June 9th - Fairbanks Update - Repair Day!!

Today is a leisure day after a full morning of work! Yesterday I was determined to fix my trailer brakes, you may recall the snow and slush on the ALCAN tore the wiring lose and I had to cut it free, it was dragging behind the trailer when I pulled in to Llaird Hot Springs. Too much snow and slush and ice to try and fix it there, plus the wire was all frayed and bad from dragging for who knows how many miles. When in Anchorage a couple weeks ago I picked up the supplies I needed to make the repair.

Yesterday afternoon I got all the supplies and my tools out and was all prepared to make the repair, stripped the wire ends in the comfort of the trailer and just as I was headed outside a short rain storm came by and put an end to my effort, no sense getting soaking wet while making the repair. Left the tools out overnight and made it this mornings project. Clear sunny and cool day today with enough wind to keep the mosquitoes as bay. Fresh brewed coffee to start the morning and a nice bowl of oatmeal gave me the energy to crawl my fat old man ass under the trailer on all four corners and get the job done. Had some cleaning up to do with regard to the old wiring so end result is basically 95% new wire for all four trailer wheel brakes.

3 hours of effort rewarded with brakes operating at 100% efficiency. Should make stopping a whole bunch easier on the remainder of this trip and beyond. So I am staying in Fairbanks another night and plan to relax and watch some TV this afternoon and prepare a nice dinner for tonight. Thanks Wal-Mart for the nice parking space with electric, although they swear it is turned off!!

No pics again today, nothing special about a Wal-Mart parking lot, but I have plenty of good company! I have visited with a few of my neighbors. Several are here in RV's because the town of Gallena is still flooded and a few here have lost their homes and are waiting for the water to go down and mud to dry up to to go and start to rebuild or repair. Sad for them. But right now this morning there are 12 RV's here and every afternoon about another 5 or 6 pull in for the night.

Tomorrow I will leave here and head to Tok...some RV forum members there and I have been invited to visit, so will spend the evening there and then drive on to Haines Junction on Tuesday or Wednesday. That includes crossing the border back into Canada and one of the roughest sections of the ALCAN, so it will be a slow go and will stop to take some pictures and catch up on some photography.

Thanks for following along! Stay tuned for more Adventures!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest