Another bright, sunny and warm day which just touched the low eighties this afternoon. Making the most of the car I wanted to see the start of the legendary Dalton haul road that runs up to the Arctic Ocean.
Setting off early to beat the rush hour I drove for an hour or so on the paved Elliott Highway which leads in to the Dalton. The drive yesterday on the Steese Highway was a breeze with hardly any traffic. Quite different today as I hadn't accounted for the lorries heading north.
I hadn't made the connection that the mega trucks hauling loads up to Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton would be using the Elliott to get to the start of the Dalton! After about 40 miles I realised that I was no match for the monsters. The highway is single carriageway with limited safe overtaking points, 6 inch wide longitudinal cracks, large areas of subsidence and lorries with huge double trailers overtaking whenever they wanted to at 80 miles an hour.
I called it quits a couple of miles later and ran the gauntlet of the lorries heading south. The empty ones being faster and extra bouncy with the fuel tankers fully loaded being even more menacing.
Recovering with coffee and a bun the afternoon would be devoted to the University of Anchorage Museum of the North and a trip to the Cheena hot springs. Quite why I wanted to sit in a boiling hot pool of mineral rich, sulphur smelling water in 80 degree heat I'm not sure! According to the sign in the wall I was detoxed, relaxed and will have silky smooth skin!
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