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We checked into the Rivers Edge RV Park on the Chena River in Fairbanks on Thursday, August 2 where we would spend the next six nights. After the two-week push to get here, we needed a few days in one spot to rest up, clean our vehicles and catch our breath. We also had to have our damaged tire repaired again as it was losing air.

The Rivers Edge was like most other private campgrounds we’ve encountered along the way – too many campsites in too little space. Man, do we miss Arkansas’ State and Corps of Engineers parks! No other state that we have visited has better parks than we do. However, living on the road is quite different from camping as we knew it in our former life. Before, we were always escaping to the beauty and peacefulness of the country. Now, we feel the need to be near civilization and services. Funny, how things change.

Fairbanks was to be our northernmost point. We talked about a trip to the Arctic Ocean but just never seemed to get it arranged. We figured 6,000 miles away from home was far enough. Fairbanks, as a city, is nothing to write home about. With a population of about 35,000, it is pretty spread out and nondescript. However, there are a number of touristy things to do there and we took advantage of some of them. One of our stops was at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North. It was a rainy, nasty day – perfect for whiling away a few hours in a museum. In an architecturally abstract igloo-and-aurora-inspired edifice, the Museum of the North has galleries featuring ancient and modern local art; the geology, history and unusual aspects of the state; and the museum’s most famous exhibit, Blue Babe: a 36,000-year-old bison found preserved in the permafrost by Fairbanks-area miners.

We spent another delightful afternoon aboard the sternwheeler, Riverboat Discovery III, on the Chena and Tanana (Tan’-uh-nuh) Rivers. With a capacity of 950 passengers, we had 674 on board our vessel. And Discovery II, the sister boat, was capacity-full with 400 passengers. At $49.95 per person, I’d say they’re doing alright! In fact, at the end of our cruise, we counted 20 tour buses in the parking lot! Old bean-counter, Jerry, figured that this "small" family-owned business is raking in about $7 million in its 4-month season. Guess that’s why Grandma Binkley rushed out of her riverfront home to wave to us as we went by!

The Tanana is the largest glacier-fed stream in the world and the largest tributary of the Yukon River. Because it is fed by glaciers, it is muddy while the Chena is clear water. During our trip, we watched two take-offs and landings by a bush float plane. We have learned that airplanes are a way of life in Alaska and, at any given moment, you can see and/or hear several in the airspace above you. With great distances between towns, and few roads, many families own planes as a primary mode of transportation. And, as the seasons change, the landing gear is switched between wheels to land on ground, pontoons for water, and skis for snow and ice. It has been interesting, as we have traveled Alaska, to see so many small planes on lakes and runways near houses.

Next, we stopped at the riverfront home and kennels of the late Susan Butcher, four-time winner of the Iditarod, and her husband, Dave Monson, also a dog sled champion. Susan and Dave married in 1985 and quickly became the most dominant racing team in Alaska. In fact, in 1988, they won every race they entered. In addition to racing, Susan led the only climbing party to conquer the highest point on the North American continent by dog team when she mushed to the top of 20,320-foot Mt. McKinley. But on August 5, 2006, Susan lost her fight with leukemia, claiming one of Alaska’s brightest stars. She left behind two daughters, 12 and 7, who honor their mom’s memory by loving the dogs she treasured. In fact, they say that the oldest daughter’s first word was "dog". Their home and kennel has been a stop on the riverboat cruise for 20 years. Until this year, Susan would always come out and visit with the passengers, explaining her love for the sport and her dogs. Now that she is gone, Dave carries on the tradition. However, he and the girls were visiting family out of town on the first anniversary of Susan’s death so we were met by one of the senior handlers at the kennel. As part of the demonstration, she hooked 12 dogs to a 4-wheeler, hopped aboard, gave the command, and off they went on a ˝ mile run around the track behind the home and kennel. In what seemed like only a few moments, they were back and, upon her command, stopped on a dime. It was an amazing thing to see! The dogs seemed happiest when running but, once unhooked, they headed straight to the river for a dip.

Our next stop was at a replica of an Athabascan village, where native guides shared customs and traditions of their ancestors. We were amazed at the handiwork of Dixie Alexander, an Athabascan Indian, whose work is on display in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Dixie is a renowned expert on the Athabascan way of life. Among the many interesting things we learned that day, was the role that salmon play in the life of the Indians and their sled dogs. We saw an ancient fishwheel, used to harvest salmon from the rivers and Dixie shared techniques for preparing and smoking the salmon to last through the long winter months. We were able to get up close and personal to reindeer and learned that they and caribou are genetically the same animal. Reindeer are native to Siberia and were imported to Alaska during the late 19th century. They are actually domesticated caribou and, over time, have become larger in size than caribou. They are members of the deer family.

The senior handler from Susan Butcher’s kennel was on hand at the village and talked about the importance of the dogs in the natives’ lives. We were able to get up-close-and-personal with the dogs and, of course, we had to pet them.

We truly enjoyed the cruise and found it noteworthy that this was the first sightseeing cruise we’ve been on where coffee and tea were complimentary and food and other beverages were reasonably priced. It’s nice to see a family, like the Binkleys, that haven’t let greed take over. Oh, yeah – and we saw our first bald eagle of the trip while on the cruise.

That evening, we visited Alaska’s oldest state fair, the Tanana Valley State Fair, and witnessed the famed oversized vegetables, along with every breed of chicken, rabbit, goat, pig and cow imaginable. It seems that there are several state fairs throughout Alaska but their idea of a state fair cannot compare with our state fair. Their fairs are much smaller – more like our county fairs. But the corn dogs and roasted corn were every bit as good as at the Arkansas State Fair

We spent a delightful evening on Sunday at the Malumute Saloon at Ester Gold Camp enjoying the stage show, "Service with a Smile". The show combined vaudeville skits, songs, Robert Service poetry, and tunes from the Sawdust String Band.

On Wednesday, August 8, we turned south on the George Parks Highway toward Anchorage. It was a beautiful drive but the road had lots of frost heaves. From our Alaska Trip Saver coupon book, we had selected a couple of side trips around the town of Healy. The first was to be a whitewater raft trip on the Nenana River but, once we saw the river, we changed our minds. It was really, really muddy – gray mud from glacier melt – and it didn’t look very appealing to us. So, we canceled our reservation, even through they wouldn’t refund our money. You know how Linesteen loved that one. We did go on a fun ATV trip through some of the countryside and enjoyed being out in the fresh air. The tour was led by two cute, young Bulgarians named Georgio and Ivan who were in Alaska on a summer internship. Other folks on the trip were from New Jersey and Louisiana.

It was on this day that we got our first windshield chip around mile marker 190 and it wasn’t even on a gravel section! A pickup truck passed us that must have had a rock wedged in its tire. Bang! And there it was, right in the driver’s line of sight.

We camped at the Denali Rainbow Village RV Park, one of the worst campgrounds in which we’ve stayed. There was nothing visually appealing about it but it was our only choice for wifi so we bit the bullet and checked in for the night. One of the many nice things about carrying your "house" with you is that no matter what the surroundings are, when you go inside and close the door, you’re always at home. That is good.

We decided not to tour Denali National Park on this trip. Everyone should do it once but nine years ago, we spent eight hours on a school bus (no cars are allowed in the park) and saw very little wildlife. So we decided to view the mountain from afar this time. Luckily, Thursday was a beautiful day and we saw the entire mountain, in all its glory. That doesn’t happen every day as clouds often cover the peak. We felt lucky as we traveled south through Denali State Park and stopped at both the north and south viewpoint rest areas to have a look and take photos. And the bright magenta fireweed, lining the highway on both sides, made for an even more spectacular drive.

Beautiful Mt. McKinley is North America’s tallest peak. The natives called it Denali, meaning, "The Great One" and it is, indeed, a magnificent sight. Interestingly, the mountain is growing about ľ inch each year because of the collision of two techtonic plates (don’t ask me what that means!) beneath the mountain. There are actually two peaks: the north peak is 19,470 feet with the south peak being the tallest at 20,320 feet.

We had a difficult time finding a suitable campground in Anchorage as there are only three that offer full hookups. One is next to the railroad yard and one is in a motel parking lot so we chose the third, the Golden Nugget, right across the street from Costco – it’s most redeeming quality. But, being in the middle of town, we were able to have Bubba’s windshield chip repaired. And we had access to major stores so we could restock and resupply before heading south to the Kenai Peninsula.

Anchorage is by far the largest town in Alaska with a population of 275,000. Interestingly, almost half of the state’s population lives here. Anchorage is in a pretty setting on a point of land bounded on two sides by water and on the third by the Chugach Mountains. The city covers 1,955 square miles, roughly the size of Delaware. But, surprisingly, it is really easy to get around in the city. It is a young city with its average citizen only 32 years of age.

We made arrangements to have Bubba’s brakes checked before we left town, heading south on the Seward Highway, along the Turnagain Arm. The brakes checked out fine so we were on our way!

Until next time, happy trails to you . . . til we meet again!