October 15, 2 am in FAIRBANKS

We are in Fairbanks after a 20 hour drive!! And we weren't dilly-dallying. No wonder Juan was being paid well. I will never forget Dalton Highway!!  NEVER!! After we finally got on the highway, Juan was like a shepherd looking out for Mary, Beanie and me. The Prudhoe Bay oil fields looked creepy; we saw it from a distance because we weren't allowed on the land.  Then we started rolling. At first there were no trees. Then we saw beautiful landscape all along the way. The ever present oil pipe ran beside the highway.

Mary knew to bring food and hot coffee, because there are no restaurants along this highway and you can only buy gas and snacks at a few rest stops. These young people amazed me. As it turned out, Mary knows the same hymns that Beanie and I know; we sang and even harmonized, although it was hard to hear ourselves because of the noisy drive. Juan sang some sweet songs in Spanish. He also kept telling Beanie, "Miss Beanie, you were great on our short flight; you will be over your phobia and can fly back to Memphis from Fairbanks." Had it not been for Juan, she wouldn't have made that flight to Prudhoe Bay, and I honestly think that she could have gone all the way home if Juan had been with us. I am having trouble getting pictures on today??!! It is free so I shouldn't complain. This is called the haul road because it was built for truckers to take stuff to Prudhoe Bay.

Brooks Range

 

A visitor center

Here we ran into trouble.

 We saw a truck stopped ahead of us. Someone was honking. Juan stopped and got out to see if he could help. Then someone from behind threw a pillow case over Juan's head...Juan yelled to us, "Lock the doors, lock the doors." Then a man came  up to us in a mask (dudn't that beat all?) and demanded all our money and credit cards. Well, as ya'll know, Rocking Chair travel is financed by monopoly money. But I carry an old out of date credit card. I rolled down the window and handed it to him. Beanie said, "Don't we know you? Don't you eat at Pepe's? Take off that mask and talk to us!!" Mary had her hands over her face because she was afraid. So the boy took off the mask and signaled for the other fellow to let Juan go. I said, "You need to get another line of work, because you have no talent for being a robber!!"  When Juan got back to us, he said,"Billy, are you crazy? Now you're going to jail. You beat all." Beanie and I said Billy isn't going to jail. We will treat it like a joke. Billy answered,
"Well, Miss Annie, you are obviously so rich...look at all the money you are spending on this trip...and I thought it wouldn't hurt you any." You won't believe it, but he started to cry. Juan started up the truck and we continued on down to Fairbanks leaving Billy and his friend standing there!!! 

Yukon River

More of Dalton Highway

The road began to look like this the nearer we got to Fairbanks.

This pipe ran all the way!

 These pictures aren't in order; but they give you an idea what it was like.

The rest of the day was fun. We got to know about Juan and his homeland and how much he loves Barrow!! Mary had lived there all her life. When we finally got to Fairbanks, it was a tearful goodbye to them. Funny how you can get close to some people in a short time. So we made it!! There will be more pictures as I close this entry. Later we will know IF Juan's was right about Beanie being able to fly home from Fairbanks. After all, she showed such courage toward our so called robber!! Now that I have talked to you folks, I think I can sleep now...more later from Fairbanks. Love, annie