Delta Junction, Alaska

Good morning, my friends. We hit the end of the road today...not the end of the trip. We reached the end of the Alcan Highway. Like I said, there was a place for an obligatory selfie. Happily, the marker is located at the Visitor Center in Delta Junction. A very nice man greeted us there and offered to take our picture.

But let's just back up to the beginning of our day. Of course, we enjoyed more stunning views of the mountains. The scenery never gets old.

The first thing on our list of notable things was this:

There was nothing visible from the road other than the sign, but this is what our Milepost told us was just down the road apiece.

Next up, we crossed the Robertson River.

Something to notice about the rivers in today's drive is the color. They are mostly dry, and that white color is from volcanic ash.

Next up was the tiny town of Dot Lake. There was a lake here as well, but I missed the shot.

There are only a few structures in Dot Lake.

Here's what our Milepost tells us about this

Traveling on...we came to this area of the landscape. There's nothing particularly notable about it except that it is in a depressed region of the terrain. The road was about ten feet above the surface you see in the image.

Here's what our Milepost said about this.

Okay, and then the biggest bridge we crossed yesterday was this one.

There was a parking area off the road and below the bridge where we could get a good look at it. Ya gotta think a bridge this large spans a larger river than what's running here now. Also, notice the white color again.

Here's what we learned about the bridge.

As I walked out to take that shot, I spotted this little pretty. I believe I'm seeing this growing along the roadsides. We're also seeing plenty of dandelions.

My phone tells me this is Shrubby Cinquefoil.

After taking that earlier shot, we drove across the bridge.

From there, we were just a little way from our final destination of Delta Junction.

It's the end of the road.

We stopped off at the visitor center where we had our picture taken, and then we strolled around a little reading informational signs about the Alaska pipeline. We will see that as we make our way to Fairbanks today. Sorry for the damage to this sign. 

Here's what that looks like. It's about five feet tall.

Beside it was this exhibit showing the differing diameters of the pipe.

And here's Mike with some of his besties. I'm telling you, the mosquitos and Mike...they're tight. Mosquitos love him. (Can't say I blame them.) Also, you should know that this photo is to scale.

So there was a quilt shop in town. Hard to believe, but there you go. Of course, I visited. I'll tell you about it in a separate post.

Also, I was trying to use some sandwich rolls on this week's menu, but discovered they'd gone to the dark side as we were leaving yesterday. So I headed to the grocery store while I was out. As I was leaving the parking lot of the grocery store, I caught this incredible mountain view. Honestly...I can't get over the mountains, and I know we're just getting started. 

Driving back to the RV, I could see more mountains off in the distance.

So we'll leave Delta Junction this morning. We're on our way to Fairbanks. We'll spend three days there, and we have some activities planned for ourselves. There is a quilt shop in Fairbanks, but I've decided not to go to this one. The quilt shop will be closed Sunday and Monday, so I would have to go today. Looking at the news, we've learned there will be No Kings protests going on in Fairbanks today. As a newcomer to the city, I'd rather not get in the middle of that. Besides, having visited a quilt shop yesterday, it seems less appealing than it might have otherwise.

So I can't let No Kings Day get away from me without saying something about it. The recent news out of Los Angeles has been very disheartening. I was born in California, and lived a good part of my childhood there. Also, my dad was a 32-year veteran of the Marine Corps. Those two factors make what's happening there feel especially personal. If we were home in Oregon, we'd be attending a protest today. Since we aren't, and since we'll be driving a good part of the day, we'll miss this important event. And all of this to say that if you are protesting, please be safe. I found this image online, and there is some good advice here:

So that's all I have for you for now. Be safe my friends. If I can't be with you marching and carrying a sign, know that I'll be with you in spirit.