Random Thoughts from the Alaska Highway

Since we’ve now reached the end, or more accurately, the start of the Alaska Highway, I thought I would offer a few random thoughts about the road and those that maintain and live along it before I fill you in on our travels to date…

We were almost able to complete our “Alaska Highway Collection” of roadside wildlife: We’ve seen the standard issue moose, coyote, caribou, elk, whitetail deer, the squirrel trio (red, grey, and artic ground), bison (wild and domestic), and if you count the browns in Haines, bear as well. Unfortunately, we did miss out on the stone sheep in the Yukon, which are similar to big horns, though somewhat smaller and gray in color. At one point, a mother lynx was ushering her four kittens across the highway, though by the time I was able to stop, this was the only view I was able to capture…

We even saw a Yukon cousin of Punxsutawney Phil, (for those of you not familiar with the lore of the prognosticating Pennsylvanian of Punxsutawney, I refer you to the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day.” Phil was the feisty fellow who Murray’s character had to remind “Don’t drive angry,” just before they made their suicide compact and drove into the ravine. I really liked Laura’s comparison of the herd of a hundred or so Bison who were lounging along the roadside to the scene of so many beached walrus. Henceforth, I will refer to all bison as ‘land-walrus,’ (unrelated to the ‘land-shark’ of classic Saturday Night Live fame). For a photo of the land-walrus, you'll have to check out Laura's blog- I was busy driving through the herd.

This brings me to my next random thought- the road signs relating to the crossing of the aforementioned wildlife. As we progressed, several of the signs seemed to indicate regional disparities among species. For most of the Highway, the moose crossing signs were similar to the ones I’m familiar with in Alaska, but as we drove deeper into British Columbia, the signs depicted these bull moose in a manner which I can only describe as bulked up super moose on steroids. If the signs are accurate, these Mark Maguire Moose must wreck havoc on even the largest trucks in the event of a roadkill. At one point, near Muncho Lake, the whitetail crossing signs changed from the typical parallel leaping deer (think John Deere) to one version which seems to depict the deer in the area as if in a suicidal charge straight at your front end. Finally, there are the sheep crossing signs (oddly, also in the Muncho Lake region-must be something in the water) which are two-parters, with the left portion of the sign showing a car approaching a ram, and the right side cruelly showing a smashed up car driving over the hapless ram. Evidently, the road maintenance people are very politically correct, and wish to cater to those who may be causality-impaired.

More on road signs:

There are several sections of the road which have been resurfaced via the tar-and-chip method, and which had not had lines painted on them yet. On one particular section, we had been traveling for several miles when we came upon a sign which advised belatedly of “No Lane Markings.” For those of you travelers who had not yet noticed this subtle change, in the words of Bill Engvall, “Here’s your sign.”

For the most part, Canadians seem to be pretty good at warning you of impending roadside doom, but at one point, after several miles of nothing unusual, we came upon an orange warning sign stating simply “Caution.” There was no other elaboration, no other signs, and nothing else of note for several more miles, ah, kilometers. Apparently this sign is for those travelers lulled into complacency by those endless miles.

Near one roadside lodge, the residents are concerned enough for highway safety as to have erected signs warning of “Sasquatch crossing,” though these particular big foots (big feet?) seem to have a taste for Canadian beer, as they are depicted as having just purchased a case of Kokanee.

Finally, on the dirt the highway deposits on vehicles: There was a work truck stopped at a roadside pullout with quite a thick layer of dirt on it. Written in the dirt was the following: “I wish my woman was this dirty.”

On that note, I’ll call it a post, with the promise of writing something more meaningful soon…