While I was familiar with Johnny Horton’s North to Alaska tune, another one by him about Alaska was one that I had never heard.
Titled When It’s Springtime in Alaska, It’s 40 Below the song starts out as a nice little story about a prospector who wanders into the Red Dog Saloon where he meets a pretty gal named Lil. I say “starts out as a nice little song” because by the time that the third verse/conclusion of the songs rolls around the nice story takes a somewhat dark turn. Seems that our story teller and Lil were on the rug doing something called the Caribou Crawl when Lil’s fiancé, well, listen for yourself:
And speaking of 40 below, when I was in Fairbanks I officially became a member of Alaska’s 40 Below Club.
We were at some tourist joint that featured a chamber with temps below 40 degrees. For $7 you could go in, get your photo taken and receive a certificate stating that you were now a member of the Alaska at 40 Below Club. Usually the Buzzy in me will resist these kind of tourist things, but this time I thought “What the hell, go for it.” In I went.
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As for Johnny’s Caribou Crawl, think I’ll have to pass on that experience.