Alaska, The Great White North. Day One.

We're coming up on a year since our trip to Alaska with M and M. 

We spent seventeen days in that vast wilderness and it was a wonderful trip. We started with a week on land, having chosen three separate areas to visit. 

We landed in Fairbanks and spent a few days exploring that area. The first day we were there we booked a tour up to the Arctic Circle. We were picked up at the Wal-Mart, in front of the liquor store. That should have told us something.

The white van was already filled with the other group members so the four of us had to climb all the way to the back of the van. We left about 1pm and were scheduled to get back about 4am the next morning. We were driving up to the Arctic Circle and then would hunt for northern lights on our way back during the early morning hours.

There isn't a whole lot to see on the five hour ride up to the Arctic Circle. We stopped at a "rest area", read "outhouse on the side of the road", and got a chance to stretch our legs. Our tour guide, Jim, was very chatty and gave us lots of history and trivial facts as were driving. He told us the Dalton Highway is the most dangerous road in the country. The Dalton Highway is the dirt road behind M and M in the pic above. It is full of ruts and washboard sections. Riding in the back of the van was a bit bumpy, to say the least.

At one point, M and the Man and I literally came out of our seats when we hit a bump in the road. I think I went up about six inches. I banged my head on the top of the van. Ouch. I didn't think too much of the Dalton Highway.

There are lots of horrific accidents on that road. We saw one tanker truck go flying by and decided speed must be a factor in these accidents.

The tour company provided us with a couple sandwiches, some chips, candy bars and water. We ate our first sandwich a few hours into our ride. We chatted a little bit with our fellow passengers, a couple about our ages from one of the western states and two Indian gentlemen from California visiting Alaska for a few days. Jim kept  up the storytelling throughout the ride. He was a retired schoolteacher that really enjoyed sharing knowledge with us. Perfect for a tour guide!

We kept seeing the Alaskan Pipeline off to the side of the road, running along the side of the road. That is a very long pipeline. 

Lots of pines. 

As far as the eye can see.

Saw a truck at one of the rest stops with lots of extra gas.

There is nothing out there. Nothing.

One town several hundreds of miles away so drivers have to carry lots of fuel with them.

The Alaskan Pipeline.

Must have been quite an endeavor to build that.

The Man, in front of the pipeline, while we were at another rest stop, stretching our legs. There was a short walk down to a river so we all hiked down to see it. 

One of my favorite pictures of the Man and I.
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We continued driving and about a half hour before we were due to arrive at the Arctic Circle, Jim felt something happening with the van. He told us he was going to have to pull over to the side of the road to take a look at it. He thought it was the tire.

It was not the tire.

It was the brakes. Jim took a while looking underneath the rear of the van so the men all piled out to go see what has happening. The man from the western state had some mechanical experience so he knew what he was looking at.

We couldn't stay parked on the side of the road - too dangerous. Jim told us he was going to drive the van to the first spot where he could pull off the road. He was very hesitant to do this since the brake situation was dicey. He was able to find a limited access road for the pipeline to pull off into and that's where we sat for a while.

Jim attempted to call for assistance. No cell service.

Gulp.

We are stuck in the middle of NOWHERE with no cell service.

Jim remembered he had a satellite phone so he tried that. No luck. He decided to walk up the hill a little bit to see if he could find a satellite signal. And figure out how to use the phone. He came back after a bit and said he thought he had left a message on the phone at the tour company but wasn't a hundred percent certain.

Oy vey.

We were all getting a little impatient. We took very short walks to stretch our legs. M and I went off to the "ladies room" together. Neither of us wanted to wander around the scrub brush by ourselves so we stayed within talking distance of each other. There were probably bears out there.

We saw a truck off in the distance, coming our direction so we strongly encouraged Jim to flag down the driver. He was hesitant but we very strongly encouraged him to do it anyway. The driver stopped and Jim explained our situation. The driver said he would get a message through to the tour company when he arrived in Fairbanks but that would take hours and hours. At this point we are about 4.5 hours outside Fairbanks with nothing in between. The driver went on his way and we went back to pacing.

A while later we saw a tour van approaching. They had gone by us when we first pulled over and were on their way back to Fairbanks. We flagged them down to see if they had a working radio to use. They did not. And they didn't have any room to take us with them. They, too, said they would get a message through to the tour company.

By this time it was starting to get dark. It gets dark much later in Alaska than at home at this time of year, probably closer to 10pm. We had been waiting for about four hours. None of us were outside anymore. We were all nestled into the van. We were talking about our lives and what each of us was doing in Alaska. Where we came from. We chatted with the two Indian men for quite a while. The couple from the western state was very friendly and Jim kept up his end of the conversation talking about his ex-wife.

Oy vey.

M and I decided to go to the ladies room one more time before it got pitch black. We walked into the brush, did our business, and started walking back along the dirt road, heading back to the van. Cresting the small incline ahead of us was a large black object.

Bear.

Or at least that's what I thought as I froze in the middle of the road. I heard M gasp next to me and knew she was probably thinking the same thing.

It walked toward us. On two legs.

It was the Man.

Oh, for Pete's sake, I said. You shouldn't be walking around out here dressed in black, looking like a bear, scaring two women half to death.
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We all settled back into the van and waited for help to arrive. Most of us fell asleep until a rescue van finally pulled up, about 12:30am. We were all so happy to see him, totally ready to see civilization again.

When we all got transferred to the new van, much more spacious than the first one, the driver asked if we wanted to continue to the Arctic Circle. Yes! we all said resoundingly. We had come so far and didn't want to quit just a few miles away. So we went to the Arctic Circle, got out and took some pictures and headed back to Fairbanks. We stopped several times, looking for Northern Lights, but we never got to see any. We finally arrived back in Fairbanks about 6am and headed back to our airBNB for some well-earned sleep.

End of day one.