“USA 🇺🇸 Alaska ~We Had Some Fairbanks Fun and Finished Driving The AlCan”

• June 15, 2023
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

It’s Official!!

After a few nights stay at our first Alaska Campground in Tok, we drove on to Fairbanks for our visit, and to make our way to our adventure at the Arctic Ocean.

On this trip, we also completed driving the Alaskan Highway.

Mile “0” ~Dawson Creek British Columbia ⬇️

To

Mile “1422” ~Delta Junction, Alaska ⬇️

1,422 Miles, according to the sign

⬆️ We drove during the day, for six days from our RV campground in Dawson Creak, to reach Alaska and our first RV campground, there; in Tok.

Delta Junction 

From Delta Junction, we continued on to Fairbanks.

**************

There was not a lot of wildlife viewing, since Whitehorse in the Yukon, on the AlCan, but about 100 miles from Tok, we saw a HUGE bull Moose standing on the side of the road!
I was looking down, at the time and could not get a pic that fast. Drats! He was 10 feet from me!

We had not celebrated our June 4th Anniversary, with a night out, being busy, on the major road-trip’n and all, so our first night in Fairbanks was the night!

For a Saturday night, I picked Bobby’s Downtown. It was Prime Rib. Great atmosphere and service, too.

We were pretty tired after the long trip over in a rental truck, we were VERY lucky to have arranged, to salvage our much anticipated trip, to the furthest inhabited part of the Great North.

I chose a stay, eight minutes from the Fairbanks airport. It had breakfast included.  Be sure to choose the suites option. It was worth the extra money. It was our second nights choice, and VERY welcoming after our arrival, back  from Barrows, so late.

Just because it’s still light out, doesn’t mean the body and mind don’t get tired, just the same.

************

After the week we had, since arriving at our first stay over in Alaska; (Tok) with Jonah breaking down, on day two in Alaska, we were really scrambling to come up with a Plan B for this un-anticipated set-back. That plan B did come together, and I have added details/updates and at the end of this blog about this ordeal.

For now, I’m showing all the fun we had in Fairbanks, after we returned from Barrow (Utqiagvik), before driving the long drive back to Tok, and The Whale. We even made a stop at a place in Fairbanks to pick up parts for a customer of the mechanic shop who has Jonah, who was also anxious to get their vehicle back on the road.
We were only too happy to help, as it is the Alaskan way, after all.

*************

North Pole, Alaska 

North Pole is a small Alaskan city, near Fairbanks. It’s known for its year-round Christmas decorations, including candy cane–striped street lights.
Santa Claus House is a Christmas store with walls covered in children’s letters to Santa and a huge Santa statue outside.
Streets have names like Kris Kringle Drive and Mistletoe Lane.

Where is the Tallest Santa Clause Statue in the World?

The town of North Pole, Alaska, is where the world’s largest Santa Claus statue stands outside the Santa Claus House, which resides on St. Nicholas Drive.
This is larger-than-life, three dimensional Santa statue, standing nearly 50 feet tall.

Even a summer time visit is fun, but I bet this place is real pretty to see in the winter, with all the snow and Christmas lights.

We bought postcards for our grandkiddos and had them sent from the North Pole. They will get a real kick out of that, when they get ‘em!

It smelled like Christmas, as soon as we walked into the “Reindeer Academy.” We did not stay for the next Reindeer tour, but we saw those cute critters! 

North Pole’s biggest attraction is a gift shop named Santa Claus House, the modern-day incarnation of a trading post (gift shop) established in the town’s early days. The Santa Claus House is known for the world’s largest fiberglass statue of Santa Claus outside. A small group of domesticated reindeer are just outside.

How far is North-pole, Alaska, United-states from the true North Pole?  North-pole, Alaska, United-states is located 1,744.54 miles, south of the North Pole.

For more interesting information, here is a link: https://www.northpolealaska.com/community

**************

The Discovery Riverboat ⬇️

The Riverboat Discovery business was founded in 1950 by Jim and Mary Binkley.  The Binkleys were approached in 1950 by Alaska tourism entrepreneur Chuck West, who expressed interest in a local river tour in Fairbanks, Alaska, and asked if they could provide such a service.

A sternwheeler is a ship propelled by a paddle wheel, positioned at the stern. Sternwheelers played a major transportation and freight role in Alaska in the late 1800s, and first part of the 1900s.
At one time, there were 250 sternwheelers on Alaska rivers, and 91 on the Chena.

Powered by wood furnaces, they would use one cord of wood an hour.  The current Riverboat Discovery is a tourist excursion boat powered by diesel, but it has a strong connection with the past.

The boat is owned and operated by descendants of Charles M. Binkley, who started building and piloting boats in the North in 1898.

In the 1950s, with railroads and airplanes beginning to carry most of the freight, his son Captain Jim Binkley Sr. and his wife Mary started a river excursion business. 

We very much wanted to take this excursion, on our original plan, but with Plan B, it didn’t work out.

*****************

“Into The Wild” ⬇️

Who remembers the true life and very sad death story of Chris McCandless, in a book, as well as being brought to the big screen; called “Into The Wild?” 

I remember, some years back, after this true story became public, hearing about hikers getting lost, themselves, trying to “find” this bus, Chris had tragically died in, causing search and rescue a lot of headaches.
The decision was eventually made to airlift this bus out of the wilderness of Alaska, and place it someplace on display. That place is now in Fairbanks, at the Fairbanks University Museum of the North. ⬇️

In this place, the 1946 International Harvester model K-5 looks small, for maybe the first time in its eventful existence.

Not long after World War II, those black tires crunched the gravel of the new Alaska Highway during a long journey northward. The driver steered all the way to Fairbanks, the end-of-the-road town that needed mass transportation for its post-war boom.

About a decade later, at the end of the bus and it’s people-moving life, men; driving yellow-iron bulldozers pulled four of those buses as they upgraded a trail from near Healy, to a mine in the west, called Stampede.
They had converted the bus interiors into living space that included a steel-barrel stove, and a bed frame with mattress.

One bus never made it to Stampede Mine. The miners unhitched it from the Cat-train, after its bus wheels busted away from its axle. Then, they yanked it to a bench, overlooking the swamplands of the Sushana River, about 25 miles west of Healy.

Over the years, the abandoned bus hosted hunters, trappers and wanderers who happened upon the rain-and-bear resistant shelter, just north of Denali National Park and Preserve.

In 1992, 24-year-old Christopher McCandless discovered what he described as the “Magic Bus.” He survived in and around the vehicle for 114 days before he died of starvation, wrapped in a sleeping bag. inside this bus. ⬇️ 

⬆️ This is the actual Bus, Chris found while wandering in the vast Alaska Wilderness. This is not the replica bus, used for the movie.

*************^

All too soon, it was time to make the long drive back to Tok. It’s a decent road, but there were two construction delays, required, to make it back. There was on delay, going to Fairbanks.

Once leaving the Richardson Highway, we were back on the Alaska Highway. This section is mostly a long stretch of road, with trees on both sides. Even the scenic pull m-outs aren’t scenic anymore, since the forest has grown quite tall.

Every now and again, there is some clearing, where we could see something along this corridor.
It’s quite beautiful when it opens up. It’s also a great habitat for Moose. We saw a few on the way back to Tok.

***************

What The Heck Happened to Jonah?

As I’ve always vowed, from the beginning of our full-time traveling, we would share, not just the good things, but also the bad and sometimes the ugly parts of our chosen gypsy lifestyle.
It’s important to us, to keep it real. And we do.

Well, the unimaginable happened, after we tried to drive Jonah in Tok.…..On only our second day in Alaska, and getting geared up for all our exciting travel plans, Jonah refused to start!

We got her towed to a nearby mechanic’s garage, for the diagnosis. We hoped and prayed like mad, it was just a minor adjustment she needed, but NO, Jonah Needed a New Carburetor!!

This was just the biggest drag, and I’m sooo beyond mad, disappointed, sad; ALL THE FEELS about it. Not even a thousand miles on the completely, newly rebuilt motor system, that we paid plenty for, I might add, and now Jonah needed a new carburetor, again?

In addition, there is a pulley-crank system that was barely hanging on a thread. Had that broke, fully, it could have damaged the engine!

I have plenty more to say, but won’t, as we deal with this quagmire of an issues….yes, we are in contact with the restoration guy.

For now, we are focusing on the positive.

We found an auto shop in Tok, loaded with angels. They have our Jonah and are working hard to find a new carburetor and get it air-shipped, by next week.

The mechanic actually has a VW bug of his own and has a few spare parts in his own garage. He had the very exact part we need, related to the crank, pull-cord thingy (no, I’m not technically inclined) that was a part which would have been way hard to get, otherwise.

In addition, the gal there at the shop is renting us her truck, so we could still get from Tok, to our flight; out of Fairbanks, on Sunday, for our overnight stay in Barrow, so we can still get to the Arctic Ocean, as planned.

We drove from Tok to Fairbanks; a road-trip of 206 miles, and will finish the AlCan, first, without The Whale, or Jonah. (though when we are up and running again, we shall drive this same route, once again, because it is the only route, and we will get The Whales final mileage for our trip, up from Polson, Montana.

We also had to cancel our Fairbanks RV Park reservation entirely, plus (so far) shorten our RV stay in Denali, with penalty fees, but was able to change our Denali Park Tour by another couple of days, for a $7.50 pp change fee. It’s definitely a day-to-day existence, right now. 

PLUS, we had to get a hotel stay for, before and after our flights to Barrow, due to said 400 mile plus round-trip (with construction); with a morning departure and a late return.

There are some very kind people, here in Tok, Alaska for which we are grateful.

As of the date of this writing;
UPDATE to the UPDATE

The first attempt at getting a new carburetor failed. The computer inventory stock showed they had one, at an auto parts store in Washington State, but physically there was not one in their warehouse… total waste of three days.

Attempt two: found one in Arkansas. So far the tracking shows it is on its way to Anchorage, since the 13th. Once it reaches Anchorage, it can take two up to two or more days to get to Tok, where Jonah is waiting at the mechanics, and one day to get it installed. The carburetor did make it to Anchorage. This is half the battle. 

Still many things must come together, in order for us to leave Tok on Saturday,  in order to make it to Denali for our morning National Park Tour. I can change the tour to afternoon, which will only help a little, since it’s going to be a least a 12 hour drive from where we are now. Wildlife viewing won’t be as great, but we may shoot for this option.

We won’t know anything till Friday night. Currently, it’s Thursday. 

Yes, btw, the order is considered “overnight” in Alaska… there is no such thing as a true overnight delivery up here. In this upside down world, its even harder.

Our Fairbanks RV stop was a bust, but we were able to salvage the visit by renting a truck for $300 and driving 412 miles to do so, but it is looking like our third RV stop in Denali National Park will be a complete bust, due to distance being far to do a round trip for, like we just did for Fairbanks. This also means we might not make the Denali tour I lined up, either.

Denali; All non-refundable amounts to the tune of $526 for rv park and $282 for tour. 😢 Not to forget to mention; We are essentially double booked; here in Tok at $60/night, having already prepaid at the Denali RV place. (many of the campgrounds, between Alaska and Canada required full payment. I did so in February)

We are now focusing on our 4th RV stop, which takes us to the Kenai Peninsula, by the 20th. That will be a 10-hour drive to that location with the RV and toad. It won’t be easy; meaning we would need to leave by the 19th, as we won’t drive that far in one day.

This was not how we planned to “DO” Alaska. It was a lot of work, time, energy and $ to just get all the way up here….for now, to just sit, car-less, again!

The concession is, the Tundra RV has kept us in our spot in Tok, while we wait for our VW. And, the mechanic shop is trying hard for us, too.

Today, I will go to the camp office to use their internet, to get a few blog posts done from our fabulous trip to Fairbanks and Barrow (Arctic North). I’m so grateful we did not miss this part of our Alaska trip!

I remind myself, too, that it can always be worse. Jonahs motor is okay, AND had we gone into Alaska the opposite way, up the Cassier, and started our time in the Kenai Peninsula, ending our time in Tok, I would have been in tears. MISSING the Kenai Peninsula area, would have caused tears and frustration, not just frustration.

Denali National Park is not my favourite part of Alaska, like it is for some. I’ve been, and I know already how great the Peninsula is, but wanted to get Daryl to Denali to see Mt McKinney, if it was not a cloudy day.

Funny how it turned out, because on our flight from Anchorage to Barrow, we were flying at 39,000 feet and just as we flew over Mt McKinney, the clouds parted and we got to see the mountain! That was unexpected.

My plane window was sooo bad, and seat belts signs were on the entire time, so the pics are not super, but good enough to get the idea. 

I never did get to see Mt McKinney, as it was always cloudy, on prior trips to Alaska.  So, Daryl and I got to see it, together, for the first time.

*************

We made it Back in Tok at the Tundra RV Park 

As we were getting The Whale opened up, again, I noticed we did not have any shore power. Since we were hooked-up, outside, this did not make sense. Fortunately, we have a great set-up with The Whale, if we lose power, as we have six lithium batteries, a solar panel, and at the very least a generator, all set to jump in as needed, to keep our fridge and freezer going. Apparently it was needed!

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered our surge protector got fried, meaning, it did its job as a first-line of protection to harming our motorhome circuitry.

Whew!

Of course, in Tok there is no place to buy a new surge protector. Our friend at the mechanics shop jumped in to find one for us and have it shipped up from Anchorage with our carburettor!  I really hope this works out. I don’t like running without a surge protector, though  the breakers are suppose to flip off, if there is a problem, too…like another line of defense in place.
I just like the surge protector, also!

Nope, it is NEVER dull. Life happens no matter what, where, or how you are doing it!