23 June 2007 (part 2)
Road Turbulence.
So the road from Palmer to Tok is no place for a nap. Even if you are not driving. The early part of the trip is windy-twisty. No, not windy. I’ll go with windie. As we go up into the Chugach Mountains, past the remote Matanuska Glacier, Sheep Mountain and a bunch of other places that I can’t recall the names of... Much of the road parallels the Matanuska River valley which was cut by the remote Matanuska Glacier, way back when it was actually remote and the nearest Starbucks was several hundred miles away.
Steve and I had the opportunity to whitewater raft part of the Matanuska two years ago. It was my first time rafter and what a trip! It was great fun. I took an unexpected swim call, but managed to survive. Funny thing about glacier fed rivers, they are full of silt. Very fine, very powdery silt. Like black flour that doesn’t dissolve in water. If you go swimming, you are likely to end up with silt everywhere. For about three weeks. This is what I think about when I gaze upon the mighty Matanuska.
We stopped for gas and a quick dog jog in Glennallen. I was in charge of the dog jog and Nate was the Poop Manager. Nate is all time Poop Manager until he learns how to walk the dog. He likes to let go of the leash as soon as she pulls. And, well, she’s a husky. Pulling is what she does. She has 100 years of inbreeding telling her to pull. So in order to maintain a balance of responsibility Nate gets to carry the plastic bag and walk along with Malley and her designated walker to manage the poop. It is not a job he loves and he is much more motivated to learn how to walk the dog now.
After the gas stop, the road seemed to straighten and flatten out. Which you would think is a good thing. Notsomuch. The thing about flat long roads up here is that they aren’t flat for long. The frost heaves put speed bumps in the highway, so you’ll be driving along and all of a sudden hit a small roller coaster ride dip. Which is kind of fun the first time, but gets old after a few hours. It feels a lot like turbulence in an aircraft. Only you are in much greater danger of hitting the ground.
Interesting sight along the road: we saw a moose standing in a small pond about 300 yards from the road. His head was under the water. Not just taking a drink, but under the water. I thought maybe he was blowing bubbles. This led to a spirited rendition of “I Love My Lips” from a Moose Tunes CD the boys have.
I’m a moose and I love my lips
I’m a moose and I love my lips
I like my long legs and my big bony hips
But I really, really love my lips
Sing shoobedy doobedy doobie doobiedo.
See, this road trip stuff can be fun.
Shortly after the moose, we passed a place in the road where we think we saw chickens crossing three years ago. Incongruity reigns supreme in America’s last frontier. No chickens, but we did reminisce about the rare Arctic Chickens we almost ran over last time. It’s interesting, they go straight to the freezer case in the grocery store.
We arrived in Tok at about 10:15, Malley was especially interested to learn that Tok was named after a sled dog. We could tell because her right ear perked up. We found Young’s Motel and Fast Freddy’s Restaurant. I assume Freddy’s last name is Young, but I didn’t ask. The motel was Motel6ish, not a resort, but the small room was clean. Perfectly acceptable for a few hours of sleep on a road trip. The boys, the dog and our hotel:
Fast Freddy’s closed at 11 so we stopped for a smackeral before we moved into the room. I an attempt to be healthy, everyone but Nate had a salad. Nate had chicken dinosaurs. What 6 year old can resist chicken dinosaurs? The food was fine, but nothing to write home about. Which is a good thing considering that we don’t actually have a home right now.
This is beautiful downtown Tok. OK, so the most interesting thing is that I took this photo at 11:30 pm.
The moon over Tok.
We jogged the dog, settled into the room, I wrote some of this drivel and lights out was at about midnight. Well, the room lights were out, but it was bright and sunny outside.
Road Turbulence.
So the road from Palmer to Tok is no place for a nap. Even if you are not driving. The early part of the trip is windy-twisty. No, not windy. I’ll go with windie. As we go up into the Chugach Mountains, past the remote Matanuska Glacier, Sheep Mountain and a bunch of other places that I can’t recall the names of... Much of the road parallels the Matanuska River valley which was cut by the remote Matanuska Glacier, way back when it was actually remote and the nearest Starbucks was several hundred miles away.
Steve and I had the opportunity to whitewater raft part of the Matanuska two years ago. It was my first time rafter and what a trip! It was great fun. I took an unexpected swim call, but managed to survive. Funny thing about glacier fed rivers, they are full of silt. Very fine, very powdery silt. Like black flour that doesn’t dissolve in water. If you go swimming, you are likely to end up with silt everywhere. For about three weeks. This is what I think about when I gaze upon the mighty Matanuska.
We stopped for gas and a quick dog jog in Glennallen. I was in charge of the dog jog and Nate was the Poop Manager. Nate is all time Poop Manager until he learns how to walk the dog. He likes to let go of the leash as soon as she pulls. And, well, she’s a husky. Pulling is what she does. She has 100 years of inbreeding telling her to pull. So in order to maintain a balance of responsibility Nate gets to carry the plastic bag and walk along with Malley and her designated walker to manage the poop. It is not a job he loves and he is much more motivated to learn how to walk the dog now.
After the gas stop, the road seemed to straighten and flatten out. Which you would think is a good thing. Notsomuch. The thing about flat long roads up here is that they aren’t flat for long. The frost heaves put speed bumps in the highway, so you’ll be driving along and all of a sudden hit a small roller coaster ride dip. Which is kind of fun the first time, but gets old after a few hours. It feels a lot like turbulence in an aircraft. Only you are in much greater danger of hitting the ground.
Interesting sight along the road: we saw a moose standing in a small pond about 300 yards from the road. His head was under the water. Not just taking a drink, but under the water. I thought maybe he was blowing bubbles. This led to a spirited rendition of “I Love My Lips” from a Moose Tunes CD the boys have.
I’m a moose and I love my lips
I’m a moose and I love my lips
I like my long legs and my big bony hips
But I really, really love my lips
Sing shoobedy doobedy doobie doobiedo.
See, this road trip stuff can be fun.
Shortly after the moose, we passed a place in the road where we think we saw chickens crossing three years ago. Incongruity reigns supreme in America’s last frontier. No chickens, but we did reminisce about the rare Arctic Chickens we almost ran over last time. It’s interesting, they go straight to the freezer case in the grocery store.
We arrived in Tok at about 10:15, Malley was especially interested to learn that Tok was named after a sled dog. We could tell because her right ear perked up. We found Young’s Motel and Fast Freddy’s Restaurant. I assume Freddy’s last name is Young, but I didn’t ask. The motel was Motel6ish, not a resort, but the small room was clean. Perfectly acceptable for a few hours of sleep on a road trip. The boys, the dog and our hotel:
Fast Freddy’s closed at 11 so we stopped for a smackeral before we moved into the room. I an attempt to be healthy, everyone but Nate had a salad. Nate had chicken dinosaurs. What 6 year old can resist chicken dinosaurs? The food was fine, but nothing to write home about. Which is a good thing considering that we don’t actually have a home right now.
This is beautiful downtown Tok. OK, so the most interesting thing is that I took this photo at 11:30 pm.
The moon over Tok.
We jogged the dog, settled into the room, I wrote some of this drivel and lights out was at about midnight. Well, the room lights were out, but it was bright and sunny outside.
No comments:
Post a Comment