Fairbanks.

Fairbanks  (3,760 km )

We woke up this morning 5 minutes from the end of Top of the World Highway, where we will meet the American border in a few minutes. 

Not only is your latitude near the top of the world,but for a big part of this road you are on a gravel highway that runs alongthe top of rolling old eroded mountains and you can see forever in all directions. With snow covering many of the mountain tops, the view was forever awesome. Fortunately the road had been plowed sometime earlier in the month, but it was often very wet and muddy. This caused a thick layer of clay based mud to build up all over the under carriage and sides of Frankie and George, and our poor bikes that were clinging to the bike rack behind George. 😟

Once through the boarder our first stop was Chicken, Alaska--the smallest of towns, with a reported permanent population of less than 20. However it is a small center for seasonal gold mining. It also has a very unique gift shop with the most "chickened" theme in the world. Over half of the items are branded with their chicken logo. But also, they sell everything from sluice boxes to candy in an enormous log structure with taxidermied animals strategical located for effect. 

For many it is also a gas and snack shop with an ancient dredge behind along a small stream with mining artifacts neatly scattered everywhere. 

The highway was a mixture of good pavement and 100 plus yard patch sections for about  hundred kilometres. It was interesting to see all modes of transportation heading out to their claims. One was an old sizeable motorhome pulling a trailer with an excavator on it. Another was a large converted Greyhound type vehicle with a large insulated stove pipe extending 3 ft above the middle of the unit. Many trucks were pulling large cargo trailers presumably with equipment in them. 

Not much attention seems to be given to ecological stream management, as you see rubber and steel track machines tracking through streams and digging up the gravel. 

First order of the day in Fairbanks was to find a car wash and try to clean up our vehicles in places there was over one inch of clay based sandy mud. Even the pressure washer had a job cutting through it. Our bikes needed special attention to even get the wheels rotating. With his long trailer, Terry went through over $40US. 

After finishing his cleanup, Terry found the car wash exit too small for his long trailer.  Manoeuvring in every direction could not earn him and Julie, myself and ago od Samaritan that precious inch to get the back of his trailer by that steel gate post. I thought we might have to unhook and get little George to bail us out of this "sticky wicket" with his short wheel base. However some coordinated signalling and driving precision by Terry saved the day and we inched backward out of this dicy delema. 

Once in Fairbanks we settled in at the Tanana valley RV stop down town. This city of 32,000 services another 100,000 in its vicinity. It's reason for being seems to still be gold, plus tourism, fishing, hunting, government, and military. A reasonably large squad ran of transport, bomber and fighter planes service the area's national security. 

A replica of a pioneer village in the center of town seems to be a cash cow for the city. A grad was taking place  when we were there. Big events are almost a daily occasion with weddings, meetings, festivals etc. With workers in authentic clothing of the era at prime tourist months, it must be a fine spectacle. 

Even though the location is scripted, most of the building are authentic and have been moved to the site by a heritage society. 100 years ago, the town residences and buildings (including the church) were all constructed out of logs, as are many new homes today

Fairbanks will not be remembered as a highlight of our trip, it was with the effort of using George to tour the down town, pioneer village and get a flavour of the town. 

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