Tok, Alaska, USA

Good morning, my friends! Thus begins Phase 2 of the Fifty-fifty trip. And I can't say anything more until I make this huge announcement: Regarding the 50-50 trip...

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

That's right, my friends. We've accomplished our goal of visiting all 50 states. I should start right off by giving you the state of the states:

Before:

And after:

Ta-da!!

Okay, so we're nearing the end of the Alcan. Our next stop after Tok (rhymes with "poke") will be in Delta Junction, which marks the end of the Alcan. Look for another obligatory selfie, coming up in just a couple of days.

But let's just back up to the beginning of our drive yesterday, shall we? We left Lake Creek Campground under gray skies. It rained off and on during the day. The mountain ahead teased us where a bit of sunlight shone like a spotlight. You can see it right in the middle of the image below.

We first crossed over the White River Bridge.

Here's what our Milepost told us about that. Moose Lake followed right behind. 

No moose were seen.

So...what's this all about?

As we go along today, we'll see the many ways folks here are experimenting with stabilizing the roadways from winter's damaging weather. Above is just one way. Here's what our Milepost says about it:

We saw several areas like this along our drive yesterday. Here's another attempt to protect the roadways.

And here's the explanation for that.

We passed through Beaver Creek. The road was terrible up to that point. 

Most of the structures in Beaver Creek appear to be abandoned, but this lodge looks as if it's open for business.

Here's a little information about Beaver Creek.

And moving on, we could see what we believed to be the border crossing ahead.

As it turns out, the border with the United States is some distance from here.

This one is just the Canadian customs inspection station. We drove on past.

And just before crossing back into the United States, there is a nice parking area with this sign. If we'd been heading in the other direction, there was also a sign welcoming us to the Yukon.

And here we go...Mission Accomplished! Thus begins Phase 2 of the journey. Of course, we donned our t-shirts for this shot.

You might want to reset your watch. And who knew Alaska had its own time zone?

Okay, cue the shark music. We had all our agricultural products in a bag in the truck with us. As it turns out, any worry over this was wasted. We spent no more than 30 seconds with the agent there. He welcomed us home, and asked only if we'd purchased anything in Canada. I started talking about prosciutto and lunchmeat, and he waved me off. No sweat. He didn't ask about guns, alcohol, fresh fruits and veggies, eggs, pets...nothing. We also spent a few minutes talking to an agent for fish and wildlife. He wondered if we had any sort of watercraft with us. Nope. And that was it. We spent about five minutes talking about roads and life in Alaska. It was all just a pleasant exchange.

Check out the mileage there. Also, there's a decimal point between the 4th and 5th numbers. Hard to see in this image.

And here's some information about how the border was established.

Our drive on this day would be spent mostly in the Tetlin National Wlidlife Refuge.

Mainly we stopped at the visitor center to use their restrooms, but it turned out to be a worthwhile place to spend a few minutes. Just to the side of the visitor center was this structure.

Here's the accompanying sign.

Behind the visitor center was perhaps the day's best view of the Alaska landscape. Looking left, we saw this:

Looking straight ahead, we saw this:

Looking to the left, we saw this. Wow. Big country.

Here's a little sign showing the area and identifying some of the landmarks.

And here's some information about the flyway.

Moving on, we saw more attempts at protecting the road.

Here's what the Milepost had to say about that:

And here, I wanted to show you the areas to the sides of the road. The road was cut through sand dunes.

Here's some information about that.

And, for grins, I thought you'd want to know more about the insect population we'll greet in our travels.

This next picture was to show you the wildflowers blooming along the roadside. I might have thought these were more dandelions, but they're actually some kind of daisy. I haven't been able to get a good look at them yet, but maybe today.

About 30 miles from our final destination, we came upon the longest area of roadwork of the trip. We had to stop here to wait for the pilot car. Our wait was about 15 minutes. This flagger woman came to our window and chatted with us, giving us some good information about the roadways ahead. She explained about the "frost heaves" we would encounter. It seems the hard frost causes the ground to rise under the roadways, breaking the pavement. She was quite a conversationalist, and it was worth stopping just to spend some time with her.

Eventually, the pilot car arrived and we were on our way. We followed for around 18 miles.

Once free of the pilot car, we pulled off at a suggested viewing place. Not much to see here, but there was a narrow opening in the trees.

Here's what the Milepost told us about this place.

We got some better views of the area farther down the road.

And then I started taking random pictures of the mountains. The mountains here are breath-taking.

We crossed over the Tanana River Bridge.

Here's what the Milepost told us about that:

And then...yawn...more incredible mountain vistas.

Finally...Tok. Yay!

Here's some information about the history of Tok.

As for wildlife, this was all we saw yesterday...right outside the door of our camper.

I can't even begin to tell you the many people and sources that recommended dinner at Fast Eddy's. The restaurant was within walking distance, but we drove. It was still raining off and on, and we didn't want to get caught in the rain.

This "legend" was printed on the cover of the menu:

And lemme just tell you, I have loved creme soda my whole life. So, when the beverages included "wild berry creme soda," I had to have some. Dee-licious. Looks refreshing, no?

And these deep fried mushrooms came highly recommended as well. What I didn't realize is that the plate included enough mushrooms to feed the entire busy restaurant. We each had about six, and then brought the rest home. I'll admit, I was tempted to give them to another diner as we left the restaurant. But would you eat food offered by a complete stranger? I wouldn't.

We have a full day here to take care of some "life" things. I've already done the laundry. Today we'll do our grocery shopping and fill our propane tank. Also, we get a free car wash for staying 2 nights here. For sure we'll get our Jeep washed again. We'll probably also get the RV washed since that service is offered as well. Aside from that, there isn't much going on. R&R after a day of very bad roads.

If you've enjoyed this post, you can thank Miss Sadie for her careful editing.

We're all in our places. Time for breakfast. More to follow. Rest up, my friends. Serious sight-seeing ahead.