Event Coverage North to alaska living the dream

Catch a good buzz?haha

 

I would love to but we only have a cooler and it's not that big, and it will take us almost 3 weeks to get home.

Thanks anyway.

BB

 

Wow this is soooo cool. Thanks for all the pictures. I feel like I'm riding in the car with you! Thanks again, and may God be with you. Larry

 

Stop by the sears mall in anchorage at 6 on Thursday for the thursday night cruise!

 

Won't be in anchorage until the 13th.

I HAVE A BROKEN LEFT STRUT ROD ON MY MUSTANG II. I THINK THAT I CAN MAKE IT TO ANCHORAGE. I NEED A STRUT ROD AND A PLACE TO PUT IT IN.

BB

 

BTT for a strut rod!

 

Never had a better gin and tonic than one made with glacier ice.
Bringing back lots of memories. Fantastic trip there Mr. K

 

Bob, I told you the ALCAN was a hell of a rough road to drive.

 

Another BTT. Bob, if you don't get any offers of strut rods, there are some on that auction site that I suppose could be shipped overnight. Not sure how hard it'll be to find in AK. I'll be monitoring....

 

He is no where near the "Alcan" and won't be for some time.

 

Bob,don't go fighting with the bears over Salmon.

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Bob, if no one can find a strut I have one off a 76 V6 MII that I can get up to Anchorage via Alaska Air. Someone would have to pick it up at their freight desk though. Someone should be able to come up with one up there though.

 

Thanks, we shall see what comes up but I'm gonna keep this in mind.

I'll put a new post on the strut rod on the board as soon as I get the part number and the year it came from tomorrow. I'm hoping that there will be one in Anchorage by the time I get there on the 13th.

I'm gonna have to be very carefull.

BB

 

Here is a tidewater glacier, this is one of two that are still expanding, all of rest of them are receding, note the big cruise ship in the right side of the picture. We were hoping that this one would calf while we were there but no such luck.




One without the cruise ship, it looks a lot better.





More glacier pictures over the heads of the rest of the passangers.





The iceberg field left by the glacier. All of these are very small leading us to beleive that no big ones have fallen lately.





Notice the neat cave on the left side of the pic.





This one is very wide, covering the whole valley.





Iceberg with Eagle eating fish.





The lower deck of the Glacier View Boat.





We picked up a bunch of these sea kayakers in three different stop. This bunch had been out for 5 days and they smelled like it.





I forgot what this is called but it is caused by the middle of the Glacier moving faster than the sides.





When we got back to the Lodge we took a little walk up the river and found this little cove that was only accesable only at high tide. It was low tide at the time and there was no way he could get the boat out.





Spruce Grouse.





Dinner and drinks on the deck. Livin the Dream.





What's a dinner without a little Chocolate Mousse.





Momma Spruce Grouse.





And 2 of her little ones.




Shit, Iv'e been spelling Gustavus wrong for this whole damn thread. Oh well, there ain't no HAMBer's there to check up on this anyway. We went to the 4th of July parade and celebration. The whole town of 350 plus the staff and guests of the lodge turned out.





Just to keep this vaugley on topic, here is the only old car in the parade, it was his grandparents and he love it.







Approaching the picture limit.


BB

 

That is some good stuff there HRP!!!!!

 

More of the folks from the parade.





Strawberry Ruhbarb Pie.





The local gas station is a real piece of work, those pumps have late model guts and are in use every day.





These damn big birds are everywhere, even on the boat dock where we were to board the Whale Watching Boat.





The aptly named island built to house the new Ferry Dock.





Saw a bunch of whales but only am gonna post 2 pictures, this is a BLOW, caused by the exhaling of air out of the whales blowhale when they come up for more air, it can be seen for quite a distance.





The Flukes (Tail) can be seen when they dive to feed some more.





Did I mention that it was raining again.





This is the TAZ our whale watching boat.





Back to the airport again for the trip back to Juneau. A very long 13 minute flight in a jet.





As evidenced by the little pot and pan girl posted earlyier the Alaskans just love to decorate their driveway entrances. This was taken on Douglas Island accross the channel from Juneau.





Yard art on top of a building.





The next morning we boarded this ferry for the 4 hour ride to Haines Ak.





While we were in Juneau getting gas we were approached by a guy asking questions about the car, spent a few minutes with him and said our good bye's. We were seated in the forward lounge when the same guy (Jack) wearing coveralls. He wanted to know if we were interested in seeing the engine room. Maggie didn't want to but I sure did.

These are the engines and they are huge the shafts turn only 450 rpms.








Haines is our destination for tonight. I thought that I had picked a good motel but it was the worst one of the trip so far.





Welcome to mainland Alaska.





We took a quick tour up to a local river to see if we could see any bears and spotted these driveway decorations.




They had built a weir to channel the fish into a chute so they could count them, this guy was doing just that, looks like a damn cold way to make a living.




Nearing the limit again.


BB

 

We are in the Keystone hotel in Valdez, I found a guy that wouldn't weld the strut arm and the local NAPA store didn't have one. I have a ferry to catch at 7am for Whittier, then another ferry on Wednsday morning to Kodiak and then into Homer on the 13th. Then will head for Anchorage very carefully. Hopefully there will be one up there and a place to change it. I figure I could find a sleeve and weld it up. That is what I wanted the guy here to do but he didn't want the liability. And to top it off he was from Pound wi. which is about 45 miles from my home town of Antigo.




BB

 

Another tidbit, this hotel looked like a barracks of something like that. I asked the desk clerk and was told that it was built as housing and offices for the folks that worked on the Exon Valdez oil spill. So we are now part of the clean up crew????? Yeah Right.


BB

 

What a wimp! A sleeve and a couple tacks could work just fine! I once superglued a guys carbon fiber bike frame together on a cross country ride since it was Sunday and there was no place to find Hysol adhesive!

 

What a great trip! Keep us posted on the strut, I'm sure half the members on this board would send a strut to anchorage for you hahaha


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Bob will have to correct me if I am wrong. But, if he drove from Haines to Tok, Glennallen, and Valdez he most ceertainly was on part of the ALCAN. And a rough section to boot. If he rode the ferry from Haines to Valdez, then you are correct. I invite you to look at posts 140 and 200.

 

Bob- I'm 90 minutes North of Homer, in Kenai. My place is messy and cluttered (and it's mostly off-topic cars) but I have full machine & fab facilities including MIG, TIG and stick. The grease pit is occupied by a '63 Avanti right now, but I'll bet we can find plenty of room for that beauty.

I can hit the local supplier and have a strut waiting for you, if you'd like. My website's down for the moment (they're upgrading software, I think- either that or I haven't paid my bill ) so my regular E-mail's down, but if you need the space & tools, feel free to PM me with the details and I can get the ball rolling.

Doc.

 

-Willie, the pilot in that crash was a friend of mine, left behind three kids, the youngest is a year and a half. He was a genuinely nice guy, a true tragedy.

The other nine people (!) in the plane were visitors from South Carolina- two families, three adults and five kids.

Doc.

 

-Last time I was on the Ferry, I had to ask about that, since I'd never heard of any such law. (Thinking, of course, about the usual local restaurants and such.)

It's because the Ferries are State owned and run- the people operating it are therefore State employees. Giving them gratuities would be (legally speaking) like slipping $20 to the lady at the DMV for faster service; as far as the State is concerned, that's a bribe.

Doc.

 

Hey, Bob and Maggie, thank you for taking me on your trip. We are hoping to splash down in Alberta, at about this time, next year. We will hire a car and do a bit of scratching around AB and BC before heading to Bluegrass territory for some music.
Travel safe and 'strut'your stuff.
Cheers, Davo.

 

What an adventure! Thanks for taking us along, I am amazed. Docsmachine, I have a friend in Soldotna, and was worried too,thanks for clearing that. Jack

 

Thanks Bob. Hope you get your strut fixed.
Later,
Dick

 

Hey bob, it's an ATCO hotel, as I understand it they built it out of ATCO modulars and slapped some metal roofing on as "siding".

It's big brother is at the airport, the Valdez city Man Camp. (Housing for people that work at the pipeline terminus and elsewhere, but don't live in Valdez).

 

I'll put the word out to those I can.

If you can get it put on in Homer or Kenai I'm sure we can get it there to you, even if I have to pick it up from AK Air freight.

 

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