"There's nothing like a road trip, and I had a good excuse for one. In an effort to keep up with my weekly column for the Anchorage Daily News, I needed to get stories further from my home in Homer. It's been pretty easy to hit the Kenai Peninsula, and I've put in a lot of time in Anchorage, though - let it be known - I'm still on the prowl in those locales. What I needed was to get up to the Matanuska Valley and beyond. So, with a cheerful, helpful traveling companion - my sister Carol - the journey around Southcentral's road system began at the end of summer, 2002." s/Sharon Bushell.