My Journey to ALASKA

[(RIP) rustygates]

Yes iv'e spotted it on google earth it's between Mount Burgess and Yoho national park,wild

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

Back home from Devon,weather was fantastic.
We arrived at "TED STEVENS" airport at Anchorage,and checked in at 5pm,and as we were on standby tickets, that automatically put us down the list for boarding any plane uk bound,and security was very strict(i was to see more than my fair share of security before we left Anchorage) at 6pm we went through the x ray machine and could see on the faces of the security guards that they were exited as they thought something was hidden in our cases,that's when he guns were drawn, here we were at the desk 2 guards with guns drawn on me with no shoes or socks, one hand holding my jeans up and ordered to open my case which was locked using the other hand. wrapped in my case was Bob's 16oz gold scales and other artifacts, these knuckle dragging morons thought we were drug dealers and ordered a strip search of us and luggage,the scales were swabbed for drugs and explosives and the other artifacts had the same treatment, this went on for 2 hours, i was mental, but had to bite my lip,or it was Guantanamo Bay for me,thank god we did not bring those Winchesters.Eventually they let us go through to the departure lounge and on to the gate for take off, it would not be soon enough,the flight from Anchorage to Denver was the way we were going and the flight was at 10pm so we had a coffee and waited, then we were told that the one plane that we wanted was full so we had to go back through the security again,still having to take off my shoes and socks and belt and searched the bags again and find a place to sleep until the following day.

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

some pics of Ted Stevens airport Anchorage,
i slept here for four days and loved every minute of it.
my bench was just behind the glass column in the foreground out of site of the patrolling security guards

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

another pic

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

and again

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

This did make me jump one night,when i was looking for the toilet.he stands 12' to the shoulder a normal size person would be looking at his naval
not my pic.

 

[firebobby]

Just think, you could have layed ol bear down and used it as a bed :lol

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

I slept off and on all night because the loud speaker kept speaking the time every half an hour and the security system kept saying every hour"the airport is at code orange, then in the morning the conveyors and carousel for bags started up and more alarms were set off, but never mind i thought we will be gone tomorrow,the following morning Sunday, i found a Starbucks and got the coffee and blueberry muffin for breakfast then started to look for a phone but all the phones were out of order on because of the ongoing alterations at the airport and all the public phones and computers were the other side of the security barrier at the departure side which was out of bounds for those with no tickets,until 5pm that evening when American Airlines office opened,so we were stuck on the wrong side of the airport for 7 hours and then the coaches bought hundreds of people off the cruise ships to fly to their destinations. At 5pm we made our way to the furthest desk which was AAirlines,we enquired where our bags were"Oh" the've already gone through security and we could not get them as they were ready for us to board that evening but i had the gold scales in my hand luggage so that meant i had to go through security again that evening with no guarantee of a flight,so i was searched again and the gold scales were tested for drugs and explosives ,shoes and socks off and belt taken off and this was all done by the Knuckle draggers from the night before,the very same pair,i said you searched me last night and tested the gold scales etc, "Only following orders" he said,Jobsworth i muttered.

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

Some more pics of ANC anchorage airport and the noisey carousal

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

The bench that i slept on for four nights,that's me having my starbucks

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

We were behind the l/h glass sculpture

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

the check in desk for AA, 1 plane a day outbound

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

We had made a big mistake as this time of the year was Sockeye Salmon season and their were hundreds of fishermen with stacks of boxes full of ice packed with salmon and paying $100's in excess baggage.Our flight out of ANC anchorage was 10pm so we hung around the airport all day watching the coming's and going's of people in transit inc millitary personnel who had their own area to chill out, they had big screen tv and poole tables. i spoke to a nice lady on ERA Air who let me use her pc to email home which was good, the AA desk opened at 5pm for the one flight that day,later i had to go through security again to use the phone and public pc's at $3 a go, so had to queue up for maybe half an hour and then remove shoes and socks etc to departure side after four times of doing this procedure the Knuckle draggers started to recognise me and sympathised but still i had to remove shoes etc.

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

5pm came so we went to the AA desk at the furthest end of the terminal and booked the flight, our bags were still the other side in the secure area for departure so they were still unavailable,at 6pm we went through to departure and found our bags,i emailed home telling them we were confident about this flight leaving with us on it,at 9pm the departure lounge filled up and waited for our names to be called out and guess what,we never got on the plane.
So we left our luggage again at security at $20 a day,rather do that than having the gold scales etc being swabbed again,and we were ushered back from departure area to the waiting area,we were near the family wash room so we started using it as there were no families there.there was loads of shops inc a bar and resteurant, the only problem with that was,it was the other side of the security, so off i go again for some bacon baps, there was even a shoeshine stand and the information desk had loads of reading matter so we settled down for another night.

 

[solarman216]

I sympathise been to Jerusalem once and USA once, never again purely due the the way we were treated at security, if it had not been for the fact that I had the wife with me, I would have been arrested as I would have clocked them one for their ignorance, so will never go again, Rick

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

The two sets of Gold Scales 8oz and 160z

various sizes of gold pokes (bags to carry the gold dust)
Funnels to guide the dust onto the scales
Brass weights 8oz and 16oz

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

I woke about 7am and went for the coffee and blueberry muffins,and we decided rather than hang around the airport until 5pm for the AA desk to open we would go to downtown Anchorage, so we took a bus.we wanted to buy phone cards,tried "radio shack" no luck then we queued up for 20mins at the Post Office (sounds familiar)no luck there either so we made our way back to the bus station or as the locals called it the Tramp or Hobo station as most of the druggies and wino's hung out there, and found a kiosk which sold $10 phonecards,got back to the airport and phoned home to inform them of my extended stay at the airport and my wife not concerned at all and said "let me know when your back in the UK"it was not the reaction i was expecting.actually ringing home was a marathon task as i had to ring four different sets of numbers,whilst i was Anchorage i had to buy toiletries because as we were going up the lift in the mall someone in the commented that the lift smelled,that was it,we bought all sorts of deodorant's,we were becoming those hobo's in the bus station.

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

While we were milling about in the airport lounge i spotted a guy that i had given water to on the Glenallen highway,we were on our way to TOK at the time, and this guy was cycling up this hill and i shouted to him did he want a drink and he rode over to us and said he had run out of water,so we gave him a couple of bottles,he had cycled from Vancouver and was going to Anchorage to meet his wife at the Airport and then to Dinali National park then fly back to Vancouver,never thinking we would meet him again,but there he was with his wife going through the lounge,he thanked me very much for the water, he had encountered a herd of Musk Ox on the way but managed to avoid their horns. good job we had showered and shaved and had clean clothes on, we had done our washing in the family room and dried them on the backs of the benches, the weather was hot and sunny and i was enjoying myself and everything we needed was close at hand. 5pm came and we went yet again to book to see if we could get on the flight at 10pm, we were told it would be unlikely as it was full but go to departures anyway,so waited till 9mp and went through security yet again,and now the security knew our names and said "still here then" yes still here we said, at least they could string three words together to make a sentence.

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

This the plane that we saw every night,but never got on it

 

[(RIP) rustygates]

We waited to hear our names being called,but no such luck,so it was back through security and to our benches for another night,but they felt sorry for us at security and gave us our bags that had been locked up at departure so at least we could change into fresh clothes etc.

This was Bob's 1918 Diary,

with loads of stories of his survival and daily life up in Wiseman.

how he encountered a Grizzly outside his cabin door trying to get in, he did not want to shoot it so he fired in the air and it eventually went.
he used to feed the birds around the cabin especially the"camp robbers" they were like starlings and made a racket if bears or wolves were near, very useful