Ride to Fairbanks

Its Tuesday. After a pretty cold nite in the van I had breakfast at the truck stop and meet the parents of the lady that was so kind to suggest the parking lot for my stay. They worked the breakfast deli and gas station on the day shift. Getting a pretty early start the drive was good on the Richardson Highway.
 Denali Park and mountains can be seen for miles. Seeing the mountains from different highways and times of day makes a dramatic difference.
  At the Tanana River Bridge was the Alaskan "Alyeska" Pipeline Crossing.

It was a beautiful suspension bridge over this swift raging cold pewter water. A parking lot of trucks with boat trailers bordered the security fence of the pipeline crossing. This was worth a picture I thought but before I could snap the camera shot I was approached by a extremely large security guard in a big white pick up truck. He said I had several cameras on me an wanted some identification, please. After some discussion Ruben Bulgin gave me some time and explanation about  the security and surveillance used throughout the pipeline. He imigrated from Panama and is a US Citizen and proud of it. He is an ex football player and he is not one would want to mess with. Fairbanks was a short ride from Delta Junction. Not without a stop in North Pole. Its a very busy post office each Christmas. From what I understand all mail marked North Pole from around the country ends up here.

  After scouting around a bit, checking into Rivers Edge Lodge I decided to go on to the University of Alaska Museum. As usual I got side tracked and stopped at the university's Georgeson Botanical Garden and research facility.
The sign and collection of buildings are unassuming from the road without clear visitor sign-age and amenities. It has a modest entrance fee of $2 and a out building with offices used as its visitors area. It appears under funded when compared to the other campus buildings and university areas. Funding is not however what makes a good botanical garden, its the people, knowledge and plants. The flowers were extremely large and many were still in bloom. The long hours of sunlight make their 60 frost free days a full season for many crops and flowers to mature. I spoke to a worker that had a degree in biology that loved her work our doors. She was gathering up old foilage for composting from the gourds and other vegetables which were just harvested yesterday. The gardens were full of plants that we in the mid west are familiar with and a few new ones. Plant varieties are limited by winter hardiness  temperatures of as low as minus 40F or lower. However recent years these records were not made. The proof was a cluster of oaks about 12 feet tall. They are the tallest oaks in Alaska from what Patricia Holloway said.
 I stumbled upon her gathering some temperature data on her peonies. We immediately started talking on what a nice day it was and how nice it is to be in a garden doing some work or just enjoying it on a day like today. I had no idea she was the director of horticulture and we even had mutual friends in the profession and started talking about plants. Her latest research is in peonies that grow well in Alaska but bloom in July. Without knowing it originally she stumbled on a find that will add a potential new crop to Alaska. Cut flower users around the world do not have peonies available  in July. The market is world wide and she has been getting calls on a regular basis on her research. She has nine years in this project and many growers, flower brokers are getting on board. The economics of this must include a transportation supply chains. Alaska has lots of freight coming in and the airlines would love to have freight out too. Her pioneering in this area will give Alaska another economic model to pursue.  I enjoyed insights on both Alaska and her superior knowledge of a wide range of horticulture. What a delightful day and happenstance.