Hey, Folks!    Yesterday (Thursday, July 24th) was a very long but amazing day!    I have only a few TV shows that I watch, but my very favorite is "Life Below Zero".   You can Google it from the National Geographic website or simply click on this link:  

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/life-below-zero/

My (current) life hero is Sue Aikins; one day I hope to fly to Kavik River Camp and meet her.   But another of the show's regulars are Kate and Andy Bassich.    They moved to Alaska years ago and live full-time on their homestead on the shores of the Yukon River, 30 miles upstream from Eagle, AK. Eagle is the first incorporated city in Alaska, about 8 miles from the Canadian border and 180 miles from Tok.

 

I left Tok at 9 a.m. for the long drive on - primarily - more gravel and potholed roads.   The only available stop was at the 120 mile-mark along the Taylor Highway at Chicken, and it's famous post office.

Chicken's year-round population is 3 (three).   It gets REALLY cold at this former mining community for a long time: minus 60F for days!   But the post mistress is one of the 3 who stay year-round!



And if you are on a world-search for communities with chicken -related names, just climb the town's hill to reference the Big Chicken (below, left):

But I digress!    After chatting up the locals for awhile, I realized: "Hey, you've got to get going!   You have a long, difficult and tire-threatening drive to Eagle.   Time to get going!"  So off I went...

Lots of gorgeous scenery along the way.   And if I'd stopped at each beautiful vista, I'd have not reached Eagle for hours!








  Heck, had I seen this sign at the onset, I'd have had second thoughts....but the road finally ended on Front Street, right on the banks of the Yukon!

The Visitor's Center is manned by 3 men from the Bureau of Land Management.   I spent nearly an hour there chatting with the men, and saw photos of the damage caused by the famous "Break Up" of 2009, a little more about Andy and Kate Bassich, and all about the "tire graveyard" (photo: below, left):

 Most of these tires were abandoned along the dirt-and-gravel highway that runs to Eagle.   Tourists have blowouts on this road, just as they do on the Dempster Hwy, and some of them are bad citizens, abandoning the tire on the road.  Over several years, the locals have picked them up and tossed them here.   Bad tourists.

 Oh!   Did anyone notice anything "fun" in the 2nd photo of the Visitor's Cener above?   What is it with me, dangerous roads...and storms that follow me???   Those are very ominous clouds, eh? 

 Perhaps one should not linger in Eagle b/c there's NOTHING here except a few families, a general store, an airstrip and the Visitor's Center.   Certainly no restaurant and no hotel!   LMAO.   

So, "Hello, again" to the long, remote and winding road back to Chicken, and from there, back to Tok!

 Along the way, I was stopped at a road construction site by a flag-person named, Gail.  While I waited for the pilot truck to come,we had an awesome discussion.   Turns out she's lived in Eagle for decades, knows the Bassich's and would have taken me to meet them had she been in town and knew I admired them (I'd have declined that invitation).   She also told me all about subsistence living and how really tough - and expensive! - it is.   All too shortly, the pilot truck came, and off I had to go!