Alaska Adventure Part Five - Beat Up in Tok

The roads of the Yukon took their toll on us again. Somewhere between Haines Junction and Tok, Alaska, are three camp chairs in a nice navy Sunbrella cover on rack. Yep, something, I suspect the rack, malfunctioned over one of the atrocious bumps and we arrived in Tok (toke) sans chairs. Damn. We also suffered another busted shelf in the bunk area. The force of the bumps were sufficient enough to pull one of the wood screws through the 5/8" plywood. While we did countersink the screw, there was at least 3/8" thick wood where the screw pulled through. Our bathroom was a disaster zone. A rack on top of the medicine came off the wall and the contents landed on the floor. Also emptying out was a shoe bag style wall netting. We are starting to get better at packing the contents of the trailer to keep things more secure. Not only were the roads bumpy, they were very dusty in several places, too.

Dusty Alcan Highway

Lunch Break for Road Worker

On a positive note, we stopped at a neat little museum in Burwash Landing along Kluane Lake (Kloo-wah-nee). It was worth the $5 admission. There were many exhibits with the animals and birds found in the area. Moose, bears, bison, goats, eagles, owls and more. Plus displays about the native people who lived in the area. If you are passing by, stop and go visit the museum.

Kluane Lake from Destruction Bay

Museum in Burwash Landing

Soon after setting up camp at the Tok RV Village, the big rigs of a caravan started to roll in. You know, those 40 foot motorhomes that cost more than the average house. The sites were tight in the campground so it was a show watching them navigate the narrow roads and trees to get into their site. To top it all off, another caravan arrived. Between the two, there were at least 45 rigs. Whew! The people next to us, who were not part of a caravan, had a 45' Custom Coach motorhome. It was really nice and so were the people. They were from Louisiana and we enjoyed talking to them.

One other nice thing about Tok was having 3G cell service again. And we had about 8 cable TV channels. Woo hoo! We spent two days here restocking the frig and getting some fresh veggies and fruits again. Funny thing...we were told in advance to not bring fresh fruits and vegetables across the borders. So we haven't. Yet only at the Canadian border back in Osoyoos, BC, did the border agent ask if we had any. Which we didn't. We have been very careful to respect the rules, but geez, it hasn't been a problem at all. Knock on wood.

George wanted to have breakfast at a cafe somewhere near Tok where he could get reindeer sausage. He had dined at the Sourdough Cafe on a previous trip. Luckily, the cafe was still in business and still serving reindeer sausage. I ordered bacon but was shamed into trying the sausage. So I did. And I am glad! It was delicious. It was served link style along with two pancakes and two scrambled eggs. We will be sure to stop there on our way back through Tok. Who knows, we might even stay at their campground instead of the crowded Tok RV Village. We spotted a mama moose and two calves not too long after leaving the cafe.

Mama and Her Babies

After breakfast, we continued on our journey towards McCarthy. We had decided on looking for a campground near Chitina (CHIT-na) and not tow the trailer out the 60 miles of unpaved road to McCarthy. After further discussion during our drive, we decided to check out Kenny Lake RV Park and make that our base camp for three nights. This would allow us to do day trips to McCarthy and Valdez, both about 90 miles away in different directions.

Our campsite is nothing spectacular, just a back-in site in a gravel parking lot. But we do have electric hookup. The owners are very nice and are loaning us a couple of camp chairs to use while we are here. The gal who checked us in knew where Twisp was because she was born in Omak and lived in Okanogan, about 45 miles from our house. Small world!

Our Campsite at Kenny Lake