We had an early start this morning so that we could catch a campground bus which took us to the Chena River for a ride on a riverboat. It was a perfect day for being out on the water - sunny and warm. The cruise made several stops along the way. Our first stop was at Susan Butcher's dog sled kennel where we saw a bunch of puppies and then a dogsled team pulling an ATV on a track. They can really move fast and barked continuously. Susan Butcher was not there to do the demo because she is ill.
Further along the river where it meets the Tanana River a Chena Indian Village has been recreated. The Athabascan Indian village had cabins made of spruce logs, a cache used for storing supplies, and wolf, fox, martin, and beaver fur pelts. We explored the inside of a spruce bark hut and saw the building of a birch bark canoe made without any metal fasteners. One of the Native American guide also modeled an Athabascan Yukon-style women's winter parka with sunshine ruff. It was just beautiful and looked really warm.
Further along the river we stopped at a summer fish camp and saw how the Athabascan's use a fish wheel to catch salmon and then clean and smoke them. Still used by subsistence natives in many areas of Alaska.
We saw quite a variety of homes along the river - some very fancy and others seemed to be in a state of long term construction with old tires on the roof to hold the blue tarps down.
After the cruise Rick took our trusty truck in for an oil change. The diesel engine is doing well even after 3000 miles of bumps, hills, and towing. We did more chores - laundry and RV cleaning and then went OUT for a beer and burger. What a delight after so many meals in the RV. It is cloudy tonight so perhaps we will sleep a bit better despite the 20 hours of daylight.
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