July 1, 2009

July 1, 2009

The one unwanted souvenir we have of the Alaska Highway is road dirt. Every surface and every nook and cranny is clogged with mud, thick mud. Many of the Alaska RV parks advertise a wash station as a service for us intrepid pioneers coming off the Highway. It is warm and sunny so we give it a go this morning. I am not looking for nice and shiny, just clean enough I don’t get dirty just walking by the house.

From North Pole, AK we drive the short distance into Fairbanks. Our first stop is a gas station. I am on fumes. We fill up on “cheap” gas, the first we have gotten below $3 a gallon since Montana.

Our next stop is Pioneer Park. This site is Fairbanks’s effort to preserve some of its early history. Many of the buildings are authentic log cabins transplanted here from throughout the Fairbanks area to recreate a gold rush town. Most are now tourist shops. A few hold museum collections of early memorabilia. The two centerpieces of the park are a historic sternwheeler riverboat and the rail car that President Harding rode when he drove the last spike for the Alaska railway. Unfortunately for us we have come too early. Most of the buildings don’t open till noon.

Since the weather is so nice, Aimee and I decide to dust off our golf clubs. We head to the nearby Fairbanks Golf Club for a round. This nine-hole course is nice except for the greens. They are pretty bad. But who cares, it is sunny and warm.