Alaska 2015 - Day 40 - Valdez - Tok

Day 40 – 6-20-15 Saturday We got everything ready to leave Valdez then I went to the Post Office to see if a package for us had arrived only to find out they don't open on Saturday until 10AM. I did not want to leave that late so we departed and headed toward Tok but not sure where we would decide to stop for the night. I will have to call when we get to Haines and have them forward it there.

The drive back through Thompson's Pass was very beautiful. The climb up to the approximately 2700' feet elevation was kind of slow. It takes a lot of muscle to pull 36,000 pounds up a hill.

After driving for about 3 hours we stopped in Glennallen and was going to fuel up but there were at least a dozen cars, trucks and RVs in line to do the same thing. Glennallen is just a crossroads but it has the only fuel station for many miles so it is a popular place to fuel up. We decided to not wait inline since we had a half tank which was plenty to make it to Tok. We checked out the food wagon that was parked in the parking lot doing a good business. The prices didn't appeal to us so we went to the motor home and fixed our lunch.

After lunch we departed and turned on the Tok Cutoff Road that would take us to Tok, the first and last town going to and leaving from Alaska by vehicle. The first 38 miles was good road, then 10 miles of bad road followed by 12 miles of fresh new pavement but had to wait about 20 minutes for a pilot truck to take us through since they were still working on the road. Then several more miles of fairly bad road. About 50 miles from Tok it began to rain lightly, just enough to wash off the bugs on the windshield and wet down the dust on the road. The first rain we have had in several days. I hope it is raining over in the Willow area where they are fighting a large forest fire that has burned several homes and caused many people to be evacuated. We came through that area on the way from Fairbanks to Homer.

About 16 miles from Tok we decided to stop for the night at Eagle Trail State Recreation Area Campground. It had 35 sites in 4 small loops. No hook ups but that is not a problem. We got pull through site 15 and set up and paid the $18 fee. I cooked my “almost famous” Dutch Oven Ribs for supper. It takes two hours in the Dutch Oven using charcoal for the heat. I was hoping the bears didn't smell it and come to check it out. We have not had much chance to cook outside on this trip. Lena fixed butter beans and sweet potatoes, so we ate good tonight.

While I was cooking the ribs a helicopter landed a few hundred yards behind the campground, stayed for awhile and then took off.

After supper we walked around all the loops in the campground and passed by one campsite where the man forgot to put his clothes on before he came outside and another loop where a man was standing outside his camper “wissing”. Lena wanted to go around again but I thought it was time to go back to our motor home.