Our Alaska Trip 4

7/1/19 In Anchorage Alaska now. Took RV to be fixed at 7:00. Spent day

until 4:30 going around Anchorage. Bought some reindeer meat. Went to
the Airplane Museum. Had a good time looking at it. Also went to Costco
but didn’t have the cinnamon bread I tried to get. At the museum Duke
bought a book “When the Laughing Stopped”. This was when Will Rogers
was killed in a airplane crash with Wiley Post here in Alaska. We then went
to the ULU factory and Duke bought a knife and I got a cutting board and
their curved knife for cutting.

We are headed to Soldonta, AK now, South to Kenai Peninsula. When we

were in Gabon RV Park, we heard about the fire on the Kenai Peninsula. In
Anchorage the smoke had cleared out. We have now entered the Kenai
and mountains were visible on the way down, but the further we go the
smokier it is getting. The mountains are beginning to be hidden by the
smoke. The fire is still burning somewhere. We have come far enough to
start smelling the smoke. A sign just said Fire Ahead. Looked up and saw
a bold red sun at 6:30 pm. Sun is bright at 7:00. We saw evidence of fire
on the right side. There were burned trees not far from the road. We also
saw across the lake the fire still burning. They say a lightening strike
started the fire. We could also see smoke coming up from the fire still
burning. As we got farther in toward the RV park smoke seems to have
cleared out. Another sign on the road said Fire Activity Ahead. We finally
entered Soldonta and the weather was clear here. Arrived at park at 7:40
Edgewater Lodge and RV Park Soldonta.

7/2/19 Weather good here. The guys went to store to find fish. Talking
about getting freezer for RV. We are still parked in Soldanta. Fire on Kenai
has not reached here. The fire where the lightening strike was on June 5th
is in the area of Swan Lake. The Swan Lake fire is only one of over 100
active fires burning through out Alaska. As of June 30th the Swan Lake
fire has affected 68,060 acres and is only 17% contained. There is a 1st
ever dense smoke advisory for Anchorage. Temperatures have climbed
above 80 degrees. We played the SkipBo card game again last night.

7/3/19 No smoke around Soldanta. Cool weather and very pleasant.

Went to grocery store to get supplies. Met a nice guy parked next to us.
Just hung around the RV.

7/4/19 Fourth of July We slept in. Seems like we are the only ones that
have our flags out. Continued to write about Alaska Nellie. The Macys
Fireworks display was spectacular. It was really neat to see the display on
the 4th. Still only ones in park to have out flags.

7/5/19 Had breakfast then the guys went to go find out about fishing at
our next stop when we leave on Sunday. There are several charters they
can take. They picked up the Freezer and brought it to the RV. It should
hold all the fish they got. Played cards tonight and now 9:30 and it is still
light. Hard to get use to. Three hour difference between here and home.

7/6/19 Hung around RV. Tried to fix somethings that were coming loose.
Weather good and sunny.

7/7/10 We are moving on today to another place. We have arrived at

Ninilchik a town where Deep Creek National Park is. This is where boats
are launched into the water by huge tractors backing them out into the
water. This is on the Cook Inlet and when the fishermen are ready they
come back in the tractor has the trailer out in the water and the boats land
on it there. Then they are pulled ashore.

7/8/19 Woke up to a cool morning here. Ninilchik is a Russian Town here

in Alaska. From the RV park we can see a light house on the bluff.
Ninilchik was established when Russian colonist moved here in 1847 from
Kodiak Island. In 1901 the local Russian Orthodox Church was
redesigned and constructed at it’s current site. A school was built and
staffed by Russian Orthodox priests and laymen. In 2011 the community
celebrated the 100th anniversary of the school. In the 1940’s a number of
American homesteaders began to live in the area. There is a folklore about
the area. The Moose Lady: An old Ninilchik fisherman’s tale that describes
a tall blond, female figure with a quiet voice, that is capable of
shapeshifting into the body of the moose. She is said to haunt the dreams
of Alaskan Natives and weary fishermen who long for the warm body of
their wives or lovers, inevitably finding themselves caressing the snowy
ground where a moose once slept. Because of the deep Russian ancestry
in the area, it is speculated that the legend stems from Old Russia.

The primary researcher on The Moose Lady legend is currently Lian

Morrison, a plumber from Pueblo Colorado. He states he has left Alaska
because of his previous encounters with the supposed legend. He has
claimed that these encounters often end in frostbite, losing four toes
himself.

7/9/19 Cool morning. Duke went on his fishing trip. The weather was
foggy. Neighbors next to us were very nice. Daisy loved her walks and all
the birds she could find. The birds were flying around the light house
above us. He came back with 1 fish. He said lost 2 because the lines got
tangled up. I think there were 8 on the boat.

7/10/19 A cold morning it was very foggy and hard to see the volcano
across the inlet. We took a road trip to Homer Alaska. The fog stayed
with us all the way. When we got to Homer it was very crowded. Even the
2 RV parks were loaded with RV’s. We decided not to come back and
stay. However, we did stop and eat at a restaurant in Homer. Homer is on
the shore of Kachemak Bay on the Kenai Peninsula. It was made famous
as “The End of the Road” in Tom Bodett’s of (Motel 6 fame) tales. Homer
is at the end of the Sterling Highway surrounded by wilderness and ocean.
There was a popular call TV show called “The Deadliest Catch”. The Time
Bandit is one of the boats featured on the show and they call Homer their
homeport. There is also a lady called The Eagle Lady of Homer. She
began her feeding program for the Eagles in 1980. She must have enough
food to last through the winter to feed them daily. The Bald Eagles start
congregating in mid-November and most are gone by mid-April. Eagles
have highly developed vision, and are able to see prey as small as mice
from up to 5 miles away.

7/11/19 It seems even colder today. Harlan went to dump station with
the RV and the guy next to us left so while Harlan was gone I stayed in the
car parked across the spot that was left until he came back. This spot
was better because you can see more. Glad I was in the car in front of the
next parking space because another RV pulled into our old spot. We will
be here for 3 more days. Duke has gone fishing this morning. We will be
going to Seward later.

7/12/19 Cold again this morning. Decided to stay 3 more days. Harlan
went out to go fishing. Came back with a 6” er. We went in to Soldonta
to get food for Daisy. She road with us. We ate at a place we had been
before for lunch. Found her food at a U Save It store. If was food we had
gotten in Houston at a farm and grain place. This was Diamond
Performance that she has eaten since a puppy. Duke went fishing but
didn’t Catch anything.

7/13/19 Cold again today. Duke went fishing but didn’t get anything. It
was so foggy you could hardly see across the way to the mountains. The
tide goes way out tonight. People are still trying to fish. Daisy is loving
outside and all the flying animals that she sees. It was a lazy day and
quiet. I have a game called Oceanopoly which is like Monopoly. But
Harlan wants to wait.

7/14/19 Woke up to a cold morning. We got up and prepared to leave

today to go to Seward. A really cold, rainy, foggy morning. On the way to
Seward we saw smoke on the mountain from one of the fires. The rainy
weather was helping to reduce the smoke. Further down the road it was
so foggy you could hardly see the mountains. It also rained on us as we
traveled. There were no workmen on the road, so we didn’t have to stop
along the way. We made it into Seward parking in a city camp ground and
have a nice spot facing the river in front of us. As we pulled up we saw a
cruise ship docked here in Seward. Has been raining on us a while but
has stopped now. Still cold though.

7/15/19 Still in Seward. Still raining and the fog is so thick you can’t see
2 feet in front of you. What we could see yesterday is completely
nonexistent because of the thickness of the fog. Still raining off and on.
Duke wash clothes and found a knife in the dryer. We played Sequence
tonight. Still cold but can see the beautiful scenery across the way.

7/16/19 Spent cold night again in Seward. Morning wasn’t as foggy as

yesterday. Still clouds over mountains across the way, but you can still
see the mountains and the frozen snow on them. Some seem like Glaciers
as well. Guy’s have gone shopping. Wow just saw an otter on his back
swimming by. I had seen 2 the other day swimming by where we were
parked. We went into Seward and went to the Yukon Bar. We had been
there 8 years ago and that is where we saw this poster with a really mean
looking wolf and on the bottom of the poster it said “Don’t piss off the
bartender”. Dad had sent Stacy a picture of it. I had been trying to find a
picture of a mean wolf to make her one, but couldn’t find one mean
enough to make her a poster for the bar back then. Harlan told me this
time that he had sent it to her, so I am glad she saw it. This time they still
had a small poster of it, but I remember it being a much larger one than
that. After that we went to the Apollo and had Pizza for supper.

7/17/19 We had a good time last night. We are leaving in the morning
for anchorage. Our cousin Duke has a pacemaker and it is not working
right. His pulse was going lower than it should and he was feeling bad. So
his brother got him a flight out of Anchorage to go back to Arizona and
home to have things checked out and get better. We would be in some
remote areas and wouldn’t have access to emergency if needed. We have
finally gotten back to Anchorage again and are parking in the Cabelos
Parking lot overnight. Tomorrow we will put Duke on a plane here. Also
the parking brake on RV again need adjusting it is slipping and not
adjusting itself automatically anymore. We will take it back where they
worked on it before. We have only been 300 miles so it should have lasted
longer. We were in the area of Alaska Nellie, but had seen her place before
when we were here. Though I did see a sign this time with Lawing Rd.
This was the road we went up to her final place she lived in and fished out
her kitchen window.

7/18/19 Weather nice this am. Birds squawking all morning. Took Duke
to airport to catch his plane home. Made sure everything was ok. Then we
went to eat breakfast out. Pick up RV again after fixing brake. Headed
out to Talkeetna. We have arrived in Talkeetna and found RV park next to
railroad. There was quite a group lined up to take the train to the bridge.
We found a nice spot under the trees in the park. Saw the train pull out.
We are in Talkeetna Camper Park and have wifi. There is a haze on the
mountains due to several firs around Fairbanks and fires on the Kenai
Peninsula. We went into the town of Talkeetna. It reminds me of Old Town
Spring. One main road and a few side streets off of that. Also all the
quaint shops. We stopped off at the West Rib Deli and Pub and had a few
beers. This was the place last time that we brought our fish and they fixed
it for dinner for us. They also had a flyer that said: On 1867 Alaska was
purchased from Russia and in 1959 became the 49th state. The purchase
of Alaska was pushed by then Secretary of State, William H. Seward, thus
Seward’s Folly.