Fairbanks

Santa Claus

Since I was ahead of schedule due to skipped stops, I decided to stay a couple of days in North Pole since the camping was free.  I thought I’d go see the Santa house and check the place out.  I’m no fan of Christmas, but my daughter is, so I could potentially get some photos of a place where it’s Christmas all year round.

I decided to “sleep” in because, why not?  I didn’t feel like doing much, but I rang the family and talked to them for almost an hour.  Talking to them got me motivated.  I got the laundry done with the filthy water that came from the pump and filtered enough to last me through the day, then buttoned up Kymani for travel.

Big City?

Fairbanks might be a big city in Alaska, but it is a tiny town compared to what I’m used to.  I rode into Fairbanks and hit the REI to get a stuff sack to replace the one I lost on the trip that was for the bike cover and pick up an Ursack.  I still couldn’t use my phone for anything other than a phone, but REI was kind enough to allow me to sit in their store and use their wifi to find a Verizon store and the address to another sporting goods store that had Ursacks.  Rei was out of stock on those.  I wrote down the addresses and plugged them into my GPS.

Finally it works!

When I got to the Verizon store, I tried hard not to sound as frustrated as I felt, but I told the guy my phone was a brick.  Apparently, this is quite common in Alaska for people that drive through Canada.  The phone was searching for Canadian towers and not finding them in Alaska.  All it needed was the networks to be reset.  I didn’t know of this, but I learned.  So, there is your travel tip for the day!  You’re welcome.

Old

I finished my errands and headed back to the Santa House.  I didn’t take any photos because it was a bit of a disappointment.  It looked really cheesy.  This might be just because I’m not a fan of Christmas, but I don’t think so.  I think this is a place that is great for kids to visit, but I am apparently too old.

Back at the campsite I felt pretty good about all I had accomplished.  I had seen a bald eagle nest right off the road on the way to Fairbanks and when I came back to the campsite, the eagles were home.  Too far for a photo with the lens I had with me, but I still saw it.  My plans had been to ride to Prudhoe Bay, but with the weather and such, I decided to skip the ugliest town in Alaska.  I DID want to ride to the Arctic Circle sign, but was told the road wasn’t great.  My BFG told me that the only person that wanted me to go there was me, and it might be best not to go.  He said I didn’t NEED to go there, so I thought on it.  I guess I would see.  Tomorrow I could make that decision.

Here we go again…

I had dinner, cleaned up, and went to bed.  About an hour later, while I was still reading, the rain started.  And it kept raining.  All night.  I got up in the morning, but the rain was still coming down.  I looked at the weather on my phone (DANG it was GOOD to have it back!) and there was nothing but rain in the forecast.  For days.

When you’ve had enough

I decided to skip the Arctic Circle sign, and head to my hotel in Fairbanks a day early.  There was no point in camping in the rain.  I rang the hotel and booked an extra night then packed up all my wet stuff and headed back into Fairbanks.  I also decided I wanted to do a bit of sightseeing, but I was sick of getting wet.  So, I rented a car for a day.  This would be helpful as I had two boxes waiting for me at the Fairbanks post office and I wanted to get some souvenirs for the family.

The fires were still raging in Canada and my BFG and BFB asked me to take the ferry home in order to avoid the smoke and the potential road closures.  If I rode home, I would be riding through thick smoke for several days.  The ferry would avoid the smoke, have a lot less miles to ride, and, given the ferry ride would be 4 days, would provide a nice break.  After listening to their reasoning, I opted to try to take the ferry.

Dry at last

I made it to the hotel and got checked in and unloaded.  This involved bringing in all my wet stuff, tent, tent fly, ground cloth, motorbike bags, clothes and hanging them all around the room.  It was pretty funny to see all the stuff hanging but in a few hours it was all dry.  I rang up the ferry and tried to book myself on.  There was room for me, but no room for Kymani.  They offered to put Kymani on the wait list and they would give me a full refund if they couldn’t fit her on, so I booked it.  It was quite pricey, but probably worth it.  I couldn’t get a cabin, as those were sold out months ago, but you are allowed to sleep on the deck or the solarium, which is a heated area with a roof and a couple of walls.  I supposed that was good enough for me!

Gifts

The next day the car rental place fetched me and I drove around Fairbanks.  I went to the coolest quilt shop, Northern Threads, and bought my BFB some gifts and some patterns for me to make an Alaska quilt.

   

Inside Northern Threads.  If you look in the back, the gray quilt with the rectangles in the middle and squares on the ends is the pattern I got for myself.

I went to the Great Alaskan Bowl Company and got gifts for everyone else.  The Alaskan Bowl Company actually shipped all my purchases for me, so that was super convenient.  I went and bought some bike tie-down straps in case they had room for Kymani on the boat.  The post office was my next to the last stop.  I picked up the two resupply boxes I had mailed to myself and shipped back everything I didn’t think I would need, along with the gifts from the quilt store.  Then I took the car back.

The next day, Kymani went to the shop to get serviced.  This was the last thing I needed to do in Fairbanks before heading to Denali.  They had originally quoted me $3,000 for the service, but it ended up being far less expensive and now I had the money for the ferry, should Kymani get on.  I ate at a Thai restaurant in Fairbanks, the only time I’ve eaten out since I’ve been on this trip.  The food was delicious.  Though the rain hadn’t stopped the entire time I had been in Fairbanks, I accomplished a lot and was happy to be leaving.  I was hoping that the weather would clear up for tomorrow when I went to Denali. This was getting ridiculous.