alaska on 3.25 tires, the last of the hope, and some surprise optimism from Monique who was certain the yellow sky had a rosy glow.  Positive bubbles!  (Or moderate colour blindness, could go either way).  First stop, gas station, which had a service station that was now closed til the following morning.  They did have a bottle of tire sealant called "slime," and a little pleading from the cashier got me a cell phone number to be used only if Willard's down the road was closed.  We headed back down the road to Willard's, which was locked up but still had a person inside.  I asked if he might be able to fix my tire, and he stared at me long and hard beneath his toque for a moment before kindly explaining they were closed and he was the last guy there finishing another job.  But he did call the final station in town and ask if they could help, and to my relief, Northern Energy said to send us over.  I think I have mentioned before that Alaskans seem to be really friendly.  Northern Energy exceeded that -- in addition to free coffee, they also give out free tootsie pops to the customers.  While one man put my car up on a jack and dealt with the tire, another chatted to us and offered friendly information and advice.  When we asked about dining recommendations, he smiled and said "well, there's Fast Eddie's, and then there's Fast Eddie's,"  Fast Eddie's it would be for our first non-drive through restaurant stop of the journey.  After about 30 minutes, the tire was fixed and we were ready to go.  I was a little nervous as I asked about the price, being a tourist and it being late.  "Well, if I could have patched it, it would have been $22.  But I couldn't patch it."  "Okay," I said, waiting for the other shoe to drop.  "So I put a plug in it.  That will be $9."  Wow.  We said it wasn't enough, and tried to pay more, or leave extra, and he handed it back and said "Give it to some kid who needs it."  I promised to pay it forward, and counted him as a blessing.  That man has some serious good karma coming his way.

 

The next stop was to find shelter for the night.  And so we headed to one of the places Brian found online that morning, a little place called "Caribou Cabins."  At $119 a night and pet friendly,
I wasn't sure if we could possibly find these seemingly beautiful little log cabins at Tok, AK.  At some point you just think you have used up all the good luck you can rely on in a day.  But, in the twilight, there they were, the Caribou Cabins.

They were awesome.  I would like to go back to Tok and just hole up in there as a retreat some day.  The cabin had a queen bed on the main floor, and a single and a pull out sofa in the loft upstairs.  There was a Jacuzzi tub, a little table, wifi, and a shower in the bathroom.  The quilts appeared to be home made log-cabin style bear and moose decorated, and the front office had a snowman and a continental breakfast for the morning.  If you are driving this road, plan your stop around Caribou Cabins and Tok.  Spend a day, it's a friendly little town!

Once we were settled, it was off to Fast Eddies, where we both opted for the Alaskan Halibut Fish Sticks.  They were delicious, but I saved 1/3 just in case the panthers would try a bite.  More luck, the panthers devoured that fish stick and perked right up.  There was a bit of a draft coming into the bathroom where the panthers were to bunk for the night, so I pulled out the emergency "Mr. Heater Portable Buddy" and made the panthers cosy and warm in no time.

The worst was over.  I couldn't help but think that little angel on my shoulder had a lot to do with it -- thanks Jaycena, for looking out for me on what shoulda been your 22nd birthday.