We have mixed emotions about Fairbanks.  When we were there nine years ago Tramp had a bad cough and the local dealer said he fixed it and charged us like a wounded grizzly.  Further down the road poor Tramp gave it up completely (as it turned out, because of the dealer’s mistakes) and we had him towed back to the dealer.  We then spent two weeks in Fairbanks waiting for spare parts while living in the back corner of the dealer’s car park.  During that time we got to know Fairbanks very well and we fell in love with it.

And so we were really looking forward to reacquainting ourselves with our old friend and check out some of our favourite haunts.  With only about 120 miles before we get there, what could possibly go wrong?  When we crossed the wide Robertson River and stopped on the other side to take photos we found out. 

After taking the photo I got back into Tramp and rather than do a three point turn to leave I randomly – and as it turned out, stupidly – decided to plough through an innocuous-looking patch of snow.

Big mistake.  The patch of snow was bigger, deeper and softer than I expected and Tramp sank to his axles.  No amount of digging, sand matts, swearing and digging some more could get him out.  I finally had to eat a huge slice of humble pie and ask some nearby locals for some help.  Even they struggled at first but eventually through their determination and generosity they managed to pull Tramp out.

Our big thanks to Marlin, Shilo and young Nicholai who came to the rescue in the most understanding way and never once called me an idiot…at least not out loud.  A huge thanks guys!

We drove up to Delta Junction, a town of about 1,200 people which officially marks the end of the Alaska Highway.  This amazing road, built in only eight months in 1942 to help defend the continent from a Japanese attack, changed the accessibility, economy and life for those living in the Yukon and Alaska.  And the numbers are equally impressive – 1,422 miles (2,288 kilometres), built by 15,000 men using something like 11,000 pieces of equipment over some of the most remote and challenging land possible.  An extraordinary achievement.

From there it was up to Fairbanks as the wind picked up and the rain started to fall hard.  Just short of Fairbanks is the curiously-named town of North Pole which plays on it’s name with red and white striped street light poles and numerous businesses leveraging the unique name.  Of course we had to pull into the appropriately painted Santa Land with a year round over-the-top collection of Christmas items.  Look out grandchildren!

We enjoyed our late afternoon in Fairbanks, revisited a few familiar places and pointed out our favourite ice cream shop or book store or outdoor store.  Fairbanks has a population of about 32,000 so it is a robust city offering everything but is also known for cold winters with day time highs from -21° to -10°C (-6 to 14°F) and lows down to -32°C (-25°F).  Even -40° is not uncommon. Don’t mess with Fairbanks.

We had an appointment the next morning with a shop that said they would have a look at fixing our malfunctioning hydraulic cylinder and…well…two shops later we had spent a long, expensive and frustrating day with the only result being that the original problem we thought we had was not the problem. It’s a bigger problem.

I can’t sugar coat how we felt when we left the shop, much poorer but no wiser on our problem.  We decided to finish the couple of chores we had in town and then headed north 15 miles out of Fairbanks and camp for the night.  Along the way we stopped at a very good spot to check out the pipeline up close and read more about it which lifted our spirits.  But overall Fairbanks had been a big bust for us for a second time.

Our plan, subject to change of course, is to stick to our original plan of driving up the famous Dalton Highway that follows the Alaska Pipeline all the way to the Arctic Ocean.  It was one of the great highlights from our time in Alaska nine years ago and we definitely wanted to see that beautiful countryside again.  We kept our fingers crossed we could continue to nurse our hydraulic lift kit until we get this problem resolved.