Day 1: Anchorage, AK - Tok, AK
Miles Traveled: 326
Travel Time: 7 hours 45 minutes
Animals Spotted: Bald eagle, a rabbit and a dogsled team pulling a sled.
Longest we went without seeing another vehicle: 50 minutes
High temp: 30
Low Temp: -9
Follow this link to see today's gallery. http://gallery.me.com/bmulock/100069
Barry's Update: We left Anchorage today just before noon. After an hour on the road we stopped in Palmer, AK to get some food, fill up the fuel tank, and make some adjustments to the trailer (For those who care about things technical, I flipped the hitch receiver so that the trailer tongue was lowered by about 5 inches, which improved the braking dynamics significantly.) By design, our first day will be the shortest day we have, first because we wanted to settle into traveling and work out any bugs, and second because we knew it would be difficult to leave Anchorage before noon. The drive out of Anchorage is spectacular. After passing through Palmer we took Highway 1 which follows the Matanuska River through the Chugach mountains, and stopped to look at the Matanuska glacier. We had a few steep grades, but the X handled them well. We crested the Eureka summit (3,322 ft) which is where we broke down in the van this summer. It felt great to pass this spot without incident. There are a few photos in the gallery (follow the link listed above) of the plowing guides located along the shoulder of this stretch of road which will give you an idea of how much it snows up there. Thankfully, we had an overcast day with no snow. The sun set soon after passing Eureka, and it was completely dark by the time we reached Glennallen. The remainder of today's leg was completed in the dark, which is unfortunate because we knew we were driving past some amazing scenery. Other than hitting some pretty hairy frost heaves, the rest of the trip was uneventful (see stat above about seeing other cars). The kids did great, and Wicket seems to be comfortable on his little perch. We are staying at the Snowshoe Motel in Tok tonight and head off for Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada tomorrow.
Micah's Update: Today's trip was a little long, but we got through it. I thought I would play my DS the whole time, but got hooked on all the scenery. I was glad I could look at the mountains for a while because the sun was gone in a few hours. We started a movie after the sun was was down, and about 2 and a half hours later we were in Tok.
Blake's Update: Today we went from Anchorage, AK to Tok, the dog capital of the world. 326 miles! It took us about 7 hours and 45 minutes. About halfway through I got a headache. We stopped in Palmer for about an hour to get food and gas. On the way we saw some awesome mountain ranges and by the time we got to Tok, I was really tired.
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