On The Road Again

After 3 weeks stranded in Tok, Alaska we are finally back on the road! Here's the ENTIRE town of Tok from the air! On July 23 Chris took a bush plane from Tok to Fairbanks to pick up the truck that was supposed to be finished. Upon arrival he found that it was not only not done, but as you can see from the picture, it was still pretty much in pieces. After Chris spent two days in a motel in Fairbanks, the truck was diagnosed as needing a new motor! Then the next day they "brought in a new technician" who decided it was good as new and said take it and good luck. The drive back to Tok (200 miles) was uneventfull except for dodging a couple of moose. The truck seemed to be running OK and we were anxious to leave, which we did immediately, even though it was already 3 pm!
We made it to Valdez about 9pm and settled into a campground just 1 block from the water and at the base of a glacier. It was a very pretty drive down and we saw several glaciers, lots of waterfalls, eagles, a bear fishing for salmon, and really expensive fuel prices. ($5.61) Two days there and we were on the road to Anchorage for one night in the parking lot of "Freddies" (Alaskan version of Super Walmart) where we restocked our food supply. The next morning we dropped off our TV for repair (it had died in Tok) and headed to what used to be the town of Portage - now just a place on the map.
We were able to connect there with our travel partners for 2 nights as we were on our way into the Kenai Peninsula and they were on their way out. On our one common day together we drove to Whittier by way of a car/ train tunnel! It is one way and one type of vehicle at a time. Cars go on the hour east and the 1/2 hour west unless there is a train which goes whenever they arrive. It's 2 1/2 miles long, about 16' high, 12' wide and costs $12. Before 2000, there was no way to get to Whittier by car at all! Once in Whittier, we went on a Glacier Cruise to see calving glaciers. It was a beautiful day and we saw lots of calving, sea otters, black footed kites, seals, porpise and more waterfalls. We also saw a large high-rise building where the entire population of Whittier lives. Very unusual to say the least.
Next we were off to Homer at the bottom of the Kenai Peninsula. Nice little town with houses up on a high bluff overlooking Kachemak Bay. We camped on the end of Homer Spit, a small strip of land that extends out into the Bay. It was about 1 mile long and 1/4 mile wide, and has 28 ft tidal changes every 6 hours! This is how they deal with it at the local marina. It had a Key West feel except at the extreme opposite end of the US and the climate scale. It would be a nice place to live except for the fact that it goes to 70 degrees below zero in the winter. Chris' thought is that that's about 150 degrees too frickin cold!!!!!!!!!!
After 3 nights it was back to Anchorage for two days to get the TV and see some sights. It was nice to be back in a "normal" sized town and be able to shop and go to a restaurant. Carol was excited to see a freeway and streetlights. Today we stopped at a Harley dealer, got a new rear tire put on Carol's bike, and came to the tiny town of Willow, about 1/3 of the way from Anchorage to Denali National Park (location of Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in the US at over 20,000'). McKinley is only visable about 20% of the time but we will have 5 days there starting Thursday so we hope to see it. We're back with our travel friends now until we get part way through Canada, so even though we're not completely trusting of the truck, we feel more comfortable. Keep your fingers crossed for us! More later.
C&C