Date:         Wed, 10 Jul 1996 13:28:37 -0800 (AKDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Chris Wyatt <cwyatt@gi.alaska.edu>
Subject:      Gas Prices Up North (Dawson to Tok)


Top of the World/Taylor highways (July 1-5, 1996)
Dawson City: > $2/gallon
Eagle:         $1.80		(only one grade of gas in most places, 87)
Chicken:       $1.65
Tok:           $1.70

The Dawson price was in Canadian dollars per liter, and rather than try 
to figure that out, I carried 18 gallons of fuel on the roof (Fairbanks 
price $1.50 for 90 octane).  We did at one time calculate that we could 
recover the cost of a spare gas container by NOT buying gas in 
Dawson, and filling it with gas at Fairbanks prices.  

Use your credit card in Canada to get the best exchange rate.
Make sure your gas can spout fits your filler neck.
Don't worry about bears; keep a clean camp.
Check out the Downtown Hotel (Dawson) saloon and ask for a Sourtoe Cocktail.
Bike the long downhills while your van-mates follow.
Check the beers per person limit before you cross the border; they always 
ask how much alcohol you have on board.

The Top of the World Highway is in excellent shape, but carry plenty of 
windshield washer fluid, perhaps extra water or Windex and a squeegee.  
My passengers got queasy once the windows were mudded over, and the view 
is too good to miss.  The Taylor is a little mushy when wet near Tok, but 
not too bad.  

I wish I could join y'all in Dawson and do the Dempster, but I have a 
thesis to finish.  If you make it to Fairbanks, look me up.  

Chris Wyatt
Fairbanks, Alaska
'87 Syncro GL