Taking Our time In Tok

Young’s Chevron, Tok, Alaska – August 21 through 25, 2014

We’re getting pretty good about dragging our feet, but we convinced ourselves that we really do need to be moving on towards Tok and eventually the Alaska border. The Tok-Bypass doesn’t disappoint, the scenery is still amazing.

We intend to free camp at the Chevron station again, nestled up against the trees. But first, to pay our dues (or camping fee), we fill up with diesel. We purposely let the fuel tank get low, because Tok has the lowest fuel prices on this side of Alaska. When we went in to pay, we expected a big bill, but the cashier handed us a coupon for 10 cents off per gallon. It was still a big bill, but somehow the coupon eased the pain a little.

Now that we had camp set up and a few errands run, the next thing on our list was to get a big ol’ plate of fried mushrooms from Fast Eddy’s.

Second was to go listen to Alaska Sweetgrass one last time. However, instead of the whole group playing, it was just Dave tonight. His songs were still good and he told a few more stories on his own living in Alaska experiences.

EJ admired the flowers outside the building where Sweetgrass played.

The next day was pretty low key (for Frank at least). A plane flew over while EJ was doing the laundry and grocery shopping.

And this odd contraption caught Frank’s eye. It appears to be what’s left of a fuel pod surrounding some sort of ATV mechanicals.

A trip to 3 Bears Grocery resulted in an excellent steak, which graced the gas cooker later that day.

And the steak was paired with some sautéed green peppers and onions and the remains of last nights fried mushrooms. You didn’t really think we ate that whole thing last night, did you? By the way, after baking them in the toaster oven (325 degrees for 20 minutes) they were just as crunchy and juicy as before.

And the whole day was topped off with first, a beautiful whole rainbow and then a double. It lasted for about 10 or 15 minutes and the colors were really bright.

Saturday started with breakfast back at Fast Eddy’s. Eating here seems to be a recurring theme, but it is the only real restaurant in town.

Afterwards we saw a helicopter lift and carry away this strange device.

And then we ran into the Alcan 5000. A group of motorcyclists that ride approximately 5000 miles ( give or take ) starting in Seattle and finishing in Anchorage via the Blackwater, North Canol, Klondike, Top of the World, Dalton and Denali Highways. These are the support vehicles for the riders and their machines.

A visit to MukLuk Land was recommended by Mark Nemeth and TripAdvisor. Well, this is the life work of George and Beth Jacobs, a pair of Alaskan transplants. Some may consider it random piles of junk, but it is really a collection of Alaskan memorabilia. These items range from cereal boxes lining the ceiling, huge engines and generators, to snow mobiles, to dolls(three buildings full), and even outhouses. And of course Santa’s Rocket.

And these pictures only scratch the surface. There’s a lot of history here. We thought we would spend a half hour/45 minutes and ended up staying a couple hours. We played skee ball for candy and whack-a-mole for fun. It is one of the more interesting side tracks on our trip.

On the way back to Big Guy, we discovered another treasure trove, a VW graveyard.

On Sunday we had a pair of these camp next to us. They were Class ‘C’ RVs pulling trailers being delivered to Anchorage so they could be rented to more Alaska visitors.

Much of the time in Tok we have been working on getting the blog updated, but we still found time to get out and enjoy being in Alaska. It looks like the fire Gods have spoken, we have been here long enough. Time to head on down the road and say goodbye to mainland Alaska. There’s still Haines and Hyder , so we can’t lock up just yet.