Almost...almost...almost

  What a day this has been...road wise.  We woke this morning a 4:50 a.m. (thanks to Snickers) who decided we needed to pay attention to him.  OK, we're up.  Might as well hit the road.
  Driving toward Alaska 298 miles to go.  (That's to the border only)  Can hardly wait to see what's in store for us today.  We've heard horror stories from friends who've driven it before, and from fellow travelers on this journey who are now returning to the lower 48.  There are stories of frost heaves, pot holes, gravel, steep grades.  Let's see if they are true.
  It seemed as if we'd been driving forever by 12:30, and the town of Beaver Creek was still 39 km down the road.  6 hours and only 150 miles?  Geesh.  The stories were true.  Gravel stretches of a mile or more with white dust so thick, they warn you about it on signs.  Pot holes so deep it seems as if Goliath and Wheel Estate II will fall into them.  I've already lost a hub cap!
  Now here's a first.  I've never seen a traffic light in the middle of nowhere, red, with a sign below that says "Stop here and wait on pilot car."  The gent in front of me apparently didn't read the sign.  He got about 200 yards up the road and a worker on a grader made him turn around and come back.  This wait was 30 minutes.

   When the pilot car returned for us (I counted 9 RV's and 3 autos in the convoy), she lead us back and forth from one side of the road to the other.  The dirt (not gravel this time) was soft and slick.  Both hands on the wheel for this trip, so no pics.
  The last part of the section was a very steep grade and she was only leading us at 25mph.  Always my luck.  Yes, the transmission got hot, but not hot enough to set off the alarm.  I was holding my breath though.  Just about the time I started looking for a place to pull over, she pulled off to the side and we now had pavement to drive on.
  Being able to go a little faster without a climb, the trani cooled off...just in time for the next red light and wait for a pilot car.  I'm beginning to feel we're never going to make much progress today.  I'm getting tired and cranky, and so is John.  While awaiting this pilot, John notices some loose wires under Wheel Estate II, so he grabs a couple of bungee cords and bungees the wires up to the axle.  What else?
  Despite the slow progress and the rough roads, we were rewarded by some beautiful scenery that I will share with you.

 REFLECTION LAKE

 KLUANE MOUNTAINS

 ANOTHER VIEW OF THE KLUANE MOUNTAINS

 ONE OF THE FEW STRETCHES OF GOOD ROAD

The pink flowers are Fireweed. Abundantly in bloom.

  The border crossing back in the USA was great.  The customs officer asked to see the pets papers, and the paperwork on the other cargo John's carrying.  Finally had a use for those papers Dr. Shipman was so nice to print out for us a few months ago.  So glad to be back in the states where I can purchase fuel in gallons instead of liters and use coins I recognize.  Loonies are the same size as a quarter so you have to be careful.  Toonies are at least part gold colored.

   After just 79 more miles of travel on good roads (I told John that at least Americans know how to patch a road properly), we finally made it to Tok. AK.  We had thought of pushing on  earlier in the day, but is's 2:30 p.m. (Alaska time) and even though it's "early" we're both exhausted from fighting the roads.  One more overnight stay in an RV park, then home!!!

ONLY 284 more miles to go.  Sounds almost anticlimactic.