JUN 26, 18 .. A SHORT UPDATE .. (DID YOU SAY SHORT CAPTAIN?)

If you have been following along with me, I am now out in Manley Hot Springs (the left red balloon ). Fairbanks is the right red balloon. In Manley, I am unable to access the internet.

Internet service is available in Manley, but I do not have a personal internet account and so I have been / and will continue to be, off-line and silent while out in Manley. I used to be able to, and successfully did so, boot-leg into an active internet account for my own use but have stopped doing this.

I point out Livengood (center red balloon ) in the above map because, one cannot just drive, more-or-less, straight from Fairbanks to Manley. First you drive 80-miles Northwest from Fairbanks to Livengood. The road in this part of the trip is very good (by Alaska standards).  Then you turn Southwest and drive another 80-miles from Livengood to Manley. This is the road-from-hell. Some sections have pot holes galore (from right across to left, you can NOT avoid them) and rough surfaces so bad you think the fillings will fall from your teeth. My usual time for this drive is right at 4-hours. In the winter, it can take much longer.

I left Manley for Fairbanks early this morning at 4:57am so that I would be sure to be here in Fairbanks this Thursday to meet Patti who is flying up from Anchorage to meet me and to accompany me to our cabin-in-the-wilderness.

Getting onto the internet here in Fairbanks of course is another (hidden) agenda item as a result of my coming into Fairbanks a few days early.

The scenery on-the-other-hand, is quite beautiful.

For over 20-years, I have driven to, and I have driven from, Fairbanks and Manley. Today is the first time that I have ever visited the Trans-Alaska Pipeline viewing point here just outside of Fairbanks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Alaska_Pipeline_System

Go figure that huh? Only tourists (not local people) see the tourist-sights.

As I wrote above, I do not have access to the internet out in Manley.

However !

Here IN Fairbanks (the right red balloons in the two maps way-up-above ) I have internet access galore.

Here at Billie’s Backpackers, where I ‘camp out’ in my truck (below photo), I have access to superior internet service (above photo).

Did I just write that I am, “Camping-out in my truck?” I sleep very comfortably in my truck and have full access to the hostel.

By the way, notice in these photos that I carry two (2) spare tires. This is not all that unusual here for people who live remotely. You never want to be without a spare tire. I do not know of anyone who had three flat tires in the same trip. Two yes. Not three.

I have been sleeping on the futon you see in these photos since 1992. After 26-years of use, it IS my bed as much as any other bed I sleep in world-wide.

I can sleep fully stretched-out. This (being able to sleep fully extended if you wish to do so) for me is the key to getting a good nights sleep.

Several of my pillows (below photo) wanted to be seen.

Home-away-from Home. As you can see, the shelf above my head (on the right below) is put to good-use.

The large, mesh-knit bag, left center below, holds my special sleeping bag. I had the bag made for me in 1999. It measures 9-feet in length and opens up fully (via a full length zipper) to use as a ‘blanket’ or a ‘throw’. I have slept inside this special bag, wearing bunny-boots and a full parka, at minus 42 degrees below zero.

I have the below wooden shelf that I put in the rear of my Suburban to enhance storage (I can and do put boxes on the shelf). Keeping my purchases separately and out-of-my-way allows me to sleep comfortably.

I carry several, 1-gallon white Clorox bottles, full of water at all times, when traveling here in romote Alaska. Those are excellent spare tires. Brand new in fact.

I first stayed here at Billie’s Backpackers in May of 1998. 20-years and-counting. Patti and I are ‘family’ here.

Oh trust me on this. I have a ton of things-to-do. This Post was to have been super-short with NO photos. A paragraph-or-two maximum. Now look at this Post. I get-rolling and the sky-becomes-my-limit.

Billie’s is, far and away, the best backpacker / hostel anywhere that I have stayed in the world. Nothing is even close to Billie’s.

Let’s go inside of Billie’s Backpacker Hostel.

Just like home !!

Below is the phone that I visit on with Patti.

Let’s walk upstairs.

Out in Billie’s Outback, tent campers pitch their tents and stay awhile.

This fits in perfectly with me ‘pitching-my-tent’ figuratively sleeping my (tent) truck.

Well that-is-that says Baba Caps.

Smiling to be feeling so very good and strong.

• ← JUN 20, 18 .. MAN-OH-MANISCHEWITZ .. A GREAT TRIP FROM ANCHORAGE TO FAIRBANKS.
• JUN 28, 18 .. CHECKING OUT FOR A WEEK OR SO →