Yep, we made it to Alaska and the coach is intact with no damage; the car is too but all had quite a bit of dust and yesterday was cleaning day. But more about that later.
So after Whitehorse we headed north to Dawson City, Yukon Territory and found warm weather, lot's of dust and some good times in town. We enjoyed Diamond Tooth Gertie's Casino and Can Can Show, a nice meal at the Jack London Grill and walked around the most authentic and rustic looking gold rush town still in existence. Wooden sidewalks, dirt streets and spectacular views all nestled alongside the Yukon River.
Dirt Streets and Wooden Sidewalks !
Can-Can girls at Gertie's
Downtown Dawson City
Gold Panning Championships !
Somebody we know ??? 
Dawson City & Yukon River behind me !
view of the gold mining areas from the Dome
Dawson City & Yukon RiverWe spent 4 nights and 3 days in DC and really got to see the town. A tour of the historic Gold Dredge # 4 and golf at the northernmost golf course in Canada.......Top of the World GC made the visit complete.
The GC is owned by a retired miner who wished to give back to the community that helped support him so he bought the land a number of years ago and although he doesn't play golf himself, he carved the course (9 holes) out of the landscape alongside the Yukon River and overlooking Dawson City. Now understand, this is a rough and tumble golf course and the greens are a little bouncy but they are grass and 2794 yards is respectable distance. My friend Gene shot a 39 with 1 birdie and I had a 44.
The clubhouse !
the 1st Tee
The greens are a little bumpy, but the views are great !
Nice wide fairways
Short but treacherous !
Beautiful views and elevation changesSo everyone warned us that the Top of the World Hwy (TOTW) was the worst road in North America and to expect damage and miserable road conditions. One person even sent me an e-mail saying "her prayers and thoughts will be with me as I travel the TOTW." Well yes, it was probably the worst road but we went slow, averaged only 20mph for the entire 107 miles and had no damage. Lot's of dirt and at times we could not even see the car for the cloud of dust and actually lost the use of the rear camera because of the dirt build-up but we made it and we had the experience.
Now to get from Dawson City to the TOTW you have to cross the Yukon River on the only ferry that operates. No bridges, just the ferry. It's small and the landings are dirt, no piers or pilings; just drop the bridge plate in the dirt and drive on ! They actually keep a front-end loader and extra dirt nearby to keep the landing from washing away. The river current is pretty strong.
Yukon River ferry.....dirt rampSo, given the size of our rigs we knew only 1 coach was getting on at a time and it would be best not to have the toad hooked up, especially with the dirt ruts at the landing site. There was also quite a few campers who were scheduled to leave the downtown campground the same day as us. We set our clocks for 4am and were at the ferry dock at 5am. Across we went one at a time and we were hooked up and on the way by 5.40am. Smooth sailing.
Early morning - Top of the World HighwayAn unplanned benefit of being on the road so early was the morning dew ! Yep the mountain road, you climb to an elevation of more than 4,000 feet, was moist with the dew and the dust was much less than expected for the first several hours.
Driving the TOTW HwyWe arrived at the US border at about 8.40am and the border doesn't open till 9.00am. Well, actually the border opens at 8.00am Alaska time and we arrived at 7.40am Alaska time. The time change is AT the border station. Since it was July 4th we wished the agent Happy Birthday and we were back in the USA !
US Border Crossing-Welcome Back !
Border Crossing
A view to Top of the WorldWell, for the next 40 miles it was all dirt and dust and really ugly road conditions but the key again is slow speed and we arrived in Chicken, Alaska in time for lunch.
Chicken, Alaska is a very small town in some of the most rugged, mountainous terrain I've seen. There's not more than half a dozen buildings and lots' of RV's. They also are the only place for fuel and food on the entire 200+ mile journey from Dawson City to Tok, Alaska back on the Alaska Highway and Chicken has one heck of a good 4th of July party.
Downtown Chicken
Gold Miners Assn 4th of July Picnic
The Post OfficeNo fowl on the menu just steak and hosted by the Gold Prospectors Assn. For $12.00 a great deal. Close to 200 people at the party and gold panning contests, door prizes and some great conversation. Chicken has a population of 15 in the winter and no phone service, electric service or public water. It's dry camping and the shops have their own generators, sat phones and wells. They have 1 small fire truck and an ambulance but in a real emergency, they'll fly you out from the small dirt air strip.
Too much day light for fireworks so Chicken has a cannon they shoot off and a band concert that rocked the town till late. Oh, the price for diesel was $4.36 US a gallon ! Ouch ! and yes, we needed fuel. Sure did help the local economy.
So off we went the next day and drove down the mountain to Tok (pronounced toke) and rejoined the Alaska Highway northbound to Delta Junction and it's official end. We dry camped at a small state park and took the obligatory end of the highway pictures and moved onto Fairbanks and summer !
We've had pretty cool weather for most of the trip since leaving Montana and we've hit the interior of Alaska and it's soring summer heat. We've also hit fire season and there are currently 62 active wildland fires in the state. Two of the biggest are southeast of Fairbanks and northwest of Fairbanks. No matter the winds, we're smelling smoke and lot's of dense haze. With temps in the mid 80's it makes the outdoors a bit uncomfortable.
We've got a week planned here and they expect to have a few days respite beginning tomorrow. The a/c units are working hard. Oh, BTW one of the biggest fires is over 17k acres and in Denali Park. Hmmm, may need to change our schedule again.
Stay tuned, we'll talk again soon.
Gene & Laurie
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