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Mon, 26 July 93--We left Haines Junction at 7:00 this morning on a segment of the Alaska Highway that gradually deteriorated from good to horrible. The road had hundreds of froast heaves, similar to natural speed bumps, that snaked across the road from edge to edge and sent me completely airborne numerous times. The last 20 miles were especially bad with construction, dirt, mud, and rocks. I didn't realize it, but I was losing bundles of groceries, jogging shoes, and other articles--some of which George retrieved for me as he was running behind me today.
Probably the most beautiful scenery we saw today were the glaciers (possibly Mt. St. Elias or Wrangell Mountains) and the very large Kluane Lake.
Undoubtedly, the worst thing that happened to me today was that I dropped Serena when my foot slipped in the gravel as I was backing her from the parking spot at a gas stop. George had already left ahead of me, and no one helped me--just stared. Finally, with much adrenalin, I managed to get her upright and proceeded on. Fortunately, I had so much gear bungeed onto her sides that she wasn't even scratched by the incident. However, my pride was greatly injured.
At the time we cleared customs at the Canada-Alaska border, we were experiencing the first warm weather since leaving Columbus, Nebraska, more than two weeks ago.
Once we were inside Alaska, the road conditions improved considerably. George's real tire is just about worn out.
We've now traveled over 1300 miles of the Alaska Highway and have just over 200 miles left to Fairbanks. We're staying in Tok, Alaska, tonight in a suite at the Snowshoe Motel. Three differnet rainstorms passed over us--the first only minutes after arriving at our motel.
All the G-forces experienced today on the rough roads caused a seam to rip out of the bottom of my left saddle bag, I repaired it with duct tape and will use a strap cinched around it to keep pressure off the tape.
I sat on the walkway and read more of Alaska as I watched it rain. I mailed a card to my daughter, Sandra.