Chicken, Alaska

June 15th, and we're on the road to Chicken, Alaska! This is the Taylor Highway, which degrades from asphalt to dirt, gravel, and potholes. You're seeing the results of the "Taylor Complex Fires," which burned 1.3 million acres during the summer of 2004.










Our spot in the Chicken Creek RV Park. Notice that the rig has acquired another - even more persistent - layer of grime.


The four-business complex in Chicken, all owned by one person. We enjoyed a fantastic lunch in the cafe, although it was a bit disappointing for Bill because they were out of chicken!


Awaiting his master at the Chicken Creek Saloon:


The Pedro Dredge, a gold dredge, is a National Historic Site located at the Chicken Gold Camp RV Park (Chicken's only other RV park). It was sort of a mechanized form of gold panning, with a conveyor belt of three-cubic-foot buckets that scooped the creek bottom and then separated the gold flakes from the tailings. It was used from 1938 through 1967, first in Pedro Creek, north of Fairbanks, and then in lower Chicken Creek.








The stage used for the Chickenstock Music Festival each summer at the Chicken Gold Camp RV Park:


A male Yellow Warbler and various wildflowers in Chicken Creek RV Park:






Possibly Sheep Sorrel:


Paintbrush:


Fireweed:


Dwarf Fireweed:


A coooold night in Chicken:


Chicken's Post Master (in the gray sweatshirt) and Post Office, where mail is dropped off just twice a week:

Tok, Alaska I

June 14th was a short driving day for us as we continued on to Tok, Alaska. Crossing the White River:


The trees were quite stubby in this area of the Alaska Highway.


Part of the Alaska Highway is built on permafrost. Traditional road-building caused the permafrost to melt, and the soil actually liquefied and subsided. When the soil re-froze, it expanded. The same freeze-thaw cycle happens again and again, causing the road to buckle and crack. Troughs also form, snaking their way through the road in every direction. It makes for a dangerous - and very uncomfortable - situation. Canada and the United States share responsibility for this part of the road and are working together to improve it. These vents are part of the Alaska Highway Permafrost Research Project.


You'll see several photos of this cyclist throughout our blog. We wish we could have met him and learned the story of his ride.








Swans in one of the many ponds along this stretch of the highway:




Lots of lines with old-style glass insulators:


A Pale Tiger Swallowtail at a rest stop along the way:


Strawberry Spinach, with grass growing through it:




More bicyclists:


The bridge over the Tok River:


We met Glenn Fenster a little after 5:00 in Tok when he rolled into Fast Eddy's Restaurant, where we happened to be eating. He began his journey in Miami and will complete it in a couple days in Anchorage. His son has epilepsy, and Glenn said he rides each year to bring attention to epilepsy one mile, one person at a time. Check out his website at destinymaker.org.


A helicopter flying over Fast Eddy's:


We stayed in the Tundra RV Park in Tok, surrounded by trees and wildflowers.


The rig was filthy after two days on rough roads. The dirt was like concrete on parts and had to be beaten off with a big stick.




Low-bush Cranberry (tiny plants, rising just a few inches above the ground):








POISONOUS! Elegant Camas, the first one we've seen:




Close-up of a lupine:


Close-up of the tall phase of the Pasque Flower:


Wild Rose buds: