Today we boarded our Yukon Express coach and met our tour leader and ‘coach commander’ Amanda and guide Colleen. They were going to be with us for the next couple of days while driving south through Alaska and the Yukon. On our way out of Fairbanks, Amanda gave us a brief tour of the town. Unfortunately, Colette blinked just as we went through downtown and consequently she missed it. So, she kept asking me, where is it, where is it? Well it is there somewhere I am sure but it seems that I managed to miss the world-renowned downtown of Fairbanks as well. But, that is enough picking on Fairbanks, as we are on our way on the Richardson Highway and off to the great unknown. I like Amanda, she reminds me of my youngest brother Andras. Her mannerism, her speech inflections and the toss of her head, seemed just like Andras. If I did not know for sure that I did not have any more sisters I would have had my suspicions. Although she is also a transplant from the lower 48, she is quite knowledgeable of the local lore and a very good guide. Colleen is on the quieter side but very pleasant and helpful.

The “coach” (note not “bus” and rightly so) is very big and comfortable with huge clean windows and plenty of room to move around. Amanda also supplied us with her own personal library stocked with some interesting reading about the history of the area we are about to travel through. Our first stop of course was a souvenir shop at a place called North Pole Alaska. How appropriate! A little brown moose followed me out of the shop and made himself comfortable in my knapsack. The nerve, although he is rather cute… I guess, I will just let him tag along.

Afterwards down the road a bit at Delta Junction, we visited Rika’s Roadhouse, which is a State Historical park on the shores of the Tanana River. I heard that Rika; was quite a celebrity and subject of gossip around here. We also paid our dues at the ever-present gift shop with the usual knick-knacks. At this crossroads we left the Richardson Highway and started the next leg of our journey on the great Alaskan Highway, with the Alaska Range on our right and Tanana River meandering sometime on the left, sometime on the right. Amanda played a video for us on the construction of the Alaska Highway and told us countless stories. I did not realize the road is so relatively new. The construction started in 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, and completed eight months later. The road, which starts in Dawson Creek, Canada and ends at Fairbanks, is approximately 1,488 miles. Here I would like to quote something that I think might give you some idea how some of the early riders of this road felt.

- Retired Sergeant Troy Hise
(written while he was stationed at Summit Lake, Historical Mile 392)

Our next stop is Tok, which is not a town, not a village; it is just there. The legend goes that the place got its name during the construction of the Alcan, highway and at first it was called Tokyo, but due to the political climate that was not very p.c. and therefore the “yo” part was dropped. Well it is a good story…. The only claim to fame this “place” seems to have is the now-closed pump station for the Alaskan Oil Pipe Line. Yep, we saw it, admired it for five minutes, took some photos and got back on the coach.

This is a strange kind of tour. You meet people; see them for a day or two and then they go their own way, on with another tour. Only about ten people we’ve been seeing and recognizing are also on the coach with us. We met lots of Australians, a lady from Tasmania, a very nice couple from Texas, a couple from New York, and another from Illinois. However due to the nature of this tour it was hard to really get to know any of them, so to quote Colette “we passed each other like ships in the night”.

While trucking along the highway toward the Canadian border, I picked up an interesting looking book from Amanda’s library, “Two Old Women” by an Alaskan native, Velma Wallis” It kept me glued in between sights, naps and stops. A very pleasant read. Crossing the Canadian border is still a simple matter, but it took a bit longer than I am used to. Afterwards we took our obligatory photos by the Yukon and Alaskan markers. Colette managed to perch herself right between the two signs having the right side of her in the Yukon and the left side she left in Alaska. A very talented lady that Colette! Shortly after our crossing we arrived at another place, not town or city or village, just a place called Beaver Creek. This small community is primarily a border post and a service centre for the Alcan Highway. It is also the home of the White River First Nation. Here I must mention that the Indians or natives in Canada are called First Nation. How original. After all they were there first! The average population of this metropolis is 109, and it is steady. One of the guides mentioned the population is steady, because whenever a baby is born a man is leaving. Joke Card! After dinner we were treated for a local cabaret. True to my usual skepticism I was not expecting much, but I was determined to endure. To my greatest surprise, all the sudden I heard this most pleasant clear voice singing a song way back from my childhood in Budapest. The song in Hungarian was called “Kis Csolnakom a Dunan”, but here the name is the Anniversary Waltz and the young man sang it in English (of course). Still it touched something in my soul and brought a few tears to my eyes. The occasion for the song was also bitter sweet. A couple on our tour was celebrating their 50th anniversary, but the gentleman had terminal cancer and his days were numbered. Both my companions, Colette and Suzie lost their husbands in the last couple of years and I saw Suzie wiping some tears away. How beautifully sad, and out here in the big nowhere in the Yukon Territory, what a present! The rest of the show was quite entertaining as well and I even managed to enjoy it! Later I found out the singer’s name was Sylvan Demers from Banff, BC. I think I will write him a thank you note; his rendition of that song was quite memorable.