So, on Saturday, some hours after leaving Anchorage, we lost the drive train and moved into a room at Golden Bear Motel. At $100/day, even with the free coffee and cable TV, we did not want to stay very long. About 2pm, the son of Mr. James, the tow truck driver, came by the room and offered us a lift to our new temporary home. He had gone back those 65 miles, picked up the trailer and parked it in his junk yard.
A few hours later, the son came to the trailer with a bag of meat. A gift from Mr James, just butchered boneless moose steak. I marinated it with salt, pepper, oregano, olive oil and lemon juice. It was all I had since the trailer does not have accommodations for a full kitchen. I think Mr James sent it over because I had asked him if moose tastes like venison and he had emphatically answered no. And, as we found out for ourselves, it does not. It tastes more like beef with a sweetish backtaste. I don’t know of anyone else who can say that they spent part of their honeymoon parked in a junk yard in the wilds of Alaska cooking newly killed moose!
On Monday, the James family ran an extention cord out to the trailer so we could have electric. I guess they did not like the noise of the generator. But there is no source of water except the 30 gallon reserve under the trailer. And the waste water is being held until we can move the trailer to the sani-dump.
Meanwhile, life went on despite the lack of travel. On Sunday, I found that the church was only 400 yards or so up the state highway from the motel. Actually, everything is up or down the state highway in a town this size. I went to Mass while Dear Hubby stayed behind since we did not know when the trailer would get here. There was no Mass, just a Eucharistic Service. There were an older man and woman, dressed in unmatched albs. He acted as master of ceremonies and read the Gospel and a commentary on the Gospel from a book. She dispensed Communion and then asked all the visitors (it was obvious who were visitors since there were only about a dozen people there!) to introduce themselves. After service, I discovered that I had been sitting between a woman from Utica, a man from Syracuse and a woman from Danville. Another woman was from NYC but went to Oswego and used to have a camp in Indian Lake. And a fifth woman had gone to Sylvan Beach in her youth. So, half the attendees were from New York! Since Tok is so small, everyone knows everyone. When I went to the gift shop the next day, the cashier told me she heard all about it because she walks in the morning with one of the ladies who was at church.
For entertainment, Dear Hubby is addicted to Solitaire. He taught me the computer rules, which are somewhat different from physical card rules. And I am quickly getting hooked. There is the afore-mentioned gift shop where you can go into their loft and sit at a table for an hour and get the use of their wifi. And there are the books. Since the beginning of the trip, I have been reading half a chapter a day to Hubby of a book entitled “The Whole Truth About Fatima: Science and the Facts” by Brother Michel de la Sainte Trinite. It is part one of four. It is a fascinating read and we discuss each part after. I will have to buy the other volumes. I was surprised that Hubby was interested. We have also started reading “This is the Faith”, more or less a conservative version of the new catechism. There is much to learn in this book.
Currently I am hooked on Maeve Binchy, an Irish author. I can read one of her 400 page books in two days.
It also seems that we need to run to the grocery store or post office daily. It is a mile round trip because the junk yard is several blocks off the state road. Max loves it because he does not have to be on a lead. He has met other dogs and they run off to play together. He is very much a home body and does not leave the yard often. So this is an adventure! He has to be called back if we are going to cross the state highway. Then we put on the lead.
The typical Alaska town has a paved main road, with the pavement extending one block off to both sides. After that, the roads are just packed stones. The roads are soft, the edges are steep and loose. There may be a walkway extending several blocks. The roads are planned and named. First St is the first street off the main street and First Ave intersects First St. Not very original but certainly hard to get lost. And it is this way throughout Alaska and BC. This made navigating through Fairbanks and Anchorage fairly easy.
On Tuesday, Mr James’ son drove up to Fairbanks to get a part our Suburban needed. No mean feat: it is a 400+ mile round trip. As of Wednesday, we are getting it installed. We can only hope that the part fits and all is well.
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