Date: 28 June 2001 (Thursday)

Start:

End: River’s Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK (0 miles)

The temperature was 54f when we got up, under cloudy skies. For a while, we thought it was a repeat of yesterday, but the sun came out and by 5:00 pm, it was mostly sunny (clouds to the north) and 69f.

Today was UAF (University of Alaska – Fairbanks) day. We headed for their museum right after breakfast in a local (recommended) diner – we needed our monthly fix of cholesterol.

The first event was a lecture on bears that was quite interesting. The props included skulls of all three types here – black, brown, and polar. The brown bear can be subdivided into Kodiak, coastal, and grizzly, we found out. The teeth of the polar bear are quite different from the other two, since they are carnivores and the other are omnivores.

Next was a presentation on the games of the Inupiat indians – the activities they participate in to enhance their physical skills, and timing, and coordination. Some of them have direct application in their hunting. These games are competed in the Eskimo – Indian Olympics here each summer. The young men demonstrating these games were quite skilled at them. It’s very obvious the young folks there don’t sit around watching
TV; they’re fit and quick.

The next was a lecture on wolves, very interesting, with Q&A afterward. The lecturer was from Dawson, YT, our next major stop so we asked a few questions about Dawson once she had answered everyone’s wolf questions.

Then we looked through the store (and came away with nothing – a first).

Next stop was the UAF’s Botanical Garden down the road. Dolores enjoyed looking through all the flowers while I tagged along. I took her picture behind a huge rhubarb. The gift shop there did better; we picked up a few things there.

We went back to the trailer and sorted out the things we didn’t want to risk taking through Canada and US Customs (Canada has some ideas about what natural substances (walrus tusk, for instance) are prohibited, while the US has others). Shipping from the US to the US solves all that.

Dolores took it easy while I ran things over to Mailboxes, Etc., to be shipped back. I also loaded up with Diesel and cash while I was out.

We have reservations for early dinner at the Chena Pump restaurant. The pump houses existed at each non-placer gold mine to pump water at high pressure into a pipe. The nozzle of the pipe would be at the face of the edge of the gravel bank. The high pressure water would rip apart the bank and the gravel and water would be sluiced as it washed downstream, the gold being removed during that process.

The pressure was much more than a standing man could handle, so the nozzles were mounted on poles driven into the ground. The nozzles are about eight feet long. A story here about recycling things to save money has it that worn-out nozzles are converted to street lamps by turning them to the vertical and mounting a globe on top (the narrower end).

This place is supposed to be one of the better ones around, so we’ll go check it out. We saw it two days ago from the paddlewheel boat and it looked nice on the bank of the Chena River. It happens to be next to the home of Cap'n Dan, the originator of the Discovery series of tourist boat operations.

Dinner was good. The décor is interesting. I’m beginning to like this informality found up here, being able to wear jeans and tee shirt to the fanciest restaurant.

Tomorrow we start back. We run first to Tok, AK, and then out of Alaska to Dawson, YT.

I’m going to miss this daylight (it’s 10:30 pm, and the sun is still shining brightly).