Day 48 - K'esugi Ken to Anchorage and Back

More New Tires

Ellen and I got an early start as Anchorage is about two and a half hours away. Only coffee, break would have to wait. It had rained overnight and was still raining for most of our drive to Anchorage, finally clearing about the time we reached Wasilla, 40 miles outside of Anchorage. The traffic picked up here as well and we found ourselves on a four-lane highway from Wasilla to the city. Just at the point the highway ended is where the Dodge dealer is located. We didn't actually have to go into the city for service.

They had the tires ready and took Speedy in. We walked up the block looking for someplace for breakfast. There were restaurants, but none were open, except McDonald's. After a quick look in the local Bass Pro Shop next door, we resigned ourselves to bacon, egg and cheese biscuits and coffee.

It wasn't long after we got back to the dealer that Speedy was ready to go, shod with new, heavy-duty, rear tires and the earlier purchased tires now on the front. We have now replaced all of the tires on this trip, with three different brands of tire.

It was time to head back...but first some shopping. Rather than try to find a supermarket in Anchorage, we decided to go back to Wasilla. We had passed a Fred Meyer on the way into town. Forty miles later it was time for shopping.

Ellen noticed that there was also a SuperCuts in the same little mall. I hadn't had a haircut since before we'd left Cohasset and it was deemed that it was now time. While she went off to get groceries, I went off to get shorn.

After shopping and a Qdoba burrito for lunch and then a fuel stop, we were on the road north,  The day had become much nicer by this time and it was a warm drive back. We passed a farmer's market in one of the small towns along the highway an stopped in, coming away with a jar of sweet dill pickles—yum!

We returned to settle into our nice double campsite and have grilled pork chops for another outdoor dinner with a view of Denali.

The mountain stayed visible all evening. At about 11pm, I noticed the light streaming into Speedy and realized that the sun was going down behind the mountains, so we got  back up to go out and watch the sun set behind Denali on a fine summer evening. This was a sunset at nearly midnight.