Day 44 - Fairbanks 7/3

We Found The Tires!

This is a subject which has continued to preoccupy me.  Overnight I had the realization that although I checked the Fairbanks Dodge dealer, I hadn't tried any dealers in Anchorage. So I called Anchorage Chrysler and, amazingly, they had the Continental tire I was looking for. Cody, the service rep, asked if I wanted all four that he had, but I demurred and only ordered two of them. They are being held for us until we can get there.

It was more than time to leave the Chena River Wayside. Although handy to Fairbanks, it was feeling a little crowded in there. The people across from us had squeezed a trailer, a tent, two pickup trucks and a car into a site for only one. We figured we'd spend the day doing the usual weekly chores and spend the night at Walmart (with about 50 of our closest RV friends) while waiting to hear from Harry and Sally.

We didn't have to wait long. They called as we on our way to the laundromat and coffee shop. They were a ways outside of town and had a couple of errands first. So, we did our laundry, had coffee, then moved on to the library. We told Harry and Sally to meet us there when they finished up.

We'd just settled in, having our lunch in Speedy in the library parking lot when they pulled in next to us.  After much kibitzing, we finished lunch and went into the library to use their high-speed Internet access. I finally got to post about a week's worth of Speedy Journal entries and update some software.

After the library stop, we went off to do the rest of our errands, planning to meet again in the Walmart parking lot. The first tasks were refuelling and dumping our waste tanks. The Sourdough gas station provided both services, relatively inexpensive fuel and propane and a free dump station.  Being one of the few free dump stations in Fairbanks, it was quite popular with RVs, but we managed to arrive in a lull. It wasn't long before a couple of others showed up behind us.

With Speedy's appetite satisfied, it off to take care of ours and a trip to the Fred Meyers and a grocery stop. The Fred Meyers we went to is right next door to Walmart and we just rolled over there when we finished. It was late afternoon and we managed to find a quiet site along one edge of the parking lot with a hedge shielding us from the road and a curb behind where no one could park. At that point there were about a dozen other RVs in the lot. We had picked a space well away from the crowd and with enough room for H&S to fit in next to us.

This didn't last long as a big truck camper and then a Class A (bus) RV pulled in around us. Fortunately, I'd made enough room around Speedy that I could back up to the curb and there would still be room for Harry & Sally. They just parallel parked in front of us when they arrived.

We just had dinner in the vans and watched the other RVs pour in. It is a very popular overnight stop for travellers passing through Fairbanks.