The 10-hour trip from Anchorage to Fairbanks

July 31st (Friday), 2009

I left the airplane with my two bags. At the gate, there was one representative from Northwest and she didn't provide any further information.

Because the aircraft was using a gate that was not scheduled to in service, there was no any staff there. I and other passengers just walked through a series of closed doors and pushed open many alarm doors. Then we were welcomed by TSA, who were alarmed by these doors. One police officer came and let us go.

In the baggage claim area, most of the passengers gathered and didn't know exactly where to go. Then one agent from Princess Cruises came to pick up tourists. It turned out he was very helpful. He told us that there were several other Northwest flights due to Fairbanks diverted to Anchorage too because of the heavy smoke at Fairbanks. Those Northwest flights were landed at south terminal. Northwest offered them free coach to Fairbanks. He suggested us to take the free coach if the airline would allow us to do so (it turned out there was no any checking when passengers boarded the buses). After he talked to his colleagues at south terminal and told us that we were OK to take the bus at the first-come-first-serve base, passengers started to rush to the south terminal. I was the first one to reach there.

There was a crowd of passengers waiting for the coach at the south terminal. Soon one bus came and I got onto it. I asked several passengers to make sure it was heading to Fairbanks. One old Chinese couples were sitting next to my seat. It turned out that they were both from Taiwan. The husband got his PhD degree in mathematics from Cornell University and now is a professor at Orkland University, an institution at Michigan. They told me that their daughter is studying at American University because I mentioned to them that I am studying at The George Washington University. Their flight, NW403, had been waiting at Anchorage for more than 3 hours and the airline eventually gave them $25 check and a food stamp. Later I found several passengers from NW405 at the same bus.

There were three buses and one truck to load luggages. It took a long time before the fleet started moving. There was some argument whether the fleet should stop at Denali National Park so that some passengers can get off the bus and avoid the unnecessary trip to Fairbanks. However, some passengers were eager to reach Fairbanks as early as possible because they needed to catch the cruise at Fairbanks. Other passengers basically just took the train over there.

The fleet finally started to move at 11:45PM. It was pretty dark at midnight. I got into the sleep very quickly and was waken up by the light. The fleet stopped at a gas station at 1:00AM and the driver, Steve, told us to take a break since there would be a long drive after that. Since the lavatory in the coach was in very bad shape, all the passengers tried to use the bathroom in the snack shop. So quickly, there was a long line forming inside the shop. I didn't want to wait and tried to find some alternatives. The FredMayer next to the gas station was closed and I was not sure the Safeway cross the street is 24-hour or not. However, I found there were other gentlemen who had the same idea. So I urinated behind a big metal bin. Before I took the spot, the guy who was using it previously said to me, "It's a good spot".

The fleet started moving again at 1:45AM and moved very slowly. It stopped twice briefly on the road. Eventually, the three buses arrived at Denali National Park at 6:00AM. Half passengers got off the bus happily. I had a nice talk with the Chinese couple outside the bus before I stepped onto the bus heading for Fairbanks.

This time, the third bus went first and the bus I was with followed the first bus. We stopped again at one motel to drop off one couple with a kid.

The weather was pretty good at Denali National Park. I saw a double-rainbow on the road. Quickly we found the first bus had some engine problem and it rided extremely slow when it climbed a up slope. Eventually, it stopped before the peak of a steep slope. All the passengers with the first bus got off and waited at the road side when the empty bus rode to Fairbanks, followed by our bus.

Eventually around 10:00AM, the bus arrived at Fairbanks airport. I got off the bus, wished good luck to these poor tourists and rode the bike back to University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The whole trip took around 30 hours, way beyond the expection.

Today, the smoke becomes even heavier. NW405 was not able to land at Fairbanks due to the low visibility and diverted to Anchorage again.