This is probably the last blog entry from Alaska but will continue to report on the journey home should there be anything interesting to share as we fly from here to Newark via Seattle.
Today was highlighted by lunch at a hotel overlooking a lake where there are many small aircraft outfitted with pontoons. Jeff tells us that at the peak of the season there are up to 1700 arrivals and departures of such aircraft from this lake per day. These are chartered flights that take folks to points throughout Alaska, landing on rivers and lakes in remote areas of the state that are just too distant or otherwise inaccessable to travel to by any other means. There are many points of interest that have little or no road access and even where roads are available, they are frequently in poor condition due to the ravages of very harsh winters. I saw a tee shirt at a shop yesterday that was inscribed with "All Roads Lead to Rome, but NO Roads Lead to Nome" and that is pretty much true for other spots as well.
This afternoon we visited a mall where the "Big Rig" was outfitted with a new radio/CD player and while we were waiting for the installation, we toured the mall which could, for all intents and purposes, be considered to be typical North American mall except this one included a hockey sized indoor skating rink that was surrounded by several levels of mall area. Click here for photos.
Tonight Tracy was off to another softball game (she plays in two leagues) and Jeff was off to see an indoor football game with some friends while Deb and I packed our remaining items for the trip home.
It is surely sad to see this adventure come to a close but my friend, my wife, my favorite companion in all such ventures (not to mention sometimes pilot, co-pilot, navigator, flight attendant, etc.) and I are determined to do more of this in the not too distant future. More than anything I appreciate her support and participation in all of we've encountered. For all the complicating factors that crossed our path, we approached every bit of this with a real sense of excitement and the challenges were handled with relative ease as we enjoyed both our surroundings and the occasional contact with other travelers and local residents along the way. We thank all of them for their contributions to our progress and enjoyment. We also want to thank all our friends and family for their support and interest. For a great deal of help in getting this all of to a nice and comfortable start from Houston, our deep appreciation to Eric and his family. Mostly, we thank Tracy and Jeff for trusting us with the delivery of their "Rig" and thus giving rise to the possibility of such an adventure - and of course for their hospitality upon our arrival at the journey's end.
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