Saturday, Aug 8, we SHOPPED!! In the morning, we went to the Fairbanks Farmer’s Market to buy fresh produce. Alaska really lacks for fresh produce in the grocery stores. But, at the farmers market we were able to score some homegrown tomatoes, spinach, and cauliflower. ($6/lb for tomatoes!) I asked one lady if any of the stands were selling sweet corn. Her reply was, “Honey, this is Alaska.” I took that for a ‘no’.
From there we went downtown Fairbanks to shop. Things were pretty desolate downtown on a Saturday. But, we did find some unique little shops. We also found a handwritten note on the windshield of our truck when we were ready to leave. Some guy had hit our back bumper and dented it. He was nice enough to leave his name and location. We walked over to where he was and he apologized profusely. (What d’ya do?) We’ll deal with the dent when we get home, I guess.
Then, we went to Pioneer Park on the outskirts of Fairbanks. It is a 44 acre park that has just about everything. It has an air museum, a railroad museum, a square dance pavilion, a renovated, dry-docked stern-wheeler (the SS Nenana – the largest stern-wheeler ever built west of the Mississippi), an antique carousel, miniature golf, a replica mining camp, a theater that does a live variety show (about Fairbanks history), and several blocks of little log cabins that house craft and gift shops. Several of these log cabins are original buildings that have been moved into this park. There is a picnic area near the Chena River, where they rent canoes, kayaks, and bicycles. There is even a little, old church there that was built in 1904. There was a wedding going on inside the church while we were there.
Sunday, we left Fairbanks about 11 a.m. and headed south. We had one more city in Alaska that we wanted to see: Skagway. But, in order to get to Skagway, you have to go south on the Alaskan Highway, cross the border back into Yukon, Canada, drive south for a day inside Canada, and then head west on the South Klondike Highway and cross the border again to get back into Alaska. It just goes to show you how few roads there really are in Alaska.
Now, the Alaskan Highway is one of the most BEAUTIFUL drives you will ever experience as far as scenery goes. (pics attached) But, it is one of the WORST roads any vehicle will ever endure! The permafrost causes it to be extremely bumpy. Then there are numerous stretches of gravel road where they are continuously trying to fix the problems that the permafrost causes. And, the stretch of road between Tok, Alaska (just south of Fairbanks) and Whitehorse, Yukon is documented as being the WORST stretch. It was on this stretch where we took a stone to the windshield on our way up to Alaska. Anyway, we crossed into Yukon, Canada about 6:30 Sunday evening. We decided to put a few more miles of this god-awful road behind us, and kept driving for another 2 ½ hours. At 9 p.m. we pulled into a gravel pull-off alongside the road, near a very scenic lake, to camp for the night. (It stays light out till 10:30 p.m. here.) As soon as Len stepped out of the truck he said, “We are missing a tire on the trailer!” Sure enough, one of the 2 tires on the driver’s side was completely gone! Just the wheel remained. We assumed that we had blown a tire. But, no, it couldn’t be that simple, I’m afraid. All 3 of the other tires were almost completely worn. Len looked underneath the trailer and saw the underlying problem. A suspension hanger on the opposite side of the axle had broken off, due to all the road abuse. Here we are in the middle of NO MAN’S LAND, no cell coverage, no On-Star coverage, and no clue as to where the nearest town is or if that town will have the means to fix the problem. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep well that night.
In the morning, Len put on his McGyver hat again. He put the spare tire on, cobbled up the axle, and we limped down the road doing 25 miles an hour. It was 35 miles to the nearest little town, Burwash Landing. They didn’t have a welder there, so we had to go another 15 miles down the road to Destruction Bay. Three hours, four new trailer tires, and a repaired suspension hanger on the axle, and we were back on the road again. After hearing the horror stories from the welder in Destruction Bay, we considered ourselves one of the lucky ones!
We drove another 5 hours after that; a little slower, perhaps, but with renewed confidence in our rig. We landed in Whitehorse, Yukon that night and slept like logs (dreaming about the next episode in our Alaskan Adventure). :-{
From there we went downtown Fairbanks to shop. Things were pretty desolate downtown on a Saturday. But, we did find some unique little shops. We also found a handwritten note on the windshield of our truck when we were ready to leave. Some guy had hit our back bumper and dented it. He was nice enough to leave his name and location. We walked over to where he was and he apologized profusely. (What d’ya do?) We’ll deal with the dent when we get home, I guess.
Then, we went to Pioneer Park on the outskirts of Fairbanks. It is a 44 acre park that has just about everything. It has an air museum, a railroad museum, a square dance pavilion, a renovated, dry-docked stern-wheeler (the SS Nenana – the largest stern-wheeler ever built west of the Mississippi), an antique carousel, miniature golf, a replica mining camp, a theater that does a live variety show (about Fairbanks history), and several blocks of little log cabins that house craft and gift shops. Several of these log cabins are original buildings that have been moved into this park. There is a picnic area near the Chena River, where they rent canoes, kayaks, and bicycles. There is even a little, old church there that was built in 1904. There was a wedding going on inside the church while we were there.
Sunday, we left Fairbanks about 11 a.m. and headed south. We had one more city in Alaska that we wanted to see: Skagway. But, in order to get to Skagway, you have to go south on the Alaskan Highway, cross the border back into Yukon, Canada, drive south for a day inside Canada, and then head west on the South Klondike Highway and cross the border again to get back into Alaska. It just goes to show you how few roads there really are in Alaska.
Now, the Alaskan Highway is one of the most BEAUTIFUL drives you will ever experience as far as scenery goes. (pics attached) But, it is one of the WORST roads any vehicle will ever endure! The permafrost causes it to be extremely bumpy. Then there are numerous stretches of gravel road where they are continuously trying to fix the problems that the permafrost causes. And, the stretch of road between Tok, Alaska (just south of Fairbanks) and Whitehorse, Yukon is documented as being the WORST stretch. It was on this stretch where we took a stone to the windshield on our way up to Alaska. Anyway, we crossed into Yukon, Canada about 6:30 Sunday evening. We decided to put a few more miles of this god-awful road behind us, and kept driving for another 2 ½ hours. At 9 p.m. we pulled into a gravel pull-off alongside the road, near a very scenic lake, to camp for the night. (It stays light out till 10:30 p.m. here.) As soon as Len stepped out of the truck he said, “We are missing a tire on the trailer!” Sure enough, one of the 2 tires on the driver’s side was completely gone! Just the wheel remained. We assumed that we had blown a tire. But, no, it couldn’t be that simple, I’m afraid. All 3 of the other tires were almost completely worn. Len looked underneath the trailer and saw the underlying problem. A suspension hanger on the opposite side of the axle had broken off, due to all the road abuse. Here we are in the middle of NO MAN’S LAND, no cell coverage, no On-Star coverage, and no clue as to where the nearest town is or if that town will have the means to fix the problem. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep well that night.
In the morning, Len put on his McGyver hat again. He put the spare tire on, cobbled up the axle, and we limped down the road doing 25 miles an hour. It was 35 miles to the nearest little town, Burwash Landing. They didn’t have a welder there, so we had to go another 15 miles down the road to Destruction Bay. Three hours, four new trailer tires, and a repaired suspension hanger on the axle, and we were back on the road again. After hearing the horror stories from the welder in Destruction Bay, we considered ourselves one of the lucky ones!
We drove another 5 hours after that; a little slower, perhaps, but with renewed confidence in our rig. We landed in Whitehorse, Yukon that night and slept like logs (dreaming about the next episode in our Alaskan Adventure). :-{
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