Day 18- Talkeetna

June 29

No accurate driving data.  forgot to reset after getting into Denali

Stayed at Talkeetna Lake Retreat

Started off the day getting the camper in order while I did laundry quick.  I really liked the campground we stayed at but the guy was insane about his dump station.  He keeps it locked up, puts catch pans under everything and he does not allow you to back flush your black tanks.   My front black and grey tanks are super slow draining for some reason.  I really need to pull down the underbelly and find out why.  Anyways, because it's slow draining I usually have to give a couple shots on the backlash to get the black tank flowing.  Since he wouldn't let me do that I tried to lift up the drain tube so the grey would backwash into the black.  He was not a fan of that either.  I finally got some out but I ended up stopping at a gas station and paying to dump as we will not have campgrounds with dumps for the next several days.   I wanted to make sure everything was totally empty.

We got into Talkeetna about 3:30.  We made a few stops to watch a moose and to get a look at Denali as it was mostly in view today.

The campground we are at is relatively new.  No electric, water or dump.  It's a nice day but a little humid.  If I didn't have to lift the generator from the front of the truck I'd run the a/c for a bit.

Getting into our space was a bit of a trick.  They have signs showing one way, but for some reason mine and two other sites, the only way to back into them is to go the wrong way.  Once I got turned around I was able to slide in fairly easily.

There are three types of people at the campgrounds when people are trying to get into their spaces.  Th Looky Lou's that are watching for entertainment.  Either laughing at the people that don't know how to back up or the husband and wife team screaming at each other because one says left and the other goes right.  These are the people that watch NASCAR for the crashes.  Then we have the overly helpful man.  Always a dude, offers help without asking and gives it wither you want it or not. He always gives instructions that are less than helpful and after your finally parked has to talk your ear off about all the tight spots he's had to park and usually had a job as a trucker.  And then we finally have the helpful guy.  He lets you give it a couple try and if he thinks your struggling will ask if you need help and is actually helpful.   He usually will leave after a quick check that you're good.

Today we had the looky Lou's.  It was kind of a tight area to back into.  I'm sure they were waiting for me to turn to sharp and hit the camper into the back glass.  Jokes on them since I have a long box and can jack knife up to 100 degrees before I'll strike anything.  However, if your swinging left, you can't see the right and vice versa the other way.   There were some birch tree's to my right and I almost clipped them.  Luckily I stop and assess so I caught it in time, but there were about 15 people just sitting there and none of them said a word,

We decided to head into town to see what was going on.  On the way was a great view of Denali.  The best we have seen so far so we stopped for just a second for me to get a photo.

I'm not sure if we were in the actually heart of Talkeetna, but it was an area with a lot of shops and places to eat.  If your Iowian, think Upper Amana's, but smaller.  My laugh of the day was what I'm guessing was a tour group of older people.  They were in a single file line being lead by a lady holding a pole with a little blaze orange flag on the top.  Reminded me of the childcare center across from work when they go on walks.  The girls wanted mini taco's at the camper, but we will be in the middle of nowhere in a few days and kind of wanted something good to eat, plus not heating up the camper using the oven.  I talked them into eating out.  We ate at a brewpub.  It was excellent.  Unfortunately the girls are just not nicer places to eat so they got stuff off the kids menu.  Even still dinner was over $100.  I don't think I've spent less than that for dinner in Alaska yet.  I want to try all the local places, but I can't afford it either.

I promised the girls ice cream if we ate out.  By that time the only place that had ice cream was a homemade place.  Davan did want any.  Even still, the three of us cost $27.  I need to go back to Fairbanks and find a stream to pan for gold.  

After a quick stop at the grocery store we are all relaxing at the camper.  Bedtime will be early as we found a cute cafe we would like to stop at on our way to our glacier flight in the morning.

Tomorrow is up in the air.  We have our glacier flight first thing, but there is a fire just out of  town in the path we are headed the next day.   They have been flying helicopters and planes and sending in smokejumpers so one person told me it will probably be contained quickly.  Plus the road we travel is a major trucking road so they do their best to not have to close that down.