5 July
Well the guys who John ordered the snorkel from were as good as their word. They may have been off roading but the box with a thank you note were exactly where they said they would leave it. Hopefully now she won’t get so much “altitude sickness” Denise still not so good so JC took the chance to get an oil change, clean the vehicle and attach a new sticker to the rear window, all for just 50 pounds – beat that Toyota Hull.
Later that evening, we met Justin and had a great evening, chatting about is trip, our trip and the family of course!!! It seemed strange to be so far away from home and meeting someone from the family – it’s a small, small, world. Sorry, Archie, couldn’t get a photograph of Uncle John and myself with a grizzly but here’s one of Daddy and Uncle John:
The boys.......... The new sign................
6 July
Before we left Anchorage we went to have a look at the Float Plane Airport on the lake – apparently it is one of the largest in the world. What a sight – the planes have taken over the lake area and even have priority on the road???
Float Plane Airport...................
We bumped into Justin again when we went into town to buy a new lens for the camera. This time he was armed with cameras too, so expect some additional shots and video at Church Farm! We are hoping to get some better wild life shots with the new lens. We’ll probably not see anymore now that we’ve bought it. Also fixed ourselves up with a tracking system so that people can keep an eye on where we are. Got a bit to do to get that properly sorted out though so watch this space!
We headed off for Fairbanks on the last day of our liability insurance, confident that everything would be OK for our onward journey. We dropped into Talkeetna, thinking about taking a flight over Mt Mckinley, but the weather was not great. Talkeetna is the place where all of the mountaineers set off by plane in their attempts to scale the highest mountain in North America. Sadly today it’s a bit like York with lots of tourists, coaches, galleries, flights, food and gift shops. Only difference is the houses are made of wood and there are some weird looking elk in the street.
???
We were simply retracing our steps through Denali National Park and Mount McKinley remained as elusive as ever. When we got to the Quality Inn, we go the bad news – insurance still not sorted out.
7 – 9 July
Well, we have been sitting here for over 2 days now waiting for our insurance – very very frustrating and on top of that its been raining every day! The plus is that Denise has had some time to relax and get over the throat infection and some of the lovely people that we have met here. Gelena from Bulgaria is our favourite barmaid and always welcomes us with a smile. Last night we met Aaron from Kingston Idaho, a wonderful friendly man who told us all about his lovely wife Milly and his family and invited us to go canoeing with him if we ever find ourselves near to his home. You never know Aaron, we might just turn up someday and you know you are welcome in Brandesburton if you do make the trip to England when you retire!!
The lovely Gelena..... John and Aaron..........
Even the hotel owner is now involved in our quest for insurance. Although he will lose out on income when we leave, he is doing his best to help us sort this out. To be fair this is the first problem, so far, that has stopped our progress – that’s travelling! Keep your fingers crossed that we get some good news later today and that our next update will be from somewhere other than Fairbanks.