Saturday 20 July
We got up in the morning and wanted to give Larry and Robin a hand with jobs that needed to be done, so Tayla, Ross, and Chris went out to the hangar and cleared the grassy area of rocks so that it could be mowed – Robin said every time the mower hits a rock she will send it to us! Josh worked with Larry on the truck and camper while Danika edited photos. We stopped for lunch and then Danika and Josh helped us finish the rest of the rocks. Larry, Robin, and Robbie left for Osh Kosh and we got ready and left for Fairbanks. Chris and Ross cycled this road in 1996 so we had to make some stops reminiscing along the way. We pulled into Byers Lake campground to show the kids where we camped and swum in the lake to wash off as there had been a sighting of a bear in the campground that day. We stopped at Denali and had subway for dinner. We don’t remember there being a big tourist town in Denali in 1996 but there sure was now, with the flash hotels for the tour groups – Princess Lodge etc and the tourist shops that go with the tourist stops. We had a walk around and found the cheapest option for dinner – Subway, so got our food and hit the road again. Chris was driving and saw a brown bear cross the road but by the time we got to it, it had gone into the bush.
We stopped at Nenana and drove around the campground, reminiscing as the little log cabin which was 100 years old back then was still there, and the log shelters were also still there. The visitor’s centre log building, which is years old, with grass growing on its roof was still there too! We got to Fred Myer at 11.45 pm in time to use their bathrooms and stayed in the Fred Myer car park.
