Another Semi Dumps Its Freight On The Glenn – And This Time There's A Christmas Story Ending

It's A Miracle! 20 Tons Of Fresh Food Saved Christmas For Bean's Cafe When Truck Hit The Ditch At Chickaloon 

Headed into Anchorage on the Glenn (Journal File Photo)

Everybody who has lived for awhile in the Copper River Valley has seen a semi or two full of freight hit the ditch on the Glenn Highway. Caribou Creek is an especially worrisome spot. Over the decades, semis have done just about everything possible on that hill. They've turned over smack in the middle of Caribou Creek Hill, and just lay there on their sides, blocking traffic, like ungainly turtles waiting to be rescued.

On one occasion, years ago, a semi full of watermelons missed the curve, turned on its side, and dumped its entire load. You could smell watermelons there all summer long when you drove by. More recently, in 2016, a Lynden Transport truck full of kegs and boxed bottles of Alaskan Brewing Company beer missed the Caribou curve in mid-September, scattering a huge load of beer everywhere at Mile 106, and causing quite a ruckus of speculation and even humor when pictures of the cargo circulated around the state.

Yes, it's not all that easy driving the Glenn, not just at Caribou Creek, but in other well-known spots, such as Long Lake Hill and Chickaloon. 

Chickaloon's difficult hill and bridge were recently realigned in a rather perplexing manner to everyone except highway engineers.  This is Alaska, after all, and the Glenn is basically (for all its importance as a major inbound route from Canada to Alaska's largest city) just a two-lane country road through the wilderness. And it's a cold, empty wilderness. Truck accidents are serious, and they can happen anywhere.

So it was really exciting this Christmas when a semi-truck crashed near Chickaloon, dumping up to 40,000 pounds of all kinds of fresh foods. The truck had just come in from Portland, Oregon. 

According to KTUU, Vulcan Towing and Recovery saw the cargo, realized its potential for doing good, and organized 18 people to help salvage the food from the crash. 

It has been donated to Bean's Cafe and the Children's Lunchbox. Bean's says the Christmas Eve donations are "A Christmas Miracle."  The organization has been struggling to provide fresh food for the many people in Anchorage who are faced with food shortages due to the pandemic and unemployment. 

There was so much food Bean's didn't have enough room to store it. It had to be offloaded at the Dena'ina Center, and private companies, including Costco, Great Alaska Pizza Company and Charlie's Produce all joined in to help salvage the 20 tons of fruit, vegetables and all kinds of other quality groceries.