Heading Southeast and Home

We are heading southeast! We left North Star last weekend as planned and spent two nights camping in Denali National Park. Fortunately with the Golden Age pass the entrance fee was eliminated and the overnight camping was half price--there are some advantages of getting old. The one full day we had we went on the shuttle bus 60 miles into the park; private vehicles are not allowed. We saw a few wildlife; a herd of caribou, eagles (non of the bald), a few bear at a distance; I wouldn’t have seen them without some kind people’s binoculars. But we did see a good part of Mt. McKinley, not the peak this time but some of the mid section. Many people never see anything; so we were thankful for the lovely and clear day.

After getting back from the 8-hour bus ride we drove into Denali town, saw the river canyon, got some propane, did some shopping and splurged on a salmon dinner.

The next day (Monday) we drove to Fairbanks and booked a ride on the riverboat for the afternoon; it was great, paddle wheeling down the river, seeing a float plane take off and land beside our boat, seeing the dog kennels of famous Susan Butcher who has won four Iditarod races and is right now in a Seattle hospital for cancer treatment.

There were about 30 or 40 dogs running around; 16 were hitched to a motorless 4X4 ATV and did they run around a little pond and back into the kennel area. We could see this all from the ship/boat we were on. We saw lots of interesting homes, sites, etc. on the way down the river until we docked and disembarked at an Athabascan village. We spent an hour there listening to four presentations at different parts of the village. Very interesting and informative.

Later we drove around Fairbanks and headed halfway to North Pole (a small village 12 miles south) to check in at a campsite. The next morning (Tuesday) we headed back into Fairbanks to a special viewing spot of the Trans Alaska Pipeline, the botanical gardens at the U of Alaska @ Fairbanks and the library.

In the afternoon we started south -- heading for home via Upper Peninsula Bible Camp, all 3,700 miles. For the night we stopped at a little rest stop along the road and discovered that the truck batteries were dead! Rosie was “mildly disturbed”, but she did get a good sleep; I didn’t do quite as well spending a few hours wondering what we would do the next day, and hoping that the batteries would restore themselves enough so that the engine would start in the morning and we could drive ten miles back to Tok, a bitty town we had just passed through

Well, the engine started in the morning (Wednesday), and a fellow-traveler had a generator and a battery charger with him that we hooked up while we had our breakfast. In Tok we stopped at a shack of a garage that supposedly did auto electrical work -- they really do, because within an hour and a half the mechanic had a new alternator installed and we were on our way. Praise the Lord!

We decided not to take the bypass road to Dawson City, but this morning a traveler told us he had come that way the day before and the roads were not as bad as people say. Anyway, late in the afternoon, getting close to Whitehorse, Yukon we had a tire blow out on the trailer; a car pulled up beside us and told us. The tire was completely shredded; we later discovered that it had caught an electric wire and tore it off. I didn’t know what the wire was going too, but it was live. Later, when we parked at WalMart in Whitehorse I soon discovered that the slider wouldn’t push out anymore. Ah ha, that is what the broken wire was for! I was able to fix it and the next morning (Thursday) we bought two new tires!
Last evening we came up on a large herd of bison grazing beside the road and then taking a stroll down the highway. We camped at the Liard Hot Springs; we enjoyed them so much on the way north that we camped there again last night. The water was hot, but so wonderfully refreshing. This morning (Friday) we took another quick walk the quarter mile back from the parking lot and soaked in the hot water again. We had to hurry on to get our next cinnamon bun! As we drove today we saw a pack of wild horses, a moose, some stone sheep, a wolf, five deer in various places and miles of beautiful flowers along the roadsides.

Right now we are at a campsite near Fort St. John, British Columbia; it is run by a group of Christians and has wireless internet in the dining room so I can send this blog.

It is much warmer here; enjoying the 80 degree weather. We have a long ways to go to UPBC so we will have to drive some long distances in the next week. Tomorrow we will finish the Alaskan highway and head for Edmonton, Alberta.
Don’t be afraid to respond to our blog; comments would we most welcome as we wonder what you are doing this summer.

Abner and Rosie