4 Wheels 4 Girls

On July 1st at the Sourdough Campground, I finally got up the nerve to do karaoke with Stella.

They did the pancake toss, as usual, and I got SOOOO close to getting my pancake in the bucket, so I decided to go for the third try and sing a song when the performers came on to the stage. Unfortunately I didn’t throw the pancake in even on the third try, and I still had to sing. *stomps feet in aggravation*.

Then, after the toss was over, the campground’s singers, Danny Lee and Sue Jean, came up on the stage and started to perform. Oh great, I thought to myself. I knew I’d have to sing soon, so Stella and I looked through the songbook for songs that I knew and that I could actually sing well. They were mostly oldies and hardly any that I knew, so we just decided to sing a Taylor Swift song, Love Story. Her songs, in my opinion, are fun to sing, so I didn’t think it would be thAt bad. But as Sue Jean called us up to the stage, I was still a little freaked. Okay, fine, A LOT freaked. There were a lot of people, you know! So anyway we got up there, took the microphones, started to sing… and it was fun! No one laughed at us or judged us; they really appreciated the entertainment!

Karaoke Night at the campground

After that we sang three more Taylor Swift songs, and we had a great time! I’m super glad had I got over my fear and made the plunge. I’m a lot more adventurous now! 😀

July 1 I woke up and remembered that I got to get free breakfast. Ana kept telling me it’s time to go. After telling me a 100 times I got up and got dressed. We went to go get the hairbrush from Mom in the bathroom. We waited for mom instead. She took a real long time. When she got out we went back to the camper to put the stuff away. We ran all the way to breakfast. When we got there I gave them my mini pancake and we went and got our breakfast. I got two sourdough pancakes two meat patties a peach some fruit cook tail and a biscuit. The food was great. Ana got the same thing except for the cook tail and a biscuit. We also had orange juice. After the meal we went and looked in the gift shop.

On June 30 after playing ladder golf, Dave that ran the RV park said the pancake toss is in 5 minutes. We all took our seats and waited. People started coming and then it started! Ana went first. To the side! Good try. Then Stella. Good try. I was worrying about throwing in front of the people. Then Dave said to Greta, it looks like you want to go up and she said I do and then he said well I will wait on you and then came over to me. My heart was beating so loud that I thought it might burst. I got a pancake. My heart sank. Then it happened so fast in the bucket! YAY! He gave me a small pancake and told me to come to breakfast the next morning. After me went a guy that also got it in, good job, I said. Some people got three tries BUT they had to sing. A few people did. It was fun hearing them sing their songs. Greta, Stella, and Ana sang for anther try. Greta and Stella sang Jingle Bells and Ana sang There Was a Little Chicken for everyone. After that I went in the RV and told the whole story for our parents. It was the best day of my life!

Winning a free breakfast at the pancake toss!

June 29, after leaving Chicken we drove for two more hours. We drove on gravel for some of the time and normal the rest of the time. We drove through the dead forest and through some fields too. We finally got to the campground in Tok, Alaska. Me and Ana got on our water proof shoes. Not the kind that hurt your feet but like rain boots and kens. We went out side and ran in the puddles. Ana’s pants got soaking wet. I felt real bad because the water was pretty cold. After that we looked up and saw some boys looking at us like we were crazy. After that we got pretty embarrassed so we went inside.

Me and Ana and Stella went on a walk. Great did not come because she was doing math. We went to go play a game that we play in Iowa called lather golf. You have a a ladder that has three poles on them. The top one is 1 point the second one is 2 points and the third one is 3 points. You try to get the rope with two golf balls at either end on one of the three poles. Me and Stella played for a long time.

Ladder Golf

Then we stopped to listen to the music. There was a really good guy that sang lots of songs. After that we went to go have dinner. We listened to the music while we ate. After dinner we went back to listen to the music. We all were there at different times. After that we left and Mommy read Travels with Charley. I think I fell asleep to the music. I loved the music so much.

On June 30 when we woke up Mommy came up a read with me. She read a book about the Dawson City gold rush. I asked her if it was boring and she said of course not. I read a book that Ana got for her birthday. Me and Ana went to the bathroom. When we came back we dragged Mom out of bed and told her to make pancakes. Ana helped her while I made my small scrapbook in my journal. It had pictures of animals and I write about it. Finally she was done. They were so good. I had six of them.

After that me and Ana went to go play ladder golf. Stella and Greta came out and Ana watched while me and Stella played against each other. We had to to get to 35 points and then you would win. My team was called the chickens and Stella’s was called the chicks. I won the game. After that we all played. Then it started to rain. We went back to the RV and had sandwiches with lentils which were gross and carrots and a cheese stick and a piece of taffy. After that we all did a post and then we went back outside. We played ladder golf and took a break. We talked and then a boy that we met came and we talked. After a while Greta left and we played ladder golf again.

Ana planted a fallen branch

We saw a bunny. We thought it was a snowshoe hair. After that a man came out and fed the bunny a sourdough pancake. After that I left to go get water but when I walked in the door Daddy said I had to do a post. Uhhhhh!

On June 29th, we entered The States again- and we also entered Alaska! The first real town we entered was called Chicken. Funny name, huh?!

An old gold mining dredge in Chicken, Alaska

The town of Chicken basically consists of two campgrounds, a parking lot, a few shops, a cafe, and a post office, but it’s super cool. There’s a giant chicken sculpture at one of the campgrounds. It’s a really neat place. We went in a shop and browsed for a bit. We ended up getting an Alaska license plate for the front of the RV and a few other things. We took a lot of pictures.

Chicken!

Chicken was a really awesome town to visit! I’m glad we did! 😉

June 29th, we crossed back into the U.S. There wasn’t much to it except that we were coming in to Alaska for the first times of our lives.

Returning to the USA

When we pulled up, the man from the building came into the RV and checked our passports. He matched our pictures to us. If I was that guy, I’d be having fun. Poor Greta was doing algebra. I was excited to be entering Alaska.

We made it!

The road that connects Dawson City, Yukon with The neighboring mining towns in Alaska is called the Top of the World Highway, and for good reason. Across the Yukon River from Dawson, it climbs up and runs along a mountain ridge for 70 or 80 miles, then drops down into the mining valleys of Alaska. From atop the ridge, you see the pine forests and mountain valleys of the south on the left and the treeless mountains and open tundra of the north on the right. Ahead and behind, the road winds and rolls from one hill to the next.

Standing on top of the world with Luciana

On June 29, after several days of clouds and rain, the finally sun came out for our drive on the Top of the World. And the world did seem to stretch out forever in all directions. It was a beautiful drive, and a long drive because much of the road is packed gravel and dirt.

The highway rolls ahead along the mountain ridge

We did not see any critters along the road that day, but we did see some fellows panning for gold in the creeks on the Alaska side. Apparently there is a mini-goldrush going on right now, with the price of gold so high. Many people are staking claims again in the Klondike and using metal detectors to search along creekbeds for gold missed the first time around.

Amongst some flowers up on the ridge, the open tundra beyond

June 28th, after the ferry, we went to stay at a campground right across the river. There were a few down sides to it. First, there were only outhouses, not bathrooms. Second, there weren’t any hookups at all. Third, there were tons of mosquitoes.

On the playground

But there was a playground, even if it was small and there were millions of mosquitoes. And the outhouses had strawberry-scented air fresheners. My sisters and I had fun on the playground until I played so hard that the calluses on my hands started bleeding. Then we went inside, and went to bed. I slept great to wake up early in the morning and set off for the journey to Alaska.

Looking for peregrine falcons on the cliffs across the river

We were waiting in line behind another RV. A guy flipped his sign to slowly board the ferry. The ferry started moving. It was sorta cool. When we got to the other side, off went the RV, into the campground.

Riding the Dawson City Ferry across the Yukon River

Then we went to a playground at the campground. We were playing on the tire swing and stuff and it was very fun but there were a lot of mosquitoes. So we just tried to avoid them, those dreadful mosquitoes.

I learned that the female mosquitoes are the ones that bite. The male mosquito is the one that doesn’t bite. They lay their eggs in puddles. They suck our blood and use it to feed their dreadful babies.

June 28th, we went across the Yukon River. In the RV.

There’s no bridge across the Yukon River. Yet, we went across in the RV. Guess how that works? Well, we took a boat.

Boarding the Dawson City Ferry to cross the Yukon River

We drove down to the line to get on the boat. When it was our turn, the man wearing bright yellow and orange waved us on. We slowly, carefully, drove on to the ferry. Before I knew it, we were moving. But the current of the river was so strong that it took much longer than we expected. That was fine, though, because unlike the plain old cars, we can go to the bathroom and eat dinner if we’re stuck in traffic or whatever.

We finally made it across the river, and then we got to travel on. But the big ferry is yet to come.