September 5, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 

After a good rest, we got up and arranged to take a tour of Prudhoe Bay.  The tour included a chance to dip one's toe into the Arctic Ocean - that's part of what we came for!!

Prudhoe Bay is the private property of the oil companies, and does not allow any tourists to enter the oil fields unescorted.  You can imagine the increased security after 9/11.

So they have set up a tour guide service that uses Security people.  We took a bus (On the last day of the tour service for the year - how lucky!) with our tour guide being a very nice and knowledgeable Security man.  None of us were prepared for how large and extensive the oil fields and service businesses were.  It's enormous!

Here we are - At the Arctic Ocean!!!

We did get to dip our hands into the Arctic Ocean, and bring back a souvenir piece of driftwood.

One couple on the tour actually went in with their clothes on, and went underwater, to get into the Polar Bear Club!!

Then it was back to the motorcycles and motor home, to start South.

We revisited the same terrible roads as yesterday, just in reverse order, all the way back to and over Atigun Pass.  

It absolutely beautiful, but was equally cold, down to 24^o, then 20^o, and finally 17^o F!!

But Atigun Pass had just enough open gravel that we managed to bypass the ice part, and made it over the top without going down.  Tired now, we stayed on the South skirt of the Pass for the night.

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