Woke up this morning to 37°, cloudy and damp. Not bad for Alaska in Mid-May. We'll be headed for Anchorage today where we plan to stay a couple of days to let our mail catch up and meet up with Gary Steele who we'll be working for this summer at the Spruce Moose Chalets in Moose Pass. Most of the snow here in Tok appears to be gone and the campgrounds is open with full services. This is the first one we've found since Chilliwack, BC with full services. They're getting spruced up for the summer season. We're excited about our summer here in Alaska. 
Time to get out the fishing pole and gold pan and get going!!! We were on the road by 640am and stopped across the street from the RV park to "fill up" this hungry monster! Diesel is $.3.599/G and Unleaded is $2.659/G - no more liters, or Loonies and Toonies until we head home in September.Tok is the major overland point of entry to Alaska, and is primarily a trade and service center for all types of transportation, especially summer travelers coming to Alaska. It is the only town in Alaska that the highway traveler has to pass through twice - once when arriving and once when leaving. It is known as "Mainstream Alaska".
We have left the Kluane Mountain Ranges and have entered the Alaska Range.I was so excited, I thought I saw something way ahead in the road. I was telling Bob - slow down, slow down and we finally got a picture of our first moose! She was just standing in the road until she saw us and headed for the trees. I took about 5 pictures,
trying to get a good shot of her. We were thrilled.We were traveling through the Tok River Valley with the Alaska Range on our right and the Mentasta Mountains on the left. We traveled on the Glenn Highway from Tok to Gakona Junction, then the Richardson Highway to Glennallen, then back on the Glenn Highway to Anchorage. It is one of the most scenic routes in Alaska. We passed wet land areas on the east side of the road and it is not uncommon to see pairs of swans swimming on the ponds. There is still ice on most of the ponds and some snow in sheltered areas of the pines.
We were back on the old roller coaster roads and gravel roads interspersed with "normal" (or what they consider) road conditions. These roads are definitely not for anyone with motion sickness, unless the take a handful of Dramamine. We have seen a few moose in the distance munching on plants in the open water on the ponds. Bob was being kind today and he pulled into a turnout so that I could take a picture of Mount Sanford (elevation 16,237 ft) the dominant peak in the Wrangell Mountains. It is one of Alaska's 10 highest peaks. Mount Sanford is a dormant volcano. We passed through Chistochina (population 103).
The Sinona Creek had risen over it's banks and flooded - and I mean flooded - about 3 miles along each side of the road. There were secondary roads, to houses, that were totally washed out. There were baricades up and warnings to be prepared for sudden stops. We're becoming adept at spotting the frost heaves in the road by watching the lines painted on the road (if there are any). Judy just took over driving and the road turned to S _ _ T. Never fails.We just climbed to the top on Eureka Summit (3322 feet) the highest point on the GlennAllen Highway.
The bent poles along the road are used to guide the snow plow drivers. They appear to be 12 - 15 feet to the bend. In front of us is Gunsight Mountain (6441 feet)
These peaks are part of the Chugach Mountains which is a Glaciated Area.We stopped for lunch at a turn out and I had Bob take a picture out the window at the unbelievable sight that surrounded us. This is so overwhelming and impossible to describe. He took over driving again because he could not keep up the secretarial duties of recording/photography/navigating. It was too...stressing with all the multitasking!
The road descended toward Glacier Point, also known as the Lions Head and a vista of incomparable beauty.
When people say you have to go to Alaska, at least once in your life time, these vistas are why.As we drove toward Palmer and Eagle River, we began to notice that the trees were beginning to bud and all the trees were beginning to show signs of life. Maybe spring is really coming. We merged onto a 4 lane highway south of Palmer and knew we were on our way to civilization, when we stated seeing road signs for McDonalds, Carls Jr. and Taco Bell. We are on our way to Anchorage. We began to see grass and greens leaves on the birch and aspen treas around Eagle River. The temperature was 56 degrees and people were biking, roller skating and walking on the bike bath running adjacent to Highway 1. Instead of narrow, winding roads we are on a 6 lane highway heading about 5 miles outside of Anchorage and it is beginning to look like the Superstition Freeway. We pulled into the Golden Nugget RV Park @ 3:30 PM where we'll be for the next 2 days.
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