Because it was projected to rain 2.5 inches in Whittier in two days, the day of my scheduled cruise, I decided it behooved me to get ahead of the storm. I was right. The entire area got up to 4 inches of rain. So I drove to Wasilla, out of harms way, and stayed at the Wal-Mart parking lot where it rained all day and into the night. But it was the right thing to do. On the way I decided to take a side trip and drove the 18-mile gravel road through the Kenai National Wildlife Preserve. It turned out there were no wildlife present because they recently had a forest fire; it appeared the wildlife moved elsewhere. But the Kenai River area was a perfect photo opportunity, even though I am not fond of gravel, washboard roads. Wal-Mart parking was easy and quiet. But I noticed that Palmer was expected to have 50-60 mph winds and storms early the next day, so I left super early!