June 12 thorugh June 15, 2014

Fairbanks.

Fairbanks is a cute town. I believe there are only around 30,000 people in the town even though it is the second largest in Alaska

We got pretty busy so our time to post on this blogspot was limited.

Unfortunately, we did not get to do everything on our bucket list, but we did see quite a bit.

Firstly we drove the town to get the lay of the land. It is pretty easy to get around.

Our first stop was Pioneer Park. It is pretty much designed for younger kids. The Park is made up mainly of old log cabins moved to the park over the years. They provide a little history of each cabin. We did have lunch at one of them. There is a nice exhibit about gold mining and a really cute train.

The pipeline is not as large as I imagined. I guess the media skewed my perspective.

We went downtown to the old civic building which is now converted to the dog sled museum. However, it was closed.

One of our highlights was the Gold Dredge 8 tour. You take a train down to the dredge. During the trip down a guy explains how the gold mining process works. There are actually actors along the way demonstrating some of the processes.

We went to the North Pole and saw some reindeer and purchased a few items at the gift shop.

Of course one of us had to see the midnight sun.

June 12, 2014

Well we did it. From Mile Zero in Dawson Creek to Delta Junction Mile 1422. What a trip.

We stopped in the Delta Junction Visitor's Center and received our certificate of completion...Actually cost us $1.00. No big deal.

After looking around we decided not to stay in Delta Junction. We originally thought we would stay at Smith's Green Acres RV Park. But after looking around, there really wasn't much to do around Delta Junction so we moved on to Fairbanks...A real city!!

After re-provisioning, we were around $600.00 lighter. Yikes. We spent a few hours just driving around town seeing what is up here.

Our goal for the next three days is to:

1. Go north of the Artic Circle (either fly or drive). It is a 194 miles each way.
2. Pioneer Park
3. Take a picture of the midnight sun.
4. Tour some sled dog facilities.
5. Chena Hotsprings.

We will see how much we get done.

June 8 through June 11, 2014

June 8 and 9, 2014

We have had very sporadic internet service the last several days. We left Watson Lake somewhat early so that we could have an afternoon and a full day in Whitehorse. Whitehorse the capital of the Yukon is a pretty cool place.

I forgot to mention that in the Watson Lake Visitors Center they were giving out these "passports". I guess they have been doing this for a couple of years now. If you get ten stamps from various locations in the Yukon you give your passport to the last location and you are entered into a drawing for 2 ounces of Yukon gold. If you have 20 stamps you are entered into a drawing for 5 ounces of Yukon gold.

Well...you can get around 8 stamps just in Whitehorse. So we have been stopping at various locations; mainly visitor centers to get a stamp. It has been like a scavenger hunt. What a blast. Not only do we get the stamp, but we get to visit a new place and learn its history. We have 11 stamps so far. We will turn it in on our return.

 

June 10, 2014

 

We had a fairly easy run up to Destruction Bay. Loren the owner, is quite a character. He purchase the RV park back in 1995. He had quite a few good years, but ran on hard times during the U.S. recession. He is coming back, but his competitors around him are all out of business. The park itself is ok, but Loren is working on getting water and internet running in the next couple of weeks. Destruction Bay was a camp during the construction of the Alcan. It held up to 10,000 people. Now only 40. It is situated right on the Kluane Lake (cloo whan ee). What a beautiful lake. Loren informed us the ice just broke up last week.

 

 

 

 

 

June 11, 2014

 

Well, this was the worst section of the Alcan. I was under the impression that "frost heaves" were a problem. Well I learned that it is not just the "heaves" you need to worry about but the "dips" or sink holes. When they exposed the permafrost during construction of the Highway, they did not realize that you cannot re-freeze the permafrost. It was frozen from 10's to 100's of thousands of years ago and can be over 40 feet thick. When it melts, the road sinks into the void. Very Very dangerous driving. It took us over 6 hours to get from Destruction Bay to Tok. (Got right through the border).

 

Most of the driving was less than 30 MPH. There is a 30 mile section that the Canadians convinced the U.S. to pay for the repairs. (32 Million US$). That's over $1 million per miles.

 

But we made it to Alaska!!

 



 

June 5 through June 7, 2014

June 5, 2014

We left Dawson Creek for Ft. Nelson fairly early. It was an OK drive, but I am noticing that each kilometer north we go the road gets a little more in need of repair.

Unfortunately, I think I have the final tally of the damage we did to the RV at Prince George.

House Battery Charger $400.00

AC to DC Converter $35.00

Washer/Dryer $TBD

DVD Player $TBD

That really sucked. All were fried. I suspect they all got hit with 240 volts.

As we expected, there was not much to do in Ft. Nelson.

June 6, 2014

We planned a short trip up to the Liard River Hot Springs. We got in and set up camp at the Liard River Hot Springs Lodge. We could have stayed at the provincial campground across the highway, but we at least got electricity and water at the lodge. The campground was ok for a night.

After a nice lunch we went over the hot springs and soaked for hours. I think we all roasted a little. It was a really nice setup.

Just hanging out.

Angry Bison

June 7, 2014

We had a very short run to Watson Lake but the Alaskan Highway is getting a little bumpy with frost heaves and potholes. We decided to change the original plan from the Baby Nugget to the Downtown RV Park. It is pretty much a parking lot, but we have full hookups and Wi-Fi.

We are now up to 14 bear sightings. Yoo hoo.

Watson Lake is pretty small. The highlight in town is the sign forest. Interesting how it started. A guy working on the highway got lonely so he put up a sign showing the mileage to his town in Illinois. He came back in 1992 and there were signs everywhere. The place has nearly 80,000 signs now.

We also went to the Northern Lights Centre and watched a speeded up video of the northern lights. Since we will never be able to seen them on this trip as it is pretty much daylight all of the time now.

I find it interesting as we are now with a group of tourist all following the same route and stops. We see the same people at the campgrounds. I think the trip so far is evolving...or gelling into a routine. We are now 6 days behind our original plan. I guess that is not too bad. I am sure glad we don't have a fixed schedule any longer.

We have a long day planned tomorrow (around 440km) as we want to go all of the way to Whitehorse. We are planning two days at the Hi Country RV Park. 



June 3 & 4, 2014

Dawson Creek

This is mile 0 for the Alaska highway starting on the border of British Columbia and Alberta. The highway is 1,520 miles long and ends at Fairbanks Alaska. The Alaska-Canada Military Highway dubbed the Alcan began construction March 1942 and finished September 24, 1942. The Highway was turned over to the Canadian government April 1936

The center of the round about is the official marker for mile 0. It was knocked down by traffic so they made the structure more permanent.

 

June 4, 2014 yes it is snowing

June 1 & 2, 2014

CANADA BC
Half an hour at the border not too bad.

We stayed at 100 Mile House on June 1 and today we are at Prince George.

We plugged into the 50 Amp and fried the charger that goes to the 12 volt system. Screaming, Smoke and panic. We have a surge protector but something went wrong. A large RV store was across the highway from us and they had the almost $400 part.