Church, Pipeline, Robertson River

 

(1) There are three delightful RC mission churches in the Yukon made from old Quonset huts.  We saw also Our Lady of the View. 

 

(2) The Alaska pipeline along Richardson Highway on our way to Fairbanks.  Amazing piece of construction. 

 

(3) The Robertson River with the broad floodplain and braided streams. 

 

There are several wildfires in the Tok to Fairbanks area.  Some large sections of the highway look foggy but with an acrid smell. We have been smelling the fires for about 24 hours. 

 

How cold does it get in Alaska?  EVERY car with AK plates has an electric plug hanging down from the engine.  We stopped by the U of AK large animal research center to see the muskox.  Wonderful, big soulful faces.  There is a wool yarn shop in Fairbanks that has a muskox skin draped over a table.  It looks like the real animal and has amazing thick wool, but they were out of muskox yarn.

 

Bob is very upset about the Golden North Motel in Fairbanks. It is seedy and tired and in not so great a location with the airport and highway near by, and just down the street a bar with genuine showgirls.  It was prepaid, of course, and not so cheap!  I tell him it's OK, it's one of those experiences that we will tell over and over (and it will get seedier with each telling).