September 20, 2006
FAI-ANC 1:02p – 2:00p ALASKA 737-400 N788AS Economy Class
ANC-CDV 3:22p – 4:23p ALASKA 737-400 N779AS Economy Class
CDV-YAK 3:22p – 4:23p ALASKA 737-400 N779AS Economy Class
YAK-JNU 3:22p – 4:23p ALASKA 737-400 N779AS Economy Class
JNU-SEA 7:50p–10:58p ALASKA 737-400 N779AS Economy Class


Rarely do I get to enjoy a relaxed day prior to my departure on one of these big trips. As usual I spent the morning running errands all over Fairbanks before finally returning to my cabin to finish packing just 25 minutes before the cab to the airport was due to arrive. I got everything accomplished though and by the time the cab arrived at noon, I was ready to go.

It was a cloudy day in Alaska’s Interior with snow forecast for the weekend. Part of me wanted to stay a bit longer because I love a good snowstorm, especially while safe inside a nice warm cabin. Still, there’ll be plenty of time to enjoy those storms later this winter. After a ten minute cab ride I was dropped off at Fairbanks International and strolled up to the completely empty Alaska Airlines counter. It was 12:15pm and I’d been told by Alaska reservations that my 1:00pm departure was almost booked to capacity. Where was everyone?! Already checked in, was the reply. God bless ‘em all for showing up so early and leaving me an empty counter. Unless it’s a holiday, I rarely show up more than forty-five minutes ahead of time for a flight out of Fairbanks. Within five minutes I was on my way through security and headed down to the gate.

I’m traveling on a Saver Award ticket between Fairbanks and Miami and the cheap seats out of both Anchorage and Fairbanks have been sold out for weeks. One of the reservation agents at Alaska’s Partner Desk told me that it’s because all the fishermen are now starting to leave the state. Really? I’ll have to keep that in mind when planning future trips. Kind of like avoiding driving down to Anchorage via the Richardson Highway during caribou migration.

My original itinerary had me departing Fairbanks at 1:00pm to Anchorage, then laying over until my 8:30pm departure down to Seattle, arriving at about 1:00am. Five hours later I was due to connect to a 6:05am flight down to Las Vegas. This would make for a horrible overnight layover at SeaTac. Of course I would have preferred to take a later flight down to Las Vegas but to do so would have made Seattle my one and only allowed stopover and I needed that to be in Las Vegas. During the last month leading up to these flights I’d called Alaska reservations about once a week to see if anything earlier out of Anchorage might have opened up. That way I could get a decent rest in Seattle. Alas, everything was sold out. Only two flights even had revenue seats available, and very few seats at that. Finally, the day before departure, I was looking through my pocket flight guide and noticed AS 66, the milk run to Seattle via Cordova, Yakutat and Juneau. It departed Anchorage at 3:22pm, just an hour and twenty minutes after my arrival from Fairbanks. A quick call to Alaska reservations confirmed that saver seats were available on AS 66 between Anchorage and Juneau and between Juneau and Seattle. However, they were unable to be booked between Anchorage and Seattle. Perhaps I could connect in Juneau then? Click – Click – Click. Yes, Juneau’s in the routing.

Book it, Danno! Now I was set to arrive Seattle at 11:00pm, much better than 1:00am. Finally, on the day of departure I called back and asked about the possibility of flying between Seattle and Las Vegas via Portland. Earlier, all saver seats out of Portland to Vegas had been taken but now some showed available. My new departure time out of Seattle would be 8:00am. Marvelous! I now had a nine-hour overnight layover in Seattle, leaving more than enough time to set up camp in my secret corner of the airport and get a decent night’s rest.

Having all this taken care of in advance made for an enjoyable and stress free afternoon flying down Alaska’s beautiful southeastern coast. I even had an exit row seat for all segments. Unfortunately, my seat was on the ocean side of the aircraft so I was unable to check out the spectacular mountains, ice fields and glaciers between Anchorage and Juneau. I took small solace in the fact that it was a mostly cloudy day. I spent my time aboard reading and munching on pre-purchased mixed nuts while taking advantage of Alaska’s abbreviated beverage service that consisted of either glasses of water or single serving cups of orange juice. I drank a lot of both.

Interestingly – at least for one who logs his flights as I do – the aircraft that I flew between Fairbanks and Anchorage I’d only flown once before. The aircraft assigned to AS 66, N779AS, I’d flown twelve times before, the most of any of Alaska’s 737-400s.

Also worthy of note in this day of BYO airline food was that a snack was offered to Economy Class passengers on the 30-minute flight between Cordova and Yakutat. It consisted of a small plastic tray bearing a bag of chips, a cookie and yet another sealed cup of orange juice. I wonder what they got in First Class?

We landed ten minutes early on a rainy night in Seattle. All in all, it was a nice day of flying with Alaska Air.


September 21, 2006
SEA-PDX 8:00a – 8:45a HORIZON DHC-8-200 N349PH Economy Class
PDX-LAS 9:55a–12:06p ALASKA 737-400 N706AS Economy Class

One of the best benefits of being an elite level Mileage Plan member (MVP Gold) is the right to use the First Class and Elite lanes at airports. At 7:00am, SeaTac was extremely busy and the lines or should I say mobs at the security checkpoints were quite large. My aversion to these checkpoints is almost as strong as that of a bomb-toting terrorist. I understand why we have them and of course support that but the overall process is the least enjoyable aspect of a trip aloft. It’s a good thing I don’t live somewhere like Israel or I’d have probably switched to ground based transportation long ago. In any event, thanks to the First Class & Elite lane, I was through security in five minutes instead of fifteen.

Alaska Airlines’ Boardroom at SeaTac offers perhaps the finest selection of breakfast breads of any airline lounge in America. At the food service center were two different baked breads along with blueberry scones and a nice selection of bagels. I chose a yogurt from the fridge to go with a big slice of banana nut bread. Breakfast on the road.

Horizon Air shuttles passengers from Seattle to Portland with flights every half-hour between 7:00am and 9:30pm. Business is brisk on the route and this morning’s flights were particularly busy. My 8:00 departure was in fact oversold. I immediately added my name to the list of hopeful bumpees and found a spot along the wall. Unfortunately no bumps were required, so I grabbed my gear and headed out to the aircraft. Parked next to us was N425QX, a brightly colored Dash 8-400 commemorating Horizon’s 25th anniversary.

As I paused to admire the commemorative aircraft, I took a stroll down memory lane to my first ever flight with Horizon. It was October 15th, 1984. Earlier that day I had flown into Pasco, Washington aboard a Hawker Sidley HS-748 wearing the green and blue livery of Cascade Airlines. My return flight to Seattle with Horizon was aboard a DC-9-10 leased from All Star Airlines. Sadly, the aircraft still bore the colors of its owner. It would have looked much nicer in the orange and red livery of Horizon.

Also of interest was my first ever flight between Seattle and Portland. It was in August of 1976 aboard a Northwest 747 continuing on to Honolulu. Since then, I’ve flown the 130-mile SEA-PDX route aboard L-1011s, DC-10s, DC-8-61s and 727-200s. These days, the largest aircraft serving this route is Horizon’s CRJ-700.

The aircraft for today’s flight was a Dash 8-200. Its larger cabin and comfortable seating make it a much more passenger friendly aircraft than the little Embraer 120s operated by competitor United Express. Once airborne, we were offered muffins and coffee. Very nice for a thirty minute flight. Well done, Horizon.

Following a brief visit to Alaska’s small but otherwise well appointed PDX Boardroom, I boarded my connecting flight down to Las Vegas. Although the 737-400 was almost completely full, we sped down to Las Vegas in just one hour and thirty-six minutes thanks to a strong tailwind out of the north. Interestingly, last night’s flight on the one hundred and fifty mile longer route between Juneau and Seattle took just six minutes longer to cover. Must’ve been a stronger tailwind. I collected my backpack from the carousel and headed off to Thrifty Car Rental.


A DRIVE AROUND THE WEST

I got a great rate from Thrifty – $96.00 all in for a four day rental of a full size car. As a Blue Chip member, I proceeded directly to a kiosk on the lot where my contract was already printed and awaiting my signature. All I had to do was show my license and credit card, then go and pick out a car. Unfortunately, the only vehicles available were Dodge Magnum station wagons and a variety of big SUVs. I rented a Magnum once. Cool looking car – it looks like something out of a comic book with those big wheels and little windows, but the gas mileage is nothing to crow about. And, in these days of exorbitant prices at the pump, the last thing I need is a gas guzzling SUV. I decided to pick out a midsize car instead. Moments later I was heading out of the lot in a burgundy Chrysler Sebring sedan. I’ve rented Sebrings a number of times before. They’re comfortable and surprisingly roomy for a smaller car. They also provide decent performance when you put quality high-octane gasoline in them and they sport a surprisingly good sound system as well.

My first destination was the Mojave National Preserve, a 1.8 million acre desert wilderness area located west of the Nevada border between Interstate highways 15 and 40. I love the landscape of the Mojave Desert with its broad sun blasted valleys and rugged brown and gray mountain ranges. The midday sky is huge and the sun incredibly bright. Summertime temperatures routinely climb above 115° each day. Thankfully, the Sebring has an excellent air conditioner and my journey through the preserve was both comfortable and cool.

On to Needles, California located above the Colorado River on the Arizona border. Historic Route 66 passes through the town, and the main drag is lined with motels and other shops from that era. My favorite place to stay is at the River Valley Inn, a classic single level motel built during Route 66’s heyday in the early 1950s. The motel offers twenty-five spacious rooms, each equipped with refrigerator, microwave and a 27” color remote television. Travelers in the 1950s never had it so good. The price is right, too. Single rooms cost just $24.95 plus tax.

After a long day of cruising around the Mojave, I like to check into this motel in the early evening, crank the air conditioner in my room, and then go sit out under the cabaña by the pool. There are usually a few fellow road warriors in attendance out there and it’s always fun to trade stories of our adventures while downing ice cold beers. Tonight the pool was pretty quiet as it was the slow part of the year and only a handful of guests were staying at the motel. However, my old buddy Gary and a couple of friends of his from Indiana were out under the cabaña, so I grabbed a couple of beers and headed over to join them. I’ve been coming to the River Valley Inn for about fifteen years and I met Gary about ten years ago. He’s the maintenance man and part time desk clerk of the motel. He also provides maintenance for a number of other motels in the area. He came to Needles from Lubbock, Texas in 1950 and is a font of information about the history of Needles as well as southern California in general. While I cooled off with ice cold St. Pauli Girls, Gary smoked unfiltered Camels and regaled us with tales of the early days on Route 66 along with a bit of local Colorado River history. River boats were once a regular means of transport before all the dams went in. That would’ve been a great way to travel through the region. Today however, there are six dams on the Colorado between Las Vegas and the Mexican border. As darkness fell and more guests started to arrive, I excused myself and headed into town for dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. Later, I returned to a nice cool room. The temperature at 9:00pm was 86°.

I awoke the next morning to clear blue skies, 80 degrees and a flat tire on the Sebring. Further inspection revealed a lot more tire wear than a car with only 21,000 miles should have. Not only that, but all four tires were in poor condition. The right rear one sported a potentially dangerous bulge just above the rim. At a nearby service station, the mechanic instantly noted that the car was a rental and tried to set up a deal with Thrifty to sell them four new tires. Thrifty quickly nixed that idea and told him to put me on the phone. I was told that since I’d declined the LDW, I was responsible for any tire damage. I agreed with regard to the flat tire, but not about the condition of the rest of the tires. Since Needles was only 120 miles south of Las Vegas, I decided to get the flat fixed and return the car to Las Vegas for an exchange. The mechanic said there was no way I’d make it to Vegas with the rear tire bulge and in fact refused to repair only the flat. He did however offer to sell me two used tires for the price of one. I’d gotten a bad feeling about this guy as soon as he’d noted I was driving a rental car and started talking about selling new tires. When I refused his generous offer, he got mad and said there was nothing he could do. He did however offer to put some air in the flat tire so I could drive next door to another service station that also repaired flats. As he was applying air hose to tire, I asked him if there was any charge for filling up the tire. $10.00, he snarled. No thanks, said I. I’ll just limp on over there as is. The mechanic disappeared into his garage mumbling unpleasant things about damned tourists. I headed next door and got the tire repaired for $20.00. Two hours later I exchanged the car for another Sebring, this one with only 6,000 miles on the odometer and four tires with proportionate mileage.

I chatted with the agent working the Blue Chip desk about my experience. Could Thrifty’s mechanics have put a bad set of tires on this car? Not likely. What probably happened is that some low life rented the car, changed out the tires and then returned it when the office was closed and nobody was around to inspect the vehicle. I always do a complete pre-trip inspection before accepting any rental car, but I’ve never thought to check the tires. I will from now on.

I’d like to note that Thrifty’s staff in Las Vegas were very helpful and accommodating. I suppose I could have ranted and raved about the loss of my precious time and pined for a discount or luxury car but it wasn’t all that big of a deal. I’m back on the road and heading off into the desert again with a minimum of hassle and that’s what counts.

Most trip reports tend to focus on activities like visits to cultural shrines, a museum or the suite upgrade enjoyed at a fine hotel. What I find most interesting are the natural attractions as opposed to the human ones. I wanted to see Monument Valley, Natural Bridges National Monument, Deadhorse Point State Park and all the beautiful land along the way. When it comes to writing about nature however, I’m no Edward Abbey, so in the interests of brevity it might be best that I avoid getting into a mile by mile accounting of my automobile travels and instead provide links to the highlights of the journey. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words…


MOJAVE PRESERVE

NEEDLES TRAIN STATION

ROUTE 66 HISTORY

LAKE POWELL

MONUMENT VALLEY

NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT

DEADHORSE POINT