"I'm going to fly up with Mike on a commercial flight to Anchorage, and we're going to do some fishing on the Kenai." Suggested I.
"Not without me. There is no way either you or I are going back to Alaska unless both of us go at the same time," she replied for the umteenth time.
This conversation has been played out multiple times and with multiple variations. Sometimes it starts with a desire to attend the Alaskan Airmen’s Show. Sometimes it comes from a wish to visit friends in Big Lake and Talkeetna. Sometimes it originates out of frustration from currently living in the flat cornfields of Middle America. But always the conclusion is the same: "Not without me!"
I have to admit that my wife is wonderful from multiple standpoints. I have a photograph in my office that was taken while on a fishing trip up the Talkeetna River years ago. It shows her sitting next to a spring bear den, wearing waders and a backpack, bear weapon across her lap, gold pan at her foot, and salmon rod in hand. Anyway, how can I complain when she demands that neither one of us is going back to the homeland without the other one in tow?
So that brings us to the current timeframe. Like a reader who goes to the last chapter of a book and reads it in order to find out if the story ends well, I will tell you there is a happy end to this plot: We're going back. We're going back next month. We're going back no matter what the fuel prices are. We're going back together. We're flying low, and I'm in the left seat.
Right now I'm busy flight planning for a trip out of northwest Indiana (KVPZ) ....2500-3000 nautical miles later.... to Talkeetna, Alaska (PATK.) So-o-o, first priority, can I afford the fuel? Last night, (and for the last few evenings, in fact,) I have sent out multiple emails and made several prefix 907 (Alaska) and prefix 867 (Yukon) phone calls to check on fuel availability and cost. Thus far, it appears that 110LL av gas is running from a high of $7.35 dollars per gallon at Whitehorse, Fort Nelson, and Fort St John, to a low of $4.85 per gallon at Kenai (PENA.)
The folks I spoke with in Canada all expect fuel prices to continue to rise as we get into the summer season. They claim they have not seen a fall off of general aviation travel, even with the costs. They anticipate fuel to rise to about $2 per liter at the peak season. That translates to about to $7.58 per gallon. Keep in mind all these Canadian quotes are in Canadian dollars. You will have to make the proper exchange rate conversion.
I include the prices and contact numbers below for your perusal. I know some of you will be making this trip in June as well, so any updates or additions to the list would be welcome. As far as I can tell there is no central source on the internet that gives this information. It is available for the lower 48 on www.100ll.com, but nothing exists centrally for Canada or Alaska. Another web site, www.acukwik.com, offers good contact information for individual airports in both countries, but no fuel prices. Our overall routing may not change with this information, but our choice of fueling stops might be favorably affected.
I'm ordering charts today too. That's a kick. It appears that some of the WAC charts for Canada have been out of print for several years, accompanied by an empty promise that they will be updated and reprinted "soon". Translated, it appears that a whole lot of sectionals will accompany us on the trip north.
Anyway, what can be so difficult about following the Alaskan Highway? After all I've got my trusty 2008 edition of the Milepost. I can always stop and ask for directions at Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn mile 328 on the Parks Highway (page 416 in the Milepost), Tok (only 2 road choices), or maybe just stop and ask directions from some tourist in their motor home after I've landed in front of them... (It is legal to land on the roads, right?)
More to follow, but lot's to prepare: fishing reels spooled, boots waterproofed, survival kit updated...
