June 29 - in Tok

Hi all from Mosquito Central.  You would think the smoke in the air would discourage them, but it doesn't seem to work that way.

Last night the smoke cleared somewhat and I could see a bit of a sunset. 

Taken in Tok, at 11:30 pm.

Kinda fun truck for the Sourdough Campground

After some Internet research, we found we needed to stay in Tok today if we wanted to go to Church this weekend, or drive 300 miles today to get to the next town with a service.  We stayed.  Worked well for doing laundry and a 20 mile bike ride this afternoon.

We biked this evening to church, which was a Eucharistic Service this weekend.  Apparently they only get a priest twice a month.  The next town down where we thought we would go only gets a priest on the 3rd Sunday of the month.  Rustic looking Church, but nice inside.

Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Tok, AK

David's trying to read the calendar on the bulletin board.

 There were only ten people there, including the reader, the main celebrant (woman), and song leader.  Four were visitors, and they thought it was unusual to have more Tok folk than visitors.  Very friendly people.  We'd met the man below at the visitor center earlier today.

The building was apparently added on to.  The walls in one part are logs while the other half is paneled.  The stain glass windows look like someone colored them with marking pens (& it is wearing off).  Very unique. 

Quilt they are raffling off as a fundraiser.  They are obviously trying to get "outside" money, they said to pay the winter heating bills.  After the service they explained about the raffle and said they ship it to the winner.  Mentioning, that they have shipped quilts all over.  They were happy to sell tickets to people from Arkansas and California.

Sorry for cutting off Santa Claus.  Guess I shouldn't have taken this from the moving bike.  It just seemed a bit unique this time of year.  No other Christmas connection noted

This place wasn't open when we went by, but it again was a unique sign.  Apparently is a local amusement park.

We noticed a sign saying "Incident Base" pointing down this street, so we went for a look.  I was guessing it was an Incident Command Post for the fires.  David didn't think the fires were that close.

 Looks like they took over the Tok School.  Where this trailer is, they took the fencing and one of the basketball backstops.  Hopefully they put it back together when they leave, they weren't to neat in some of the cuts on the posts.

Lots of tents bivouacking on the playing field.

We went to the Visitor Center to check on the fire situation.  They are burning all over the place, but fortunately not burning homes.   Also nice is, they aren't causing problems where we are going (so far).  Tok has a very nice Visitor Center.  We walked around waiting to ask about the fires and so many of the displays had places we've been to already.  I guess that means it is getting time to head for home.

We met a man from San Diego.  He flew to Anchorage and is riding is bicycle around Alaska.  Fun guy to talk with.  Someone else came in looking for campground information at Denali.  The clerk (Jim) said he'd never been there and didn't know.  So shy me, offered the man some suggestions which he seemed to appreciate.

Another interesting thing, we needed a couple of things and found Kirkland products at the local grocery store.  The cereal is twice the price for the Costco size package.  The milk is sold by single gallon (not the two-pack we are used to), but the price is about the same as the two-pack at home.

The cheese is a 2-pak, but $14.09 is a bit higher than home.

They can even buy the Costco electronics.

We saw so many familiar products that we asked the clerk.  She didn't know the connection, but said Costco trucks delivered a few times a week.  Maybe through the "business" stores???

We tried to make reservations on the ferry, but the 800 number doesn't work on the weekend.  I later called Haines to make an RV reservation, worried that around July 4th it would be crowded.  No problem at all.  I told her of our inability to confirm on the ferry, so we didn't know how long we would be staying.  She gave me a local number and said we could call at 9:30am.  So we'll try it tomorrow before we leave.  But, she said no problem if we wanted to stay longer.

So you may not hear from us for a couple of days.  No idea where we'll be stopping tomorrow.  Wish us luck that when we go into Canada they don't decide to hold us up again.  On July 2nd, we plan to be in Haines, AK.  Hopefully we can stay through the 4th and ferry to Skagway on July 5th.  David figured out how to move the mirrors so we can make it under the 108" limit.  They charge 25% extra then, but if we go over it is 50% extra.  The awnings covers may make it too wide, in which case I'll be real happy to not mess with the mirrors.  

If you want to see another travel site, met a guy that rode a Suzuki 650 dual sport (no windshield) bike up as a fundraiser for an organization:  Students International out of Visalia, CA.  Brian teaches 8th grade algebra in his normal life.  http://www.stint.com/  for info on the group or if on FaceBook, check out:  The Great Adventure