974 July 3, 2023 Nenana

I walked this morning from our site to each end of the lake and back several times.  I was careful to keep the RV in sight.

There was another early Jeep tour.

The swans had paddled across the water and were as close as I think they might get to people.  I took more swan pictures.

When we went to leave, our slideouts would not budge.  We finally figured out that it was a blown fuse.  We were able to replace the burnt out one with the one that controls my captain’s chair.  The slides moved in and we moved on!

There was a small gas station at the end of Denali Highway where we were able to fill with propane. 

We drove past Denali National Park.  We will return here in the beginning of August when Kyle and Allison come.

The view…stunning!

We stopped again for diesel and a few groceries.

Nenana is a quaint little Alaskan town.  We left the RV at the Visitor Center and took a walk to the train depot. 

On our way we met Jerry Riley.  This man was walking down the street and he stopped to talk with us.  He wanted to know where we were from and what we used to do for a living.  He is now 86 years old.  In 1976, he was the fourth person to win the Iditarod.  He competed for many years after that.  It was fun to chat with him!

At the train depot, the guy there was full of interesting information.  He told us about the Ice Classic.  This is Nenana’s claim to fame.  Each June, the town erects a 26-foot tripod made of spruce.  In the spring, this tripod is placed over the frozen river.  The tripod is placed on the ice.  When the ice breaks, the tripod tips over and a clock records the time of break up.  In the meantime, from February to April, the town works hard to sell tickets.  Each ticket is $3.00 and the entrant guesses the date and time that the ice will break.  The winner gets 60% of the proceeds.  The remaining money pays for expenses and then the rest is donated to local scholarship funds and food pantries.  Usually about 100,000 tickets are sold.  Tim bought his ticket and made his guess!  There is a website with a live feed where you can check to see if the ice is breaking.  In 2023, the official time was May 8^th at 4:01pm.

One of the longest single trestle railroad bridges in the US.

Over another river!

As we traveled the remainder of the Parks Highway, we could see glimpses of the Alaska Range.  The view across the Valley was beautiful, even on such a cloudy day.

We were on our way to the Ester Community Park.  Last time we were in Alaska, we stayed here.  We pulled in and there was a guy doing the landscaping.  He lives onsite.  He told us that we were not able to stay.

We decided to head to the Walmart in Fairbanks.  We had planned to go tomorrow anyway, to stock up on supplies.  We did a big shop and then went to Fred Meyer for some groceries.