Monday 22 July
We got up early and went to get the truck serviced before heading to Dawson. While that was being done, we walked to Pioneer Park in Fairbanks which is a 44 acre park created in 1967 as the Alaska Centennial Park to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Alaska becoming a US territory. We walked around and enjoyed that nobody was there and played on the playground. Then we got on the road towards Dawson City. We drove to Tok on the Alaskan Highway and stopped at the visitors centre and Chris read in the Milepost that the highlight of Tok was Mukluk Land, so we decided to stop in and it did not disappoint! We were greeted by Beth, who was a lovely older lady who was obviously very proud of what they had ‘created’ at Mukluk land. We started by playing Skee Ball and then did a tour of the park, and were intrigued by the collection of outhouses, buildings filled with dolls, which looked like something out of a horror movie and old cars, snow machines, a bouncy castle a display cemetery, and of course Santa’s Rocket Ship. Tayla’s love for mini-golf was satisfied with a mini golf course that was as unique as Mukluk Land. We said our farewells, and she took the opportunity to speak positively into Tayla, Danika and Josh as we left, giving us a Mukluk Gift Bag and sweets for our prizes. She was chuffed to hear us describe Mukluk Land as “Alaska’s Disneyland”. We then got on the Taylor Highway (driving slowly with it’s bumps and warnings of soft shoulders, no barriers and 1000ft drops). Our next stop was Chicken, supposedly named by early miners who wanted to name their camp ‘ptarmigan (chicken like bird)’ but were unable to spell it and settled for ‘chicken’. The town has no electricity, sewer or water and locals have to provide their own water. It has become a really popular town but much to our disappointment we couldn’t get hot chips to go with our dinner. We were not going to make the border in time to cross, so settled on making it to Walker Fork Campground and had BBQ Chicken, Asparagus and pita chips for dinner. We started watching a movie and then to bed for an early start. There was no cell phone service, or internet from Tetlin Junction, all the way out to Dawson City.
