We left Whitehorse Monday morning. Traveling in and out of rain. Good roads and bad. Most paved and marked where the bad parts were. Some parts gavel and muddy. All along the highway there are many rest areas. No one will bother you if you stop overnight. So around 5 PM we pulled into a rest area, backed in to one corner and setup camp. I started the generator to run the microwave so we could make a dinner we had frozen before we left. In the morning we had breakfast and pulled out.
We crossed the border into the Alaska, that’s back in the USA where speed is in MPH and fuel is in Gallons, what a relief! When we crossed into the USA we got busted!! They confiscated the Tomatoes we had. We had to turnover the 1 and a half tomatoes from the refrigerator. Bummer, We could have sold them on the tomato black market and made a fortune.
About 12 noon we entered Tok, the first town back in USA. There is nothing of any value to see except souvenir shops, gas stations and restaurants. We fueled up because the fuel is cheaper in the USA and pushed on.
Work is always being done on the road - If you click on the second picture above you can see red flags beside the road.
We are now in a nice RV park in Fairbanks, relaxing and doing the tourist thing. It is hot. The last two days have been in the 80s. Yesterday we took care of some errands. Went to the supermarket, and had the oil changed in the truck. Here in Alaska they have Fred Meyer which is a Wal-Mart wana bee. We were not impressed. We also went to a Safeway supermarket, that we liked.
Yesterday was the summer solace. There 21.5 hours of day light. Each day after that it gets about 1 min less of day light. So when we go to bed the sun is still shining in the window, not even below the horizon.
Below is a picture of the camper with its space age coating, better known as Alaska Mud.
There is no car of truck in Alaska that does not have bugs all over the front grill, mud on the back and sides and a cracked windshield.
Went on two tours: the Number 8 Dredge and the Riverboat Discovery.
Number 8 Dredge.
You can also see part of the Alaskan Pipeline.
The dredge was used to extract gold that was not worth mining during the Gold Rush. It cost 15 million to build and setup. That is 1920 dollars. After blasting the top layer of dirt and rock off with high pressure water, the Dredge would come and extract the remaining gold.
The tour was very commercialized, with a lot of tour buses coming from the tour ships, but still interesting.
Ann and I got to pan for gold, and we found some! This is Ann’s stash.
We put mine and Ann’s stash together and made a locket.
The real gold mine is in the gift shop.
Riverboat Discovery.
The Riverboat Discovery is run by the same people that run the Dredge 8. Very commercialized but well done. You are taken up the Chena River, shown a Float Plane takeoff and land. Look at all the beautiful houses along the river. Shown how they train sled dogs, and went through an Indian village.
Now these houses with a camper, boat and plane is something I could get used to.
Of course, the winter is something I could not get used to.
The dog sled training. They use a ATV, without the engine, as a sled.
Next stop, an Indian village. Where you get off the boat and you can walk around.
Tomorrow we leave for Denali and parts south. Our reservation is for July 9, but we will see if we can get in early.
We will be boondocking the next few days, so I am not sure when the next blog will be. Rest assured, we will be back on line.
Life is good on the Roan Road…
Glad you two are having fun! Love the posts to keep up with your comings and goings.
ReplyDeleteTanya