Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Cheri Aug-27-12
6:34 PM | 
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were up at 5am and ready to pull out at 6am. We went down to the George Black Ferry that takes you across the Yukon River and got in line. It runs 24 hours a day and it is free of charge.
There were 4 units ahead of us. The ferry can only take 2 units at a time and makes a round trip in about 20 minutes. We boarded the ferry at 7:15am, went across and unloaded and were off up the Top Of The World Highway (Yukon Highway 9). The highway was built in 1955 and is closed in the winter time. The road is 95% gravel. It was raining when we left and Spike says that’s the best time to travel that road. The road will be wet down and we will not be eating each other’s dust.
We crossed the border back into the U.S. at 8am. Our destination today is Chicken, AK. It rained all the way there. The roads were a mess. They were muddy and ruff. Gay and I were out ahead of our group by about 1 hour. We were able to get our unit set up before the gang all arrived. We traveled 109 miles and the rigs were all so dirty when we arrived in Chicken.
The history of Chicken began with the discovery of gold in 1886. The historic town of Chicken was a hub of activity for the southern portion of the Fortymile Mining District. Many of the original buildings still stand including the original building “Tisha’s Schoolhouose” made famous by the book “Tisha”, which chronicles Anne Purdy’s life teaching in the town of Chicken in 1927.
As Gay was waiting for our rigs to arrive, a plane landed across the road—taxied into the campground—up to the gas pumps and filled up. Only in Alaska can you do that!
We got settled in and bused everyone up to Sue’s Café for lunch. Spike had called ahead and got chicken noodle soup and sandwiches set up for everyone. It was a damp, cool day so soup tasted good.
We all met at 4:30pm down by the gift shop for our personal tour of Tisha’s place in old Chicken. They have done a little restoration there, but have a long way to go. Most of us had read the book “Tisha” so it was neat to see the actual school she taught in. We were also taken into the road house and barn along with other buildings there on the property.
Dinner time rolled around real fast and we were busing everyone back up to Sue’s Café. Spike had put in an order of Chicken Pot Pie and biscuits for everyone. It was really good. Everyone went away very satisfied. Gay and I ordered 3 extra meals to deliver back at camp for people who could not make the dinner.
We bused everyone back to the campground and we were all ready to call it a night.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on albums: Dawson City to Chicken.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments: