Start reading from the beginning!

Showing posts with label Harlin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harlin. Show all posts

Friday, July 8, 2011

7/8/1991 - Monday

John:  We slept in this morning.  I first woke up at 5am to the sound of mosquitoes flying around inside the camper.  Karen and I killed them and went back to sleep until 9:00.  When we stepped outside, we got attacked by millions of killer mosquitoes!  They were crazy!  Even with every known repellent for mosquitoes on, they attacked you.  They would fly into your nose, ears between your glasses and eyeballs, everywhere.  They didn't bite (due to all the toxic substances all over your body), but they were awful!  We hurried to get our stuff together and hit the road.  The myth about how big they are is false... but there are zillions of them.  This place is the worst mosquito area we've run into.  We saw the ex-prize fighter  Harlin cruisin' down the road.  He was headed towards Anchorage, us to Tok.  I couldn't get him on the CB (don’t know if he even had one.)  We have lost Peter and Betty for good I think.  Haven’t seen them for days (since Denali).  Today at Tok I forgot to load our stool and our 5 gallon bucket and I ran over them with the truck.  (Ooooops!).  I hammered the stool back in shape and tightened it up, our bucket has a permanent crease in it... the truck was unscathed.  We bought some more  goodies at Tok.  I bought a grizzly bear that’s made out of glacier silt and clay (made in Palmer, Alaska).  We just haven’t found any nice wooden carved bears, so figured I’d better swoop on this as we will be leaving Alaska tomorrow.  (How sad, just don’t want to leave)... We are camped at a pull out somewhere on Route 5 (a dirt road that turns into the “Top of the World Highway”).  This road is something else... it is not maintained.  Top speed has been about 30 MPH.  Most of the time it’s around 15-20.  It hailed on us up here and the road turned into mud.  (My kind of road).  Our camp spot overlooks some beautiful mountains (I can’t determine any type of direction in Alaska... only between Fairbanks & Anchorage I was ok).  Not a soul has driven by since we ate supper, so will probably be very quiet here tonight.  It rained most of the day (except in Tok).  We even had to crank up the heater in the camper tonight as it’s pretty cold up here.  Total miles driven today was 198.


ODOM:
  28200



Route 5.

Susan, Karen & Kari in front of the dirty truck.

John smiling about the really dirty camper!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

6/26/1991 - Wednesday

Karen:  Our second day on the ferry was great.  A baby humpback whale (25 ft.) put on a good show for us.  We saw a lot of other whales too.  Also saw porpoise & a seal that had caught a big old fish.  The scenery was beautiful & the weather was pretty good.  It starts out foggy & I think the best viewing of the mountains is in the eve.  Saw some glaciers in the distance.  Have seen a lot of bald eagles in the distance.

John:  The whales were great.  You hate to go to sleep ‘cause you’ll miss something.  Fantastic waterfalls along the way.  Became friends with Larry & Pattie Owen from N. Carolina, Gary and Susan Whittemore from Cantwell, Alaska, a couple from Holland (Peter & Betty Das) (living in Canada), and an older ex-prize fighter from Minnesota named Harlin.  The guy from Alaska races in the Iditarod most every year.  I wonder if we’ll run into these folks again along the way?

Kari:  We saw a baby whale and other whales too.



Whale Tail
Waterfall