Burning Gas

Today would be the day that we left interior Alaska for the coastal region. Russ' time with us was winding to a close and all of our planned activities had been completed, we were now on our own and free to explore at our own will. We decided that we would traverse the Denali Highway which stretches 133 miles until it connects with the Richardson Highway. This used to be the only access road to Denali NP before they built the Parks Hwy. Today, it is a dirt road that is only open in the summer, with no amenities offered the entire stretch of the road, save one convenience shop that conveniently charges you to use their facilities. Hunting season had opened a couple days before we rode the highway therefore what we saw most of the day was

hunters staking out prime campsites along the road or driving around in their ATV's which is a necessity for hunting in this country. We started down the road about 10a.m. since Russ let us sleep in a little because of our late night excursion into the north country. We entered the road "backwards" according to the Milepost, which meant that Katie's job as navigator was twice as hard because she basically had to read the entry from back to front. After she figured out where we were, she read that we should have views of Mt. McKinley on a clear day, we looked behind us and there was the mountain, out in its full glory. We had a perfectly clear day with

no cloud in the sky, at least in the morning, and we were fortunate enough to see the mountain for a third time. This was by far one of the most stunning views of my life, but alas, the pictures can hardly do it justice. With this scenery at the beginning of our trek, we were instantly thrilled that we had chosen this road and excited to see what else it offered. Suffice it to say, we were not disappointed. We drove along the Alaska range for most of the road offering up several views of glaciers and kettle ponds. Along

this highway too, the fall colors had already turned making the scenery all the more beautiful. We made several stops along the way, mostly for scenic views and the occasional caribou but also once to talk to a hunter who had virtually created a house on the side of the road to serve as his

blind. I thought that it was a relic from the war when you see the cannon sticking out of the side. We pulled over and talked to him for a minute and found out that it was a high powered sniper rifle that fired accurately up to 2 miles! He told us about all of his equipment for a while and how yesterday they had seen about 40 caribou and 5 moose, while today they hadn't seen anything. Apparently the nice weather that we were having was keeping the animals immobile. We were willing to trade the scenic views for the wildlife today, but it

appeared that he would have preferred the opposite. Near the end of the road, Russ got a long sought after picture of a mountain reflecting in a lake. A similar shot was missed while we were in Denali NP at Wonder Lake because the wind was too high and caused ripples in the water. Today, though there was a slight breeze, it was small enough not to disrupt the view. We finished up the drive in about 5 hours and by then we were all ready for some food. The weather had taken a turn for the worse and with the Alaskan pipeline coming into view once more our beautiful landscape views were slowly deteriorating. We stopped in the town of Glennallen, which is pretty much comprised of a gas station and a hotel with a restaurant. The restaurant was, we'll say, below Russ' standards, and he wanted to leave almost as soon as he sat down. We convinced him to share and appetizer and a drink because we all needed some time out of the car. The place was a little depressing and Katie again came to the realization that she could not live in this small of a town since all of the towns teenagers were hanging out at this place, either working or eating. I think she got a little claustrophobic feeling imagining that the same place for a fancy date night was where you came to hang out and get away from the folks. After our hungers were slightly curbed, we headed back down the road towards

Palmer, where we planned to visit the Alaskan State Fair! We planned to enjoy our "real dinner" by eating fair food and walking around to view the giant vegetables and see the animals. As we were walking into the fair I realized that I had left the keys in the car. I wanted to go back to the car and get them since I knew I would be uncomfortable the whole time if I knew the keys were just sitting in the car. Katie had an extra set of keys in her purse, specifically for this situation, so Russ and her were of the opinion that they would be fine in the car. I submitted to the majority vote, as so often during the trip I had to do, and we went to enjoy the fair. I had never been to a state fair before and was pretty fascinated by all of the vegetables and animals. We walked around and saw the rides and scoped out all of the food vendors and then slowly made our choices. I ended up with some philly cheese steak and a pretzel pizza roll, Russ had a seafood pita pocket and crab cakes, and Katie went with, surprise surprise, a chili corn dog and strawberry cheese cake served in a waffle cone. After our delicious dinners we headed back to the car. As we approached we noticed that the car lights were still on. This is not a good thing as the van is set up for the lights to come on and off automatically. I was instantly worried that the battery would be almost at zero and the car wouldn't start, but I should have really been worried about the gas level. Apparently, I left the keys in the car, and running the whole time that we were at the fair. This really didn't affect CJ at all but it did give Katie and Russ and endless supply of material to make fun of me about. Needless to say, our first stop was a gas station. After we squared away CJ with the necessary fuel to get to Anchorage, thats where we headed. We got to our hotel and bedded down for the night getting ready for Russ' final day in the Last Frontier.