Delta Junction

We had a nice nights sleep in a large gravel pull out area above the treeline.  This is an area frequented by a herd of Caribou. They like to graze above the treeline on the alpine grasses, where the annoying bugs are few due to the wind and elevation.

We leave and drive above the tree line for about 20 minutes to the Customs Station at the border and no luck spotting any Caribou. The customs agent is only interested if we are carrying firewood or have fireworks.  He is the first customs agent to notice we have never signed our passports. 

The most northern US/Canada Customs border crossing

My 50th state, Linda has been to Alaska before me.

The road from Dawson City to the border is dirt and gravel, but is relatively smooth. Once we cross the border the road is paved for the next 12 miles or so. What a relief, from dodging potholes and rough spots. After the pavement ends it is payback time.  In many places the road is severely wash boarded, which almost brings us to a halt when we get bouncing so badly. We drove 30 miles and 10,000 steps on my Fit Bit, it was slow going to the town of Chicken, Alaska

We stop at the RV park at Chicken, mistaking it for the Chicken Cafe.  We run into the Texans on the motorcycles we met yesterday. Their bikes are almost as muddy as our RV.  Last night I had to clean off an area on our running board to be able to step into the RV side door without tracking in additional dirt.  We do find the Chicken Cafe and have lunch.

Dirty Texans and Vermonters

I looked all over Dawson City for a “Klondike Bar”, I guess this is the closest I going to get

The next 50 miles or so is paved with “sealcoat & gravel”.  It is a hard surface, but much noisier than Asphalt roads, because of the rough surface from all the gravel embedded in it and much thinner, so they quickly develop potholes.  We can drive much faster, but have to slow down for the potholes and repaired sections. We finally get back on the west bound asphalt paved ALCAN highway and start driving the speed limit. Cell reception is still sparce and we continue on to the Town of Delta Junction before we find good reception with a campground,