The Yukon is strikingly beautiful, like driving through one postcard after another, but it is also very "wild." There aren't many places to stop, and many of the few rest stops we saw were closed. The roads also got quite rough in places, and Hubby learned to dread the little orange/red flags that would be planted by the side of the road to indicate known bumps and holes.
We had a very late lunch in the middle of nowhere, followed by a rest stop with some very quaint outhouses just north of the middle of nowhere. We didn't stop again until we were back on American soil.
One unusual thing we noticed throughout the Yukon territory and along the Alaskan highway was the "rock graffiti." Often, the shoulder next to the road would be a bed of solidly white or solidly dark gravel. Previous travelers had spelled out names, words, sayings, etc. by arranging the opposite color rocks on top. It was hard to get a picture of this at highway speeds, but we caught a bit of one:
We also noticed, on the Alaskan highway, that nearly every road sign had bullet holes in it. Hmm...
We stopped at an isolated RV park/hotel at about 9 pm that had a tiny (2-3 table) diner in it. They still had the deep fryer on, so we got some chicken strips and fried halibut. Everyone was glad to be out of the car for a little while. Then we drove on, reaching Tok, Alaska at about 11:30 pm -- we had been on the road for almost 12 hours! Our little motel in Tok warned clearly about the renowned Alaska mosquitoes -- there was actually a framed plaque about "the state bird of Alaska" on the room wall, with a large fly swatter hanging under it! Fortunately, we arrived late enough and left early enough the next morning that we didn't need to use it. One more day of driving and we would be in our new home -- Anchorage!
Now the next adventure begins -- our new life in Alaska!
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