Life, family, and travel

The World's Largest Everything, and Leaving Alaska

July 2nd

How many of you have ever seen a rainbow at midnight? I did from Delta Junction Alaska. It had already started to disappear by the time I got the camera to get the photo.

I am pretty frustrated with Taylor’s Green Acres RV park. It’s a Good Sam’s park in Delta Junction. The only reason I stayed there is the advertized Wi-Fi. The proprietor said I would not have a problem. I tried for about 1 1/2 hours last night, got up at 12:00 and tried again for an hour, then tried again at 6:30 this morning for about an hour and NEVER DID GET ON! Naturally, when I was ready to leave, there was nobody around to complain to or to get some money back. I’m angry enough right now to contact the good Sam’s people and complain to them. It was ridiculous to advertise then not come through on something as simple as this. I WOULD NOT recommend this RV Park to anybody!

I continued on down the Alaska Highway to Tok. I filled up with gas and asked a guy where a regular grocery store was. He said there wasn’t any in town. So I bought a minimum amount of groceries and started to leave. Lo and behold, a regular grocery store! I bought more groceries, and went back to the gas station and that guy was not there either. I think he saw me coming. I noticed a restaurant next door called “Fat Eddies” that I had heard was pretty good and they didn’t let me down. They food was delicious but there were so many people in there it took about 45 minutes to get your food (those who know me, know I really don’t like to wait for food!). As I was finishing up, I noticed a guy come in with a laptop and get on line. I asked the waitress and she said they had free Wi-Fi for people who eat there. Imagine that. I wasted about an hour when I could have been sending my logs to Cindy. I did take the time to get the computer and catch up with the logs, but ...I could have had it done already.

As I am retracing my original trip up this road, there won’t be a lot of photos unless I see something extraordinary. I did take a couple of the Wrangell MTN range as I was coming through the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge that was of a different perspective than when I came down.

I got to one of my boondocking locations; the sign said that no vehicles over 30 foot should attempt as there was limited turn around at the end. I continued on and finally stopped at a BLM campground called Deadman’s Lake. It’s another free boondocking place. I was almost too late (because of the long weekend) to get a spot. I finally found one up near the entrance. It was plenty good enough for an overnight stay. After I set up, I noticed quite a few signs that were warning people about an extremely aggressive black bear that has been here quite often. Sure wish I had my rifle!

All in all, it wasn’t a bad day, because, I AM in Alaska doing my dream of a lifetime.    How can you go wrong on that?

July 3rd

I was backtracking on the Alaska HWY so I didn’t take to many photographs. Here is one that caught my eye, it’s in the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge with the Wrangell Mtns in the background.

The Custom officer was very nice and asked just a minimum of questions when I crossed into Canada. Again, I didn’t want to take photos of the station. As you can tell, I was moving when I took the photo.

I had steeled myself for the next 100 or so miles of bad road and was doing pretty good. When I hit the bad areas I slowed down to 30-35 MPH. At one particularly bad area that had a lot of gravel, a young boy with 3 girls came by me doing at least 75. He tried to cut back in front of me and lost it in the gravel. The only thing I could do was try to maneuver around him as he fishtailed around. He finally got stopped crossways of the road about 20 foot in front of me. I started to get out and talk with him and he saw me so he took off. Luckily I caught up with him further down the road where we had to stop for a flag person (they are ALL flag persons up here). The flag person saw me getting out of the truck and ran over and said to stay in. I told her I needed to talk to the young man and told her why. She told me to stay in the truck and she would handle it. She went and read him the riot act. and something about calling the Mounties. Needless to say, he just sat there and didn’t say anything but that he didn’t know the gravel was that bad. That started her out again. I really liked that girl.

Another thing that I noticed with her. A motorcycle had been following me for quite a while unable to get around because of the gravel on the road. While we were stopped, I motioned him to go in front of me. When he got up beside the flag person, they spoke for minute and then she gave him a big hug and a peck on the check. I pulled up and talked with him for a minute, he said he had a long talk with her on the way up a couple of days ago and she rides a Harley Davidson also. When she flagged us on, I stopped beside her and told her I had seen what she had done to the biker and that I thought this had to be the friendliest country I had ever been in. She said that was very nice and leaned in and gave me a peck on the cheek also. Now I KNOW it’s the friendliest country.

This is the typical condition at the road repair construction sites. I’m actually back from the trailer in front of me be +/- 200 yards.

I’m not sure if I got a photo of this when I came through last time. It’s in Burwash Landing and it’s of the world’s largest gold pan. They sure have a lot of the “Worlds largest” up here.

All of my boon docking locations were filled at Kluane Lake so I kept going. I finally stopped at another rest area that had the typical out houses and bear proof trash dumpsters. They had erected a sign that told of the infestation of the Spruce Beetle. I guess it is only attracted to the Spruce trees where it lays its eggs under the bark. The Larvae and adults then feed on the tree effectively killing it within a couple of weeks. That is one of the reasons that it’s against the law to transport fire wood from county to county or into / out of Canada is to try and stop the infiltration.

 

 

The end of the Alaska Highway, and Thelma

June 30th

Well I did spend the day at Olnes Pond. It rained about half the time but the other half was excellent. The sun shone with just a little breeze. Whenever it rained, the sound of it hitting the top of the trailer put me to sleep so fast I was starting to get worried. I did manage to get a pretty good photo of my campsite.

I set up the awning and dried everything out in the back of the truck. Here is a shot of Guy’s campsite. He really had it set up nice. He had tents to cover everything, even his ATV.

But wouldn’t you know it. Some of his friends showed up and the first thing I heard was a ghetto blaster belting out tunes. No drinking that I saw, just loud. I decided to go ahead and leave the next day. (Another family joined them a little later in the evening) It was fun watching their kids play in the big puddle. Kids will be kids. One thing I noticed, these people up here don’t let the rain stop them. They just keep on going. Guy said later, “What’s a little rain? If you let that stop you, you’ll never do anything”.

I tried my hand at panning again at a little stream about ó ml from my campsite, again no luck. I even tried to fish a little, but I got paranoid and quit as I didn’t have a license. My best time was watching my friend the duck come into my campsite and try to steal food.

I hooked up the generator to charge the computer. I tried to watch a movie, but the computer (with other utensils going) it took to much charge and ran down the battery. I finally turned it off and resolved that the next time I would start it earlier to get a full charge before I started to watch a movie. Tomorrow night I’ll stay at a RV campground to get it charged and send off e-mails to Cindy.

July 1st

I took off early as I could as I needed to get a tank of propane filled (I finally ran out of my first tank since leaving home). I also wanted to stop at Pioneer Village in Fairbanks. Unfortunately, though the park was open, nothing inside the park was open until noon.

As I was leaving Olnes Pod, there were a couple of goldmines operating close by. They looked like they were not doing very well.

I did walk around Pioneer Village a little and get a lot of good photos of old houses and equipment. They had moved some of the original buildings here and several had been furnished with period correct furniture and everyday items. I saw President Harding’s RR car that he traveled here to drive the golden spike for the Denali railroad.

I saw the outside of several old cabins such as Judge Wickersham’s house. The first territorial judge.

And of course there’s always the cabin of ill repute.

One thing was going on. They were having a rehearsal for a Fourth of July ceremony on top of the SS Nenana. Of course I didn’t realize what was going on until I had sat there and watched for about 1/2 hour. I never did get photo of the preparations. I kept waiting for the ceremony to start. Anyway, here is a photo of the SS Nenana, The last sternwheeler to ply the Yukon River.  (a sternwheeler is a steamer propelled by a paddle wheel positioned at the stern.  the stern is the back of the boat.  Some steamships were side wheelers)

After I left, I had to stop a Santa Clause’s house in North Pole Alaska to send cards and pick up some knickknacks.

As luck would have it, I got to see Thelma, who I believe is Rudolph’s wife.

After stopping at a couple of gift shops, finally made it! The end of the Alaska Highway. I received a certificate and everything to prove I did it. What’s really bad, I now have to do it all over again as it’s the only way out of Alaska. Maybe I can get another certificate at the other end?

 

 

"You'd Better Be Friendly or Else" stick

June 28th

I had a pretty bad scare last night. I have been trying to find an adhesive that I could use to stick items onto the walls of the trailer. The wall paper in the trailer is somewhat like oilskin and not too much will stick to it. I had stuck a soap holder up in the shower but had noticed lately that it had started to become loose. At about 2:00 this morning, it finally came loose and fell into the bathtub. I woke up in a hurry. The only thing I could think of was someone breaking into the trailer. So I grabbed my “You’d better be friendly or else” stick and ran out the door. I circled but could not find anything wrong. After investigating a little further, I found the soap dish and knew immediately what had happed. I sure did feel sheepish. Unable to sleep, I went outside and took a photo to show how light is at 2:30 in the morning. I did not use flash, there are no outside lights of any kind. This is what it is all night long.

Eventually I was able to get back to sleep. I woke up about 8:00. You guessed it, it was raining pretty hard. I slowly hooked up and got out of there by +- 9:00. The whole way up to Fairbanks it was either raining pretty hard or very thick fog. This one I was up on some pass and I could look under the fog down into the valley. It was kind of cool.

 

During the drive my CB radio completely gave up the ghost. I was lucky enough to find a great place in Fairbanks called “Radio Fairbanks” They took a look at my radio and said “Yup, its junk”. They had another one but Dan was totally booked up today. I had to come back in tomorrow. As I was talking to the receptionist, she went and asked the owner if I could stay in their parking lot. He agreed as I was from out of town. I pulled the trailer downtown to visit the Visitors center (which had a great museum) and Dan called back and said to come back over, and that he would take care of me today. I drove back and he installed a new radio in a matter of 1/2 an hour. If you ever are in Fairbanks, and need work done on our CB or cell phone, I can’t recommend these people enough. I have their card and contact if anybody should ever need it. As I had the radio, I didn’t stay in their parking lot. I went ahead and drove towards Fox, AK. 

I had researched a little boondocking place called Olnes Pond. It’s on the Elliott HWY about 10 miles north of fox. It’s a wonderful little +- 25 acre pond that is pretty popular with the fishing crowd on the weekends.

After I got set up, I went for a little walk around the pond and “Roxy” the dog came running up with a ball in her mouth. She was soaking wet so I knew that somebody was throwing her ball in the pond. So I threw it in and developed a friend for life. She would go get it and kept bringing it back to me.

After a few minutes I met Guy, the dog’s owner. We had a nice chat and he gave me directions to the Arctic Circle. He also said that if I would move my trailer down by him tomorrow, they would watch it until I got back. It sure solves my dilemma about what to do with it. I was really uncomfortable with leaving it for a whole day (or 2) while I went up there. He said it should be safe until the weekend (long 4th of July weekend) when a lot of people will probably show up.

June 29th

I moved my trailer over next to Guy’s camp and took off for the Arctic Circle. First I had to go by Olnes City, Pop 1. I guess the city limits are on both sides of the sign. It’s a little short on public works and not a whole lot of amenities or service’s are located there.

I saw a moose right after Olnes City, but by the time I got stopped to get a photo, it had disappeared into the brush. As I was getting underway again, I saw my first porcupine of the trip. This was to be my last encounter with a bigger wild animal today. I did not go far enough North to see Caribou or Musk Ox.

As usual, the higher mountains had a very heavy fog with a little rain mixed in. Pretty hard to see the road let alone any scenery. (By the time I got to the Yukon River, it had cleared off quite nicely)

Here is my first glimpse of the Alaska pipeline. I thought it was a +/- 8’ diameter pipe. I learned later that it is a 4’ diameter pipe. It’s still big enough to move a tremendous amount of oil. Notice how the pipe zigzags? That’s to allow for the heating / cooling of the pipe so that the welds don’t crack.

As I turned north on the Dawson Hwy (the original haul road to Prudhoe Bay), I started noticing a lot of burned vegetation. I found out later, they have had six major forest fires along the route in the last 10 years or so, and several more going back to 1971. You can see here where some of the smaller vegetation is starting to grow back. In the background is the Kokrines Hills.

I finally came to the mighty Yukon River. It’s the longest river in Alaska stretching from Canada to the Behring Sea (+- 1980 Miles). The bridge over the Yukon River is 2,290 foot long and was the largest, privately funded project in history. That wooded decked bridge has a 6% percent grade.

When I saw the sign for Finger MTN and Finger Rock, you know I had to stop.

Of course I had to walk out on the big rocks to get a photo. It’s probably not the smartest thing to do see as I was the only one there at the time.

AND FINALLY, I made to my goal! I stood at the Arctic Circle. A father and son, Bill Hall and his son Matt were kind enough to take my photo. Bill is a retired Army Lifer and Matt is currently serving in the Army. He has been to Iraq twice and is being shipped to Hawaii (probably for finally training) tomorrow. They didn’t want their photo taken though. I did thank them profusely for serving our great country.

There is a small ranger’s office and adjacent visitor center next to the Yukon River. I went in and they gave me a certificate stating that had indeed, crossed the Arctic Circle. Unfortunately, as she was stamping it to make it official, a tour bus full of people came in wanting the same thing. She got kind of rushed and double stamped it. As I was looking around the office, she placed the stamps over by a window and people could stamp their own. I guess I was one of the lucky ones. The double stamp certainly did not bother me.

As you can see, the weather had turned off really nice once I got out of the mountains. That would not last. I got hit by a pretty bad rain / hail storm about 1/2 way to the turn off. It happened while I was going across one of the rock / dirt portions of the highway. I can certainly understand why they say to be extremely careful. The road gets muddy very quickly and was somewhat slick. I was certainly glad I didn’t have my trailer. It also made up my mind not to chance the Taylor HWY going up to Chicken with my trailer. I took a short video of the rain as well just to remember this joyous occasion.

I stopped at a couple free panning sites on the way back. Again, no luck at panning. It’s obvious that I would starve if I tried to make my living panning gold.

I got back to the trailer pretty late so I decided to spend another day here. I was so late that I thought I was going to have to use my headlights on the truck to see (Ha Ha!).

 

JJ's Shuttle bus to Alaska!

Cindy: Oh dear, I missed a day!  I definitely shall be more diligent in posting Chuck's journal entries from now on! 

Chuck: June 27th

I had an 8:00 ride on a shuttle bus this morning. I even went so far as to set the alarm so that I wouldn’t miss it. (As it turns out, I didn’t need it. But it still irks me to do it!).Our driver's was name JJ Neville (how could I forget his first name?). He originally came from Utah and settled in Healy. In the winter months he is a dog handler for John Nuremburg (SP) who came in 4th place in the Iditarod last year.

I sat in the first seat that nobody wanted because of the hump for the front wheels. As it turned out, the front seats were the only ones that only had one passenger and all of the rest had to sit 2 wide and appeared to be pretty crowded. John from Punta Gordo Fl. sat in the seat on the other side of the bus by himself. He was a LT. in the Army during Viet Nam and broadcast over the military channel (Think “Good Morning VietNam” for all you that were over there). He was originally from Charlevoix MI which I have worked at several times in the past. He even knew what plant I was at.

By virtue of our front row seats we were able to converse with JJ quite a bit. We were also the ones that saw +- 45% to 50% of the animals. John was a little bit quicker at seeing them than I was. He even had to show me a couple.  John:

When we started the shuttle, Mt. McKinley was about 70% to 80% clear. The closer we got to Eielson Visitor center (66 miles in and our turnaround point) it was down to about 20% clear.

It was very nice to sit back and let someone else drive and enjoy the scenery. JJ was extremely helpful in describing different land features and seemed quite knowledgeable. Here is shot of a classic U shaped ravine that was ground down by a glacier many years ago.

Of course there were so many scenic views that I can’t even catalogue them. Our first glimpse of Mt. McKinley. Its kind of hard to see because the snow blends in with the sky.

We went over Sable Pass. It had about a 900’ drop off on the downward slope, which to everyone on the bus was a tremendously big, and scary, dropoff! You should have heard the talk. I didn’t have the heart to tell them how I made my living!

Now for the best part, a view if Mt. McKinley from the Polychrome Overlook.

Here is the last one from the Eielson Visitor Center.

Of course I had to do my tourist imitation at the same spot.

Now for the fun part The ANIMALS. First we saw a fox that was carrying a ground squirrel back to its den. It was not afraid  of us and passed right beside the bus.

We saw numerous Dall sheep up on the mountains. The joke was that if you see a white dot, it’s probably a sheep. Almost all of the animals were +- . mile away from the road.

We saw a total of 5 grizzly bears. 

We say a cow moose with her calf. They were in a thicket of willows and very hard to see. Next we saw 3 Caribou lying down in the river bottom.

JJ saved the best for last. We saw a Lynx run across the road ahead of us very quickly. We thought he would be gone by the time we got there. Lo and behold, it had gone down over the bank and was just sitting there looking around. JJ said this was highly unusual and that he had only seen 2 others this year. Even he was taking photographs of it. I took about an 8 minute video of it as well. I sure hope it turns out.

What an absolutely wonderful day. The weather co-operated with us, we saw many fine animals (albeit from pretty far away) and good conversation. I would highly recommend this trip if / when you make it up here.

 

“It’s not the number of breaths you take, but the times that take your breath away”

June 26th

Not much of a plan today. I’m only going as far as Denali Nation Park. I know that Mt. McKinley is not seen most of the time because of the clouds. One gentleman told me he heard that the Mountain was obscured between 275 and 300 days per year and if you get to see it you are lucky. I stopped at every viewing station I came to but no luck.

At one of these turnouts, I noticed that the clouds were dissipating slightly. I waited for a while and I could see a vague shadow through the clouds. The host said it was the mountain, but I couldn’t see enough of it to even take a photo. At another turnout, I hiked up to the top of a hill that overlooked the Ruth glacier. It’s quite a distance away. You can just make it out in the photo. It has developed the great gorge which scientist believe is deeper than the Grand Canyon.

Ruth glacier is the large flat area in the middle on the horizon.

 

At another turnout it overlooked the Chalitna River which I think, at least partially, is the snow melt from Ruth Glacier

 

At MM 147 on the Parks HWY is the Alaska Veterans Memorial. I had to stop and pay my respects. It is a somber place. The memorial has five large upright panels, one for each of the branches of the military. It has descriptions on the lower part commemorating that particular branch of the service.

 

I spoke to a volunteer host while I was there. His name was Earl and his home is LaSalle Illinois. He said he was retired and doing his “Bucket List” trip of a lifetime. He had traveled up in his motor home. When he got to this memorial, he noticed that they needed a volunteer for a couple of weeks. He said basically he just had to oversee the snack machines, give out brochures and clean the outhouses once a day. For all of that, they give him a free camp site with full hookups. He said he was in no hurry and decided to do it. The scenery was fantastic and he hadn’t had any problems so far.

I asked for a photo and he said yes but right then 2 bus loads of tourist showed up and he got very busy. I didn’t want to bother him so after about 30 minutes I drove on down the road. He had said that it was doubtful that I could get a place to park in Denali. If I couldn’t, I should go about 8 miles farther and stay at a private RV park called Denali RV & motel. He had stayed there and it was about the most economical around.

Here a couple of photographs of scenery I saw before I got to Denali.

 

When I got to Denali, sure enough all of the campsites were full. I took enough time to register for an 8 hour bus shuttle tour of the park for tomorrow. It’s a good thing I stopped when I did as they were filling up pretty quickly. On a chance, I drove in a little farther to see if I could get a glimpse of Mt. McKinley but still a no show. Remember the pass that I bought at Custer’s battlefield. Well it saved me $20 dollars access fee into the park. It’s the best investment I have made in a while.

I should reiterate now that I am having the time of my life. I can’t believe I waited so long to do this trip. My advice to anybody who can, just pull the plug and do it before it gets too late! Remember,

“It’s not the number of breaths you take, but the times that take your breath away”.

 

A Pork Chop for Sage!

June 25th

Not a lot happening today. The big news at Seward is that a Canadian warship birthed at Seward. All of us tourists were out on the bank taking photos.

You’ll note the low cloud cover. It was like this the whole day. It’s a good thing that yesterday was so good. Naturally I was headed back up Sterling Hwy toward Anchorage and would not be able to see the scenery quite as well as I would have liked.

I stopped at Beluga Point to look for the whales again and again they were a no show. As I was looking around admiring the mountain scenery, I noticed a couple of mountain goats up on the mountain. The photo is with a full zoom. They were quite a ways away.

I stopped in Anchorage for fuel and to pick up some last minute supplies and headed off for Denali. I got as far as the Upper Susitana River and realized it was a wonderful spot. This is one of my boondocking spots that finally lived up to its name. This is looking out my window.

After I got the trailer set up, I went for a walk by the river. I had seen several fishermen down a little bit farther. I found out they were fishing for red salmon and silver salmon. When I got back to the trailer, a young lady had set up a tent not too far away. I set up and grilled a couple of pork chops. While I was eating, I watched her play catch with her little dog. The dog acted just like JJ. He would run and get the sock, then run by her and stop - wanting her to chase her. I couldn’t eat both chops so I cut one up and took it over to her to give to the dog. A little later I was walking to the woods and she called out that the pork chop was excellent. She had eaten it herself. If I had realized, I could have taken more over. We talked a little while and I learned that her name was Jenny and her dog's name was Sage. They were from Sacramento CA. Her husband had been in the Coast Guard stationed down in San Diego. Last October, his helicopter had collided with a Marine helicopter and all lives were lost. Seven lives were lost on his helicopter and the two pilots on the Marine helicopter. She is taking this trip to try to come to grips with her emotions. She said she has been on the road since February.

She sure seemed like a nice lady. I hope her the best. She said she didn’t want a close up photo of her but I could take one of her camp.

 

A Perfect, Sunny Day on the Kenai Star

June 24th

Not too many things to write about today, but lots of pictures! I went on an 8 hour cruise aboard the Kenai Star operated by the Major Marine Tour Company. This is a well organized, professional tour company. They had a national Park Ranger with them that continued to provide information and background on just about everything we saw. He was completely knowledgeable about all the mammals, sea life, flora and birds. To say I was impressed would be an understatement.

We were assigned table numbers to be shared by 6 people. I was lucky that I shared with a family of 4. It was Jeff, Brenda, Meghan and Liz from the state of Maine. They were nice but it took quite a while to finally break the ice with them. As you can tell, we are just starting to eat our desert. The main meal was prime rib, salmon, rice and salad. I asked for my prime rib a little more done and he gave me the end piece that was huge. It was all I could do to get it down (I suffered through it. I wasn’t going to let some people from Maine outdo ME!). They had numerous deserts both good tasting and sugar free. I had the latter and it wasn’t too bad.
The first thing we saw was Bald Eagles sitting on a piling and we weren’t out of the harbor yet.

The weather and waves couldn’t have been any better. The captain said these were the best conditions he has had for quite some time.

We saw a sea otter cleaning himself followed by several Dall’s Porpoise’s that were playing tag with the bow wave (no photo of the porpoise)

Whales breaching. I have a couple videos that are simply too big to send via e-mail. I was lucky and got one video of a whale coming straight out of the water. He is only out for a second or 2.

We next stopped at Holegate glacier and I think I have a video of a small section calving. This glacier moves between 3 and 5 foot pr day and it was constantly making noises. The captain was pretty good. I stopped about 100 yards away and turned off his motors for us to hear the sounds. He made an announcement for everybody to be as quiet s they could. That was a signal for everybody to start talking. It sounded like a sewing factory it got so loud. I think I got some video with Cindy’s camera of the sounds as well as the calving. I just haven’t figured out how to download it yet!

And here a few of the small icebergs from the glacier.

Right next to it is an extension of the Holgate glacier. Evidently the two were once connected. Both sections are coming from the Harding Ice Field:

 Waterfall from snowmelt near Holegate glacier:

Steller Sea Lions:

Mother and her pup whale frolicking. I have a video of this as well:

Saw Puffins:

And more different kinds of birds that I have no idea what they were. One type of bird would be in a larger group of 100 or so. When we got close they would dive rather than take off like regular birds. Evidently they fly underwater better than they fly above water. When I took the photo, I thought I had all of them in there. Once I got back home, they were all gone but a couple.

Bear glacier and icebergs that had calved off:

The icebergs were easily as big as houses!

All in all it was a perfect day. I spent most of the time on the upper deck where I had a great view most of the time. Most of the passengers would stay inside the heated rooms then come storming outside when the captain advised that something interesting was in the water or rocks etc. Although I did have a few good “smoking buddies” that were pretty consistent with hanging out with me.

 

On My Way to Seward

June 23rd

Left Homer about 10:00 and did a leisurely drive towards Seward. I’ve booked a cruise to view the glaciers and animal life on Resurrection Bay and the gulf of Alaska for Friday. I’m really excited bout the cruise.

I saw another volcano as I was leaving Homer. This one is called Mt. Redoubt. The last time it erupted was in 2009 and at that time, the ash plume went 50,000 feet into the air and closed the airport in Anchorage.

I missed the photo of the trip today. As I was going through Soldotna, I saw a man pulled over to the side of the road with a moose standing in front of his truck looking in his front windshield. The moose was actually leaning down a little to see in. It was huge. It looked like a Mexican stand-off. Naturally, I fumbled for my camera and saw that I had quite a few cars behind me with no place to pull off. I just hope I can get another chance like this one.

I stopped at The Dreamers Carvings just outside of Knaptown and looked at his carvings. They were very professionally made with a chainsaw. I fell in love with one that looked like a panner with his dog at his side. It was about 3’ tall. I asked how much and he said something like “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it”. I think it went for about $5,000.00.

As I drove over the Russian River, those same people were out there fishing. I did ask an old man what they were fishing for and he said the Red Salmon are running. I guess that answers that question.

After I turned off the Sterling Hwy onto the Seward Hwy, the scenery was very pretty. I took a couple of photos just to show you. Almost all of the mountains have snow to some extent. The sun is warm until the wind comes down off the mountains.

This last one is looking across Bear Lake.

 

Volcanos and Salty Dawgs

Just got a new batch of emails from Chuck last night - Free Wi Fi spots are less common then they were so he sent me the entries from June 22 through the 26. For clarity, I'll tell you that David's identity is revealed later in this post, and the Homer Spit is the peninsula on which Chuck was camped during his visit to Homer...

June 22^nd 

After a leisurely breakfast, I drove downtown to run some errands. While I was in one of the stores, I talked with David Patchett while his wife was busy. I came back to the trailer and did some minor repairs and watched the sea otters for a while.

I drove up onto Skyline drive and was able to find a spot to take photos of Homer and of the spit.

Homer

The Homer Spit.

I also got a nice one of Grewingk Glacier. Did you know there are 2 types of glaciers? One is tidewater glaciers which means they calve into sea water. The other is alpine, which means the form in mountain valleys and form moraine lakes. Most of the glaciers in Alaska are tidewater glaciers.

I followed the road for quite a bit farther to the west and got a good overall of Kachemak Bay.

From that vantage point I could see the Mt. Augustine volcano. It last erupted in Jan. of 2006 for about 20 days. You can still see steam coming from it. It’s about 70 miles away from Homer.

The other volcano I could see is Mt. Iliamna Volcano. It has not had an eruption in known history, although it has had numerous earth quakes.

I finally got a photo of a couple of Bald Eagles.

I went back down to the trailer and went for a walk to the length of the spit. As I was walking back I ran into David and Helen Patchett again. After talking for a while, they invited me to eat with them. We stopped in a fish sandwich place (surprise!!) and had a real nice meal and great conversation for a couple of hours. His father lives up the road in Ninilchik but he has a boat harbored down here. They are from Vale Oregon. They have been dairy farmers forever but they sold out a couple of years ago and are finally getting to travel as they always wanted to. Another nice coupe I’ve run into. They gave me several hints on where to go in Oregon.

I stopped by the local landmark “The Salty Dog Saloon”. It was just another tavern on the inside and nothing special so I left. Their one big moment of fame came when Arlo Guthrie stopped by with his entourage and sang a few songs and partied there for a while.

Of course I was obligated to stop at the seafarer’s monument. They had quite a few names posted as lost at sea from the Homer area.

Luckily I got back to the trailer in time to complete my daily log and then take a little nap. Why take a nap you ask? 

BECAUSE I CAN!!!!

 

The Land of the Midnight Sun

June 20^th 

Well the land of the midnight sun finally got me. I woke up and looked outside and it seemed to be just about dawn. I got up and started fixing breakfast but realized that I wasn’t hungry. I checked my watch and it was only 2:30 AM. I went back to bed pretty quickly. I guess they have about 19 ½ to 20 hours of sunlight right now. The remainder of the time is like a very bright moonlit night. You can see just fine to get around without a flashlight.

I didn’t get up until about 9:30. I spent the remainder of the morning running errands, getting the oil changed on the truck and washing the truck.

I did a little sightseeing around Anchorage and bought a couple little knick knacks. There is not much to see although there is a Native Heritage Center that is supposed to be pretty nice. I want to go to the one up in Fairbanks so I passed on this one.

I spoke to Wally Parks (a flying friend of Giles from Charleston) and they cordially invited me to dinner. One of their flying friends was also there. Mr. Russell Smoot. He had brought over a DVD showing the landings and takeoffs from their recent “fly in”. He originally came from Kentucky but has been living in Alaska for +- 30 years. He was very nice as well. It was wonderful to sit down to a home cooked meal again. They fixed two kinds of fish, red salmon and a halibut in a white sauce. They were nice enough to advise me to go down to Homer and stay a day or two. I had been told that it was only a couple of hours driving time by a 20something year old kid. It turns out it’s about a 6 hour drive one way. They also gave me a list of things to see and do. They all regaled me with stories about flying and their recent “fly in” as they are all avid fliers. Of course I told them a little about my trip so far.

Russell Smoot, Sarah and Wally Parks

June 21^st 

Of course it was raining when I left Anchorage. I took the Seward highway south along the Cook Inlet. This is supposed to be a very scenic drive almost the entire trip. Unfortunately, the clouds were so low that is was almost impossible to see any of the mountains. I think they were only about 200’ to 300’ foot above the water, if that. As usual, my timing was off by about 8 hours. The tide was going out so no chance to see the Beluga whales and the clouds were so low that I couldn’t see any bald eagles. This photo is from Beluga Point overlooking the Turnagain Arm. I did see a couple of bald eagles later that were standing in the water on a sand bank looking for fish, but the traffic was so bad and the road is so narrow, I had no chance to take a photo.

By the map, there was supposed to be several glaciers up on the mountains. I looked but all I could see was snow. If I had known what to look for, it would probably be easy to distinguish glacier from snow.

This is a very heavily traveled road. There were some passing lanes and viewing areas, but the remainder had fairly narrow shoulders and no way to stop and sight see or take photos.

The next photo is of the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet near Girdwood. The clouds are starting to dissipate slightly. 

At Tern Lake I took the Sterling Highway towards Homer. I believe this is someone floating on either the Devils or Quartz creeks. The water is cold and the air temperature was about 52 degrees. They were tougher than I am.

Of course, they weren’t having as much fun as the people fishing in the Russian river. There must have been some sort of fish running like salmon. There sure were a lot of people!

I stopped at a rest area and started talking to a forest ranger and I mentioned that I haven’t seen very much wildlife. He suggested that I take the Skilac Lake loop road. A lot of people see all kinds of animals along it. He said it was a gravel road but kept up pretty good and the length was about the same as if I stayed on the highway. Here is a typical photo of the road. I have to admit, as long as I kept it around 20 miles per hour, it wasn’t too bad if you watched for the holes and the washboard gravel!

 

About halfway across the loop, I came across the Hidden Creek trail. It was about a 1 ½ mile trail so I went for a hike. (I should clarify that my hiking would be similar to someone else’s stroll. The days of pick em up and set them down, foot pounding hiking are a thing of the past. Oh, to be 10 years younger again !!!!!!) I didn’t see any animals but did get a view of Pothole lake through the trees.

 

Wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t see any animals on the rough gravel road, but 5 miles after I got back out on the highway, I saw three moose eating foliage out of a guys yard. Then just a couple miles further, I saw another one beside the road.

 

 

I saw a sign that said Alaska Horn and Antler carvings. I went in and it was amazing. The had all kinds of carved antlers, bones and wood as well as a realy big supply of rocks and quartz crytals. It was realy a neat place. Of course I couldn’t afford anything, but Bill said I could take all the photos I wanted. He was a very nice guy. We talked for quite a while and he gave me some pointers on looking for gold and quartz crytals on the haul road north of Fairbanks 

 

That’s Bill behind the antlers cleaning a salmon. He offered me a steak from it but I declined. 

 

 

The trafic never did let up much. There was quite a back up for road repair near Seldotna

 

I finally made it to Homer Spit (a long piece of land that extends out into Kachemak Bay south of Homer). There were several free places to park, but a lot of loud music and partying. I stopped at a couple of pay sites, they ranged about $80 depending on the amenities they offerd. I found some additional sites that were just sand right on the beach for $15. I finally settled on a place called Cast Away park. Not much of a campground but they did offer electricity and free Wifi. After I got settled in, I sat behind my trailer on the beach and watched the sea otters swim by. They were +- 200 yards off shore and I was looking directly into the sun (?) but I did manage to get a couple of photos. All you could see of them was their heads and front feet because they were laying on their backs eating. As you can tell, the weather had not cleared up very much.  (Cindy:  I've photoshopped the pics to reduce the mist - Chuck's pics really showed the fog nicely, but the otters were hard to see in the originals)