My trip was a week long, sleeping in the back of the minivan. I was tougher then, and could handle the cold a bit better. These days, cold is one of my worst aversions.
Even though the weather dampened many of my plans, I found Alaska to be, the one word that truely describes it is "grand." The mountains, sweeping land areas, arora borealis (sp), and the sky. All just grand.
And the people! The FRIENDLIEST people I've ever met, and that's coming from someone who lives in the South, and in Texas. I also got the feeling that they all had known the feeling of hardship during their lives. The gold mine I planned to visit was closed, and so was its campground. But the man said, "The buildings are locked, but you can walk around the outside of all of them and look in. And just pull your van up here and camp for the night."
Since the campgrounds were closed, there was no place to shower. So one day I walked in to a business - a real estate office - and asked if they knew where I could go for a shower. A lady working there, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her keys, handed them to me, told me how to get to her house, and said, "Just let yourself in and take a shower, and then bring the keys back." !!
But they are kinda detached from the world, too. I was there the night they were going to reveal "Who shot J.R." on Dallas. I didn't want to miss it! I walked into a bar / restaurant where TV sets were playing over the bar. I asked if they were going to watch Dallas. The men looked at me and said, "Who are they playing tonight?" They never heard of J.R. and thought I was talking about football!
