Day 43 Fairbanks

We were in no hurry to leave the Teklanika River Trading Post this morning. The campground is in a tranquil setting alongside the Teklanika River and the runway for the owner’s Maule Rocket bush plane. He also is an avid collector of all sorts as you can see from the photos.

The Trading Post has all types of Alaska souvenirs and clothes as well as comical mannequins and stuffed animals.

This a local bear species.

Our next stop on the way to Fairbanks was Nenana, the site of President Warren Harding's driving the last spike signifying the completion of the Alaska Railroad. The town has converted the local railroad station into a small museum and gift shop.

One of the more interesting events in Nenana is the annual Nenana Ice Classic. While waiting for winter’s end in 1917 engineers building the railroad bridge started a contest to guess when the ice would go out. The designed and built the tripod that was set in the ice and attached by a line to a clock on shore. When the tripod went through the ice the clock was stopped and the winner determined. The Classic this year was for $308,000 in prizes shared by contestants who purchased $2.00 tickets. (An interesting side note: the data is so exact and continuous for 90 years that it is being used by studies of global warming.)

The Parks Highway leaves Nenana and follows a ridge above the Tenana River Valley into Fairbanks. We arrived in mid afternoon and settled into the Chena Marina RV Park located on a local airport and seaplane base. The photo of the takeoff was taken out the windshield of the motorhome. The last photo is at 12:57AM, it never really gets dark here this time of year, sunrise is in three and a half hours.

We will be here until at least Monday and use the time to visit Fairbanks and take a break from the trip.