June 28th through June 30th 2014

So a buddy of mine said "make lemonade out of lemons". That is exactly what we did while we waited for the new turbo cooler being shipped "overnight" from Reno, Nevada. "Overnight" in Alaska is 4 to 5 days.

We were able to "limp" the Motor Home over to Big Bear RV Park and wait for the part.

June 28th, 2014.

We drove up to the Matanuska (Mat-Su) Glacier. For all of the glaciers we have seen this was the first one we were able to hike on. We hiked for over two hours just exploring various crevasses.

 

 

On the way back we stopped and visited the Musk Ox Farm. Not something I would do again.

 

 

June 29, 2014

 

 

We decided that the best thing to do was to do a little horseback riding. We brought along boots, hats, and a riding helmet for Heather, but never found the opportunity to do any riding. The Reindeer Farm was the closest choice. The ride took us up on the "Bluff" just below Pioneer Peak. It was a really nice ride.

 



June 30, 2014

This was a pretty stressful day for me as I was not sure if the new turbo cooler was going to arrive or not. With the assumption it would, we got up pretty leisurely as they told me it might arrive around 2PM. We dropped the Motor Home back at the dealership in "limp" mode around noon. With at least 4 or 5 hours to kill, we decided to go to the Iditarod headquarters.

There was a nice museum where we watched a video on the sled dogs. It was mainly around the science of feeding and training. I didn't think much of it until I looked at a placard with all of the finishing times. Wow what a trend. They were finishing it in 14 plus days back in the late seventies and early eighties. Now they are finishing it under 9 days.

There was a musher with his sled dogs there giving a pull around the property. That was actually pretty fun.

Video of dogsled ride

 

 

Well we got the call around 4:30PM that they were done with the engine repair. Obviously we raced over to the dealership. I ran it up and down the highway a couple of times without any issues. Yea for us!!! We then went back over to Big Bear since it was so late.

July 1, 2014

We got up very early to head back up to Tok. Other than more rain, the trip was uneventful. This time we stayed at the Sourdough RV Park instead of Tok RV Village. Sourdough is a nicer campground with lots of trees.