Wednesday June 30th

Haines Junction -----to------ Tok, Alaska! Alaska, Alaska, Alaska

We took our time leaving Haines Junction and we will miss her. We stopped at the General Store which reminded me of The Old Styles Bi-Rite, for those of you from back in the day. Anyway, this General Store might as well have been a Publix in our eyes. Although it was pretty small they had everything, EVEN Dr. Pepper. We haven't seen Dr. Pepper in months it seemed!

We met up with our Air Force friends crossing the border into the good Ole' U, S, of Aaaaaaaaaaaa. We all stopped at the first gas station/convenience store and all had a group hug. Obviously every american stops at this store as there were American Flags everywhere as well as a sign saying "Free Coffee for all U.S. Military." The sign might have well said "Free Money" to everyone in our caravan. Me, being the non coffee drinker, also had a added treat, fountain drinks and wait...... a fountain Dr. Pepper at that. Yum!

So they say there are 2 seasons in Alaska; Winter and construction. BELIEVE THIS! As we were waiting in line to follow the "Follow Me" pilot truck Andy noticed our Air Force friend Will had a flat tire on his truck that happened to be pulling a small U Haul trailer. Ugh.......... Well, they got it changed and on our way we went. We have passed a few people riding The Alaska Hwy on bicycles. The "Follow Me" truck people are nice enough to give the bikers a ride in the back of their truck with their bikes or these people would never come out alive. I actually feel sorry for the people of motorcycles b/c they must have so much road rash, mud, dust and whatever else you can think of on them going through this.

Sorry kids, no wildlife seen today : (

We arrive in Tok, Alaska where we are staying for the night. The hotel was like a mini compound/campus. There were 15 buildings with 4 rooms per building. The rooms were HUGE.

We were starving when we arrived to the point where my hands were shaking. There really aren't places to stop on the Alaskan Hwy unless you want gas station sandwiches or hostess products. I did have Cliff bars for basic survival. So we headed to the hotel restaurant right at 5:30 AND we didn't even get a senior citizen discount. The food was the best we had had in a LONG time, probably since we had left my mom and dad's house (whenever that was) AND they had a salad bar, a very basic salad bar but, who cares.

The hotel had Internet in the lobby and only on their computers. The line was very long and I assume they were the people from the 3 tour buses parked outside. At that moment I found myself prejudice to tourists AND I haven't even gotten to Kodiak yet. This attitude must change b/c there is no sales tax in parts of Alaska b/c of all the tourist money they get each year. Plus, I am still a tourist until I get to Kodiak.

We did 3 loads of laundry that night and met more people in the military being stationed in Alaska. The next morning Hogan and I went on a 4 mile run and it felt great.

We have been told that we will have "sticker shock" when we get to AK. You can see an example of sticker shock by the price of gas as we crossed into AK. I believe gas is about 3.18 in Anchorage though.

Onward to Anchorage, will we see Sarah Palin in Wasilla? Read on to find out!