Mosher P 4

We arrived in Anchorage around 4:00 p.m. on June 19th. No problems at all with the drive. We ran into some construction delays which are typical for this time of year. The scenery is beautiful.

One of the interesting things we are finding is our lunch stops. There are very few places along the way and sometimes they get a little uncomfortable when we pull up in our 7 cars with 14 people. We convinced one lodge to take us because we all agreed to have cheeseburgers and fries. Their cook was also the waitress.

The first day we drove to “downtown” Anchorage and did some souvenir shopping. That evening the local car club met us and we toured about 20 miles to a dining lodge and had dinner. After dinner, we drove south along the Seward Highway to Girdwood, a local ski resort.

The next day we were invited to their Solstice Rumble Car Show at nearby Mirror Lake. This is a celebration in honor of the longest day of the year. Remember that it doesn’t ever really get dark. Right now it is midnight and it looks like it is 4:00 in the afternoon! Not all the hotels have black-out curtains, so it is hard to get to sleep.

The next day we headed to Talkeetna. It is a very quaint town with lots of gift shops and tourist things. We stayed at a very cute hotel in the woods, and we were treated very nicely by the hosts for dinner and breakfast.

We had a long day driving the next day to Fairbanks – 278 miles. The weather was cool and rainy when we left, so we were unable to see Mt. McKinley. They also had some fires near Talkeetna and down south near Homer. The skies were just starting to clear up from the smoke. We didn’t have time to drive into Denali Park, but again the weather wasn’t very good.

Driving into Fairbanks, we were met by the local club. After checking into our hotel, we went to Pioneer Park and had a really nice potluck dinner. It was great having a home-cooked meal for a change. Eating out 3 meals every day is starting to get old. After our dinner, we took the Model A’s over to a local RV park and drove through showing off our cars. I guess they do this every month after their meetings. Today, the guys had a garage tour of their fellow Model A’ers in Fairbanks. Didn’t get a change to see much of Fairbanks, but will be back again after our 4 day trip to Prudhoe Bay.

My next journal will give you the details of this very challenging portion of our trip. Four Model A’s are going up North, and the other 3 Model A’s are going South to Valdez. We will meet up again in Tok on June 29th.

Our station wagon is doing just fine - just some minor problems and general maintenance. Everyone is having a great time and enjoying the state of Alaska.

Look forward to our next update when we get back to the Fairbanks area. We are staying at the North Pole (That is the name of a small town near Fairbanks -- not the Top of the World!).

Carol and Ron