Ah, Alaska.
In 2019 I was freshly retired (early) and was gonna ride to Tok and the pipleline highway. That's when I discovered that I was persona-non-grata in Canaduh - without trial or conviction, I'm now branded a **FELON** in that Permafrost of Leftism.
Okay...take the Alaska Marine Highway. That was the year they started charging the same portage rates for motorcycles as for cars. I just said, fuggitt, and went back home, did something else that summer.
Then came the Coof.
Last year, now with a gimp hip, and no longer riding, I thought I'd travel a bit in my 2000 mini-pickup. I did try it. Holy moly, was it painful, trying to get in and out from under the truck topper. And the mattress pad...not a good experiment. I was in the Grand Canyon, and of the ten days on the road, six of them I spent in motels/hotels. Fail.
Sold the pickup - no bike to haul and no camping - and then stumbled on a maxi-size minivan, for less than I sold the truck. Toyota reliability. Nobody wants minivans, now - you see women pregnant with their first child, buying three-row SUVs to haul kids around. Minivans were MADE for those people, but for some ungodly reason, they don't like them. It's not the way they drive - they're better road cars than SUVs. And most of those four-wheel-drive monstrosities never even have the front-axle-drive ever used.
So. For a thousand less than I sold the truck, I bought the van. Seats came out - carpeted back area, fits my folding cot (didn't fit in the truck bed) and everything's dry. Curtains on the side windows.
Let's go to ALASKA, shall we? The touristy way. On the ferry. Did I mention I was there once? Looking for work. Then, later, almost took a job with the Alaska Railroad.
I'd wanted to go back once moar as a tourist...but now, with nuke war almost assured, with fuel about to run out...now is not the time. Gas was expensive in 1990, when I was there...and my Datsun truck got me 32 miles out of a gallon of it. The maxi-mini gets me 22.
I don't think I'll have a "next year" option. I'll be here, but probably not agile enough to want to make that trip.
