Woke up the next morning and packed up ready to get on the road to Anchorage, and then went round to the shop area to finish off blog and email, and have a hot shower. They charge $4 for a hot shower in the park, but it is a good facilty, and they even provide towels so you don't have to find somewhere to put a wet towel in the car !! And a hint for anyone using the showers at the Mercantile at Riley Campground in Denali - Always ask for the key to cubicle number 4 - It is extra large to allow for wheel chairs, and makes getting changed without getting all your clothes wet SO much easier !! While getting everything done there, met Don who was from Illinois and riding a BMW bike and doing all the rough roads, and had a good chat. Hope you enjoyed the bus trip Don, and thank your ? cousin ? for the egg roll - it was excellent! Safe travels and maybe see you in the Kenai.
And so off I went towards Anchorage - Roof off, of course !!!
Lovely road for the first 2 hours or so, all the way down the back (west) of the Alaska Range, while Denali NP is on the east side. I made a slight calculation error thinking it was 250 kilometres to Anchorage, whereas it was actually 250 miles !! So the trip took a bit longer than expected !! What a dumbo ! Anyway, it really was one of those days when I didn't care if it was 25000 miles - It was just a gorgeous sunny day, on a great road, with mountains on both sides for much of the route. Driving days in the Elise just don't often get more pleasant - Especially when everyone is waving and tooting at you to say hi !!
Mt McKinley appeared out of the clouds at one point, still encircled by clouds like a necklace, but with the twin peaks sticking up in the sunshine. Once again I wish I was a better photographer because the pics just do not capture how stunnng it really was in real life. And then, just up the road, a great big old Moose standing on the side of the road, nice and close. I was going quite slowly past him, and just as I put my camera down to drive off, he let out the most tremendous snort and crossed the road towards me !! I was out of there so fast !! Rofl.
At mile post 130 there is a stunnng view back at the mountains of Denali NP, but unfortunately Mt McKinley was covered in cloud again, so was not visible. What is nice is that all these little parks and tourist areas have a "host" looking after them during the summer - Usually couples in their motorhomes who come north for the summer and don't get paid, but get free accomodation in return for keeping the park clean etc for the three months of summer. Very nice couple I was chatting to there, as well as several others who came over to cht about the car. One couple were quite a few years older than me, and were sleeping in the back of a big pickup ! They used to have a motorhome but found it too restrictive so now just go everywhere in their 4 WD, sleeping on a mttress in the back !! Good on them !!
Took a side journey 12 miles into Talkeetna where a lot of the McKinley flights go from, as everyone said it was lovely. But a train had just stopped there, with all the tourists off a cruise ship, so the little town was SEETHING with people. Looked quite like a little ski village, with lots of coffee shops and log cabins filled with very tanned and fit young people who have been out hiking for days in the mountains !! Good place to come back to, but not much of interest for me on my own, so after a couple of laps, I moved back to the main road, and on to Anchorage.
Met a bunch of Israeli's in the gas station there who had just arrived in Anchorage the day before, ad had all hired big off-road touring bikes, and also had a big pick up truck with all their gear, and were talking about going to all sorts of off road places that, last I heard, were still shut off by snow and ice !! Anyway, they were full of enthusiasm, and only had two weeks, so I told them what I had found on the Dalton Highway, and told them to spend at least one day in Denali (they weren't even going to go there !!), and then I left them to have there fun !!
After that there was an hour or so of fairly flat road with no mountains but lots of forest to drive through - And no more wildlife to see !! Then, coming into Wasilla and then Anchorage - TRAFFIC !! Had not seen traffic since Vancouver a month ago, so was a bit of a shock to the system !! Anyway, mountains started appearing again which made me feel better, and even saw an orange Elise going the other way !!!! That had to be Glen who I have been talking to, so am trying to track him down at the moment !!
Camp site located (right beside the railway line !!!) in Anchorage, so bought some cooked and hot spare ribs and a salad from the local Fre Meyer supermarket, had my supper, and went to bed.
Another top day on the road, and looking forward to exploring Anchorge over the next few days before moving down to the Kenai.
Pics of the day here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/DenaliToAnchorage?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ-ErKm746HAlwE#
