Day 33 -- Still more resting and mending the Airstream in Fairbanks

Sunday 7/23/2006

We slept a bit longer today; we were starting to feel a bit exhausted. Lilli talked about how she had woken up sometime in the early morning and noticed that everything was shaking. She thought that I had left the stabilizers up, but we later learned that there was an earthquake; it reached a 4.9 rating! For breakfast, Erik made pancakes and we sat outside and enjoyed the view. It was actually quite nice and warm.

Eating pancakes for breakfast at Chena Marina

One of the cool things about this campground is that the name, Chena Marina, actually refers to an "airport" of sorts for pontoon planes. In the picture above, you can see some hangers and a landing strip for planes with wheels. But closer to us, just past the fifth wheel on the other side of the road from us, is water. Quite often you hear planes taking off or coming down.

A small pontoon airplane taking off at Chena Marina, Fairbanks, AK

We continued the day by cleaning off the outside of the trailer. At first I was thinking we could unhitch the trailer at the wash-off area, but the campground had started to grumble a bit about all the cleaning work I was doing, including things being left outside the trailer and ongoing sound of a pressure washer. Lilli was planning to go out with the kids for the day, but everyone stayed back at the campground. Instead, she helped me wash off the trailer. Here, the big ladder we had brought with us came to use. It was a lot of hard work; dirt had crept in everywhere. I washed the underside of the trailer as well, to make sure that any corrosive material from the Dalton Highway did not stick for too long.

The kids spent most of the day watching free DVD movies at the campground. The weather was great and we were surprised they didn't want to come out to enjoy the sun. But, they have been away from our 7x24 entertainment environment for some time. I don't often connect the TV up in the trailer either. Meanwhile, laundry would dry very nicely outside.

In the afternoon we joined the rest of the Airstream crew for happy hour. Lilli had brought a bottle of Champagne from New Hampshire that we enjoyed at what seemed like a victorious moment. The trailer was pretty much ready to go and we were heading out for Denali tomorrow morning.

In wrapping up, I have nothing but kind words for Chena Marina RV Park. They were super in accommodating my needs, helping out where they could. I would highly recommend this campground for anyone else passing through Fairbanks.

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All Pictures (c) 2006 Hamnqvist, Background features the waves of a pontoon plane.