September 22 - Denali to Fairbanks

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We decided to sleep in a little since our jog from Denali to Fairbanks would be fairly short. Sleeping in consisted in our waking up at 6:30 rather than 6 am; our bodies are still out of whack. We ate a quick breakfast standing up since our tight little room had no table just a dresser and night stand.
At the end of the season if you time it right you can drive into Denali without a pass or special permission. You can only go so far but it is self guided. We timed it right. We got to drive 30 miles into the park out of 92 miles. The scenery was majestic. The road was all but empty; of everything including wild life. We drove as far as we were able, turned around and headed back. At mile marker 15 we walked out a piece on an easy hiking trail that followed a stream that was so pure and clean that you could see to the bottom and count each and every stone.
As we were about to reach the park visitor station we finally got to see wild life. A Lynx crossed into the road, looked back over its shoulder at us and moved into the bush. Dan was quick to grab the camera but the camera was not a colt 45 and did not fire. He was upset to discover that the video did not capture the only wild life we saw all day in Denali.
Next stop skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn. We discovered while looking at blogs that there was an adult themed bar called Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn, half way between the town of Nanana and Fairbanks. It was reputed to have food so we were trying to have lunch there. We got there at 3 ish and there was only one guy there sweeping the floor and no evidence of food other than a popcorn machine. Thankfully it had popcorn in it. The bar was rife with adult humor as advertised. We quickly picked out a shot glass with the two bears in a compromising position which is the establishment’s logo. Dan took advantage of the bathroom facilities while I ordered us a couple of drinks. We then settled in to see if we could draw our rather quiet bartender out into some good conversation. We started doing most of the talking. We described where we came from and what we were doing in Alaska. Dan as we discovered our bartender was named warmed up nicely and shared a little about himself and what brought him to Alaska from Colorado and what it is about Alaska that keeps him there in spite of the long nights in the winter. We talked about hunting, politics, his native Alaskan girlfriend that lives in California.
Three beers later we got back on the road to Fairbanks. Fairbanks is an interesting city. Part urban sprawl, part industrial complex and rush hour in the rain is about as frustrating as Orlando during regular rush hour. For us that is fine. For the locals it probably ruins their evening. We were starving, grumpy and ready to get off the road. Our hotel was located next to a 24 hour super wal-mart which was awesome since we needed supplies for the trip north but needed dinner first.
While Dan was cleaning up from the road I researched restaurants using a brochure Dan got from the front desk clerk. A joint by the name of the pump house just 10 miles away fit the bill. It was on the Nenana River and specialized in steak and seafood. We had an excellent waitress that really hustled. By the time we made it to wal-mart we were both getting tired. We divided and concurred after picking out food stuffs and got out as quick as we could. As usual after dinner I went right to bed.

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