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Gracious House Lodge, Milepost 82.1 Denali Highway, Alaska to Paxson, Alaska

Stopped for the Day:

The weather fairies decided we had had enough unseasonably warm weather (for Alaska) and we set out in a cold wind and spitting rain. For those of you reading who have been asking, "aren't there any windows in that car?" the answer is no. If it is cold and wet, we get cold and wet. We stopped a few miles into the trip and added another layer of sweatshirts, neck scarves, and gloves. Before you think we are total wimps, even the Alaskans we talked to thought it was cold today.

Fortunately, the rain stopped during the morning and we even had sunshine for about an hour. The Denali Highway turned from gravel to mostly potholes but, even with gray skies, the view just kept being beautiful. There were several glaciers, snow-capped 14,000-footers, and hundreds of kettle lakes left by the glaciers

Montana Majestic Mountain T Tour

On The Road Again

Yellowstone then Home

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Day 17 - Saturday, July 10, 2010

Runs great...

....Drive it home.

Runs great...

....Drive it home.

Getting to Anchorage

as they moved and shaped the land. We even saw one peak described in our guidebook (Mileposts) as an active volcano although you couldn't have told it from the snow that covered it today.

During the afternoon, we drove over the summit of McClaren Pass (4,086 ft.), the second-highest roadway in Alaska. (Trivia for you Ice Road Trucker fans out there: the highest roadway in Alaska is the Atigun Pass. Also, we learned from an email today that Carlile Transport, our heros with the tires and rims, is the company featured on the Ice Road Truckers show.)

We stopped at a viewing point about 10 miles from Paxton (our destination for today) and, as always, had a group of people come over to check out the car. Turned out that they were from Texas, too! Even when they aren't from your home town, it's exciting to see people from "home."

We arrived in Paxton around 5:30. The car ran well today, in spite of rough roads and cold weather. It is fun to see the pleasure that other people take in seeing us out here and we enjoy meeting so many nice people from all over the country. It would have been easier and warmer to trailer it home, but not nearly as much fun.