Day 21 – We’re Not Going to Fit

We’re not going to fit – and we didn’t. Normally when I write a post I like to start telling you about the day’s events from the start of the day to the end of the day. This time, I am starting with the end of the day. We’re not staying the night where we planned on staying which was the Community Gardens in Fairbanks, Alaska. Instead, we are staying at the Riverview RV Park in Fairbanks. Let me tell you what happened:

It was late afternoon when we arrived in Fairbanks. We made our way to the Community Gardens, our Harvest Host location for the night. It’s a lovely place with plots of beautiful flowers and wonderful veggie’s grown by local gardeners. Harvest Host requires that you declare the total length of your rig, and Harvest Host locations in turn declare the length that will fit at their location. Unfortunately, at this location, width was the issue.

When the site came into view, we saw the fence that surrounded the gardens. We had been given the gate code and instructions to ensure we locked all the gates at night before we turned in. This was incase any of the gardeners forgot to lock them when they left. Sure, we can do that. No problem.

Problem: We then noticed how narrow the gate opening looked and started to get nervous. We weren’t sure we were going to fit. Not willing to give up without trying, we began our back-in process. It didn’t take long for me to realize we wouldn’t fit. Not only was it a small opening (only about a foot or so wider than our Airstream), there was a porta-potty that we would also have to maneuverer around. Since Airstreams don’t come with midbody hinges we had to abort this back-in attempt.

The only other RV park in the area that was still open was the Riverview RV Park. The staff is really nice and it’s a pretty decent place to stay. We decided to stay here not just one night, but for the next couple nights.

Alright, now that we have that out of the way, here is how the rest of the day went:

Before leaving Tok, Mike wanted to add another washer to the bottom of the fridge door. It became obvious that there was a lot of “play” in the door – it would move up and down without much effort. He thought that by adding an additional washer, it could decrease the movement and hopefully keep it from flying open.

We had several extra washers, but none that were the correct size. Mike did however have a gasket that would fit so we added that to the pin on the bottom of the door. Because of this fridge fixing project, we did get a late start out of Tok. Our Harvest Hosts, Heather and Mark, were super kind and allowed us the time we needed to get the fix in place.

Being a nervous Nellie and not entirely confident that we were home free from fridge issues, I still used the bungee cord to strap the fridge closed.

Our journey today took us from Tok to Delta Junction. We stopped there at Big Delta Brewing and had lunch. The beer was good and the food was even better. Braxton tried Spruce Tip Soda for the first time. The color might be a bit alarming but he really enjoyed it.

After lunch we went to the Delta Junction Visitor’s Center where we ran into some REALLY big mosquitos. They were big even by Alaska standards. Delta Junction is the end of the Alaska Highway and the official marker is at the Delta Junction Visitor Center. The visitor center also houses a well stocked gift shop of locally made items.

Tomorrow we have big plans, so stay tuned. We will be heading to the Arctic Circle! Dalton Highway – here we come!