Tok, Alaska

Tok (A) is where we are now

Murray & Marie dancing around the campfire (oil pipe)

Note sun still shining at 8.30pm

Murray & Marie singing up stage

Moose Antlers: they shed them each year

Tok (rhymes with poke) is 328 (528 km) miles from Anchorage, and 206 miles (332 km) from Fairbanks. It is the only town in Alaska that a traveller must past through twice. We spent some time in the visitors center, then called into a few souvenir shops before enjoying lunch at Fast Eddy's! Best eatery in town.

Murray made up a delicious stir fry for us all, after which we meandered over to try our luck once more at the pancake tossing competition. No luck for us, but another couple won a brekky each. We stayed around the campfire as a Willie Nelson look alike was singing all the old favourites - can you believe he played Danny Boy (see video) which was the last song I sang to my mum in her hospital bed before she died. Yes, he also sang North to Alaska, and the other folk couldn't understand how I knew all the words! He sang Bridgette's song, The Gambler, and so many other family favourites. Marie & I danced and sang around the campfire until we headed back to our campers around 10pm. Murray joined in the singing when his Base voice was needed, and helped us make a trio for the Beatle Square! Eric had headed off to their camper before the fun started. Just out of interest, the campfire pictured in the photos is an actual piece cut out as they were laying the Alaska Oil pipeline. The pipeline runs beside one of the highways we will be travelling on down to Valdez.

At one stage tonight I noticed it was 8.30pm, yet the sun was still quite high in the sky. It really is a unique experience. We could drive all night and would have no trouble seeing the landscape. Eerie.

Tomorrow we will drive a few hours SW to the little town of Glennallen, marked by the XX on the map. After a night or two there, we hope to drive south to Valdez (in the Gulf of Alaska) where numerous glaciers are close by - one can be reached from the highway we drive down on.