Yesterday was the longest day of driving that we will have on the whole tour -- 337 miles. That doesn't sound like much until you factor in there are 22 rigs plus a van pulling a trailer. Throw into that mix a traffic accident that closed the highway for several hours, but our wait wasn't that bad as we came upon just as they were finishing. The various bridges that are one-lane-at-a-time bridges with traffic lights at either end adds a bit of time to get us all across; and the final unknown - road construction.
There was a stretch of construction that was several miles in length that had road base and dust -- so much that they had water trucks working continuously. The pilot car would weave us from one side to the other around the working vehicles. We now all have a matched hue of yellowish mud on our rigs/vehicles! Wayne decided it is a badge of honor that we made it through the Klondike Highway and none of us should wash it off! That and the knowledge that we have two more days of driving after we leave Dawson City - the start of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896 -- that are gravel/dirt roads. We take a ferry across the Klondike River to get out of Dawson City, so I'll be sure and take pictures of that!
We arrived about two hours later than our planned arrival time -- people were tired, hungry, and it was 85 degrees and sunny outside. When we finally got to bed around 10:00 PM, the sun in the sky would be about the same as 3:00 PM elsewhere in the lower 48 states. Must be how it got the name of land of the Midnight Sun!
Thankfully we have a few days to be here and rest up for driving the next leg. We get to go over the Top of the World Highway, which is the northernmost highway in Alaska -- not paved, just a "working dirt road."
Tonight we pan for gold!
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