2006 Jul 31 to Aug 06

2006-07-31 Monday

Palmer, AK

Another glorious day in the Mat-Su valley. In the afternoon went with Sally downtown Anchorage, She had to deliver some of her new creations to the Art Gallery. The Gallery seems to be run by a gaggle of nice women and is not at all your regular touristy crap type. Very eclectic collection of paintings, sculptures and artisan works. There are three of Sally's wool animals in the front window, one of them is a grand woolly Mammoth.

2006-08-01/02 Tuesday/Wednesday

Palmer

Usual maintenance stuff in CG. Another Caravan is pulling in, about 30 rigs of all sizes and configurations. One is a Casita TT pulled by a Dodge Dakota with a topper. Looks small next to the 45 ft Prevost with the Grand Cherokee toad.

Is there a question, why I love this CG?

2006-08-03 Thursday

Palmer

Major adventure was the second Dentist visit, this time for a routine cleaning. The hygienist lady obviously is treating a lot of young patients, she was dressed in a Harlequin two piece outfit with printed balloons all over. But it was a very thorough cleaning.

To immediately contaminate my bite wings, I got a sushi/sashimi combo from the Fred Meyer store and shared it, plus a bottle of Pinot Noir, with Sally for dinner. We had a very nice chat and visit.

2006-08-04 Friday

Palmer

Went again to the Farmer's market for the Friday Fling. FFA (Future Farmers of America) kids are selling a good looking bunch of fresh veggies.

2006-08-05

Palmer - Day trip to Alaska Museum of Transportation and Industry; Hatcher Pass; Independence mine  

I woke to my first anniversary of full timing. I hope to be able to celebrate many more anniversaries.

The weather was looking good in the morning, so I drove to  the Alaska Museum of Transportation and Industry near Wasilla. The exhibitions are a bit haphazardly arranged, especially the outdoor part, but they have an interesting mix of artifacts.

I spent quite a long while musing over some of the exhibits, there are almost no descriptions, so your fantasy has to supply the missing data.

Wandering through the outdoor exhibit I heard a train whistle and after I had my fill of the museum, I found the Alaska Live Steamers next door, talked with a few of the members and took a ride on the 1.4 mile loop through their hills and dales.

Afterwards I drove to Willow, from where I took the Fishhook - Willow road, also known as the Hatcher Pass road.  The pass elevation is 4000 ft and the approach from the west is about 20 miles of gravel surface, some of it in poor condition.

Again a very scenic drive, even after it started to rain. Cloud formations hanging around mountain peaks and swathing them in foggy clothes have a certain appeal.

The Independence mine State Historical site was fully in rain,  it gave the whole place an eerie look, I thought it to be very appropriate to the life the miners must have had in this remote location.

Photo album of trip is here

2006-08-06

Palmer, AK Mountain View CG

Again a fantastic day, about 80 F, clear skies, low humidity, quiet.

Day of cleaning, small maintenance and preparations for moving tomorrow.

Finally installed the lower step I had fabricated.

Mt View CG seems to be a favorite location for Caravans and today we had a group of different kind come in, namely a Rotel Tour Bus. Rotel stands for "Rolling Hotel". Höltl, the Bus Tour operator is from a small village in the Bavarian Forest and started in the 50s organizing bus tours from Germany to the "Holy Land".

He hitched a special trailer that had sleeping quarters, a kitchen and sanitary facilities to the bus with about 30 tourists. The tours were basic, cheap, required the guests to help with the meals and the put-up and take-down of the trailer, but the tours could go into areas where there was little or no infrastructure.

Rotel invented Bus Tour Boondocking.  

Now he has tours all over the world. The tour that came into the CG is the 22 days Alaska tour. In Alaska they are using a combination bus, 24 seats in the front and 24 sleeping cubicles plus the proverbial kitchen sink in the rear. The bus is a Mercedes chassis and 13' 4" high in the rear.

I had a look at the sleeping quarters and it has the feel of a morgue with those 24 small cubicles, some are doubles for couples. The doubles make little sense to me, I cannot imagine doing any "hanky-panky" in those cave-lets, no privacy and no room, either.

Anyway, the German tourists on board this particular bus all looked like they had their last sexual encounters not later than the early 80s. The bus driver was younger, though, but for him " it is a job, not an adventure". in the  her

The Rotel tour will be leaving for Anchorage tomorrow, and I will be leaving for Valdez, where they told me that I may find another Rotel tour bus in the CG.

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