At last ~ Day 5 ~ Made it back to the USA

What a journey, Getting to Dawson City was a huge milestone for us.  Not much farther now and we hit the border.  We were looking forward to being back in the USA.  Not really sure why? Just being in the US gave us a sense of security, mobile use, and sense of home.  We had came a long way.  There were some points along our journey that we felt kinda alone.  I can recall at one point not seeing another car, gas station, house or person for about 4 hours.  We kinda got a little frightened at what might happen if we broke down, ran out of gas or had a flat.  Good thing we prepared and brought an extra 2 tires and a full gas can. But if the car quit working we had no cell service and the next town could be several hours away.  I'm glad to say that we made it all this way with no problems! Thank you Lord! (I mean that with all sincerity)

Dawson city is truly the end of the road.  No, I'm not kidding when we hit Dawson City there was no more road to drive on.  To get to the connecting  road we had to take a ferry across this river.  We were amazed and in disbelief that our huge trailer would fit on the ferry, but it did along with a tour bus.  

 

Dawson City is called the Heart of the Klondike. It is a cute little old western looking city.  They were known for a huge gold rush.  In 1904 this area was the largest gold producer in Canada and the fourth largest in the world.  They used the Yukon river  as transportation of goods and people during this time. .  Between 1896 and 1950 there were more that 250 sternwhellers that filled the river. Still today you can ride a sternwheller up the river.  We saw these big boats landlocked all over the Yukon, they make for great tourist attractions.

While in Dawson we stopped in at this little candy store.  Of course the boys had to blow all their Loonies on candy. But they found a cute little candy experiences.  They each purchased a candy that was called  "Kinder Surprise."  We learned a little history behind this candy.  First let me tell you about the candy.  It is a chocolate egg that is a little larger than our Cadburry egg back in the states.  When you crack the egg open you find a cute little toy surprise.  Kinda like Cracker Jacks but better because this is a chocolate covered toy.  Anyway we came to learn that these candies are banned in the US because congress thought that they were a choking hazard.  Which made us laugh due to the fact that the toy was inside a plastic container which was the size of a bubble gum machine toy container.  A small child would have to have an extra large mouth to even get the thing inside.  One day our government might ban peas due to the fact that that kids are always inserting them into their ears and noses.  My kids wish they would hurry up with that law so they would not have to eat their green pea veggies.  Anyway we had fun with this!

Heston opening his egg.

He got a bunny with big ears that flew in the wind. Fun!

This city reminded me of what Mayberry might have been like.  Even this dog is sitting back and enjoying the quite life.

Cute little cabin here in Dawson.

Here we go waiting on the ferry.

A tour bus boarding. The bus looks bigger than the ferry.

Our turn!

And across the Yukon River we go, hi-ho,hi-ho, hi-ho.

Back to our journey.  We are now on the Top of the World Hwy.  But it did not feel much like being on the top of the world.  We where hitting bumps in the road, going slow over gravel roads, but the views were amazing.  We drove along on this small road that winded up and around mountain peaks.  We could see for miles, this land was tundra for as long as we could see.  We pulled over to look at the vegetation.  Lots of low growing plants.  Someone even pointed out raspberries growing along the ground.

In this picture you can see the road we just came from and see the dust left behind from another car.  This dust causes us big problems when we get to our campsite.  Apparently our trailer is not sealed very well and every thing is covered in an inch of dust. Ok, maybe not an inch but you could write your name in the dust it was so thick.  When we arrived at the campground we had to vacuum everything off.

  

Dirt road on the side of a mountain.

Here you can see the road winding and turning.  We felt like this must be Sarah Palin's road to nowhere.  It sure was long and felt like we were getting nowhere fast.  Maybe her bridge to nowhere would have been a better way to travel. If it had bypassed all these dirt/gravel roads.

I think we hit over 200 miles of dirt/gravel road on this day.  It was a slow go!.  We were so ready to be anywhere but on this road.  At some points we felt like true IRT's(Ice Road Truckers).  Change the ice to dirt and you have a new tv series.  Dirt Road Truckers- that's us!!

We felt like we were so going to fall off the Top of the World. 

We stop at the highest point, the Top of the World. And hike up the mountain to get a better view.

This road leads us to the border. If you look you can see a very small building, that's the border patrol. We are almost back in our own country, which meant for the boys, Wifi.  But to there dismay there is no cell service in Alaska until you hit a city.  They just could not understand why there were not cell towers out here in the middle of no where.  

Our family on the TOP OF THE WORLD. The one and only time we will ever be here.  We are taking the Alaska Hwy home. Maybe it will be better driving.

We made it!! We are in Alaska!  This picture proves it!

We were so hoping  that when we hit the US that they would have better rest stops.  But, nope, still just outhouses.  When you got to go you got to go, even when it's an outhouse.  We found that when you did go you had to go fast.  The mosquitoes loved our untouched soft baby butts.  So we became a pro at going fast!

We were sure that  the US would have better roads than Canada.  But we were disappointed again. These were the dirt roads we were warned about.  As you can see there is no gravel.  Just red dirt. We are so blessed that no rain had fallen lately.

Pot holes!

Mud holes.

We were always on the look out for animals.  Here we spot gold paners.  

We are in the USA!

Very nice roads.  After this our suggestion to people, FLY! Or take the Alaska Marine Hwy.  Do not take this Hwy, I don't even think you can call this a Hwy, in Georgia we call this a DIRT ROAD.

We held our breath! We made it!

The first city we hit in Alaska was a the small town of Chicken.  Seriously the cities name is Chicken.

This is the town mascot, it's a chicken!

Oh, this was real cool. It's called a dredge.  They used it, way back when, to pick up dirt and junk and separate out the gold.  We saw several of these machines along the route.  We also noticed a lot of old road equipment.  It seems that when they built the Alaska Hwy they just left all the equipment right where they finished using it.  It makes for good tourist stops.

We arrive in Tok, Alaska and stay the night at their campground.  We only have one more day until we are there.  

This was defiantly the road less traveled.  Or it might just be the road that leads to nowhere(lets hope not, I think we took the right one).  Either way it is our way to our new home.  With a day full of stressful driving behind us we look forward to the road in-front of us. What ever it might be, we will be in Anchorage AK by the end of our next traveling day.