Sorry it is very remiss of me to have not completed a web site entry until this point in our trip, my excuse is almost no access to the Internet. At most we may have 10 minutes a day as we past thru a town. Population generally needs to exceed 1000 to ensure access, and whilst we usually try to pass thru a town this size each day, for refueling of little bodies, it doesn't always happen. So needless to say we have entered a country where people are built tough, folks with some pretty basic needs ..... Food and Internet!!!! We are just like locals already. Except maybe that we source our food from the traditional outlet store, not the wilderness. Alaska is a land of hunters, not the touchy feely 'take only photos, leave only footprint' type hunters we encounter in our urban lives, but the proper hard core type hunters securing protein for their kin.

We found ourselves a nice pristine creek to camp by last night, and discovered every local male, and not just 'adult' male, was holstered up with what would be a pretty effective 'bear stopper' and a dog, because dogs are more attractive to the Bears then children. Funnily it wasn't any where near as disconcerting as in other places we've been where everyone carries a gun, in some ways I can understand why here.

Families, guns, dogs, boats and 4 wheel motorbikes ....everywhere. Everyone has come out to enjoy the amazingly good weather we are experiencing here - 26 degree days. Even all the flowers are out, after the winter frosts thaw, entire fields of flowers spring to life, beautiful. I think it's great the locals embrace their amazing asset, the wilderness, and they must laugh at the convoys of RVs moving from designated beautiful spot A to designated beautiful spot B. I really do feel a little pathetic in comparison, tottering along in our all-contained house on wheels. We've just taken a drive across the Denali Hwy, 5hrs for 132miles, and we passed this lake where they hold the annual Alaska man challenge - now this is what they do here for fun ....

Two member teams, a down hill skier and a snow mobile and driver. The skier starts at 5800 feet elevation and drops 1700 feet in less then 2 miles to the bottom of a narrow canyon where they must catch the tow rope from their partner on the snow mobile, who then tows them 2 ¼ miles uphill at speeds upto 86 mph before they separate and the skier finishes the race by going over the side of a second mountain and dropping 1200 feet to the finish line.

If you're keen to compete next year, sign up at AlaskaMan.com.

I am constantly frustrated by my inability to capture this place on film, the difficulty being the beauty is immense and covers the full 360 degrees, every second of the day. Any photo taken doesn't go anyway towards reflecting the reality of this place.

Wildlife viewing goals are going well, checklist as follows:

Dahl Sheep

Seals

Humpbacks

Dolphins

Blacks bears

Grizzly bears

Deer

Bald eagles

Chipmunks

Arctic ground squirrels

Moose

We just saw the moose this afternoon, a mum and its baby, on the Denali Highway but it did cost us a broken car, the road was so rough the drivers side mirror has come loose and fallen off its mount. Fortunately there was no traffic, seriously we passed maybe 10 vehicles in 5 hours, so we pulled the mirror in and proceeded without one - deal with that tomorrow.

I maintain my goal for the trip is to get everyone home alive, and not because I'm concerned one of the children may be mistaken for a bear, but because I'm desperate to reduce the number of people inhabiting this small space. Everyday there is some form of catastrophic spillage as a result of someone stretching (read play fighting). I'm not sure the cushions can cope with the wetting and drying cycle much longer!