I closed off the last entry by telling that I had purchased a new tire and we were ready to go south. Well, when I went out this morning, I thought I’d check my air pressure to make sure everything was all right and while doing so I just happened to look at the tire info imprinted on the sidewall of the tire and got a big surprise. They didn’t mount the tire I told them to! So, a late start due to us having to go over to the shop again.
The tires we are using are Anakee 2 type. There was an older tire called an Anakee but that was replaced by the Anakee 2 due to complaints regarding tread life from a lot of users. The Anakee 2 is supposed to give somewhere in the area of 30% more tread life.
Well, the shop evidently had some of last years tires and thought they would get rid of one of them by selling it to someone who was not local. I was really upset. I told them I thought they did that on purpose and they didn’t say anything except, “I guess that means you want the Anakee 2?” What a bunch of bozos!
We were finally on the road after a two hour delay. Now we have the right tire and the weather is great and we are heading for Denali Park.
Never having been to Denali Park, we had no idea what it would be like. First off, it looks like the park is more for pedestrians than it is for people in cars. The road into the park is only open to cars for the first nine miles or so. After that you can only go via a “tour bus” that will take you further into the park. They have walking trails all through the park and we saw people walking all over out in the park. With so many people walking around, I don’t see how there could ever be an animal anywhere. Not my idea of what a national park should be at all.
We saw no animals of any kind other than one seagull in the parking lot at the end of the park road. Nothing else. We thought we might see a limping caribou but no. What a disappointment!
After leaving the park we headed further south to Wasilla. Now that was something. I love that little town. It reminded me of Lucerne, Switzerland. Just like Lucerne, Wasilla is right next to a large lake and it is really something to see. Plus, off in the distance you can see the mountains. An ideal setting if it were only a little closer to home.
While we were stopped at a red light on main street in Wasilla, a woman in the car next to Lyle started talking to him (Lyle seems to spend a lot of time trying to pick up women!) It turns out she was from Missouri and was raised in Kansas City. Of course, stopped at a red light, you don’t have a lot of time to get very much information but he didn’t even get her phone number.
Along that line, we have made one discovery regarding people from Alaska. They are always looking at license plates. If they see one from “the lower forty-eight” , they want to talk to the person because they either lived in, or know someone who lives in the state you’re from.
We left Wasilla and moved on south to Anchorage where we finally found a room. When we checked in there was another BMW GS parked in the lot from North Carolina. The owner came out of his room when he saw us and talked for a while. He started out from NC on the same day we did and is leaving Anchorage and going up to Deadhorse from here.
Anchorage is also a pretty city with the mountains in the background. It’s too large though. Just too many people here in a small space. But it also looks like a city in Europe. It was damaged by the earthquake a few years back and quite a bit of new construction exists today.
Another long day as it is now well after ten pm and we just got back from having supper. I think I’ll sleep in tomorrow.
Didja meet Sarah? Didja? Didja?
ReplyDeleteHenny
Spent the summer at KOA campground, northeast of Anchorage I think, in 1965, right after the earthquake. It was tundra with gravel. There was a lot of reconstruction, but it was tightly unionized, you had to pay to get a job. Biggest store in town was Sears. The downtown main street was split in half. On a motorcycle, you only need half of the street anyway! Have fun.
ReplyDeleteHenny