Fairbanks AK

We left our camp on the Nenana River gorge just outside the Denali National Park entrance on Sunday July 30, headed north on the Parks Highway  towards Fairbanks.  Our first stop was the charming little town of Nenana located at the confluence of the Nenana and Tanana rivers.

Nenana Visitor Center

Dorcas and the visitor center lady, a charming little lady who talked nonstop

The Taku Chief at the Nenana visitor center

The highway bridge over the Tanana River

Nenana is famous for the Nenana Ice Classic, it is a contest based on the exact time of the ice break on the Tanana River.  Folks can buy a ticket for $2.50 and enter their guess as to the day/hour/minute that the ice breaks on the river.  A tripod is erected and placed on the ice.  A cable connects the tripod to a tower on shore where the cable is attached to a clock.  When the tripod moves, it triggers the clock to stop, which registers the exact time.  In 2017 the jackpot was $267,444 and was split among 42 winners.   It ain't powerball, but it is still very popular.

The tower and the tripod, which will be placed on the ice

Dorcas and I bought a few tickets at the visitor center

These books tabulate all the entries for past years

A page from the 2016 book

The Alaska Railroad depot in Nenana

The 49-star flag was introduced when Alaska was admitted as a state in 1959.  The flag was short-lived however, and was replaced when Hawaii was added later the same year.

A 49-star flag

The Alaska Railroad publishes a commemorative poster each year.  There were a number of these posters on display in the depot museum, but this one was particularly interesting.  It showed a locomotive depicted as a mosaic of smaller images.  Very cool.

Mosaic poster

Close-up of mosaic poster and individual images

The Mears Memorial Bridge is a truss bridge of the Alaska Railroad, completed in 1923. The bridge spans the Tanana River at Nenana and at 700-feet-long, it is among the longest simple truss-type bridges in the world.

Mears Memorial Bridge

At a craft store in town I bought a really nice diamond willow stick.

Look at my new diamond willow stick!

Seen on the Parks Highway .... 'Nuff said

We parked at the Walmart in Fairbanks for the duration of our stay.  There were about 25 other RVs staying there.

Camp Walmart

They had dedicated RV camping ... er parking spaces

A panoramic photo of our "campground".    Scroll right to see the whole picture

These guys liked to perch on our roof.

"I don't care what you say, I think it's a nice rig!"

We're still having long days, even 6 weeks after the summer solstice

You can get anything at Sam's Club

The following pictures were taken at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center.

Antler arch

Close up of antler arch

Sign at men's room door

This doesn't mean parking for old folks, but parking for tribal elders

These "Fairbikes" stations were all over town. scan a code on the rear fender and off you go!

Bird origami at the Thompson Center

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you!"

A scene from downtown Fairbanks

The steamer STR Nenana, Queen of the Yukon, at Pioneer Park, is the second large wooden-hulled vessel in the world.




Inside the STR Nenana were a number of dioramas depicting many of the river towns she visited.

This diorama depicts the port of Nenana.  Notice the depot and the Ice Classic tripod and tower.

One diorama showed a canoe ... I couldn't resist including a photo

While in Fairbanks, we visited Goldstream Dredge No. 8.  It operated from 1928 until 1959 and produced 7.5 million ounces of gold.

Earl entertained passengers on the train to the dredge

Gold Dredge No. 8

Dorcas driving the dredge.  Driving the coach has improved her confidence

Electric engine and belt drives on the dredge

From Wikipedia:   "A large gold dredge uses a mechanical method to excavate material (sand, gravel, dirt, etc.) using steel "buckets" on a circular, continuous "bucketline" at the front end of the dredge. The material is then sorted/sifted using water. On large gold dredges, the buckets dump the material into a steel rotating cylinder (a specific type of trommel called "the screen") that is sloped downward toward a rubber belt (the stacker) that carries away oversize material (rocks) and dumps the rocks behind the dredge. The cylinder has many holes in it to allow undersized material (including gold) to fall into a sluice box. The material that is washed or sorted away is called tailings. The rocks deposited behind the dredge (by the stacker) are called "tailing piles." The holes in the screen were intended to screen out rocks (e.g., 3/4 inch holes in the screen sent anything larger than 3/4 inch to the stacker)."

The "screen" is in the back and the sluice box, where the gold is collected, in the foreground

At the dredge they give you a small poke of ore so you can pan for gold.  Dorcas and I found a little gold, it was weighed and worth $17.  We were a little disappointed.  In 2011 we scored almost $50 worth of gold.  We had enough to fill a pair of earrings for Dorcas to go with her 2011 necklace.

It's not much, but hey, it's gold

Another highlight of our stay in Fairbanks was having a nice dinner and visit with our friends Bob and Pat from our RV community in FL.  Bob and Pat were with a caravan and were just beginning their trip to Alaska.  

Faithful readers will remember that I had been diagnosed with a UTI in Juneau back in June.  Juneau Urgent Care diagnosed the infection and took a specimen to determine the best course of antibiotic to treat the specific strain.  I had made a number of calls to the clinic to get the lab results, but they would never get them to me.  We had stayed in Juneau an extra four days awaiting the results, but they never came.  The clinic prescribed an antibiotic, then when that drug was not effective, they prescribed a different antibiotic, still not knowing what strain of bacteria they were treating.  In the meantime the symptoms have returned.  I went to an urgent care facility in Fairbanks and was diagnosed with a"wicked" infection.  The PA there was reluctant to treat me, due to a number of complicating factors and strongly recommended that I go the the emergency room at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, which I did.  They did blood tests and took another specimen for a culture, and we hung around in Fairbanks a few days longer than we had originally intended to await the results.  When the results were in the bug was identified, and a third round of antibiotics were prescribed.  We'll see how things go from here.

On a positive note: the hospital called me with the results of the culture at 7:50 PM.  They immediately called a prescription in to the pharmacy at Walmart, which closed at 8:00 PM.  I then ran into the Walmart (we're parked there, remember?) and they had already received the prescription.  They filled it quickly, and I took the first dose at 8:10 PM.  Amazing, isn't it?

We departed Walmart on Saturday August 5.  While doing our departure walk-around, Dorcas observed two small pools of oil under the engine.  It looked fresh, but there was no telling how many other RVs had been parked in that spot over the past few weeks, and I had never seen a leak before.   Being one who embraces denial, I said let's roll and hope for the best.  That was perhaps not the best decision I've ever made.  Stay tuned ...