Background on this local story: The town of Tok is in the middle of nowhere. It’s at the crossroads of the Alcan Highway going north to Fairbanks, south to Canada, and the Glenn Highway, which goes to Anchorage. It’s several hundred miles south of Fairbanks and equally distant from Anchorage.
This guy hitchhikes there to rob a store. What the hell was his getaway plan? I keep picturing Steve Martin in The Jerk, standing in front of his house and getting a ride to the end of the fence.
That said, I’ve actually met some people from Tok. On my last trip to Alaska, I met a lovely young family on the plane. There were 3 kids, from about 18 months to 5 years, and my first thought was, “Oh god, no, not on the same plane as me”. But they turned out to be perfectly behaved children. I was stunned.
I certainly hope that my lovely Tok family was not hurt or inconvenienced by this sudden local crime wave.
Back in the early 70’s as I recall some idiot robbed the bank (probably only one in those days) in Juneau and drove off in a pick-up. They just waited at the ferry dock and in about a week he came out and they nabbed him.
Now I see there are roads all over and a lot more ways to get out, but still no way to drive out.