Underway II - The Sequel

Thursday, June 2, 2011 -  The latest test on the jet boat was a success, so Mark and Suzie, Keith and Emily will be going fishing for king salmon starting this evening, and it will be time for us to take our leave. 

Moosetooth sign in Beartooth restaurant

Yesterday, I brought Moose in for an oil change.  It had been just about 5,000 miles, and the “Maint Reqd” light came on as I was driving there.  I have been using synthetic oil which, although almost prohibitive in cost, should provide better protection against engine wear (now over 141,000 on the odometer.)  We have noticed also that the (shifter) gear box cover gets hot while towing, especially while manually downshifting for steep downgrades, but we are hoping that the transmission will be okay until our return to Colorado.  Last night we took Mark and Suzie out to dinner at the Bear Tooth restaurant, within walking distance nearby – next time you are there, try the Pork Colorado…delicious! 

Today, Mark made another attempt to solve our ongoing refrigerator/propane problem.  He changed two wires which internet research in the TrailManor users forum claimed were too small.  To do this, we had to disconnect the gas line and pull the refrigerator out to access the wires.  But, once again, the propane setting is working.  We’ll keep you posted.

A little after 3:00 pm we were underway again.  We drove back up the Glen Allen highway, then took the Richardson highway north towards Delta Junction, a total of 250 miles.  We stopped at the beautiful Paxson Lake BLM campground for the next two nights ($6.00 per night with our Senior Pass) and had Bear Tooth leftovers for supper.  We did not realize how late it was getting because it was so light outside, but a glance at the time showed 11:15 pm!

Friday, June 3, 2011 – Today was an exploration and rockhounding day.  We drove north ten miles to Paxson, then 22 miles west on the Denali highway to visit the Tangle Lakes, a popular canoeing spot.  The drive was mostly above treeline and very scenic, but the lake was still iced in, as Mark had predicted.  We came back to Paxson, then turned north on the Richardson highway for about 25 miles to three rockhounding sites – one on a river bank looking for marble, one in a quarry looking for copper-based minerals, and one along the road looking for fossils.  We picked up samples at each place, but nothing earthshaking.  We hope we have enough gas to get to Delta Junction tomorrow – we will if my calculations are correct.

Saturday, June 4, 2011 – The weather recently has been more clouds than sun, with some showers.  Last night the temperature got down to 46 F., high about 65 today.  We continued on the Richardson highway to Delta Junction.  As yesterday, the drive was scenic.  Along this highway, the Alyeska pipeline was built in the 1970’s, from the north slope to the port of Valdez.  The line is above ground part of the time, and below at other points, depending upon closeness to earthquake fault lines and soil conditions.  It was surprisingly easy to see.  From Delta Junction, we proceeded down the Alaska highway back to Tok, a stopping point on our way north.  At a gas station in Tok, Susan spotted Colorado plates, so I went over to talk.  Turns out the people lived in Buena Vista, had lived in Tampa, owned horses, and had done competitive trail riding in the early 1990’s.  We were simply amazed!  They were heading the other way, so we will compare notes when we get home. 



West Fork Campground

 We continued on towards Chicken, Alaska and the Top of the World Highway, which was closed ten days ago.  Susan looked for Labradourite, Rhyolite, and other rocks along the way.  We found another very nice BLM campground (West Fork) just before Chicken for the night.

Sunday, June 5, 2011 – We drove to Chicken, AK, just 17 miles.  It rained fairly steadily, so we decided to wait a day here, hoping that the visibility improves tomorrow for the “Top of the World” highway trip to Dawson City, Yukon.  Chicken is just a wide spot in the road, with a mining and prospecting history going back over 100 years.  We’d love to find some gold nuggets, but not in the rain (some prospectors, huh.)  Mostly we had a chance to veg out, recharge batteries, and upload the latest blog information.