A journey to fill my soul

I’m down one person today as I dropped my daughter off in Anchorage last evening for her flight home. I will miss her adventurist soul, so much like mine. My wife and I found kinda a sketchy campsite along Hwy 1 about 20 miles south of Anchorage just to get us through the night. It was a bit noisy but free, guess that’s what I was looking for. I thought my wife needed to see what it was like to go in search of, and then establish one of those free stops when the timing was right. It was late and I had no interest in finding a real campsite just to spend a short night, so free it was.

After a nice, good for an all-day breakfast, sausage and pancakes, we hit the road headed north. My wife will fly out of Fairbanks at week end so I needed to head north on this day. My original plan was to go further north on the Dalton highway after her departure in order to catch the Elk migration back east. After learning of the challenges to understanding animal movement I set myself onto another end of trip travel, and I believe my trip home will be an explanation point to this long journey. You’ll need to wait on my posts for how this plays out.

Where am I at?

Back to the location of this night stay and the image to open this. I’ve learned to be very patient in travel. We all have that freaked-out feeling when we don’t have control of the immediate plan, I’ve learned to chill out and let it happen. This is one of those places. Leave your light-duty truck at home along with the 35’ travel trailer. 4-wheel drive only, drop down to the river side and pick your spot. Seriously, heavy duty only. We squeeze between trees, crossed an inlet river, dropped down to the big riverside and found a spot. Amazing! Quiet, peaceful, tranquil….find a word for just getting away from all the tourist craziness from the past week. Mom! I’m home!!!! Seriously, this is what this trip is about to me. Don’t need restaurants, people to notice me, loud music, hip and trendy people, I just need to get away. We’re just south of Danali National Park in a very remote location.

So, let’s review

What is Alaska to me? Alaska is about one-fifth the size of the lower-48. Take a moment to ponder that. It is incredibly large, but so much is unreachable by a common motor vehicle. I know that we all have a vision as to what Alaska is to ourselves. Hunting, mountains, lakes, rivers, cities, wilderness, the people, maybe an ocean cruise, each element can tell its own story. Personally, I think Alaska is the most amazing state in our union when it comes to the people and land. But as a tourist to this place we need to be realistic as to what we can do and see as individuals. I’ve had several people reach out and say they are sold, they are coming up here. What should I see and do? Tough question because it depends on what you are seeking. But here’s my synopsis, visit the ocean ports. I’ve been to Haines, Homer, and Seward, all really special places but each very individual in personality. If you can, visit them all and don’t forget Valdez which is a short ferry ride from Seward. Ok, and Juneau and all the other port towns. But if I had to pick one as a tourist, considering a husband/wife travel plan, go to Homer. The ocean port of Homer is absolutely amazing. In my last post I provided my viewpoint of commercial versus charter to understand what this city is. If I wanted to do a charter fishing trip and leave the wife behind to shop, Homer is a clear winner. Seeing the charter fishing side of this was eye-opening. At the end of day the restaurant scene wins hands down. We had some of the most amazing seafood meals available from any city, that’s in my own opinion and I’ve been to many ports in the lower-48. I had a seafood taco that knocked my socks off and I’m not exaggerating in any way. I followed the women a bit on the shopping scene and thought it could easily fill a couple days. So the men out fishing for a day or two are safe from the bored hostile wife. Hope that didn’t come out wrong….

Now, I’m not a fisherman so my viewpoint may be off a bit but I believe others would agree. Myself, the ocean is a must see, but too many people. My thoughts… I like no people, wilderness, put me in a place of peace and solitude to focus my inner thoughts. Maybe read a book, but most importantly, quiet, scenery, and wildlife.

What’s next?

Tomorrow we’ll head up to Fairbanks where we’ll stay at the same site I was at while waiting their arrival. After a couple days shopping and preparing, my wife will fly out Friday late. Early Saturday I’ll be on the road headed south and east on my drive to the Cassiar Highway back in Canada. That will be the starting point, in my opinion, of my drive home. I plan about three days to reach that point and I believe there will be a lot on that drive so hold on.

In closing…

As usual, thanks for reaching this point. Thanks for following and thanks for the comments and likes. It will be several days before I post again so be patient, I will return.

Until next time, peace…