Marvin and Dee Curb #5 Thursday, July 1, 2010
Cock-a-doodle-do! We awoke in Chicken, Alaska to a glorious sunny day. Chicken was established in 1903 – a mining camp. Ptarmigan were plentiful in the area. In the north, “chicken” is a common name for that bird. One account has it that early day miners wanted to name their camp “Ptarmigan” but were unable to spell it and settled for Chicken instead- - - - and now you have “the rest of the story.”
Chicken has a nice airstrip. Mail is flown in twice a week. The unique “yard ornament” is the Pedro gold dredge. It is very complete and the town was really interesting. Breakfast at the Gold Camp Café was a pleasant surprise – a soufflé with sourdough toast and hazelnut coffee. Chicken Alaska is not the kind of place you would expect to find a yummy breakfast casserole. On his morning walk, Larry spotted the “Big Mama” moose up by the air strip (a Kodak moment). The helicopter was busy early this morning – carrying zinc ore, tools, etc from the nearby mine. The saloon ceiling is lined with caps and the store has everything to help a tourist part with his money. Alas – so much to see and good things to eat – so little time. Chicken has only one real chicken – a Plymouth Rock. And very few buildings – but Chicken, Alaska is a unique place – a great overnight stop.
Amidst the squawking of ravens, we reluctantly left Chicken, driving the Taylor Highway to Tok, Alaska – eyes peeled for whoop-di-doos.
As we drove we saw lots of small gravel roads going off through the trees. What fun it would be to follow some of those roads in the Jeep just to see where they go.
At about mile 15 we spotted a moose with a calf off in the trees about 100 yds – feeding in a small pond – wish they had been closer to the road.
We enjoyed the drive to Tok, especially the turnouts that explained about the caribou. Before we knew it, we were at Village Gas in Tok, getting our receipt to wash the rig.
Then came the Great Car Wash Caper at Tok RV Village and we washed the top of the world off our rigs – super effort and all hands on deck helping each other!
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