5 Aug- It’s hard to believe this part of our journey on the Alaska Marine Highway System is coming to an end. We have become seasoned blue canoe travelers, with six ferry rides under our belt and we don’t want to leave on number seven, but we know we must.
Bigfoot and Elkhorn arrived at the ferry terminal in Kodiak ready to board the Tustamena in route to Homer. The Tusty as it is affectionately known by locals just came out of the dry dock for some upkeep and repairs and it looks beautiful with a brand new fresh coat of paint. It took a while to load all the vehicles on the ship as the elevator ramp can only take one or two vehicles at a time, but that was okay.
The journey to Homer was uneventful and in 15 hours we were de-boarding the Tusty on the Homer Spit. It was very windy, rainy, and cold morning at the Spit which dictated what we were and what we were not going to do that day.
Instead of spending a day bumming on the beach and drinking an Alaskan Amber, we decided Ann Marie could take a short walk on the beach and that was that. We have all been here before, and it was a good feeling of familiarity as we drove around, remembering from our previous journeys here. After a while we proceeded north up the peninsula to the city of Kenai. Virgil had ordered an item from Home Depot that was delivered there to pick up.
Once that was in our hands we decided to make reservations with the Alaska Railroad, for a 7 hour train ride from Girdwood to Grandview and return. Virgil called the reservationist and made their reservations than handed the phone to me. As I made our reservations, I told the lady I was a vet in the Army for my discount. She complied and then she said Oh , one Navy, one Army, that sounds like trouble, which of course we denied, (except for annual Army-Navy Game). I found out the lady’s dad was in the Air Force, which demanded an obligatory inter-service joke. We laughed and she said okay, your all set, and I asked if she assigned our seats together with the Lannings? She replied, no, of course not, I can see y’all are trouble so I have separated you in different coaches! Well, I didn’t see that coming! After some laughter, she said, in fact, I will alert the trains conductor, Marty. He was an MP in the Army, so he will keep y’all in order! I ask what her name was and where the reservation office is that she works, and she replied what I thought she said was “Wally” from the Anchorage train station, she didn’t sound like a Wally but I let it go.
We fueled up at Fred Meyer and left the Kenai peninsula for a nice drive around the Turnagain arm. We boondocked along side some railroad tracks for the night and the next morning we had a 10 mile drive to the Girdwood “Whistle Stop”. The train was on time, and as the other passengers boarded we approached the conductor and presented our ids. Marty had our tickets and seat assignments (which were together), and I told him I had the 411 on him, and thanked him for his service. With a puzzled looked, how do you know that? As we boarded, I turned around and told him, I would tell him the rest of the story onboard.
As the big blue and yellow train proceeded down the clickety, clack, clack of the railroad tracks we watched for moose and the beautiful scenery. It didn’t take long for Marty to come visit us.
He ask how I had heard about him, and I told him the real nice young lady in reservations at the train station. He replied “Lolly”? I said YES, of course, Lolly! She is awesome and he concurred. So we chatted about his time in the Army and then he said, when we get to Grandview make sure we go upstairs in the dining car to look out the big windows.
So before we approached Grandview, we tried to go upstairs but there were not enough seats, so we just stayed put. After a while Marty came by we told him upstairs was packed, and then he said follow me.
When the trained stopped, he took us up to the where the engineer sits, and opened a side door. He said now look at this Grandview! You have the best view on the train. He never opens this door for anybody, but this is just for us he said. The view was spectacular looking thru a lush green meadow that was framed within a tall valley of trees and mountains. There was a stream twisting through the middle of the valley floor and as far as our eyes could see, there was a huge glacier winding down the mountainous valley at a glacial speed…Beautiful, what a Grand View !
We thanked Marty and spoke to the engineer, Robert. Both very nice gentleman and of course we took a selfie with them! When we retuned from the train ride, we woke up Bigfoot and Elkhorn and drove them to a pullout on the side of the Seward Hwy, right on the Turnagain arm. Would have been a beautiful spot, but we were socked in with clouds and rain, oh well we got a good night sleep.
We SP at 0930 enroute to Anchorage, to the JBER campground so we could do laundry, fill up with fuel, and get some supplies. By 230 pm we were done, and we hit the road for our next part of this journey. We drove by the Matanuska Glacier and boondocked for the night.
As of today, 9 Aug 2022 at 720pm we are in Tok, Ak. Tomorrow we will be in Chicken for one night, than travel across the Top of The World Hwy which end with the George Black Ferry across the Yukon River, to the gold rush town of Dawson City in the Yukon. There we will celebrate our good friends, Virgil and Delores’ 51st wedding Anniversary!
12 August we will be traveling the Dempster Hwy up to Tuktoyaktuk, in the Northwest Territory to the Arctic Ocean. We expect this trek to take 5-10 days, depending on weather. Of course cell service we be non existent.
Sorry about no pictures, my icloud is not updating. Hope to fix when we get some good internet.