Date: 16 June 2001 (Saturday)

Start:

End: Black Spruce Travel Camp, Ft Richardson AK (0 miles)

It was 45f with very few clouds when we got up. Visibility was unlimited.

Today was partly a "chores" day.

I scrubbed the front of the trailer to try to get some bugs off. That’s a never-ending chore. Why do bugs give their little lives to embed themselves in the front of a trailer, anyway? The trailer looked cleaner afterward, but needs more work to get the bugs off.

Dolores did laundry while I was "de-bugging". The laundry facility here at the Ft Richardson Travel Camp is free (no coins), a pleasant surprise. There are pictures in the laundry cautioning patrons to be on the lookout for bears; several pictures of black bears show why.

Actually, the whole base is quite nice, with good facilities and conveniences. The base is just off the main highway from Anchorage to the north, a six-lane, 65mph affair.

Then we went to the exchange to pick up our first set of developed film (US$192 at exchange prices, including a CD with all the pictures on it). We stopped to get and send e-mail so those interested could keep track of us.

We went downtown to see if we’d missed anything.

There was a market happening in one of the large parking lots downtown that turned out to be a gigantic flea market + tee-shirt-shop + food booth. There was a little of everything and nothing good.

We watched the "Earthquake Experience", a presentation about the 1964 Good Friday earthquake with seats that move and simulate an earthquake. We went to the Alaska Public Lands info center in the Federal Building and saw a presentation on the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska several thousand years ago.

The day was beautiful again, around 70f with high, thin, clouds. We didn’t see Mt McKinley today.

At 5:15, Dolores suggested we do church so we attended in the local cathedral, a simple, low, undistinguished building. It was warm inside and somewhat uncomfortable.

Afterward, we found a local place for dinner (Sorrento’s). We each had halibut, pasta, and wine. A welcome change from all the tourist-oriented places.

Then back to the little house on the army base to label picture folders and make sure we got what we wanted. Now they’re filed. The CD is usable and we’ll send a few photos from it soon.