Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Today I found 73 cents. . . 4 dimes, 1 quarter, and 8 pennies.

The Midnight Sun Baseball Classic, which had started at 10:30 pm on June 21st ended at 1:14 am on June 22nd. I wanted to drive back to Anchorage that night because my plane departed Anchorage in the evening. However, I am what I am, so before leaving I looked for ticket stubs from the game (I found three) and I did some change searching.

Driving out of Fairbanks I stopped at the same KFC where I had found money just hours before. It again provided for me, giving up 10 cents (one dime). At a Subway drive-thru, also in Fairbanks, I found one penny. I was now on the road.

This time of year Alaska is light 24 hours a day. However, the sun does set, for about three hours a night. Still, you can drive with no headlights, as the darkest it gets is what it might look like in Houston, TX around 6 pm. I was determined to see the sun rise over the mountain ranges of Denali. So all night long the I chased the Midnight Sun across the sky, playing a game of cat and mouse. As I would ascend a hill I could see the sky turning orange. As I would descend I knew it wouldn’t be long before the sun would come up. Sadly, the sun won our little game, rising without permission while I was in a valley. I was disappointed, but I still got a good view of the sunrise at the next mountain top.

Now, back to the matter of change. When I rolled into some town about 60 miles outside of Anchorage it was not even 6:00 am. Taking advantage of the sunny conditions I checked the drive-thru of an Arby’s and found four cents. I hit the jackpot at Wendy’s, where I found 47 cents (one quarter, two dimes, & two pennies). I had intended to stop at this Wendy’s on the way up, and was actually pulling off when I saw a hitchhiker. I decided to give him a ride and I forgot about the Wendy’s. I’m glad I returned.

Driving to return my car in the evening I found one penny in the road by some dirt. My final find in Alaska was a shiny dime, which I spotted under an airport vending machine as I was walking to my gate.

Totals for the day: 73 cents
Race Totals: $92.37