Copyright 2019, CABS for Reflections From the Fence
July 25, 2019
Rained all night, off, on, off, on. Raining this morning too.
We are having trouble getting started, ya know, that rain thing. In The Estate, as with all other camping units we have had since the army tent, rain makes ya want to go back to bed with lots of warm blankies and sleep away the day. No can do, we have a reservation in Valdez.
Pulled out at about 10:30. Not bad considering the urge to crawl back into bed.
Fuel first.
Much mist and fog and rain, hiding the beauty. Now and then we get a glance of snow/glaciers, waterfalls, blue green or grey fast running rivers and, the pipeline. Sometimes the pipeline is quite close to the road, other times I can barely see it at what seems like a mile or more distant.
The only good photo I got of the pipeline, going into Valdez or coming out!
Ya, it's raining, again.
Going down hill, interesting formations in the distance and a shelf of cloud, the mountain peaking its head out above the clouds.
I always delight in seeing a river running beside the roadway. Photos can be difficult to shoot, due to speed and little warning, and poof, we are already past it.
One longish traffic/ construction delay. 20 some minutes. Replacing culverts. A second delay was about another 20 minutes. We have heard of 45 minute delays just waiting for the pilot truck/car, so this was not too bad.
Yep, a flagperson is ahead.
That section is gravel where they have dug up the road and replaced the conduit. They will come back and lay black top over it. We tried to stay a bit back from the vehicle in front of us, those stones will make nasty with your windshield.
That extra "bump" sign, it is for sure something to be aware of. The drop off at the cut of the pavement was about 4 inches, maybe more. Slow peeps, really slow, and it is still a bit of a "bounce". Like a speed bump, ya know - -
Along the way, after the first construction area we spotted a number of bikers (not motorized bike, pedal bikes) riding. They were on a tour trip, hauled up the mountain and then ride down a part of it, having a catered lunch along the way. Bikers along the highway like this have always made me a tad nervous, and I sure do not envy them this weather. Yikes!
Two water falls up there, from this distance they look like frozen snow still laying on the side of the mountain. They are not, they are running water, running so quickly it looks white.
A glacier is hiding behind the clouds.
Now the mountain is hiding behind a cloud.
Now we are talking, river, clouds and a mountain.
Lots of snow, most likely a glacier, peaking through the clouds. I liked the artistic feel of this photo.
In the second construction zone, not a bad view while being led through at about 25 MPH. Time for me to shoot! YAAAA!
See, when I have a moment, to frame and shoot. Not too bad.
Down, and back up in this section. When we were waiting for the pilot truck Man got out and talked to the owners of this rig, as they had a badly bent stabilizer. They were aware. Small world, they were parked one site down from us in Valdez.
Pretty shiny new culvert. A big one at that!
You can actually see some of the removed old damaged culvert laying on the piles of rock on the right side of the photo. And, the informal caravan continues on - -
Glacier, big ole glacier. This is the Worthington Glacier.
Another view - -
Thompson’s pass. About 3,000 feet and to say it was foggy, well, understatement. To say I was uncomfortable, is another understatement.
It got worse before it got better. Man was hanging over the steering wheel. We certainly were glad to get out of this mess in one piece, minus some sweat and nerves.
There is another "bump". Oh, I so wish this had been a better weather day, this has to be stunning with blue skies and highlights instead of flat lighting.
WOW! Look at those walls of stone!
Bridal veil falls - -
And, literally around the corner, Horsetail falls.
Sometime after we stopped to take this photo of the Horsetail Falls, we looked up at the GPS and saw - - THIS - - good grief, we are drowning? LOL
We have arrived in Valdez, Close gravel lot parking. With a view of the bay, lol, if I peak between rigs. A RV caravan pulled in about the time we did. A rig near us has a bad exhaust on his furnace or something, we had to close the door or be asphyxiated.
Walked to town, had a nice burger and beer and cake for desert. The girls room has a merman painted on the wall. See - -
Everywhere in Valdez are these planters, filled with the same flowers and now and then a cabbage or two, decorative cabbage for the most part. I saw a planter miles out of Valdez who had picked up the same color scheme. I thought it was quite nice.
Not in focus, but, someone is having a snack - -
It’s 65 here. A good mellow temp. We can see some of the mountains. And clouds sliding by them.
We drove 118 miles today.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment