I left Alaska the day after the boys. Having loaded them onto a flight back to the Lower 48, I went back into town in a red rental Subaru Outback. After spending five thousand consecutive miles in the Celica, the Outback felt like I was driving a double-decker charter barge.
A rock climbing friend of mine named Joe lives in Anchorage. We met for dinner at the Spendard Roadhouse on the way back from the airport — yet another “beers and burgers” kinda place. I got back to the cabin after dark and it felt a bit creepy. I knew the owner with whom we had a strained relationship was downstairs, but I was now alone in this cavernous condo. Which, by the way, has no locks on the doors that lead between the rental living areas and the owner’s apartment. I did some writing, cleaning, and TV watching before calling it a night.
I spent Monday morning cleaning the condo and disposing of auto maintenance waste — AutoZone took fluids, the leftover kitty litter for the Tracker’s oil leak went to the Anchorage pound, and I dropped a good handful of unopened “just in case” supplies at the Goodwill. I stopped for lunch at the cafe where we listed the cars for sale before heading over to visit Joe at the Alaska Rock Gym where he works. It’s been a super sedentary two weeks and everything is harder in Alaska, but it was still a really neat space.
When Joe got off work, I made a serious mistake. He asked what I wanted to do and I asked for a hike that would put me to sleep on my red-eye home. He obliged. It damn near killed me. Alaska doesn’t do switchbacks; if you want to climb a mountain you just march to the top.
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/bird-ridge-trail–284 Could not Embed
And we didn’t even make it half-way up the trail. But what we did see was pretty spectacular. The trailhead for Bird Ridge is along the Seward Highway about twenty minutes from the city. But unlike our rainy finish line drive, the sun was out today.
Alaska may have taken full advantage of one last opportunity to kick my ass, but it was also a splendid farewell offering, eliciting a promise to return one day to this unbelievable place.
We made our way back down, offering me just enough time to get a quick shower before taking the rental back to the airport. As I returned my Outback, I discovered one last bottle of auto maintenance fluid that I hadn’t disposed of. Barely more than an ounce remained. I couldn’t let it go to waste. Besides, I was finally done driving. I just hope no one at Avis saw me celebrate it.
And before long, I was waking up to the sunrise over Denver, half way home. I am very glad I took tomorrow off.
Evan wrapped up his musings on the cars as they were sold over on OppositeLock.
https://oppositelock.kinja.com/alcan-adventure-meet-the-to-go-cup-celica-1838133699 Kinja has deleted its OppositeLock and Overland communities. Content Unavailable
https://oppositelock.kinja.com/alcan-adventure-meet-the-donut-truck-aka-i-need-my-co-1838130767 Kinja has deleted its OppositeLock and Overland communities. Content Unavailable
But he didn’t really conclude the trip; nor have I. This post is back-dated to my departure, but in truth, I’m writing it over Christmas.
In so many ways, 2019 was all about this trip. We started thinking about it earnestly in January and did more planning for this trip than the previous two… with so many revisions and the unexpected addition of two thousand solo miles. It also solidly divides chapters in life — Evan and I both marched home into unemployment, being laid off immediately before and shortly after the trip, respectively. And after the immense prep work, it all happened so quickly.
Maybe I still haven’t put this trip “to bed” because we’re all on hold. Evan and I have lined up new jobs that have yet to start. We’re also each haunted by the struggles of the Tracker, whose financial and mechanical calamities I’ve so far downplayed on the blog — so as not to detract from how it was a great companion during the trip. On a positive note, more so than anywhere else I’ve been lately, I can’t stop scheming about how to get back to Canada and Alaska one day, by road or otherwise — and every stop along the way, from Shiprock to Stewart to Seward. It’s a long way from Austin… but in its own crazy way, that Celica made it all feel just down the road.
Was it really a long way, or just a long weekend?
