Day 17--Wasilla, Alaska

Today, we intended to buy four new tires.  We had to go find the best deal, but before we left Roberts' house, we discovered one of the remaining tires was flat!  So there it was, the fourth flat.  It wasn't a blowout, though; evidently, the tire had developed a slow leak, and lost it overnight.  So, at least, the rim was not ruined.  We looked for tires in four different stores, and got what we believed was the best possible deal we could, given the quality of the tires we were seeking: radials, 6-ply, good enough to get back home on.    We explored Wasilla, discovering that it has almost anything you might want in the way of shopping, except a Sam's Club or Costco, but the word is that they're coming.  Oh, there wasn't a high end mall, but there was almost anything else you might be interested in.  After traveling for thousands of miles through forests and tundra, Wasilla was a real city.  Although the posted population is around 8,000, there are about 50,000 people who live in the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) valley, most of whom do not live in an organized city, but they certainly contribute to the economic vitality of the cities that are there.

After getting the tires mounted and the two spares built, I inquired about the need to replace two of the tires on the pickup.  We made an appointment to come back tomorrow to replace two of those.  They're a lot bigger, wider, and thicker, and will be a lot more expensive.