As we prepared for bed, I did the usual routine; set the thermostat for about 65 degrees. About 4 am, I woke up and it was pretty chilly in the motorhome. At first I thought I had forgotten to turn the furnace on, but after checking it, I knew I had a problem. The coach bateries were dead and would not run the furnace fan. No problem, I thought, I'll just run the engine in the morning at 8:00 to start the generator and everything will be fine. I turned on the burners on the stove, and that took the chill out of the air. Threw on some extra blankets and went back to bed. BTW, it was 31 degrees outside.
Finally, at 8:00 I went to start the engine, and then realized the chassis battery was also dead. I had left the computer plugged into an inverter plugged into the cigarette lighter, and that must have drained the chassis battery over a period of 4 days. Normally, that would not be a problem since I usually have a third option; a battery booster I carry with me. I usually keep it in the Tracker in case the battery goes dead. And sure enough, it was there. Unfortunately, the Tracker was in a secure parking area near the entrance to Denali about 29 miles away. You are not allowed to bring towed vehicles into the park.
I walked to the campground host near the entrance to Teklanika, knocked on the door and told the lady my problem. She had a battery booster the park service supplied for just such an emergency. It does get used alot. Finally we got her started and were on our way out of the park.
Barb wanted to stop in Denali village just outside the park entrance to do a little shopping. Unfortunately, there was no place to park the motorhome with the Tracker. There was plenty of parking for Princess Cruise Line buses, but no RV's allowed. So we headed for Wasilla without spending any more of the million dollars.
The Parks highway between Denali and Wasila is good road and the usual great scenery. We spotted 2 moose calves with mother alongside the road, but they quickly disappeared in the woods as we approached. No picture. Further down the road as we rounded a curve, much to our surprise ahead of us was......Mt. Mckinley. We had entered Denali State Park and once again were in sight of the 'tall one'. As we drove through the state park, we got closer and closer to Mt. McKinley and the haze slowly disipated. Here are a few more pics of it as we went through the park.
We finally drove out of range of the mountain and decided to stop in Talkeetna for dinner and some shopping. As we came over the top of the hill which leads down into Talkeetna, there in front of us was.......all together now...Mt. McKinley. It was quite hazy now, but still discernable. We headed down into town and looked for RV parking. It doesn't exist. However, there was plenty of parking for Princess Cruise Line buses.....another town taken over by PCL. We asked to park the motorhome at a campground a half mile from town and took the Tracker back. Talkeetna is/was a gathering place for climbers of the 'tall one'. So I imagine it could be a rowdy place at times. My favorite description was on a bumper sticker in the gift shop: 'A quaint little drinking village with a climbing problem'. We had a good dinner, did a little shopping and were on our way again.
We arrived in Wasilla about 8:30 in the evening, found the Big Bear campground and settled in for the night. Thursday, Barb caught up with the laundry (11 days worth) and I did some maintenance on the coach. Later we toured around Wasilla, a nice town with all the amenities, and went on a hunt for Sarah Palin's house. We found it as well as the Iditarod Headquarters.
Sarah's house on Lake Lucille.
Barb tells me these are Lupine. they grow wild along the road.
That just about brings us up to date, except for the sightseeing we did today. Will continue tomorrow before we head for Anchorage.
Ron & Barb
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