Bright (and I do mean bright!) and early (5:45 a.m.) we were standing in front of the RV park office waiting to be picked up by our Northern Alaska Driving Tour of the Artic Circle. We made several rest stops on the way. The first was at Joy, AK, at the Great Alaska Trading post run by the founding family (all 23 of them). Hours later we stopped to pick up the pre-ordered lunches at the Yukon River Camp, then continued on to the Finger Mountain Rest Stop (we ate on the bus to save some time). About 18 miles (an hour later!) we got to the Artic Circle. After photos of our driver, Laura, welcoming us to the Circle, she took group pictures for everyone.
The Dalton Highway (the Haul Road) is far worse then the Alaska Highway. It was built to be the supply road for the building of the pipeline. On this road truckers have the right of way - other traffic pulls over to let them pass both going the same direction or in opposite directions. The scenery changes from heavily forested miles in all directions to tundra with only a few trees as far as you can see and back again. We were all expecting to see much more snow than was there.
Once when we stopped, the door wouldn't open (it opened hydraulically out, down, then slide back alongside the bus. Frank got it to open and we had no further trouble with it. Then when we stopped at a rest area without toilets, the one in the bus wouldn't open! The door had gotten locked some how (probably all the bouncing and rocking along the road). Laura found the key and opened it for the relief of several passengers (including me!)
