We Finally Make it To Anchorage!

A ship in the tundra several miles from water????

Time for an oil change!

Heading up Lake Clark Pass - a real highlight for me!

Prepping for Anchorage's very complicated VFR procedures.

The beginning of the pass - still plenty of room to turn around if required.

About 1/2 way through the pass.

Looking ahead and getting WX Cam reports from FSS.

Plenty of room.

The Ipad was invaluable for navigating the passes.

Nearing the other side near Anchorage - terrain is opening up.

Acres and Acres of single engine aircraft at Merrill Field.

The Citabria will feel at home here!

July 1 (Anchorage)

We slept in a bit this morning, had breakfast, and then Lance & Toni took us on a tour of Bethel, showing us the sights (not that there are many!)  We stopped at a couple of stores, and were very surprised how well stocked they were – fresh fruit and everything.  Very pricey, but still, available.  It was a dreary, sort of rainy day with low clouds.  After eating a bit of a late lunch (we took them out to a place called Shogun), we packed up our stuff and they took us to the airport to take off.  Travis was coming in on a flight later and hoped to have a bit of time, but in the end he didn’t have much time so we took off before he arrived.  He wanted to say goodbye to his friends there, but we wanted to get going because it looked like the passes may be open (one never knows) into Anchorage and we didn’t want to get stuck out there for a week or two, which can happen.  The first couple of hours flying the ceilings were very low and we were scudding along only a couple hundred feet above the ground trying to find openings to keep going.  The entire area is tundra at sea level, so there is nothing to hit, but it seems a bit scary to me.  We finally landed at a place called Platinum (have since read they mine platinum there, hence the name).  Roger had a bit of an emergency with his bowels (!) and so needed to land, but he would have landed there anyway cause the weather seemed to be closing in more.  But, another plane landed and the pilot, who happened to be a woman, had come from where we were going, so told us all about how it was where she had  just come through.  She said it soon opened up and looked pretty good, so we took off again, and it was just as she had said.  As we left another aircraft landed – they fly in those conditions regularly.  (A 200 foot ceiling with good visibility underneath is often the weather there, and to an Alaskan Pilot those are great conditions to fly in – Roger).  When we left Platinum the weather was very low so we had to follow the beach for a while until it cleared up, but the visibility was always great.  We landed at a few more strips on the way (just touch and goes) and then flew into Dillingham on the south coast and got fuel.  We then went into Iliamna to fuel again before we headed through the mountain pass to Anchorage.  Roger wanted to have full tanks before he left so he had options if he had to turn around (like the last time).  We had to go through one mountain pass, which of course was absolutely beautiful.  There was a river and sand bars all the way through that we could have landed on if we would have needed to.  And then a hop, skip and a jump, and we were in Anchorage!  Yeah!!  Travis & Alana picked us up from the airport.  We hadn’t seen them since their wedding a year ago, so it’s great to be here. 

I feel a sense of relief that we have made it this far, and that I actually really enjoyed it, in spite of moments of fear.  The first couple of days on the trip I really wasn’t sure that I could keep going and did not enjoy it all that much, mostly because I was afraid of being in a single engine airplane and feeling like something could/would happen.  But as time went on, I relaxed and it turned out to be a great adventure.  One that only Roger & I share, which has been special too.  Never have we been on a trip this long, just the two of us. 

I’m writing like the adventure is over!  It is NOT!  We have to come home yet.  J  But first, we are spending almost two weeks here in Anchorage with Alana & Travis.  Roger wants to do some side trips yet from here, but we’ll see if we have time.  JOLENE