Fairbanks to Denali National Park

We got up fairly early, having changed time zones when we crossed the border. This means we don't have to change all the clocks in the rig again, now that we've figured out how to do it.

The weather was gray, but not raining. We headed out to a Pioneer Park in Fairbanks, but the GPS led us astray. Instead we headed off to Denali.

We bought gasoline just outside of Fairbanks. Opportunities fade fast once you leave town.

However, we didn't find a propane dispensary. RV stuff: the RV has central heat, propane powered, as is the refrigerator (when we're not hooked up to electric power), hot water heater, and range. The heat has come every night, but the gauge on the control panel still says 2/3 full (next step being 1/3) after two weeks. Is it real or imaginary? We stopped in Nenana to top up the propane. It took about a half tank, so the gauge wasn't lying, and we have the assurance that the 'frig won't run out while we're dry camping in Denali.


Nenana has a big time ice-out contest every year. We stopped in the visitors' center (their first customers for the year) and heard all about it. This past year, the ice went out rather early, and there was just one person to collect the prize - $350,000! We saw the huge book/printout of all the entries but didn't take a picture of it. It was a good 4" thick. The black and white wood pylon across the street was a previous ice-out pylon.

Alaska Railroad trestle across the river. ~All who come to Denali are either on trains or the road. The cruise/tour business is huge. We saw innumerable Princess Tour buses in Alaska, and we ended up in one of their resorts by mistake.

A welcome sign.

We checked in, got our tickets for tomorrow's tour, and found a nice campsite. After lunch we took a drive as far as we could go into the park. The road goes about 100 miles, but only the first 13 miles can be driven by civilians.

 

 

Caribou bulls hanging out. We learned the cows are off in another locale for birthing.

 

The road seemed to have every culvert dug up for replacement. A lot of paper plates gave it up for the cause. All the construction signs were like this.

I'm trying to do some blogging. It's 10:30 pm, we have no lights on, and it's quite light out. At Fairbanks yesterday, there were 19 hours 55 minutes of daylight. The RV has good shades, so all that pesky daylight hasn't interfered with sleep.

Miles for the day 153, total 4079.