At the end of a long day of driving, May 19, I am still vibrating several hours after we reached our destination, Beaver Creek in the Yukon. This is our last night in Canada. We enter Alaska tomorrow morning—we are only 20 miles from the border. By the way, sunset tonight is at 11:27 pm, sunrise tomorrow, 5:12 am.

The reason I am still shaken is related to the quality of road on the Alaska Highway north of Whitehorse (the capitol of the Yukon and our RV park last night). The northern segments of the Alaska Highway are built on permafrost, that rock, soil, and sediment that normally stays frozen for an extended period of time. Up here, the land surface undergoes freeze, thaw, freeze cycles, causing it to undulate. Any material placed on top of it, such as concrete or blacktop, will heave, subside, and start the process again. The surface of the Alaskan Highway is subject to this cycle.

North of Whitehorse, the situation is severe. The road has buckled, been patched, and drivers are subject to a roller coaster effect in moving along at slower speeds. At the worst, the highway has been reduced to a washboard gravel surface, sometimes requiring a driver (me) to move ahead at 10 mph. The constant loud rattle of our RV and the never-ending vibration have left me shaken. See the photo below. Notice the undulation of the guardrail. Drive that for 70 or so miles and you will be shaken too.

While yesterday was teeth-rattling, the vistas were some of the best we have ever seen. An endless array of snow-covered mountains joined with river, lake, and wildlife sidebars to give us a full day of ooo and ah moments. Perhaps the best part of a trip like this is not knowing what’s next just around the bend. We are always looking for wildlife, the signs tell us to be careful, and sure enough, often enough, a moose, buffalo, caribou, porcupine, or a bear appear. We slow down, maybe stop, snap some pictures and move on to the next one. It goes on forever in this vast land called Canada and then Alaska.

Our first stop in Alaska was in Tok, marking our furthest travel north, 63°33’ 20”, not far from the Arctic Circle at 66°33’51”. It’s the furthest travel north for either one of us, even further than during our visits to Finland. We also crossed into an earlier time zone, we are now three hours earlier than Omaha. Sunrises and sunsets are really skewed, today (May 20) sunset is at 10:49 pm and sunrise at 4:10 am. What an adjustment. We’ve had to darken our RV (e.g., taped cardboard over the skylights) in order to get any sleep.

May 20 was a gray day for driving. It was overcast for the entire day, it rained much of the way, and the mountain views were often impeded by low handing clouds. We tend to admire most pictures taken of snowy mountain peaks on clear days, thinking that cloudy days present lost opportunities for the best photos. I do not agree. Pictures of mountains, lakes, rivers, valleys, and such in their “natural” state simply represent another way of viewing what is out there. Take a look at the pictures that follow.