Delta Junction Alaska

The end of the road! Actually, the official end of the Alaska Highway. It’s interesting to note that the Alaska highway was originally built as a military road. Fearing a Japanese invasion of Alaska, the military needed a way to transport vast amounts of equipment and men from the lower 48 up to Alaska. So the Army Corps of Engineers built the original highway in 1942 in just 8 months. Of course, it was dirt and gravel, had as high as 25% grades and some of the bridges were more like fords than bridges. Over time, it has been improved, rerouted, paved and smoothed out. The steepest grades are now 10% and the bridges are all pretty solid. The last gravel stretch was finally paved in 1992.

Brrr! Not sure I’d advertise this too widely.

Since we ferry hopped up to Alaska, we didn’t drive the Alaska highway. So we drove it backwards at the end of the trip – starting at mile 1422 and counting down.

The mosquitos grow big – this one almost did us in!

We met a German couple in a charter camper whose refrigerator quit right at the beginning of their trip. Fortunately it was a minor issue that could be fixed with a scrap of wire and some electrical tape.

We found a meat packing company and bought some bison sausage. They had several different types to sample, including reindeer and yak.

 

But if not…