Day 55- To Haines, AK

When you’re on the road like we’ve been, there really are no boring days. There is always new scenery, weather or conversation to be had. Even after being married for 40 years, Carl and I still have conversations and consider each other our best friends. Both of us we perplexed this morning with the bright light that was in or should have been in the eastern sky. The map says we are traveling due south and yet, there it is, straight in front of us, shining in our eyes. Notice, there are no complaints here. The route for today takes us on the previously traveled and extremely rough and bumpy section of the Alaska Highway from Beaver Creek to Haines Junction. There are several small communities along the way and one of them has employed a plywood cutout of a police cruiser and officer which, from a great distance, is almost believable. I guarantee as you get closer, you wouldn’t be fooled. I suppose it gets a few tourists to slow down when the flashing “your speed is….” sign doesn’t work. The Ice Field Mountains are on our right and the sign at the scenic / photographic / view / rest area signage tells us this range holds 7 of Canada’s highest peaks. There is evidence, even from where we are, of glaciers on most of the peaks. It doesn’t appear that I am tired of them yet. They are larger than life forces of nature with immense power on the terrain they travel. I encountered a couple of unusual signs today. The first read “ Be Aware: Snow Removal Equipment May Be Oncoming In Your Travel Lane” . That was a shocker!!! The other was one of those international picture signs, a rectangle with a diagonal divider. The upper triangle in white showing a bed and the lower is blue and shows a soft boiled egg. It took me a moment and then the light came on “Bed and Breakfast”…… hmmmm. There is a Bald Eagle Preserve that borders the Chilkoot and Chilkat Rivers. More than 3,000 eagles call this area home during the months of October through January. I’m going looking tomorrow. The promo on this preserve states there are more than 40,000 Bald eagles in the state of Alaska. I think Alaska ought to share them with the rest of the country.