Woohoo, after more than a month of constant traveling, we made it- Anchorage, Alaska. Arriving in the city at 9pm, we realized we needed to find a place to stay quite quickly. A glance through the Milepost showed a number of options that sounded decent.
Our first option was Anchorage’s Centennial Park. Arriving there, we found that the gates were locked. Closed “Tuesday-Wednesday” the sign said. Looking at our calendar and noting that it was Monday we were confused, so we continued on in our search for a place to stay.
About a mile away was a RV Park, so we went there to check it out. Right next to a major road, the RV Park was literally nothing more than a parking lot where RVs could have water, sewer, and electrical hookups. As a place to tent, it was entirely unappealing and not even inexpensive.
Onwards we went, traversing across town and finally arriving at Ship Creek RV Park. Once again, it appeared to mainly be a parking lot for RV’s, but there were at least a few tent sites. It was already pretty late by this time, so I just said, “Ugh, unappealing, but there’s nothing else in Anchorage, unless we want to drive more than 10 miles out of the city or pay $200 to stay in a hotel, this is it.”
This was a decision I would sorely regret the next morning.
After going out for a late dinner, we didn’t get to bed until nearly 1am. All seemed well then, I mean at least it was dark (unlike any of our time in Denali, where it was light 24/7). Around 4:00am the torture started. First, came the seagulls. A whole friggin’ flock of them. Over 50 seagulls squawking and crowing. Then, came the trains. We had noticed the train tracks right next to the tent, but didn’t think they would start that early in the morning. And by right next to, I’m being literal; they whooshed by 15 feet from our tent site. After that, the trucks began. The RV Park was located in a semi-industrial part of town, and apparently trucks drive by quite loudly at 4am.
Fed up with the constant noise and unable to get to sleep, I jumped into the front seat of the car and tried to sleep. After dozing for a few minutes, I suddenly noticed that Kyle was next to me, and the tent was completely packed up and stuffed into the back of the car.
“Umm, it’s 4:30am, what are you doing?” I asked.
“You’ll see.” Kyle said, sounding even more tired than I was.
Ten minutes later, after dozing again, I found myself waking up as the car stopped in a Wal-Mart Parking lot. “Huh?”
Kyle, kindly and graciously, cleared out an area of the back of the Jeep. I quickly jumped back there, crawled into my sleeping bag, and promptly passed out for another 5 hours. Brilliant work Kyle. (FYI: Kyle grabbed a pillow, reclined in the passenger seat, and slept there. Yah, I think he got the rough end of the deal too, but he insisted. Generous!)
Kyle sure is a gentleman…Glad no one minded your overnight visitation to the Walmart parking lot. Maybe someone in Anchorage will see the need for a good campground!!!
good work, Kyle!
Exactly what Dad would have done!
Dad woudn’t have – that’s too close to a Wal-Mart for his taste.
The idea was that he would have cleared out and given me the space in the back of the Jeep so I could snuggle in the sleeping bag and he would have slept half reclined in the seat. Actually, he is “warming up” to Wal-Mart as we’re both fed up with the local grocery store. I now have his “blessing” to shop at Wal-Mart. : )