August 1, 2006 – Day 22 – 400 Miles Palmer, AK – Beaver Creek, BC
Palmer, AK – Beaver Creek, BC
Woke up to the pitter-patter of rain. Yep, raining again. After breakfast took Hwy 1 East in steady drizzle with low, very low, clouds. Interestingly, if you ask an Alaskan about Hwy 1 or Hwy 2, or Hwy 4, they probably won’t have a clue to which highway you are referring. They use names here. Hwy 1 is the Glenn Hwy, 2 = Alaskan Hwy, 4 = Richardson Hwy. How can they do this? Easy, they have so bloody few highways the folks in old folks homes can remember them.
The ride from just east of Palmer to Tok Cut-off at Glennallen is beautiful, I think. I caught glimpses of spectacular scenery but, alas, very few, and all “socked-in.” No matter, were the weather cooperating this would have been a great ride. But the weather wasn’t cooperating and it was, yet again, cold and miserable for most of the morning. By early afternoon the rain had stopped. This was, evidently, the weather trying to make up for the lapses of the Alaska Department of Transportation.
Just outside of Palmer AK. Let me tell you,
when they have rivers here, they have rivers, often with huge flood plains and thousands of dead trees lying everwhere.
Glacier further down the Glenn Hwy
I ran into the worst sections of road repair on the Tok Cut-off (Hwy 1) between Slana and Tok. The absolute worst was the FIFTEEN miles just prior to Tok. This was 15 miles of gravel interspersed with sandy mud, both of which made traction a recent memory, and turned travel into travail. If a Texas DOT official authorized 15 miles of road repair encompassing so much loose gravel and slick mud he would be drawn and quartered in a public square. Here? He probably just made money.
Pulled into Beaver Creek and stayed in the same campground I did on the way in. They have a great shower at this place, putting out copious amounts of hot water. After staying twice, however, I’m convinced the staff plays a little game on their camping guests. On both occasions, while rapturously enveloped in the warm deluge from the shower head, someone flushed a toilet and pulled all the hot water from the system. I’m pretty sure I heard snickering when my shouted, “Oh shit,” burst forth. I inadvertently got even when I forgot to leave a tip after breakfast.
Woke up to the pitter-patter of rain. Yep, raining again. After breakfast took Hwy 1 East in steady drizzle with low, very low, clouds. Interestingly, if you ask an Alaskan about Hwy 1 or Hwy 2, or Hwy 4, they probably won’t have a clue to which highway you are referring. They use names here. Hwy 1 is the Glenn Hwy, 2 = Alaskan Hwy, 4 = Richardson Hwy. How can they do this? Easy, they have so bloody few highways the folks in old folks homes can remember them.
The ride from just east of Palmer to Tok Cut-off at Glennallen is beautiful, I think. I caught glimpses of spectacular scenery but, alas, very few, and all “socked-in.” No matter, were the weather cooperating this would have been a great ride. But the weather wasn’t cooperating and it was, yet again, cold and miserable for most of the morning. By early afternoon the rain had stopped. This was, evidently, the weather trying to make up for the lapses of the Alaska Department of Transportation.
Just outside of Palmer AK. Let me tell you,
when they have rivers here, they have rivers, often with huge flood plains and thousands of dead trees lying everwhere.
Glacier further down the Glenn Hwy
I ran into the worst sections of road repair on the Tok Cut-off (Hwy 1) between Slana and Tok. The absolute worst was the FIFTEEN miles just prior to Tok. This was 15 miles of gravel interspersed with sandy mud, both of which made traction a recent memory, and turned travel into travail. If a Texas DOT official authorized 15 miles of road repair encompassing so much loose gravel and slick mud he would be drawn and quartered in a public square. Here? He probably just made money.
Pulled into Beaver Creek and stayed in the same campground I did on the way in. They have a great shower at this place, putting out copious amounts of hot water. After staying twice, however, I’m convinced the staff plays a little game on their camping guests. On both occasions, while rapturously enveloped in the warm deluge from the shower head, someone flushed a toilet and pulled all the hot water from the system. I’m pretty sure I heard snickering when my shouted, “Oh shit,” burst forth. I inadvertently got even when I forgot to leave a tip after breakfast.
posted by Minuend | 4:53 PM
1 Comments:
procrastination rocks!
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