Friday July 2, Fairbanks, AK

Miles 125

Tonights camp is such the opposite to last night…..we are in the carpark of Walmart, along with 30 or 40 other motorhomes. Such a change to where we are used to camping, but it’s free, and safe and within walking distance to many other huge stores as well as Walmart. There is Home Depot, Lowes (a big hardware store), 2 large sports stores, footwear and Barnes and Noble with the biggest selection of books you could imagine. Ian and I have just spent more than an hour wandering around …and both of us found a book we couldn’t leave behind!
Last night, with the sun still shining till really late, the camp was full of activity until midnight, so this morning it was a very late start. Seems to be the pace of life in these places with long evenings.
First stop was Delta Junction, which is the official end of the Alaskan Highway, and the obligatory photo at the monument. Met a great couple from Texas, Dana and Kelly, who were on a bike, they had been 11 days getting from home to this point. Always enjoying meeting fellow travelers and comparing notes.
Someone at the camp last night said we would definitely see moose in the next stretch of highway….but as per usual, not a sign of them.
A lunch stop by a lake, followed by a stop at the Knotty Shop, a tourist store built out of wood with an amazing amount of burrs, along with some great sculptures made out of the wood.
Then it was onto Fairbanks. It has a population of about 30,000 in the city but the outlying area is huge. Ruakiwi needed a grease and oil change so just on an off chance we stopped at a truck garage on the way into town, and as luck would have it they were able to fit us in straight away. In no time we were on the road again.
Fairbanks is not the prettiest of towns, but quite a few thinks to check out.

Tea out tonight…we walked across the carpark to a good family restaurant and had some fresh Alaskan Halibut with Alaskan beer….real good.

Spotted a very, very dirty truck camper parked not far from us, and guessed correctly that they had just completed the Dalton Highway. Had a good chat with them and feel that maybe it would be worth having a go. The road had parts that are a bit grim, but evidently the truckers on the road are very good. They say the mosquitoes are REAL BIG, they have some spray on 100% Deet, so will get some of that before we go. They were on the road for 5 days before getting back into Fairbanks. After our failure on the Dempster will just have to see,.