Day 46 – July 21, 2001 – We left the Super 8 in Fairbanks for the 200-mile drive to Tok. It was a pretty drive, with no breakdowns, only a few minor adjustments.After the rain the night before, the day was surprisingly bright and sunny. It rains a lot in Alaska, so a sunny day is especially priceless. A couple of the Fairbanks Antique Club members came by and escorted us to the Richardson Highway and sent us on our way.
We stopped at Rika’s Roadhouse, a state historical park, to have lunch. Jennifer and Joyce had put together a chicken pot pie sort of thing at a pullout and cooked it in the manifold cookers. The greeters at the state park were interested in our cars but fascinated by the fact that we got our cooking pots off the engines. We met several other travelers who were moaning about the drive to Prudhoe or the drive over the Top of the World Highway. We just happened to drop into the conversation that we had driven those same two roads and they were astounded. One of them had lost both headlights and had a cracked windshield.
The drive to Tok was rather uneventful. It is a long, almost straight drive from Fairbanks to Tok, and Bruce Lilleker who had been reading about our adventures, was wondering where the excitement was. We rolled into Tok around 6:00 pm and the girls and Ross were going to go do some laundry. Then, into the parking lot drove our friend Bruce Campbell from Anchorage, pulling a trailer with a 1926 Model T coupe that he had restored. We had looked at the car when we were in Anchorage and Ben and Nancy had discussed it ever since. Early that morning, Ben had called Bruce and asked him to meet us in Tok with the ultimate Alaskan souvenir but we hadn’t told anyone. Ross suggested that Ben had bought the car for parts. Jennifer saw it more as a way to get away from the mosquitoes. We had a fun evening and a great dinner and the men tinkered with the coupe until bedtime.