Our Alaska Trip Part XVIII Audience Participation

This is the 18th in a continuing series about our trip to Alaska

First, a couple of observations.  1)  Don’t bother packing fancy outside lights for your summer trip to The Land of the Midnight Sun.  Nobody does that here, and 2) When we see the vast expanses of wild land surrounding us on the highways of Alaska and northern Canada, we appreciate being here.  In the Old World of Europe and in at least some of Asia, cities, towns and villages have dotted the landscape for centuries.  But here there are lots of huge expanses of trees and sagebrush fading into the distance for miles until they reach a ridge of highlands.

Before focusing briefly on Fairbanks’ Pioneer Park, I want to ask the readers of these articles two questions:

One commenter asked about the best RV for the trip.  We see every kind, even some we’ve never seen before, and it’s our guess that whatever fits your lifestyle in the Lower 48 will be the same here.  While diesel pushers do have larger windshields to view roadside wildlife, they are also a larger target for getting dinged by rocks., but don’t make your decision based on windshields.  I think it’s still true that most of those cracks for our caravan came before crossing into Canada.

Now for the question, which I’d like experienced Alaskan RVers to give their opinions below to the question:   “Is one type of RV more suited (or less suited) to the Alaskan terrain than others?

And for this one I’m really interested in the comments of both previous and prospective travelers to Alaska.    Why spend the time and money, take the risk and endure long hours of driving to make the trip? We know what motivated us and we’ve talked to many others about their expectations, etc. What do you think?

To that I’ll add a reciprocal question:  Why would anyone want to leave Alaska?  Lots of people we have met came and decided to stay.

This afternoon the caravan arrived in a private campground outside Denali National Park, with Mt. McKinley hiding behind a highest-mountain-wannabe.  Tomorrow we have a 14-hour-day tour into the park.  I’ve heard that the mountain is visible today, Wednesday.  We hope that holds out through tomorrow.

Our truck managed to be in a group of cars, trucks and RVs led by an escort vehicle as it went around a construction area and followed the truck spraying water on the road. Our clean truck and trailer are now caked with mud.

(Clockwise from Top Left: An invitation to “chill;” a Steamshovel that helped dig the Panama Canal; A Fetish on sale in the museum; and Fairbank’s first artifact, the Wheel from the ill-fated Lavelle Young.)		Having heard many good things about Pioneer Park in Fairbanks, yesterday we headed that way.  It is a delight, with numerous interesting gold-rush days cabins converted into shops, and a museum that we wish we could have spent more time in, plus many other attractions.  In addition to the things to see and do there, we also enjoyed talking with fun, interesting shopkeepers. The dioramas on the lower deck of the Nenana steamship were Monique’s favorite.  Intricate displays depict the turn-of-the-century villages in the Alaska interior, both native, forts and mining.  I was most taken with the unique high quality artwork and crafts in the shops.  We decided against going into the store that would allow us — for $8 each — to experience -40o temperatures.  Since our bus driver described that as like getting hit with a baseball bat, we didn’t see the point.
Our Wagonmasters, Ken and Carole Adams, had invited the entertainers from the Bonanza Gold Mine train to play for us in the RV park Wednesday evening. Not long after they started, our own Jeff Totten tuned up his banjo and joined in the music-making, and then caravan member Ira Miller was handed the bass guitar by the visiting musician and joined in, caressing the instrument as he strummed it like a long-lost friend. We invited every other visitor to the RV park to listen in. It was an unexpected event that really worked.		(The Caravan Gets an Unexpected Musical Treat)

From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.