Day 2

The 6:00 o’clock alarm that I had set jangled me awake but like a punchy boxer I couldn’t answer the bell.  I awoke again at 7:00.   This is where I got into such a hurry , I left my MacBook and the charger.
Got out of Anchorage as quickly as possible.  Out on Alaska 1 the scenery was fantastic. I wish I could have seen more of it but iced sold roads prevented my gawking.  Later I was driving 55-60 on an inch of ice covered with fresh powder that was falling at a prodigious rate. There were times that I couldn’t see more than a couple of hundred feet.   Not a white out but close enough for me.
Got to The Hub, a Tesoro convenience store, just after 1:00, refueled and walked the dogs.  At The Hub you go right to Valdez or left to Tok. The road to Tok is called the Tok Cutoff.  It should be referred to as The Tok Shock Absorber Testing Lab.  There are so many bumps and ice heaves that go from a gentle 4 inches to near a foot deep that it is more like a roller coaster than a road.  Aside from the ice on the road the max speed in some of the areas is about 20 mph.  It is 124 miles of torture road for whatever you happen to be driving.  It took 3 hours to cover those 124 miles.
I pulled into a Chevron convenience store after dark and asked about an open RV park. There was only one and it was closed for the season. They probably have a condo in Florida.  After talking for a bit she said her husband would not mind if I parked out back for the night.
Suzy, Gandy and I parked the rig out back and they wanted to out.    I let them do their business and put them back into the warm truck.  I went into the trailer and made up our bed on the floor and lighted the propane heater.  After that I put the dogs in the trailer and fed them. The heater had it pretty toasty in a matter of minutes.   I ate expensive, disgusting road food and the resorted to a couple of vodkas to get the taste of greasy chicken out of my mouth.
Made 319 miles today. Not the 400 I had planned but pretty good in snow, ice and atrocious roads…