Saturday June 8, 2013 Tangle Creek, AK

I’m a slacker.  There – I’ve said it.  I’m a slacker.  We have a major problem on this adventure trip in that it’s really being disguised as a vacation for some of us (me).  On a vacation, you go about having a good time doing whatever it is the vacation is supposed to be designed to do, and at the end of the day you sit around drinking and eating and having fun with your friends talking about how Jimmy got stuck on the elevator or Sally tried eating the umbrella in her drink.  There are no elevators or umbrella drinks here, but there is eating and drinking and talking about the days adventures.  The problem is that I should have jotted down some notes about what happened during the day, rather than having a good time at the end of it.

The trip out of Chatanika was uneventful and even, dare I say it, warm.  (well – comparatively speaking)  We passed the outskirts of Fairbanks and stopped at one of everybody’s favorite places, The North Pole.  (yes, it really does exist)  Santa was off on his lunch break.  He does, after all, have to keep up his image.  We all browsed through the place, took some pictures and said hi to Rudolph.  I had to buy a Christmas tree ornament – I mean, come on – it’s the North Pole!  We continued south on the Richardson Highway till we reached Delta Junction to fuel ourselves and the bikes.  It was here I realized just how prevalent engine block heaters are in this part of the country.  Oh – I’ve seen the plugs hanging out of the front of most all the cars, and have even used them in my truck driving day’s decades ago, but even in this little backwoods, out in the middle of nowhere Alaska, they have outlets to plug in your vehicle while you have it parked for as long as you’re in there.

We continued heading toward the Paxson area along some of the most beautiful scenery of lakes, streams and mountains I’ve ever encountered, and had finally had enough of the “race”.  It seemed like everyone was in a hurry to keep up with the leader for fear of getting lost.  Why?  There are no other roads to turn off to, and we have a support vehicle running behind us.  Even though we’ve been encouraged verbally to stop and take pictures when we want to, it just didn’t seem like you were really supposed to do that.  Well – I had finally had enough.  It’s not like this is a cheap trip, and I want some pictures along the road.  It looked like I started something as everyone seemed to do the same thing.  Meanwhile, miles up the road, our leader realized there was nobody following so he decided to pull off to the side and wait.  It was about this time one of our riders had a flat tire, so a mandatory break was in order.  While everyone was milling around while changing the bike, I was off taking pictures, and it produced one of my favorites.

 

We left the Richardson and turned on to the Denali Highway on our way to the Tangle River Inn for the night.  Little did I know what would await me the next day.  Our rooms were spacious, and the food was so good and plentiful that we didn’t even ask, or care, what the exorbitant price would be for this out of the way place, because here in Alaska, everything is expensive.  The Tangle River Inn is a home base for mining operations miles away and a helicopter is stationed here to fly supplies into the field when needed.  They also have permanent tents set up behind the cabins for mineral testing and lodging.   The night was filled with potato launching and fireworks, the latter of which I just couldn’t stay up for.  (these young kids are killing me)

http://youtu.be/zFpAWrkXB8U