>North to Alaska – 19
>
>July 8, 2007
>
>Anchorage to Valdez, pronounced Val deez’, about 75 miles. We left 
>Anchorage around  10:00 and didn’t get to Valdez until almost 9:00pm. I 
>guess it’s really not bad if you take into account a 6 hr ferry ride 
>and waiting an hour to go through a tunnel.
>
>The day was great. Good weather and great visibility. The ride out of 
>Anchorage was along the coast with many snow capped mountains in the 
>background and some with glaciers snaking their way towards the sea. We 
>took the cutoff towards the Portage Glacier and were disappointed that 
>we couldn’t get close. The road ended at a glacier cruise ship dock. We 
>did get a chance to see some magnificent mountains and glaciers though. 
>From there we headed towards Whittier, only 6 miles away. It took over an hour.
>The road to Whittier shares a tunnel with a train! One way only and we 
>had to wait for almost an hour for our turn. The queue continued to 
>grow for the hour. They told us that the motorcycles were to go last 
>because they have had a few motorcycles go down and they needed to be 
>able to get the emergency vehicles and ambulances into the tunnel.
>
>OK, what’s the problem? It seems they paved the space between and on 
>either side of the railroad tracks for cars, trucks, etc. The 
>motorcycles though can only use the space BETWEEN the tracks. If the 
>wheels hit the tracks the chances are we would need those emergency 
>vehicles. There were small spaces on either side of the tracks to allow 
>the trains to use the tracks! These spaces are what would grab our 
>wheels. We were also told that they used concrete between the tracks. 
>That may be the case but they put boiler plate with lateral grooves on 
>top of the concrete. This was bad but it got worse with the oil that 
had accumulated from the various vehicles and the trains.
>
>The ride through the tunnel was freaky. The tunnel was 2 ½  miles long 
>and the penalty for exceeding the few feet allowed us was high….no 
>problems but it was not one of our favorite rides.
>
>Once in Whittier we had lunch and got ready for the ferry. It was a 
>great ride. No wind, no waves and great visibility to travel through 
>Prince Williams Sound. The captain even took us near the Colombia 
>Glacier, one of the largest tidal glaciers in Alaska. That saved us the 
>cost of a glacier cruise. What a deal! We even saw two whales and 
>several sea lion.  The forecast for the next 3 days is rain. We’ll see.