AUGUST 3, 2012-----TOK, ALASKA

We left Chicken this morning and headed to Tok, Ak.  We drove 3 miles and finally hit paved roads (for a little while).  We had a better drive today, however, we hit more permafrost.  After yesterdays drive, todays was a piece of cake.  We really didn't even stop to do any sightseeing on the way today,,,,,nothing much to see.  When we got to the campground in Tok, we had a rig and car washing party.  Everyones coaches/cars were absolutely filthy.  Even with all the washing our coach and car are not cleaned the way we like them, but considering where we are, it will just have to do for now.  Tomorrow we head for Fairbanks.  

AUGUST 4, 2012------FAIRBANKS, AK

We are here in Fairbanks.  We had 207 miles to go today.  Roads are so much better.  Actually able to enjoy the ride.  We stopped a few places on our drive today.  Our first stop the Delta Meat Market.  They had a sample tray of smoked reindeer, elk, buffalo sausage and some mustard to dip it in.  They were all delicious and we walked away with some of each.  We will try to freeze some and bring it home for tasting. We stopped in Delta Junction which is the end of the Alcan Highway (Alaska Highway).  Had our picture taken to mark the end of the highway that started in Dawson Creek.

END OF ALCAN (ALASKAN) HIGHWAY

It was now time for lunch so we made another stop at Rika's Roadhouse & Landing.  This was a very nice area.  We had a nice lunch and then visited their gift shop.  They had great prices and we each bought a jacket with Alaska on it and 2 mugs from their restaurant.  Went for a short walk around their property and got our first view of the Alaska Pipeline.

THE ALASKA PIPELINE

AUGUST 5, 2012

We have a full day today.  The bus picked us up at 7:45 and we headed for a river cruise on the Discovery III, a sternwheeler.  This was a 3 hr tour.  It brought us down the river and stopped at Susan Butcher's sled dog training camp.  Susan was born in Cambridge, Ma and moved to Alaska where she started training dogs and running her sled and dogs in the Iditerod races.  She won the Iditerod many times and then at age 53 died of Leukemia.  Her husband still runs their camp and continues with the training of the sled dogs.  He came out onto the shore and explained how they train the dogs and then gave us a demonstration on the grass trail around his property.  It was a very interesting demonstration.

 DISCOVERY III

 DOG SLED AT SUSAN BUTCHER CAMP

Later down the river we stopped by an Athabasca Indian Camp.  There was a girl on the shore (fitted with a microphone) that showed us how they skin the salmon and prepare them for drying and smoking.  We then got to visit the village.  There was a tour here given by the indians explaining how they hunted and how they lived.

ATHABASCA INDIAN SHOWING US HOW TO SKIM SALMON AND PREPARE FOR DRYING AND SMOKING

After the cruise, we went in for a delicious lunch of homemade beef stew and fresh biscuits.  We then reboarded the bus to go for a tour of the Gold Dredge #8.  We got on a train and they brought us out to see the dredge they use and then demonstrated how to pan for gold.  It was now our turn to try our hands at panning for gold.  We did a little better than we did in Chicken, Ak and walked away with a combined total of $15.00 worth of gold.  Some people in our group got up to $51.00.  

We arrived back at the campground around 4:30 and called it a day.  Another big day coming up tomorrow.