Monday June 28

It poured hard all night and into the morning. Haggard old lady at a gas stop said she was building an ark and asked if I wanted to join her. I guess it had been raining there for a while. Blue skies ahead said the buck at the visitors center. 190 miles to Fairbanks.

New fad...the Long Way Round style bikes like the one in the photo.....they are everywhere.

Arrived in Fairbanks around 4. Got talking to these two employees at Sportsman's Warehouse. Together we came up with a workable fishing game plan for the rest of the summer. In Alaska most of the bigger fish are migratory so you need to position yourself in the right place at the right time to succeed. Those two were interesting, Rob in particular told some great stories, and will most likely prove to be an invaluable source of info. For what it's worth, I plan to follow the plan they helped me formulate as close as I can.

(Aside.....as I'm typing this, it's 1:46am and it's still broad daylight. This guy just came past painting all the parking lot lines...he just circumnavigated my truck with the paint machine. Nutty.)

Every one's got a plug hanging out of the front grill of their car so that they can plug in and heat the block of their cars in winter. The outlets are everywhere. Every spot in the student parking lot at the local high school has one. One guy told me that when people go in stores for an hour or two they just leave their cars unlocked and running...and nobody swipes anything.

Cruised around Fairbanks for a while....pretty much a dump, but does have all the amenities. I happened upon the Monday night co-ed smoking and drinking league...oh and softball too. How can I say this tactfully.......well, it was a rough crowd. Cheesey tattoos were in abundance. At one particular moment every player on the batting team had beer cracked sitting in the dugout...women (and I use that term loosely) too. People hawkin' loogies and cursing up a storm. It quite reminded me of the lawless glory days down at the Leominster Dek-hockey rinks.

That's all for today!!! Glad I finally made it here.....nice to be able to chill a little and get out from behind the wheel.

Sunday June 27

Lots of fishing! A welcome break after so much driving. It was a nice sunny day. I stopped at every clear water stream for a while and landed fish after fish...all grayling. It was tons of fun.

You know, most people probably wouldn't willingly plan to go on vacation for a week or so to the Yukon.....but if you're driving to Alaska, you have no choice. You are in the Yukon for 3 days either side Alaska. I can say I am really enjoying it. There are NO people. The roads are empty. The fishing is fantastic. What more could one ask for? I'm wondering if the Alaska portion of the trip lives up to this part in the Yukon.

At about 4pm I packed up my rod and put the hammer down. I stopped in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon, for a burger (I'm becoming fond of the Mama Burger at A&W) and passed through the checkpoint back into the USA and Alaska around 11:30pm......I finally made it.

Nancy navigator ran out of info for me....no more navigation. Also no more satellite radio. The last 100 miles before the border the road was absolutely terrible. It had these giant frost heaves...they were so big that if you were moving at any speed at all, you'd get airborne. No thanks. There were also tons of pot holes, dirt, mud, and giant cracks. It was slow going. I actually had to slow down to 10mph at times.

Rained all night.....there's something nice about hearing it on the roof all night.

Saturday June 26

Managed to watch the USA soccer game in this dive rest stop. Too bad for them.....wish they could have done more. Ghana looked great. Still can't swallow all the diving. Also had a $10 plate of the worst chicken fingers and fries I've ever had.

Got a late start driving because of the game. After a while I started passing these rivers that looked so prime for fishing.....so I tried it. Caught 2 of the biggest grayling I've ever caught....on dry flies too. You know, the grayling is the optimal fish. They rise to pretty much any dry fly easily, they fight and jump like crazy, and they are a beautiful fish with the large long dorsal fin.

Then the stupidity began....

I fuel up and hit the road again. At the next gas stop I can't find my credit card. The nice lady at the store lets me use her phone and I call the guy from the last stop thinking I left it there. Yes indeed I did. So what do I have to do...you got it, drive back and get it. .....75 miles....each way. 5 million miles driven...what’s 150 more......good times.

Also, I'm always amazed and the places that you can get wireless internet. You would think that there is no possible way.......but son of a gun, there's the signal.

Also fun is the state of semi-lawlessness in these little villages... cars that would NEVER pass inspection...scurvy looking dudes driving their 4 wheelers around.