Week 7

July 20, 2008

This was a free day at camp. We did some shopping, Kay and Elaine did some crafts and we had a hamburger cookout with a dish to pass. As our New York Centrals friends will note, this group likes to eat also.




		That evening a couple came in from Dawson City with their tow car’s engine compartment covered with dust, sand and gravel. That spooked everybody and about half the group covered coach and car lights with bubble wrap and duct tape.

July 21, 2008

Drove to Stewart’s Crossing today, 226 miles. The roads were pretty good with some dirt/gravel construction in some places for 3 or 4 miles and occasional frost heaves. We drove 40 to 45 and 20 to 25 through the construction and had no problems.

We stopped at Braeburn Lodge, home of the world’s largest cinnamon buns. Then stopped at the Five Finger Rapids, the most dangerous part of the Yukon River for paddle boats. Bart took a picture of a ground squirrel and Kay snapped these baby swallows in their mud nests.

July 22, 2008

Arrived in Dawson City - 106 miles. Lots of gravel roads and frost heaves but drove slow and had no problems. Put in 43 gallons at $6.43. On the way we stopped at Moose River Lodge. Bart swatted a six foot mosquito and we checked out a trapper’s cabin.










		We toured the largest gold dredge used in mining gold in the Yukon River valley.


	Then we went to a show at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s. It was nowhere as good as the Frantic Follies. They did have slot machines so Bart “donated” $5.00/

July 23, 2008

We had a walking tour of Dawson City. It has hard dirt streets and boardwalks. Many of the buildings have false fronts; some are original and some are restored (some oare recent too). We had a really great guide for the tour.




		After the tour Bart took the car to check out the Top of the World Highway. He got 10 miles up it and had to turn around. The drop-offs were too steep; he couldn’t drive it. He was looking at a 700 mile alternative route when one of the other women in the group volunteered to drive his coach for him. Thank you Naomi.

Later that evening, we saw a unique show telling the story of the Klondike Gold Rush and Dawson City using youngsters playing the part of ghosts while playing fiddles and singing and dancing. It was really good.

Pictures were not allowed during the show but they came out after and played for us. The little guy was five years old and had only been playing the fiddle for a month.

July 24, 2008

Some of the folks went panning for gold this morning. Aside from the fact that we didn’t know what we were doing, we had fun but found no gold.

After that we drove up to a hill top called Midnight Dome because about midnight in the summer you can see the sun almost set from up there.


	It was too cloudy and rainy for us to go up last night but today was perfect. The views were superb.




	While we were at the dome, we saw a


	sow bear and two cubs about 40 to 45 yards down the side of the hill. There were about ten of us taking pictures. She would look our way every once in awhile but mostly she was eating and working her way around the hill. The two cubs were eating and playing. It wasn’t until we were at a museum a day or two later that we realized she was a grizzly bear. WOW, were we lucky she was in a good mood.


	About 7:00 pm we started lining up to take the ferry across the Yukon River to start up the Top of the World Highway.

We only went 53 miles to a pull out and dry camped to get an early start through customs to the US tomorrow. The problem was there were a lot of cars crossing on the ferry also, so usually only one RV could go over at a time. Only a couple of times did two go at the same time. The last coach crossed at 11:30 at night. Top speed was 20 to 25 mph but usually more like 15 to 20 mph. The road was hard dirt but it had been raining so it was muddy and a bit slick at times. Bill and Kay got to the pull out about 11:30 pm but Elaine and Bart were later crossing and did not arrive until 1:40 am.




		The last two pictures were taken at the pull out about midnight.


	We are in Alaska!

July 25, 2008

We drove the rest of the Top of the World Highway and crossed into the US and Alaska at Poker Creek, AK. The road on the US side was even worse than the Canadian side. It was muddy, narrow, full of potholes and washboard surfaces, and had more dropoffs. The coach was a muddy mess. Naomi drove Bart and Elaine’s coach again and Bart rode with Naomi’s husband George. The scenery was beautiful.


	We ate lunch at Chicken, AK and Bart drove from there on to Tok, AK, 186 miles. We washed the coaches in Tok. Put 26 gallons of gas in at $4.799 and loved the US price.




		The miners who founded Chicken wanted to name the town Ptarmigan which is the state bird of Alaska (most say the mosquito is the real state bird). But they argued over the spelling of Ptarmigan and no one knew for sure how to spell it so they named it Chicken.

July 26, 2008

We are now in Fairbanks, 202 miles. On the way we stopped at Delta Junction which marks the end of the Alaska Highway.

Went to a salmon bake and then a great show about the founding and history of Fairbanks. Note: The middle Can-Can dancer is a guy! Put 37 gallons in at $4.499. Love the LOW price?

We would like to take a moment here to respond to some of the frequently asked questions and comments we receive by email.

1) First, we all appreciate your emails; we do read every one, and we do share them where appropriate. We do apologize for not answering each one every time but limited WiFi and limited time really make it hard to do so. We hope you can see how we are doing from the web site.

2) Driving all those miles can be tough, especially when we have 200 plus miles in a day. The roads are generally good (not the Top of the World Highway) but they do have frost heaves we have to watch for as well as patches of gravel construction. Fortunately, we don’t drive every day; some places we stay 3 or 4 days. And some days are short, 150 miles or less. We take lots of breaks for pictures, food and the necessaries.

3) Occasionally we will have a free day. We have one about every seven to ten days. They are usually filled with coach maintenance, cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping. We usually have some time left over for sight seeing or shopping.

4) Yes, sometimes we may look tired in the pictures. But it is only because we are. On a recent night, Elaine and Bart were in bed by 8:00 pm and slept until 8:30 am the next morning, one of our rare free days.

5) We get a lot of comments about the pictures. Although Bart is the one who puts them on the web site and uploads them to Wal*Mart, the pictures are truly a team effort. Kay, Elaine and Bart take all the pictures. We download them every night to a daily folder for each person. We share them so each laptop has a full set. As of August 2nd, we have over 7500 pictures. Unless it is an exceptional picture, photo credits are not cited simply because of the time it would take.

6) Yes, we are having a great time. None of us regret a single minute of the trip (although Elaine is a little homesick; she misses all her friends back home).

Last updated July 30, 2008