End of the Alcan

We completed our Alcan highway "tour" near Fairbanks AK. All bone jarring 1,500 miles. Construction is taking place all along the route.

This year they will have replaced all of the original highway paving. Because of frost and the heavy traffic the paving must be replaced or reworked about every three to five years. Construction goes on 24/7. We drove from Watson Lake, to Destruction Bay, Stopped in Whitehorse then on to Tok.

Destruction bay is a community of about 30, with about twice as many dogs. It got it's name when it was a Corps of Engineers construction camp. One evening 100mph winds took the entire camp out, camp was renamed Destruction Bay. There are many tiny towns along the way that got their start as construction camps. We bought a bowl turned from a section of tree that was a large knot. The owner had a shop about the size of a kitchen with dust from his original works on the floor.

Whitehorse is a neat town, lots of history. We attended a vaudeville show, feasted on the best haddock I every had, and toured the town. Whitehorse is a key juncture for the annual salmon run. They constructed the worlds longest "fish ladder" in order to allow the salmon to bypass the dam and continue their journey upstream.

Tok is another town that grew out of a construction camp. We met a local performer/historian who told us they have no taxes, no government, no law enforcement and no building codes. Things are just the way they want them.

We are now touring Fairbanks, two observations, lots of neat history and more mosquitoes then we have ever experienced. The locals tell us that the good news is no termites, fire ants, or fleas. They cannot survive the 50 below winters. But the mosquitoes come back every spring.

The first day we dined at the pioneer village, with restored homes, exhibits, and an outdoor restaurant that serves grilled salmon, haddock. The food was great, watched another vaudeville show that evening. Second day we took riverboat cruise on 100 year old paddle wheeler. Stopped at "first nation" village for lecture on Indian history, and watched dog handler training dogs for "mushing".

The Caravan has had couple of mechanical incidents. One truck broke down in Whitehorse, bad fuel injector. The folks who run the tour were great. They arranged for extended stay at campground, expedited delivery of parts needed, and offered the couple to meet up with next tour- which comes through Whitehorse in about a week.

Fortunately they were able to get back on road in a couple of days and caught up with us yesterday. One of the motor homes was loosing power, they were able to get it into the local Cat dealer here in Fairbanks. The dealer plugged into the engine computer port, which allowed the engineers at the factory to diagnose the problem. Took a couple of days for the part, but they did not have to stay behind. So far, knock on wood, our rig has been great. Had to repair "umbilical" cord between rig and car, but that was minor.

Yesterday we toured the ice sculpture museum and the history museum. Fairbanks hosts a world class event every March for ice sculpture competition. We saw a movie, toured a facility where they keep some of the best works (cold) and watched a small ice sculpture being made.

Today is "down" day for the caravan, cleaning, laundry, rest. Tomorrow we head off to Denali National park for a couple of days. Really looking forward to that.