Haul Road Heros, Part 1

This week our family drove from Homer Alaska  to Deadhorse Alaska (otherwise known as Prudhoe Bay).  What kind of trip is this?  Well, think of it this way:  the drive from Roseville, California to the White House at 1600 Pensilvania Avenue Washington, DC is 2716 miles.  This week, our family drove from Homer to Deadhorseand back and put another 2400 miles on our rig. 

We did this without any video technology.  We did this without DS gaming technology.    We did something that many families have stopped doing because of modern technology, we listened to music and audiobooks.  We had a couple rules.  One was that if you asked when we were going to get there you got to do a page of homework.  If you did something to your seatmate that required them to shout, "Stop It!" you each receive two pages of homework.  A lot of homework was done on the first day.  Remarkably, this stopped and there was only scolding from the father once or twice a day.

With that scolding going in it was just like an old fashioned family road trip! 

We didn't make them only sit in the truck.  We stopped at the Reindeer farm so they could feed and pet reindeer, moose, and buffalo.

Back in the car they discovered  new favorite song, "Boogie Wonderland!" 

We stopped in Talkeetna for a walk around and a lunch.  We were going to buy this famous burger but for 38 dollars, it seemed a bit much.  We enjoyed other food instead and enjoyed Talkeetna and it's big tourist oriented downtown area. 

After Talkeetna we tried to camp at Denali where we were going to see about a bus ride the next day.  It was raining and miserable and all the camping spaces were taken up.  We realized we needed to keep going. 

It wasn't until Healy that we were able to find a tent spot.  It was a hole of a place but, it did the trick.  Falcom made dinner for us at 9pm.  Ramen and hard boiled eggs.  It tasted fantastic.

The next morning, after a quick stop in Fairbanks, we were off to the Dalton Highway.  I sat in the back with Falcom.  It poured down rain the entire way to the Yukon river.  (See Truck in above picture).  I slept the entire way to the Yukon River.  I am surprised no one snapped a picture of me mouth open, drooling.  When I woke up I heard Marina asking Vince, "Will we be able to catch frogs?"  Vince said, "No.  There are no frogs this far north."

Guess what they caught before I could even get out of the truck at the Yukon River Bridge? 

After leaving the Yukon River the next major stop we made was at Finger Rocks.  There we found and interpretive 'trail' and fantastic rock formations.  Vince and I were investigating the geology of the area and Marina and Falcom ran down to the flats to check out stuff.  "Mom! Dad!  We found blueberries!"  Marina was in heaven.  She and Falcom were picking and picking.  I went over and walked down to join them.  Vince stood on a slab over looking us and said, "Hey, Alana, does that rock look strange to you?"  Sure enough, when he shouted down to us the 'rock' moved it's head and revealed itself as a very blond grizzly bear.  One hundred yards away was too close for our comfort, especially with a  creature unfamiliar with humans.  "Kids, get up here!"  We started walking quickly back up the slab and the bear took to its rear legs to get a better look at what must have seemed like a much better meal than ground squirrel and berries!  We resumed walking, but more slowly.  When we reached Vince and his waving arms the bear had decided to retreat behind the rocks in the background of the above picture. 

Vince was thinking after we left the Yukon River that we should just bag this whole trip.  Rain in the tundra is just no fun.  Especially when we set up our tents at the Arctic circle in the puking rain.  What is puking rain?  Torrential, monsoon, get out the tarps and string them to tiny trees puking rain.  It was sheer misery. When the rain would let up, the mosquitoes would start swarming.  It was miserable.  

I decided we should press on and see what was going to happen and so we did.  I am so glad we pressed on! Once we were past the Arctic Circle the sun came out and we were able to do what so few people on this Earth get to do:  experience the far north!

Here we are checking out the Dall Sheep in Atugin Pass.

We stopped at the Koyokuk River for a rest. How cold could the water honestly be? These two spent plenty of time swimming!

At the point on the highway undergoing major construction, a herd of sheep were resting on the mountainside. Sorry, no rams!  

That night we camped in Happy Valley.  This area is trying to become known for fossil hunting, but it will be hard to change that reputation from "place to go to catch a flight to go hunting." for the Princess Tours buses. We gave it a shot, found some things.  Marina got to make the Hobo Stew she learned to make at Girl Scout Camp for us.  It was delicious!

The kids were loving having a fire.  They were playing some fire, witch, hair salon game with singed tundra grass.  They could have sat by that fire for days without being bored.  I had a chance to sit by the river and drink coffee and meditate looking out at the tundra.  It was amazing!

More amazing than that...in fact a bucket list event completed...on our final drive into Deadhorse we came across a herd of 17 Musk Ox!  I do not have the ability to show you a picture of this as Vince took the camera to Soldotna to show his friends.  We were about 100 yards down wind from them and we spent over an hour watching them fight, eat, sleep, attempt to mate.  It was....well... amazing.  They were beautiful.  Their fur hung long and in the breeze, it looked like a skirt swaying around their legs.

That night we arrived in Deadhorse, or Prudhoe Bay. Miles and miles of unobstructed beauty and then pop!  we landed right in the middle of a major industrial complex.  Our friend Stefan greeted us warmly and filled us in on the ins and outs of life as a slope worker.  This is a grey world of utilitarian buildings, big trucks, and Fox News on the flat screen TVs that are in every room of the place.  The only exception to this is one new hotel that is a yellow fancy place comparatively speaking.  We met our friend Lori there for a minute and they were playing CNN news. I mentioned to Stefan that no one even hardly made eye contact with me or the kids and he said, "Honey, these guys can't fathom you because you are completely out of context to them.  A woman and two kids up here do not belong!" and I realized he was right, we may have well as have been maritains.

After a good night sleep we said good-bye to Stefan and prepared for a leisurely trip back to the land of cell phone service.  But fate had other ideas! 

...to be continued