We took a walk around the BLM campground, then got on the Taylor/Top of the World Highway and headed towards Fairbanks. We found that we prefer Canada’s well maintained dirt roads to the Alaska frost heaved paved roads, and that we make much better time on the dirt. Nonetheless, we got out to the Alaska Highway, stopped for fuel and to collect email and messages in Tok, and then headed for Fairbanks with a lunch stop and a short hike at Lisa Lake. When we got to Fairbanks, we immediately went to Giant Tire where we got a good deal on VERY lightly used Firestone tires, and scheduled to have them put on the truck the next morning. We stayed in the grass overflow parking at the Carlson Center, and took advantage of the walking trail that runs along the river.
The next day, Saturday, didn’t go exactly as planned. We got to Giant Tire and they were putting on the tires when I got a horrible pain in my back and hip, to the point where I almost passed out and ended up sitting in the middle of the parking lot with my head between my knees trying not to vomit. Since our plan for after Fairbanks was to head into Denali National Park for three nights, which is very remote and doesn’t have any communications, we decided to take me to the Fairbanks hospital ER to get checked out. They did an EKG and blood and urine tests to rule out heart problems or kidney stones, and then decided that I had just had the mother of all muscle cramps due to dehydration, and gave me a bag of fluids and sent me on my way when I was feeling better, with the assurance from the doctor that he saw no reason why I should die if I went remote for a few days.
Fairbanks is full of all sorts of art.
Because we’d spent the whole afternoon in the ER, we didn’t do any of the other things we had planned to do, and the next day was Sunday and nothing was open, so we spent another two nights at the Carlson Center. On Sunday we hiked all over Fairbanks, which is a pretty little city. On Monday, Jiffy Lube and a hairdresser were opened, so we had the truck’s oil changed and got haircuts. We had good cell reception, so we used the downtime to get caught up on some computer stuff. While Fairbanks became a little more complicated than we’d planned, we were happy to get great deals on tires and dog food.
By the time we left Fairbanks, everything was smoky.