Valdez

A new plan

After a night of thinking of ways to make my gas stretch, the consequences of running out of gas on a remote (Alaska remote, not continental US remote), and if I wanted to spend my vacation from work worrying about silly things, I decided to skip McCarthy.  The reward was just not going to be worth the stress.  This was a hard decision for me, as I love ghost towns and places that are abandoned, but I just didn’t think I’d have the gas to make it.  This is one of those times when traveling alone is not the most beneficial.

Since I would be ahead of schedule without the trip to McCarthy, I decided to visit Valdez and skip it on the way out.  So, I packed up Kymani and tried to jump on.

Oops

Kymani is a low suspension bike.  That means that shorter people, like me, can more easily ride her and put a foot down when stopped.  What it also means is the kickstand holds the bike up straighter than a bike would normally sit.  I had rolled Kymani back into the site without paying careful attention to where I set her.  She was nearly vertical.  When I tried to climb on, she threatened to tip over to the right side.  When I tried to get on on the right side, I wasn’t tall enough.  A dilemma.  Fully loaded, she was too heavy for me to push up the hill by myself.  I had two choices.  I could unload her and push her myself, or I could leave her loaded and get help.  There was a guy near me making coffee, so I decided to ask for help.

Not easy

It isn’t easy for me to ask for help, but I know often the things that we are uncomfortable with are good for us to do, so I walked up to a total stranger and asked him if he could help me push the bike up the hill so she would sit properly on the kickstand.  He said sure, and together we pushed a very heavy Kymani up the dirt hill to a spot where she sat beautifully.  He didn’t fully understand why we did it, so he asked.  I explained, thanked him for his help and rode off into my day.  He thought it was too tough to ride a motorbike.  For my part, I was embarrassed that I needed to ask for help, but grateful there was someone to ask.

Some days are harder than others

Are some days harder than others because they don’t meet our expectations?  Or is it because you are already far outside your comfort zone, and the littlest thing can push you over the edge?  The answer to that still eludes me, but regardless, today was one of “those” days.

I rode to the Wrangell-St Elias ranger station to get some hiking stick medallions and a patch, but they were closed.  Since I couldn’t get what I wanted there, I figured I would buy some on the internet, assuming I ever got access to the internet again!  I may have forgotten to mention, but I have not had internet access on my phone in almost 2 weeks.  In Canada, there were often times when I had no signal, but in Alaska, I had bars, just no functionality on the phone.  I could text and ring people, but nothing else, and I mean NOTHING else worked.

Road construction

While they move motorcycles to the front of the wait lines for construction, the bugs that fly into your helmet while you wait are enough to make you insane.  Alaska has a bazillion flying bugs that bite you and I believe everyone one of them made it into my helmet this day!  It was cold, about 53⁰F, so you would think the bugs would be somewhere else, but they were not.  I would say the bugs in Alaska outnumber the people by a million to one.

Campsite was a bust

After the third stop for construction, the rain started.  To get to Valdez, you climb, then descend mountains to get to the sea.  My first choice of campground came upon me too soon, and I couldn’t get in to the road to the campsite because of the construction.  The next option was supposed to be one of the best campsites in this part of Alaska, so I headed for Blueberry Lake campground.

The rain and cold got worse and so did the visibility.  As I climbed into the mountains, I climbed right up into the clouds.  Visibility was terrible and I couldn’t wait to get to the campground and get set up to crawl into my bag and try to get warm!  I found the turnout to the campground and was surprised to see a paved road.  Until now, all the campgrounds had been down dirt or gravel roads.  This would be great, easy in and out.  However, though the road was nice, the weather was not.  I got to Blueberry Lake, but the clouds were so thick, I couldn’t see the lake.  The campsites were, or at least looked to be, claustrophobically surrounded by blueberry shrubs without a great place to set up a tent.  The clouds were hanging so low that I honestly couldn’t see much in the campsites.  I decided to see what I could find closer to Valdez and drove on.

Believe it or not, there is a lake right there.  Looks like just clouds, but it’s a lake.

Gas

While coming down the mountains to Valdez, my gas light on Kymani came on and it said to get to the nearest gas station.  I hadn’t seen a gas station since I’d filled up about 150 miles before but I did have almost 2 gallons in my gas can, so I thought I was good.  I drove on and actually found a gas station while looking for somewhere to pull over to put the can into the tank.  I unpacked the back of Kymani to get the gas can off of its mount and put the spout on.  I tipped the can into the gas tank, and nothing.  No gas came out of the can, but some did spill from the threads of the can onto my hands.  I took the spout out and tried to turn the thing on the back of the spout, but it didn’t move, so I put it back together and tried again.  Once again no gas.  I was cold, wet, and now I stunk of gas and the bike was still empty!  I put the can back on the bike, repacked her and filled her up from the station.  Grrrr.  So frustrating.

Coming into Valdez

Valdez

We have, of course, all heard of Valdez, home of the disastrous oil Exxon spill.  I thought it would be a big city, with a lot going on.  That isn’t how it turned out.  By the time I got to the town of Valdez, I couldn’t stop shivering and I really needed a place to get warm.  Since my phone doesn’t work, I couldn’t find a place to stay.  The rain was pouring down, so I found a spot to pull over and raced for an overhang.  I rang my daughter and asked her if she could find me a place to stay.  By this point, I couldn’t stop shivering.  Being at the ocean to the south, if she couldn’t find me a place to stay, I’d have no choice but to ride back up over the mountains.  I was tired and the cold and wet had sapped my energy.  I honestly didn’t know if I had it in me.

Valdez had nothing available, but she managed to find me a place that came up “near” Glennallen, the last town I’d been through before Valdez.  When I put the address in my GPS, the place was actually near Palmer, almost 200 miles away.  I nearly cried.  I rang my BFG and told him where I was and what was going on, told him I was completely discouraged and  I wanted to come home.  If I left in the morning, I would still have a couple of weeks’ vacation left when I got home.  He told me I needed to stay and see Denali and he would look for somewhere else for me to stay.

Poor Kymani is filthy!

In the meantime, my daughter was frantically texting me that I needed to ring her.  I said goodbye to BFG and rang her.  A hotel room had just come open in Valdez and she could book it for me.  I told her to do it and text me the address.  Now I would at least get out of the rain and cold, take a hot shower, relax, and decide what to do next.

 

The hotel is on the left and the view from the parking lot on the right.  

Early

The hotel had a check in time of 1600, so I had a bit of a wait before I could check in.  I sat in the lobby while the rain came down outside, drank free tea, and tried to get warm.  Eventually my check in time came and I made it to a tiny room with a terrible shower.  The water wasn’t hot, but it was warm.  I put on my heavy thermal layer and crawled under the covers.  I was disheartened at the way the trip was going, so I needed to change either my expectations or attitude, probably both.  Getting warm and getting some rest would help.