Hatcher Pass

I'm in a hurry today, trying to figure out how to pack everything in my car so I can get on the road. But I wanted to take a few moments to note two things.

While I was on the phone with some relatives yesterday, I pulled over to the side of the road as I entered Hatcher Pass, because I didn't want the cell phone reception to get any worse. I pulled over to the left side of the road, and after the phone call ended, I made this short video of the river where I parked:

Here's a 90-second video of a paraglider doing his thing in Hatcher Pass:

Unfortunately I only had my phone with me, and quickly ran out of storage space.

The paragliders took turns running/jumping off the mountain area to my left, which is right next to Summit Lake. They landed in the brown and red area down by the road, were picked up by a truck, and kept doing that for a while, taking turns.

As I'm seriously thinking about moving back to the Lower-48 at the end of this year, I thought I'd make a list of things I'll miss about Alaska if I do leave:

March 26, 2011: Sorry I haven't posted anything here in a while, I've been busy setting up my computer programming business in Alaska. The last 48 hours have been a bit of a problem as well because the company that provides internet access here in Palmer, Alaska has had problems keeping their part of the internet working. Hopefully we're through that now.

Wow, I finally got a chance to drive on the dirt/gravel road portion of Hatcher Pass, and I have to say, even after all the trips I've taken out there before, I was nervous, with the proverbial butterflies in the stomach as I turned the corner and began the steep incline up the dirt road.

Quickly the memories came back: You can't drive this road with your car in "Drive", you need to shift down to first gear, go slow, and take your time. The road is slippery, and the "potholes" are large enough to swallow your car. Huge rocks jut out from the road.