7/6/2014

We are all up early anticipating a long day.  First thing on the agenda is to get 24 rigs across the Yukon via a ferry that will only hold 2 rigs and a couple of cars.  We think it will take an hour to make a trip, so this could get pretty dragged out.  Fortunately, it goes very well and faster than we thought.  The folks on the ferry did a remarkable job getting all of us across before about 930.  That is when the fun began,  The Top of the World Highway is what connects the ferry to a town in Alaska called Chicken, pop 3.  It is a very narrow, very hilly, and very rough road for the entire 108 miles, 65 miles in Canada, 43 in Alaska, and about 7 hours to drive...yikes!  But we all make it with all the fenders still on and ultimately 3 flat tires by morning, small cuts from the sharp gravel on the road.  It has been quite an adventure, to say the least.

After arrival in Chicken, we are treated to a try at gold panning (I think I may have accumulated about 1/50th of a penny's worth) and a guided tour of a gold dredge machine.  Then it was dinner & dessert (Huckleberry crisp & ice cream) then a short history of the area from the owners.  Chicken was chosen because no one could spell Ptarmigan, the local chicken like animals. We also learned that the town of Chicken is in an area of Alaska that is not recognized by the state, so the people pay no taxes and thus have no services like Police, Fire or Electricity.  They produce their own electricity, not sure about the rest, they wouldn't say.  So leaving didn't break any hearts.

We are moving again tomorrow...Tok is the destination.  Hope there is more civilization.

Steve & Barb Larson

All the way up in Yukon, Jimmy Buffet is popular

Two of our rigs on the way across the Yukon

Our car is on the other side, Motor Home is next

3+ months, but we made it

Their mascot

Panning for a little gold, very little

What would a town called Chicken be ...