Day 35 – July 10, 2001 – We left Glennallen early on the way to Anchorage and stopped after about an hour for breakfast at a KROA campground which advertised “10 different kinds of pancakes” in their ad in Mileposts. What a nice place – a big log cabin with a huge dining room and a pretty good size bar, just sitting out along the road not near any town. The food was good, a beautiful stream wound its way around the restaurant, the mountains were in the background. It seems this is the half-way point between Anchorage and Valdez and Anchorage and Tok. So, even though there was no town nearby, they got a lot of traffic. They were nice enough to let us hook onto the internet through their phones and we were able to download a couple of days of this journal and send a few emails. When we left, Ben discovered that he had no low gear. A quick check revealed that, once again, we had a crack in our low band. Unbelievable! We moved the trailer to Jennifer’s car and set off for Anchorage, operating with little problem using the Ruckstell.

The drive to Anchorage was a beautiful drive, in spite of our concerns about the engine. The Glenn Highway is a good road, and runs parallel to a glorious mountain range. The road has its high points but none that we couldn’t handle and had beautiful views of rugged peaks and gorgeous river valleys without the trauma of actually driving through them. However, we knew we wouldn’t be able to manage the stop-and-go traffic in Anchorage without Ford low. We called ahead to Bruce Campbell, a Model T man in Anchorage who had been in touch with us about the trip. Bruce drove his pick-up out to Sutton, near the edge of Anchorage, and met us. Once again, the Fordor went on a trailer and we headed for Bruce’s garage. Some of the photos are shown below as we dismantled the engine one more time. Bruce and his wife Marl are long-time Alaskan residents and they have a big house with three garages. We worked in one; Ken did some maintenance on his car in another. Bruce stores his fabulous car collection in the third. Nancy, Ben, Ross, and Steve wound up staying at the Campbell’s house while the others stayed at the motel a few miles away. (It still amazes me the way some people say, “It would be easier for you if you just stayed here” and take in total strangers. We appreciate them so much.)

The engine was out of the car by the time we went to bed and we have hopes of getting it back together by tomorrow night.

710a – This is the KROA restaurant, smack in the middle between Anchorage and Valdez, where we stopped for breakfast. The food was good, the service was friendly, and the setting was pretty.

710b – This lovely stream made an S-curve right around the deck of the restaurant. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes are as big as hummingbirds here and sitting out on the deck wasn’t possible. We have seen a lot of streams like this one – fast-moving, curvy, and lined with flowers. Texas doesn’t have streams like this so we notice every one.

710c – The flowers in Alaska are so vibrantly colored that it is hard to believe they are real. Every little store or gas station or trading post or tiny cabin has flowers in front and back and hanging from the windows and roof.

710d – The mountains alongside our route were gorgeous and we were relieved to be driving alongside them and not over them.They run for more than 100 miles in a north-south direction and we saw a number of glaciers and ice packs among the peaks.

710e – This beautiful valley appeared along the way, with several small lakes, and curved off away from us into the distance. We saw a pontoon plane fly in and land while we were passing. Because of the isolation of so much of Alaska, and the small number of roads to connect various communities, air travel is very common. Bruce Campbell tells us that most people have a truck or all-terrain vehicle, a snowmobile, and/or an airplane. There are airstrips were there are no communities and seeing pontoon planes is a daily occurrence.

710f – These mountains were so beautiful, it is hard to select just a few photos to show on the web. Even after weeks of seeing snow-capped mountains, we are still excited by them.

710g – Our favorite activity: pulling the engine. Fortunately, Bruce Campbell had a warm and dry garage to work in and walls lined with Model T parts. Ross suggested we take the trailer he brought Ben in on and load it up before we leave to go north. The engine was out within two hours of our arrival.

710h – The happy disassembly crew. Steve Markowski is holding some of the shattered pieces of the triple gear (another little problem discovered when we got inside). Ross Lilleker and Ginger Hardeman are showing off the grease they have accumulated in the process and the cracked low drum is on the floor. Lucky is in the photo but isn’t quite as much help as you would expect. Ben was pretty dirty, too, but he is manning the camera.