Day 34 - To Valdez

Beautiul waterfall near Glacier area

-----------------------------------------Worthington Glacier in route to Valdez----------

Mountain Stream driving on Richardson Hwy to Valdez

Sunday August 8, 2010. The phone woke me at 3:30am. It was a text message from Leslie saying they had landed in Chicago(which was 6:30am Chicago time). When they got off the plane they ran through the airport to catch their connecting flight to Peoria, which was due to leave in 3 minutes. The flight attendant called out to the plane but the captain said the doors had been sealed and he would not open the doors again for them to board. They had to wait 5 hours or more for the next flight to Peoria.

We were getting our showers this morning (warm showers by the way, as the water heater has been working perfectly)and trying to get packed up to leave Anchorage for Valdez when I received another text message. I finally called and talked to Leslie and she said that the flight they were waiting for was also delayed. I later received a message saying they left Chicago at 12:25 and the final message said they arrived in Peoria at 2:35 but NO Luggage. WHAT A TRIP! I hate flying as you can never plan on when you will actually arrive at your destination! I told her that they need to contact American for a refund! What a hassle they have had. Today is Pete's dad's birthday and they are planning to be at his mom and dads at 5:00 for his dad's party. They must be exhausted!

We did not get a very early start this morning for Valdez. We needed to get our propane tank filled before leaving Anchorage so Larry went to the office to find out where we could get it. I was still trying to get some laundry caught up before we unhooked.I think it was close to 10:30 when we finally got on the road for Valdez.

The weather this morning was beautiful again with the sun shinning bright and was very warm. We left Anchorage on RT 1, known as the Glenn Highway, which takes us back through the mountains where we walked the Matanuska Glacier. The scenery is beautiful driving this route. I mentioned before how freighting the roads were as they are narrow and have a lot of curves that drop off the side of the mountain. We had a perfect view of the glacier again today with the clear weather but the farther we drove the more the clouds were coming in over the mountain tops.

We drove for a long time and when we came into Glenallen, we stopped at a grocery store and bought chicken from the deli for lunch. What a mistake--it was so dry it must have been cooked last week! We also picked up coffee that we forgot to get at Walmart last night. The can we bought was a little larger than a normal can of coffee and we paid $15 for it. It was just the normal blend of Folgers. We could have bought a bag of Starbucks, which I think was a 12 oz bag for $28.95. DO PEOPLE REALLY BUY THESE THINGS IN ALASKA????? While we were in the store, a lady came in from Valdez talking about all it does is rain and that her yard was like a swamp. Oh great here we go back into the monsoons!

As we turned off from Glenallen toward Valdez, the roads were horrible with many frost heaves. We probably drove 60 miles or more on this road with dips and bumps. We stopped along the road at a beautiful stream to rest awhile. The water was so beautiful and, as most mountain fed streams, the water had a turquoise tint. We let the cats out on the leash for a short time but they were so freaked from the cars passing we ended up putting them back in the RV.

We drove by the pipeline for a short distance before it ran out into the dense wooded area. Also there was a big petroleum station with large barrels for the crude oil from the pipeline. The pipeline is huge and pretty impressive to think that it runs more than 800 miles, well beyond Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay.

We drove on about 5 miles and the scenery began. There were tall mountains all around and some were snow capped. The road just went down and down forever. I thought we would never stop traveling down the mountain. Two of the tall mountains had large glaciers in them and the waterfalls were coming down out of the mountains everywhere. We both commented that coming out of Valdez should be interesting trying to climb back up pulling the car. We may drive the car separate until we get on more level roads. Anyway it was a beautiful drive into Valdez and another example of how amazing Alaska really is. If you do not like looking at the beautiful mountains and the mountain steams, then you should probably stay out of Alaska. What total Beauty!!!

Valdez was about 305 miles from Anchorage and sets on the Prince William Sound. We arrived here about 6:00pm. Of course it is raining here. We started getting some rain about 50 miles before Valdez. I guess our entire trip is going to be plagued with rain as it seems to follow us everywhere we go! At least most of the time when it is raining, the mosquito's are not biting so bad. These are just a few of the things you must deal with to see this beautiful state!

I love reading about the history of each area we visit. Valdez was totally wiped out by the March 27, 1964 earthquake and Tsunami. The earthquake was a 9.2 and lasted over 4 minutes. It struck 45 miles west of the town. In 1967 Valdez was condemned when it was discovered it was built on unstable ground. Valdez was moved 4 miles east of the original location and 52 of the original buildings were moved to the current location.

In 1973 the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline was approved and Valdez was deemed as the southern terminus location. The population soared as the workers began locating in Valdez. The large tankers constantly come and go into Valdez to transport oil to the lower 48.

In 1989 the Exxon Valdez tanker hit a reef 25 miles outside of Valdez, which created the massive oil spill. As I read about the oil spill, I realized I must be getting old as it seems only a few year ago I so vividly remember this event. There is a hotel that still exist in Valdez that was originally built as a command center for the cleanup operations.

The Richardson Highway, RT 4 runs from Valdez to Fairbanks. This is the highway that we turned south out of Glenallen. It was originally called Keystone Canyon Trail and was Alaska's first highway and was the only viable inland route to Fairbanks.Because the highway started at Valdez, the town became the coastal port for traffic going into and out of the Alaska interior.

We pulled into Eagles Rest, where we had reserved a campsite, and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. It is VERY large and has nice wide campsites. We can actually put our slides out and still have lots of room to put our lawn chairs out next to the RV without being right next to the neighbor's RV. Also we do not have to unhook the car hauler as our site is long enough to leave it attached to the motor home. That is a first for a VERY long time. It is such a hassle to unhook and push the hauler into a tiny little spot. By the time we put out the slides and have the car hauler next to the RV, we can hardly find enough room to park my little car. The campground has about 15 cute little cabins they rent out. Everything is very clean and they actually have a large grassy area in the middle that is well trimmed that they use for tent campers. When the camp guide helped us park, he informed us that we could wash our RV on site. WOW this is something we have been waiting for because the RV is FILTHY! With the rain it will be dirty again but right now it is covered with mud,dust and BUGS galore! My car is so dirty it's hard to determine what color it actually is. Also the camp guide said the water is spring water so good for drinking. When we were in Denali, the water had such a scum on it that we could not even make coffee with it. We plan to stay here until Wednesday. From here, we have not decided where we are headed. Either to Hyder or just head back home as our time is running short.