My Trails

Our bus

Yesterday I rode to Denali and purchased a ticket to ride into the wilderness area of Denali. The bus trip I purchased, 53 miles to the Toklat River, was the shortest excursion they offered into the heart of the park. Some of the tours were over 90 miles and lasted all day. I figured that 6 hours on a school bus would be long enough.

During the night it rained and rained. My bus ride was scheduled for noon so I was hopeful the rain would stop before I had to leave for the park. If it was still raining in the morning, I would have to pack everything and drive Minnie instead of Honda. Luckily, the morning was dry but still very cloudy. I could ride Honda but a peek at Denali’s peak was not going to happen.

A retreating glacier.

The seats on the bus were a lot better than I feared. They were actually quite comfortable with adequate leg room. The bus driver was very knowledgeable and personable, too. Several people said we were lucky to get him. The bus driver is not actually required to narrate the tour back into the park but we received lots of information from a nice guy. Our driver ( whose name is Dale, but that doesn’t have anything to do with this) has worked as a driver for the park for 35 years, knows a lot about the park, is an avid Denali backpacker, and has a great personality. Every time he would ask us if he should stop talking and let us enjoy the park in silence, we would all exclaim that he should keep telling us stories.

Chiseled far away look!

If you see the tallest mountain you are lucky. Most that come to the park only see clouds, and we would be amoung the many. We saw a few Caribou, a bald eagle, a moose, a snowshoe hare, and a tarm… patr… part… tparm… chicken. But the one animal that evaded us all was the mighty Grizzly.

Caribou in the road. He wouldn’t move!

It was a fun day with a good group of people. I took lots of pictures but it is one of those places that can’t be captured with a camera. The mountains are too grand and the animals too far away to photograph without a telephoto lens. I’m going to go back over tomorrow and try to catch the sled dog demonstration.

As close as I’ve ever gotten to a moose.

The George Parks Highway that runs between Anchorage and Fairbanks is by far the best road I’ve been on here in Alaska. There were very few dips and potholes. It is probably maintained well because it is such a major highway.

View along the Parks Highway

I retrieved my mail at the post office, dumped and filled my water for free, stocked up on groceries at Safeway, and headed out of Fairbanks. It was only 120 miles to Denali. I had a couple of camping places I wanted to check on before I went into the park, but one place had signs up for no camping and I couldn’t find the other. I ended up going all the way to the Park Visitors Center looking for good pullouts to spend the night. I figured I would end up paying for an RV park.

Hope it lives up to the hype!

The visitors center was packed with people. I wandered around looking at displays and then watched a movie about sights and sounds of Denali. I was more concerned about someplace to stay than looking at the park so I left after an hour or so.

I headed back to Healy, ten miles north of the park entrance, and searched again for the BLM camp I read about on freecampsites.net. As I drove past the point where the directions ended, I saw a motorhome down a dirt road and went to check it out. There were only two sites on the road but the guy in one of the motorhomes came out and told me they were leaving in a few minutes. And that’s how I scored this free site.

Little campground.

My Minnie does not take up as much space as the Class A and his toad, so when someone came down the road in a Class C, I told them to park in beside me. Then about an hour later a van came in and parked here too. I will probably be here a few days to see Denali.

Dead battery

I parked at Walmart yesterday afternoon with intentions of staying 48 hours. My mail should be here tomorrow and then I can move down towards Denali National Park. This morning I was relaxing in my pajamas when I got a knock on the door. Two guys were going around and telling everyone that the stay limit in the parking lot was now 24 hours and it was being enforced. I told them I came in last night and would move out today.

I noticed that on the light pole were signs stating the 24 hours parking limit. I talked with another man by his RV that said they put them up early this morning. It’s okay with me, and I have often said that Walmarts, rest areas, and parking pullouts along the highway are good for overnight when you are traveling but not good for staying more than one or two nights. Some of the rigs had been there for several days and I guess they got tired of it. I was just surprised because the last time I was here my neighbor said that people had asked about overnight parking and they didn’t care how long you stayed.

I know there were a lot of Class A motorhomes with slides and pulling toads that took up several parking spaces, but there always seemed to be plenty of parking for cars. Usually when an ordinance goes into affect it is the RV parks in town that object to free parking when they can collect $50 a night. I asked in the store if there was any problem with people in RVs or if it was just a new rule. She said it has always been a rule but they just got the signs. It may hurt their business a little but a lot of people will still stock up for the privilege of one night.

I drove a couple miles out of town and parked at a pullout. I was thinking of going to Pioneer Park for the night but when I went to start Minnie the battery was dead. I usually get out the door and enter the coach from the back door but this time I climbed straight back from the front seat. If I had exited the cab door I would have heard the warning ding that told me I had left my lights on.

It is a good thing I have a jumper from my house battery to the engine battery. With the jumper on for a few minutes, Minnie started back up. I think my engine battery may be getting weak; it is quite old. Things have not gone my way today so I think I will stay right here tonight. I hope I’m not evicted before morning.

My kitchen.

For the last week or so I have heard a slight grinding in my front brakes. I knew they were getting worn when I last bought tires in Mesa. I should have replaced the pads then, but I am a good one to procrastinate.

I made an appointment here in Fairbanks to get the brakes repaired at Midas. One rotor was still within tolerance to turn and the other had to be replaced. By the time they added diagnosis, parts, and labor, the bill came to $675 – twice what I was expecting. I keep telling myself that a new Minnie would have payments of that much every month if I was financing. I hope to save on expensises for a while now.

Fairbanks has taken quite a bit of my savings in the last few days. After shelling out money for groceries, gas, camping, tour to Arctic Circle, and brake work, I was hoping to get out of here tomorrow and spend money somewhere else, but that is not going to happen.

Daryl sent my registration last week and tracking said it was at the post office. When I went to pick it up they told me that all general delivery is sent out to another location for sorting and then comes back to the main office. It would be tomorrow before I could pick it up. I reminded the postal worker that tomorrow was the 4th of July.

Happy 4th everyone! I will be spending it in the Walmart parking lot.

Entrance

For the last two days I have been staying at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. The park was built in 1967 to celebrate the centennial of the Alaskan purchase. There are several museums, shows, displays, activities, and gift shops. There is a salmon or cod, all you can eat dinner, a railroad ride around the park, and a parking lot that doubles as an RV camp. The park is a nice family-oriented complex with many things to see and do.

Museum

Car

I went to the gold rush museum the first day and the aviation museum today. They were both quite good and very extensive. The gold rush museum had a show where you sat on a revolving platform while pictures on the circular wall were displayed and a famous orator told stories about their history. I don’t think I have ever been to a show with a contraption like that before.

Airplane Museum

Good stewardess uniform!

Not a bush plane!

The Aviation Museum was filled with planes used by early aviators, dusty old engines and ancient avionics, and flight suits of the early bush pilots. There were also many photos about everything pertaining to flight in Alaska. Several sad stories laid out in aging newspapers were about those that had lost their lives in the Alaskan wilds. Probably two of the most famous were Wiley Post and Will Rogers.

Train ride

I have an appointment to get some brake work done on Monday and my registration for Minnie should be here that same day. Thanks Daryl.

President Hovers Car.