One of the interesting things we saw was at Delta Junction.  The Alaska Pipeline crosses the Tanana river there.  It is an impressive installation.

                                                  Alaska Pipeline Tanana River Crossing

The pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay, AK., on the North Slope to Valdez, AK.  It's over 800 miles long, and the pipe is 4' in diameter, plus it is insulated against the weather.  We arrived in Fairbanks, a bussiling city of about 100,000 people.  We are staying at the Rivers Edge RV park, right on the banks of the Chena River, which runs through the city.  We visited the Pioneer Village, a tourist atraction, which houses the native artifacts building, air museum, a 1899 steam locomotive, the first one in Alaska, and was used in mining.  It wasn't very big, and was narrow gage.  We did the afternoon tour on the Riverboat Discovery, very enjoyable.  It travels down the Chena river to where it meets the Tanana river.  We stopped at a recreated Athabascan village and listened to native people speak about how they survived before the white man came.  There are some beautiful homes along the river, and our commentator mentioned that the land along the river was worth over $100,000 an acre.  We are under the flight pattern of the Fairbanks International Airport, and I can't believe all the aircraft go that go by.  I am including several pictures of our river cruise. 

                                                         Riverboat Discovery III

The company was started in 1898, hauling freight for the miners, and in 1950 started the excursion business in Fairbanks.  They have done freight all the way to the mouth of the Yukon in the Bering Sea, but just do the passenger business now.  Along the way we stopped at Susan Butcher's dog kennels.  She passed away from cancer, after winning the Iditirod Race four times.  They use a 4 wheeler to train the dogs in the summer time, and on the frozen river in the winter time.  Iditirod winner , Lance Macke,y was greeting people at the landing.

                                                       Original Discovery I Riverboat

                                                              New Log Home

                                                             The Chena River

                                                        Athabascan Woman's Winter Coat

This is a picture of a coat worn by the Athabascan women in the winter,  It is beautiful, with several different furs used in the construction, including wolverine for the inner hood.

                                                              Original Freight Loading Area
This is where the freight was loaded to go down the river to the Yukon and the mines and villages

                                                                   Paddlewheel
    

This picture shows how close the the shore the paddlewheeler works.  It has a draft of 3', and the paddlewheel and rudders only take 24".

This picture is of a 900' Supercub strip along the river, close to where we dock.
We have enjoyed our visit to Fairbanks, but are ready to hit the road again.  Tomorrow, we are off to Cantwell, AK and Denali Park.