Into the Arctic
June 29, 2004

Hi again!
    Is this three emails in one week? That's got to be a record for me. You're all probably getting sick of hearing from me by now. But I had to write one more time, because the last few days have been so exciting I just have to share them!

    The day before yesterday I stood 20 feet away from a mama grizzly bear and her 2 cubs!

    We were driving down the Haines highway and saw a bunch of RV's stopped by the side of the road, so we turned around to see what was going on. There they were, hanging out eating dandelions, completely ignoring their audience. The little ones would play and tackle each other, then canter off to find more dandelions. Mama was so huge! I couldn't really imagine until I saw in person. I felt so honored to be able to be so close to them. Of course we stayed at the car with one foot on the gas, ready to drive away quick if they got tired of their dandelions and started our way. But they didn't. It was so magical.

    We're in Fairbanks now. We took a little detour in Yukon and headed south to Haines, for a couple days (never thought I’d drive SOUTH to Alaska!). Beautiful, quiet town, with a great health food store and lots of art galleries, on the coast amid huge, glacier-covered mountains. At some point on the way there we passed a sign that said we were almost halfway between New York and Tokyo.

    Fairbanks isn't too exciting. And the sky is filled with smoke from hundreds of thousands of acres of forest on fire. For a thousand miles all you can see of the sun is a dark red ball in the sky behind the gray. But after the fires are gone this bright purple flower called fireweed grows to create a sea of purple over the land. It's so beautiful.
    Tonight we're heading toward the Arctic Circle, north of all the fires, where there are no trees to burn and we can cook frozen perougis in our solar oven again, 24 hours a day! (Actually, it's just a black pot wrapped in a fleece under the rear windshield, but it works all the same). We're all stocked up on bear spray and extra supplies for the 487-mile gravel road into the almost-untouched wilderness (except for the pipeline, of course. Hmm.) The Dalton Highway stops 8 miles short of the Arctic Ocean, which you can only see if you pay $37 for a tour of the BP facilities, and give them your name and address in advance so they can run a security check on you. Ah, the untouched wilderness.

Love you all,
Asha


June 24, 2004
Yukon

Hi again
    Greetings from the Yukon! It's been crazy- hailstorms I thought would break the windshield, fires all around the highway with smoke so thick it blocked out the sun, horseflies like hummingbirds, swarms of mosquitoes, caribou, deer, buffalo, a woodchuck and 5 black bears (all in different places) along side the road. We can't see stars at night anymore, it never gets dark enough. I'd never realized before how much I count on nighttime happening every day! It's really weird when it doesn't. But at least we never have to worry about setting up camp before dark.
    Spent yesterday at Laird hot springs, the biggest I’ve ever seen. You could go swimming. Been listening to "Teach Yourself Spanish" CD's in the car and bear stories from the locals. Unless the highway is closed again (it was last night due to fire) we should get to Alaska tomorrow. We'll see. Life is good and I’m happy & healthy and missing you all!

love
asha


June 22, 2004
Mile 0

Hi all!
    Well, the plan to make it to the Arctic Circle by Solstice has been abandoned. That's just fine with me though, I’ve never been one for time schedules. We saw our first moose yesterday, just hanging out by the side of the road in northern BC, like a deer would in California. I’d never seen a moose before. It was huge and beautiful and made us all jump.

    Today we arrived in Dawson Creek, British Colombia, where the town's claim to fame is the "Mile 0" marker at the beginning of the Alaska Highway. The name of the region is "Peace" which made me happy. Everywhere you look, you see the word "peace"- as often as you see American flags in the states.

    The strangest thing for me, even though I was expecting it, has been having so little nighttime. It's oddly disconcerting. Dusk goes on forever, and even hours after sunset you can still see light on the horizon. The sky is only dark enough for stars for a couple hours, despite the new moon. And I learned the hard way that the sun doesn't rise where I expect it to. This morning I thought I was camped in the shade of the trees to the east, but the sun rose just a little way from where it set. And I guess it'll just keep getting weirder as we go further north.
    The new goal, since we didn't make it to the Arctic Circle by Solstice, is to go all the way to Deadhorse, which is as close to the Arctic Ocean as you can go. I have no idea what the road is like (there's only one and I know it's not paved) or whether we'll make it, but I guess we'll find out!

Happy Solstice everyone. I love you.
asha