Gold and Rivers and Rain

The busy day! The bus picked us up right at the campground in the morning and took us the the El Dorado mine a few miles outside of Fairbanks. We passed the Alyeska Pipeline on the way - well, we passed plenty of it but there is a place where busses can stop, a gazillion people can get off and look and touch and read all about it. The bus trundled on by - that's for another day. At the mines we easily picked up our tickets that Nancy and Eric had organised for us and hopped on the little train. What a wonderful job they did building that train! There are tv's dotted down the middle of it so when the tour guide talks, everyone can see him or see what he is talking about even if you are all the way at the back of the train. We trundled gently into a permafrost tunnel, very interesting and there was a goodly size pile of bones that they have found - these bones are many many years old. I would have loved to know more about those animals but then was not the time to ask...... All along the way we were shown examples of how the people so many years ago did their gold mining and panning. It was really fascinating. We watched as a ton of dirt was dropped into a sluice, water added and the gold setttled to the bottom of the sluice. They then shovelled a section of the sifted dirt up and put them into bags which we were given to use to find our gold. When one has that little clump of dirt in a pan in front of you, it just looks like a little pile of dirt. You swirl, shake and slowly empty that dirt out into the water and find yourself hoping that there will be at least one glimmer of gold in there somewhere. Only right at the very end, almost on the last flick-of-the-wrist swirl do you see those little glitters! Its amazing to see everyone lean forward when that happens and a smile appears, even if its only at the corner of their mouths. Frank got a goodly amount more gold than I did, but that was ok because I just knew he would give it to me anyway *smile*. We had the flakes we found put into two pendants for good memories. And then we were put back on the train and taken back to the bus for the ride back home. The bus conductor, Tim, had some very interesting history facts about Fairbanks and the ride went by really smoothly and pleasantly. A lovely morning! We had just enough time for lunch before another bus picked us up for the next adventure. This one on the Riverboat Discovery - this was a trip down the Chena River, into the Tanana River with a good many things to see and experience along the way. It was great having Debbie along on the ride with us and she was able to show us the house she grew up in, right on the banks of the Chena River. She told the story of always running down to wave at the paddle boats as they passed by when she was a kid growing up there - I could almost picture it. It was fascinating to see where the two rivers met - it was like oil and water and the patterns created by these two rivers not joining easily got my camera clicking again. We had found ourselves seats right in the front of the boat on the third level up - really a good place to be! We watched some little airplanes taking off and landing - one from the land and the other with its water ski's on - those pilots were really amazing....... We stopped by at the Trail Breaker Kennels which is the home to Susan Butcher and listened to a fascinating talk about the dogs. They had a team of dogs hooked to a four-wheeler and they were really keen to get moving! The yelping and jumping around showed how keen these dogs were to get running. After a while they were let go to do just that and they pulled that four-wheeler with two people on it down a trail at phenomenal speed! Then we headed further down the river to a fish drying camp and a little village that had a good few things to show - huge cabbages, sod roof houses, skins of all sorts, caribou and numerous others. It was starting to get cold and a gentle rain had arrived, so the three of us headed back to the boat and a warm cuppa coffee. It was a truely wonderful way to spend an afternoon, I have always loved the water and there is a certain kind of peace when out there - even if there are a few hundred other people on board too! Most of them were inside in warm comfy weather, but we all felt as if they missed the true experience of the ride. A really, really big thank you again to Nancy and Eric! On Wednesday we decided to explore the town on foot a little bit. Downtown Fairbanks look so pretty with all the flower boxes overflowing with the most incredible array of flowers of all kinds and colors. Even the sweet peas were worthy of a good few photographs. We parked the bakkie and walked over the Chena River on the footbridge to the downtown area. It was cold. We had jackets on, but they were not rain jackets or even very good wind breakers, but we really wanted to walk around, go into some of the stores and see what there was to see. It was cold. We got properly rained on, browsed through most of the stores and galleries and decided to find some food and head back home. There was a Mongolian food stand that looked intersting and had really pretty big flowers all around it with a humongous cabbage growing right in the middle of one flowerpot. Good reason to stop and order some food, besides - it was right next to an ice cream stand. Food we got all bagged up, and then we turned weak and decided to get an ice cream too! The small was not small. By any means. So here we stand in the light rain, with dripping wet coats on, shivering gently with one hand filled with bags of Mongolian food and the other with an incredible size ice cream. Only one thing to do - eat it! So we walked briskly back to the bakkie, laughing at the stares from other people who were hustling themselves quickly down the road. It was cold! Crossing that bridge was like walking into a freezer. Our teeth were thoroughly frozen and we were laughing slighly hysterically because we could not see any trash cans to throw the ice cream away in so simply HAD to eat them! (How's that for an excuse??) We were both really keen to get home and into a hot soaking shower........ this campground really has good shower facilities! Thankfully! After a good relaxing afternoon and supper, I met with Sandy from the Cancer Center here in Fairbanks and we had a wonderful evening talking about all sorts of things. It has been really wonderful to meet Debbie and her family and friends. They have all been so welcoming, helpful and just plain darn nice to us. We had the local newspaper do an article that was printed in the papers this morning and then Channel 11 TV came out today to do an interview as well - that should be on tomorrow night after we leave, and Monty said he would send us a copy of the newscast. He was really easy to talk to and wrote his wife's name on the RV too. I had emailed David Monson to ask his permission to write Susan Butcher's name on the sides of the RV and he very kindly emailed back giving permission and saying that Susan would be honored. The honor is ours - for each and every name. I found that I could not write her name - it felt as if someone local had to do it, someone from here, so Debbie did that for us. A gentleman called after reading the newspaper article and requested his name on here too - Don E - you are riding with us - thanks so much for the phone call! We have slowly been getting requests to add names and meeting people who know people with cancer, so the lists are growing slowly but surely. Wendy arrived on Thursday early evening - she is our friend who is joining us for 10 days here in rainy Alaska. It was simply wonderful to see her arriving and almost unbelievable that we were actually meeting way up north in Fairbanks! Lovely. It has rained since we saw the northern lights in British Columbia - a good 10 days ago now and promises to rain for the next ten days at least! So although we had hoped that we would all see the northern lights together - it looks like that will not happen, this time. Maybe it is too early way up here and it definately is too rainy - better luck further south? We hope so! Today we drove out to Chena Hot Springs - it rained thoroughly all the way, we stopped at the tourist viewing place of the Alyeska Pipeline - it rained thoroughly. We went shopping a little - it rained. It's still raining. But its lovely to have Wendy here with us! Up to now our roads have pointed north. Now the southward drive starts, but its by no means close to the end. We still have many miles to go and are really looking forward to some warmer, drier weather. We have not even taken the bicycles out of the bakkie yet! Although the rain has stopped us from getting out much, it has helped slow us down to be able to meet and spend time with some truely wonderful people. A really big thank you to all that have been so wonderful to us during our stay in Fairbanks - we will always treasure you. We are heading down to Anchorage tomorrow and the rain will be there to greet us too, but that's ok - we will enjoy the ride and whatever scenery we manage to see. Tomorrow night will be spent in a pull off alongside the road,not in a campground. These stops are always special as there is a definate kind of peace out there, no lights, no people - just a good feeling peace and quiet. We have a gas stove, generator and gas refridgerator so are pretty spoiled, even out of campgrounds. A day cruise to see glaciers calving is on the agenda and maybe even a ride to Homer if its just not too rainy. So much depends on the weather and I guess this is just the way of life up here. It does not seem to bother too many people, so we will simply go with the flow. On Sunday evening there is a concert in Anchorage to raise money for the LLS and we are hoping to get there in time to be able to have the skilpads there - maybe that will help encourage people to donate, whether through us or not - donating is the point of this all and any help we can be is great! I have been talking to Vicki at the Anchorage chapter of the LLS - another contact through Debbie - and cannot wait to meet her too. She will be putting out press releases tomorrow so hopefully the news will have notice of us coming that way. So, tomorrow morning we will shower, unplug the house, tie the bakkie behind us again and head towards Denali National Park. We really don't expect to see the mountain with all this rain around, but are looking forward to being on the road again. Very much. With love to you all Especially U3 Annie and Frank XXXXXXXxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com