Destination: Anchorage, Part 3

“Eddie, Mimi, we are finally past spooky Kluane; the lights across the lake and no vehicles on the road made it eerie. The howling wolves creeped you out, didn’t they Eddie? You were all shivering and whining. Yep, and Mimi slept through all of it. It’s OK, Eddie, just a few more days until we get to Anchorage.”

The thermometer outside my window read a balmy negative five degrees. The studded snow tires gripped the road, helping with black ice; I kept the speed down. Frost heaves plagued the road, giving a feel similar to a speed boat bouncing over waves. I didn’t want to damage the undercarriage or muffler. I still continued to watch the radiator gauge in the frigid air.

Moose occasionally jumped onto the road to escape the snow up to their chests.

The landscape looked like someone had laid white sheets across the land, draped lace cloths on the trees and shrubs, and put a theater white backdrop against the horizon. White pillows of snow surrounded me; the only dark spot was the snaking road.

My pets and I had awakened to a magenta sunrise that faded to pink, then orange, followed by a bright blue sky once the sun arced low in the sky. We had already used up half of the short daylight.

Rounding a curve, I hit the brakes and began to slide. The Dall Sheep leaped from the middle of the road into the snow, looking back as we slid by him.