Monday August 28, Day 41

Starting trip meter: N/A
Starting time: 7:45 ADT
Starting Location: Tok, AK

A knock at the door while we were still drinking our coffee started our day early. It was Don Marshall, our writer friend who was dropping off a magazine titled “After the Battle” for us to read highlighting an extensive documentary article written by him about the battle for Iwo Jima. There are many references about him personally and his involvement in being there during the first wave assault. There are also many pictures showing him and his participation and location during some horrific times. I intend to read this from cover to cover, which shows him as an 18 year old, to a reunion with buddies in the 90s. The fact that we had the good fortune to meet this very interesting man is amazing to us.

We called the Alaska Marine Service to inform them that we were still firmly entrenched in Tok and unable to meet our sail date this afternoon. They are very understanding, and attempted to reschedule for us, however, we are having to go standby to get out of Juneau to Prince Rupert, and even then we won’t get the cabin that we had reserved. We are keeping our fingers crossed, we were so looking forward to the ferry ride.

This was a good day to catch up on our laundry since we had time to spare, and each of us spent the rest of the day enjoying the beautiful weather and whatever we wanted to do. After waking up to a heavy frost this morning, today was the warmest day since we have been in Tok.

Barney spoke with Tom in Delta Junction who is the repairman for our transmission and he expected our parts in by 8 PM tonight and that he would be able to work on it the first thing in the morning and have it ready by early afternoon tomorrow.

Today’s weather: Sunny and mild, a beautiful day! Low 40°, high 60°.
Miles driven today: This should reflect our miles walked!

Tuesday August 29, Day 42

Starting trip meter: You guessed it!
Starting time: N/A
Starting Location: Tok, AK

We walked to the Golden Bear Restaurant for breakfast, which is one of the farthest points from our motel, about a half an hour away. As we were leaving the restaurant we decided to check out the motel office and gift shop since it was probably the only place in town that we had not visited before. Much to our surprise and delight, we were greeted by a very friendly lady behind the desk named Everlena, and we then proceeded to check out the rest of the facility which included a coffee room with every flavor imaginable, a game room with a large screen TV, a huge stuffed bear, a lynx, mammoth tusks, pelts, miscellaneous heads of other animals, a pool table, and dart boards. Since Barney is a former renowned dart player, I challenged him to a game and beat him the very first game. We played several games and were joined as time permitted by Everlena. She has lived in Alaska 38 years, but has only been in Tok for 6 weeks.

It was such a pleasant morning that we spent a good bit of time there. During our conversation with Everlena, we explained our sad transmission story and the amount of time that we had already spent in the town, and she stated that she and her husband had two vehicles, neither of which were in use during the day, and she insisted that we use one of them for as long as we wanted. We excitedly agreed and were delighted to get behind the wheel of a vehicle and experience the freedom of the road once more.

Our first stop, was to pick up our camera and go back and take her picture so we could share it with all of you. Our next trip was to drive a little way out of town and enjoy the beauty of the trees that have changed colors with the frosts that have happened in the time that we have been here. We drove several back roads giving the moose one more chance to appear before we leave tomorrow. The thrill of being in a moving vehicle was hard to describe. Everlena will never know what a generous offer she made to us.

Before returning the pickup, we stopped at the grocery store, and were stopped by Janice from Alaska Gold in the parking lot. She told us that she sees more of us than her other friends in town. From there, we made a quick stop to say goodbye to Maggie at the Cyber Hub who was writing us an e-mail at that moment offering her personal car to us. What an experience it has been meeting all of these wonderful residents of Tok.

As we were walking back to our room, Everlena and her husband came by on the highway to offer us their other truck for as long as we needed it and were in town. We declined due to hoping that we will be leaving tomorrow, but were so incredibly grateful for their generosity. Thank you sooo much!

At 7 PM the transmission arrived back at Willard’s and the mechanic was working on the installation a short time later. We fully expect to have the van in our possession before bedtime tonight. If so we will leave here early in the morning. Ha ha…. read on.

The transmission was installed and filled with fluid about 10:30 PM! Barney met Willard and Shane, the mechanic across the street at the shop. Willard and Barney go for a test drive and return shortly with long faces. We now have reverse gear but the overdrive is acting up. Willard can’t figure out the problem so we decide that we will need to call the Delta Junction connection at 8:30 AM tomorrow.

We get in bed about midnight, mad at the world and we toss and turn all night.

Today’s weather: Cool, windy, overcast with showers in the evening. Low 40°, high 55°.
Miles driven today: Zero

Today’s Pictures

Wednesday August 30, Day 43

Starting trip meter: 9209
Starting time: 11:15 ADT
Starting Location: Tok, AK

At 8:30 AM, I (Barney) walk across the street to find Willard installing pressure gauges all over the transmission in preparation for his call to Delta Junction (DJ). After the call it is decided that the van must be taken to DJ either by driving or towing. Between Willard, Tom at DJ, and myself, we decide that it will not be harmful to drive the van 120 miles to DJ.

So we check out of the motel (finally) and head for DJ driving very conservatively and not using overdrive. Once in DJ we find Tom’s place of business and we like Tom immediately. He is careful to keep the van clean and he takes it in the shop first thing and goes to work. We sloshed through the mud to a restaurant next door for lunch and we checked-out their horrible motel rooms. Yuk! We were not looking forward to spending the night there at all.

After lunch we went back to check Tom’s progress. He had the pan off the bottom of the ‘tranie’ but hadn’t been able to determine the problem yet. We told him that we would get out of his hair by taking a walk to the Visitor’s Center down the street. We were there for about an hour and a half when wonders of wonders here comes Tom DRIVING our van! We go for a test drive and he has fixed the problem. We wanted to hug and kiss him! We were thrilled beyond words, and so relieved that we did not have to spend time in DJ. He apologized for the mistake he had made during the overhaul and we were back on the road heading south before 5 PM.

We spotted a large cow moose on the road back to Tok, as well as two others off in a field. Although it rained the entire drive back, everything seemed golden and bright to us. Amazing what a change of mental attitude will do for you.

We stopped to find Everlena and her husband Robert at home so that we could thank them again for their generosity and let them know that we finally had our own vehicle in working order. They invited us up for a beer and we ended up ordering sandwiches from the Golden Bear restaurant and staying for quite a visit.

Over our beer and burgers, Everlena and Robert told us a story about a pickup truck she owned in 1981. It was brand new then and after having owned it for only 8 days, it was stolen. It was never recovered. Never that is until this year! About 4 months ago the State of Alaska notified her that they had her truck! They said she could come pick it up if she wanted it but that she would have to pay $400 in towing and other recovery fees. She was not allowed to inspect or drive the truck until she paid the fees. She and Robert decided to do it just for sentimental reasons.

They got the truck and it was a mess to say the least. It had undergone several modifications and they said some of the changes made them think it had been used for illegal purposes. The back of the truck had been changed, the VIN had been removed, a cell phone had been installed, etc. Anyway, to make a long story short, it ran so they drove it home and started to give it a thorough cleaning. Low and behold, cleaning up under the front seat covers, Everlena found 5 one hundred dollar bills! Getting excited now, they looked some more and found 5 more of them. Do you believe that luck? It couldn’t have happened to a nicer couple. It was a really fun evening and we hated to tell them goodbye.

Spent the night back at the same RV park that we were in when we first arrived in town, August 19.

Today’s weather: Cold and rainy. Low 40° and high 45°.
Miles driven today: 241 wonderful miles

Today’s Pictures

Thursday August 31, Day 44

Starting trip meter: 9450
Starting time: 10:00ADT
Starting Location: Tok, AK

HALLELUJAH, THANK YOU LORD! We are on our way!

It was an incredibly wonderful feeling to finally be back camping in our van. The soft raindrops on the roof were beautiful music. Camping is so much quieter during the night, than staying in a motel. We slept great, and woke to gorgeous sunshine in the morning. Are we happy or what?

Stopped for ice and to see Maggie before pulling out of town. Barney uploaded our log from the past day so that all of those who have been worrying about us will know that we are safely on our way. Thanks for everything Maggie, we enjoyed our times with you.

We made the best of it while we were in Tok, and met some wonderful people. For sure Tok will always be a major part of our trip tales! We decided to wait until we were safely on our way before describing Willard, our mechanic to you. We were told of an Internet site that is much more descriptive of Willard than we could ever be. Please take a moment and check out Willard’s personal website. It speaks for itself. We think Willard Grammont overcharged us and he certainly had no compassion for us and our plight. Paybacks are hell Willard!

The trip from from Tok to Haines is really gorgeous. The weather was perfect. Snow capped mountains all the way. The fall colors have changed the trees tremendously since we arrived here 3 weeks ago. The golden colored leaves mixed in with the green spruce trees makes for a magnificent sight. With the trees, colors, and mountains reflecting on the lakes and rivers we had a great day. Then we spotted the grizzly along the road and that made it extra special.

We returned to Swan’s Rest RV Park near Haines since we had stayed here before and loved it. We were the only visitors this time so we had our pick of campsites. We built a big campfire and cooked our dinner, finishing just after dark. We stayed up until our fire died down, roasted some marshmallows then turned in for the night.

Today’s weather: Gorgeous Day! Low 40° and high about 55°.
Miles driven today: 420

Today’s Pictures

Friday September 1, Day 45

Starting trip meter: 9870
Starting time: 9:45ADT
Starting Location: Swan’s Rest Park, North of Haines, AK

Two eagles and an owl flew past our campsite as we were preparing to leave this morning. That set the tone for a great day. The weather appears to be perfect again. The day was going very well until we went to get a refund from the Alaska Marine Service people. We were waited on by the bitch from hell so instead of dealing with her we decided to handle that little piece of business in Juneau at their main office.

We had a nice lunch of fish (halibut) and chips in downtown Haines. Strolled the streets, browsed the shops, and met an interesting couple in the museum from Juneau and believe it or not, they were heading to Tok, of all places. We filled them in on who to go see, and who to NOT go see, (Willard). Stopped at the library to read our mail, and update our log. Received an e-mail from Blair, the biker that we met in Watson Lake and it was nice to know that he had just finished his trip safely. As we were leaving town we saw some buildings on a hillside and decided to check them out. It turned out that they were a part of the Fort Seward compound built in the early 1900s. While reading one of the historical signs, a lady came out and asked us if we would like to see the inside of her home, which was one of the original officer’s quarters at the fort. It was situated at the edge of the 9 acre parade ground and overlooked the entire inlet to Haines. She gave us some history of the area which was also quite interesting.

The boat ride to Juneau was positively beautiful. The ferry was not full, thus it was not packed with people. We left port at 6:30PM and the colors that the setting sun cast on the mountains, the snowy peaks and the water made everything seem to be iridescent. Whales were spotted on two different occasions, however, we did not see them surface. The first was a humpback, and the other an orca. Around 10pm, we were fortunate to witness one of nature’s great shows and that was the northern lights, or the aurora borealis. It was so exciting to see. From everything we had been told and read, we thought we were a little early in the year to be able to view them. There was only a sliver of a moon so it was very dark, and the pale green bands stood out very clearly. What a show, and we were lucky enough to be here to see them!

When we arrived at our campsite, it was very cold, and we hurried to get set up, and inside for the night. Temperature was in the 30s.

Today’s weather: Low 38°, high 60°.
Miles driven today: 60

Today’s Pictures

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