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The morning in Tok was cool so we dawdled a little, had hot showers and breakfast then off to the Tok Visitor Centre, a drink for Clancy and some ice for the esky. Here again the staff were great. It appears Tok's only real reason for existence is to be a roadhouse for into and out of Alaska. We learned that Fairbanks was to be having its Fair this week so we now were a little concerned re accommodation as one of the RV parks is also the fairground.
From Tok we headed to Delta Junction the spiritual end of the Alaskan Highway. The drive was a little like the day before although the weather was not quite as kind, with intermitant showers providing us with something other than the tree lined road to consider. Again the drive offered excellent views and if the weather was fine we could have taken walks here or there. Although Shoeleh was still a little jinxed about the brown bears.
The poor weather led us not to stop until we reached Delta Junction, where at the visitor centre we took some photos and an older gentleman failed completely in his task to take one of Shoeleh and I at the terminus to the Alaskan Highway.
From this point we headed out of Delta Junction, we stopped at Rika's Roadhouse & Landing www.rikas.com/roadhouse.html. This again was one of those attractions that more than lived up to the hype. The site was well maintained informative and yet not too commercial. Again the weather made its presence felt with cold wind and rain. The coffee shop while not great was warm and hot. We spent a while longer than I thought here and it was great.
After making it back to Clancy and finding we were now into single digit temperatures we headed north again towards Fairbanks. We got our first view of the Alaska Pipeline which at first glance was sort of a pipeline like wow! Then you see the man working on it and how big the pipe is and then how long it goes for and yep it sure is one heck of a pipeline.
The weather was now just awful with rain (sleet) and wind and traffic to make life interesting. We made it to The Knotty Shop http://www.akpub.com/akttt/knot.html look at it!!! The place was a tourist trap and charming at the same time. The building design using knotted wood for construction was interesting and the displays within.
After the Knotty Shop we continued toward North Pole, Alaska that is. Now this is the Christmas Town, other than some poor road signs we made it. And this is unabashed consumerism and hype. The town was built to be the commercial home for a toyshop to be able to say made at North Pole. The toyshop did not come, but every other type of commercial American did, there was at least one of every fast food chain, Christmas decorations everywhere and of course the obligatory giant Santa's. Look the place was fun and if you like this sort of thing you would really get a kick out of it. Me I ate some back of Clancy lunch and went looking for our RV Park.
For Fairbanks we decided to stay at the Riverview RV Park www.riverviewrvpark.net which was not too bad although the dry camping sites where a long way from the showers and toilets and the weather was not too dry. After booking in we went into Fairbanks proper to have a look around.
First point of call ended up being the Pipeline viewing point north of Fairbanks which was both informative and you were able to get near the pipeline. Most of the pipeline areas require permission to get close to them. So after a lot of reading and a few photos it was back into Clancy and into see if the visitors centre was open. There at 20:00 the centre was open and staffed with helpful and informative people.
Now fully loaded with information we headed back to the campground and cooked dinner in the drizzle and got ourselves into bed for the night
Animals Spotted: Ravens and insects.
Day Twenty-two no bears
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