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20030802 Open new window with today’s pictures.
August 02, 2003
Saturday
Start: Denali Rainbow RV Park, Denali AK
End: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
Miles: 118
Hi Temp: 61.7
Lo Temp: 42.4
Ooops, I left something out of yesterday's notes - the village of Denali trash truck that comes around and empties the dumpsters belongs to a firm by the name of "The Excess Express".
We hopped up eagerly (?), ate, and headed north.
A few miles later, we came to a construction zone with flag-person and waited. The other side's traffic finally came along, the pilot car turned around, and we followed the pilot car through the rough gravel zone.
Repeat the above paragraph two more times, then continue.
This bunching of traffic grew weary. One winds up following the same vehicle at 55mph between zones, which is equivalent to the Alaska saying that "only the lead dog gets a change of scenery".
We came to Nenana which (in Athabaskan) means, "pleasant camping place between the rivers". Those boys knew how to crowd a lot of meaning into six letters. In the 1920's, the place was busy with Alaska Railroad construction and river traffic. Nenana (accent on the second syllable) on the Tenana (accent on the first syllable) River is still the place where heavy goods shipped up on the railroad are transferred to river barges for transport to the outlying villages that can't be reached by road.
The railroad bridge here is one of the longest single-span bridges in the world. Why? Because the ice flowing downriver after breakup can tear up any pilings put into the river bottom there. This was the last piece of construction on the railroad; when it was complete, President Harding drove the golden spike signifying completion. After that, he sickened and died, which proves something.
The old depot is at the riverfront, next to the port. It is now a museum and gift shop, but all the fixtures of the depot were left in place - everything from ticket windows to men's room fixtures. Chester, the attendent, was very helpful and friendly. We bought a sweatshirt for me and a pin for Dolores.
We also each bought a ticket for the guessing game that is centered here each winter. The trick is to predict the date and time (to the minute) of the breakup of ice on the river in the spring. A tripod is placed on the river ice with a cable to a clock; when the ice moves, the cable stops the clock and that is the winning time. The date on which most of these guesses have won is April 30th. Last year, six winners tied and split $300,000. Second and third prizes are awarded, too. All-in-all, nineteen people cashed in last year. Pretty much everyone in the state plays.
Then we traveled on to Fairbanks. It was cool, mostly cloudy, and intermittent rain for the whole morning. We arrived at River's Edge RV Park just before noon and checked in. As we pulled in to our site, it started raining heavily. So I set up the trailer mostly by myself, in my hooded raincoat. My jeans got damp, but the rest of me stayed reasonably dry. When I finished setting up the trailer, the rain stopped.
We have a site with only a driveway between us and the Chena River. The river is quite high, a foot or two over its banks. Fairbanks set an all-time record for rain in the month of July with 15 inches. There was quite a bit of flooding and required road work.
We walked down the riverbank to the Chena Restaurant (it’s in the complex, next to the cottages rented to tour participants) to have lunch (fish and chips for both). We were about to go back to the trailer when the rain started again. We sat for a bit and it quit again.
Then we did laundry. I hauled it to the facility in the truck, since we had so much (it's been over two weeks since we last used a clothes washing machine). When we finished that, it was nearly 5:00pm.
We thought to go to Fort Wainwright to look in the exchange and get bananas at the commissary. But when we got to the main gate, it was closed by construction with a sign saying to use the Trainor Gate. Where the bleep is the Trainor Gate? We took a stab at finding it, but didn’t succeed.
Then we thought that, if we went to the visitor's center, we could find a map that would show us where the Trainor Gate is. On the way to it, we passed the original Catholic church in the area, so we stopped to find out what time services would be. It turned out one was just starting, so we went in.
The priest was a quite corpulent character but a good speaker. The church building reminded me of the church in which I was confirmed - small, a tiny balcony, shape and all. This building was hauled down the river on the ice from its original location to its current great location in the early years here (Fairbanks was incorporated in 1903, so this year is its centennial).
When church was over, we hiked across the Chena to the visitors center and got maps. We'd only missed Trainor Gate by one road. We hiked back to the truck and drove to Fred Meyer's, the west-coast chain that competes with W**mart. There, we picked up some food and wine. Then we drove back to the little house on the river.
So now we have all of tomorrow to sniff around the base and the town. Bad news is that it's supposed to rain much of the day. Oh, well.
The northern part of the Alaska State Fair is going on here this week, so we might have to take that in. They split it because of the distance between places. We also plan a couple of long day trips to outlying places, Manley Hot Springs and Circle. So we'll be here a while. We took the site for five days to start and we'll probably need more.
Fairbanks is a neat place, so we're going to enjoy it.
20030803 Open new window with today’s pictures.
August 03, 2003
Sunday
Start: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
End: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
Miles: 0
Hi Temp: 54.3
Lo Temp: 48.9
Rain.
That just about sums up the day.
We arose late, dressed, and went out for Sunday breakfast. There's a little neighborhood cafe called Sam's Sourdough on University Avenue we liked last time, so we went there again. Once again, it was a good choice. The portions are large and good, particularly the bread.
Then we went for a ride, starting with Fort Wainwright, the Army post here. We found the entrance now in use, and then found our way by memory to the PX and commissary complex. Dolores found some clothes and books. We didn't need anything at the commissary, so we left. We wandered around the base for a bit, trying to find the gas station, but we couldn't find it.
We left the base and stopped at a Safeway store's station and filled up with diesel at $1.559 per gallon, the least per gallon price since Castle Rock, Washington. There's a reason for that. There is a small refinery at North Pole, Alaska, just east of Fairbanks. It makes fuels for Alaska, using oil from the pipeline down from the north coast. Price of diesel varies in Alaska by the proximity and shipping cost from Fairbanks. Several trains of oil tankers leave here daily bound for Anchorage and Seward, thence by truck to other places.
Then Dolores spotted a Ben Franklin across the street, and we went there. I found a Sentry hardware store in the basemeny, so I went down there on my un-ending quest to find 1/4-20 x 1" Well-nuts to have some on hand for the next time the transmission cooler strips those that were installed in Tok.
Dolores came down with a kit she'd bought and found two employees and myself looking for them. Lo and behold, they had them!!! I bought eight, which is likely overkill, but now I have them. I've looked in stores in Tok, Valdez, Seward, Homer, Anchorage supply houses, and here they are in a basement hardware store. Great place!!
We stopped at Gottschalk's, a west-coast and Alaska chain department store, but didn't find anything we needed there.
We carried our treasures back to the little house next to the Chena. While I was taking a shower, Dolores discovered the kit was incomplete. So, back to the Ben Franklin and Dolores swapped it for another, complete, one. Then back to the trailer again.
I called in and received the e-mail (and sent some), then returned to the trailer. We loafed for a while (rain showers all through this, some of them quite fierce), reading the Sunday paper and other things.
Then we came up with a Wendy's attack and went out to satisfy the urge. Then we returned to the trailer for the final time and resumed our rainy day.
It's now 8:17pm; a hard rain shower has just ended, and there are open spots with blue sky visible toward the northwest. Maybe we've seen the end of this front and we can have a nice day tomorrow. Oops, now there's a faint shadow as though from the sun, but it's raining again. Who knows?
We want to take a drive to Manley Hot Springs tomorrow, 150 miles northwest of here by road. Besides the hot springs (if we do them), there are native crafts to look over and one of the Iditarod dogsled race winners runs a camp here in which tourists can see the training the dogs get. During the drive, we'll pass through latitude 65.4 degrees North. That will be a new high until and unless we go out to Circle on another trip. Going up the haul road to Prudhoe Bay is just too chancy with these tires; the road is poor and towing charges are out of this world.
Now the rain has quit again and there's more blue. If it gets any nicer, I'll have to take a hike to limber up.
20030804 Open new window with today’s pictures.
August 04, 2003
Start: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
End: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
Miles: 0
Hi Temp: 67.3
Lo Temp: 49.6
Today started with rain showers, but they tapered off by noon. Later in the afternoon, the clouds broke up a little and we had some sunshine. The temperatures are much closer to normal for the date (71/49). It's getting on toward winter here - sunrise is at 5:00am and sunset before 11:00pm. Today was the first day the sun set at Barrow, Alaska. It hadn't set since late May because Barrow is so far north of the Arctic Circle.
We ate and headed out across town, then north on the Steese Highway to Fox. There, the Steese goes northeast to Circle. We continued on the Elliott Highway, which carries traffic both for Manley Hot Springs and to Prudhoe Bay. We stayed on it, paved all the way and in good shape, until those two highways split. The Elliot continues to Manley while the Dalton Highway heads for Prudhoe Bay (actually Deadhorse AK) from there.
Both highways are gravel-covered from that intersection onward to their ends.
We wanted to go to Manley on the Tanana, which is 80 miles from that intersection. We went west a ways on a miserable road (due to all the rain). All the flat spots were severely potholed and muddy. The grades up and down weren't as bad. The soft sides of the road meant that everyone was making two ruts down the middle of the road. We decided we would cut the trip short at Minto, 40 miles from the intersection.
Then I almost lost control in a long, muddy, potholed, stretch. The front went straight, but the rear danced all over the place (typical pickup). I could also feel the mud holding back the truck; overcoming that requires power and that results in the rear end bouncing around.
We decided we'd had enough of that sort of fun. We turned around and went back the eleven miles we'd gone.
Back at the intersection, we decided to take a quick look at the Dalton. It's in somewhat better shape regarding potholes, but it's really washboarded. It's two lanes wide, anyway.
The first sign we saw said, "Speed Limit 50, next 416 miles". That gets your attention.
I think I could do the Dalton with no problems if it were dry or snow-packed, but I'm not going to hang around to wait for either of those. We could do the Elliott to Manley if it were dry, but I'd rather have a 4-wheel drive for that road.
That leaves the other trip we wanted to make - the Steese Highway to Circle, AK. It's paved to Central, AK, so we'll go that far and see what it looks like beyond that. Tomorrow, though, has rain forecast. So we'll do things around town tomorrow and head for Circle later.
After we returned to town, we bought a few groceries at the commissary, then went to Fred Meyers to get a couple of rubber balls for Dolores. She's been having problems with joints on one finger and wants to exercise the fingers.
Then we came back to the little house and fixed an early dinner - steak, baked potato, salad, and wine. After that we took a hike around the campground and adjacent resort area.
Then I received the e-mail and handled the photo filing. It's still early, so we'll break out the books or watch the clouds go by.
20030805
August 05, 2003
Tuesday
Start: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
End: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
Miles: 0
Hi Temp: 56.1
Lo Temp: 41.2
Rain again, and cool.
We ate and starting doing chores around the little house, knowing it would rain. Then I found that one propane tank had gone empty, so I headed off and got that filled. About then, the rain did come.
We took a drive when the rain let up to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF), agricultural farm to see the caribou and muskox. We'd missed one tour and the next would be sometime later, so we returned to the little house for lunch.
Then the rain did come in seriously. We read our books and did what we could. We did e-mail a couple of times when the rain was light.
Finally, around 5:00pm, the rain quit and some blue sky showed up. The forecast is for 70f and mostly sunny skies tomorrow, but I'll believe it when I see it.
We went out to dinner at the Pump House, formerly the Chena Pump. It has a nice ambiance and the food is good. Dolores had prime rib and dungeness crab, and I had halibut, with a Viognier. It was quite good.
Then we took a ride past the UAF horticultural center and found lots of flowers still blooming and a lot of vegetables that look good. We'll return and examine these in detail soon.
Finally back to the little house and books & games.
20030806 Open new window with today’s pictures.
August 06, 2003
Wednesday
Start: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
End: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
Miles: 0
Hi Temp: 72.7
Lo Temp: 50.7
Wow! Warmth and sunlight!
It started out with gray skies, but by noon or so they cleared and the rest of the day was glorious!
We headed out to the University of Alaska - Fairbanks (UAF) Large Animal Research Station (LARS) to take the tour there. It was closed when we were here last due to the hoof-and-mouth disease scare. We thought there was a 10:30am tour, but found it wasn't until 11:00am.
So we went just down the road to Ester, a gold-camp mini-town left over from the 1930's. Nowadays, it's a tourist thing that puts on dinner in the old mess hall, then a musical show in another old building.
We returned to the LARS and made the 11:00am show with three ladies from Australia. A young Alaska-born man who is studying mining engineering at UAF was our host. He took us down to the junction of the two fenced field that contain examples of caribou (and reindeer) and muskoxen. He had taken with him some willow branches.
The muskox pen contained mothers with young. He stuck some willow branches through the fence of the muskox pen and put some grain into a trough. The mommies scurried over (if a muskox can scurry). The eldest muskox held off the others from the willows so the others started working on the grain.
The babies stayed 30 yards or so away. Our host explained that the mothers would not let them get any nearer to non-muskox life forms. He also explained that the worst people to take on the tour are small children. Because the muskox fears the wolf terribly, it attacks anything that resembles a wolf. The small kid's eyes are at the level of a wolf's eyes; when the kid looks at the muskox, it goes wild and charges until the fence stops it. The host said they've seen the fence pushed out a foot between posts by a muskox trying to get to a kid.
The muskoxen can survive the arctic winters by their internal structure and their fine underhair, called quiviut. Quiviut is nine times more insulative than wool and weighs nearly nothing. The animal sheds it in the spring and grows a new coat for the coming winter. The structure of the animals stomachs (like a cow's) provides a lot of heat from the digestive process, as does the caribou's.
He took us through the development of muskoxen using charts he had there, and then shifted to caribou.
He put many willow branches through the caribou pen fence. The caribou came running from all over the field, including the little ones. They all ran into each other gobbling leaves from the branches, jockeying for better position. As they got enough, they'd wander away; then the smaller ones could get in.
He told us scientists there now consider the reindeer from Europe and the caribou from North America related but separate; they can breed but the offspring's offspring die off rapidly. Until this study was done at UAF, most scientists considered them the same animal.
Both sexes of caribou have antlers but drop them at different times; the females keep theirs until the young are up and around but the males drop theirs after the rut and start growing new ones immediately.
The gift shop got some of our money. Besides tee-shirts, Dolores bought an ounce of quivut at $50 an ounce. Amazingly, they had a small scarf made from one ounce of quivut - it was narrow (5") but nearly six feet long.
We went on then to the Tanana Valley Farmer's Market on College Road next to the fairgrounds. It was small, but well organized. The parking lot was very small, but they had a person directing people into spots and controlling traffic so it went fairly well. The garden items for sale were in great condition - we bought a cabbage and small onions and spring onions that were beautiful. We also bought other things - a cinnamon roll for tomorrow, fireweed jelly, tiny potatoes, a cookie, a loaf of sourdough bread, a couple of small pieces of fudge, and some gift items. I even bought a cap from the place because it looked nice.
One vendor at the market had on a cap that said, "If you haven't farmed, you haven't worked hard".
We came back to the little house to put things away and to have lunch.
Then we headed to the main campus of UAF, where the Botanical Garden is located. We stumbled into a construction zone (there's construction going on everywhere here) and had to wait a bit to get through.
When we got there, Dolores got out the camera and walked all over the place shooting pictures of the flowers (and vegetables - great cabbages). They were past their peak condition, but still very vivid and worth the trip.
Since Dolores had the quiviut, but no patterns or guides on how to use it, we went to a wool shop on that side of town; she came out with a pattern and needles.
We started then to go to the base (Fort Wainwright) to get groceries. So we headed across the south side of town on the Parks highway, which joins the Steese and the Richardson at one big interchange. We got onto the Richardson, headed for Canada, because we thought we could access the base from this side while the main gate is closed due to construction.
We couldn't get in on that side, so we went on to the town of North Pole and looked around there for a while - it's not much, best described as a bedroom community for Fairbanks.
Back up the Richardson, onto the Steese to the Trainor Gate and into the base to the commissary. We found everything on the list for a change, packed it into the truck and returned to the little house to put it away.
The day was so beautiful we sat in the sun on the bank of the river for a while. Then we did dinner, chicken breasts in wine and seasonings, the tiny potatoes, salads, and white wine. It was very nice.
Then we did the dishes and put things away before taking it easy for a bit.
While I was typing this set of notes, the trailer rocked for a bit as though the wind was buffeting it. Neither of us was moving and the wind was dead calm. I wonder if we were having a tremor of some sort.
Fairbanks Trivia: The record snowfall was two feet, in the month of September.
Tomorrow, we're going to try to get to the town of Circle.
20030807 Open new window with today’s pictures.
August 07, 2003
Thursday
Start: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
End: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
Miles: 0
Hi Temp: 77.7
Lo Temp: 43.7
We ate and headed out quickly, topped off the fuel and went northeast on the Steese Highway (AK-6). The day was clear and sunny, cool in the morning but warm in the afternoon.
The first 44 miles of the road are pavement. The next nine are chip-seal and in not-too-good shape; but you can do 50mph on it. Then the road goes to what is called in Milepost "wide gravel". Most of the distance to the hamlet of Central is fairly good; you can do 50mph without problem. After Central, the gravel road onward to Circle is poor; you're doing well to make 35mph. See following map for overview (sorry there’s no better detail, but ...).
We headed out, passing the monument to Felix Pedro, the discoverer of gold in the Fairbanks district, then passing the old Chatinika Gold Camp - the place where the workers resided and were fed and slept while they worked on the gold dredges close by.
We passed the entrance to the Fort Knox Mine - the largest and richest still in operation in Alaska. The gate is guarded and tours are by pre-arrangement only. It pours 1200 ounces of 90% pure gold daily.
There were the rude cabins and workings of gold prospectors all the way to Circle, down in the valleys next to the creeks. The Central Mining District is still very active and one of the largest in Alaska.
Along the way out, we saw a mature bald eagle sitting on a gravel bar in a stream searching for food. We stopped and got a few pictures, but when we got too close he left.
A bit later, we saw a porcupine crossing the road ahead. We shut off the engine and got one long-distance picture. But when we started the engine, he left quickly.
We went over Twelvemile Summit (elev. 3190) and Eagle Summit (elev. 3685) on the way. We also passed Mastodon and Mammoth Creeks, where bones of those ancient animals were found.
We dropped down into Central and looked for a place to eat. The first place we tried was locked and on further examination looked as though it had been closed for some time. The second (of two) had a sign on the door that the store was open but the bar and restaurant were closed today.
So we went on (on the poor road) to Circle, our intended destination for the day, 162 miles from Fairbanks. As we got close, we passed a couple of houses and cabins, all on piers off the ground, and all with large entryways to shield the house from opening external doors. You can tell the place is built on permafrost and has extreme cold in the winters.
We stopped when we reached the welcome sign on the posts overlooking the Yukon River. From here, it's 50 miles north to the Arctic Circle (the people who named the place Circle missed the mark). A few people were putting things in a long aluminum shallow-draft boat. Dolores took pictures of flowers and of some sandhill cranes that were a little too far away. When the folks had it all in the boat, they took off.
The guy who had been sitting in the car next to us, looking at the river, came over and introduced himself as Norman. We chatted for a while. He was saying it was a little risky to be on the river with the wind that had come up. But along came a government pickup and boat with a crew of three females. They threw stuff in the boat and were about ready to put it into the water when we left. Norman said they made trips 70 miles upriver, counting animals and birds. Norman said he'd get onto the water on August 10th, when the moose season opens for subsistence hunters (those who must have these animals to eat).
We ate cookies and drank our water while waiting for Norman to finish his talk, then bid him good-day and left.
On the way to Central, we came across four ptarmigan walking in the road. We got quite close to them and got decent pictures, but they do have good camoflage and are hard to see against vegetation.
Back at Central, we went into the Circle District Historical Society's Museum. For a small place (pop. 137), this museum is outstanding. It doesn't have much, but it's presented well in a good building and outlying new barn-like structure. This is a don't-miss. Dolores had fun posing on the dogsled and playing the pump organ. We talked with the attendant for quite a while and promised her information on the Ford Pickup that their sign says is from the year 1950 (it's a 1941, but I'll have to find documentation so they can have that, too).
Then we started the long haul home. We stopped at the Davidson Ditch site, where a pipeline comes down one hill, across the valley, and up the next hill. The "ditch" was built in response to the need for water to sluice mud off the hills to get to the good gravel and then wash out the gold. It ran from high in the hills north of Fairbanks, where it was forced into the pipe, 80 miles to the outlying Fairbanks gold mines. It worked by siphoning; the water going downhill pulls the water behind it uphill. It took five years to build around 1910 or so.
We came back into Fairbanks and went directly to Gambardella's Pasta Bella, the Italian restaurant in downtown. Dolores had lasagna and I sinned greatly with Fettucini Alfredo with Italian sausage. Very good.
Then we came back to the little house on the Chena to settle in and relax.
20030808 Open new window with today’s pictures.
August 08, 2003
Friday
Start: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
End: same
Miles: 0
Hi Temp: 84.6
Lo Temp: 48.7
The high temperature noted above is some sort of measurement error - it was really about 76, still warm. It was a very nice, clear, day.
We ate and hopped into the truck to do things. We started at the Bowl Factory, a place that makes wooden items from local trees, like bowls and cutting boards. We bought a few little items.
Then we went off to the local UPS store and shipped most of our gifts in one box to our son Bill. That gets them out of our space and we don't have to worry about customs on any of it - we'll be going through customs several times on our way back.
The Alaska State Fair has been going on for the past week, and we decided to do the fair this afternoon. It had all the features of the Minnesota State Fair, just on a smaller scale in proportion to the population up here. There were all the usual carnival rides and games, which we pretty much ignored.
The food opportunities were many (45 separate stands) and varied some from the lower 48. Dolores got her frozen banana and I had a hot dog, but we could have had reindeer sausage sandwiches, moose meat, or muskox burgers.
The animal exhibits were the standard beasts (no reindeer or muskox) such as calves (all Holstein), goats, hogs, rabbits, and birds (chickens, ducks, geese).
There was a large agricultural exhibit, extending through three buildings, for all the things you can grow in the short season up here. Cabbages were big (several over 20 pounds), but not the monsters grown in the Mat-Su valley north of Anchorage. There were all sorts of categories; it took some time to look through them all. There was a tasting booth for some of the jellies and breads made for the fair.
The knitting and quilting groups were represented. Dolores sat in on a presentation of some of the quilting winners.
Then, while going through the building for non-profit groups, she ran into a basket maker whose work we had seen a couple days ago at the Farmer's Market. They chatted for quite a while, then Dolores bought a small basket from her.
She also met some folks from UAF (University of Alaska - Fairbanks) who were showing some of the research they do; she was intrigued by a poster they had and bought it to give to her former NVCC associates because it used nice statistical work she thought they'd be interested in.
The mechanical bull was throwing the local young men, so we watched some of them try to hang on. They weren't professional, but they tried.
The afternoon was quite warm for Alaska and we'd done enough slow walking to tire us, so we headed back to the little house around five. On the way, we stopped at the Sentry hardware store for a couple of things.
We sat for a bit, then did dinner (pork chops, baby new potatoes from the Market, cole slaw for me, tomato slices for Dolores. I did the computer chores and now we'll settle in with books.
20030809 Open new window with today’s pictures.
August 09, 2003
Saturday
Start: River's Edge RV Park, Fairbanks AK
End: same
Miles: 0
Hi Temp: missed it - about 54
Lo Temp: missed it - about 78
A beautiful day in Fairbanks. Clear, dry, sunny, warm.
We wandered around doing little things most of the day.
First, a trip to Creamer's Dairy - a dairy farm that is now a 2,000 acre bird sanctuary. It's time for the Sandhill Cranes, and there are hundreds here raising young birds.
Then off to the RV parts place for light bulbs and other little things.
Back then to Pioneer Park, the former Alaskaland, a free attraction with all sort of neat things including a pioneer airplane museum, the last river sternwheel paddleboat, and a whole bunch of old cabins from early Fairbanks that are not shops. There are also reservable large picnic areas and pavilions, play areas, miniature golf, a tiny train that runs around the park and a museum. It's quite a place.
Then, off to the base to get a few items. Back then to the little house to put them away, then out to church.
After church (same place two weeks in a row, wow), we went off to look at the cranes again. Sure are a lot of them. Then off to dinner at Pike's Landing (high $$, but good).
Now we're doing the laundry before we get underway in the morning. We've decided for several reasons, the largest of which is an upcoming rain pattern, to skip the Denali highway for now.
We're off to Tok in the morning, then Burwash Landing, Haines, Skagway, etc.
We'll settle in shortly.