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Day 16 Sunday, July 2 Sunday July 2, we drove 358 miles from Big Delta N64 07.534 W145 42.122 to Coldfoot camp N67 15.064 W150 10.553 which is north of the Arctic Circle.
This was to be a very long day, we left Delta a little after 9am and arrived in Coldfoot after midnight.
As we were leaving the Delta area we stopped at the Tanana river bridge to look at the Trans Alaska Pipeline.
Thirty years ago I worked here in Delta on the pipeline project. It felt good to see it all again.
The oil pipe is hung on a cable suspension bridge.
There are several information signs in the Delta area telling about the pipeline construction.
Between Delta and Fairbanks is the town of North Pole. We stopped at the visitors center. Patty got to talking to the woman there, and soon discovered that she was born in the same Hospital as Patty and she grew up in Lakeside, near San Diego, and has been in Alaska for many years. Its a small world. Notice the grass roof on the building.
This is a view across the Chena River looking at downtown Fairbanks. Patty saw another visitors center here and wanted to get more information on the road north. I think she was a little apprehensive about driving to Deadhorse. Most people spoke about what a horrible road it was, with no gas stations or services for hundreds of miles. I was not deterred and insisted she ride along with me. On the way out of town we stopped at the new Wal-Mart and purchased two gas cans, oil and other supplies we might need.
Just North of Fairbanks is a pipeline visitors center, we stopped here for a photo.
This man was at the gas station in Fox and wanted to take a picture of the car, Patty explained to him that if he took a picture of us, then she was taking a picture of him, he said OK. I did not gas up in Fairbanks, as I wanted to fill up at the last station before heading to the Yukon River 142 miles away, which was the next place for gas.
This map helped us with information about rest stops.
These bugs were found on the radiator. They were about three inches long.
The road was wet with some little pot holes. You can see it is really used as a one lane road, with room to pass. Most people drive it the middle of the road when no one is coming
When passing, slow down, pull over and wave.
Approaching the Yukon River.
Driving across the Yukon River bridge. The oil pipe is mounted below and to the side of the bridge. Over to the left is the Yukon Camp, they have all facilities, Gas, food and lodging. We arrived at eight in the evening for a snack and coffee. Look at how light it is at 8pm.
The Yukon is a big river.
These flowers are called Fireweed. After a fire has burned the small trees and brush, the flowers get a chance to bloom. Large wild fires burned in this area the past two years.
We are now at the Arctic Circle. It is almost midnight, the sun is low and in the north, this makes for eerie shadows. There were a lot of mosquitoes here.
A few miles later it is midnight. Look at how well you can see at midnight. After crossing the Arctic Circle the GPS screen changed to a black background with white letters, it is programmed to do this in the summer to make reading it easier in the land of the midnight sun.
This is where we will spend the night. We arrived about 12:45am. Its after midnight, and we are both very tired. The sun messes with your mind, I don't want to stop as long as it is still daylight. I told Patty we would drive until dark, my mistake, that won't be for a couple more months.
Patty is happy to end the day and have a room to sleep in.
Then, she sees what $130.00 dollars paid for. The windows have heavy shades to keep the sun out in summer and the cold out in winter.
Notice the plywood wall with no paint or covering. The bathroom was added for us tourists. This building was a pipeline construction camp in the 1970's. At that time the bathroom was down the hall. Sleep came easy as we were both tired.
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