North Ploe

September 11: Left our roadside camp and headed for Fairbanks. Next stop was the North Pole. Edna did her “thing”…. shopping. We then saw Santa’s reindeer.

Next, we proceeded to the Visitors Center in Fairbanks. It is in the center of the city. We spent a good bit of time at the Morris Thompson Cultural center there. Got information on what we thought we might want to see. First was a trip to Creamers Field Wildlife Refuge, once a dairy farm and now in the city . It is more like a city park with lots of people walking and dogs everywhere. Not necessarily well behaved, the dogs that is. After walking the mile trail, we looked at each other and said “we’re over this”. We skipped all the other places on our list and headed south.

Spent the night at a wonderful BLM campground (Chena Lakes Recreational Area) , the area resulted from a Corps of Engineers project to protect the city of Fairbanks. In 1967 the city was almost flooded and the Corps built huge dikes to divert flood water. The lake was a result of the removal of gravel to build the dikes. In addition they also built the recreational area with two campgrounds managed by the city. Best of all it is free after Labor Day., but seniors are always free. It was a beautiful evening and we walked the lake area and just goofed off.

Campsite

September 12: Headed south on the Alcan Highway. Both stops we had planned were closed. However, Rika’s Roadhouse was still open. It is an historical landmark with a very colorful history. Had a very good lunch at the restaurant and toured the grounds. We had planned to stay in Tok, but most campgrounds had closed for the season or had limited services.

Old verison of our travel guiide

Motor used on river

It turned out it was a good decision to head south, as the season is over here. We kept going toward Border City Motel and RV Park. Gas is 40cents a gallon more here than Tok 100 miles away. The water is still on in the park and we can wifi at their office. The road crews have made the park base with their trailers and RV’s. Road crews work 7 days a week on the road, because of the short construction time period. They told me last night it was 32 degrees and they are almost done for the year. We can’t believe what they have accomplished from when we were through here in early August. Water may be off here tomorrow; this has been a “ go with the flow” trip. Tomorrow the border.