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Layover Day in Tok, Alaska

Total Miles of Trip:

Stopped for the Day:

It pelted rain all night here in Tok and I looked out several times during the night, expecting to see water running out from under the doors of the Model T. But, when we finally got up, the sun was shining and the T was completely dry on the inside. It has been a beautiful, warm day here and it made us question the decision to stay another day. But we were waiting on the package of tire flaps from Linda at Texas T Parts and, truth be told, neither of us had a clean pair of jeans.

The package arrived at the Tok Post Office at noon and Ben started in putting the flaps on the T in the parking lot of the laundromat. The laundry was at Tok RV, a very popular spot in Tok, and he attracted a constantly changing audience, ranging from an elderly man who

remembered driving a T as a young man, to a group of young men who stopped by, stuck their heads inside, and pronounced it a "cool ride." After I finished the laundry, we came back to the motel were he finished up the job. We've received several emails from other drivers who feel as Ben does, that flaps give you a little more protection against blowouts, and we feel it was worth the time it took to add them to all five wheels.

We were so cold and tired last night that we forgot to mention that we saw a pack of four wolves along the road yesterday. At first we thought they were dogs but realized when we were next to them that they were wolves. (No pictures, too hard to get hands out of blanket. . .) They were healthy and inquisitive but not frightened of us and then we were past them. We mentioned them to the owner of the gas station about 10 minutes down the road and his response was, "we're trying to thin them out." While we saw them as a charming part of Alaska, he saw them as competition for the moose, caribou, and salmon that he hunted to feed his family of five. It was an interesting perspective on the wolf re-introduction programs taking place around the northwest.

We leave tomorrow morning headed for Beaver Creek in Yukon Territory. We cross into Canada right about there and will be going through Customs. This part of Canada is fairly remote but we hope to have internet at most of our stops the next few days. If not, we'll post the reports as soon as we have an opportunity.