June 23rd, 2012: From Chicken to Tok
It seemed like every section of the road was the same. First
would be a steep descent, marked with a sign of a truck using lower gear sign, followed
by a bad frost heave or a wavy section of gravel that threatened to bounce the
whole rig into the air. Finally, this was followed by a long and steep uphill
climb. These all forced me to shift constantly to low and making the engine and
transmission heat up.
It was much harder on my rig then the Top of the World
Highway, and this was supposed to be the good part of the Taylor Highway? Once
we bounced so hard that we had things rain down from our pantry and our back
high storage, and that rarely happens.
Meanwhile, as I was silently hating the drive, Renita would be
taking image after image of the beauty. About halfway to Tok we first noticed
the Alaskan Range to the west, and could it be Denali? The mountains were so
high and so covered with snow that they seemed like clouds, but that’s what
really tall mountains do.
As if to celebrate the vision, the road eased and the drive
took less of a toll on me as I was able to relax and actually enjoy the view.
We stopped at quite a few of the turnouts and glassed for animals and birds.
Once we stopped when we saw a falcon hunting and another vehicle stopped wondering
what we were looking at. They left when they didn’t see a moose or a bear,
after all it was just a bird.
Its underside was really white with black tipped wings and
we couldn’t see any of the markings of a peregrin. Prairie Falcons aren’t found
here and so that left one bird, a gyrfalcon. It was the last falcon to make
our life bird list and now we have seen all the falcons found in North America.
As I sit here typing my mind is forgetting the rough road
and instead remembering the mountains and the gyrfalcon. Either one would have
made the drive worthwhile. We reached Tok after a three hour drive that was
only seventy miles, but we reached it safely. It was a good day. Clear skies
Gary says the roads are how Sarah Palin balanced the budget - "if we keep the people in their homes, we dont have to do any infastructure work". The pictures are gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat posts. Good to hear from you. It looks like you are having a great time. Can't wait to read more.
ReplyDeleteSafe travels!!!!!!