Page 20 Mosher P 5

We made it – our journey to the Arctic Ocean is now past history and we are safe and sound back in civilization!

Our trip North began in Fairbanks on June 25th at 7:00 a.m. We traveled 259 miles to Coldfoot, crossing over the Arctic Circle. We drove on the Dalton Highway following the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. The majority of the road was gravel, mud, rutty and full of holes. Every once in awhile we had a paved road, but that was uneven due to frost damage. The weather was cool, rainy and foggy. A few times we were climbing 12% grades. You can imagine climbing in the conditions we had.

We looked forward to arriving at the only motel in Coldfoot. Well, for $159.00, our room consisted of two twin beds, one single sink and a toilet and shower similar to one found in an RV – and no TV. The meals were buffet style. Good thing we were tired.

The next morning we left at 5:00 a.m. for the next leg (236 miles) to Deadhorse and our tour of Prudhoe Bay. There are no services at all from Coldfoot to Deadhorse. So we left the motel with a sack lunch and lots of gas. Three of us have extra tanks, and the other car had gas cans. Again, the road was very challenging, but beautiful scenery. Most of the traffic was pipeline workers and trucks. We found the trucks to be very courteous to us and slowed down a bit.

Just before we reached Deadhorse, we came across a lot of Caribou along side the road. We reached our destination at 2:00 p.m. Our motel was definitely one of the best around at $239.00 a night. This time we had cable TV and the room and bath were a little larger! Again, eating was buffet style.

We had a great tour of Prudhoe Bay. We had to have a security clearance prior to our tour. We traveled via bus through all the oil set ups and buildings. If we desired, we could do the “Polar Plunge” in the Arctic Ocean with ice still in the water. Richard and Leon went all the way in, and the girls just put their feet in the ocean. Just putting my feet in was freezing!

The guys worked until midnight on one of the cars, and they all made sure the cars were ready for the trip back to Fairbanks. Ron noticed that his tire was low and had to get it fixed in the morning. Apparently, we picked up a nail along the way.

We finally left at 9:00 a.m. after we took lots of pictures. About half-way to Coldfoot, Ron’s Woody was spitting out water. After checking under the hood, we realized we blew a head gasket – 30 minutes later we had it fixed and back on the road. Keep in mind, that there are no services if you get into trouble. Finally we were back at our luxury accommodations at Coldfoot. The next morning, we left at 6:00 a.m. and arrived back in Fairbanks safe and sound at 4:30 p.m.

The first order of business was cleaning our cars! We spent at least $20.00 at the car wash to clean them up, then another $50.00 to get our Woody lubed and oiled. We drove to the North Pole just outside of Fairbanks for the night.

I don’t think that any of us regret our journey up North, but I’m sure that we won’t do it again!!

We met back up with the group that went to Valdez in Tok on Friday. Our next stop will be Dawson City in the Yukon to celebrate their Canada Day on July 1st. Not sure if that includes fireworks or not. We’ll be there for two days, so maybe we can relax for once.

Keep your eyes out for another journal in a few days. I’m never quite sure when we will have cell service or wireless. I’ll try to send this tonight before I retire for the night. It is already 10:45 p.m. Remember it never gets dark, so you can stay up all night.

Carol and Ron