Tok, Alaska

August 3rd, 2014 In the morning we headed out of the WSE NP and Preserve and on to Tok. It was only about 60 miles. The ride was very scenic and relaxing. This Tok cutoff road like the Richardson HWY and part of the Glen Hwy were all damaged in a 2002 earthquake. Any major damage had been repaired. The roadway just dips and rolls in a fairly rhythmic way. At 50-55 MPH the truck just gently rolls with it.

We checked into the same campground we had used back in June. The price was up one dollar to $16/night dry camping. They have clean free showers for campers, very homelike with soft rugs and curtains. A laundry ($5/load includes wash/dry and detergent) and dump station with fresh water. Definitely worth the price. It was nice to be back with phone and internet service. This took up most of the rest of our day. Just catching up. It was a warm blue sky day, warmer than what we were used to in the mountains or along the shore. I made nice dinner with our own fresh caught Yellow Eye (red snapper). It tasted a little different than what we are used to, but delicious. After supper we walked down to the IGA to check on prices and see how well stocked it was. We found reasonable prices on things we could use and planned out our next 4 dinners. As we started our one mile hike back we realized the breeze had stopped. This made for a warm and somewhat buggy return trip. (nats) The weather was so pleasant it was tough to complain. The next morning (8/4th) we awoke to a light rain. It rained more on and off until about 4 PM when the sky quickly turned blue. The rain didn't matter. We had work to do. First we went and put a load in the laundry, then drove out to fill the gas tank. The station had a car wash set up in back, free to customers. We spent about 20 minutes getting the heavy dirt and dust off the truck. Because of the road construction and gravel roads in WSE NP, it was quite dirty! It must have been 1 1/2 months since it's last wash. Next we went to the IGA and filled our grocery needs for several days, then back to camp for showers and finishing the laundry. I made a nice ham/mac/cheese with broccoli dinner. After clean up I worked on the blog and Bob read his latest James Patterson crime novel.