Some notes on the last 600 miles. Other folks in our caravan have been tested by difficult problems that were lessoned by the fact that our group all pitch in during a time of need. 
Stu, our tail gunner lost a tire on the last few miles of the tortious hill ascending into town. He limped in on one or 2 rear tires, in hindsight this could have been very costly as the ‘good’ tire was grossly overloaded. The big pain in the butt was that there were no tire repair faculties in Skagway. We dismounted the offending tire {thanks to Jim’s wrenches} and drove the 260 mile round-trip to Dawson City where $1400 purchased 2 new tires. BTW, Stu had AAA and Good Sam insurance, neither was any help!
On Arrival at Seward, B.C., Scott discovered that his awning would not retract. Again we are hundreds of miles from any repair facilities. This is a fancy powered awning that had something broken in it’s mechanism. Our solution this time was for Harold and I to go up on ladders and force roll the awning up, we used large zip ties to hold it in place.
During these departures from driving 6,000 miles always trying to meet the 4:00 pm scheduled Happy Hours, we can always count on our faithful cheering section to be there to give up inspiration and support.
Have you ever driven over a road that is in the process of repaving and is made of rough gravel? Well, we have traveled at least 3,000 miles on ‘Chip Seal’ which is just a slight amount better than that. It is also unmarked by lines and very rarely has any side barriers. The speed limit is 30 to 56 MPH and you will be passed by huge double tows, often in no passing areas. All of this to take in views that only National Geographic can do justice to.
I mentioned a few weeks ago the Anne-Marie and I are in the 30% Club. Only 30% of the folks that come to Denali National Park get to actually see Mt McKinley. Spending the past month in almost constant haze, we have come to appreciate that tour! Not that our weather has been bad, it has just always had a haze that ruins pictures and makes you wonder if it will be raining in a few minutes.
Relative size is hard to describe, let me try. Imagine a basketball court, now place a dollar bill on it’s edge. That dollar bill represents the Mendenhall Glacier that we toured last week. The Basketball court represent the ice field that feeds it! If there was a school bus parked on the tip of the base of this glacier picture, it would so insignificant that you would not see it!
We left Dease Lake, B.C. early on Monday morning. We traveled 60 miles and than stopped at Tatogga Lake Resort for a coffee break which morphed into a great breakfast is the Lodge’s dinning room that had a whole bunch of local critters.
We leave Seward on Wednesday to destination: Smithers, B.C.
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