Road Trip!

It was so beautiful and sunny out that I decided to grab the camera and hop in the car. Maybe go up to the Eagle River nature center and snap a few snowy/sunny pix. My wife had mentioned that the ER valley doesn't get much sun and the road conditions may be less then optimal. I was mulling this when I hit the Glenn northbound. Decided to take her advise. I phoned home to give her my 'change in flight plan' - just in case I run into trouble. I tell her that I'm going to continue on to the Valley. I do. I shoot right past Palmer. Sutton. Chickaloon. Stopping now-and-again for photo-ops. I'm thinking at this point that maybe I'll catch a bite to eat at Sheep Mtn Lodge or something and turn around there. Well Sheep Mtn came and went. I wasn't in the mood to stop. And still getting great photos. So I press on. The gorge on the way up to the summit was gorgeous and once I was up on top of the pass - breathtaking!! It really was Chicken Soup for the Couped-up Alaskan Soul. At some point, I notice the gas gauge edging towards 1/2; and I'm noticing the road signs ticking down the milage to Glenallen. When I was about 70mi away, I think I made the decision to go for it. I stopped first and gassed up. Did the math on my MPG and got a record-breaking (for me) 36 to the gal. Niiiice. Then stopped at the only place to stop; The Caribou, and was pleasantly surprised to find it was now non-smoking. We'll just gloss over my menu choice - suffice it to say that it was not vegan but I did not have beef. Actually, I fell off the vegan cart when I was down last week with the flu. I'll get back on. Anyway, I did the drive home almost straight through and didn't see my first asshole driver until after the Parks cutoff. Picked up take-out dinner for the fam on the way. Dumped the photos into the Powerbook and here we are. Whew! BTW, the last time I was in Glenallen was summer 2000, when we drove the Highway to move back here.