163. Trundling train time to type

Monday, 3 June 2019

Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Letting the train take the strain again for the 400 mile and 12hrs rail journey to Anchorage. Instead of travelling Gold Class with the cruise ship tourists, have opted for ‘Adventure’ class.

Economy. In other words.

Now I don’t want you to fret, I’ll be OK. I can do this. Promise. We all have to make sacrifices. Having done the northbound rail journey last week, I don’t need to look out the window all the time and make sure I see everything.

Today is set aside to take time to type as the train trundles through the tundra.

Which is why tonight you had a lot of blog posts. 6,500 words to catch up on. More than I ever wrote for my dissertation at university over 3 months. Glad to hear I nearly made Bloss late for work again.

So, not much to report and not many photographs as you will have seen them all in last week’s blog post.

You’ll see a photo below which relates to the Nenana Ice Classic. This is a local competition to guess the exact time and date that the Tanana River ice will break up in the Spring. Started as a small bet between friends in 1906 and in 1917 had increased to $800, when the betting was resurrected by the railway engineers. Annual betting now is in the region of a total of $400,000 as to when the ice will break up. A tripod is placed in the river ice and attached by a wire to a clock on the river bank. When the tripod moves, denoting the ice breaking up, the clock stops. And the lucky winner is announced.

Highlight of the day though is towards the end. The clouds disappear from Denali, formerly known as Mount McKinley, and we’re afforded a magnificent view of its summit. A rare sight apparently due to its own cloud system.

Return to the Voyager Inn (https://thevoyagerinn.com/) and as it has no bar for a beer, am directed to the liquor store next door. Before even entering, the security guard demands to see my ID. Checking for red stripes, denoting being banned from buying alcohol for a driving under the influence offence, and age restrictions.

Deary me.

Anyone can buy a gun no problem.

But getting a beer…