Fairbanks and Fit to Be Tied

Sorry for the long lapse here, we've been doing fun things in remote areas so cell activity wasn't happening and we were keeping busy. I wrote this post well over a week ago. We are now in Dawson Creek, BC and should be back in the US this Sunday/Monday.

Well we made it to Fairbanks on Saturday July 30th which marks the terminus of our northward trek. From here onward we will be making our way south and east back home. Haven't yet mapped out the precise return route but we will be following a different course than the trip up here. Thinking of a more central Yukon/BC path and enter the US somewhere in eastern WA/ID and then down eastern OR thru the Bend, OR and Crater Lake area and then haul ass back down central CA (maybe Highway 395 thru Lassen/Tahoe/Eastern Sierra's?) to home. As details come together I will expeditiously update all of you, more later as they say.
So Fairbanks....meh.
We got to town and drove around to check out some in town RV parks and were not that impressed. Additionally, we had been listening to the weather reports on the radio and flash flood warnings were posted until Monday for the Chena River which flows thru the town center. And since the river corridor is the most scenic place in town, where do you suppose they sited ALL of the RV parks here? You got it, right by the rapidly rising river. We looked at one campsite and the pad level was just about even with the river water surface - maybe a foot or two of freeboard. Park operator said nothing to us about flood potential so we just moved on. Hope those guys stay high and dry. By the way, the flooding Chena River just about wiped out Fairbanks in 1967.
We hit the Freddies, gassed up and ventured about 70 miles north and east of Fairbanks to the popular Chena Hot Springs Resort, you know, to get a bit further up the Chena River drainage basin where the flooding potential may be lower.
Checked out the resort, it looked fine so we went in search of a boondock spot. Found a nice quiet, paved turnout about a mile away from the resort, unhooked the Fit and drove up for a nice long soak in the hot springs. Absolutely magnificent. The sun came out while we were in the pool and the hot water did it's magic.

Feeling all fresh and renewed we went back to camp and spent more indoor time to stay dry as the rain started up again.
On Sunday we left Chena Hot Springs and went into Fairbanks and checked out the fine Museum of the North on the Univ of AK campus. The campus is beautiful however, I kept imagining how it would look and feel come January. At the museum we watched a very well made movie on the northern lights - informative with eye catching videos and photos of the aurora. According to the movie I'm thinking our chances of seeing the northern lights this early in the season are slim to none. Apparently a dark sky is necessary to see these and it never gets dark enough in the summer for this to happen, makes sense to me. Yet one more good reason for a return visit here in the winter.
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This museum stuff had us a bit thirsty and peckish so we went in search of the Silver Gulch Brewery in nearby Fox, AK. Very good beer and tasty food within a well appointed restaurant which was packed to the rafters on a Sunday night.
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On the way back to town we got a close up look at the Trans Alaskan Oil Pipeline and walked around a bit to check it out.
If you're filling up your gas tank today consider this: the pipeline cost $7B to build in the 1970's and the construction debt was most likely serviced within 15 seconds. They have pushed so much crude oil thru this line since then it's hard to imagine it not being a great deal. Also, one of our Nation's largest petroleum reserves is located alongside the pipeline in Prudhoe Bay so it serves as a key national security asset as well.
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One of the greatest engineering and construction achievements of it's time, it gave birth to many of the advanced cold weather engineering standards in use today. Advances in structural engineering/analysis, soils engineering/foundation support in permafrost, environmental mitigation techniques, corrosion control and a host of other problems were solved and are now in widespread use today in both temperate and cold weather regions.
I spent about an hour or so poking around (you can walk right up to it and touch it), looking at the pipe joint welds, the flexible connections and the above ground radiators used to accelerate the heat transfer from the hot oil (100 degrees F) in the pipeline to the pipe supports to keep the permafrost from melting and causing a foundation problem for the pipeline. Certainly a very worthwhile stop and I enjoyed myself immensely.

We have an appointment at 9:15 AM Monday to have the Fit serviced at the Honda dealership in Fairbanks. So as we were driving thru town Sunday night after Silver Gulch and the pipeline, we saw the dealership and decided to boondock in their parking lot and do the service deal the next day.
I really hate dealing with dealership service operations - I have a bad feeling about this but mechanics are few and far between up here so I'll drop it off and see how it goes. I'll give them a day and if all is not well we'll take off and have it looked at by my mechanic when we get home. Fortunately it's nothing very serious and the car runs fine, just a bit of a nuisance to get it out of park. We can live with that for another month if we have to.

By the way, this Honda dealer is one of only two in the entire State of AK and I made my service appointment 10 days ago, the soonest time available - nice business model 'eh?
We're now (Monday Aug 1) posted up at the Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. This is a surprising little gem in the City center that was built as an Exposition in 1967 to celebrate the centennial of the US purchasing AK from Russia for $7M or about 2 cents per acre. It has beautifully maintained log cabins, churches, native art exhibits and mining equipment from back in the day.
We should have been on our way today but things with the Honda service went about as well as we expected. Dropped the car off Monday at 9 AM, got a call at 5 PM that all is fixed and ready for pick up. Show up, plunk down $225, drive the car a half a block and problem returns. To make a long saga short I finally got to the Service Manager Frank and he assures me everything will be corrected first thing tomorrow. Hearing his plan I am somewhat convinced that he can make this happen, we'll see. However it goes we are out of Fairbanks by high noon tomorrow.
At 8 AM Tuesday we schlepp on over to the Kendall Honda dealership and I share good mornings with the asst service manager Dean. So Dean, how we lookin'? Well the tech just got here and you're his second job this morning. Cool, I'll check back with you later. Now we have the LD parked about 100 yards from his desk and in a location giving us a perfect view of their back lot. As soon as I get back to the RV I see them drop my car off in the back lot and there it sat for 3 hours - I tell you, I'm a repair shops worst nightmare!
So I wander back over and say, Dean whassup? He's starting on it right now, OK great. Head back to LD and sure enough the Fit is now in the shop and as it turns out into the most expert hands of William (didn't catch his last name).
Dean calls me about 30 minutes later and said come on over William wants to ask you some questions. No problem, go in and talk to the mechanic William and he asks if I have a schematic from the shop that installed our aftermarket tow wiring harness. He further said that whoever did this work did a very clean install and it looked very good. He asked who installed this and I just gave him a big smile - he inquired, you did this? Very nice work Mr. Arnold - I said yeh me and my son Charlie wired her up during half time of a football game a couple of beers in. Then I said we couldn't have done that great of a job because it's not working worth a shit right now and he howled.
He then says I suspect the problem to be a short somewhere in the tow wiring harness which is an aftermarket item and something we are not allowed to touch. I saw his point, the repair shop could be on the hook for damaging someone's aftermarket expensive audio or alarm system so they just don't do it. I told him no big deal with me, the thing cost all of $75 and is easily replaced, but all the same I understood his position.
OK then William just go ahead and wrap it up and I'll live with it til we get back to SD. I could see the acrid taste of defeat on his face...he says, you know Mr. Arnold, I have NEVER been able to not fix a car problem and I'm bummed that this is my first.
So I head back to Dean and explain what's happening, thank him and then went to the Service Manager Frank, thanked him and told him how happy I was that William and Dean went the extra mile for me. Let's be honest, these guys know they'll never see me again let alone have me as a future customer...very professional outfit I thought.
So I'm waiting for the car and Dean comes out and says I've got good news for you, William fixed it and I'll let him explain when he gets back in from test driving it. William returns and hands me a component from the tow wiring harness and says I need to shitcan this thing cause it's shorting everything out. He explained everything and I told him I had suspected the harness all along but wasn't sure. So he says, yeh your wife was telling me you're an engineer so now I get how you understood everything I was talking about.
Hang on, you talked to my wife? Now Debbie has been completely out of this mess and no one at the dealership has seen or spoken to her. He says yeh I cruised over to your motorhome to tell you the good news but you weren't there so I talked with your wife. You knew we were in the motorhome back there? Yes Mr. Arnold, EVERYBODY in the shop knew you and your motorhome were back there. Sorry, was I that obvious?  Like I said, I'm a repair shops worst nightmare.
So good deal, the Fit is fixed but now I have a non operational tow wiring system - not good because the brake lights and turn signals on the Fit will not work while being towed due to the offending component that I had to trash. Off to find a replacement component. Very difficult, after going to two RV places finally ended up buying 3 pieces that I fashioned into a proper replacement.
With a little wire stripping, soldering and cussing got it all MacGyver'd in and it is working great...yes!! God do I hate electrical projects.
Like I said earlier, Fairbanks...meh.
We hit the road out of Fairbanks about 2 PM and ended up at the top of the world on the Taylor Highway later that evening around 8 PM. Boondocked at a nice roadside turnout on the eve of my 60th birthday.

OK, I can't wait to get this out... while boondocking Tuesday night Aug 2nd at the top of the world (Mt. Fairplay) just about smack dab between Tok and Chicken, AK, we were feted with a northern lights display that lasted for 2 hours. I need a couple of days to absorb this experience before I can begin to relate it to all of you. But, by God, right at the strike of midnight on my 60th birthday, a green/purple vertical streak of light started to our right and constantly changed form and intensity as it danced it's way across the heavens 180 degrees to our left...and this show of light energy continued until 2 AM. I'm at a loss for words right now. If you have a minute hit your Pandora key, listen to Tom Petty's "I've Got a Room at the Top of the World Tonight" and you'll get an inkling of how we felt. And yes, we listened to that excellent song as the skies went a dancin' for us. Absolute heaven on earth.
Peace out kind followers, more detail/pics on the aurora borealis in the next post, I promise!