Transitioning - All Good Things Must Come to an End (Wednesday 5/29 - Thursday 5/30)

I thoroughly enjoyed my time along the Sterling Highway and the cities of Soldotna, Kenai, Homer and points in between!  Waking up Wednesday morning, it was time for me to prepare the campervan for return to Great Alaskan Holidays (GAH) the next morning.  This meant going through the remaining food and make decisions about what would be eaten the next 24 hours and what I should give or throw away.  I also needed to pack up my clothes and gear in preparation for flying to Ketchikan on Thursday.  Much of what I had, was still good, so I gave it to Ronna (the owner of the Diamond M Ranch Resort & RV Park where I had stayed the past couple of nights).

She was gracious and appreciative of things like charcoal briquettes, lighter fluid, campfire starters, unopened jars of alfredo & spaghetti sauce, as well as the remaining eggs and other food items.  The very last of the food would get me through the day and early morning, when I would have to do the final clearing out of the refrigerator and pantry.

I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast of french toast and sausage before heading north to Anchorage.  To be honest cooking in the camper was very easy and convenient.  While not much room for two people to be "in the kitchen" it was very workable for just the two of us during our time together.  Cooking for one was a breeze.

Once on the road, I stopped at the Walgreens in Soldotna to pick up some cold medicine in hopes of knocking down whatever was coming on me.  My sinuses were still stuffy and my head/nasal draining.  I wasn't looking forward to flying the next day . . . especially since I actually had 4 flights from Anchorage to Ketchikan with stops in Juneau, Petersburg and Wrangell enroute.  At the time I book my departing flights from Alaska, it seemed like to good idea especially to provide multiple opportunities to see the mountains and glaciers through the inside passage region of SE Alaska.  But in this moment and not feeling 100% . . . not so much.

The driving north on the Sterling Hwy up to the junction at Tern Lake was rather uneventful.  I stopped at the visitor center in Cooper Landing, but it was closed.  I always marvel at how green the Kenai River is and enjoyed a short walk behind the museum building.

Of course, being a weekday there were several construction zones along the way.  They were moving pretty well, so I don't think they delayed me more than 20-30 minutes total.

And whenever I just wanted to stop and pull over to enjoy the view, that's what I did!

By mid afternoon I arrived to Anchorage and Centennial Park, a municipal city park and campground, where I had booked my campsite reservation the day before.  I expected my check-in to go smoothly and without incident, especially since my campsite had been selected/assigned the when I made and paid for my site.  Unfortunately, it was a comedy of errors, created by some apparent homeless folks occupying my site as well as the one across the road.  It was an uncomfortable feeling for me, so I went back out to the campground office to discuss the situation with the on-site security officer.  After about an hour of hassling with the campground management by phone, I was parking and settling into another campsite in an area I felt comfortable with.

I won't go into any further detail here at this time, as I have been in contact with city officials regarding Centennial Park, its operations and current state of affairs there.  It is my hope that they will be able to make improvements so that future guests do not have the issues that I had on my final night of camping in Alaska.

The next morning I was up bright and early, needing to get the gas and propane filled before turning in the camper at GAH by 8:00am.  Everything went smoothly and on schedule.

He are the final dashboard readings . . . the odometer read 5,667 which meant we logged 5,529 miles in our 18 day rental.  The reported 17.5 mpg was close, as our actual calculation for all fuel purchased was 17.0.  With a total drive time of 135+ hours, that worked out to roughly 7.5 hours/day for the 18 days . . . which is actually a bit low considering there were a few (3, maybe 4?) days when the camper sat and wasn't driven much at all.  But I think you get the point . . . there was A LOT of windshield time while moving this vehicle from Iowa, through Canada and to its new home in Anchorage.

Once all of the paperwork was completed, GAH provided transportation over to the airport.

My flights from Anchorage through SE Alaska were nice.  Early in the day, the skies were relatively clear enough to see the surrounding mountains.  It wasn't until Wrangell, that the rain and heavy cloud cover prevented much in the way of flightseeing.

This photo is looking up the Turnagin Arm of the Cook Inlet towards Anchorage.

Mendenhall Glacier is in Juneau and was visible upon approach to the airport.

The LeConte Glacier is barely recognizable upon approach into Petersburg . . . but it could be seen in the distance.

Arriving in Ketchikan as scheduled around 4:30pm, a new adventure was to begin!  From my research in planning this trip, I knew the airport sat on an island and that it required ferry service to get from there over to the actual city of Ketchikan.  I had a rental car booked for my 2-day stay, which was going to incur a $26 round trip fee for the ferry.  I don't know what it is about a car ferry, but they never cease to give me a smile.

Once on the other side, I hooked up TOOTS (my Garmin GPS) and set her to navigate me to the Super 8.  This is probably where I should thank BCAW for the ability to drive around the state of Wisconsin to meet with bowling center owners, staying in hotels and getting to keep the Wyndham Rewards points for personal use. 

My 2-night stay in Ketchikan in an "oceanview" room would have cost roughly $200/night . . . but using my rewards points, my stay was FREE!

It wasn't really that great a room, and being located in a wet rain forest climate, the place had a damp musty smell (not great for someone with allergies and respiratory ailments who is already not feeling well and chugging Robitussin every 4 hours).  But I wasn't planning on hanging out in my room much other than to sleep.  And yes, the king size bed was VERY comfortable . . . more so than a murphy bed in a campervan.

 

 

After getting checked in and unpacked, I headed out to find supper.  Months ago, I had someone suggest the Alaska Fish House down by the harbor, as a local hangout for the fishermen after coming in from a hard day's work.  I ordered the 2 piece halibut fish & chips basket.  While it was very good, I'm not sure why locally caught seafood is so expensive throughout Alaska.  I guess location, location, location. And the fact that their summer season is so short.  That said . . . $35 for this lunch (including tax & tip) just seemed steep.  I was thankful that for the most part, our food expense on this trip was not bad having most of our meals self-prepared in the camper.

TO BE CONTINUED