Lucy hasn't told me her age, but I know she is a bit older than I am, and she has some difficulty walking very far, but she is an amazing lady. She has been everywhere over the years, and now has purchased an older Kombi style US van she can sleep in, and is driving all over the place, primarily on dirt roads in the North - up the Dalton, across the Denali Highway, up the Dempster, and several more. And talking at Toastmasters on the way. I take my hat off to you Lucy, and wish you every success - I hope I am still traveling as far and as wide as you in a few years time when I catch you up age-wise !! And I hope the CB Radio and the little inverter make your life on the road a bit easier and more fun.
After spending some time chatting with Lucy, I went back to my camp ground, had my supper, and did as much packing up as I could in case it was raining again in the morning. After a good nights sleep, I woke up to no rain so was able to pack up in the relative dry (heavy dew), and eventually got on the road at about 10 am after contacting people in Anchoragemaking sure all my emails were up to date. An Elise club friend of mine in Queensland had put me in touch with his cousin in Fairbanks, so I promised to drop over on the way out of town to Denali. After a warm welcome from Rosemary and her family, and after looking over the property (which is on the main Chena River, so tourist paddle steamers go past the front garden !!), Rosemary cooked me a delicious omelette for brunch, and, being a displaced Aussie, it was great to see the Vegemite on the table !! Thanks for your hospitality, Rosemary - Much appreciated.
Got on the road to Denali about noon and it was just one of those idyllic days for a drive in a convertible, on a road that is just magnificent. There were a couple of rain showers, and one quite heavy hailstorm to go through, but none were bad enough to need to put the roof on. Rest of the way was just (relatively !) warm sunshine. I am suprised by how many people have small 4 WD ATV's here - They are everywhere, and there are even dirt trails beside the road in many places, and as long as they don't actually drive on the roads or sidewalks, apparently the police accept this - even with young kids driving them. And being the Memorial Day Long Weekend here (like our Anzac Day), people we taking their ATV's out into the country on trailers to play.
Anyway, pulled into Denali NP campsite where I have booked for 2 nights, and went off to pitch my tent. I have included some photos of the process for those who are interested, but it is now about a 5-10 minute job. Very simple, and all tabs and ropes are colour coded so you can't put them in the wrong place !! I have bought a cheap $3 blue tarp which I put underneath the whole thing to protect against rough ground, and also to give me a "floor" under the fly sheet where I can take my boots off and leave things out without them getting covered in dust or dirt.
Anyway, got the tent up, and then called Amy and Dave (the people who feed me in their RV when it is raining !!) to see where they were (they had driven down from Fairbanks the day before), and was just about to jump in the car to go and see them when a Moose runs right past my tent and me !!!! No camera !!! Phew, that was close ! Jump in the car and drive off to find Amy and Dave. We meet up, and 20 minutes later go down to the shop facility near the campsite to find all sorts of things happening. We fnd out that a moose and her calf were being chased though the campsite by a hungry bear, who eventually caught up with them right in the middle of the car park for the shop (where we now were), snatched the calf and dragged it off into the bushes, with the mama moose in hot pursuit ! Wait a minute - You mean that moose that ran past my tent was being chased by a bear ???????? Thank goodness I had jumped in the car and gone!! Anyway, while rangers are recovering the moose calf's body and taking it away so the bear doesn't start eating it in the car park (which means we now have an angry mama moose AND a hungry / angry bear wandering around !!), and a guy in the car park had caught it all on video !! When we met him, he is a kiwi, Rory, travelling with his girlfriend Caren in a van, and they are going down to Tierra Del Fuego !!! They have to go up the Dalton first so they can start at Prudhoe Bay, so since I had just driven most of the road last Thursday, we were taking about the conditions etc. They were also giving me lots of ideas and tips about driving down though South America which may come in useful one day !! Anyway, as is often the case with these kind of conversations, 2 or 3 hours later we were still chatting !! I had arranged to meet Amy and Dave at the Salmon Bake in town for a beer at 7 pm, so invited Rory and Caren to join us - which they did in due course, and we had a very pleasant evening chatting together over a few beers. Good luck on your trip Rory and Caren - I shall look forward to reading about it on your blog. And thanks for all the tips.
So it was off to bed reasonably early so I could wake up and get organised to be ready to catch the early shuttle at 6.45 am.
Meanwhile the bear and moose were still running around the camp. And I am in a flimsy little tent ! Should be an interesting night ! I can assure you my can of bear spray was RIGHT beside my pillow, and the Safety Catch was off !!!
Couple of pics of the day here - Didn't take many of the drive because there was no point in repeating the story of the same drive that I had done a week or so ago !! https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/FairbanksToDenali2?authkey=Gv1sRgCIG6oayPmb-U2AE#
