Dawson City

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by RoadEyePie

Sorry, you lost me on this comment.

Dawson City had a floor-show tavern that featured a frozen toe drink. I think the alcohol content had to be be at least 90%/180 proof per health dept.
The tale on the drink menu was, many years ago a gold miner lost a big toe. The toe was put on ice and kept frozen. When someone orders that expensive drink, the bartender pours the drink then quickly gets the frozen toe out of the freezer and drops it into the drink.
The person must down the entire drink and touch the frozen toe with his lips if he wants the price of the drink refunded.
If you swallowed the toe you went to jail.



That's the best I remember what happens.
ref:https://dawsoncity.ca/sourtoe-cocktail-club/

[Homeby5]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Dawson City had a floor-show tavern that featured a frozen toe drink. I think the alcohol content had to be be at least 90%/180 proof per health dept.
The tale on the drink menu was, many years ago a gold miner lost a big toe. The toe was put on ice and kept frozen. When someone orders that expensive drink, the bartender pours the drink then quickly gets the frozen toe out of the freezer and drops it into the drink.
The person must down the entire drink and touch the frozen toe with his lips if he wants the price of the drink refunded.
If you swallowed the toe you went to jail.



That's the best I remember what happens.
ref:https://dawsoncity.ca/sourtoe-cocktail-club/

Yep...I did it this year. So...did 40 other idiots that night
But you don't get your price refunded. You pat $10 for the shot of your choice. Yukon Jack is the standard. You pay 10$ for the certificate that proves the toe hit your lips and then you spend $30 for a T shirt proving you did it.
If you swallow the toe, you have to pay $2500. Not go to jail.

[Ray,IN]

So that's why it was so expensive. Like I said, I don't remember everything about that afternoon. In 2012 I remember being told, swallow the toe, go to to jail. Perhaps they were kidding_.

[Homeby5]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Dawson City had a floor-show tavern that featured a frozen toe drink. I think the alcohol content had to be be at least 90%/180 proof per health dept.
The tale on the drink menu was, many years ago a gold miner lost a big toe. The toe was put on ice and kept frozen. When someone orders that expensive drink, the bartender pours the drink then quickly gets the frozen toe out of the freezer and drops it into the drink.
The person must down the entire drink and touch the frozen toe with his lips if he wants the price of the drink refunded.
If you swallowed the toe you went to jail.



That's the best I remember what happens.
ref:https://dawsoncity.ca/sourtoe-cocktail-club/

Yep...I did it this year. So...did 40 other idiots that night
Drink is not free though...it must touch your lips to get the certificate and buy a T shirt for bragging rights.
Also...if you swallow it, you pay a fine of $2500. You don't go to jail. But you may not get out of town alive...at least you will have to stay until you pass it back out.

[Homeby5]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

So that's why it was so expensive. Like I said, I don't remember everything about that afternoon. In 2012 I remember being told, swallow the toe, go to to jail. Perhaps they were kidding_.

Hmmmm...maybe back then? I do know back about a decade ago someone intentionally swallowed it and paid the $500 fine. Not sure about jail though. You can Google it and see the video on Youtube.

[Larry]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

Is that one show tavern still doing the frozen toe drink?

They did when we were there in 2018.

[cbigham]

Yup,still a sour toe drink. Rode thenTOW in June. Saw ,any class A motorhomes, occasional diesel bus, truck. Drive reasonable, you will be fine. Interesting food and great, creative baked goods at Chucken, of all places!

[RoadEyePie]

Originally Posted by cbigham

Yup,still a sour toe drink. Rode thenTOW in June. Saw ,any class A motorhomes, occasional diesel bus, truck. Drive reasonable, you will be fine. Interesting food and great, creative baked goods at Chucken, of all places!

Did you come from Chicken or from Dawson City heading to Chicken? Guess it doesn't really matter. Define reasonable. Was it 35 mph for 3 hours?

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by RoadEyePie

Did you come from Chicken or from Dawson City heading to Chicken? Guess it doesn't really matter. Define reasonable. Was it 35 mph for 3 hours?

Was 30-35 for us, more than 3 hrs. Drive slow, you'll live longer and so will your rig. If you drive faster, the driver doesn't have time to see anything but the road.

Two days before we drove the road, a full-timing couple I guess wasn't paying attention or something. The got off into the very soft road berm, which pulled their new MH over the side.
The road was closed for the rest of the day while the Tok wrecker service retrieved the MH and towed it back to Tok. It was busted wide open in the rear.


I must say, the AK road dept. really takes good care of the gravel road. The day we drove, it was quite smooth and even. It rained the night before so there was no dust, just some mud in places.
The Canada end, not so much; rough with a bit of blacktop spaces in between.

[scenic route]

Depends on Mother Nature. In 2011, our Alaska trip started in the rain. From the Tuscaloosa area we had nearly 5 days of no rain until we left Fairbanks, AK on July 10th. Dawson City was a slurry of mud (has no interior paved streets) and was funny watching ladies wearing fancy attire with galoshes. Some there said it had been raining for a month, some said two.

The ferry had a bulldozer on standby because the swollen Yukon kept eroding the dirt ramp...very interesting crossing but the ferry handled the 37' coach towing the Jeep. The TOW highway from the Yukon crossing to the Alaskan border was a mix of partial gravel/asphalt and wasn't bad at all.

Just past the US checkpoint, I knew I'd screwed the pooch - there wasn't much roadbed to speak of...just a crowned mass of mud. On the other side of Boundary, we had coach wheel spin going up the hill toward Chicken. I drove in the center of the road for fear of sliding into the ditch...nothing in Boundary big enough to pull us out.




From Boundary, it took us six hours to get to Chicken. When we got there, we fueled up for the discount if we stayed the night... I was toast anyway. While fueling, I heard this 'plop, plop' and the RV shook. It was POUNDS of mud falling out of the wheel wells...that's when I found a mud flap missing from the left dually. The coach didn't like the power there, so we did the necessities with the genset. The rest of the TOW into Tok wasn't quite as bad and we hit real pavement a few miles out of Tok (felt like a superhighway). In Tok we spent three hours and massive amounts of quarters at the CG's pressure washing pad. Hallelujah, the Jeep's still white and the coach lost a couple hundred pounds! On to Fairbanks.

If you're in Alaska and never done the TOW highway, it's a must - just make sure to check with Tok or Dawson City local knowledge for conditions. All the bad weather we faced makes us want a return trip to Alaska in better conditions and perspective.

We stayed in Fairbanks over the 4th for two weeks (rained everyday) and had a pretty good time although the CG hadn't done their first seasonal grass cutting. I think they imported a squadron of mosquitoes from the nearby tundra for our visit. After we left Fairbanks, we had super weather the rest of the trip. Truely a trip of a lifetime. The 'Great One' was crystal clear for three days.