The next morning we spoke with Fanda and Kaschka about staying another day in Fairbanks and they agreed, wanting to get caught up on a few things as well. Fanda was in search of a new rear tire and a welding shop to repair his side stand, neither of which came to pass, while Kim and I continued cleaning gear, shopping for food in a real supermarket... Shazam! Cans of Spam! Shazam! Shazam! Shazam!
Kim’s ear infection had not gone away and finally had driven her to the emergency clinic in town the night before, during which the long wait included a man having a heart attack coming in from a fishing trip with his buddies. By the time we'd gotten out with a prescription, both the Walgreen’s and Fred Meyers stores had closed their pharmacies, leaving us with only the hospital pharmacy open.
Kim went in while I waited outside on the bike, only for her to return empty handed. Apparently the ear drops were completely unavailable in the Alaska region at the moment and the pharmacist had no solution. Kim was in severe pain and confused, but there was no option but to return to the motel empty handed.
The next morning we called the clinic and told them about the ear medicine issue and they said a pharmacist could substitute eye medication, which we were finally able to get for her. Apparently the eye drops were more powerful but were dangerous to use if there was a perforation in the eardrum. Kim didn’t care as she needed relief and began using them.
Kim was hurting and wanted to rest in the room with the lights off, so I headed out to find an internet cafe and work on updating the report. A small coffee shop in the downtown section of Fairbanks provided the perfect place, with a mug of hot coffee and a croissant for bookends. As I worked on images in Lightroom, editing them for the upload to the report, a young lady walked past and saw them, opening a conversation about photography.
It turned out she was a new photographer and was excited to find out I’d been a professional with a studio. As the conversation ensued in depth, she interrupted me and said “I’ve prayed for God to send a professional photographer into my life, because I have so many questions about getting started and have had no one to help”. I told her that’s how God works and it seemed I was the only one available :D We had a long, in depth conversation about much of the business. She shared that her father had passed away recently, leaving her a small amount of money and she hadn’t been sure whether she should invest it in her desire to get a photo business going. She had recently rented a small space for a studio near the coffee shop and asked if I woud mind looking at it. I was happy to and walked the couple of blocks to it with her. The space was small but she had done well with it, and it was just big enough to do portrait work. It was fun seeing humble beginnings and encouraging someone to follow their dream.
Later in the day we got a message from F&K that they would need to leave the host’s home the next day since they’d been there longer than intended and felt they were bothering him. We reluctantly started the process of packing up that evening to head south for Denali.
Tuesday morning dawned bright and sunny, but Kim’s ear was still screaming. She headed back to the pharmacist to get an additional bottle of meds before leaving. When we showed up at F&K’s place they were lounging around in jammies and hadn’t realized we were leaving. Apparently they’d sent us a message that Frank was a bit sick and their host was happy for them to stay another day. We didn’t get the message and when we arrived all loaded to go, they panicked and began to throw on clothes and gear to leave, in spite of our best attempts to assure them we could stay another day easily!
After the rushed and raucous beginning, we rolled out in the clear sunshine and skies heading south for Denali National Park. As we crested a ridge just out of Fairbanks, Denali stood as a monstrous white mountain towering above the landscape, accented against a brilliant blue sky. We’d been told the mountain was so large it was visible from many areas of Alaska, but wow, could we see it that day! It was a constant companion throughout the day as we inched further south toward the park.
We were told that only 1 out of 3 visitors to Alaska actually get to see Denali due to inclement weather, so were were lucky to see it several days in a row
At the juncture of the entrance to the park, we debated whether to camp and return to take the bus ride into the park, or just continue on south for Valdez. We all had been unsure whether to visit Anchorage and then go down to Kenai, or just go straight for Valdez, which had been recommended by many folks. One might wonder why not visiting Denali would even be a consideration, but I must tell you when traveling long term, there are days when you just don’t connect. It’s hard to explain but at times you just can’t muster the will to add additional time and energy to do things. This was one of those days for all of us.
We tossed a verbal coin and decided to ride east on the Denali Road to Paxson, then go south for Valdez since the prospect of a large city like Anchorage didn’t appeal to us.
The Denali road was beautiful, but brutally covered with potholes. At a pic stop along the road, I spotted fresh oil on Kim’s front tire and was relieved to find out it was a blown fork seal rather than a brake line. The Dalton mud is notorious for eating fork seals and it seems The Butterfly’s bike was a victim. The front brake shoes were doused in the fork oil. We’d ridden in 40 miles and still had 100 to go to make Paxson. The prospect of replacing oil-soaked brake pads wasn’t a problem as I had spares, but replacing a bad seal was since I had none with me.
Fanda and Kaschka said they were about done with the potholes, especially since he was still running his worn out rear tire and they were riding two-up. We all agreed to reverse for Anchorage, as it would be the last place to get fork seals and tires for a very long time.
The world’s biggest igloo
Somewhere south of Denali we found a good campsite along the river, again being the lone campers. The camp area was small but nice with a picnic shelter for our stuff. For some reason, we were all a bit uneasy and unsure why - possibly the bear issue - but we huddled around the pitiful fire and cooked our supper. A lone Chevy Yukon suv pulled in and parked out in the lot, apparently for the night. Kaschka and Kim asked me to go ask if they were going to stay for the night but I refused, with the appropriate explanation that a huge guy with long grey hair banging on a car window at night in a remote area might bring a 45 caliber response.
We nominated Kascka to go since she was small, cute and had a big smile. She eventually returned with a lone lady who introduced herself as Ronetta. We invited her to join us for our meager dinner and she agreed, sharing that she was a wildlife photographer and had come north from Anchorage to get a shot of the northern lights over Denali since they were active for a few days. F&K had seen them the night before when their host drove them outside of Fairbanks to view them clear of the city lights.
The time around the fire was great as we shared food and stories, Ronetta’s Alaska wisdom and knowledge of animals being very educational. She drug out some Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and we acted like we’d won the lottery. We wandered out into the parking lot as the temps dipped severely and caught a glimpse of the beginnings of the aurora, which never peaked. Ronetta told us to definitely get our food away from the area for the night. I told her we’d planned to put the motorcycle cases in the public bathroom since it had a locking door. She said to put them in her Yukon instead since she was afraid someone might steal them during the night. We drug the cases and dirty dishes into her car.
Ronetta returned to her Yukon to head out into the night and to higher elevations, saying she’d return early the next morning and drop the cases off. We exchanged info with her and hit our tents for the freezing cold night. It was early the next morning when I heard sounds and got out of the tent to find Ronetta carrying one of the cases to our campsite, grabbing it and then getting the others from her vehicle. We shook hands and said goodbyes, to which she produced a big bag of Reese’s and I burst out laughing. She made me promise to share and then drove off. I sat in the sun while the others still slept, trying to keep warm in the crisp air until stirrings in the tents and the long process of drying flys and gear in the sun and packing began for Anchorage.
Wee'uns saw a lot of this on the roadsides...
Ernie - another road warrior on the way to adventure
Kimberly... quite a road warrior herself
By the time we hit Anchorage, a beautiful ride from Denali (at this point, just insert “beautiful” or similar about any road in Alaska and save me a hell of a lot of typing) it was getting late in the day. Stopping at the local Mickey D’s for cheap coffee and crappy wifi found that there was camping in the Anchorage city park - Centennial being the name IIRC.
In addition, F&K found a couch surfing host that said he might host all of us, but the trip to visit him was a bust and the dude was a bit disturbing. F&K found another host while Kim and I headed for the city park.
The campground was forested and the camp host was nice, as well as having showers… but after setting up we quickly realized the campground and especially the tent area was a de facto homeless camp. People were sleeping under tarps and makeshift shelters, drug deals seemed to be in the works and a “lady” walked by in high heels, heavy makeup and short skirt, making her way down a dirt path into a wooded area.
We got in the tent early after helping guide an old man and his camper back into a spot and waited for sleep. Throughout the night, people walked out of the woods and within 3 feet of our tent, muttering and mumbling. It was a really weird experience and we were ready to get the hell out as soon as possible.