Day 9

After breakfast at the Springhill, we headed up the Dalton Highway towards the Arctic Circle. The Dalton Highway is everything we have heard, rough, gravel and dirt with large frost heaves and pot holes. After bouncing everyone’s insides for 210 mile we reached the Arctic Circle, imagine, four people from Georgia, 5300 mile from home at the Arctic Circle….. Can you say grown kids? We gathered some rocks to bring back with us, don’t ask me why, you would have thought we went to the moon. We met a couple from Orlando at the Bureau of Land Management information center about 60 miles south of the circle. They were retired and were now volunteering as hosts at the center during the summer. They told us about their cabin and outhouse furnished from the BLM and the 160 mile trip they make to shop. This was their tenth year and they loved it. We ate lunch at a place called the Hot Spot on the Dalton 100 miles from anything and had the best hamburgers that we have ever had, we all agreed on this, they were at least 1 pound and cooked perfect. All the truckers traveling to the North Slope oilfields stop there, and I understand why. The only drawback was when we finished the meal we had to guard the outhouse for each other to use. It seems they have been having a bear problem there lately and they have been harassing people at the outhouse. The outhouse was about 100 yards from the Hot Spot and Debbie and Janice headed out there alone till they saw the warning sign. It did not take them long to come back. We followed the Alaskan Pipeline for almost 200 mile of its 744 mile length. It gives you an appreciation for the engineers and workers that designed and built this oil highway. We got back to the Springhill around 8:00 PM, no need to hurry, it doesn’t get dark here. We are meeting in the morning to plan the day, so much to do here in Fairbanks. One idea is we get some gear and go gold panning, you never know, we might strike it rich………. in memories.

Total Miles To Date: 5740

Dalton Highway - A for adventure

Arctic Circle Visit - A

Hot Spot - A + (Best Burger with Bears)