Kathleen's Window: Goodbye Alaska and Hello Again to Whitehorse

Monday- Wednesday, July 28-30, 2014

Monday morning it was starting to rain as we left Teklanika Campground and began the 30 mile drive out of Denali National Park. On the way out we saw four caribou and three bull moose. None close, but with binoculars they were still fun to watch. The tour buses stopped along the road so we knew there was wildlife to look for. We felt bad for the busloads of visitors. The rain was pouring, the clouds were low, and no one was going to see much that day.

We stopped to dump tanks and take another shower, and proceeded north again on the Parks Highway until we reached the small town of Healy. It was lunch time, so we stopped at the 49^th State Brewery. The rain was pretty heavy and the temperatures in the 40's, but we were able to get seated on stools around the indoor firepit. It made the cavernous warehouse a bit cozier. We ordered their brews and lunch and enjoyed the rustic atmosphere. I took a quick photo of the bus from the movie “Into the Wild” that sits in their beer garden. The original bus from the true story written by John Krakauer is back in the wilds around Healy. Apparently, young people go in search of it and at least one young woman died trying to cross the river. This is the brewery's attempt to keep the tourists out of the woods, and alive. (According to Wendy, our tour bus driver at Denali.)

49th State Brewery

The Bus to Nowhere - Into the Wild

A lovely spot on a cool, drizzly day

We made the drive into Fairbanks after lunch, and the weather had mostly cleared and warmed up by the time we reached it. On a good day you can see Denali from Fairbanks, but the rain clouds were still hanging on the mountains south of us. Finding the Fairbanks WalMart, with its frontier inspired false front facade, we parked with other RV's and spent the night trying to shut out the sun in order to sleep. Fairbanks is the farthest north we've tried to sleep.

Muskeg near Healy

Construction on the way to Fairbanks

Free Camping at the Fairbanks Walmart

Tuesday morning we drove back through town to the University of Alaska- Fairbanks, a large modern school, with an excellent reputation especially with Arctic scientific research. Their museum has a great reputation too, but we decided it was too pricey. Someone coming to Alaska for the first time should definitely visit. Not that we claim to know everything, but after living there for five years, a lot of the information would be old for us! Time to leave Alaska. We drove east out of Fairbanks toward Delta Junction.

When we reached the Tanana River we stopped to photograph the Trans Alaska oil pipeline crossing the river on its own suspension bridge. Along the banks of the river a short way downstream, the state has preserved Rika's Roadhouse. We pulled in and had Swedish meatballs at the cafe on the grounds. Rika was the Swedish woman who ran the roadhouse and cooked for the guests, so the food choice was appropriate. We toured the grounds and learned that most of the old historic roadhouses on the Richardson Highway were gone. They used to be spaced about 20 miles apart, as far as travelers were able to go in a day. The roadhouse provided food, shelter, and a place to sleep. Rika had a vegetable garden, and a passel of animals that she kept warm in the winter in her Swedish design barn.

The Tanana River

The Pipeline that paid our way for 5 years in Alaska

Rika's Garden

Sod Roofed cabin

The Swedish barn

Rika's Roadhouse

Icelandic Immigrant

The property also housed the men running the telegraph lines, and a ferry to cross the river. It was a unique glimpse into a way of life that is almost non-existent. There are still some roadhouses on the more remote stretches of the Alaska highway.

How did the telegraph operators get out this door when the snow was 6 feet high?

The Telegraph building bunk room

Looking up the Tanana River

We made two more stops in Delta Junction where we would pick up the start of the Alaska Highway. First for fuel, potable water for our tank, and a power washing for the rig. The mud from the ride out of Denali in the rain, and the dirt and gravel construction areas on the way to Fairbanks needed to be washed off. Then a stop at the Delta Sausage and Meat Company to check out the reindeer, yak, and other odd local meats. Finally, we appreciated the decent pavement as we made good time towards the border. We stopped for the night at the Deadman Lake Campground in the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge, close to the border. It was free, but we didn't get to appreciate the beautiful spot. The mosquitoes were fierce! The campground was very quiet after the night before spent at Wally World.

Leaving the Tanana behind

Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, our campground road

Looking south across the Refuge

Wednesday we started early to make the run into Whitehorse. It was about 300 miles, but encompassed the worst stretch of highway, once we crossed into Yukon. Goodbye good Alaskan pavement. Hello frost heaves, potholes, and long stretches of construction zones with dirt, gravel, mud, and waits for a pilot car to thread the needle through the road graders, rollers, and gravel trucks, and lead us out the other side! Once we reached Kluane Lake, the road improved a bit, but the rain started, and continued on into Whitehorse. The stretch from Haine's Junction to Whitehorse was fairly flat and straight, so we made good time and drove into the Whitehorse WalMart by 6:30 pm. Yes, another free night at WalMart! We checked it out on our way to Alaska, and surprisingly, the management encourages RV's to fill up the lot. They even post a sign to let RV'ers know what areas to park in. There seem to be RV's that are just parked here with no one in them, (with Yukon plates), as well as the travelers like ourselves. Whitehorse loves the tourism dollars, so they also have a great visitor center and other tourist friendly attractions. Next to the WalMart is a gas station that provides a dump station and potable water for free.