Day 14 - North to Wassila

First off today, July 26 is my mom, Nancy Grewell's birthday!  Happy birthday to the best mom ever!

So when I told my dad I was going to Alaska on my motorcycle, the first thing he asked was are you going to see Sarah Palin?  Not are you going to Denali, climb Mt. McKinley, go to Kodiac Island, fish salmon, go to Anchorage, wrestle a bear, but are you going to see Sarah Palin? So like any good son, I rode up to Wassila to creep on the Palins.  My hotel is about 3 miles from their home and with the right scope or binoculars, I could maybe look at their compound (which is harder to get to than you would think).  But instead I drove up to see them.  So they live near a Best Western, I guess I wish I knew that before getting my hotel room tonight... 

So I went to the back of the Best Western, near a boat launch and I could see the back of their lot with Todd Palin's float plane and pontoon boat.  Here is the carefully planned picture.

I was told the Palins were likely fishing this weekend somewhere else.  So, there you go dad!

Last night I slept well in my tent but woke up to a drizzling rain.  I stayed in my tent until it subsided.  Nothing like taking down a campsite in the rain. Here is a picture from inside my tent last night.  Very interesting, huh?

So I got everything loaded up and decided to head back north to Wassila and stay the night before going to Denali Saturday.  The trip is pretty much the same as yesterday, just north back towards Anchorage.  The weather was over cast and 53F when I left the clouds covering the mountains and hovering about 500 feet off of the deck.  I did manage some pictures of all those fishing for salmon today on the way back, that I did not take yesterday.

This guy had hooked one and his buddy was working the net to land the fish.

Here is Dave Clark's creek, not much of a creek by Alaska standards, but hey there is not a Mark or Red Velvet creek...so there you go.

While in Anchorage again, I noticed a lot of cars/trucks that said they were purchased through an auto dealership called "Lithia", a company some Motorists associates might recognize.

In Anchorage, I stopped at Alaskan Leathers which is a famous place for the adventure riders club I belong to.  They make the famous Alaskan Sheepskin buttpad, which I am the proud owner of one...they work miracles in comfort.  I met the famous owner "Barb" and got my picture holding up the famous slogan of theirs, "don't ride naked"...you know, buy some of their leather gear.  Very nice lady, if you need leather gear, look them up.  Their quality is the best.

I stopped at a Wendy's for lunch and right after I sat down, an Alaska State Trooper stepped up to my table and asked if the red bike in the parking lot was mine. My mind races and I think of all the people who told me to be careful and not get on The Alaska State Trooper show, you know the one similar to "Cops" (bad guys, bad guys, whatcha gonna do.." I told him it was and he told me how he is into riding and we had a great conversation.  It turns out he is originally from Ironton, OH. And it also turns  out he has been in some episodes of Alaska State Troopers, his name is James Gillum and he was a real good guy.  I was standing on a milk carton to make him look small.  :)

Anything seem weird about my hair in this picture?  Before my trip I bought a new Shoei helmet and it has pads on the inside that are designed to help with airflow and they do a great job.  What Shoei does not tell you is it molds these weird ribs in your hair.  John Boice will appreciate this because he has a Shoei helmet that does the same thing. I think it makes me look like a Klingon from Star Trek.

So anyway, even after a shower and washing my hair it returns to this weird state.  I am concerned it might be becoming permanent.  Oh well, gotta where a helmet.

So another hair related topic.  When I was 12 or 13, I was in a snow sledding accident and I cut my upper lip pretty bad and it left a scar that I was self-conscious about when I was a kid. So I remember thinking then that when I got older, I would just grow a mustache to hide the scar...as it turns out I did not inherit much in the way it goes with hair on my face, I mean I shave but it's pretty lame in the way a beard should be.  So I did not shave for over 2 weeks on the trip, just to see...and I finally could not take it anymore.  With my strange hair affliction and goofy hair on my face, people were looking at me like I had the mange, so I shaved today.  Before...

And after, yes I kept the mustache...

I know...as goofy as ever.

So I like Wassila, it's a lot like Grove City, but without the mountains.  It's got everything you would need and it's only about 150 miles from Denali which is where I'm headed first thing in the morning, likely in the rain...I hope your day is wonderful!

-Mark