Day 25 - Fairbanks, Alaska

July 3, 2010 Linda & Darrell Marshall Adventure 7

This morning we boarded our tour coach at 8 AM for a tour of Fairbanks. Our bus driver was a good teacher and gave us lots of info on the city. Fairbanks is considered a sub -arctic desert, they have an average of 11 inches of rain a year. To be a desert 10 inches or less qualifies. Alaska can have seven million acres of forest fires a year and Fairbanks also gets smoke from Siberian fires.

We cruised the Chena River on the paddle wheeler Discovery. Capt Wade Binkley is a 4th generation river boat captain. The boat is 156' long, 34' wide, sets in the water 39 inches and carries 900 people. The family company of riverboats, mines & trading posts was started in 1898. We were given a thrill while on board, bush pilot Steve took off and landed beside the boat. And he did it just for us (and every tour). He flies a Piper Super Cub that he restored, it took him 1,500 hours. We were informed bush pilots aren't fancy dressers, if their socks match and their hat's are dead they are happy. We passed the home of Susan Butcher, 4 time Iditarod Champion. We stayed on board while her husband, Dave, and his two daughters gave us information on their dogs via microphone. Dave had a team hooked up, they knew they were going to work and were they ever excited! The "sled" was a 4-wheeler. Dave and his 10 year old daughter rode, he said the dogs were pulling about 600 lbs and going 20mph. Our next stop was an Athabascan (Indian) village. We left the boat for demonstrations and explanations of how they lived, fished, hunted, tanning, made clothes and did bead work.

For lunch we went to The Pump House. It pumped the water for strip mining. The food was great!

After lunch we were driven to see the Alaska pipeline (in the rain). The oil comes from Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks. When it comes out of the ground the oil temp is 148 degrees and by the time it reaches Fairbanks its temp is 100. It travels down the pipeline at a rate of 4mph.

Our next adventure took us to the El Dorado Gold Mine. On an open sided train (good thing it stopped raining) took us thru a tunnel set up like an underground mine. Then we panned for gold. YES! We got flakes! And it was flakes. When we panned in Chicken it was gold dust. They would weigh our gold and tell us what it was worth and I had $31.00 worth. I had it put in a necklace that cost $60 - go figure! The train had live entertainment, two guys played banjo, guitar and sang. They were very good. It was a great time!

We then returned to the campground ending a very interesting and exciting day.

Day 24 - Tok, Alaska to Fairbanks, Alaska

Bill and Marilyn Kern – Adventure #6                                                              Friday, July 02, 2010


Bright, warm morning. Left Tok RV Village campground at 9:00 a.m. Mailed letters at the Tok Post office on our way out of town. Traveled with Noreene and Jeff Totten. Stopped at the Delta Meat Market. They sell reindeer, elk, buffalo, and yak meat products. Purchased some buffalo sausage. The American flag out front was at half-mast in honor of Senator Byrd who passed away.

Stopped at the end of the Alaska Highway – Delta Junction, AK – Milepost #1422 . We took many pictures, shopped at the gift shop, and bought our milepost “1422” hat pins (to go with our Milepost “0” hat pin).

Stopped at Rika’s Roadhouse where we ate lunch, which included “home-made” crab and corn bisque. Very good with a dab of Tabasco sauce! Our tailgunners, Spence and Madi Schaaf joined us for lunch (we were the last units on the drive to Fairbanks, AK). We toured the extensive and beautiful, historic roadhouse grounds.

Stopped at the Knotty Shop. Took the “Milepost” inside, showed them their advertisement and received a free ice scream cone (flavor-Java Mash-up). Nice gift shop.

Passed the North Pole, AK. (yes, there really is a town named North Pole) where “Santa Land” is located. This is a large store where it is Christmas all year long! Marilyn and Noreene plan to return to the store on one of our free Days next week. (It’s about 17 miles from our campground).

Arrived at River’s Edge RV Park and campground about 5:00 p.m. The weather continued to be mostly fair and warm. The road conditions-the Alaska Highway and Richardson Highway were, for the most part, very good. There was some construction, frost heaves, and loose gravel (far less gravel than we e3xperienced 10years ago driving the same route).

We saw vistas of forests, lakes, mountains and rivers, and in some places, miles of fireweed along the highway. And we saw a cow moose grazing in the parkway soon after leaving Rika’s Roadhouse. Good sighting by Noreene. We took some photos of her.

All in all, 207 mile trip was interesting and relaxing. We arrived at River’s Edge, collected our forwarded mail, and anticipate the next few days of activities in the Fairbanks area.

Day 23 - Chicken, Alaska to Tok, Alaska

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!

After our 4:30 briefing and social hour, the evening ended with a LEO at Fast Eddy’s. From Chicken to Tok – a great day of caravanning!

Day 22 - Dawson City, YT to Chicken, Alaska

Larry & Ada Beavers – Rig #4                                                                  Wednesday, June 30, 2010


Got up early this morning.

Nothing happened all day.

Went to bed!

Just pulling your chain!

We left the park at 6:30 a.m. and went to the Shell station in town for gas. The fuel was expensive but the lady at the station was so congenial that she made up for the price.

The ferry crossing was uneventful but we talked to the First Nation man who told us he has 25 years on the ferry and is retiring this year and going fishing. He was typical of the “Dawson Spirit” that we found there.

Onward to Chicken, Alaska over the “top of the world” highway. What a beautiful drive. There were views galore of the many mountain ranges as we made our way along the ridge road for many miles.

The only animal we saw all day was the back end of a silver tip black fox.


We felt we were in Scotland sometimes because of the fog and vegetation.

We drove 58 miles before we passed an oncoming vehicle and then crossed back into the U.S.


We arrived in Chicken without any problems. However, you “can’t be chicken to drive to chicken.”

In the evening we hade a very good chicken breast sandwich with fixin’s prepared by the wagonmasters and tailgunners. Later we had a delicious blueberry crisp with ice cream desert furnished by the park hosts. This was followed by a “Crazy Hat” contest that was fun and rather goofy.

It is now about time for bed and the sun is still shining.


A super day for sure, for sure.

Day 21 - Dawson City, YT

The Atteburys Adventure 3


Tuesday, June 29, 2010

This is day 21 of 58. We started our day with a travel briefing about the Top of the World Highway. We start our drive on a ferry across the Yukon River to a dirt road for a while. It’s supposed to be pretty much paved until we get into Alaska. We were warned to drive carefully and stay off the soft shoulder because once you get in you may have to be towed back to the road. The rest of the meeting was taken up with the RV park owner giving us a talk about Dawson City.

Dawson City was a large gold boom town. Pat, the owner, said that there were 65,000 miners here about 1895 to 1899. Then all the miners moved on to Nome, Alaska. Now Dawson has about 1,900 year round residents. And then there are a lot of maroon jackets running through town. The town is a national historic place and quite charming. The buildings are being restored to the 1900 era.

Erv and I took the drive up to the Midnight Dome. It is a fantastic sight. You can see where the Klondike River comes into the Yukon. You can even see the mixing point where the clear Klondike and the muddy Yukon merge. You can see forever from up there. We could see the Top of the World Highway for maybe 15 or 20 km. We got back in time to go on a walking tour of Dawson City

Our guide was Gabriella. She was dressed in period clothes. She was very knowledgeable. She talked about the saloons, banks, and brothels. It was a different time back then when there were only gold seekers and the people who took their money. We learned a lot about the times and most of us decided that we probably wouldn’t have made it as a merchant or a miner. She was an interesting woman in her own right. She raises sled dogs up here for fun. She came here twelve years ago to learn about dogs and dogsleds. She decided to stay and loves it up here.

We ate lunch at Sourdough Joes and went back to camp and got ready to head out to the ferry. Erv, Ivan, and Barry all wanted to play golf at the Dawson City Top of the World Golf Course. It is a beautiful course to look at, but it is just like the roads up here. It’s all frost heaves. Shirley, Monique and I, Trecia rode along with the boys. We even got to drive the carts. We all had a good time. The three golfers had the most fun. It was suppose to be a midnight game, but the nine holes were finished at 9:45. We all decided that we would be asleep at midnight. We’re dry camping here in the courses lot for tonight. In the morning we head off to Chicken, Alaska our first day in the fiftieth state.