What draws people to seemingly arbitrary lines on the globe such as the Equator, Tropic of Capricorn or the International Date Line? Who knows, but it drew us north... to the Arctic Circle. The guide books contain warnings about the infamous Dalton Highway. It's nothing but a dirt road stretching just north of Fairbanks all the way to Prudhoe Bay, home of the North Slope oil fields. Most rental car companies forbid you to take their cars on the road. The majority of the "traffic" consists of giant tractor trailers rumbling by to supply the oil fields or returning empty (and at top speed) to re-fill. The Arctic Circle is actually only about a third of the way up the "highway" but still takes several hours to drive. The only stop with gas and food is Yukon River Camp. There, you can see the only bridge in Alaska that spans the giant river. We filled up our tanks, bought coffee and snacks, and looked at local crafts made by a woman who lives with her family five miles up the river, accessible only by boat. They built their log cabin there by hand "with only a chainsaw" five years ago and trap animals, living off the land and selling pelts and other crafts for extra spending money. She offered us a purse made from a real Wolverine but we had to decline. The road, strangely paved at times, parallels the Alaskan Pipeline which occasionally dives underground into the permafrost or passes to the other side of the road. Our constant companion, it is sometimes miles off the dirt track and sometimes right next to the road. We pass an area destroyed by a wildfire sparked by lightening several years ago - over 130,000 acres burned in the fire. Let's hope that lightening never strikes twice (at least in the same 130,000 acres!). In these holes in the Boreal Forest, fields of bright purple flowers thrive in the extra summer light. Finally, we reached the sign marking 66.33 degrees latitude... the Arctic Circle! Low clouds dripping rain surrounded us and we gazed at the tundra and bush stretching to the hills on the horizon. Nothing spectacularly scenic here but hey, it's the Arctic Circle! Apparently if you drive several more miles north, you can glimpse the Brooks Range but in this weather we doubt we'd be able to see anything and, already tired of driving, we turned back south. Antarctic Circle, here we come! Okay, just kidding. We arrived back in Fairbanks several hours later with a car coated in mud and ready for a beer and a nice night's sleep.