bobanddenisewanderlust

It had rained, hard most of the night. Fortunately, the rain had cleared out and the sun was peaking through the clouds.

We drove out of Bonanza Gold RV Park at 8:00. We stopped for diesel, just for 31 gallons at $6 per gallon. Margie and Wayne passed us and we met up at the free Ferry.  We were fifth in line.By the time we left there were ten RV’s behind us! We heard that at eleven the line was at twenty. We were glad that we had left a little earlier. We were on the ferry by 9 AM. Below, Margie and Wayne’s5th wheel on the ferry.

Since the dogs enjoyed our last time on a ferry, we put them on my lap for the trip.

While waiting, we watched a side paddle wheeler paddle past.

Here we are driving onto the ferry.

This is the landing.

On the far side of the river was the beginning of The Top of the World Road. It was 117 miles to Chicken. The Canadian road was partially gravel and partially paved. They had paved the road in 1933 and did repairs, but as it deteriorated, they replaced those sections with gravel.

Here is our last look at Dawson City.

We travelled along at between 20 and 35 mph. We have heard that you need to be very careful on this road, as the shoulders are soft and RV’s have been known to go off the side. That did not seem to be a problem for us. You could see miles ahead so you could take your half of the road out of the middle! We were passed several times by hot shots who just had to go fast! We could not imagine why you would want to, as we were enjoying the beautiful scenery. I kept feeling like I was going to burst into song, singing : The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music”!

The road travels along the ridgeline of the mountains. There are valleys on both sides, with green, majestic mountains as far and you can see. Nothing else, no telephone poles, no cell towers, just pristine wilderness. It was awesome.

It had been suggested to us that traveling along this road, in this direction, is the best way to travel. I had agree. We only had two stretches where there were sharp drop offs. I would not want to travel in the opposite direction.

My only complaint about the road is that there were not enough pull outs to stop and take pictures, on the Canadian side. Since there was no traffic, we felt comfortable just stopping in the middle of the road and taking pics!

We stopped at  US Customs. There was a stop light. We stopped there and the guy picked up his binoculars, read our license plate, turned the light green, and had us drive up to the station. He took our passports and told us that they were not valid. Huh? Neither of us had signed them! So he made us sign them. He asked if we had any firearms or liquor ( three bottles of open wine and one beer). He sent us on our way.

The road immediately changed to brown dirt and deteriorated. We continued a short distance to the rest area where the Welcome to Alaska sign was located. We ate lunch, took pictures and continued on our way. It was 43 very long miles to Chicken.

This part of the road was dirty and bumpy. We traveled at 10-20 mph, so it seemed to take forever. The scenery was not as pretty either. We passed a lot of people panning for gold. Since they have put these TV shows on about gold panning, people are flocking up here to make their millions. Do I need to tell you they don’t find much!

We went downhill off the top of the mountains and the road when up and down.

We came down a steep hill into Chicken. Our first stop was at The Goldpanner RV Park and gift store. We wandered around the store. The RV park had been on our out of date Passport America list, but they no longer honor PA. It would have been $36 a night to stay here. Free boon-docking if you fill up your tank, not at $8 per gallon!  I did buy a T-shirt and two pins.

We continued on to the downtown. Downtown consists of one long building which has a mercantile, liquor store, saloon and café. It is what you see in all the literature. The place is owned by  Susan Wiren. Outside was a sign which said free RV parking, check inside. We went inside and Susan told us where to park. She was amazed that we had actually followed directions! There was another motor home here, and they had not asked. She was not happy with them!

We parked and set up camp. Once we were set up, we walked over to the third business in town, Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost. We took pictures of the dredge and the Chicken. We wandered through the gift shop. Bob bought a T-shirt and we walked back to the ‘downtown’. We wandered through Susan’s gift shop.

Chicken really uses the theme! Here is the chicken which laid the golden eggs.

We went back to the motor home and read our books. At 5:30 we went to dinner. We had crossed into the Alaska time zone when we went through customs, so we went to dinner early, since our bodies were telling us it was an hour later.

Bob had a reindeer brat with potato salad, Margie, Wayne and I all had the chicken, with potato salad. All were pretty good. We also had pie for dessert. When you walk into the café there are pies sitting out. Awesome, with a great crust! We split cherry and Wayne and Margie spilt a blueberry. Yum!

We returned to the motor home at about 7:30. We had met a nice couple from Sketachauan  and we had all sat talking. We then held a memorial service for our DVD/VHS player. Evidently it did not survive the shake, rattle and roll! Oh well, it does not owe us anything! We read our books and went to bed.

This is Fireweed, it is everywhere in July.

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