Sunday July 11

Pouring rain.

Got caught up in a TV series on DVD called “Into the West” and watched it until the generator ran out of gas.

Decided to cut across the state and travel the Denali Highway, 132-mile dirt road through the tundra. It’s terminus being the fabled Denali National Park. Saw a couple of moose dunking their heads under water eating grass. Tried to identify some birds and the only tricky one I could pin down was the white crowned sparrow. The road was smooth enough, but long. I could only go about 40 miles an hour max. The views were spectacular. Towards the end, I needed a break. When I got back in I started driving and instantly noticed something was wrong with the truck. I was moving along ok, but not without some kind of strange resistance. After stopping to look at a river, I scanned the truck and noticed that my right front tire was half full of air. The first flat tire of the trip.

With five miles to go to civilization, I decided to just keep driving rather than monkey around finding the jack and dealing with a spare tire. I was about five miles from help. I reached this cruddy looking service station, but at 9:30 pm on a Sunday night, I had my doubts. I pulled in and I met a guy who was a gold panner, cleaning the back of his “log cabin mobile”. The only thing the gold panner and I spoke about were gold and weed, both of which I know nothing about. There was much discussion about ounces, grams and prices, but he was tough to follow. He made a phone call for me and within five minutes, arriving by bicycle, with all necessary tools in one pocket, comes the owner of the shop. He does his thing, I fill it up with air. Before I leave, Gold panner guy offers me a few joints, which I decline. (See photo above of gold panner, actually gold panning)

I made a note to get my own patch kit so I won’t have to pay anyone to repair a flat tire again.

Had halibut tacos at a restaurant for dinner and worked on the blog for quite a while.