Those Old Alaska Highway Curves 

From the story: "My dad overcorrected going around the bend, and the luggage rack on the roof of the car caused the car to overturn off the road."

those old alaska highway curvesPhoto courtesy Joe Fournelle

by Joe Fournelle

At 22 months old, I arrived in Alaska in 1950.

We lived outside of Anchorage in Rogers Park. Yes, I know it's Midtown now, but in the fifties it was outside of Anchorage.

When Alaska became a state, we had to leave because the state took over what my dad was doing--he was with the public health service, a federal agency.

So we drove out of Anchorage on January 1, 1959.

We spent the first night on the road at the Parker House in Tok. In their luxury room. It was one with an attached bath.

Our family left Tok on the morning of January second, not sure of our destination.

We never reached it.

About 4:30 in the afternoon at the sharp 90-degree bend to the right at mile 1061, my dad overcorrected going around the bend, and the luggage rack on the roof of the car caused the car to overturn off the road.

Fortunately the snow cushioned the impact, and the distance wasn't far.

Dad got a fire going. Vehicles stopped.

Then Dad went back to Destruction Bay to arrange to recover the car and contents.

Mom, my brother and I went to Haines Junction.

The car was made driveable, and on January 3rd. Dad picked us up, and we went on to Whitehorse. We spent a week there while the car was made as good as new.

Our adventure continued.

In 2014 I returned to Alaska after too many years away.

Another Tok adventure.

Days before Thanksgiving, we reached Tok. We had no headbolt heater, as it was called in the fifties, or battery blanket. I'm ashamed to say I was grossly unprepared. It was 17 below zero that night, and the battery froze.

I removed the battery, thawed it in the bathtub, and got a jump to start the car. We continued our journey home to Palmer, where we had a heated garage. Life was good.

By 2024 we realized how much we missed the grandkids on the east coast. So we reluctantly left Alaska to be closer to them.

We ate our last meal in Alaska in Tok.

I miss Alaska and will always consider myself Alaskan.

BONUS

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from two Alaskans