While in Tok, I worked at a campground as a handyman for a week. After I got fired from that job, I headed to Fairbanks. I’d made the mistake of telling the bosses son that I’d gotten food poisoning from their food, and since that was the only place I’d eaten in days, and I’m old enough to know the symptoms, I felt comfortable teasing the kid about washing his hands. But they didn’t get the joke…to bad that I’d fixed two of their gas dryers and saved them $800 to $1600 in repair costs, should have unfixed them I guess.
It’s only a two hour drive from Tok and the roads are fine. The scenery is interesting but not noteworthy.
When I got to North Pole, a small town just east of Fairbanks, I pulled into a campground and took the opportunity to finally rest. I spend most of the next day on the couch drifting in and out of sleep. Later in the day, refreshed, I clean the rig, then wander around the nearby area on my bike. The park is right next door to ‘Santa’s House’. Which is a huge christmas store. With Santa there! It’s mid-June but the poor guy was all dressed up in the traditional red suit, and sweating like you would expect. The box fan didn’t seem to be helping. It wasn’t helping Mrs. Claus much either. I was wandering around the store for 30-40 minutes and people did come in and talk to Santa, but I didn’t see any kids while I was there. Outside were a couple raindeer. Looking a little scruffy because they were shedding. After wasting a bunch of time there, I rode my bike much farther around the neighborhood and didn’t find much to keep me there. So the next day, I head into Fairbanks, looking for a more interesting place to stay. Luckily, I have a nice map of the area that lists the RV parks and after I wander around town for a few hours, shopping here and there, I stop at the Ice Park RV and Campground. It’s just north of Pioneer Park and I thought that visiting the park might be interesting plus the price was pretty good for the area…$18 per night…so I settled in. I told the owner the next day that I would be interested in workamping and after nearly two weeks of hanging around, she asks me to watch the place for her for a day while she’s off doing something. A few days later and I’m checking people in, fixing electrical problems, working on the computer system and other stuff. Now my space is free and I’m getting free dinners. This will help out allot since I’ve got that $3700 in RV costs to cover. And if I’m not spending money, I’m saving money.
I’ve got lots of pictures of the Fairbanks area, I’ll get them up soon.
Thanks for reading!