Denali NP to Anchorage

On my last night in Denali went out and had a lovely BBQ with Dave and Amy in their RV, followed by a quick trip into town to the Salmon Bake for some blueberry pie and coffee as Dave suddenly had a craving !!    Good way to spend my last evening in Denali !!   Back to the camp site, still VERY bear and moose alert !!, and to bed.
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 !!!

Denali NP 2

Woke up at 5 am (no dawn !! You could read all night at the moment) and had breakfast - keeping a very wary eye out for upset moose and bears, especially while I was making my ham and cheese sandwiches !!  2 deg C, so back into a little bit of a cold spell, and I decided to put my thermals on for the trip into the park.  And thank goodness I did as it was not hot !!   (I have only had about 2 days when I have not worn my thermals since leaving Anacortes 4 weeks ago !!)  Drove the 5 minutes over to the bus pick up point at the Wilderness Centre, and found my green shuttle bus and climbed aboard.

Fairbanks to Denali 2

Sunday was a bit of a washout day in Fairbanks.  It rained most of Saturday night, and was still raining on Sunday morning, which made life pretty difficult in the tent.  As I was leaving the next day, I got my laundry done, and then did some catching up on the pooter.  Gradually the weather cleared up until by early afternoon it had stopped raining, so, as I had been chatting on email to Lucy Hayward who I had met on the ferry from Skagway to Haines a couple of weeks ago and not seen on the road, I decided to go over to her camp site and have a chat. The following day, Monday, I was off to Denali again for a couple of days as it was on my way south to Anchorage.

Friday & Saturday in Fairbanks

On Friday it rained.  And rained and rained and rained !!   In fact it was quite useful as at least it did start to wash some of the caked on mud from the Dalton Highway off the car ! But apart from that, it was a pain in the neck. The tent was dry, no problem, so I stayed in there as long as I could, recovering from my long day.  But getting up, trying to get things sorted, get showered, and so on meant that by about 9 or 10 am, everything was pretty wet.  So I ended up watching a movie off my hard drive, and then in the late afternoon I managed to contact Amy and Dave who I had met in Skagway, and went over to their RV Park for dinner and a great evening out of the rain over there, comparing notes on where each of us had been in the last 2 weeks ! A great evening, and after scurrying back to my tent in the rain, went to sleep.  But today, Saturday, despite a bad weather forecast, has been fine all day, so I have been out exploring Fairbanks !

First ever Lotus to cross Alaskan Arctic Circle

Right, have had a bit of sleep, so will try and remember what I did yesterday !

Oh, thats right, drove to the Arctic Circle !!

Woke up early at 4.30, and hit the road at 5.30 from campsite at North Pole (yes !!) outside Fairbanks.  Clear crisp morning, so roof off, and sandwiches and nibbles packed as I am expecting a LONG day in the saddle - The day before when I took the tour just to the Circle took 17 hours, and I intended to go a further 100 miles north of the Circle, to Coldfoot.  And while Elsie may be faster than the coach, a lot of the road is on dirt where 40 mph is an absolute max, often a lot less.  Beautiful morning, so roof off, and rugged up with my fur hat, and off I went.  Climbing up the first hills, the light was catching part of the clouds and made some eerie patterns and light which looked suspiciously like a daytime Aurora Borealis to me - Which I know is impossible, but.....  Tried to ttake some pics but of course they don't really show it, but I have put them in the folder and circled the bit I am talking about.  It certainly was VERY vivid, and moving around.

Wednesday in Fairbanks

After going all the way to the Arctic Circle on the coach for some 17 hours on Tuesday, I had a relatively slow Wednesday morning at the camp site.  Then I went down into Fairbanks to find a tire place to rotate a couple of my tires which were wearing unevenly.  Later I went to the Univeristy Of Alaska Fairbanks which I had heard had an excellent museum.  Lazy day !!!

Fairbanks to Arctic Circle 1

After a very lazy day yesterday, today I went to the Arctic Circle !!!   However, I went on a tour bus, because I had heard so many people telling me that the condition of the Dalton Highway was impassible to anything but and SUV, and that Elsie wouldn;t make it past the first section of dirt road.  So I decided to go and have a look at the conditions first, and if they really were that bad, then I would not take Elsie.
Result ?   Had a fun day out, and am taking Elsie up the day after tomorrow, as long as the weather holds !!

Denai back to Fairbanks

Nothing too special today. Done all I need to do in Denali for now, and the hoards of holiday makers were starting to roll in.  So I have run back to Fairbanks and will spend a few days here doing the the Dalton Highway and seeing what Fairbanks has to offer before I go down to Anchorage.  Not even many photos to post, because basically if you want to know what the drive was like, you just need to look at the photos I posted 3 days ago wen I drove to Denali - but start with the last one first and work your way backwards !!! Rofl.  But there were a couple of interesting / funny things happen !  As usual !!!

A day in Denali NP

Today was a relatively quiet day in the park.  It was a little warmer overnight, which was a relief, but the weather is still bright and sunny although more cloudy weather is coming. And the crowds are also coming - this is offcially the start of the summer season, so the campers and motorhomes are rolling in.  The peace and quiet of the pre-season is over !!!

Mt McKinley Flight

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW

I am not going to write a blog tonight, because words could not possibly start to even describe one millionth of the beauty and majesty of the scenes I have witnessed today.   We had a flight time of about two hours, plus half an hour on the Ruth Glacier. It was just the most breathtaking  trip.  There was not a cloud in the sky, and there was not a breath of wind or thermals from the mountains - conditions the pilot says he rarely ever sees.  So he was able to take us within a few feet of some of the mountan tops - we felt we could reach out and touch them.  Even he was in awe of what we saw and were able to do today !!!  

Enjoy the photos - There are a lot of them, but I think they will take your breath away.   And let me assure you, they do not even get close to showing you what it was REALLY like to be up there today.

This place is unbelievable.  I am in love.

https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/MtMcKinleyFlight?authkey=Gv1sRgCK2T_4X6-5L3VA#