Fairbanks to Tok (rhymes with Poke).....

Monday, May 17, 2010
We had a "late" departure today (not until 8:30) and a full schedule ahead. Today is the first full day with our bus driver/guide Jordan Mower. He's quite a character, with a unique sense of humor. Early in our trip, he announced that the coach was equipped with a bathroom on board, and we should feel free to use it as needed. He had just one request: "I'd ask that all of you remain seated during the entire performance, so the men don't come out looking like they were in a fight with a fire hose." He also told us about the Catholic Church in Fairbanks that was moved many years ago from one side of the Chena River to the other. Horses pulled the church across the ice, using logs to roll it. So Jordan told us it was the first holy roller church in Alaska. And the humor just went downhill from there. :-) I'll share a few more Jordanisms in upcoming posts. Stay tuned....you won't want to miss them. Or maybe you would!



I thought winters in northern Wisconsin, where I spent most of my life, had cold weather, but I've never seen heat tubes on the streets like they have in Fairbanks.

Our first stop was at the Alyeska pipeline, right beside the Elliot Highway near Fairbanks. The pipeline is buried underground where possible, but Alaska has this thing called permafrost(as in permanent frost) which is good solid ground as long as it stays frozen. When it thaws, however, it becomes more like quicksand. At those locations, they bring the pipeline out of the ground. The pipeline lays on huge support beams that can withstand the expansion and contraction of the pipeline caused by the extreme temperature variations, and, since it crosses over 5 different fault locations, it's engineered to survive an 8.5 earthquake. The exposed pipeline is elevated a minimum of 10 feet to allow wildlife to pass underneath without trouble.



Next, onward to the El Dorado gold mine for a tour and the chance to strike it rich panning for gold. The tour included a short ride on a narrow guage train with some demonstrations and narrations along the way. The train conductor played a fiddle and sang "North to Alaska" which he mistakenly credited to Johnny Cash rather than Johnny Horton. I wouldn't have known the difference, but Don knew immediately! We watched some of the gold mine staff work the sluice box (google it) then we each got a bag of tailings to pan for our own gold.



We took our gold into their store where they weighed it and told us what is was worth. Combined, we had $14.00 worth. You could purchase a necklace, or earrings or other jewelry for a small fee to put your gold dust in. We took a pass.

Back into the coach, and a few minutes later we stopped at Gold Dredge #8, where we were served a miners stew lunch. As you can see from this picture of Bernie and Lori Steinberger of Utah, the lunch was finger lickin' good.

The gold dredge is fairly recent history compared to the sluice process. It's like a giant powerblaster that separates the gold from the soil. The yard surrounding the dredge contained various parts and pieces of machinery used in the dredge, and we found a big piece of something made by a company we were pretty familiar with:


Now I have to back up and give you some information about our coach ride. Each of our name tags had a colored star on it, and each day a different color would board the coach first. By doing this, all guests were given a chance to sit near the front. There were a couple of exceptions: Ray and Darlene Reynolds of Iowa had front seats reserved because they didn't have the mobility needed to get to the back of the bus. Don and I had reserved seats in the second row, because of my motion sensitivity.

Peter, our tour director, had a little stuffed dog he called Penny on a carabiner loop, which he hung from the overhead rack in the coach. At each stop, he would move Penny to the opposite side, and that side of the coach would get to exit first. This seemed a bit childish to me, but little things can get people worked up, and I'm guessing Holland America has this figured out. In a little while, you'll know why I mentioned this.

Next stop: Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska.


I think someone said it looked like Christmas threw up inside that place, and that pretty much describes it. If you can't find a Christmas decoration there, you're not trying! I did find a little ornament shaped like a dog bone that I thought was pretty cute. We spent some time shopping, and once we were back on the coach, Peter presented each of us with a deed to One Square Inch of property in North Pole, Alaska. Hmmmm....wonder how much the tax bill is on that??

Back onto the coach heading toward Rika's Roadhouse at milepost 275 on the Richardson Highway in Big Delta.


Rika's was originally built in the early 1900s on the banks of the Tanana River as a resting place for trappers, prospectors and traders of the area. Today, it's a state historical park. Inside Rika's were some fabulous fur coats, which some of the ladies modeled. I don't think anybody parted with the cash needed to actually make a purchase, but they had some fun doing the runway thing! We had a few minutes to shop and stretch our legs before loading up again for the next destination. Here's where something strange happened. While we were off the bus, Penny disappeared. Hanging from the caribiner was nothing more than a dog-shaped Christmas ornament.

We drove on toward Tok and our rooms for the night at the Westmark, crossing over the Tanana River and seeing some pretty thick ice, considering it's mid-May.

We finally arrived at the Westmark Hotel in Tok, a town of about 1800 people, which will be home for one night. The hotel is a complex of 6 buildings I think, and I felt a little like a mouse looking for the cheese in a maze, but the room was comfortable enough. The manager of the restaurant, Dave Merrill, met us on the bus, told us how honored he was that we were there, and I felt he might have been a stand up comic in another life. When we were all off the bus, he asked us to group together and one of his staff members took a picture of our whole group. We checked into our room and went back to hotel restaurant for dinner. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of our food -- can't really remember what we ate, but we know it was Italian, and it was delicious. As we left the restaurant, I discovered Penny in my purse. I have NO idea how she got there! So I gave Penny to the hostess and asked her to give it to Peter, who was still in the dining room, and told her not to tell him who gave it to her. After dinner, we took a little walk, and then headed to bed. Early departure tomorrow!

In our room was this small, crude weapon to use on those infamous Alaskan mosquitoes.


And I've never seen a sign like this one before: