Alaskan Vaca 2022 - Day 3, Part II, Gold Dredge 8 Tour

Off we head North (and a bit East) on Hwy 2 just past the town of Goldstream to a little place called Gold Dredge 8.  

The tour starts, quite literally, right beneath TAPS, the Tran Alaskan Pipeline System.  The info given about the pipeline is quite amazing to me as I've been very interested in this for probably the last 15 years or so.  We were sitting on that back bench that is currently unoccupied.  One of the older ladies in front of us, you can see her jeans and light colored shirt just beyond the pole, got to arguing and it caused me a fit of laughter where I had to get up and leave the area.  They were arguing over a friggin' window and it's covering!  SOOOOOOO funny as they were SOOOOOO disrespectful to each other!  It was truly a sign of vaca-lag where you're obviously tired of your mates and you can no longer speak with soft words!  I'm giggling as I type this! 

Caleb brushing across it trying to create some kinetic energy of some type...  or just jacking around.

I always assume that a sign has NEVER been created without being preceded by an incident.  LOL   Would love to hear about the incident for this signage.

Pretty cool shot as you can see the right-of-way that goes up and over the mountain in the upper right quadrant.  There is supposedly a road that can be driven from end to end along the pipeline and a helicopter (or two, I don't remember) flies the whole length of the thing twice daily for security purposes.

This tool travels thru the pipeline for cleaning and maintenence purposes.  The pipeline is surveyed several times per day, mostly by air. Foot and road patrols also take place to check for problems such as leaks or pipe settling or shifting. The pipeline can be surveyed in as little as twenty one days, but most surveys take longer to ensure thoroughness.^[157] These external inspections are only part of standard maintenance, however. The majority of pipeline maintenance is done by pipeline pigs—mechanical devices sent through the pipeline to perform a variety of functions.^[158]

The most common pig is the scraper pig,^[159] which removes wax that precipitates out of the oil and collects on the walls of the pipeline. The colder the oil, the more wax buildup. This buildup can cause a variety of problems, so regular "piggings" are needed to keep the pipe clear.^[160] A second type of pig travels through the pipe and looks for corrosion. Corrosion-detecting pigs use either magnetic or ultrasonic sensors. Magnetic sensors detect corrosion by analyzing variations in the magnetic field of the pipeline's metal. Ultrasonic testing pigs detect corrosion by examining vibrations in the walls of the pipeline. Other types of pigs look for irregularities in the shape of the pipeline, such as if it is bending or buckling.^[161] "Smart" pigs, which contain a variety of sensors, can perform multiple tasks.^[162] Typically, these pigs are inserted at Prudhoe Bay and travel the length of the pipeline. In July 2009, a pig launcher was installed at Pump Station 8, near the midpoint of the pipeline.^[162]

A third type of common maintenance is the installation and replacement of sacrificial anodes along the subterranean portions of pipeline. These anodes reduce the corrosion caused by electrochemical action that affect these interred sections of pipeline. Excavation and replacement of the anodes is required as they corrode.

The baffle type things atop the posts attached to the footings collect sunlight and are used as "ground chillers" that help the pipeline footage to not heave when the ground is frozen and shifting.

We finally loaded on the train after also learning that Thursdays are generally travel days for the folks on the big tour buses.  Our group had zero buses as we were all independent travelers on this day!  Have any of you heard of a fella named Earl Hughes?  Probably not for most of you, but I would guarantee that the same "most of you" have actually heard Earl Hughes.  He's played one instrument or another with popular peeps that you would know.  Up here, he's known as the Alaskan Ambassador to Country Music.  His music was playing in the gift shop earlier this morning and I was surprised to learn that he was along on our tour (I suspect every tour as part of his job...).  His dad played for old-timers like Hank Snow and a few others that he named.  Made me wish that my father-in-law was with us to have a conversation with this fellow as he himself had some good stories of exactly those old-timers passing thru Des Moines.

The dude in the blue shirt over by the old equipment is the son of the older dude narrating our tour. He demonstrates how to run the old equipment and what it does.  Pretty cool to see that earlier American ingenuity at work.

This is the actual dredge tool and quite frankly, I was fascinated by it!!

When you're on the tour, they teach you how to pan for gold and when the tour is nearly over, you get to practice what you've recently learned unless you fell asleep like Rob did!

This was both fun and frustrating!  It also taught me that if I had moved out West to pan for gold, I would have died quickly died from poverty as my skills sucked!  Ironically, Rob the sleepy, was the first one done.

Into the gift shop we went with our new found riches and we got Caleb a bracelet with our plunder.  We walked around a while admiring all of the old equipment that was left from generations gone by.  You'll see plenty of those in the coming pics!

Finally, the boys decided to head outside since we couldn't find Mama Chaos.   We wanted to see if she went out there to observe the dredge from this angle and it turns out that not only had she gone out to observe it, she went up into it and walked around!  What the heck????  I didn't know that this was even an option and so, up I went!  The boys followed.  The boys? meh...  The next group of pics are from inside the dredge.

Watch'er step!!!  These bad boys were steep and as I had quickly ascertained, a good way to die!

 The train whistle blew while we were in the rig, meaning that it's time for everyone to get back to the train.  We did just that exact thing as I am a HUGE rule follower.  We did grab some free cookies and coffee on the way tho...

We boarded our train and found that Earl was finishing up some question/answer thing.  Dang!!!  If I had known he was doing that, I would have spent far less time in the tourist trap gift shop and would have been out there talking to him!  

As he was finishing up, he walked the short length of the train (remember, no tour buses) and was thanking all of the peeps.  I was furthest from him since I had loaded first followed by Rob, Caleb and then Mama.  He thanked Les and the boys and then gave me some sort of brief salute, nod and a power sign all while saying something that I couldn't quite decipher.  Rob saw it and looked perplexed, asking, "What was that?".

I have no idea if it's true or not, but I've read over the years that old musicians could spot other musicians by their behaviors.  Is that what it was?  I have no idea.  I suspect it was probably my initial reaction to him when he was first introduced as I may have been the only one on the train to recognize his name.  

We left there debating on whether or not to go to the town of North Pole.  Technically, we debated it on the way up to Gold dredge 8 and now we briefly discussed it again before unanimously vetoing it.

We returned to our AirBn'b to start packing as we leave tomorrow, do laundry and play some card games.  By card games, I mean only one, Blitz (or 31 by some peeps).

Everyone is in bed except me.  I'm finishing laundry at 1:10 am and it's still light outside as the other sleep...  I need to do that too but the light plays havoc with my noggin.