Last evening after we returned to the rig and got dried off and warm, we watched a caravan pull into the campground. Caravans are commercial groups organized to provide a group leader and a tail runner to a group fo RVs traveling together. The cost of a typical caravan in Alaska is $4-5 thousand dollars and they last about 20 days. In addition to the organization and staff, they typically cover the campground fees. Our opinion is that a caravan is WAY over-priced and we would never be happy with the organization. (Our campground fees average about $30-32/day in Alaska (much less, perhaps half that in the lower 48)). This caravan was funny to watch however. There were more than 20 rigs in the caravan. They began to pull into the campground around 6:30 pm. The last one arrived in the dark well after 10:00 pm. By 8:30 am this morning, they had all left, moving on down the road. We can’t figure out why they would have come to Telkeetna (14 miles off the main road) for a night, only to not see any of the town, and then move on. My guess is that they had just finished some tour at Denali and didn’t want to drive any further south towards Anchorage last night. There are campgrounds along the Parks Highway where they could have avoided the 14 mile diversion but we don’t know the reason. Our goal is to never spend only one night in any place. There is just too much work setting up and breaking camp to make a one night stop worth anything. We’d much rather drive further on one day and take the next day off on vacation. To each his own! Our campground was empty by 11:00 am this morning. There were only 3 rigs left, the owner, us, and a man who is here for the entire summer as a pilot for one of the flight seeing companies.
I just happened on to the Washington Post webpage where I routinely read the news. The key photo – “above the line” is of the Salty Dog Saloon in Homer, Alaska.
I had photographed the Salty Dog but hadn’t posted that picture earlier. The site sure brings politics back to us in remote Alaska. Alaska has ballot measure next week, Proposition #4, relates to the regulation of mining. The resolution puts pro-mining against pro-fishing – both are economic powerhouses in Alaska. You can’t imagine the amount of press, money, advertisements, spent on this issue. On the TV here the advertisements are constant. I think it comes down to: Prop #4 will prohibit mining where it will harm a key salmon fishery industry. The Native American lands are not subject to the same environmental standards as others. Many advertisements promote how once the Native Americans started working in the mines, they regained their self-respect. (There seems to be an argument of self-reliance vise environmental (and fishing) concerns. I’m guessing that the self-reliance argument is somewhat specious – what we have seen of Native villages is quite dismal.) There is no question that Pebble Mine will harm the Alaska environment. If I were an Alaskan I would vote in favor pr opsition #4. The Pebble Mine isn't going to help the workers but it certainly will harm the fishermen.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/24/AR2008082401674.html?hpid=artslot
The other reason I had planned to post this picture of the Salty Dog is that a few days after we left Homer we were watching a series of Deadliest Catch on TV and the crew of the Time Bandit was returning to Homer. After greeting their families, their firsts stop was the Salty Dog. Now I’m beginning to wonder why we never made time for a stop there. ???
Our Sunday was quiet. I spent hours organizing the photos from the last few weeks. Late in the afternoon we walked back in to town to visit the shop where I had seen great wool sweaters. I did buy a fuzzy wool sweater thinking about the coming winter. We then moved on to the General Store for ice cream. Wow! I don’t eat much ice cream but I do think that the serving size has increased dramatically over the years. They had a sign at the counter that said you have 3 seconds to choose your favor or else they will choose it for you! Robert pointed out to me that they had peppermint (real peppermint, not mint chocolate chip) ice cream. No decision for me. We both enjoyed our ice cream before walking back to camp.
Surprise, surprise, as we walked along the road it started to rain. Come on, we’ve been here three days and every single day, as we walk home, it starts to rain. :-( But today we fooled the clouds. We started home earlier so it only sprinkled! The hard rain occurred after we got back home.
Monday we move on to Riley Creek Campground at Denali National Park. We won’t have hook up so we’ll likely be back in touch on Thursday when we reach Fairbanks.
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