Why would an Alaskan chicken cross the road?

Chicken, Alaska is a little mining hamlet that is perhaps the quirkiest of all the small communities in the state.  It has several hubs:  downtown Chicken; the Original Chicken Gold Camp; Chicken Creek Outpost and the Goldpanner.

The community got its name in 1902 when it was officially incorporated.  They wanted to name it Ptarmigan, because that was the wild bird in the area, but no one could spell ptarmigan, so they named it Chicken.  Like so many other fares, it tastes like chicken.  About 20-30 people live here year-round, there is little electricity for public use, few phones and little plumbing.  We did have electricity for our overnight stay.  Mail arrives twice per week by bush plane.

This is the ceiling in the bar.  What an assortment of things left behind.  We forgot to add to it. yeah, right.

Before we ever got to Chicken and after the ferry ride across the Yukon river from Dawson, we encountered some of the most amazing scenery and rough roads just to get to Chicken.  By the time we reach Fairbanks, The Top Of The World Highway will have saved us over 800 miles but we would have missed scenes like this:  remember now that these won’t do the country justice.

This shot of the Yukon leaving us and the Ogilvie Mountains was taken when I climbed up on top of the 5th-wheel to get these shots.

And once more, back into Alaska from the Yukon Territories.

In Tok (pronouced Toke) we stayed one night.  Civilization, wow!  About 1400 residents and they boast that it is the “Coldest inhabited community of North America… with warm, friendly people”.  Burrrr!  Minus 71 degrees in January ‘65.  Connie and I took a short side trip to Mukluk Village just down the road.  Not knowing what to expect, it looked like just a kid’s small-town amusement park.  It was, but we didn’t let that stop us.  A sweet lady with a smile just as sweet, met us with a hug and showed us photos and had us sign her guest book.  She had pages for each state.  We paid our $5.00 entry and proceeded to play like kids. With our winning coupons, we picked out winner’s candy.  Then we looked around and had the best time.  Sure glad we didn’t blow the place off.  Very unique.\

Did you notice that Jane finally got her Mountie?  Remember Dudley ?