Alaska 2015 - Day 17 Tok AK

Day 17 – 5-28-15 Thursday We had not expected to get to Tok until today but we made much better time yesterday than expected on the bad roads. We traveled 4,696 miles to get to Tok. We talked to a RV'er that came up the Alaska Highway today and he said the road crews were paving some of the gravel road we traveled yesterday so maybe by the time we go back that way in mid July they will have finished at least the area that was gravel.

We did some laundry while eating breakfast and while the laundry was drying we drove the Jeep to Chicken Alaska about 80 miles from Tok. Chicken has a Winter population of about 7 and Summer about 40. The snow on the road to Chicken is not plowed in the Winter so the people that stay through the Winter are stuck unless they use a snowmobile or airplane to get out. Yes they do have an airport. That is how the mail is delivered twice a week. The town has two RV parks, some small rental cabins, four gift shops, three places to eat, a salon, a liquor store, two places to get fuel and a US Post Office. We had lunch in one of the Cafes'. The town was a gold mining town and some gold mining still goes on there. The miners wanted to name the town Ptarmigan (the state bird which looks like a chicken) but no one was sure how to spell it so they name the town Chicken. There is a 18' by 12' chicken statue in town that was built out of recycled high school lockers in Homer Alaska and trucked to Chicken.

We returned to Tok and stopped in the local grocery store to pick up a few groceries. Tok is a small town. It has several RV parks, a couple of gas stations, gift shops, repair business, schools, etc. And for such a small town they have a really nice paved walking/biking trail off the highway. If you drive to Alaska you have to go through Tok arriving and leaving.

At 7:30PM the owner of the CG puts on a Pancake Toss. We went tonight and participated. He has everyone to introduce themselves before the contest begins. You get two tries to toss a pancake into a 5 gallon bucket. The first toss does not count but it you get the second one in you get a free breakfast in the CG cafe. One person out of about 25 got one in tonight. The owner, Tim, is almost as good on stage as some professional stand up comics. This is a real nice CG. The sites are large, level, with spruce trees between the site that give some privacy and the pull through sites are long. Most sites are full hook up. We would stay here again if we need a CG in this area.

I just checked the weather with my phone using Weather Bug and sunset tonight is 11:09 PM. Sunrise this morning was 3:49AM. Sure glad we have night shades in the MH that block out the daylight.