Palmer

We travelled the Parks Highway to Palmer, arriving Friday afternoon.  We stopped in Talkeetna on the way to see this small, unique “Train” town, about 15 miles off the Glenn.

Cathy and Linda found a new favorite “coffee-house” in town and we spent a lot of time window shopping the many shops. . .

This is where we are going to catch the “Hurricane Turn train on Monday.  This is the last flag train in the country.  (A flag train will stop anywhere on route, for anyone and is used by many of the semi off-grid type people who live near the 60+ mile route).

After setting up the coach, we still had daylight to burn so we took to the Glenn Highway, up the Matanuska Valley to see the Matanuska Glacier.  It was about 90 miles up the valley to viewing area; we travelled down a dirt road that we thought would get us closer but had to turn around and come back out after a couple of miles.  We took these shots from a small school yard near the foot of the glacier.

I took this shot for Phil.  Notice the seat on this scoop shovel, even the correct color?. Must’ve been designed in downtown Atlanta . . .

We went into Anchorage Saturday morning to pick up our bibs for the Anchorage MIle run and Cathy and Linda’s 5K runs on Sunday.  They made a new friend before the race and finished the entire distance together as a three person team.

Have to get my pic in sometimes  . . .

On Sunday, my race started at 0900 and Cathy and Linda’s 5K started at 1000.  We had the Governor of Alaska at the start of the marathon.

I had planned on running the 49K Ultra but wised up and realized I had not trained at all for that distance (or really any other distance).  I moved down to the Moose Tooth Marathon.  I wore my RUN ATL shirt and received a lot of calls from people along the way who were familiar with the group.

Jeff Galloway (10K Olympian, 1972 games), who we had talked with the day before at the Mile run, was staying at the same downtown hotel and we crossed paths several times that evening and race morning.  We also crossed as I made the final out and back turn (mile 20) and he was in the other lane,  approaching the turn, Bart Yasso (Yasso 800’s) made it a point to come over and talk with me at the finish. Both Bart and Jeff are from the Atlanta area and we have met several times before at various marathons.  I finished a LOT better than expected, not a PR but pretty decent considering.

The weather helped, constant light drizzle, temps hovering at about 50 degrees and only a little wind.  It was a great course, mostly on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail and a journey about 5 miles up into a city park, with only 4 hills of significance.

Planning on a relaxing day after the run, we scheduled our Hurricane train trip for Monday. We met a fellow Georgian at the train station in Talkeetna, who was wearing the same Unicoi Outfitters fishing cap as me.  Damn, it really is a small world. (Unicoi Outfitters is a VERY small fishing shop near Helen, GA.). This is me with Dalton from Cleveland (GA).

We managed to get into the dome car for the entire round trip.  Pretty good visibility . .

We picked up one person on the way to Hurricane and one, who was foolishly standing on the track on the way back (the engineer was not very happy with him and asked the conductor to have a chat with him) .  We actually had to back up to get this person as the entire train blew past him. This run allowed us to see countryside that is not available to anyone other than backpackers, and other train passengers as it travels through (mostly) pure wilderness.  We did manage to see salmon in the crystal clear rivers and streams.  We made a stop at this river to stretch our legs . . . . 

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At one point, the train stopped on a 900 foot long bridge, with a height of more than 300 feet above the river. I took these shots from the baggage car, hanging out over a single rope restrainer.

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We pulled over on a siding to allow the Denali Express to pass us . .

Today (Monday) we managed to get to see Musk Ox near Palmer then take a ride up Hatcher Pass to the Independence Mine.

Ice age survivors who can weigh more than 900 lbs . . .

The Independent  Mine unearthed 150,000 ozs of gold in the 1930-1940 era and is a state historical park and is in a state of arrested deterioration.

Cathy enjoying the Alaska sunshine . .

The mine. Most of the standing buildings have been restored with original furnishings. There was one dock that had hundreds of burlap bags (for the gold ore) still in the original packaging, stacked outside for almost 80 years. Not to worry, these were vintage, unused bags. . .

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Next stop . . Anchorage and the State Fair, which is in Palmer?  Oh well, a glitch in the plans.