Beautiful Alaska

We made it! We crossed the border a few days ago, re-entering the U.S. through NO customs. No wonder people like us get back in. Anyway, it was surreal to finally be in Alaska. It's been a life-long dream of mine to see it and a 40-year dream of Ian's to quit hearing me talk about it. So, our dreams have come true! And, here all this time, we thought they came true when we got married.

We stopped to take pictures with the "Welcome to Alaska" signs and scanned the information tablets. Apparently it took surveyors 50 years to map the border between Canada and Alaska. It was all done manually, of course, with the surveyors tramping through the woods, lakes, rivers, mountains, marking the way as they went. (I think I would have just waited for computer chips and real surveying equipment to be invented.) Anyway, we hit the road, headed for Tok, the last town on the Alaskan Highway. There, we got gas again (back down to just under $5 a gallon - in Canada it was around $7 a gallon), free coffee for Ian being military at one time (we came to find that Alaska appreciates the military members whenever they possibly can), and a sticker for Montana's back window that reads I drove the Alaska Highway. We had decided that we wanted to try dry camping (on our own, in the wilderness, not at an RV park), so we started checking out the rest areas. The snow capped mountains surrounded us continuously - it was breath taking, and we imagined how wonderful it would be to be all by ourselves, alone with nature. We had already found that in Canada, and now in Alaska, none of the rest areas have toilets (oh, I take that back - there were a couple that had an outhouse). (It really didn't matter to us since we use Montana's toilet - just thought I'd throw in that little tidbit of information.) So, of course, the rest area Ian decides is THE one, has "No Trespassing" signs posted on the trees around it. I took that to mean, no overnight camping. Ian took it to mean it meant no one else could trespass, but we could. Within no time, we're all set up, all 4 slides out, Mac is sniffing the trees and trying to eat dried droppings from some wild animal, and I'm keeping my eyes on the road, just knowing a police car will come along any minute and either give us a hefty fine or haul us off to jail. We set our lawn chairs out and watched Mother Nature at its best for a while. We didn't see any wild life, and eventually ate some dinner and went to bed. Ian fell into a dead sleep immediatley, but I kept waiting for the police to find us. When they didn't show up, I figured a gang would find us, kill us all, and take off with the truck and maybe even Montana, too. When that didn't materialize, I finally decided to heck with it, and fell asleep.

By now the days were getting longer and we were waking earlier and earlier because even with the shades down, it was daylight inside by 5 a.m. So, we were on the road again by 7. Finally, we saw wild life. Mama Moose and her baby decided to see what was on the other side of the road and crossed just in front of us. Thankfully, we weren't going too fast to stop and take pictures. A bit further down the road, a large male moose (I think it was the baby's daddy, but Ian' doesn't think so) was drinking at the edge of a pond that had started to thaw. When we stopped to take pictures, he looked up, then went about his business. I guess he figured a truck full of whackos and a fearless (ha,ha) dog was no match, so why bother?

Every turn in the road brought another mountain and/or another frozen lake. The ice in the lakes was a strange blue color, I guess from the icebergs. Some of the rivers were thawing and had ice floats moving slowly along. We actually saw where an iceberg had cut its way through the mountain, leaving its mark on the ground, and leaving some of the iceberg itself. God did a wonderful job on this state.

We eventually made our way to Anchorage and got a spot at Elmondorf AFB campground. After stocking up with groceries, we went to check out the city. What a strange place. I've never seen a more utilitarian place in my life. All the buildings were square or rectangle, very plain, no decorative doorways or windows. Not attractive at all. Of course, Ian's Scottish nose sniffed out an Irish pub that had Guinness on tap, so we pulled over and put quarters in the meter. It turned out to be probably the cleanest and nicest smelling (no smoking allowed here!) pub I've been in in a long time. The waitress made Ian's day by pouring the Guiness properly, creating just the right amount of fizz on top (there's a name for that, but Ian is asleep already, and I figure those who really care will know), and she made mine by presenting me with a beautiful piece of Bailey's Cheesecake. Wowee!! After leaving the pub, we rode around the town a bit more, decided that man had not done such a great job with the city, and returned to the base for the night.

Once we got to Anchorage we had good cell coverage again, so Ian called the insurance company and it looks like he sweet-talked them into paying for the new hitch after all. He also called the hitch company and told them what happened - can you believe that it's happened before??? Why in the world would they not have recalled them? Do we know how to spell law suit? No, we won't go that route, but will try to at least get them to pay for the gas for the 1,000 mile trip to get the new hitch. They want us to send it to them so they can examine it. You can bet your boopy that we have lots of pictures of it, just in case they "never receive" the old one.

The next morning we set out for Kenai, where we will spend the next 3 months. I'll save that story for next time, though. Now that you're relaxed, bored to death, and half asleep, I'll leave you be. 'Til next time!