Anchorage to Fairbanks

There comes a time on all holidays when the wheels seem to fall off the wagon and our time in Alaksa was that time. We left Bird Creek and headed into Anchorage. We did see Mrs Moose on our way to the gas station so that was a bonus but it was all downhill from there. Or maybe I exagerate. Maybe it was the weather and our lack of planning. Either way we all struggled for a couple of days.

We had booked the bikes in for a service at 10am when the shop opened. We arrived early so they pointed us in the direction of a local eatery where we could have breaky. Back at the shop Marty pulled his bike apart so he could change the starter motor. Job done and still we are waiting for them to do our tyres, oil and filters. It's now nearly mid day. Marty asks  how much longer before they start and discovers that even though we rang and booked the bikes in we needed to fill out paperwork and until that is in the system nothing happens. Great, thanks for telling us!

Maree and I entertained ourselves for a while by trying on and buying new boots. I was rapt as I can never find boots to get my inflexible feet and chubby calves into. We both bought a pair.
Marty got talking to the owner of the shop who spotted his Vincent T shirt. He has quite a collection of old British bikes some of which are on display in the shop.
Would you believe it was 4.30 by the time we were able to leave and that was without the oil and filters being done. Marty would do that when we got to our friend Dave's place about 20 miles up the road. But first we had to deal with Anchorage traffic!!

Had a nice evening with Dave and his partner Ann.

We decided to get on the road after breaky which was around 11 and in hindsight this was our first mistake. Had we stayed we would have sat down and planned our list of things to do on the way to Fairbanks and got the timing right. But I shouldn't harp on about it.
We stopped in a little town called Talkeetna where I looked at going on a plane flight which included a stop on a glacier. I ummed and arred because they coukdn't guarantee the glacier landing due to the weather so in the end I decided not to do it. We should have gassed up here but we didn't and I went onto reserve about 70 miles from the next gas station. We turned around and headed back to a rest area we had just passed. It was decided Marty would ride back with the gas csns get fuel while Maree and I sat around and waited. We discover a young Italian man and his harley there in the same predicament. His partner had hitched a ride to get their gas.

Next stop was at the Igloo. Rather run down and not at all suitable for a nights accomodation.

We carried on up the road trying to find somewhere to stay. Very difficult. We eventually found a room in Denali National Park. Sure paid a lot to have a balcony.
We headed into the park the next morning but our tardy start to the day meant we were too late to do any of the bus tours. More disappointment.

We carried on and found another little town where they had glacial air tours so we tried them but they had just cancelled the flight due to weather. Was not meant to be.
We did get a lovely view of Mt Kinley from the road.