July 2, 2015 – BEAR!
The rain continued all night long and about 4:15 a.m. Diezel started barking his brains out standing up looking out the back window of the camper. I told him to relax but he was having no part of what I was saying. It was light out and I got up with my flashlight and looked out the back window of the camper and saw a medium size Black Bear on the sand beach drinking water from the lake. I could’nt open the back door because I probably could not contain Diezel. So he barked and finally the bear caught wind of his annoying behavior while I pulled a pillow over my head to try and forget Diezel was barking at full speed!
The rain slowed a slight bit around 7:15 a.m. and I got up and made some coffee while the dog smelled the sand for the bear. We left a short time later and headed towards Delta Junction, AK.
In Delta Junction I found an IGA Grocery Store and a walk through discovered they sold an amazing Russian brand summer sausage! SCORE…because I can live on summer sausage for a week or longer if I want to!
I got out to the truck and immediately made a sandwich of summer sausage with mustard on sourdough! That my friends is TIM HEAVEN!
We loaded up and made our way towards Fairbanks as we waited for Shirl Girl to arrive.
Arriving to the big city of Fairbanks (35,000 people) put me into shock with the traffic and traffic lights and idiot drivers after cruising for 4000 miles without any one else around!
Casper was very dirty and we found a high-pressure spray wash to knock down some of the dirt. Once we were clean we headed to the airport and as we drove up to arrivals we saw Shirl Girl already outside waiting for us to whisk her away. It was easy in and out at the Fairbanks Airport and we headed for our cabin.
I had found a cabin for rent in the town of North Pole, Alaska and it was beautiful. Situated on a small lake and away from the hubbub of town staying in a cabin out of town was just the way to kick off the next few days as we explore the 300-miles around Fairbanks.
Once I picked up Shirl Girl the plan is to explore Denali National Park, Healy to see the Chris McCandless bus, Chena Hot Springs, The Haul Road to Coldfoot and the Arctic Circle Monument, Manley Hot Springs, Riverboat Discovery, Gold Dredge 8, the Steese Highway to Circle, AK and so much more so using the cabin as a main place to run out of while we search out adventure.
We patiently waited for the ultra-full Alaska Airlines flight out of Seattle, but all of a sudden my cellphone started buzzing with updates about touchdown, walking down the terminal and where are you from the ShirlGirl.
Deizel was sitting in the right front seat with his head out the window when I said, “Where’s Momma?” and he started wagging his tail and then he spotted her and was spot on staring at her and wondering where she was going to sit because he was sitting in the right front seat! Haha, spoiled dog for sure!
It was a long day of travel for ShirlGirl as she started in Los Angeles early in the day and just about missed her connecting flight in Seattle, but she had no luggage because we trucked it up the ALCAN so she was light on luggage and waiting on the white curb for us.
It was 7:00 pm, but remember it was daylight light it was 3:00 pm!
My friend, Scott Tally, an Alaskan local living in San Diego now, gave us the 411 on the best restaurant in Fairbanks, The Pump House, situated on the Chena River and we headed there to kick off this adventure.
The Salmon and Halibut to absolutely die for. We ordered up a couple Alaskan Summer Ales as well and got hooked on them right away. The Pump House sits on the banks of the Chena River and the atmosphere, food and service were spot on! Super thanks to Scott for the awesome tip!
Xplore The Wild 