Friday August 18, Day 31

Starting trip meter: 8610
Starting time: 9:15 ADT
Starting Location: Arctic Circle Hot Springs, Alaska

After breakfast, we headed back down the Steese Highway to Fairbanks. We were leaving the Arctic Circle Hot Springs Hotel where we truly had a delightful time and we marvel at the ingenuity it takes to manage such a place.

By the time we got to Fairbanks we were covered with mud. It had rained almost the entire way, and with the dirt roads we could no longer see out of the back windows or read our license plate. Yuk! One of our stops was the car wash, to get a few of the outer layers of mud off.

Unable to reach John Reeves, we went to the University of Alaska Museum and thoroughly enjoyed reading and seeing about so many of the things that we have been experiencing. They have a wonderful display of articles.

Spent the evening as guests of Becky Hilgendorf in her beautiful home overlooking Fairbanks and the valley below. The view from her windows is spectacular and it was hard for us to pull ourselves away from the serenity. Meet Becky and her chocolate Labradors, Cola and Banner and Chacko, the Galah Cockatoo who was a little camera shy by clicking the picture links below.

It is so nice to have been able to get acquainted with each of the Reeves children.

Today’s weather: Cool and rain. Low 40 and high 55.
Miles driven today: 167

Today’s Pictures

Saturday August 19, Day 32

Starting trip meter: 8777
Starting time: 9:30 ADT
Starting Location: Fairbanks, Alaska

We stopped 15 miles south of Fairbanks in the town of North Pole, Alaska to mail a few cards.

We spotted our first moose since we were in Yellowstone NP. We were heading south on the Richardson Highway and were about 20 miles south of Delta Junction. There were three of them around a small lake. Two were cows and one a calf. No males. We were able to negotiate a path through the trees to get nearer to them. It looked like the same path they had used earlier based on the droppings. We got within 75 to 80 yards and had a very nice view of them.

Stopped in Tok (rhymes with poke) for the evening, and found firewood at a lumber yard which the man offered to us for no charge. We had been directed there by a nice lady in a small grocery who offered us the scraps of wood that she had in the back of her pickup truck. Very generous of her. No one in this little town had any for sale. We built a roaring fire at our site, and stayed up until late enjoying just staring into it, talking about memories around previous campfires, hayrides and wiener roasts as kids, and toasting marshmallows. Fun and Yum!

Today’s weather: Cool 42°,and cloudy as we left Becky’s and John’s house. High 50s.
Miles driven today: 387

Today’s Pictures

Sunday August 20, Day 33

Starting trip meter: 9164
Starting time: 10:15 ADT
Starting Location: Tok, AK

We marvel every morning at the warmth of our electric blanket and the use of the aluminized sheet over the top of it. Although it was cold and rainy during the night, we were extremely comfortable.

While in the ladies room, I met a lady that I had seen at our campsite in Fairbanks, and we compared notes on our trips and where we had been and still were going. Her husband was the one that had saved our gazebo from blowing away, or into the Chena River while we were gone. Small world. As promised, we took our calling card to her campsite on our way out of town. They were Carol and Roger Hahn from Edmonds, Washington, and after taking their picture we excused ourselves since we were trying to get to a church service.

As we were leaving the RV park, we lost the reverse gear of our transmission. We could move forward, but not backward, and were in a quandary as to what our options were. Typical scenario of everyone’s worst nightmare, Sunday morning in a small town with not even a stop sign on the main street. After some inquiries, it was determined that there was a shop called Willard’s that might be able to help us, and we were told by Willard himself that it could be several days to repair, and that it would be somewhere under a half million dollars. After weighing all of our other possibilities, we decided it was too risky to attempt to go any further and we would just have to bide our time and hope for the best and trust in Willard. Directly across from Willard’s Auto Repair, we rented a room and basically had to remove nearly everything from our van to wait out the repair work. Spent the afternoon doing the laundry. It is going to be a long few days. There is literally nothing to do in this little town! Thank God though we are safe and warm. When we think of the remote places that we have been in, we were so lucky it happened here.

We met a number of nice folks outside our motel room. Our next door neighbor gave us some shrimp that she had caught in Haines, she was in the process of moving from Billings, Montana to Anchorage. Another lady was moving from Pensacola to Anchorage, and still another, Huda was from Egypt and was now living in Anchorage.

Called Erin to wish her a Happy Birthday. It is hard to believe that 3 years ago today, we were all in Tokyo thrilled with her birth.

Today’s weather: Cold, near freezing in the morning and rainy all day.
Miles driven today: 5

Today’s Pictures

Monday August 21, Day 34

Starting trip meter: 9169
Starting time: We failed to start today. Still in jail!
Starting Location: Young’s Motel, Tok, AK,

Barney took the van across the street and turned it over to Willard. We wish that we felt that it was in good hands, however, Willard does not exude a lot of confidence to us. Meanwhile we are going to have to make the most of our time here.

After breakfast, we took a walk to see if there were any places of interest. Barney took a picture looking down the main street of the town to show how deserted it was. There was not a car in sight, and it was almost noon. You have to understand that Tok is the intersection of 2 of Alaska’s few highways. We did find a nice hardware store, (we both love hardware stores), a liquor store, a gift shop, stopped in a Texaco to use their restrooms, found the cybernet coffee shop closed, spent some time in the visitors center watching all of their videos, reading all of their brochures, and educating ourselves on their local culture and the census results from 1990. For lunch, we found Mae’s Hamburger Joint, then had our picture taken across the street by Tracy who agreed to take it for us, and told us that she had moved to Tok 11 years ago from Waldo, FL. Small world! She also has a website that might be of interest. On our way back to the room, we stopped to get a status from Willard, and he told us that he would be taking our transmission to Delta Junction for analysis. When Barney asked him if that would be today, he said he had to make some calls first. I guess he feels we should be the last to know.

Confirmed our reservations for our ferry trek from Haines to Prince Rupert if we ever get our van back. Initially, we had hoped to move that part of our trip up a few days, now we are concerned we may not make it down there by next Monday. Keep your fingers crossed!

Probably the highlight of our day so far was Happy Hour in our room, however, we are considering going across the street for an ice cream cone later. Eat your heart out!

Today’s weather: Cloudy and cool, high in the 50s, low in the 40s.
Miles driven today: 0

Today’s Pictures

Tuesday August 22, Day 35

Starting trip meter: Same as yesterday
Starting time: N/A
Starting Location: Young’s Motel Room #29

Today was the longest day of our lives. It rained all day, was barely into the 40s, and we were stuck in our room. We took turns playing solitaire on the computer, were thrilled to talk to the cleaning lady, wrote a few postcards, and made several trips to the end of the walk to see if the van had been moved from it’s spot across the street, or if there were any signs that Willard was back in the shop.

We finally walked across the street and browsed through the video store, then went next door and talked to a lady and man who were in Willard’s. They knew all about our transmission, and we are not even sure if they work there or not. We now understand that it is in fact in Delta Junction waiting on a part that had to be ordered. At best guess, we think that at this rate it will be Friday or Saturday before they might have it back together again. We can barely stand to think about being here another few days, but somehow we will endure it.

The mountains that surround the town are covered with snow, and there is a good possibility that the rain here will turn into snow during the night. The thermometer reads 38° right now and it is 9PM.

The Alaska Hi-Way

The Alaska Hi-Way winding in and winding out
Fills our minds with serious doubt
As to whether the dude who built this route
Was going to Hell or coming out!

Today’s weather: Cold and Rain all day!
Miles driven today: 0

Today’s Pictures

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