Tok to Fairbanks, AK

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Monday, July 16th

We departed Tok at 9:10am and arrived at River’s Edge RV Park in Fairbanks at about 3 pm and traveled 245 miles. It is only 212 miles from Tok but with our side trip and a few stops it added the extra miles.

The road from Tok was very good but did have a number of frost heaves that were well repaired and were just mild dips and humps. Most of it we traveled at 60 mph.

It rained until we approached Fairbanks and the clouds obscured the Alaska Range to our south so we didn’t get many pictures. The road follows the Tanana River valley all the way to Fairbanks and the Alaska Range is to the left of the road somewhere.

Mosquitoes in Delta Junction

If you think these are big mosquitoes you should see the real ones.

Before we checked out Delta Junction we drove down the Richardson Highway about 20 miles to the location of the satellite tracking station I had worked at in 1967 from February to October when we closed the site. Not much remains as the geodesic domes are gone and only the building that housed the power plant remained. It is now used by the military as an attack landing zone for training. We also went by Fort Greely which is where our quarters were when I was there.

Once back in town Linda was intent on finding the Calico Cow quilt shop. It must have been ok but not outstanding as she wasn't in there long and didn't buy anything. Prices at quilt shops in Alaska are much higher than at home.

End of the Alaska Highway

Although we have reached the end of the Alaska Highway we still have more of it to cover. On our return we will finish all but 88 miles of the road, the section from Whitehorse to Haines Junction as we are taking the ferry from Haines to Skagway and will bypass it.

At Delta Junction you can continue on to Fairbanks as we did or go south towards Glennallen and Valdez on the Richardson Highway. The Richardson runs from Fairbanks to Valdez.

Tanana River

From Tok to Fairbanks the road follows the Tanana River in its wide valley. While it isn’t very deep it covers a lot of area. In some places there are additional flood plains for the river to spread out when it really gets flowing.

Linda relaxing after dinner

The Chena River which is about 100’ from our trailer

When taking a walk around the RV Park we went by the office and saw a sign that read "You've Got Mail" and we remembered we were supposed to pick up our mail from General Delivery in Tok, 200 miles back down the road. I called the Post Office and they are going to forward it to us down the road. Whew!

Tomorrow we will go to Santa’s House in North Pole, AK. We have letters to drop off to Santa from some very special grandkids. After doing that we will explore Fairbanks.