Monday 14th April, Sutton, Alaska, Last installment (?)

So. We've been here 48 hours. Most of the boxes are unpacked. The new house looks a bit like a home. The phone service (and DSL) has been ordered; meanwhile site wireless is reaching the house so I can blog. Overnight, it snowed a couple of inches, but the temperature rose to freezing point by mid-day today, and remains there, or just above, right now.

In total, we covered 3308 miles. We drove from dawn to dusk most days. I haven't added up how many hours that is, but it's a lot. By Saturday evening, even though we had stopped moving, I still felt like I was moving gently up and down - not unlike after you've been on a boat for a while. At least it was only the first night that I dreamt of being on a kind of roller-coaster where the world kept flashing before you, and you had to keep the thing on its tracks!



I guess the whole business of travelling long distances for new work/new life is deep in the American psyche. Especially heading West, pioneer style. I still can't quite imagine how people did that, centuries ago. The remarkable thing about the Alaska highway, perhaps, is that it was built only 60 years ago. The communities along the road are only that old (or younger). People don't live out there because their families always have; for the most part, they have chosen to live on that road, where your nearest neighbour could be an hour or two's drive away; your nearest doctor, many hours away; and where snow can make the road, well, tricky, for at least half of the year (though we were assured that it "never shuts"). Isn't the breadth of human existence and aspiration fascinating?!

I'm full of awe for the engineering work of the highway: surveying the route, choosing a line; constructing the road; maintaining it in the face of serious adverse conditions. Sure, it's imperfect - it felt like some of those bumps were bound to detach the trailer from the car - but essentially, it's a real feat, a mighty achievement. I'm also mindboggled by the photos of people making the trip in the 1940s and 1950s, when the road was much more narrow and bumpy than it is today, and when vehicle construction (reliability, and suspension systems) was much poorer. We had an easy run, by any estimation.

Here at the camp, they say it's a miracle that we passed the trip with no mechanical problems, and not even a flat tyre, nor any hassles at customs. Apparently, such a delay-free trip is almost unheard-of. Well, we're grateful for what we found. It would have been nice to see some more wildlife - though faced with a choice of perhaps hitting a large creature, or not seeing any, I suppose I would choose the latter. The bison were an incredible sight, nonetheless.

I looked this morning at the number of "hits" the blog got over the weekend, and was staggered by the numbers. I hope it has been informative. To anyone with an urge to drive the Alaska highway, I'd say "do it". Make sure you have a well-maintained vehicle, of course, and follow all the other good advice available on the web. Make sure too that you travel with someone you can bear to be with on the road for days on end: it's a long and winding road! But the experience is surely memorable, and the sights staggering. I'm really glad to have had the opportunity.