July 27th - 28th

We had to leave Homer today... sad but true as it was time to move on.  We've had a couple of very nice days here with exploring, walking the spit, and fishing.

Yesterday (27th) WD went on a combo, salmon & halibut fish trip on the "Tuff-Stuff", a 34' Bertrim with twin diesel-cat engines.  Having 2 engines gives one a sense of security (maybe a false one) when heading out into the ocean.  It was another rainy day and the waves were forecasted to build after lunch so we started salmon fishing.  There were 4 of us on the boat (2 men from Oregon and a lady (Kittie) from Fairbanks) and each of us had our limit of 3 silver salmon by 10:30 AM.  They fish for salmon the same way we do in Lake Michigan.

Next it was on to the halibut.  What an experience!  First we anchor and let the fish come to us.  We used 3 pound (this is not a typo) weights to get the lines on bottom which was about 160'.  Once there, we waited and it didn't take long before we were hauling in halibut.  I can tell you that it was one of the most, if not the most, exhausting way to fish.  Just bringing in the 3 pound weight to check the bait, which we had to do frequently, was a chore in itself!.  WD kept 2 small ones about 20 pounds and we do not have room in the freezer for more.  Anything under 25 pounds is called a chicken... just can't seem to get away from the chicken   .  Everyone else caught and kept 40 - 50 pounders.

The last fish of the day was a 90 pounder, which Kittie caught and kept... her last fish!  Kattie is 58" tall and the fish was 54.5".  Like many of the Alaskan women we've met, she was very independent and self-sufficient (she lived in Tok, AK for 19 years in a house without electricity and running water... she home-schooled her children) while enjoying hunting, fishing, and the outdoors.

When WD was out working har  d to bring home some food for BA, she was out walking the spit (7 miles) and then that was not enough as she decided to bike another 20 miles around Homer.

We've both decided that out of all the places we've seen to date, Homer is a place where we could put down roots if it wasn't for the winters - Arizona here we come!

Pictures can be found at Homer Activities 2009

Did you know?  Alaska is the seafood capital of the US with over one million square miles of rich fishing waters!  More than all of the lower 48 states combined.  Havesting over six billion pounds of seafood per year.

Keep safe and keep the loops open.

July 25th - 26th

Nothing too exciting happening here in Homer but we are enjoying the "rest time"… not driving for a few days. We had a great salmon dinner at Captain Pattie's along with their clam-chowder soup… delicious!

We have also been walking around watching the fishing boats come in with their catch. We have not seen any without fish (halibut) so I can't wait until tomorrow to get on the water.   
It is also fascinating to watch the tide come in and go out. There is about a 20' difference between high and low tide so the difference is very dramatic.

We went to St John the Baptist Catholic Church last night and they have one of the most beautiful altars I have ever seen. It is very simple but has to large windows that look out onto the ocean and mountains.

Did you know? If you split Alaska in half, Texas would be still only be the thrid largest state.

Pictures can be found at Homer 2009
  
The list of animals continues to grow...

1. Muskrat
2. Shrew
3. Ground Squirrels
4. Red Squirrels
5. Moose – young bull still with velvet on his antlers at Don & Gale’s in Schroeder MN. Calf     on the side of the road plus numerous others.
6. Cows
7. Dogs
8. Horses
9. Cats
10. Antelope – North of Sheridan and all the way to Shelby
11. Sand-hill Cranes – in Belfry MT
12. Pheasants – in Belfry MT
13. Bison – Plains & Wood
14. Stone Sheep
15. Bears – Sow w/2 cubs and another Black Bear & Grizzlies
16. Magpies
17. Caribou
18. Elk
19. Sea Otter
20. Musk Oxen
21. Halibut
22. Salmon
23. Lynx
24. Bald Eagles
25. Golden Eagles
26. Dall Sheep
27. Wolves

Take care and keep the loops open.

July 22nd – 24th

Another long 81-mile day as we travelled from our campsite along 6-Mile Creek to Seward and then back to the Exit Glacier where we found another turnout beside Resurrection Creek.

It rained all night and all day today. I have never experienced such a consistent rainfall over such a long time… 2 days and counting. It reminds BA of the Netherlands… her words not mine!

As we drove to Seward, we ran into a lot of construction. It was weird the way they controlled the traffic with signs that stated there was a flagman, and then there was no one and yet the traffic stopped. There was a pilot truck but it didn't show up until the traffic from the opposite direction came started coming through… go figure.

It was also interesting to drive at 1000' above sea level in the clouds, see it rain, snow on the mountains, Fire Weed growing beside the snow, and above 2500, no trees. The tree line in most of Alaska is very low due to the permafrost.

We got to Seward and decided to go to the end of the road - Lowell Road that is. In the book, we have (The Milepost) it stated that this was a gravel road with a few potholes. It should have read many potholes with a few pieces of road. One of the pictures shows some of the less nasty potholes. It took us 45 minutes to drive the 3 miles but we did it! To top it all off, it would have been a very pretty drive if it weren't for the rain and fog. One other consequence of all the potholes, Arda got seasick (at least an upset stomach) from all the rockin' and rollin'.

Once we got back on smooth roads (meaning paved) we stopped and made lunch but the trailer was too cold to sit in so we sat in the truck and watched the half-day fishing charters return to port.

Next stop was the Exit Glacier in the Kenai Fjord. We followed a trail for about 1.5 miles to the side of the glacier. This glacier is fed by the Harding Ice fields, which covers about 300,000 acres and receives 70' of snow each year. It is hard to fathom how much this as receded in the past 10 years. While looking at the glacier we also spotted a black bear and it was exactly where it should be – on the other side of the glacier.

Tonight we are staying alongside Resurrection Creek and we are so close that when Arda looks out the window, she feels she is on a ship and wants her seasickness patches… wimp!

Today, the 23rd we are heading to Soldotna to see if we can get our propane system fixed. We filled up in Seward and had the smell of gas from one of the tanks so I shut it off with the intent of looking at it when we stopped for the night. The twist connector (plastic) on the tank that was leaking was broken… the seal had cracked. There was another problem because gas was leaking to the other tank even with the valve off. So we called Dan's Mobile RV Repair and he met us late in the day (obviously we are not the only folks in town with a problem). He arrived at Fred Meyers parking lot where were spending the night and had it fixed in about 15 minutes. We picked up a spare hose today in case we have the same problem on the other side. It sure was good to have the propane working again so we had heat and hot water for showers! Overall, it "killed" a whole day to get this fixed but when you don't have to be anywhere, who cares?

On the morning of the 24th we headed to Kenai, the largest city in the Kenai Peninsula with about 7000 people over 57 square miles. Compare that to a city like Toronto with over 2 million people within 40 square miles. Needless to say we didn't spend a lot of time here although we did drive up to Nikiski, which was a beautiful drive.

Next, we headed for Homer where we decided to go fishing… well WD anyway. We booked a combo-charter (salmon and halibut) charter for Monday. As an added bonus, they are allowing us to stay on their grounds N/C until we leave next Tuesday.

Did you know? The Yukon River is 2200 miles long and is the 4th largest in N.A.

Pictures can be found at Seward-Homer 2009

Take care and keep the loops open.

July 21st

Another long, pain-full day – ya right! We travel about 5 hours and drove about 20 miles as the crow flies but actually drove 83 miles… whew!    

It rained all day so we just took our time and did some site-seeing. We stopped at a number of turnouts to enjoy the view. We also drove through a conservation area where we saw many of animals. Watching animals in nature is fascinating.

Then we continued on to Hope. This is a very small village was founded in 1896 as a trading post and grew to its present day of five buildings. Of the five buildings on Main Street all are original and well maintained. You can see the whole town in one of the pictures. On the edge of town (the other side of the street) is Resurrection Creek where we saw people fishing for salmon… some were even caught - Salmon that is.   Didn't take too long to walk the entire village so we headed back down the road to a turnout we spotted on 6-Mile Creek where we spent the night.

Did you know? The warmest material in the world comes from the Musk ox. There is a layer of fur just under the neck called Qiviut and can be harvested each year – about 5 – 7 pounds per animal. Native knitters work at home in Eskimo villages throughout Alaska creating scarves, nachaqs (Eskimo smoke rings) and luxurious caps. Each village has it's own signature pattern derived from traditional designs.

As an added bonus, I have a quiz for today… can you identify the item in this picture?

 This picture provides a hint as to what the first picture is.

I will publish the answer in several days… if anyone wants to know that is.

Other pictures can be found at Alaska Hope - 2009

Take care and keep the loops open.

July 19th – 20th

Sunday morning was cloudy and raining at the turnout where we stayed but none-the-less, it didn't dampen our spirits. We decided we would look for a church in the next couple of towns. Well we found a lot of Baptist Churches but only 1 or 2 Catholic Churches with Mass being several hours later or in one case it was just about over. So we didn't give up so we continued to Palmer. Well it seems all (well so many that even the locals complain they can't get around) of Palmer's roads are under construction our GPS lady  couldn't figure out how to get us to the church. We had just about given up when we took the bull by the horns   and tried to figure it out ourselves and low and hold, there was the church. We were glad we did too because after Mass, they held their annual church picnic. We stayed for lunch where we felt extremely welcome. In fact, if we want to come back at the end of August to the state fair, we can stay at the church with water and electricity.


After church and lunch, it was off to Anchorage. We found a campground where they had internet, in fact the lady worked hard to put us in a site that had good reception. After catching up on the internet stuff, we had a good night's sleep only to wake up to the sound of rain. We decided we would leave and head south as we were not too keen on staying in the city in the rain. Unfortunately, our plans changed as Arda put her back out     brushing her teeth… at least that is her story and she is sticking to it. We found a chiropractor who, after a couple of hours, finished giving Arda an adjustment, which has helped but not fixed the problem. Oh well, time will heal.


We spent the rest of the day doing some shopping, first at Costco, Wal-Mart (they were not very friendly nor did they allow parking overnight so we left without spending any cash) and finally Fred Meyers. Then we headed out of town.


We have stopped for the night at milepost 99 on the Seward Highway. We are alongside the Cook Inlet, the railroad tracks and the highway (lots of traffic) but the price is right!


Did you know? If caught in a storm, bison face the wind, using their woolly head and shoulder coat to reduce the chill before it reaches the rest of their body.  


Pictures for today can be found at Alaska - Seward Highway Milepost 99 - 2009

Until Next time, keep your loops open.

July 14th – 18th

Wow! What a gorgeous place Denali Park is! Tuesday we left Fairbanks on a bright and sunny morning where they were expecting to set another high temperature record and headed to Denali Park.

As it was a short drive (about 2 hours) between Fairbanks and Denali, we made a few stops along the way to look at the scenery & a few more animals. We arrived at Denali around Noon and registered for our campground, Savage River, which is about 15 miles into the park. We tried to get a spot 29 miles into the park but it was full. Actually staying where we did was a good thing as we were able to drive out with the truck when we wanted to go somewhere. From the campground further in we would have to wait for a bus and then pay!

We also booked a tour to the end of the road, Kantishna, which is 93 miles into the park. This is a small town (about 15 residents at the best of times), that was started as a mining town. If memory serves me correct, it has cost as much or more to ship the gold out to be refined as they mined… I am sure the lifestyle had an impact on the people staying there.

We took the bus tour to Kantishna on Wednesday but we got a lot more than we paid for. There are two levels of bus rides to Kantishna. On one you get a "guided tour" all the way plus a box lunch and another one where you bring your own food and the driver does not provide any narrative. Well, we paid for the "cheap" ride and got the deluxe ride. We asked the driver several times if we were on the right bus and she said we were. Her name is Lisa Frederick and she has participated in the Iditarod    where she placed 37th… quite a feat! We saw lots of interesting site and animals along the way - Grizzly Bears, Caribou, Ptarmigan and her chicks, a wolf, Dall sheep, a bald eagle, and a pair of golden eagles. While we were waiting at the bus stop for the tour bus, a cow moose with her calf came wandering out of our campground… they did this 2 mornings in a row!

Thursday was a "lazy" day. We took the truck and went to the Riley Mercantile to see if we could stay another night. They had 2 spots and since we only needed one, it worked out great. We then went back to the trailer for lunch. After lunch, we went for a walk that took us to the Savage River that was mostly stones and very little water. We followed this back to the road and then back to camp. The weather was just super all day. That night we went to the Ranger's talk on Lynx and low and behold, a lynx walked right through the area where she was giving her talk. We accused her of using a wind-up prop but she swore that it was a first for her to see a Lynx in the wild.

On Friday we road our bikes into the Denali Visitor Center which was about 15 miles of lots of climbing and a little downhill… much to WD's chagrin but we made it. Our reward was a single scope, vanilla cone that was about the size of most 21 scopes. We then waited for the bus for 2 hours (this was the only negative on our stay here) as the first bus could not accommodate our bikes even though they advertise as much. It was another beautiful day and we were able to watch the train/bus tours come and go and we even talked to several people.

Friday night we went whitewater rafting down the Yukon River. We took the lazy man's   way by letting the guide do all the steering (he used oars) as opposed to paddling ourselves. We ran category I, II, III, IV, and one V rapids. The water temperature was only 39o, which meant one could survive about 1 minute in the water if you fell in. The good news was is they provided Gortex wet suits and boots so were totally dry except for our heads and hands… they did not fare so well but what a blast! This will not be our last whitewater ride.

Saturday morning dawned (I guess I can say that even though the sun doesn't really set) another beautiful day so we packed up camp and left. We did stop several times to watch another cow moose (the biggest I've ever seen) and her calf browse. We also stopped at Hurricane Gulch, which was quite impressive. We drove about 150 miles to milepost 76 on Parks Highway where we spent the night.


Did you know? There are several Bald Eagles currently living in the Park in the area of Denali. They do not normally inhabit this area because there are very few fish in the creeks and rivers due to the very high silt content to eat… they are fish eaters. There are lots of Bald Eagles in southern Alaska. Wonder Lake is one of the few that have fish but it is too deep so the Bald Eagle can't catch enough fish     to sustain itself. Even the rangers we spoke to do not know what the Bald Eagles are eating… at least for now.

Pictures of the last few days can be found at Alaska - Denali Park - 2009


Until next time – keep your loops open.

July 13th

Short update tonight -

must have been Facebooking with Sher Dewitt too much!  

Anyway today was a day to get some things done, bills got paid, laundry got done, shopping for the next few day done but I was unable to get my mirror fixed.  First the glass for 1/3 of the mirror cost almost $200 plus another $30 - $50 to install.     If I had to replace the entire unit it would have cost about $368 plus installation.  Since I found the entire unit on the internet for $210, I decided to wait until we are in the lower 48 states... hopefully it will be less expensive.

I also decided to NOT fix my windshield until we are back in GR... one never knows how many more chips we will get.


That is it for today.  Tomorrow we are off to Denali for 3 days and some white water rafting.  I am not sure when we will have internet again, it may not be until we are in Anchorage...  


Until we have internet again, be safe and keep the loops open!

July 12th

Another beautiful day in Fairbanks as apparently they are not that common here… we sure have been lucky with the weather.

Last night we went to a local theater where 2 actors and 2 actresses plus a piano player put on a musical skit covering the history of Fairbanks. It was not a serious skit but rather humorous to say the least. They were all local talent and where excellent.


Today we planned to go to the North Pole and downtown Fairbanks. The NP is only 12 miles SE of Fairbanks, so we went there first. It is a unique town to say the least. The streets, the signs, lights, etc. are decorated in the spirit of Christmas. Many streets have names that are associated with Santa – i.e. Elf Street, Reindeer Street, etc. The Santa Claus House is on St Nicolas Street… where else.


After taking some pictures, you can see them at North Pole Alaska we headed to Fairbanks. This town is different as it is not a pretty town (at least in my eyes). Most buildings are square and not very attractive… must have something to do with the winters (?). For a city of over 94K people, it is hard to describe. Apparently, it has the highest cost of living of any city in NA.


After Fairbanks, it was off to Fred Meyers. Yes, it is a large department store just like Meijer's back home but I understand it is located only in Alaska. Obviously, we are trying to help the local economy…


Back at the trailer and time to go to work (Yuk what an UGLY word!). I fixed some interior lights in the trailer and repaired one of the scissor-jacks, which wasn't working properly.


Tomorrow is another work (there is that word again) day… laundry, get the truck mirror replaced and so on… I'm not sure if I'll survive! 


Did you know?  A gold nugget was found in 1898 in the Klondike that was over 6" long and weighed over 72 oz. Its value then was $1169 and today it would be worth about $70,000.  Nice little bauble.


Take care and until next time keep the loops open.

July 10th & 11th

Today we decided we had come this far we might as well head to the Arctic Circle. We left the trailer behind and headed north. It was/is a 400-mile trip on paved and gravel roads but after doing it, I can tell you it was worth it! I think I prefer the gravel roads as they seem to be better maintained - that is smoother than the paved roads. The paved roads have a lot of bumps, dips, and heaves in them so they are much more difficult to repair. On the other hand, if the gravel roads were wet (as in raining) they would be like greased pigs! The roads were slick where they were working on the roads and put water down to hold the dust down. In any event, there were a lot of things to see along the way.

We saw a motor home and a car upside down in the ditch. The books warn you that the shoulders are soft and it was easy to tip-over. Both these vehicles (miles apart) had been there for weeks to months as I suspect the cost of towing them out was more than the value of the vehicle.

We crossed a number of creeks and rivers and all the bridges had wooden decks. I am not sure why except they would be easier to replace than poured concrete or asphalt. If anyone knows why, I'd be interested in hearing from you.

We drove through a lot of forests and burned areas. One such burn area started via multiple lightening strikes and burned over 100K acres. The fire fighters just monitored the fire as they let it burn so the forest would be rejuvenated. It burned for about 2.5 months before the July rains finally extinguished it.  The purple/pink Fire Weed seen below is part of the renewal process.

Of course, there were lots of places to see the pipeline as the Dalton Highway (why do they call every road a highway up here?) was so they could build the pipeline. We saw places where the pipeline went above ground heads and places where it went underground… not sure why except when crossing a road. We also saw place where the pipe was straight and places where it zigzagged up a hill… more questions to Google.

By the way, a head-ache bar is put in place anywhere the pipeline is above-ground, near the road so that no one can "run into the pipeline".

At one place, there was a sign on the road that said, "Road closed for aircraft". A runway ran right along the side of the road so they had to close the road in order for planes to land/take-off. Guess there weren't that many planes… at least today. There was probably more when the road/pipeline built.

We finally made it to the Arctic Circle. We had planned to have lunch there but the mosquitoes were so numerous, we ate in the truck – a real picnic. There is no shortage of mosquitoes in Alaska and they are hungry with all this fresh meat around!

On the way home, we had to stop several times to let large trucks pass us. The first 2 were only 14' and 16' wide but the roads are narrow. The last truck was a monster… 25' wide/214' long. It had taken them 4 days to travel from Anchorage to Fairbanks and they expected it would take a minimum of about 3 days to reach Prudhoe Bay.

We did add to our animal watch… 4 additional moose plus a Lynx. Unfortunately they were too fast (or we were too slow) to get a picture of any of them.

Talk about gravel roads… apparently we got a small stone chip about the size of a squashed mosquito in the driver's corner of the windshield. Arda spotted it and then within 15 minutes we had 2 more from passing trucks. These were bigger – about the size of squshed June bug on the windshield. I think we will wait until we get home to get it repaired but I will get the mirror replaced Monday (I hope).

Saturday is a day of puttering around fixing the water (again) in the trailer, charging the generator starter battery, haircuts, etc. and Arda went for a bike ride. We are heading to church and afterwards to a comedy theater.

Take care and keep the loops open.

July 9th

We had rain last night and it is a lot cooler today. Yesterday Fairbanks set a new record of 92o and it was so humid we had the A/C on in the trailer for a while. Today the temps were around 70o which is a whole lot nicer so we were able to carry out our plans to be tourists…

Due to the sporadic internet coverage in the park, we decided to go to a library as we had many items to catch up on. This went well and afterwards we had a sandwich back in the RV before heading to the Eldorado Mine. If any of you are in this area, I highly recommend this attraction… this was my second trip there and I wasn't disappointed. The net of it all was that BA panned about $16 in gold while WD panned about $12. It really didn't matter what I panned as in the end it went into Arda's stash, making her a gold-digger!

On the way back to Fairbanks, we stopped where a portion of the Alaska Pipeline run overhead. It really is fascinating to see what and how it was built. Tomorrow we are going the Arctic Circle on the "highway", and I use this term loosely" that was built so the pipeline could be built. We are leaving the trailer in the park.

Next, we stopped at an Alaskan Salmon Bake. It was an all you eat affair and the food was excellent with fresh salmon, cod, and halibut heading the list and prime rib right behind them. As usual, BA & WD got their money's worth.

You will have noticed that I did not include any photos in today's tally book entry. Due to the poor internet service and the difficulty of working with Google's editor, I decided to try something different. If you click on, "Alaska Tourist Day 7/9/2009", this will take you to a slide show of today's pictures. I would appreciate any feedback you might have as to the format I used today or the one previously used.

Did you know? The Klondike got its name from the Indian word "Thron Diuk" meaning "Hammer Water". Early settlers couldn't pronounce this so it became KLON-DIKE.

Keep your loops open!

July 7th - 8th

Another morning or is that the first and last morning in Chicken AK. After spending the night at the local RV Park (there are 2) we decided we just had to see the rest of Chicken so in the truck we climbed and headed for Chicken's Mini-Mall! It was fantastic! A bar, a café, a liquor store, and a mercantile, what more could one ask for. Well the tour lasted all of 10 minutes, as Grandma Arda had to buy a couple of baby books… "The True Meaning of Christmas" and "When Grandma and Grandpa were in Alaska". Lots of fun!

After the excitement died down we hit the road again – the gravel road that is. Canada's gravel roads are very good with few bad spots and I would say the US road a very poor with a very few good spots. Twenty MPH or less was the order of the day. After about 25 miles, we did get on to chip-seal roads and these were much better.

We did see some more Alaska wildlife. We have now added a Snowshoe Hare and another Moose to our list. How did we know it was a Snowshoe Hare? Because it was still wearing tiny snowshoes!

We also saw some beautiful spring flowers – we've seen many this year. These are called Wildfire because they grow mainly in areas where fires have burnt. They are peculiar because the blooms start from the bottom and as each level opens, another grows until the weather changes. Once the weather changes, they start dying from the top down.

We drove to Tok (rhymes with poke) and stopped at the Visitor's Center. It was a very nice center but the town library closed at 11:00 AM because as the young lad said, "I've done my shift"… I guess they get to call their own shots.

After Tok, we drove to Delta Junction that is the official end of the Alaskan Highway. The highway between Delta Junction and Fairbanks is called Richardson Highway and was built after the Alcan was completed.

We had decided that we were going to Dry Camp again that night so we stopped at the Shaw Pond about 15 – 20 miles west of Delta Junction. This is a man-made area with several very small lakes stocked with Grayling. There was one family that stopped for a swim and a picnic and 2 other cars that fished for a few minutes and other than that, Arda and I had the entire area to ourselves.

The next morning (the 8th), we headed for Fairbanks where we are staying at the Chena River State Recreation Park which has very nice campgrounds. We did some running around to get parts to replace the RV's one-way water valve, get some small welding done and then groceries, as we have not shopped for a week or two.

The rest of the day, we puttered around and I fixed two items on the RV, including the water, and broke one other thing… just like home. It never quits!

We are going to be here for 3 – 4 days and be real tourists by going on some tours, etc. so I will update you as I can. Both phone and internet service leave a little to be desired to say the least!

Take care and keep you loops open!

July 4th - 6th

We spent the last several days in Dawson City. What a unique town of about 1900 permanent residents. The roads are still gravel, the sidewalks are made of wood, and the taps in your house must be left running in the winter or they will freeze.

We stayed in the Downtown RV Park which was a little expensive but provided an ideal place to operate from. We could walk the entire town in about 15 minutes… that is a WD walk, not a BA march! In fact we walked from one end of town (our campsite) to the other (the Health Center) which was a very nice walk but didn’t do anything for my elbow.

Most of the buildings have either been restored or when new ones are built, they have to resemble the original Dawson buildings. Today all of the buildings, new or refurbished, are built above the ground on pilings of a platform. The reason for this is to prevent the building heat from melting the permafrost which is about 2’ below the surface… it never thaws.

There is also a prime business opportunity for Mary here… better hurry before it is grabbed up!

We took a tour at Dredge #4 where N.A’s largest wooden-hulled, bucket-lined gold dredge is now stored. It was built for about $200,000 over 2 years but paid for itself in 2 months once it went into production. The enormity and ingenuity that went into some of the old tools/process is amazing. It was retired in 1954 and is now a national monument.

We also spent time at Diamond Tooth Gerties which is a casino, bar, and stage show. It was BA’s idea as you know her gambling habit but this time she was lucky as she walked away with $120… she was happy. I also got to see 3 different shows which were very well done. While some of the talent is brought in from other parts of the country, many of the performers were local people. They did a great job!

We took a ride (truck) up the Dome to see the midnight sun. Of course we didn’t see it first because we went at 10:00 PM and second, it is very seldom seen as one has to be at or above the arctic-circle to see this. It does give a very good view of Dawson, the Yukon River, and surrounding area. Unfortunately it was somewhat hazy when we were there… we actually went to the top twice.

It really is hard to explain daylight just about 24 hours a day. As you can see, Arda is sitting by the picnic table at 1:00 AM and it is light out. One loses all of the queues that we become accustom to. For example, we find ourselves eating dinner at 8:00 PM while thinking it is only about 5… really strange.

On Monday, (the 6th) we headed for Chicken, U.S.A. Chicken got its name from early settlers who wanted to call the town Ptarmigan which is a common bird here in Alaska. Many people had trouble pronouncing/spelling the name so they used the bird’s nickname which in Alaska is “Chicken”.  This bird wound up in a lot of miner's stew pots over the years!

It was only a 107 mile trip but it took us about 6 hours to come across the Top of The World Highway. Well, I can tell you that highway is a misnomer. For a few miles after taking the ferry across the Yukon River, it was paved but with many pot holes. Then there were long stretches of road that are referred to as “maintained gravel”. We these weren’t bad compared to a lot of the so called paved sections but the dust was terrible. Then we crossed the border into the US. The roads were even worse than Michigan if you can believe it. Twenty miles an hour was about the fastest we drove with the speed limit being 50 MPH. We had to stop once and re-screw the kitchen table down as all the screws holding it in place had come lose. All of the cups were also up-side down in the cupboard but nothing was broken.

We learned something else today… watch out for the rental RV’rs. The roads are narrow with soft shoulders as the rental RV’s are normally fairly wide, at least wider than a car so I am not many of the renters have experience driving larger vehicles on smaller roads. We know one who didn’t. I saw him coming and said to BA, he needs to get on his side of the road thinking that he would. We he didn’t and we kissed mirrors. The mirror on my truck was/is cracked. BA & I walked back to see if everything was OK in the other vehicle but they were too busy trying to put their mirror back together. They didn’t even say anything to us but we thinking it is because they couldn’t speak English. Oh well, another thing to fix on the truck when I get home.

Now for the feature section… Did you know? In 1905 the Dawson City Nuggets competed for the Stanley Cup in Ottawa, ON. The 4400 mile trip took 23 days and cost $3000 for the entire team. They arrived 1 day before the games started and lost both games by a 9-2 and 22-3 score. Ottawa’s one-eyed Frank McGee scored 14 goals the second game setting a record that exists today.

Keep your loops open.

July 4th

              Happy 4th to all!     

What a great country this is!