Yahoo!! We are back in the USA!! Happy to be here, too!!
Today we had a 107 mile drive to Chicken, AK via the Top of the World Highway. It was to be a little slow, but we were not in a big hurry. We left the RV park at 10:00 AM. We arrived at Dawson's Yukon River Crossing ferry at 10:05 to find that we were the 15th RV in line to make the crossing for the Top of the World Highway.
We inched our way ahead as the ferry loaded cars, pickups, semi trucks, motorcycles, pedestrians, and RV's. I timed the ferry from the Dawson side over and back. 20 Minutes. Lets see, one RV every 20 minutes = about a 4 hr wait. Oh well!!
We disembarked the ferry at 1:00 PM (only 3 hrs wait :-) and headed out of the Yukon River valley towards Chicken. The road was paved (for about 4 miles) then it was gravel with dust control. Not bad. We were cruising at 35-40 mph. Hmmm... we should be in chicken in 2½ hours. NO SO!! The road condition went from fair to not-so-good and we encountered steep grades (both up and down) that required us to shift into 1st gear and travel at 15-20 mph. Still not bad!!
The road did take us to the “Top of the World”. We had vistas that were absolutely amazing. We could see for 20-30 miles at times. The mountains and valleys were gorgeous. We stopped several times to take in the views.
At 70 miles into the journey, we reached the Canada/USA border. No problem – cruised right through with our Enhanced Drivers Licenses. I asked the guard about the road conditions from the station to Chicken. She said there was road construction for 13 miles (damn engineers!!) and that the surface was rough. The road surface was VERY rough and the grades were steep at times. Our speed dropped to 10-15 mph!! At 83 miles, we left the construction area and traveled an unsurfaced road that had soft spots, pot holes, and wash board. At times the roadway was narrow and the outside shoulders were soft (drop off of 100'-500') and had Gayle on the edge of her seat.
I failed to mention that we encountered rain showers (and one down pour) along the way. The roadway turned to a skim of mud that coated our pickup and trailer from the front bumper back. Maybe we will get more rain tomorrow and wash it off!!
We arrived at Chicken at 6PM (5 hrs) and were ready for the day to be over. There are 2 RV parks here and 3 restaurant - of which 2 of them closed at 7PM. We chose to dine at the one that is famous for their chicken pot pie. (What else would you eat in Chicken, AK?) The service was great and the microwave only took 3 minutes!! However, the pot pie was less than a scrumptious meal!! Of course, what would you expect for $14 bucks.
We returned to the trailer at 7:45, took showers and turned in for the night. (Night??? Did we mention that is doesn't get dark here this time of year??)
Tomorrow we will drive to North Pole, AK (via Tok Jct. About 280 miles. We plan to stay 4 days.
