Sweet on Sourdough!

Here at the RV campground in Tok, it was all about sourdough!  Sourdough pancakes with reindeer sausage served in the morning and reindeer chili in a sourdough bread bowl at night at the small cafe.  When the owners leave for their winter home in Arizona, they store three 5 gallon buckets of the sourdough starter on the premises.  They also take along a small portion with them just in case something happens to the saved buckets.  The mix comes from the original started 40 years ago.

This was a fun place to stay.  In the evening the had entertainment under the wood veranda.  The guy was good, singing many of the favorite Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Marty Robbins songs.

 It was on the chilly side, so we were all bundled up as we sat outside.

Sandy and Jerry snuggled up to stay warm while listening to the music.

At 7 PM they started the pancake toss.  Everyone had two pancakes to throw into a bucket on the stage.  If you got one in, you won a free breakfast the next morning, which was two sourdough (of course) pancakes and a reindeer sausage.  Sandy got her first pancake into the pail labeled "BUCKIT" on the side of it.  One free breakfast for her!

Don gave it a good try, but both his pancakes missed the "buckit".

Gary also gave it his best shot.

Looks like Norm was close, since everyone had their mouth open after he threw it!

Everyone else threw underhand, but I wadded mine up into a ball, pretended to spit on it, and then hurled it towards the pail.  It went in, first try!  Amazing, since everyone knows I normally can't hit the broad side of a barn when I throw!  One more free breakfast!

Landi looks a little sad after her pancake missed the "buckit" for a second time.  At least she gave it her best pancake shot.

There were 4 winners that night.  Each of us had a chance to decide whether we would keep our free breakfast or trade it for something under other buckets on the stage.  Sandy decided to trade and this is what she got: Moose Nugget Swizzles!  I'm sure she'll find a use for them.

I also decided to trade for the item under pail #1 and I got a pair of men's boxer shorts in size XL!  Maybe Don could use these if I take them in and add suspenders....

As the guy was singing, the camp hosts were busy making S'mores by the campfire.  Gooey and good at the same time.

Sherry dealt with her sticky S'more.  It was harder with gloves on, that's for sure.

The next evening we went back to the cafe for the reindeer chili in sourdough bread bowls.  I loved this sign on the door entrance.

The owners and their daughter and son-in-law run this place during the short summer season, which means they check you into your RV spot, cook your food and serve as your waitress.  Guess you have to be a jack of all trades to run RV campgrounds up here.   Here we are sitting down for our chili, which was quite good.  If you have small children, please don't let them know we may have eaten one of Rudolph's relatives.  Thanks.

Road Views

Okay, I know you are thinking I must be a bit off to do a post about the Alaskan roads, but I thought I'd give you a view of our trip down to Tok.  As like all the other highways up here, the road is full of patches and ups and downs.  It can be really noisy going over the bumps when everything in the camper shakes, rattles and rolls!

We passed by another area of burned out trees.  With all of this rain up here, how could a fire even start?  Then I talked to the cashier at Rika's Roadhouse.  A wildfire had come within  300 yards of her house the previous day.  She said that the rain may go down into the tundra an inch or two, the fires burn up to 2 feet under the ground!  They may continue burning throughout the winter and create hot spots that need to be looked at.  That is so different from Arizona...all that rock, sand and caliche would never burn.

More snow capped mountains and dark clouds greeted us as we traveled south on Highway 2.

And this is what it looks like when you take a wrong turn!  We thought we were pulled into a rest area and discovered the road didn't curved back to the highways.  All 3 of us had to back up back to the highway since there was absolutely no place to turn around.

"Tok"en Stops on Our Way to Tok

On Saturday we re-located to Tok, stopping along the way to change drivers and to see sights we will most likely never see again in our lifetimes.

Our first stop was a scenic viewpoint at Milepost 288 for those of you familiar with the Alaska Highway system.  The Milepost  book told us that from our view overlooking the Tanana River we could see 3 great peaks of the Alaskan Range: Mount Hayes, Hess Mountain and Mount Deborah.  At this point, we had sun and a clear view.  Time to stop!

Our next stop was only 13 miles down the road, at Milepost 275.  From here we had a clear view of the Alaskan Pipeline crossing over the river. 

 This was also the site for Rika's Roadhouse and Landing, a state historic site and restaurant.  It was named as a Swedish lady named Rika who managed the roadhouse, had a garden, cows and also ran the post office and liquor store from this location.  She was one busy lady!

Inside one of the museum's rooms was this old radio and phonograph player made by Zenith.  

And here is a view of the post office boxes in one of  Rika's rooms.

The two carved moose were official greeters for the restaurant.  I would have loved to bring one home with us, but he would have never fit in my suitcase.  I was especially fond of the one with the Alaska cap with a moose on it.

I thought of our daughter, Lisa, and her husband Ken when I looked up at the ceiling in the gift shop and saw the bison with the Coke cup.  They are Coke collectors.  The bison was so quiet I didn't even hear him slurping his drink. 

Below is one of the original structures, made of sturdy logs and a steeply pitched roof.  One of the information signs in the buildings told us that Rika patterned her barn after the barns in her homeland of Sweden.

As we headed back to our campers, we noticed this very old truck that has seen better days.  Maybe when the wheel gave out they just left it there to spend the rest of its days. 

Drive South to the North Pole!

What?  We have to drive SOUTH to get to the NORTH POLE?  Sounds like an oxymoron to me!  Anyway, that is exactly what we did.  Our RV campground was located between Fairbanks and the town of North Pole, so we had to drive south on the Richardson Highway.

I guess Santa must also eat some of his meals at the local McDonalds.  Why else would they have one there?  It's the only McD sign that I've seen perched atop a red and white pole.  For some reason, there are a lot of candy cane poles all around here...

It was almost 1 PM, and look at the temperature: a "balmy" 51 degrees.  Perfect day for an Alaskan to lay out and get a suntan IF the sun was out.

Sherry and Sandy scurry into the Santa Claus House with Don not far behind. 

I think this place had almost every type of ornament or shirt related to Christmas.  You could spend a lot of time just wandering around in here and looking at everything.  In the back was a guy who looked just like Santa Claus, but the line was too long for me to wait and sit on his lap.  I wonder if I will get the gift on my Christmas list since I bypassed him?  Guess I'll find out on Dec. 25th.

Jerry didn't talk to Santa either, but he did make a new friend inside the store!

Put That In Your Alaskan Pipe (line) and Smoke It

Of course, no visit to Alaska would be complete without a visit to the Alaskan Pipeline.  Jerry wanted to see it up close, and there was a spot in Fairbanks that met his needs.  It had rained all morning long, but that didn't stop us from donning our rain gear and getting out to see the pipeline.

The odd looking device above is called a "pig". They monitor the condition of the pipeline as well as improve the flow of oil.  They are launched and retrieved at pump stations and move along with the oil.  The more sophisticated (maybe they are the highly educated variety) use magnetic fields and ultrasound to detect small changes in the shape and thickness of the walls.  I never knew that pigs were that smart!

Don and Gary stopped to read some of the information signs nearby.

I peeked out from my rain jacket as Don pretends to hold up the steel girder.  Ah, another day in cold and rainy Alaska!

I thought I had gotten to the end of the post, published it and then discovered the picture of Sandy and Jerry had nothing by it.  Rats!  It's not hard to edit a post, but up here, it is extremely hard to get a Wifi signal.  Currently, I am doing updates from Tok, and the Wifi system keeps dropping all of us. I have my laptop sitting on a table under a veranda while Jerry, Sandy and Don are by the laundry room!  It makes life interesting, that's for sure.

Rollin' on the River

It's Thursday, August 22nd and we are almost ready to board the Discovery III steamboat located on the Chena River in Fairbanks.  We got here early enough so we were ahead of the 6 or 7 tour buses full of people.  Believe me, all 8 in our group were thankful for blue skies and sun!  The forecast for most of this week has been cloudy and rainy with a 50 to 60 % chance of showers.

Right after we left the dock and turned around to head down the river, we viewed a demonstration of how Alaska bush pilots take off and land on rivers.  We had been told by different people to sit on the port side of the boat to get a better view, which was great advice.  The plane took off and headed to the left of us.

I got a good shot of him as he flew past us.

Farther down the river we were able to learn about sled dogs and how they are trained.  The property is owned by the husband of  the late Susan Butchard, winner of the 1986/87/88 and 90 Iditarods.

Once they started getting the dogs ready for the demonstration, they leaped and strained at their harnesses.  The other dogs left behind in the kennels were also going crazy, barking and running around their individual kennels.  It was noisy!

After the run, the dogs enjoyed a dip in the chilly Chena River.

This is what the water looks like when the Chena River meets up with the Tenana.  The green is the Chena, and the gray, cloudy water comes from the Tanana.

We got off the boat to walk around the Chena Village and learn about the Athabascan way of Indian life up here.  Below was a young lady showing us how they cut up salmon for the sled dogs.  Chum is given for the dogs and the better salmon, like Kings and Coho are smoked and used by the people.

Another young lady modeled a beautiful coat made out of various types of pelts.  It is worth between $15,000 and $30,000!

Gary, Sherry , Sandy and Jerry are having a good time as we wait for the boat to depart from the village and head back.  

The statue of  Granite, the greatest lead dog of Iditarod history, sits in front of the post office.

We arrive back at camp to a fully cooked meal of chili.  It had been cooking in the crock pot while we were out gallivanting around.  All we had to do is make the cornbread and enjoy the meal.