While in Valdez for our RV adventure, we spent a whole day taking in the Alaska aviation experience at the 2008 May Day Fly-In. This event is truly a unique experience for the pilots and fans of bush flying and real Alaska aviation. Pilots fly in from all around the country, pitch a tent under their wings and spend a weekend enjoying beach landings, flour bombing and STOL competitions. If you’re into flying at all, this is a must see event!

Hope you enjoy this sampling of “kites on wheels”!
-Scott

WOW WHAT A TRIP!

Still lots of snow on the mountains, but spring is moving in quickly and making up for a late start. Anxious for summer to get here, we hit the road and drove from Anchorage to Valdez, then took the Alaska Marine Highway back home.

Before I go any further… Let me say I’ve never been much of an RV guy, and hate following them on the road! Additionally the guys know me as often saying “Let’s get out in the dirt!” – I do like the views from a tent!

I will confess that Alaska Travel Adventures completely changed my view of the whole RV experience. That probably should not come as a surprise because they’ve been providing the total Alaska experience for over 25 years. We were provided their Sunseeker RV for this road trip, which really has a forward thinking floor plan making good use of space. This RV also offers reasonable gas mileage in contrast to others on the road, which is important these days!

As you know Alaska is a Big State. The distance between locations is huge, and if you’re doing the B&B, Resort, or Lodging thing… It can get quite costly – so I see this as a great alternative. So think of it as a mobile base camp to all your Alaska adentures!

All said and done – We enjoyed having a mobile studio and the ability to just pull over and make a cup of espresso whenever we needed and I say YEAH!

Would I RV again? YES!
Do I still enjoy getting dirty? HECK YES!

Valdez
This part of our trip was HUGE and I’m Not Kidding!! We were surrounded by bush pilots and general aviation geeks, and amazed at the huge turnout of this event. We enjoyed shooting the 2008 Valdez May Day Fly-in & Airshow, and taking part in some of the activities like the Poker Run / Beach Landing. Flying is part of Alaska’s culture… If you can’t drive, you’re flying and that goes for most of the state. We’ve got tons of great footage and information to share – so that’s coming to you very soon!

Marine Life, Bears, Fishing, Hiking, and Wilderness… It’s all here in Valdez! Can’t wait to return and play again!

The Alaska Marine Highway
This is a fantastic service from Valdez to Whittier or heck even if you’re looking to visit Valdez, this is a great way to get there! I could not recommend this more as a travel option.

My only regret of this trip is that we did not have time to talk to more people along the way for the show! It’s high on our list in coming shows. We did meet some great folks and even found a Kaladi coffee house tucked back into Silver Springs area… Great vibe, nice folks, good company…

In Closing
I’d like to thank Bill Bryson III, his Father Bill Bryson, Buck & Betty with ATA, Gary Odle, Kelli Dindinger, Danielle with AMHS, Scott at Alaska TravelGram and other friends for helping us coordinate this adventure. We really appreciated the hospitality in Valdez! One question I have wondering about…who doesn’t know Bill Bryson?

This was a blast! If you end up taking this trip exactly or something similar, do share with others here at Alaska HDTV – We’d love to know!

Cheers,
Scott

INDEPENDENT MUSIC ARTISTS FEATURED IN THIS SHOW:

Latch Key Kid
“Yesterday”
www.latchkeykid.org

Up Stairs
“C Plus”
music.podshow.com

Jim Fidler
“Home Comes The Rover”
www.jimfidler.com

Meg Bird
“Do what you gotta do”
www.wichita-recordings.com