Travels With Sir Charles: 06/08/16

We got an early start today. The border crossing is open from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The road guides say to allow seven hours for the 172-mile drive. That should have told us something. 63 of the 66 miles to Chicken were paved - in most places. Potholes and rough patches were common. We made good time at 45-50 mph. At milepost 63 is a sign that says pavement ends. It should say road ends. We stopped in the small community of Chicken. Friendly people in the trading post made for a fun time. We bought our souvenirs as required. I needed a magnetic moose (see Denali 2) for the collection and I grabbed a bumper sticker that said I survived the Top of the World Highway. The cashier said, “You’re being optimistic” and laughed. Bad omen. With coffee and scone in hand and the sun in our face, we set off for the drive that was described by many as spectacular. I guess they had not yet seen the rest of Alaska. The next 30 miles was over dirt/mud roads. In wet weather this would be treacherous driving.

At home this road would be described as a very poor logging road. My best speed was 30 mph so the going was slow. The scenery was pretty much the same all the way, deep drop offs, no guardrails, and no road shoulders. We have seen much more beautiful, scenic drives on this trip. At the 94-mile marker the road turned to very new pavement and I thought the worst was over. The road felt like it was paved yesterday and we cruised at 50 mph to the Alaska-Canadian border, fourteen-miles away. The Canadian customs guy was great. He asked how we were doing and I told him I was glad to be out of the mud and on good pavement. He laughed and said “Don’t celebrate yet. The pavement ends in 500 feet. OH NO. The next 73 miles was gravel, mud, short stretches of 30-year old pavement and then more mud. Then it started to rain! We spent 2-1/2 hours checking off each milepost waiting for this saga to end. Karen had nothing good to say about this part of the drive and what she did say I can’t put in this blog. At the end of a long day of driving we crossed the Yukon River on the free ferry and arrived at Dawson City. Our first stop will be a carwash! NOW, I can put my bumper sticker on the RV.

Dawson City is a fun stop and we may spend three days here. The history is interesting with many old buildings still standing from the 1898 gold rush. The streets are unpaved (more mud) and boardwalks are the norm on most streets. This time of year they plow the streets with a grader and they are good to go for another year. We walked the town with Charlie and of course he met many people. An Australian guy recognized him as an Australian Kelpie and we had an interesting talk. Most people don’t know the Kelpie breed. The bar in the hotel has a piano player doing old songs on a very old piano. The music could be heard in the street and Charlie decided to join the singing. He does love his music and he thinks he has a good voice. Tonight we will take him back. This is his kind of place. He loves the city life with no bear or other animal smells.

Welcome to Chicken

The have over 1,000 visitors at the ChickenStock Festival

We are stopped in a pull-out - this is very narrow two lane road!

Dirt section

Paved section

Endless views of this - "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

What a muddy mess!

Waiting for the ferry

Today was a shopping/travel day. We started in North Pole, Alaska at the Santa Claus Shop. Here it is Christmas 365 days per year. All Christmas lights and street banners stay up year round. Light poles are candy canes and even MacDonald’s has a Christmas theme. Christmas shopping for our grandson started today (cha-ching). With a shopping bag in hand and pictures of Santa in the camera, we set off toward Delta Junction. I asked Karen to check for points of interest in the Mile Post and fifteen minutes later we were parked in the lot at the Knotty Shop (cha-ching, cha-ching). Back on the road again, I asked Karen to check the book again. Most people who know me think I’m a slow learner and I proved them right, again. This time it was a meat and sausage plant but that turned out ok because it meant food. I consider that money well spent. That part time job is looking more and more like a possibility when we return home. NOT!

I decided to keep my mouth shut when we returned to the road. Two hours of driving/shopping and only 45 miles is making for a long day of travel. We managed to finally keep moving and covered the remaining 160 miles to Tok without further spending.

At one of the rest areas we spoke with a couple heading west into Alaska. They are from Florida and left for Alaska only a week before we departed Poulsbo. So far, they had traveled 6,000 miles and they were just beginning their Alaska adventure. We gave them some of our sage advice (who knows if they will use it). My advice was watch for moose, stay away from moose, and zigzag unless you’re on the ground.

Tonight we are camping in the wilds of Alaska at a state park near Tok. Quiet, woodsy, beautiful, and cheap are all good adjectives to describe this campsite. We are on the Tok River. We found signs of moose, so I will stay alert. Tomorrow we hope to get an early start over the Top of the World Highway (TOW) to Chicken, the Canadian border, and Dawson City. I know my gold pan will get some use when we arrive.

Outside the Santa Claus Shop: