25 July 2006
Day 9: Anchorage
Weather this morning was improved: still mostly cloudy, but dry and with the sun breaking through the clouds most of the time to light the dramatic mountain scenery. Arrived in the Anchorage area and immediately set about looking for a hotel, a car wash, and a Toyota dealership. Then it started pouring rain, so I stopped looking for the car wash for now. I found the Toyota dealership, but I’m not sure that they’ll be able to squeeze me in (for 5,000 mile service & a rock-chip repair). If not, I’ll try again in Fairbanks — I found the service number at the dealership there, so I can call two or three days in advance of my arrival, at least. I will probably also get an oil change in Fairbanks (over 3,200 miles, and more than 200 miles of that dusty gravel roads). Besides, it’s been eleven days since my last oil change.
I saw a cell phone tower a half hour before Anchorage! I turned on my cell phone and… a signal! Weak, very weak… but definitely a signal! This is the first time I’ve had cell coverage for over a week. Now I just need to recharge the battery… Bonus: my hotel has Internet access! And, there’s a strong signal in my room! There’s never a strong signal in hotel rooms!
As the rain started pouring down as soon as I reached Anchorage, I decided to stop for the day and focus on getting my postings out to my web site and other long-overdue tasks. I will hold off taking care of laundry until Fairbanks.
I expect to spend at least one more day in the Anchorage area, and will visit Homer (south), before heading north to Denali National Park and Fairbanks. As of two days ago, I had made up for leaving one day late, and was a little more than two days ahead of schedule. The visit to Valdez puts me one day ahead of schedule. Barring car trouble… I should be back in Seattle about three days early, I think.
Of course, if the weather continues to stink, I could shave a couple more days off that estimate.
(Strictly speaking, shouldn’t the forecast low be much, much lower than that?)
That bird I reported two days ago — the one I thought might be an owl — I believe it was not an owl, but a Northern goshawk.
Front view of a goshawk in flight (in the right column halfway down).
Tip of the day
You can see where I am on a map by copying the latitude and longitude from the post (everything between the parentheses), going to maps.google.com, and pasting it into the search text box. Then click "Search Maps"!
Departed Eureka Summit about 9:30 AM ADTArrived Anchorage, Alaska (61°19'N, 149°34'W) about 2 PM ADT
Sun: 5:12 AM - 10:59 PM
Weather: Overcast and rainy
Distance to Seattle: 1,429 miles
Distance to the arctic circle: 374 miles
Distance to the north pole: 1,985 milesDistance driven: 189 miles
Total driven: 3,377 miles
Pace: 375 miles per day
25 July 6:15 PM ADT