August 23rd

We left Valdez this morning and got to Tok late this afternoon.  It was still raining when we left and we had rain the whole way here, which  was about 250 miles.  You really can't see much of the scenery, so it's kind of disappointing.  We did have a moose and her calf cross the road in front of us, we saw it in time to get slowed down.  Also saw a few swans, but couldn't get stopped to get a pic.

Buck fished again yesterday and caught several more salmon.  Our freezer is full!! He sure had fun catching them, he said they really fought. 

We are leaving here in the morning heading to Skagway.  It's 500 miles and we have to drive thru Canada for a lot of the way and then cross back into Alaska.  

August 24

We left Tok this morning and found a campsite in a provincial park for tonight.  It's right on a a big lake.

The campground is closed to tents because of Grizzlies in the park.  So hoping we see some.

We crossed into the Yukon, Canada this morning and will drive in Canada until we get almost to Skagway back in Alaska.  No other way to get there without going through Canada .  The highway was terrible today.  There were lots of frost heaves and big pot holes, it has been raining and I think that it made it worse. Lots of places with just gravel.  I don't remember it being so bad on the the way up.

But when we got into the RV after stopping, we had a mess.  Things had tipped over, the drawer under the couch was broken.   The clothes in the closet were laying on the floor.  We never have had anything like happen before.  

I was just reading that much of the soil along the north Alaska highway is of glacial origin and unsuitable for road embankments. "Anything that causes the permafrost to melt will cause the ice-rich soil to liquefy, and liquid soil has little strength and will settle or subside.  Then when this soil refreezes, it will expend or heave". This process wreaks havoc on the drivability of the road surface by creating undulations and cracking.  And that's the road we were driving on.  And that is your lesson for today!!