North to Alaska: Day 27

Welcome! Day 27 (Sept 4) of North to Alaska

Definition Arctic Circle: the imaginary circle round the earth, parallel to the equator, at latitude 66° 32′ N; it marks the northernmost point at which the sun appears above the level of the horizon on the winter solstice. North of this line is the “Land of the Midnight Sun,” where the sun never sets on the summer solstice.

Today was planned to be another long day, the plan worked. We arose just before 5 AM and went to bed just before midnight. Actual travel time was near 17 hours. That is a long time on a bus with me not being in control. To say it was boring would be wrong. Along with the scenery, our guide Allen kept things interesting. Even I learned a few things.

A little about Allen, then some highlights about the trip. Allen was our bus driver. He will be 77 next week looks to be about 60. He has been in Alaska 40 years this past June and married to the same woman for 54 years. They have 4 sons and an adopted grandson. I cannot tell all the details of this but one of his sons died and he adopted his son’s son. He has been driving the Dalton Highway (pipeline road) for nine years, nearly three times a week. He rarely works on Sunday and does sing in the choir. When he first came to Alaska from Minnesota, he worked for an air cargo company but not as a pilot. He is a hunter and owns acreage he reserves for his own hunting. He knows a lot about the pipeline, its history and the history of Alaska. He is an easy person to listen to and talk with. He is not bashful even when just giving his opinion.

Food was not included in our tour. We filled our take on bag with snacks and a few water bottles so we could nibble along the way. We also had an opportunity to purchase lunch and dinner at the Yukon Trading Camp about midway of the route to the Arctic Circle. I later learned the Yukon Trading Camp was managed by the Northern Alaska Tour Company, the same company who provided our tour, an enterprising little company. Now back to the food issue. We had to leave the hotel at 5:30 AM and the breakfast bar did not open till 6:00 AM. So I improvised I found were the cereal was stored in the cabinets, using coffee cups, they are good for something, I filled a few with cereal for both Cassie and I. I took a couple of bottles of milk, a coffee cup with actual coffee for Cassie and behold we had breakfast for the bus. Note; for you who know Cassie, her not having any breakfast is not a good thing for me.

We did arrive on time at the departure point. After filling out paper work, arranging for transportation back to the hotel for 11:00 PM, we also were able to order a box lunch to be ready for us when we reached the Yukon Trading Camp. Finally Allen took over from the office staff and we departed on our 25 passenger bus, we had 22 people. Meaning we had 3 empty seats, Cassie and I were lucky to get the last row next to the emergency bathroom. The last row had 3 seats so one of them was empty, more room for us. Cassie had a full window to look thru so I think she was OK with the last row. It might have been bumpier but for much of the trip the entire bus was pretty bumpy. So off we went heading north. Allen started by telling a little about himself and then had everyone else introduce themselves telling where home was located.

He then started about the pipeline and the difficulties in getting it started and finally built. The original hold up was created by the native tribes both Alaskan and Indian living beyond the Yukon River. It appears since statehood in 1959 their standing was not clearly defined. Well after two years of court battles and several million dollars all were happy. The pipeline was privately funded by a group of oil companies no state or federal money was used. The state does receive money for letting the oil flow thru the pipeline. The pipeline is 799 miles long from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. 420 miles are above ground. It was built by three different construction companies each working at the same time on different sections. There are 71 shutoff valves which can block oil in either direction. Flow can be stopped in 4 minutes. These were used when someone who, later spent 12 years in jail, using a high powered rifle shot a hole thru the pipe. The pipe is 4 feet across. Air temperatures range from -80 degrees to plus 95 degrees. Special considerations had to be made to handle the effects of prema frost. The original design was for the pipeline to last 20 years and it has been in operation for over 36 years. There has not been an engineering design flaw causing a spill as of today.

Another topic Allen expanded on was the Alaska Permanent Fund. This can about due to the Alaska Pipeline. He talked about how it came about and how Governor Jay Hammond was able to keep the fund out of the control of the legislature. He seemed to like Jay Hammond as he said, he was a people’s governor.

We also watched a couple of movies about Alaska. One on the various ways gold was/is mined over the years. We even saw some of the equipment used along the route. Another movie was on the building of the pipeline.

The Dalton Highway was built while building the pipeline. Therefore it was private and not useable by the public. In the late 80s the state was asked to take over maintence. They did and tried to keep it private but the people spoke and the state gave in thereby allowing the tour group to be formed.

Past the Arctic Circle where we turned around two town have been created Coldfoot about 50 miles for the circle and Deadhorse at Prudhoe Bay another 250 miles up the road.

At lunch we left our order for dinner. This was actually made to order. On the way back Allen radioed them as we were near their place.

As we left the Yukon Trading Camp and crossed the Yukon over the only bridge in Alaska over the Yukon River Allen began to sing Old Man River. I even thought he was pretty good. Later as we neared the end of our trip he sang the Alaska Flag song. I didn’t care too much for that one. It was late and I was tired.

There are many other things I could write about but I have said enough. Hopefully you get the jest of the day, it was long and tiring but it was a good day.

See the pictures below for more details of what we actually saw.

So ended another long day. Tomorrow a late breakfast and a Riverboat ride.