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 Heading
Up "The Haul Road"...
 Report
from Paul at 7:30 a.m. Alaska time:
We're getting ready to drive up the Dalton
Highway (north of Fairbanks) to try and get to
milepost 85 - which is where I plan on beginning
tomorrow's 30-mile run up to the Arctic Circle.
You'll want to read today's "Nugget of
Knowledge" to learn more about the Dalton
Highway (see below). The latest road and weather
conditions report, posted online 10 minutes ago,
is as follows:
James Dalton Highway: at Beaver Slide Summit
(milepost 110). Difficult driving conditions,
icy patches, snow on roadway, falling snow.
Current temperature: 28 degrees; two inches of
snow are reported on the roadway.
 Hopefully, we'll be
able to get up there through the snow and "Bob"
and I will be able to reach the Arctic Circle
tomorrow. Stay tuned! I'll try to write more
later today.
Unable To Do The Arctic Circle...
Report from Paul at
9:00 p.m. Alaska time: After a long day of hours
and hours of driving I have to unfortunately
report that I will not be able to run up to the
Arctic Circle. We got about 100 miles from the
Circle before turning back. The road conditions
were simply too difficult and it would have
taken a few days just to do the round trip to
the Arctic Circle and then back to Fairbanks. My
father did an amazing job at driving the RV all
day and working hard to try and get us up to
milepost 85 where I would have started running
tomorrow to log 30 miles to the Arctic Circle at
milepost 115. However, the road surface was
brutal and we got to the point where we could
only travel about 5 to 10 miles per hour. The
large Haul Road trucks going south from Prudhoe
Bay could handle the road well with their large
tires, but we had to make the decision to turn
back. It's unfortunate that I won't be able to
make it to the Arctic Circle, but I did have a
chance to stand right next to the Alaska
Pipeline that carries the oil from Prudhoe Bay
to Valdez. It was great to walk right up to it
and we got some good pictures, which I'll try to
post soon. Overall, I can honestly say that we
made a solid effort to get up to the Arctic
Circle and that sometimes things just don't go
as you hope they will. When we decided that the
Arctic Circle was going to be out of reach, we
drove to North Pole, Alaska (which is where I am
writing this) and I revised the game plan for the remainder of
this trek.
REVISED PLAN
For Final 137 Miles Of Trek...
 After getting about
100 miles from the Arctic Circle and deciding
that we had to turn back around, I determined
that a new game plan needed to be formed for the
remaining 137 miles of this journey.
Essentially, I have to finish this trek next
Tuesday, May 12, and that leaves me with 5 days
to run the remaining 137 miles. After looking
over the route I decided to make some changes in
order to better assure that I can complete the
entire trek by May 12 - which would mean that
I'll have completed the 500 miles through Alaska
in 18 days on the pavement. Here is how the
remainder of this trek will go:
 Friday, May 8 - Run
15 miles from North Pole, Alaska (going southeast) down
Highway 2.
Saturday,
May 9 - Run 30 miles on Highway 2 (on a
stretch of road between North Pole and
Richardson). Then, I'll be transported to
Dot Lake, Alaska.
Sunday,
May 10 - Run 31 miles on Highway 2 from
Richardson on Highway 2 heading South.
Monday,
May 11 - Run 31 miles on Highway 2 around
area of Dot Lake.
Tuesday,
May 12 - Run 30 miles on Highway 2 into
Delta Junction (which is where this trek will
end).
So, that's how this
journey will wrap up. I realize that teachers
will likely need to alter their maps that they
have posted to keep track of miles. You can use
mapquest.com or Google maps to see where the
above-listed towns are in Alaska. Suffice it to
say, I'll be running the final 137 miles on
Highway 2 in various places between North Pole,
Alaska and Tok, Alaska.
Some Teams Have Not Yet Reported Mileage...
If you've visited
the team mileage page ou've seen that 45 teams (out
of 230 total teams) have not yet posted any
mileage. I've encouraged all of the team leaders
to post their current mileage, but some have not
done so. Perhaps those are teams that decided
not to do P.A.C.E. Trek 2009. I just wanted all
of you to know that I have written to the team
leaders a few times during this trek to
encourage them to post their mileage. I truly
appreciate those team leaders who are keeping up
on reporting their teams' progress. It's
encouraging to me to see that! By the way, if
you haven't yet visited the team details page, you should do that. If you
follow the instructions at the top of that page
you'll be able to sort team progress by school,
city, state, number of team members; miles; and
more. Go to that page and give it a try. I'm
very thankful to the guys at
Axiom IT
Solutions in Missoula for donating
the programming for the online database! And by
the way, don't forget that one school team that
completes the 500-mile trek by 6:00 p.m., PST,
on Tuesday, May 12, is going to
win $500
thanks to editor Dan Kesterson at
Youth Runner
Magazine!
Requesting Team and/or Individual Photos...
As many of you know
- and as I've told team leaders - after each
P.A.C.E. Trek I put together a final music
slideshow that features pictures of me and "Bob"
from the journey as well as photos of teams and
some select pictures of individual kids on
teams. However, I can only include team
pictures, or pictures of participating kids, if
the team leaders e-mail those to me. I've
requested pictures from team leaders, but have
only received a few. I need to receive pictures
by Thursday, May 14, if you would like those
considered for this year's music slideshow. The
team leaders have been given the e-mail address
to send those to, and they can also get that
e-mail address via the team leader login section
at this web site. They just need to click on the
"Submit Your Team Photos" link once they've
logged in. So, please e-mail me some pictures of
your kids in action, or at least a good team
photo. Feel free to make a handmade
 P.A.C.E.
sign of some kind and hold it up, and maybe
write your school's name on the sign. Be
creative and have fun!
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It's Time For Today's "Nugget of
Knowledge" |
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 The 416-mile
long Dalton Highway begins at Milepost
73.1 on the Elliott Highway. This
all-weather, mostly gravel road bridges
the Yukon River, crosses the Arctic
Circle at Mile 115.4 and climbs the
Brooks Range. At Atigun Pass (Mile
247.5) it crosses a continental divide,
the highest highway pass in Alaska
(elevation 4,800 feet). Then the road
passes through tundra plains before
entering at the Prudhoe Bay oil fields
at Deadhorse, nine miles from the coast
of the Arctic Ocean. Public travel for
the final nine miles is restricted to
commercial tours. As of 2006, the state
had paved 93 miles of the Dalton
Highway, with a goal of eventually
paving the entire route. The highway was
named for James Dalton, a post-World War
II explorer who played a large role in
the development of North Slope oil and
gas industries. It was built as a haul
road for supplies and to provide access
to the northern half of the 800-mile
trans-Alaska oil pipeline during
construction. Originally called the
North Slope Haul Road, it is still often
referred to as the Haul Road.
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That's all from this
Alaska milepost! Thanks for stopping by and be
sure to run back here tomorrow.
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