We left Anchorage in the slow drizzly rain, relatively early, and met up with Anne & Briggs. The slides came in nice, the jacks came up good and we were ready to go. We took it nice and easy on the 300 mile trek with no major issues, thank God. It surprises me how things have changed since we came in. The flowers have really bloomed nicely, the rivers are flowing and the roads that were relatively nice on the way in are under construction, so needless to say it was a LONG day riding.
Here’s some pics of the scenery along the way:
The Glenn Highway/Tok cutoff is 328 miles and connects Tok to Anchorage. The first 189 miles (Anchorage to Tok cutoff) was relatively smooth. The Tok cutoff (last 125 miles) was ROUGH! We didn’t take this road on the way in since we wanted to continue on the Alaska Highway to the end at Delta Junction. It was a SLOW, ROUGH Road Construction ride that had us exhausted by the time we got to Tok. But, we made it safely and determined since we would only be there 1 night, not to chance unhooking from the truck, so we didn’t have to worry about the jacks. The slides worked great, though. Once we got setup it was Happy Hour , then dinner out at Fast Eddy’s and we called it a night.
Tomorrow cross over the border and move forward.
Have a good one everybody! We’re trying to
RV Riding is riding in style even when its a rugged road
I haven’t posted anything lately because there really isn’t that much to post.
I think I already mentioned we had to get back to Anchorage for Mr. Charley’s eye shot and get the laundry done, etc. We’ve also been having some trouble with the slides/jacks & awning & truck light. We decided the smartest thing to do is get fixed what we can here in Anchorage then start heading back down to the lower 48 for Mr. Charley’s next eye shot. We were going to take the Cassier Highway & do Washington/Oregon area, but with the pending issues and the wildfires in BC, we decided we’d head back down to Montana the way we came in. I’m hoping to go to Glacier National Park on the way, since I’ll be 62 Aug 20th, I want to get the Parks Sr. Pass before the price goes up Aug 28th! If not, that’s OK.
So here’s a few pics of the last few days in Anchorage at Black Spruce Campground in Fort Richardson.
Look Nana (Linda), they named a building after you! Not really, that’s the NANA headquarters, an Alaska Native corporation with business services from the Arctic Circle across the world.
Below pics show the girls enjoying the nice Alaska sunshine:
We’ve had a “Grand Adventure” on this little journey. I didn’t get to fish, but I’ve seen and done things I’ve never seen or done before, so that’s a blessing. We’ve also met some really good folks and that’s been the best part.
We’ll be heading out to Tok in the morning, caravanning with our new friends Anne & Briggs.
Have a good one everybody! We’re trying to.
RV Riding is hanging out and moving on whenever you “gotta”
Today is another beautiful day! I never thought I’d say upper 50’s – 60’s was nice, but it’s pleasant. Mr. Charley’s back is still hurting him, but we took a drive anyway. There’s a few things we missed when we took the Seward Highway to Seward a few weeks back. The Seward Highway is 127 mile road the connects Anchorage to Seward, but there’s a couple of ‘side roads’ that have some cool things to see and do. So we loaded up the girls and hit the road towards Turnagain Arm and the scenic byway.
I think I told you before about Turnagain Arm & the Beluga Point; so today I’ll tell you about the Whittier/ Portage Glacier Access Road. This side road allows access to Portage Glacier, 5.4 miles from the Seward Highway; and to Whittier (11.4 miles), gateway to Prince William Sound. The stretch of road between Portage Glacier and Whittier was a 3 year project to connect that community to the road system. Prior to construction Whittier accessible overland only by train. Vehicle access required the modification of the 2.5 mile long Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel to handle BOTH railroad and vehicle traffic. The tunnel is 1-lane, and cars and trains take turns traveling through it. In summer, the tunnel is open daily 5:30 a.m. to 11:15 p.m., allowing 15-minute alternating directional use for vehicle traffic every half-hour except during scheduled passenger trains. Vehicles must wait in the staging areas on either side of the tunnel when the train is using the tunnel. I can’t post videos on this blog, but I’m going to try to upload to Facebook so you can see. My pics inside the tunnel really don’t show up good, but I have to tell you, it was kind of cool driving on railroad tracks in a tunnel. At 25 mph, it takes a vehicle 6.5 minutes to travel through the tunnel. The tunnel’s ventilation system combines jet and portal fans. It is the longest highway tunnel and longest highway/railroad tunnel in North America at 13,200 feet.
Here’s some pics of the Glaciers we saw along the way
Once we got out of the tunnel, we entered Portage Glacier which as you can see is cruise ship port.
Other than the Glaciers, there isn’t much here. Lots of boats for commercial fishing, trains and trucks.
Here’s the view as we wait to go back out through the tunnel
We stopped at the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center at Portage Lake on the way out so the girls could take a break. Sadie did surprisingly well through the tunnel. These girls are more well traveled than most people!
We also stopped at the Williwaw Creek Fish Viewing Platform to see if we could see any salmon. None going “upstream” , none going “downstream”
Very disappointing!
But we did see another glacier!
We also took the 3-mile Alyeska Highway to Crow Creek Mine, Girdwood and the Alyeska Resort Ski area. They have a tram ride you can take up and have lunch. We didn’t do it today since we had the girls, but we’re planning on coming back without them another day.
This is the pics from the rearview on the way back to Anchorage. Still haven’t seen any Beluga Whales, but I sure love to see the sun shining off the water.
Have a good one everybody, we’re trying to
RV Riding is taking a minute to look back at what you saw and marveling at how awesome it was and how blessed you are to see it
We left Trapper Creek and made our way back to Anchorage. It was a pretty day and everything was going good. As we were getting close to Houston, AK; we stopped for a potty break. Houston is the only place in the Mat-Su Borough where it is legal to sell fireworks. So…….here’s how Gorilla Fireworks gets your attention:
Then we were back on our way…..and you KNOW I love signs, so here’s a few that caught my attention:
We made it back safely to Fort Richardson and the Black Spruce Campground. It was pretty full, but we found a site & got setup. When we open the Living Room slide, it makes a weird noise, but it opens up; so we’re happy! Mr. Charley has a hard wired low-voltage surge protector on his rig,and I guess with the full campground, the voltage was low because the power kept kicking off and on, off and on. The Camp Host came by & when we told him about it, he said that row of sites had low power and if we could handle it, we could move in the morning.
We chilled the rest of the day & the next morning I wanted to get a head start on the laundry (it was $3.25 a load just to wash in Fairbanks, so I waited….it’s only $1.25 here). I got a couple of loads done in between moving to aa new site. The slide came in but it’s sounding scary (and I won’t tell you about the awning), but needless to say we have an appointment to take it in on Monday to get it fixed.
When we got back from the RV place, we took a little drive down to the lakes here on the base. I wanted to see where they were & if maybe we could see some wildlife. We found Otter Lake and saw they had cabins & campsites & it looks like you can rent kayaks there. It was kind of busy with military families, so we drove over to find Clunie Lake. It as even more secluded, with an overgrown looking recreation area, but man were the fish jumping! I would love to have a small boat & row out in the middle(so I wouldn’t have to worry about a bear coming out) to drop a hook and catch a few.
We got back to our site and took a little nap. Mr. Charley hurt his back while we were switching sites, so I put some stuff on his back & got the heating pad & some meds. After naptime, Cheyenne was looking out the window & started barking. It wasn’t her high pitched yelp for a squirrel, it was a BARK! I looked out the window and I saw a BEAR! I think he heard me hollering at Mr.Charley to look, because he turned around and headed away by the time my brain registered to get my camera, so this was the only pic I got.
I think Mr.Charley got a couple more, but needless to say we were VERY cautious as we went out to get in the truck. The Camp Host was going by right after we saw it so we told him about it. He drove around looking for it and letting everyone know that one had been sighted so they could watch their kids & dogs. We drove all over & didn’t see it again, but I can tell you now before we go outside we look out the window real good!
Have a good one everybody, we’re trying to.
RV Riding is checking out the windshield and the windows
