Just starting off with a teaser of what will likely be the star photo in a few days, later in this journal.
Decided to do another chapter in my road trip series. A bit of regional good weather came up through central Alaska, coupled with an airshow, and I decided to seize the opportunity.
For those who haven't read, my first road trip was doing a PCD in my new X7, and road trip from S. Carolina all the way back to Alaska:
https://g07.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1803710
Next trip was to the wilderness of Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Valdez, in eastern Alaska:
https://g07.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1837498
This trip will go north into the central part of Alaska, touching on the northern arctic region, and visiting some quite interesting areas, not the least of which will be Denali, the tallest mountain on the North American continent.
Similar to the last road trip, this trip is going far, far off-grid for most portions, so I'll be posting updates every day, but the thread takes places several days after the actual fact.
Also as before, that big line on the right side of the map is Canada.
Day 1: Anchorage to Fairbanks
375 miles
This is a common travel route, for both Alaskan residents and visitors, between Alaska's two largest cities. As Denali is between the two, visiting tourists will often either drive up, or take the train, which is lots of fun and very popular.
This can also be combined with before or after an Alaskan cruise, to make for a trip of a lifetime. Some cruise lines will even offer land vacation packages, taking you to/from the cruise ship, to designated hotels and tours. Princess Cruise Lines in particular owns several grand hotel lodges and takes customers all over. But not last summer or this one, as COVID has shut everything down and crippled Alaska, just like the rest of the world. Cruise lines are just now starting to send a few ships back. 4 of 5 Princess lodges remain closed.
The first significant place you travel through (driving or train) on the travel north is the small city of Wasilla. Many people remember it as being the home of Governor Sarah Palin. As Anchorage is geographically out of room to expand anymore, Wasilla has become a very popular semi-surburb area for people to settle down, with better properties for the money, on bigger land acreage. As such, for some years it has been the fastest growing area in the United States.
For those unfamiliar with Alaska, the drive is deceptively long. On a map, it looks like a quick jaunt, but as I showed in the other travel threads, Alaska is absolutely gigantic. This picture was taken already past Wasilla, already 90 minutes or so into the drive, with another six hours to go, just to get partway into the state.
Long drive times don't even account for construction, which is sure part of the summer, with reduced available time during the year to get work done.
Most of the drive is done on Alaska Highway 3, known as the Parks highway. For years I thought this was because it goes right by Denali National and State Parks, but it was named for George Parks, one of the governors of Alaska before it became a state.
This is a very common sight on highways, as tourists commonly fly into either Anchorage or Fairbanks, and rent chunky RV's to drive off into the wild.
Next up on the way north is the small town of Talkeetna, which requires a half hour detour each way, from the highway. Just prior to Talkeetna is this beautiful viewpoint to see Denali.
What... you can't see it there? Well, neither can I. As I'll talk about later, Denali is so big, that it creates its own weather. Some additional clouds in the area, even at high altitude, just meant that Denali wasn't going to be seen today. But don't worry... the weather forecast is looking very promising for the next few days, and I'm planning on really touring Denali on the drive back.
Talkeetna is an awesome little "kitchy" town. Very popular with tourists, wanting to experience Alaska and buy chotchkies to remember their vacation. Lots of little shops selling furs, art, moose antler goods, and what not. A couple of microbreweries that make some pretty good, and popular brews. And there's an annual jazz festival that's fun, at least when COVID isn't messing everything up.
A look down a side alley. Talkeetna is also traditionally known as a huge jumping off place for Denali activities, including popular flightseeing. You can even hire a bush pilot to land you right onto a Denali glacier if you like, for extra experience fun.
The "Sheldon" there refers to Don Sheldon. Alaska reveres its long-time historical residents, and Don Sheldon is almost god-like up here, one of the first legendary Alaskan bush pilots. That was one of his company's original aircraft hangars.
As for the other things in the picture... when's the last time you saw an actual payphone?
I ducked in a little cafe bar, and had a local cider with caribou chili for lunch. Many foods up here can be made with local meats like caribou, moose, bear, reindeer, or whatever, to make it more exotic. Tastes yummy too.
Back on the road, I always got a kick out of this abandoned building on a random spot by the highway. Out in the middle of nowhere. It's reportedly an old hotel that just never got the business working.
Blueberry picking is a pretty popular thing here in the last half of summer. Right on the side of the highway, or off in the bush.
The landscape changes some over the course of the highway, from open marshy plains, to any number of small lakes, to forest, mountains, and open bluffs.
"Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn" is another popular place that tourists get a giggle out of.
I decided to put BMW Assist to the test again. When I got close enough to Fairbanks to get back in cell service range, I told the car to call BMW Assist, and asked for a recommendation of a good restaurant in Fairbanks, Alaska. Perhaps Italian food.
Sure enough, even in the middle of Alaska, the good people at BMW Assist came up with a good, open, popular rated restaurant. Within 5 minutes or so, I had directions transmitted straight to my car's GPS system, and I was on my way.
Whereas Anchorage is a "big" city with a northern feel, Fairbanks is a bit more of a frontier town. In a state almost the size of a third of the entire lower 48, there's only 730,000 people in the whole state. More than half, 400,000 of those, are in the greater Anchorage area. Only 32,000 in Fairbanks.
Great little classic Triumph in the parking lot, surrounded by the other usual Alaskan cars, Subaru Outbacks, and ATV's.
On recommendation by the server, I got the lasagna, and a glass of Chianti. Not bad. But certainly not great. I wouldn't expect authentic Italian excellence in Fairbanks, Alaska, so it was good enough for a meal.
And it was off to the cabin to crash for the night.
Fitting for the middle of Alaska (and not wanting to go big bucks on fancy hotel rooms that had low availability), I got a "dry cabin" in woods outside of Fairbanks.
Yes, that's what you think it is there, an outhouse.
Quite nice inside! More than I could have hoped for, as a cabin way off the grid in the Alaskan wild.
Certainly everything I needed and more just for little old me. The school bus seats on the side were a great little accent, complete with seatbelts and all.
For those wondering why there's a sink in a "dry cabin" and how that works, well, here ya go. There's electricity to the cabin, which means you can have appliances and most things in a kitchen. Water is brought inside in an Igloo or purchased water jug, and the bucket below the sink just catches all waste and has to be emptied out periodically. No faucet.
Sometimes it's just not in people's budget to dig a well, or the soil or water table just isn't suited for it, so no running water. Even some full-time houses are set up like this throughout the state. Only a couple of cities in the state have an actual city water system.
This kind of setup isn't terribly uncommon out in the Alaska bush. Using an outhouse isn't the worst thing in the world, but it does get old after time, particularly having to get dressed just to go to the bathroom, even in the summer, much less the winter.
Just getting started here. We got several days of travel and fun coming up with the BMW! Most certainly some awesome pictures coming too.