Monday, June 22: Leaving Fairbanks. Arriving to Healy.

Greetings to everyone out in the lower 48. We are here in Alaska for our second full week care. We started off today by staying later at the our 17 to 20 hour Odyssey visiting the Arctic Circle. That was quite a visit. We will never forget it that’s for sure. It was the best of times it was the most uncomfortable of times considering how bumpy the road was, and all the waiting we did. But it was visually stunning. And it was very interesting. The nature and the atmosphere of the area, which is completely literally very, very isolated. No Internet for most of the trip because we’re out 20 minutes out of Anchorage. Basically, if you’re more than 30 minutes outside of Fairbanks, you’ll have no Internet I think that’s true especially if you go north mainly if you go north, you go south of Fairbanks that’s different. We are heading into civilization and towards Anchorage. Anyhow, we are headed to the Starbucks and as our tradition for this vacation had I had one of the sandwiches and so did Mary. I had my bought two iced coffees. They didn’t have whole milk so I had 2% which was dandy they put 2/3 milk as I had told them they’re very good with instruction. I don’t really question you there like you do in Philly when I asked for my milk with my coffee or coffee with my milk. Anyway, we drove out to Healy. In the meantime we talked to Wes for almost 2 hours while we’re in Starbucks and driving down the hundred miles, it was to Healy. We went to this place with the Denali Totem, Hotel or Motel and this place is a freaking complex. It’s a bar restaurant and a whole bunch of places to stay and it’s full of dude it’s a dude ranch here. I swear, young guys. With the bartender we went to to get the dinner order he was from Philly. He said “go birds explanation“ he was really nice him and his friend who brought him to Alaska treated introduced us to the menu and we decided to have pasta old-fashioned pasta with meat sauce and that was very good. We watched the World Cup game Jorden versus Algerian Algeria won 2–1. Anyhow, it’s time to relax and I’ll get ready for our bus ride through Denali Park.

Sunday, June 21: A trip to the Arctic Circle

Hello everyone, Mary & I got up around 7 AM and got ready to go to Starbucks so we can get ready for 9:15 AM trip to the Arctic Circle. Went to the Starbucks and we had plenty of time to order our iced coffees and have a sandwich to get ready to go to the strip so we make sure that we’re ready to go. We drove to the place and I bought some swag and paid for the parking. We have to order two sandwiches each for us for 10 bucks each. That’s what they’re offering for food. People are still coming in even though we’re tentatively supposed to leave at 9:15. It’s  now 9:17 and there are a bunch of people here. It’s now 10:09 AM truck that we’re driving in or the coach as he calls it had to check engine light on, and we had to delay for a little bit while called the mechanics. Boy this guy likes to talk. Anyway, he’s been talking about services on the road 6 AM. Talked about the gas station for 100 miles and we’re going to shop which has no hot food because mechanical problems. Internet service is up and down. We still have service. Mary and I are sitting in the front seat. And he’s saying that Alaska is mostly Public land!  He is now talking about trees 🌲 I just wish he would allow for some silence 🤫 It’s now 11:24 AM. We have lost internet 🛜 connectivity for the rest of the trip. We saw part of the Alaska Pipeline. The driver blabbed on about forest fires 🔥 & how they benefit the ecosystem. He does not stay silent for very long. Maybe for about 30 seconds to a minute at most about three times. He told us how he built his own house and and stuff so he’s really into himself as I’ve noticed. It is now 2:21 PM and we gotta look at the pipeline up close. We took pictures and the guy told us a little bit about how and why the pipeline was filled above ground. well, we went by and went to the Yukon River. The rest stop is called the Yukon River camp. They had proper bathrooms and we picked up our sandwiches. They were pretty hardy. I got a pound of soda and a free refill which was clutch. I was pretty darn thirsty. We ended up sitting at a table and I charge my phone. I’m at a outlet that I had found. Then we took a walk to the Yukon River and took some really nice videos and pictures. It’s now 4:25 PM we’re gonna be stopping next at Finger Mountain for a quick walk. That is the last stop before we actually get to the Arctic Circle. Some folks are going to cold, but we’re turning around at the Arctic Circle. We actually saw a moose on the way. Around 4:50 PM the driver spotted a whole moose. He estimated the moose weight about 1750 pounds. It was quite awesome creature. We were able to get good pictures and videos of the moose. We arrived at the Arctic Circle at 6:36 PM. We posed for pictures in front of the sign.  The driver had a Bundt cake and Cool Whip plus water which is a nice little thing to have. It is surprisingly grueling because he does about 25 miles an hour and it’s bumpy as hell out here and it’s dusty. Also, the air is dry but we’re having a good time and it’s unique experience. It’s now 7:11 PM. We’re finally heading back towards the Yukon River and the Yukon River camp that’ll be about an hour and a half that we’ll get our second set of sandwiches. This time will add mustard. I’m gonna drink as much liquid as I can because it is so dry around here it’s far out man. we had to wait for a road repair for about 40 minutes. We did arrive at the Yukon River camp. We had a delicious turkey and cheese sandwich with with tons of mustard and the mustard made all the difference and I had tons of refills which really was satisfying now it’s 958. We’ll probably get home by around 1:30 or 2 PM. It’s 11:05 PM we’re still 90 miles away from Fairbanks no Internet connection and we’re listening to some about the Cory Cohn people. The driver  is Mark police sign in Civic Road is very rocky and bumpy. It just seems like athan it was on the way down for my tolerance has gone down. It’s 11:05 PM we’re still 90 miles away from Fairbanks no Internet connection and we’re listening to some about the Indian people. The driver driving on the Dalton Highway which is very rocky and bumpy. It just seems bumpier than it was on the way down for my tolerance has gone down. It’s 11:50 PM and we just got out of the Dalton Highway. We took a really quick pitstop and now we’re hitting real highway. While we were at the highway we saw really cool rainbow! 115 miles were done each way on the Dalton Highway which equals to 230 miles both ways. He estimated we did a total of 200 miles each way to the Arctic Circle and back. It is now 12:49 AM estimated we will not be back till about 2 AM. Still waiting for the Internet. reach now 1:19 AM. The sun has not set yet. We’ve gone into Fairbanks and we finally have Internet connectivity. Well, I took so many pictures. It’s kinda hard to fathom this trip. Heading towards there we were a lot more energetic and what not. We really enjoyed the Yukon River camp, which had a real food, delicious sandwich, and free refills of whatever fountain drink you wanted whether was water, soda or lemonade. The people there I mean, that people work there were really really pleasant. I also wanted to come in the driver who had to put up with driving horrifying bad roads. The Dalton Highway was really really bad. There were trucks that sprayed dust in his face. He had to let trucks bypass them and then we waited 40 minutes each way for some superfluous road crew and their repairs of the road. That’s why we’re gonna be getting in after 2:00 AM. After we got to the Arctic Circle. We were very, very tired and the right back was more of a slug than it needed to be possibly I don’t know. Maybe it’s always like this. I mean it was a once in a lifetime experience. We did get certificates to commemorate the affair. And I don’t think anybody else I know ever did this. is an experience were really never ever gonna forget. The people on the bus were very nice as well. One guy next to us was really good at zapping all the skeeters that were buzzing around the bus. There’s a bug zapper that the bus driver had that shaped like a tennis racket so you can easily zap bugs. It’s pretty cool device never seen one like that before.