R is for the Richardson Highway: A to Z Blogging Challenge

It's April and you know what that means: The AtoZ Blogging Challenge! For those who haven't played along before, the AtoZ Blogging Challenge asks bloggers to post every day during April (excepting Sundays), which works out to 26 days, one for each letter of the alphabet. In my opinion, it's the most fun if you choose a theme.

My theme this year is Places in my Heart, all about the places I've been and loved and that have mattered to me in a lasting sense.

For my regular readers, you'll see more than the usual once-a-week posts from me this month. I'm having a great time writing them, so I hope you enjoy reading them, too.
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R is for the Richardson Highway


The Richardson Highway connects Valdez, Alaska to Fairbanks, Alaska. It's one end of the Al-Can adventure if you're following it from end to end (which is how I got there when I moved to Alaska). When you get to the end, you either have to get on a boat (which is how I got to Kodiak) or turn around and go back. 
 I also lived along this highway for a year when I was teaching in Kenny Lake. My favorite truck was destroyed in Thompson Pass (saving the life of my then-husband, who was driving it). 
It's one gorgeous stretch of road, with mountain views, a glacier with easy from-the-road access and awesome little Alaskan towns along the way. It's treacherous, too, especially in winter. Driving it was always an adventure of one sort or another. 
I wrote a poem about it once: 


It's a poetry-inspiring sort of road.