Flight around Mt. McKinley

On Saturday (6/26/10) we signed up to take an airplane ride around Mt. McKinley in the Denali National Park. The plane takes off out of Talkeetna, AK. When our plane returned from a previous trip the pilot said that the mountain was clouding up and it wouldn’t be worth going up right now. So Nan and I, and the other couple going up (Bob and Kris) left our cell numbers so they could call when conditions looked good. No call the rest of Saturday, and no call on Sunday (because it rained all day). Unfortunately, Bob and Kris had to leave on Sunday so they weren’t able take the plane ride. Fortunately, Nan and I were staying until Tuesday morning, and the skies cleared up on Monday. We got the call and were able to take off around 6:00 p.m. After the call, the good news kept coming. Another couple had just signed up for a flight with a glacier landing. I originally didn’t think landing on a glacier would be worth the extra $150 on top of the $400 for the flight, especially since I’ve seen my share of Cleveland snow. But since the other couple had paid for a glacier landing, we tagged along with them for no additional charge. It turned out to be the highlight of the flight.

Monster Truck Tour

We were in Fairbanks for the longest day of the year - June 21st. There’s about 22 hours of daylight. I took a video of how the campground looked at midnight. While in Fairbanks, Nan and I took a 3-hour cruise down the river and got a demonstration on dog sledding from the husband and daughter of the late Susan Butcher. She won 4 iditorods before she died of cancer a few years ago. We then left for Denali National park. While there we took a tour on a monster truck with our friends Paul and Jan. We didn’t see much wildlife, but we did see a pair of ptarmigan (birds like pheasants), some grizzly footprints, and some wolf poop. The next day the four of us drove through Denali. We got a good view of Mt. McKinley, but it didn’t show up on the camera very well, so I didn’t include a picture. While looking at the mountain we came across a young moose that was feeding right by the road. Paul kept getting closer to get a good picture, and I had my video camera aimed right on him in case there was some excitement, but no luck. The moose snorted at Paul, and he decided he had enough close-up shots.

Touring Fairbanks

On Wednesday night I went to the local car races in Fairbanks. They had two classes of cars, Legend cars that are similar to 1937 cars, and Bandelaro. The Bandelaro can’t weigh more than 750 pounds, including the driver, and they had 30 hp engines. The drivers were girls, I believe in their teen years. The Legend cars were for the adults. The next day Nan and I and our two friends (Jan and Paul) went to the Chena Hots Springs, about 60 miles from Fairbanks. They had an ice hotel that we toured. It included ice chandeliers, a chess set, ice sculptures, and an ice toilet (for display purposes only). On the way back we looked at the Alaska pipeline. Most of it is above ground, but some goes underground. The next day we got a tour of the North Pole by Jesse the elf/campground worker/local pastor. Then last night Nan and I went to a 3-hour chef school. We helped prepare halibut encrusted in macadamia nuts, asparagus wrapped in fillo dough, and baked Alaska. I enjoyed it more than Nan. She doesn’t understand why you should go through all that work when you can pop a frozen dinner in the micro and be eating in 10 minutes.

Fairbanks

We are in North Pole, Alaska now, right by Fairbanks. We are staying at the Santaland RV park. They even have reindeer here. We have good internet service here, so I’ll bring the blog up to date. The road to the Alaskan highway wasn’t the greatest, but then neither are parts of the Alaskan Highway. The one video shows construction going on, and how it wouldn’t take much to fall off the mountain. When we got closer to Fairbanks we saw a moose eating grass right by the road. This moose didn’t seem to concerned when I stopped the truck to get a couple pictures.
　
　
Today we went to a gold mine and gold panning presentation. The one picture shows the line in an underground mine where the top part of the earth meets the bedrock. Miners dig down to expose where the bedrock starts. This is where gold collects as it works it’s way through the earth. Another picture shows a slough where they pump water so it washes dirt down this slough. The gold collects in artificial turf that is in this slough, along with other dirt. They then pan for gold from this slough. After the presentation they gave us bags of dirt so we could pan for our own gold. I found $5.00 worth and Nan found $15.00. She then bought a gold locket for $60. I said "Great, the net price will be $40". Actually they sell you the locket for $60 that then holds the gold you found. I guess I was lucky. One guy's wife found too much gold to hold into one locket, so he had to buy two of them.

Bent axle on trailer

We spent the night in Dease Lake, British Columbia, and I noticed one tire was worn on the inside edge. I had a mechanic look at it the next morning and he said the leaf springs and bearings looked good, so he suspected a bent axle. That day we went about 250 miles to Whitehorse, Yukon. Because it's the capital city of the Yukon, it's a huge town. Population of 25,000. We talked to a axle shop yesterday afternoon, and he also suspected the axle. We spent the night in his lot FOR FREE, and then paid him $750 for a new axle and to replace one brake that wasn't working properly. That may seem like a lot of money to some of you, but remember, after the exchange rate I think I'm only out about $735. The girl at the axle shop said she's only worked there 3 weeks, and just about every day they've had an RVer stop in for axle or leaf spring repairs. I also have to find a new tire. My best bet is in Anchorage. The tire store in Whitehorse couldn't get the tire I needed for about 7 days.

Heading for Alaska

We’ve been working our way north towards Alaska. It is rare to have internet access, so I can’t update the blog very often. Crossing the border into Canada was fairly easy. When I was in Washington I shipped my 2 handguns to Tok, Alaska, since you can’t have handguns in Canada. At the Canadian border the guard asked if I owned handguns. I said yes, I shipped them to Tok, and then I showed him my shipping receipt. After that he only asked about my guns. He didn’t seemed concerned about liquor, fruit, vegetables, pets, etc. He just wanted to know if I had any ammo or gun parts, and if he searched the rig would he find anything gun related. Then he let us cross without any search.
As of today’s writing we are in Stewart, British Columbia, which is right by Hyder, Alaska, population 70. On the way here yesterday we saw about 5 black bear along the road, and a couple foxes. We also saw a moose a couple of days ago feeding in a marsh. I’ve included a picture of "downtown" Hyder. One thing they have in Hyder is a bear viewing platform. You can see in the picture that it is very long and follows the river where the black and grizzly bear catch salmon in July and August. They are starting to show up now in anticipation of the seafood buffet, but we didn’t see any by the viewing platform. The campground owner says that sometimes bears or wolves will wander through the campground at night. He said if you hear the dogs start barking at night, then something is taking a stroll through the campground. The good news is it’s only night time from about 10:00 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.
This evening (Saturday 6/5/10) we took a drive down the road at about 8:30 to see if the wildlife was out. We saw several black bear feeding along the road on greens, and one grizzly strolling down the road. For those who don’t know how to tell the difference between a black bear and a grizzly - If a bear is chasing you, climb up a tree. If it climbs up after you, pulls you down, and eats you, then it’s a black bear. If it stands at the base of the tree and pushes on the trunk until you fall out and then eats you, then it’s a grizzly. One picture is of bear poop that we keep seeing on the road. Apparently the answer to the question - Does a bear poop in the woods? Probably, but they really prefer to poop on the road.