Denali to Fairbanks

Pics and more to come

Denali to Fairbanks

July 29th

We were later than we had hoped leaving the RV park this morning as we had to contact two banks because last night Art had managed to get locked out of their on-line services! The first one was because it wasn't an account we use much and he had forgotten the answer to the “secret question”! This morning he remembered! Too late. The other one he was most puzzled as the password hadn't been changed in a while (oops!) then this morning he discovered that the “caps lock” was on!!!!! Oh well, at least we finally got around to changing the password. Now all we have to do is remember it!!

Having made sure that the credit cards had been paid on time, the pensions had been deposited and that there were still sufficient funds in the bank accounts for our immediate needs we set off more or less carefree.

As usual, leaving a place brings an improvement in the weather and soon Art was thinking about sun glasses. Much of the road was in fairly poor condition due to frost heaves though in other places there was brand new asphalt and in others sand and gravel where the road was being rebuilt. As we slowed for the first construction stop we heard a scraping noise that was definitely related to our speed. Art got out to check tire, wheel and brake temperatures with the infra red gun and found all normal. At the first pull out we stopped and Gillian got out to listen as Art drove slowly forward. She discovered that the right rear wheel cover was loose and rubbing on the wheel. Art was able to remove the two nuts that secured it with his fingers—they had backed off at least 3 full turns! Rather than dig out the wheel wrench to tighten them properly he simply removed the cover and put it in the back of the tow car! Deal with it later.

A bit further along at the next construction delay, while waiting for the pilot car, we decided that as it was close to lunch time we would see if we had time for a quick bite. To save time we opened a tin of turkey and mixed veg which we had been hauling around since Mexico and made a couple of sandwiches and opened a can of pop each. As we were cutting them in halves Gillian spotted the south bound pilot car and traffic approaching. We quickly put the sandwiches in plastic bags and the rest of the stuff in the sink and got moving. A little late but no one behind seemed to mind! The main problem was that we had shut off the engine while waiting and the Cummins takes a little longer to start—the ECM (engine control module) has to check everything out before the “WAIT TO START” light goes out!

Moving on we entered Fairbanks in the early afternoon and decided to do some sight seeing and shopping before finding a place for the night.

Fairbanks

Our first stop was the Museum of the North located on the campus of the University of Alaska. This well recommended museum covers ancient to modern history, natural history and paleontology, gold mining to World War Two in an interesting interconnected display.

The two that made the most impression were the comparative skulls of two whales ( forget which type!--possibly Right and Blue whales-- will try to research and confirm) and "Blue Babe", the taxidermists result of a 36,000 year old Steppe Bison Mummy. The name of course came from the famous tall tale of Paul Bunyon's Babe the Blue Ox. The colour is a result of iron in the soil reacting with the tissue. This is the only mummified remains of a Steppe Bison in the world.

After the museum it was time for shopping, fuel and planning the next few days. While Gillian began the shopping at Safeway Art got on the phone to inquire about a couple of touristy tours-- a riverboat tour where we could travel down the river on a sternwheeler, visit a native village, see a sled dog exhibition etc etc etc—and also a train trip through a permafrost tunnel to a gold mining operation with a chance to try our hand at gold panning. Trying to workout a schedule (the train trip wasn't available Saturday mornings) without checking with Gillian about what to do with the dogs during these excursions, Art decided that he would phone back to make reservations later.

Returning from the shopping we pulled around the corner to the Safeway Gas station. Out grocery purchase entitled us to a 10 cent per gallon fuel discount! At 42 gallons, it was worth waiting for the receipt!

From here it was only very short drive (less than a kilometer) to Chena River Wayside State Recreation Area campground. Imagine. A State Park in the middle of town!

As soon as we found a site and parked Art took the cell phone and called the ticket office for the tours. Closed!!! We hoped that we would be able to make arrangements in the morning. We (He!) should have called before we fueled up!

The park promised wireless but we couldn't connect from our site. We spoke to the campground hosts later and they said we could move tomorrow if we wished, units around the corner were able to connect. Should have tested first!

Once we were all settled in Art began working on the blog using the word processor and entering the pertinent photo numbers in the appropriate places so that when we can connect it will be a bit quicker to complete. While he was thus occupied muttering to himself Gillian quietly got on with dinner. It didn't take a lot of convincing for Art to close up the lap top, pour a couple of glasses of wine and pay attention to his pork chops with applesauce, potatoes, carrots and bok-choy. But then he was faced with the dishes. Still, a Good Trade!

The evening remained pleasant with the weather cooperating at least somewhat—no rain and a little warmer than before. The daylight continues to wreak havoc with our internal clocks. At 11:30 pm outside is still bright. While walking the dogs before bed we met one of the neighbours out with her 9 year old daughter trying to get her ready to sleep!

Once Art had his morning cup of tea on the go he phoned for the tours. He was able to book what we wanted, the Eldorado Gold Mine tour this afternoon and tomorrow morning the Riverboat tour. All the information we have read about these tours say that they are expensive but worth the price. Hope we find lots of gold during the gold panning part of the mine tour—you get to keep what you find!

After breakfast we went looking for the Tourist Information office and a barber for Art. He hadn't had a haircut since just before we left home; he was starting to feel like it was the 70's again! We tried the GPS: Nearest barber was called Jackson's Barber Shop—sounded promising. No longer there, now a beauty shop, too busy. Next door another—Lunch time and also unable to change the $100.00 bill, the smallest we had. Next one was several kilometers away so off we went. Spotted a bank on a corner, stopped, dashed in for change and carried on following the GPS directions which took us right to the door. . . of an abandoned building! Since we were now only 8 blocks from the Visitor's Center we went there first and asked about a barber. The young lady knew of several close by and recommended one 3 blocks from the last place we tried! Art set off and returned nicely shorn!

To Denali

At a reasonable hour on the morning of the 27^th we were north bound for Denali and Fairbanks under light cloud with clearing breaks and very light drizzle for an hour or so. Then the weather began to improve until we were under sunny skies with a few white wispy clouds making for a very pleasurable change.

The road surface varied quite a bit and there was construction delays here and there. At one point there was a 30 minute old up for road construction. When we finally got to drive through we understood why we had to wait!

Early afternoon as we were thinking about lunch we took a 14 mile detour up a spur road to the village of Talkeetna, where the guide book said there was a bakery/cafe just before town. We saw the Bakery sign too late to make the turn so we continued on to the village. Talkeetna is an interesting place in a funky touristy way so we wandered around a bit, took AbqL's photo again then got back in the rig to look for the bakery on our way back to the Park Highway.

A few miles down the road, by keeping our eyes peeled we managed to find the bakery. and room to park. We had a very nice lunch and bought a loaf of excellent bread. They make a different style every day; today was molasses something which later proved to be very nice! We were also tempted into a muffin, fruit bar and half a dozen cookies to take with us!

Our past experience with bread in the USA, including from small specialty bakeries, (too sweet at best, soggy sawdust at worst) led us to invest in a bread maker to use whenever we were unable to find decent bread. We have been pleasantly surprised with the bakeries in Alaska, even in the small towns. We haven't had to use the bread maker yet except for a test back at the beginning on Vancouver Island! Storage of this piece of equipment proved to be a bit of a puzzle at first but we eventually figured out a plan: While driving it rides in the sink and the Corian sink cover rides under the dinette cushions. When we are parked and it is not in use sits on the dash!

Back on the Parks highway we stopped at a view point for some photos of Mount McKinley, the highest mountain on the continent. We were fortunate that the cloud co-operated some what!

At about 6:30 we pulled into the Grizzly Bear RV Park a few miles from the entrance to Denali National Park where we booked in for 2 nights. There are millions of acres of park and protected wilderness preservation area that we wanted to devote a day to and there was wireless so we could get caught up there a little too.

At the Denali Visitor Center we were surprised to find very loose control of entrance and fee payment. We bought a one year pass for all USA National Parks while going through Utah in April so we were good to go anyway though we could have just walked in.

After looking around the Visitor Centre and deciding against the bus tour we drove the tracker up the permitted 15 of the 90 or so miles of road way. At one stop Gillian enjoyed a short walk on cabin trail. Note the log cabin and matching dog house.

We stopped at the 15 mile point and had our lunch then Gillian had took the Savage River Loop walk, took a few pictures including several of a flock or ptarmigan then returned to the car.

On the way back down we were fortunate to spot a couple of moose feeding on a hillside in the distance. The 26X zoom lens paid off this time!

By now the blue in the sky was slowly giving way to grey as we made our way back towards the highway. One interesting point, the park is still served by a passenger railway. There we also freight trains passing by the campground fairly regularly.

Seward, Homer and Anchorage

The Kenai Peninsula







In Seward we were fortunate to find an ocean front site in one of the several RV parks provided by the town of Seward. Most were "dry camp" areas, meaning no services such as water, sewer or electricity. The cost was $15.00 per night, if you prepaid for 6 nights the 7th was free. The term "dry camp" really hasn't been appropriate this trip!



The site we were at, the Iditarod RV Parking, is tiny--only eleven spaces, seven of them facing the beach. The stone monument in the left of the picture marks the original starting point of the Iditarod Trail from Stewart to Nome. Trekker had to try his new pulling harness here. The trail in now commemorated by the Iditarod Sled Dog race from Anchorage to Nome.


Art took his bike off the rack in order to sight-see via the bike/walking path only to find that the free-wheeling mechanism had failed! Heave it back onto the car and go looking for a bike repair shop. He found one but were unable to look at it the same day. Maybe Hyder or more likely Anchorage.

In front of the campsite there were frequently a couple of sea-otters feeding and playing very close to shore. Very cute and entertaining.



We stayed 2 nights in Seward, time enough to see most of the town and spend some time in the Alaska Sea Life Center which was very good.Of course the day we left the weather dawned sunny and bright!. This has been the main theme of this trip!




As we left Steward we made a small detour to view Exit Glacier. While Art and the dogs waited in the rig Gillian hiked the short trail to the face of the glacier. To her disappointment she found that walking up and touching the ice face is no longer permitted due to the danger of falling rock.






The glacier is shrinking quickly--we were driving on paved road where the ice had been during our lifetime. We missed those signs but this gives you the idea of how far the glacier has retreated in (geologically) recent times.

From Exit Glacier to Homer

The trip was sunny for the most part but of course as we approached Homer the clouds slowly began to threaten rebuilding! The scenery was much the same as it has been for the last while, very beautiful and relaxing.

Approaching Homer we stopped at a view point for a photo across the hayfields and Cook Inlet towards Mt Iliamna (left and Mt Redout (right) in the Chigmit Mountains. These mountains are over 10,000 ft high and are in the Aleutian Range which begins a chain of mountains and islands that extend 1700 miles west to divide the Pacific and Arctic oceans. Mostly hidden in the clouds but a nice view any way. Mount Redoubt had a major eruption in December 1989 which lasted through the spring of 1990 and became active again in the spring and summer of last year (2009) All quiet so far!

Entering Homer we stopped to take our mandatory "AbqL" photo then drove all the way through town and out to the end of the spit checking out the campgrounds along the way.

We turned around in the ferry lot and and retraced our path about half way where we pulled onto a dry camp site near the Homer Fishing Lagoon. Most campers were here for the fishing—lots of boats and fishing charters and guides. The only waterfront site left was right beside the fish cleaning station. Not surprisingly we were surrounded by very well fed gulls! Hopefully the rain will wash off their calling cards!

We didn't stay long, just the one night. Again the term dry camp being an oxymoron, the weather remaining cool and damp, the propane furnace was on a large part of the night.

Art switched on the satellite dish but it was unable to find a signal. In fact it refused to search! Although it had found our position and displayed the latitude and longitude it wanted to know which country to set up for, Canada, United States or Mexico! We believe this to be an installer setting and we had no way to enter that information! Unable to watch the news from home Art settled in with a book, blanket and a glass wine while Tia curled up at his feet.

July 24 We had rain overnight, the day began cloudy then turned to rain. As soon as we had fed and watered ourselves and the dogs we hit the road. We were retracing our route most of today, only the last bit going into Anchorage being new road.

Anchorage

We arrived in Anchorage around 4:00PM and pulled into the Golden Nugget RV Park where we planned to stay three day. Our 1st night we had electric power only, no water or sewer connections but we could move in the morning to a serviced site. But the Starchoice satellite worked!

Art says that if the rain keep up the RV Park itself will become an Anchorage!

We had lucked out here, being Saturday there was a campground hosted pot luck where the owners provided and cooked burgers and hot dogs and the campers brought various dishes. As usual for such affairs the selections were varied and tasty. The big surprise was the promised entertainment by the "house band". Several band members were employees and the rest were friends and volunteers. The quality of the music was excellent and wide ranging in style though mostly rock. We had a superb time, the crowd insisting on an encore before it was over.

In the morning we were given a choice of spaces with water and sewer connections so Art wandered about check them out of obstacles to the satellite signal and chose the most promising, thought was a tree very close. Sure enough, we couldn't get a signal so Art turned the rig around and we pulled in frontwards to clear the foliage. This meant that the power and sewer lines had to be run under the coach but they reached the appropriate connections without difficulty. This set up had the advantage of our front door now facing the street as we were on a corner space.

Being Sunday Art was delighted to find a bike shop that was open and after getting the motorhome in its new space we were off to town to attend to that. There was a nice pub or roadhouse style restaurant next door where we had an excellent lunch and a pint of excellent Alaska microbrew ale to accompany it.

Returning to the RV Park it was laundry day and time to do a bit of house work. We had to go into the laundry room for our internet, so we got a bit of that take care of as well.

On Monday we went into the Visitor's Center which was a disappointment far too commercial with guided tour ticket sales, gift shop and an (unmanned) information counter. From there we checked out a nearby brewhouse and had an excellent lunch and 52 deg F cask aged ale!

Next on the list was the Anchorage museum which we enjoyed, hosting a display of artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian. The jacket on the left is made of animal intestine! Light weight and waterproof. The original Gortex?

Ferry, Icebergs, TrainTunnel, etc

Once again we woke up to rain. Art was very thankful that he has disconnected everything but the power cord last night when it was dry.

We were in the lineup on time and they began loading 10 minutes later, Gillian in the tracker the second car to board. One vehicle at a time, tickets and I.D. checked carefully before boarding. The larger vehicles were selected one at a time by a deck officers in order to make best use of the space.

It certainly took a lot of time though. If BC Ferries had to follow this procedure they would have to run more ships, double staffing and crew levels because one crew wouldn't have time to make more than one return sailing per day. Whenever we travel by ferry anywhere we are reminded how good the BC Ferries system is--one that BC residents seem to love to complain about.



The MV Aurora left on time in fairly heavy fog, the fog horn sounding at regular intervals and a seaman at the very bow on watch.

The restaurant was open right away so we were well tuckered in by the time we pulled away from the dock. Very slowly the fog lightened and we were able to see the traffic in the harbour; tankers, tugs fishing boats and pleasure craft.


As we made our way through the slowly thinning mist we began see hints of land around us. At one point we sailed very close to one of the marker buoys to find a sea-lion resting.






The weather continued to slowly improve which we thought to be a good thing as before long we were seeing icebergs!








Soon the sun was shining and the views of Prince William Sound no longer hidden away.








As we approached Whittier, our port of landing, we came across much more marine traffic. We overtook one barge that must have been carrying at least 200 containers. And a boat!


At Whittier the unloading went much more quickly that the loading had in Valdez and soon we were parked in the boat launch area to hook up the tracker for towing. Five minutes later we were on our way.


Well the GPS said to go straight ahead!!!!!

We had heard that there was a tunnel but weren't prepared for this! The 2 1/2 mile tunnel is open to automobile traffic for 15 minutes each hour each way-- the rest of the time it is used by trains!


The cloud began to roll back in and down, the scenery much the same as before: Water, flat land and mountains. A couple of hours later we arrived in Seward.




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