Sunday morning and here we sit on the train getting ready to leave Fairbanks. I don’t understand exactly what is going on. We were told to be at the RR station between 7:00 and 7:30 am. Train was supposed to leave at 8:00. We got up early, had breakfast, and after our cab driver couldn’t find the train station, got there about 7:20. Currently it’s 8:34 and we’re still sitting in the station. It might have something to do with the change to daylight savings time last night. I saw a couple of official looking guys arrive at the station a little bit ago in a big rush. Saw them later putting on railroad looking uniforms. I’d be willing to bet they forgot to change their clocks. 8:37 and we’ve just departed; our scheduled arrival in Anchorage is 7:40 tonight. We secured a map of the route at the train station. They just called our rows of the car to go to the dining car for breakfast. I already ate at the motel, so I am passing on that. I ’ll have my first dining experience on the train at lunch. A little way out of town, the cruise director came on and said we were stopping to pick up some folks who forgot about daylight savings time. Apparently they got them in cars and raced the train out to a crossing somewhere. We are currently sitting in the middle of nowhere and a snow covered road.
Train travel is much less structured than the airlines. There was no security, and you can check up to 4 bags per person. The only nod they give to security is you have to show a picture ID to get your boarding pass stamped. The Alaska rail cars are clean and in pretty good repair. The seats are comfortable and recline nicely. They are not appointed, as I would expect for this day in age however. There is no table that drops down from the seat in front, and there is no power outlet where you might plug in a laptop. (I’m on battery) I always envisioned writing on the train sitting at a table looking out the window. This is sort of like that but I’ve got a laptop on my laptop. We are in the coach section of the train, and according to Jerry, there is an upgraded section when the train runs in the summer that has domed vista cars and much plusher sea ts on a second level. It costs about $100 more. They don’t offer this service in the winter.
I’m going to hook up my GPS antenna and see if I can get it to pick up from the train. Got the GPS going and it is very interesting to follow our path and see the speed and elevation changes. Too bad there is no place to plug in, the battery is going to expire long before the trip finishes. (actually found a power outlet in the rear of the car, so will be able to recharge periodically) The scenery is pretty, but in these coach cars, a lot of the time all you can see is trees. Sometimes the trees thin and you can see the mountains in the distance. Walking around on the train is quite a challenge. It reminds me of the one cruise ship I was on when it was very rough. Moving between the cars is especially exciting. You can see the rails below and hear the wheels at work. At the back of our car, they have the tops of the two-piece doors open. I almost lost my hat when I went back the re. If you hold onto your hat you can look out and see the train ahead or behind. But boy is it cold with a 50 mph wind in your face.
We came through the village of Nenana where they hold the Nenana Ice Classic. They build a wooden tripod on the ice in the river, and people all over Alaska bet on when it will move downstream to the auto bridge. This means the ice is moving out of the river in the spring. It costs $2.50 to bet, and last year a few folks split a $350,000 pot. I think I’ll find a place in Anchorage for Vickie to bet. As we continue south, the scenery is unbelievable. We passed Glitter Gulch near Denali National Park. Glitter Gulch is where all the big hotels are for visitors to Denali. All of the cruise lines have big hotels there. It has a Quizno’s and 2 traffic lights now. Jerry said in the summer it is wall-to-wall tourists. Also in the summer Rt. 3, which runs along the railroad, is wall-to-wall RVs. We were not able to see Mt.McKinley (called by the natives Denali) as clouds obscured it. We were able to see many other mountains, however, and this has to be one of the prettiest places in the US during the winter.
I have decided we’re going to live in Alaska in the winter and our place in Mexico during spring and fall. The rest of the year we’ll just freeload with our kids. (when we’re not traveling) I don’t believe you can take this train ride and not fall in love with Alaska. The white mountains contrasting with the blue sky and green trees are a continuous panorama passing the train car window. Alaska is writer’s heaven. I have not even finished yesterday’s episode about our aurora borealis adventure the night before last. Seems like I just can’t get it all down.
We just took a break to the dining car for dunch (a late lunch combined with an early dinner). Vickie had a Caesar salad, Brenda had the Healey Miner’s lunch, (a pretty good burger) Jerry and I had the Engineers Special. The Engineer’s special was pot roast slow cooked on top of the diesel engine all the way from Fairbanks served with brown gravy and some steamed vegetables. We all shared a berry delight for desert. Vickie and Brenda both got cool bottles of water that say Alaska Railroad on them and are in special commerative bottles. The food was very good, and eating it with the winter Alaskan scenery going by was beyond great. We retired back to our seats after dunch with the possibility of a nap for all lulled to sleep by the rhythm of the train.
After some napping, sightseeing and wandering around, we are approaching Anchorage. The track coming in to Anchorage must be newly rebuilt. It varied quite a bit from what was on my GPS (sharp curves and jogs gone) and we attained the highest speed of the trip here, 62 mph. When we arrived in Anchorage, we reclaimed our luggage and relocated to the Fairfield Inn for the night. We are off to Seward in the morning.
Later---this morning I heard from dad. The biopsy reports are pretty much what we expected. The mass they removed was cancerous and the cancer has spread to his liver. About 15% of the liver is currently involved, and they give him the same year or so prognosis. He feels good, and is back to eating. He will be going home soon, and Dr. says he can probably resume a normal life for as long as he can. We’ll take it day by day and see what happens. More later.
Wes
No comments:
Post a Comment