Alaska Highway ends

Blog for July 31, 2016

Delta Junction is notable for a technicality: it proclaims itself the end of the Alcan, as the famous highway joins Richardson Highway here to complete the route to Fairbanks. But, many tour guides refer to the 98-mile stretch from Delta Junction to Fairbanks as the final leg of the Alaskan Highway so I guess you can decide either way. 

We began today with a Sunday morning breakfast at Rika’s Roadhouse and Landing in Big Delta State Historical Park, which was an important crossroads for travelers, miners and soldiers on the Fairbanks-Valdez Trail from 1909 to 1947.  The grounds of the park are pretty and historic buildings are stocked with displays of turn-of-the-century farming and roadhouse life.

Rika’s Cafe where we had a breakfast of cheesy potatoes (yum), a cupcake-sized quiche,  bacon and a cinnamon roll.

View of the Tanana River from the Roadhouse.

Historic chickens.

There really are goats in the little lean-to shed.

In front of the historic Roadhouse - thank-you JJ for taking the picture.

Historic restroom facilities and…

early transportation - or not.

Military stables with an impressive living roof.

While we were eating breakfast, another group arrived via a tour bus and the driver took advantage of the bus’ under-storage area for a covered nap.

Back in Delta Junction at the Visitor’s Center where they celebrate the end/beginning of the Alaskan Highway. I like the design on the Alaskan road signs.

For some reason, the Visitor Center had life-sized sculptures of Alaskan mosquitos and…

a display of the various sized pipelines that have gone through Alaska. The little one at the top is a 3-inch crude oil pipeline dating from 1943-1947. The middle one is 8 inches that travelled 626 miles from Haines to Fairbanks for the U.S. Army in 1955 - 1971. And finally, the big one, 48-inches, 1977 - present, what we know of as the Alyeska Pipeline, Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, 789 miles.

Us at the “End of the Alaska Highway” milepost at the Visitor Center - 1422 miles from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Delta Junction, Alaska.

Here’s an amazing coincidence!  We asked the man (second from the right), to take our picture in front of the milepost. We got to talking and mentioned that we were on an Airstream caravan. That’s when the woman, second from the left, his wife, said, “I’m from Jackson Center, Ohio!” For those of you who don’t know (most people), Jackson Center, Ohio, is the home of Airstream trailers, the only place where they are made and where many Airstream owners take their trailers for major repairs and upgrades. The location has legendary status among Airstreamers. Both of the women in the picture have family members who work, or retired from, the Airstream factory.

(In the picture above, left to right - Liz Clark, Deb Shank Ruck, Nate Ruck and Pat Clark.)

This was such an amazing coincidence. These two couples, who are not traveling in an Airstream, but by rental car, had noticed the Airstream caravan parked at the nearby RV park and were happy to hear about our caravan. Two amusing stories - we asked if they had an Airstream and Deb said no, they couldn’t afford one when she was growing-up. Her father worked 40 years at the Airstream factory. He had a converted van that he outfitted with Airstream interior parts so the inside of the camper was an “Airstream” even though the outside was a van. Also, when I mentioned that Airstream was the only major employer for Jackson Center, Deb again said, no, she worked, in Jackson Center, at the factory where all the bottles that Tide uses are made.

We took a drive out to see the wild game farms where yak and buffalo are raised.

A taste of what’s to come. Barely visible in the center of the picture, under the lowering clouds, are massive, snow-covered mountains.

Back in town we stopped to fuel-up for our move tomorrow. This is the first time I’ve seen heating oil dispensed at a fuel station.

Finally, a sign from this political season. I think we get the message.