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June 27, 2011

Getting used to sleeping all night when it’s light out is becoming a challenge.  Last night we went to bed around 11 pm and the sun had not set yet.  I suppose if you lived here that would not be a problem after awhile, but I woke up at 6 AM and it felt like nearly noon already with the sun quite high in the sky.  I guess if you live here you have to do as much outdoor living as possible during these 4 or 5 months since the snow is already falling in late September.

I’ve been thinking about how to value a trip like this – it is priceless.  Marty and I are having such a wonderful time together and find ourselves at times just silently being in each other’s company.  I think it’s the mark of a deep friendship.  I marvel that after 43 years our relationship seems to slowly keep deepening.  Another aspect of traveling like this is the people we are meeting.  Fellow adventurers who like to travel and see new places.  It’s been fun.  There’s Charlie and Joan who talked about losing their daughter to cancer and how painful that was.  There’s Tom and Mary who are from Denver and have two dogs along – we shared a beer and some smoked salmon with them one evening and heard about their two boys.  There’s Nancy and her husband who are making the trek from CA.  These folks all have good marriages and are also celebrating as they travel.  A third aspect of travel is that one’s mind is broadened – you realize there are many ways that people speak and live – travel is a good antidote to provincialism.

Well, enough now.  We have to plan our day’s travel.

June 28, 2011

Yesterday drove through majestic mountains south from Delta Junction to Paxon where we turned West on the Denali Highway – 20 miles of paved road ending at Tangle Lakes Bureau of Land Mgmt. campground.  It was another freebie. 

Roadside flowers South of Delta Junction, AK

View of Alaska Pipeline heading to Valdez

View of the Alaska Range - looking South

Bureau of Land Mgmt Campground - 20 miles West of Paxon, AK on the Denali Hwy

In the evening we saw a cow moose and her calf feeding along the river just below our campsite.  Pretty awesome.  I got a couple pretty good pics so I’ll post them.

Calf on other side of the river (taken with 300 mm lens):

Cow on our side of the river (also taken with 300 mm lens):

We woke up this morning with it pretty cloudy and light rain falling.  However, I think we’ll continue the 110 miles on gravel to see what wildlife will be out.  We may not see a great deal of scenery because some of the clouds are pretty low.

4:30 pm now – rain, rain, rain and more rain.  We drove the most scenic road in the USA and saw one moose and no mountains.  The truck is full of mud and the rear has so much caked mud that we don’t even care to open the door to the camper.  I just squirt off what I could at a dump station, but that wasn’t sufficient.  We’re planning to stay near Fairbanks tonight, spend the day there tomorrow and then go to the Chena State Rec Area hoping we can still get in because of the 4^th weekend coming up.  There is a hot spring there that is supposed to be nice.

On the way up here we also stopped at Denali Natl. Park visitor center, saw the exhibits, a movie and asked a couple questions.  Then we drove to the “Wilderness Access Center” to check on our bus tour and camping reservations for this weekend.  We noted that most of the tours were already booked solid so we’re glad we didn’t wait long to book them online.

Now, amazing thing (especially if you’ve lived near cities like we have (Seoul, Tokyo, New York, and Chicago)) – driving between Anchorage and Fairbanks, on a two lane road headed North, we have met one car about every 10 mins or more.  And here we are in wild wilderness, no houses, no other roads, no stores either.

We’re going to try to find a WI-FI spot tonight so I can upload this and send a couple emails too.