Tuesday 8/21
This afternoon we left the River’s Edge RV Park to head north on the Dalton Highway, which runs from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. Check out time was 11:00 AM, but we didn’t actually hit the road until about 4:30.
It was a morning of the mundane. I changed the oil on the Admiral and the generator. Nancy worked on line. We had errands to run and gas to buy—it unfortunately takes a l—o—n—g time to fill up the RV.
Today we were hoping to get 100 miles or so north of Fairbanks with the ultimate goal of getting over the Brooks Mountain Range (150 miles or so short of Prudhoe). Instead, after 40 miles or so of crappy road and boring scenery we looked at each other and said, “Why?”
A very short discussion led to the conclusion that we’d rather spend more time in BC and possibly do another float trip or two. So, we turned the Admiral 180°, drove back through Fairbanks, and headed south.
At our turn-around point, we’ve driven the Admiral 4,575 miles. The journey north and the many side trips have been unbelievably cool. But, even though we’ve reached the apogee of the trip and are heading back, there are lots of exciting things in front of us including Haines, Skagway, and Hyder—all of which hold great promise.
On the way back we spend our first quality time with the pipeline. In the lower 48, depending on your political persuasion, the pipeline was either an oil company boondoggle & environmental travesty, or a sensible way to access natural resources. Here I think it’s mostly viewed very positively. To some extent they depend on the pipeline for jobs and revenue, but I think they’re mostly proud that it’s an engineering and construction marvel that works. It’s survived serious earthquakes and had little or no impact on the environment. Among the many things we learn is that they use “pigs” to clean the pipeline. The “pigs” like big bullets that are inserted into the pipeline and carried downstream by the oil. On the way, they scrub the interior walls so that the oil flows more smoothly. “Pigs” are also used to monitor conditions in the pipeline and look for defects and leaks. We think they’re neat, so we take a picture of Mom’s pig with its big brother.
Tonight we’re south of Fairbanks overlooking the Tanana River. On the way down we had views of the snow covered peaks of the Alaska Range, but tonight we have views of nothing except the pouring rain.
