Alaska - 2007

Whitehorse, Yukon -
Fairbanks, Alaska

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 Fourth Stage:  Day 13 - Day 14 - Day 15 - Day 16 - Day 17

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Day 13 - July 9: Whitehorse, Yukon - Dawson City, Yukon

Today's Mileage: 335  Total Mileage: 4,293  Start: 8 am Stop: 4:30 pm

Weather: Mostly sunny, in the mid 70"s - nice day!

Via: YT - Klondike Highway (YT-2) to Dawson City

Hotel: Downtown Hotel - no A/C, but a fan and it will be cool tonight. We have a sofa but I'm using the chair we brought along, for the first time.

Breakfast: In Hotel Lunch: Roadhouse Dinner: Riverwest Bistro

Comments: Started the day with a visit to Starbucks for coffee. Today we left the Alaska Highway and traveled on the Klondike Highway to Dawson City - famous for the Gold Rush.

Very little traffic - I'm getting used to it. There were quite a few sections of the road under construction. Mostly this meant that we were traveling in gravel. One time there was a 20 min. delay for the traffic to clear the other way. I thought the van was dirty before, but it's really dirty now.

Stopped at various roadhouses/lodges for refreshments and lunch.

Visited the Tage Cho Hudan Interpretive Center which showcases the past and present culture of the Northern Tutchone. The Yukon obviously gets many German visitors - signs were in English and German.

Dawson City is unlike any other city/town on this trip. The only paved road is the Klondike Highway which is the main street through town ending at the ferry across the Yukon, which we will take on Wednesday. All the sidewalks are wooden - just like a town in the old West.

Tourism in the area seems to be down and quite a few business are closed or for sale. Dawson City lost a lot of residents after the gold rush was over, and it might be going through another change.

Tomorrow we are in Dawson City for another day.

Click to see a larger Picture

Whitehorse -
Dawson City

- - - - -  At a Lodge - these buns feed four  - - - - -

 Another Lodge and yes, that's
how big the mosquitos are

- - - - - - - - - - -  Tage Cho Hudan Interpretive Center - - - - - - - - - - Five Finger
Rapids

- - -  Downtown Hotel  - - -  - - - - - - - - - -  Downtown Dawson City  - - - - - - - - -

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Day 14 - July 10: Dawson City, Yukon   

Happy Birthday,
Ken

Today's Mileage: 35  Total Mileage: 4,328  Start: 8 am Stop: ?

Weather: Cooler, cloudy day - but nice, in the 60's

Hotel: Downtown Hotel

Breakfast: At Hotel Lunch: Sourdough Joe's Dinner: At Hotel

Comments: Today was the first of three birthdays we are going to celebrate during this trip.

Arnie & I decided to check-out the operation of the ferry this morning. Lots of motor homes were leaving and they were backed-up. The ferry is small and can only take  4 cars and one motor home at a time. There is a special lane for shorter vehicles, like our van, and there was little waiting there. We'll see tomorrow.

Then we decided to go see one of Gold Dredges - it can be toured. Quite a machine. After that the Buza's bought me lunch in honor of my birthday, and then I went back to the hotel. Rose & Jeanne went shopping for a while.

This afternoon was time to catch-up on sleep and at night we watched the All-Star Game.

Tomorrow will probably be a long day, we have to drive 400 miles to Fairbanks - first the ferry, then crossing the border into Alaska and then some slow driving on bad roads.

Click to see a larger Picture
   
- - - - - -  Morning at the Ferry  - - - - - -    
         
 
- - - - - -   Gold Dredge # 4  - - - - - -  

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Day 15 -  July 11: Dawson City, Yukon - Fairbanks, Alaska

Alaska

Today's Mileage: 400  Total Mileage: 4,728  Start: 6:30 am Stop: 7:30 pm

Weather: Cloudy, some rain in the mountains, 50+ degrees in am; rain, sunny in pm, high 60's

Via: YT - Top of the World Highway to Alaska Border
       AK - Top of the World Highway to Taylor Highway
               Taylor Highway to Alaska Highway (AK-2)
               Alaska Highway to Delta Junction (end of Alaska Highway)
               Richardson Highway (AK-2) to Fairbanks

Hotel: Dale & Joe View Suites (B&B) - very nice, new house; we have a 2 bedroom suite with kitchen, etc.

Breakfast: At Hotel Lunch: Chicken, AK Dinner: Pizza Bella

Comments: Interesting day, to say the least. Got up early so we could get to the ferry. It runs 24 hours each day, but on Wednesdays (and it was Wednesday) they do maintenance from 5 - 7am, so we wanted to get in line. At 6:30 the ferry was running already and we were the only ones in line.  Good start.

Half an hour later we had a flat tire. The tire was not easy to change, some people stopped to help us and at one time it looked like a NASCAR pit stop. After an hour we were on the road again.

66 miles from Dawson City is the Alaska border. We were the only vehicle there and got through it in no time at all.

Up till then the road was paved, but there were many sections with gravel where the road was being repaired. On the US side it was unpaved for 46 miles - and many potholes. Not an easy or fun drive. Lots of hills, etc.

Lunch was at Chicken, AK - an interesting stop. Not much there but some 'stores" - Downtown Chicken. Mail is delivered twice a week and they have no telephones - but they do have the internet!

After Chicken the road was paved, but again there were many sections under repair - but nobody was working.

We then got back on the Alaska Highway just south of Tok, and then drove to Fairbanks. Oh, and the first stop in Tok was a car wash. I have never seen the van this dirty!

The toughest part (mentally) was driving without a spare - no one says it can't happen again and we still had many more miles of tough roads. But we made it and I'll try to get a tire to match tomorrow.

We are now 4 hours behind EDT. We will be in Fairbanks for 3 nights.

Click to see a larger Picture

Dawson City -
Fairbanks

Sign as we are
leaving Dawson City

- - - - - - - - -  Top of  the World Highway  - - - - - - - - -
           
 
Back in the US - - - -  Chicken, AK  - - - - Dirty Van -
Spare is on the right rear		  
 

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Day 16 - July 12: Fairbanks, Alaska

Today's Mileage: 79  Total Mileage: 4,807  Start: 9 am Stop: 7:30 pm

Weather: Sunny, in the 70's - nice day

Hotel: Dale & Joe View Suites (second night)

Breakfast: Dale & Joe Lunch: Wendy's Dinner: Chili's

Comments: Easy day. First on the agenda was getting a new tire - which turns out to be not too easy. I don't think anybody here carries the tires (Falken) I have on the van. Sears was the only dealer listed in Fairbanks but they did not have this particular tire. Rather than hold everybody up I decided to tackle this tomorrow when Rose & Arnie are on a day trip to Barrows.

Next we went to the Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska - about 10 miles from Fairbanks. We had passed it yesterday but it was late and today was the day. Basically a large shopping opportunity but the prices were quite reasonable and they had a lot of stuff. Some purchases were made!

After lunch to Wal-Mart so Arnie could pick up a prescription, and then we had a reservation for the Riverboat Discovery, one of the big attractions in Fairbanks. We had taken this 18 years ago as part of the land tour on a Princess Cruise. We thought Rose & Arnie would like it and we wanted to see what changes had taken place. And - it was in our Great Alaska Tour Saver Coupon Book as a 2-4-1 coupon.

Every organized tour/cruise line that goes to Fairbanks does the Riverboat - as could be seen from the buses that were there - Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, etc. There were only a few cars, motor homes etc. there - and they ran two boats.

The most significant change I found were the many large homes that were built on or near the river. And - the shops at the docks were much larger than before. This was a shopping opportunity our food committee could not pass up!  For more about the cruise see here.

Tomorrow new tires (hopefully) and I have to make two shuttle runs to the airport for Rose & Arnie. We are only 15 min. from the airport, that's the good news - the bad news is that we have to leave at 5:30 am!

Click to see a larger Picture
           
 
Santa House At the Dock Mushing Our Boat  
  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   Riverboat Discovery  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
           
 
Log House - - -  Sled Dogs  - - - Chena River The Other Boat  
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   Riverboat Discovery  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
           
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  Indian Village  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Back at the Dock
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   Riverboat Discovery  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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Day 17 - July 13: Fairbanks, Alaska

To Barrow!
Today's Mileage: 97  Total Mileage: 4,900  Start: 5:45 am Stop: 8:30 pm

Weather: Sunny, partial clouds - another nice day, in the mid-70's

Hotel: Dale & Joe View Suites (third night)

Breakfast: Dale & Jo Lunch: Taco Bell Dinner: X

Comments: Rose & Arnie flew to Barrow today. We skipped it since we had been over the Arctic Circle on our Princess Cruise/Land Tour 18 years ago and this tour was very similar. But I still had to get up early to do the shuttle trip to the airport.

In the morning we did the El Dorado Gold Mine tour. This is run by the same family that did the Riverboat tour. A narrow gauge train played the part of the riverboat. Demonstration are held of various mining methods and at the end you get a chance to pan for gold. Well, there is one other stop - the GIFT SHOP. Then the train takes you back to the depot. Lots of buses again, few cars.

Back to the tire problem. This morning I called Explorer Vans, the conversion company and I got a suggestion for a replacement tire. The first tire store we went to today had the tire and I decided to buy four new tires. They put them on in less than an hour and we were off to our next stop - an oil change.

Found a Jiffy Lube place - and they even had me in the computer - once I changed my oil at Jiffy Lube in Charlotte. Sometimes all this technology is scary. In Alaska an oil change costs $50. They are still finding gold - in my pocket!

In the afternoon we just hung around Dale & Jo's. Since we have a washer/dryer in the suite Jeanne took advantage of that and got caught up with laundry.

Below are some pictures of Dale & Jo's house. As you can see it's a big house and they have four bedrooms available to rent. We have the first floor, which includes a full kitchen, sitting area and two bedrooms, each with a bath and, of course, the laundry

The kitchen is stocked with all kinds of goodies for breakfast and Jo will make anything that we would like. Yesterday she made hot oatmeal and tomorrow she is going to make a quiche for us. She is writing cook book and for all I know this is research for her - but it sure tastes good. She is on the right track!

The other two bedrooms are on the third floor. This floor also has an apartment for Dale & Jo. The second floor has a sitting and dining area, a business office and a kitchen which is used by all the people on the third floor. We have wireless Internet available to us.

The house sits on a ridge and you can actually see the river that we cruised on yesterday. It's kind of in the woods - some of the roads are unpaved.

It's as close to home as you can find on the road - a real gem.

At 8 pm Rose & Arnie got back at the airport & I made the shuttle run.

Tomorrow we are off to Denali.

Click to see a larger Picture

To Barrow!

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  At the Gold Mine  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
           
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  At the Gold Mine  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
           
- - - -  The House  - - - - View - - - - -  Sitting Area & Kitchen  - - - - -
           
   
Rose & Arnie's - - -  Our Bedroom  - - - New Tires    
 - - - - - - -  The Bedrooms  - - - - - - -    

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