May 27, 2012 - Wasilla, AK

We got up late this morning after our long day yesterday, and finally took off south around 10:30 ending the day at the Alaskan Trails RV Park near Wasilla. 304 miles today seeing 3 moose and one fox. Before I left the campground this morning, I got an explanation of a picture I took from the plane last night of some strange shapes I saw below me. So the picture shown here demonstrates the way the perma-frost freezing and thawing effects the landscape.

May 24, 2012 - Tok to Wasilla

Left Tok (rhymes with poke), Alaska this morning and stopped in at Mentasta Lake Lodge for fuel and a hearty breakfast! Very friendly people. Several of the villagers came in and were talking to everyone about the picnic planned for the evening. Must be some shindig! Then on the road again headed toward Palmer. Was I surprised to learn this road was as bad as the one across the border in Canada. So much winter wear, heaves and ruts and gravel patches. Shook the fillings right out of my head! No wonder it took us three hours to travel 109...

Aug 9, 2011 - Palmer Elks, AK

We are back at the Elks in Palmer. Earlier I posted that the facility is located in Wasilla, but it is actually Palmer. I'm not exactly sure where the boundary is, but the two towns are quite close. After getting the RV situated at the Elks, we had to pick up mail. I had the mail sent General Delivery to the Palmer, AK post office. This was our first mail delivery since we left home at the end of June. Fortunately, there was only one past due bill, which we had forgotten and for which we do not receive an e-bill. We decided to get some...

Jul 31, 2011 - Wasilla, AK - day 2

We decided to drive in to Anchorage, about 35 miles south of Wasilla, to get an idea of our route for Seward, which will be our next destination. We had planned to go to the visitor center downtown but found out that every Sunday there's a huge farmers market in downtown Anchorage. We couldn't find parking anywhere near the visitors center. Back in 1992 we met Bryan's parents in Anchorage and did a whirlwind driving tour of the state in one week. Our first hotel after we arrived in Anchorage was on the largest float plane lake in the world....

Jul 30, 2011 - Wasilla, AK

We tend to get behind on our postings since wi fi is not always available or fast enough to post both photos and the blog update. We left Cantwell on Saturday morning heading south - still in search of some sort of view, any view, of Mt. McKinley. Our first stop was the South Denali viewpoint, near Denali State Park, off of the Parks Highway. As we stepped out of the RV to read the signs and hope for the clouds to part, a local from Fairbanks started a conversation with Bryan about RVs, travel trailers, trucks, etc. Once we finally made it...

Jul 24, 2011 - Wasilla, Again

We are once again in Wasilla. We only plan to be here two nights. Of course, that could change if we don’t get everything done that needs to be done. We’ll see. Our 90 mile drive from Williwaw this morning was pleasant despite the rain. It started raining yesterday afternoon and rained all night and most of the day. We hitched up in the rain. Haven’t done that in a very long time. We left Williwaw early with a mind to get through Anchorage before those that stayed home for the weekend got up and out and before those that went away for the...

Jul 16, 2011 - Wasilla, AK - Drive South on Parks HW

(Ron Writing) It started raining just as we were getting ready to leave this morning. We drove through rain for an hour or two and then the weather kept slowly getting better the rest of the day. We spent the day driving south on Parks Highway (Hwy 3) with a 16-mile side trip on the spur road to the small tourist town of Talkeetna. There are several turnouts along this stretch of Parks Highway with nice views of Mt. McKinley and we stopped at most of them even though there was little hope of seeing the big one on this cloudy day. We also...

Jul 6, 2011 - Wasilla, AK

We left for Anchorage. We knew we would stop somewhere between Denali and Anchorage. Larry has a cold and 300 miles is just too much driving. Our biggest excitement of the day was seeing Mt. McKinley! We spent 8 hours on a tour bus to get a glimpse yesterday. Today we really got a great view. We kept watching and could see that maybe the clouds were going to pass by and let the mountain glow in the sun. We came upon a pull-off just as it opened up. People were stopping from both directions and were like little kids. Passing around their...

Jul 3, 2011 - Happy Birthday, America

We left the rough and tumbled village of Talkeetna this afternoon. Really hated to leave, but whatcha gonna do? We’ve been in just about every public building in town, some of them twice. Not much else to do. And besides, Homer is calling my name. Before our farewell, we walked down to the Roadhouse for breakfast. Gene wanted Rudy in a Parka--reindeer sausage all wrapped up in a soft, white yeast bread with a little cheese thrown in to make it even more yummy. Of all the historic buildings in Talkeetna, we like the Roadhouse best. It still...

Jul 2, 2011 - Wasilla, AK

We left Seward the morning of July 2 and headed to Wasilla once again. We traveled the Seward Highway by Turnagain Arm through Anchorage then stopping at Eagle River Campground to dump our tanks and fill up with fresh water and finally stopped at Big Bear RV Park in Wasilla for a three night stay. We needed to stay three nights because our forwarded mail would not be in Wasilla until the 5th and we had a July 5th 9:30am appointment with Wasilla Veterinary Hospital to obtain new health certificates for our two critters in order to cross...

Jun 23, 2011 - On the way to Wasilla, AK

The morning of June 23 we left Denali National Park, driving the Parks Highway, and headed to Wasilla, AK for a one night stay so that we could pick up our mail that was being forwarded from Tok, AK. Hopefully it will be there as promised. Along the way we stopped at several viewpoints trying to get a good view of Mt. McKinley. We got the best view of the mountain at Denali Viewpoint South in Denali State Park. We got glimpses of the shoulder and the south peak. I waited for about an hour but the clouds would not cooperate. We arrived in...

Jun 22, 2011 - Museum of Transportation in Wasilla

Today was a catch up day. We did our weekly shopping and visited a museum. It was dedicated to all types of transportation. It was great and we wore ourselves out. Tomorrow we leave for Coopers Landing for a few weeks. I don't know how the internet is there so it may be a while before I can post more pictures and adventures.