Staying at Cabela's last night was a good experience, but we had to get up way too early to be at Great Alaskan Holidays RV repair at 7:30 am - wanted to be first in line and had allowed the whole day as there were several issues that needed attentions: the passenger windshield wiper doesn't make complete contact with the windshield so is not sweeping the upper third of the windshield, the bed over driver seats is coming down at a crooked angle and seems to be out of alignment, the door to RV was sticking shut and a screw had fallen out of lock plate, the warming pad for gray tank had fallen off and dragging under RV, and we are now at 7600 miles and due for an oil change. I had talked to Thor who makes this RV, and they told me this dealer covers their warranties in Anchorage since there are no Camping Worlds in Alaska, but this dealer said they are new to Thor and don't stock any parts...and that was their answer to every problem I mentioned! The windshield wiper "needs a new arm", the bed "needs new motors on both sides", the tank heater "needs replaced" and my gerryrig of the flapping pad "should be fine" til I got home! When I asked him if he could at least find a screw for the lock plate, the service manager did accomplish that; when I suggested that I was worried the pad could fall down with the metal tips from my bungee scraping the ground and causing sparks near my propane tank, he came up with the idea to just cut the pad off! I pray they knew how to do the oil change and for another $30 were able to check tire pressures! And for all that was not done, we waited 4 hours! We were pretty much tied to the dealership since we couldn't leave Sara in the RV, we were carrying our computers so we could work on them and therefore we couldn't even walk down to the stores nearby. So we checked out of there, and we're going to head north out of town, but first needed to get some lunch and deal with a homeowner's insurance problem that was not resolved after my last round of phone calls. So we drove to Far North Bicentennial Park on northeast side of town, made some lunch, talked to insurance people, and then got out for a short hike, just as the rains let loose. This is where we also ran into a new kind of danger sign (Danger of Dogsledding!), but that seemed pale in comparison to last night's moose! The trails are beautiful and plentiful here, with acres of forest land to walk, bike, sled, ski or whatever travel through! After the short hike, we got on the road north (Alaska Rt 3 - I think there are only 4 or 5 routes in a state twice larger than Texas! And we've travelled routes 1-3! Anyway, today we drive north from Anchorage, going through Wasilla (Sara Palin's home), Houston (known because it has a laundromat and pay phone, and the Post Office is in the grocery store!), Willow (start of the current Iditarod Dog Race), and thought we would stop in Talkeetna (next closest town to Denali, where we are headed) - but we were getting tired by 5:30 pm and still had 30 miles to Talkeetna, and needed a cheap night's stay to balance our "fancy nights" tomorrow and Thursday - must do some laundry and restock tanks before entering Denali where it will be 3 nights of dry camping. So we took a chance on a sign for Susitna Landing Campground, down the 1 mile dirt road. When we got here, we thought it was closed since they have a railroad type gate across the road. But Linda got out and found the manager, who was happy to check us in - on condition of a few rules: no loaded firearms on site, no illegal drugs, no use of chainsaws, no throwing of axes or knives, don't mess with other people's things, and be civil to everyone!! Rosemary, it's a good thing I didn't take you up on the offer of an axe, because I probably would have been throwing it by now!! But otherwise, the place is very pretty, the manager is very sweet, and we're on the Susitna River. We should have had a quick dinner since it was leftover from yesterday, but it wasn't my day - I spilled the quinoa (do you know how tiny those little grains are and how far they run?) and I either cooked them dry or forgot to put water in, so they toasted in the microwave, then the microwave wouldn't turn on, back to the stovetop, then microwave came on.... An hour later, our simple leftover salad was ready, and it did taste good again. And another walk around the campground - it's so quiet, it's eerie! I guess that's how it is when there's no axe throwing to liven things up!!