7:00am Pacific Time (PT) Up and out of the hotel. We made the decision to get breakfast down the road at Buckshot Betty’s.
9:00am (PT) Breakfast at Buckshot Betty’s after traveling some pretty rough road. We all had Betty’s famous cinnamon buns, “Best Buns on the Highway!”.
The rivers and creeks here are REALLY wide but usually not a lot of water moving through them. I can only imagine what this looks like in the spring!
9:30am (PT) Pass a coyote on the road. It poses for us while we take photos and then chases our car for a little ways. Little beggar!
10:00am (PT) Pass the Canadian customs checkpoint.
10:30am (PT) Stop to take pictures at the “Welcome to Alaska” sign.
You can see the line of cleared forest where the actual border is.
10:45am Alaskan Time (AT) Go through US Border Checkpoint. Actually had a dog sniff the car down. Really wanted to pet it but was reasonably sure that this would not have been taken well by the rather tall and imposing man with the buzz cut holding the leash.
11:00am (AT) Spot a small bear crossing the road. Dad tries to tell us that it was a dog. I think he needs to clean his glasses!
12:00pm (AT) Stop at Tok (rhymes with “joke”) where there is a great gift shop and a visitors center. The shop had wolf, wolverine, bear, bison, and lynx complete hides for sale with their CITES permit numbers attached. Mom takes over driving for a little bit. Even the driving goddess needs a break once in a while. (At this point, I have driven about 1100 miles out of 1388 on the Alaska Highway so far…)
1:00pm (AT) MOOSE!!! Finally! The moose have been teasing me for probably the past 1000 miles as there have been signs and signs warning of them but no moose. This one seemed not at all interested in us even though we were stopped in the middle of the road taking pictures of it.
1:40pm (AT) Stop at Delta Meat and Sausage and get some Buffalo summer sausage to slice up for lunch.
1:55pm (AT) Lunch. It is warm (nearly 70 degrees Fahrenheit) and sunny. WTF?!?!? This is freaking Alaska!! Isn’t it supposed to be cold? I’m sweating and we have the A/C on in the car! Buffalo sausage is really good.
4:00pm (AT) Arrive in Fairbanks. Watch a couple of Chinooks flying to one of the military bases around town.
4:30pm (AT) Get to the hotel after the usual fracas that is traveling anywhere in an area with a population over 1000. The hotel we are staying in, the Alpine Lodge, is really nice, especially after some of the places we stayed at on the road. It looks to be brand new and has all sorts of stuff adorning the lobby including the complete hide of a polar bear.
Travel Knitting: Continuing on the trail of dishcloths. Made yet another one. Need to get a flat rate envelope and mail them all to Sarah, lover of handknit dishcloths along with a postcard.
Sarah Jane Humke 
No big deal but when you mentioned the border crossing I realized that, after travelling so much in Europe for the last 5+ years that “there aren’t any there any more” to speak of. I wouldn’t say I miss them but I sorta do.
It is nice to have a clear line of demarcation. The crossings in Europe introduced you to soldiers in different uniforms, speaking different languages and there was the opportunity to exchange money. All gone now . . .