Day 56 - Tok, AK - August 24, 2011

Brittons Reporting:

Pam & Lon spent a down day at Tok RV Park in Tok, AK.  We are in a holding pattern trying to wait for the Cockerells to catch up.  We are hoping they will be back on the road by Saturday !!!!  We miss them and Heidi - it's not as much fun without them.

Lon woke up with a sore throat and cough.  We called our Doc back in Waterford, MI and he phoned a script into the "dispensary" (Z - pack) at the Tok Medical Clinic.  Pam went and picked it up while Lon waited patiently in the RV.  He should be on the mend in no time.  While Pam did laundry Lon decided to change the air filter on the coach.  He also checked all the fluids and added a quart of oil.

We are ready to hit the road tomorrow morning for Haines Junction, YT.  Then on to Haines, AK.  We will be traveling back and forth from AK to YT for this trip.  Hope we don't get hung up long at the borders.

Day 55 - Chitnia to Tok - August 23, 2011

Getting into Liberty Falls State Park the night before was easy, compared to getting out.  Tight, tight, tight, not for the faint of heart.  Should have got a picture.  Oh well,  back on the road to head to Tok, "The Gateway to Alaska".  Once back on the Richardson Highway the road was good.

The scenery continued.

 Mt. Hood in the background.

Float planes are definitely the way to get around.

Pam got this rainbow when we hit a shower.

Then we hit the Tok cutoff, Highway 1.  Six miles of good road until we hit construction.   Then 20 miles of gravel.  Dusty gravel, following a pilot car at 20 mph.  Should have got a picture.  Then another 30 miles of dusty gravel at 35 to 45 mph.  Too much dust for a picture.  The good news was we were the lead vehicle.  The bad news was I had to maintain speed to keep lead vehicle status.   The gravel beat the crap out of Pam's car.   Now, I need to change the air filter on the motorhome.  Then, I'll get back in my doghouse.

Day 54B - Chitina - August 22, 2011

Up and at 'em, the Brittons pulled out of Valdez at 10:14 headed for Chitina.  We were blessed with another nice partly sunny day.  The scenery along the way was again magnificent.

We tried to figure out the name of this glacier but couldn't.  There are so many glaciers, maybe they ran out of names?  We named it the "Heidi Glacier" in honor of her absence.

We made the turn off the Richardson Highway, east towards Chitina on the Edgerton Highway.  I guess if it's paved they call it a highway.

  About 15 miles down the road we found this Yak farm.  Musk Ox and Yaks in Alaska, who'd guessed?

        Well, now that we've seen Yaks, we checked Tibet off our bucket list.  Why else go to Tibet?

We continued into Chitina and got some good advice from US Forest Ranger Earl whose headquarters is this oldest building in Chitnia.

We checked out the Copper River where Native Americans were tending fish wheels catching the last of the Red Salmon run.

There was also a backhoe there loading a drop bucket with gravel that this helicopter was using to ferry gravel to some remote location.

Based on Ranger Earl's recommendation, Pam raced ahead with the car to Liberty Falls State Park to secure one of three spots that would hold our rig.  She beat out some other campers with tents by mere seconds for the premiere spot.

                                       We shoehorned the motorhome into this incredible site,

                                         poured a glass of Chardonnay and enjoyed the view.

                                                          Put a bottle in the river to chill

                                                    grilled some pork chops and started a fire.

                                            We enjoyed our fine meal at the foot of the falls

                                                          retrieved the wine and enjoyed the fire.

                                                      We'll do the dishes tomorrow.  Maybe.

Day 53B - Valdez - August 21, 2011

The Britton's reporting:

                                    The day started with a very rare sighting, (hint: note the shades)

It wasn't sunny all day but at least partly sunny and NO RAIN!!!  We found a nice community church called Bayside.  As it turned out that Pastor Dan Bower was once the pastor at church in Livonia, MI.  We also met a nice young lady who was born and raised in Dearborn.   Her parents both graduated from MSU!!  Does it get any better?  Well, yes it could if our Wagon Master/Mistress Jerry and Gail, along with Heidi the Super Scout were here with us instead of battling severe depression in Anchorage.  We hope all their friends will call them to cheer them up.   Really, they're loaded with rollover minutes.

Back to Valdez, population 4353, founded in 1898,  whose major employer is the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.  I guess those are the folks that maintain the pipeline and terminal.  That's the town across the bay.

                                                 Their rather large, small boat harbor 

The city of Valdez was badly shaken but not destroyed in the March 27, 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. Liquefaction of the glacial silt that formed the city's foundation led to a massive underwater landslide causing a section of the city's shoreline to break off and sink into the sea. 

Site of old Valdez



The underwater soil displacement caused a local tsunami 30 feet  high that traveled westward, away from the city and down Valdez Bay. Thirty-two men women and children were on the city's main freight dock to help with and watch the unloading of the SS Chena, a supply ship that came to Valdez regularly. All 32 people perished as the dock collapsed into the ocean with the violent landslide. There were no deaths within the town itself.

Residents continued to live there for an additional three years while a new site was being prepared on more stable ground four miles away. The new construction was under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers. Fifty-four houses and buildings were transported by truck to the new site, reestablishing the new city at its present location.

            The buildings they didn't move they burned.  About all that's left of old town are foundations.

          We decided to go take a look at Valdez Glacier and saw some interesting places along the way.

                              The airport.  How'd you like to shoot an approach in here at minimums?

                                                               A "man camp"?  Really?!?!

                                          We checked out another RV park and saw this fellow.

                                                    We made it out to the glacier and it's lake

                                                                  Complete with ice chunks

                                           Then we went critter hunting and found another eagle.

                                       What can be better then that?  How about a double eagle?

                                                We were watching this tanker coming in for oil

when we ran into a "bear jamb".

                                                      She was fishing with her two cubs

                                                   We sat and watched for about 15 minutes

                                               Pam wasn't so eager to try cozying up to this bear.

Finally, having seen eagles and bears fishing we headed back to camp.  But there was one more shot to be had on the way.

Tomorrow we are heading to Chitna to visit the Wrangell -St. Elias National Park and Preserve, entering a hold while we wait for our Wagon Master/Mistress and scout to catch up.  Does anyone else see the resemblance between JC and Ward Bond?

Day 50, 51, 52, 53 Cummins Shop Anchorage

                              Day 50...We arrived at Northwest Cummins at the appointed time, 8:00AM.

                         A nice young lady, who has family in Guthrie, OK, took the information and said they would send someone out. 10:15 a person comes out and looked in the engine compartment. Then he leaves and comes back with another person, and they look at the engine compartment. They leave and he comes back with another person and they look at the engine. 11:30 they tell me it is probably a head gasket (exactly what I told her at 8:00). OK move it to the end bay on the other side of  the building.

Now comes the shop foreman, nice guy, Cody. First they will drain the oil and remove the oil pan. Then pressure test the cooling system. Then they have to remove the bed and it's substructure to get to the engine.
By the time they got the oil pan off, I had the engine exposed (with some help from Lon, who showed up in the midst of the project to say good-bye). They were off to Valdez. Nothing they can do here.
                                                    The bed had to go somewhere.

By the end of the day, the valve cover and a lot of other stuff was off.

Day 51- Friday morning more stuff came off the top and the back. By the way, this is our bedroom!

Just before 5:00 they put this steel beam, attached to a forklift, on top of the head.

               Then attached the head to the beam and lifted it out with the forklift. 300+ pounds of head.
The mechanic said it is apparent the the problem is with #4 cylinder. Is that 4 from the front or from the back? They all look the same to me, except the pistons are at the top of the center 2. They will pressure test the head for a crack Monday morning. They don't work weekends.

Day 52  -  Now we wait. Saturday is another rainy day. The reason we have been behind on the blog is that there is no WiFi here at the shop. Did I tell you, we are living in a parking lot? Our Datastorm  satellite system will not find the "97W satellite" that we need here in Alaska. Even after many hours of trying at different locations. So we went to Best Buy and got an AT&T HotSpot. Now we are back in business, and a lot cheaper.

After the trip to the mall (where the girl at the liquor store was from Lawton, OK), we took Heidi for a walk by Ship Creek. Ship Creek runs through downtown Anchorage and is a very popular fishing hole. The Silver Salmon are running now.

There were people fishing everywhere, but they didn't know where the fish were.

We did. Heidi found them!

Day 53  -  Woke up Sunday morning and OMG the sun was shining! So we had to get out. We packed the cooler and headed out for Arctic Valley Rd. On the way we saw this truck with an Alaska brush guard (they call them moose guards up here). I'll bet Don Ransom wants one of these.

The "Valley" road was on a military base, Ft Richardson, and actually was a mountain road. Half way up you could see Anchorage from above.

Anchorage is in the center. The Cook Inlet  is beyond. The Turnagain Arm is the water to the left. The Knik Arm is the water to the right. click to enlarge(if you really give a ----)

At the top of the mountain, end of the road, was a ski area. There were people everywhere picking berries. (you probably can't see them unless you click twice)

Then the road down.

 

And tomorrow we should have a diagnosis. Maybe.