JULY 25TH, BUS, RIVERBOAT AND TRAIN

DAY 27 of our Caravan

Where do you start with a day packed with so much fun! Pulling out of the campground at 8:15 this morning, we were all excited about being in Fairbanks for 4 more days and having a chance to catch our breaths. Little did we know how wide open we would be this day!

Our first boat was the Riverboat Discovery lll; one hundred years and 4 generations of the Binkley family have run riverboats up the Chena River. It has literally been their back yard. Along the way, we saw a bush plane demonstration, several historical homes with interesting histories and reindeer (which we found out or domesticated Caribou). Two of the really neat demonstrations we saw were at the home of the late Susan Butcher. She is a local hero, the first woman to win the Iditarod. She dedicated her life to raising sled dogs and racing and was quite a frontier lady in this area. Her husband and two daughters carry on the tradition. We saw a team of 14 dogs pull a tractor (no snow of course). Verbal commands are very important and the care and feeding along with the relationship developed with the dogs is of the utmost importance. Our next stop was at an Athabascan Indian Fish Camp, where native Athabascans from Fort Yukon

Demonstrated the clothing, housing and fish drying techniques that were used. The log dwellings only have been used for the last 150 years since the Westerners arrived. Also, Dan Munson arrived with one of his daughters and some of the sled dogs for us to see up close. He autographed a book called Granite, which Susan wrote about her first dog Granite who overcame a lot of problems in his puppy years to go on and win the Iditarod. Susan died in Aug. Of 2005, but has remained quite a legend in these parts.

After leaving the riverboat and spending lots of money in the gift shop, where Denny and I did the -40F experience, we enjoyed a great buffet at the Pumphouse Restaurant which had all kinds of relics related to the Gold Rush Days. They also have a garden outside the restaurant with HUGE cabbages. As Sue said, “one leaf would feed a whole family”. Back on the bus, we were all ready for a nap, but oh no, more fun was ahead.

We went to the El Dorado Gold Mine. It is a working gold mine today but also offers tours and gold –panning. We boarded a train and had a neat ride that depicted the stages and different types of gold mining. Denny and Lynn were especially interested, as they seem to have “gold fever” since panning for gold in Chicken. The train dropped us off where Yukon Yonda gave us one of the most interesting and detailed explanations of how gold mining with a sluice is done. THEN the fun began, we were each given pans and a bag of dirt to go panning. We had so much fun. We were so scared to follow their instructions to keep washing the rocks and dirt out even though they kept reassuring us that the gold was so much heavier than water that it would sink to the bottom of the pan. After all, what did they know J Finally, with a little help, Denny and I finished our pans and to our surprise there was gold. We combined it for a total of 14 grams or $43.00. Not bad for 20 minutes work. Off we went inside where they weighed it and I had it made into a necklace and earrings. That free pan of dirt ended up costing Denny quite a bit, but what a neat souvenir and what memories are with it.

On the way back to the campground, we stopped to view the pipeline. It is 4’ in diameter and is built in a zigzag fashion to withstand an earthquake measuring up to an 8. It is also built off the ground to protect it from the elements. Along the path of the pipeline, there are bridges and areas where the Caribou can cross under or over it.

Well, as I said, we had a full, fun day. However, we had to get back to our RV’s because in the morning we start all over. How great is that!!!