Our AK Ferry Hopping through SE - Kodiak and Haines

I know I have been remiss but I must admit that our last month in Alaska was spent with little to no internet.  When I was able to log on, it was either to handle business or a quick FB update.  How do I capture 9 different ferry journeys to 8 different amazing destinations and points inbetween? I will try! Our first ferry took us from Homer to Kodiak. It was a very long ride of almost 12 hours. It flew by! We arrived at 10:45 p.m. and found that the 2 camgrounds were full of workers there to build a new airport runway. We were never so grateful for a Wal Mart! The next day the VFW Post took pity on me and three veterans and allowed us to boondock there for the week. We drove EVERY road, saw every sight, met wonderful people and dogs but never saw a grizzly bear! We tried and tried to no avail. The VFW even held a party for us one evening! It was a blast.
Back to Homer we returned (think 10 ft swells and seasick Chris...ugh) and drove the AK Hwy to Haines, still my fav AK town! It was our 4th visit there. It took us a fast 3 days to get there. Carolee and Dan took a leisurely 6. The Haines Hwy from Haines Jct. is breathtakingly beautiful! Trumpeter swans, eagles, black bears, mountain vistas. So hard to describe the sheer magnificence. Our first night was spent at Chilkat State Park. Beautiful but too far away.I might add we parked on the ocean with full hook ups for the next 3 nights, a real treat! We attended a Dungeness crab potluck at the c.g. So much fun and good eating! Then we moved to the Chilkoot Lake St. Pk. where we have always seen grizzlies fishing for salmon. We didn't but Carolee and Dan did! We toured everything possible there and it was a glorious birthday week. Next stop, Juneau. (To be continued....)

Oh what a day!

I knew better than to get up early.  I knew that couldn't be a good thing. Yeppers, was right....
Up at 7:30, shower, 2 loads of laundry, breakfast, pack up to leave by 11 and away we go to Homer! Only 45 miles or so, no big deal.....So we roll into the Visitors Center to find the free RV parking lot (there now) that I read about "in one of those many books on Homer". Only a block away! And away we go! Have big, fun plans for the day; Farmers Market, winery, shopping, sightseeing, the Spit, art galleries, dinner out....Get parked and I notice water coming out of an overflow tube under Carolee's and Dan's rig. Did you overfill the fresh water? No....Carolee opens the door to a flooded trailer!  OMG! The new water faucet vibrated on (handle), water pump was left on, sink stopper was in.....a mess. Charles and I go buy a mop and 3 hours later with fans and furnaces going, the RV floor, cushions, basement, etc is being dried out. We went for a Chinese dinner at Happy Face on the Spit (thanks to YELP app. my fav, ck it out!). Good food, good prices, friendly service in the POURING rain! Haven't we had enough water for one day? Yes, we got soaked. But nothing stops us. Dessert was Micky D's caramel sundaes!
Back to the free parking lot. Oh wait, there's more to the day, the "feel good" part. While we were drying the RV out, Charles walked the dogs and spotted a very still (odd) Bald Eagle sitting on a propane tank. He calls me over and after awhile the bird hops off and waddles a ways and looks back at us. He appears to be hurt, a wing, and can not fly. I call the Islands and Oceans Center (3 times) and follow the eagle, at a distance. He makes it across the Sterling Hwy. I am frantic! Cars stop for the limping eagle. After an hour, I get a call from AK Fish and Game. I find the eagle for them and they are going to save him!!!! We were all SO happy! An eagle that can not fly, can not eat. And THAT was the best part of our day! Tonight we are boondocking in the AK State Ferry line. We leave on our adventure to Kodiak island in the a.m. We are all so excited.
Hope we can sleep!

Only 41 miles and back to Soldotna!

We decided Sunday night that we all needed a change in scenery. Since we were headed to Soldotna on Monday for the Bush Poodles to be groomed at Petco (and wait 3+ hours for them), we would just move our rigs back to our fav boondocking spot of Freddy Meyers. Of course it's actually rather expensive because I find groceries and other stuff I must go into the store to get, daily! The boys came home perfectly handsome and are no longer Bush poodles. They did a great job! Of course it was the most expensive grooming of their lives, $40 each, but this is Alaska. Hopefully they will get their next ones in the lower 48 for around $28-$30, what we are used to paying. We have found good to excellent groomers all over the country in our travels. Have only had 2 or so we would never go back to. We did 3 full days of errand running, fighting some fishing traffic and way too many RV rentals that don't know how to drive, park, dump, or water fill!! Many are downright scary! We had a long Class C rental squeeze into the site next to us today. They had a huge slide behind the driver and with the slide in, he had parked within 3 inches of our slide! Scared the daylights out of me and Carolee as we sat at the dinette! Our window was open so I am saying to the lady, do not put your slide out, you are too close! She just looked at me. I yelled to Charles, who was outside, to tell the driver. None of them spoke English! All from Europe. At least they didn't put the slide out! We decided to move Stubby over as far as possible, toward Dan and Carolee's rig. We knew the foreigners would realize their mistake come bed time. After we moved I felt much better. We all went out for dinner at Frosos and had delicious pizza and a good merlot. We then rounded off the evening with frozen yogurt. Tomorrow we head back to Ninilchik. We have had enough of our "city fix!"

Enjoying Ninilchik and Homer

We have really been relaxing here and with good wifi, I am able to get my work done more easily. Because of the 4 hour spread of time zones, Customer Service is handling simple policy changes for my customers.  I am doing quotes, new policies and claims which is more than enough to keep me busy every morning and evening. We are quite happy being in Ninilchik. The area is beautiful and quiet. We make trips in to Homer every few days for sightseeing adventures. This past week, we also spread my Mom's ashes there in a place she wanted to be. Friends were with us and the day was beautiful with sunshine and blue skies. It was a difficult time for me but it also gave me a sense of closure.  We all then celebrated her life with a cocktail and dinner; exactly what Mom always said she wanted us to do. We also saw Hobo Jim again. He puts on a great show as Alaska's Balladeer.
We said goodbye to friends Mickey and Lynn Waite who are slowly making their way back to the lower 48. We miss them!
We did get to have a brief visit with friends Chip and Daisy Cartwright from TX/AR/VA!  They stayed overnight at our park.  Unfortunately I was feeling under the weather that day. Sorry I wasn't great company guys! Dipnetting started this past week for Alaskans at the mouth of the Kenai. We have seen the "zoo" before and traffic is terrible in Kenai. A sea of people in the river, netting red salmon to fill their freezers. Each family gets 25 plus 10 for each family member. Today Charles and I went to the Homer Farmers Market. We are on our last jar of homemade jam so I was able to get some good choices there; marionberry, sweet black cherry and raspberry. Monday we are taking the dogs to Petco in Soldotna for a much needed grooming. I call them my Alaska Bush poodles! We will also pick up prescriptions and make a major grocery run to Freddy Meyers before we head to Kodiak on the ferry next Sunday. It will be Carolee's birthday! I can't think of a better way to celebrate!

Day 6 in Ninilchik

After working for the week at the Kenai Moose Lodge, we meandered on down the Sterling Hwy south to Ninilchik. We needed some rest! Ninilchik has always been one of my favorite places on the Kenai Peninsula. It practically has everything that Alaska has to offer. Beautiful views of Cook Inlet and it's volcanoes looming above the clouds; an abundance of wildflowers, including lupine and fireweed, my 2 favs; steeped in history, it offers the old, historical village to explore and the Russian Orthodox Church and unusual cemetary perched on the bluff overlooking the water; the commercial fishing fleet almost mired in mud until the tide comes in and they can float out; sport boats going out for charters to catch prized (and good eatin'!) Halibut and Salmon; watching those charters being pulled in and out of the water by huge tractors, an interesting sight!; Charles and Lynn have taken 2 halibut charters so we enjoyed some grilled halibut and have enough to ship home; small town people who are friendly and laid back; huge dips of ice cream at the General Store; 2 Passport America RV parks with good, free, WiFi and nice bath houses and laundries; 5 AK State Recreation parks at $10-12 per night; easy drive to Anchor Point and Homer; moose and eagles everywhere!; yep, we are staying here awhile. Perfect Alaska!

Our week at the Kenai Moose Lodge

I know I have said it before, but it's true. The Time Is Flying by! We had a very busy and fun week at the Moose Lodge. We have gotten to know some terrific people, made some special new friends and worked our butts off!  Carolee and I helped prep all the food for today's 4th of July celebration and fundraiser.  We baked tons of cookies, chicken legs, meatballs, chicken sticks and smoked about 100 lbs of pork butt. Along with all the utensils,  set up, ice, drinks, etc. we did it!  The guys worked hard too! Talk about tired.  That's me writing this. It was a great day, very successful and fun to boot!  All of the volunteers were awesome.  Proceeds go to Community Outreach, helping those in the community that need some extra help; whether it be a death, illness, job loss or whatever. We love being members of Moose International,  a fraternal organization that supports a lot of good causes. Check it out at mooseinternational.org  If you would be interested in becoming a member, please contact me! RVERS take note, that many lodges offer free or donation for parking, usually with water and electric. It's a great place to park, have a drink and dinner and get to know some locals in the area you are visiting.  Ok, commercial over! Lol
We will say our goodbyes til next time and move down the Sterling Hwy tomorrow to Ninilchik where the guys will halibut fish. I will work and do laundry. Long drive tomorrow of 45 miles. See you later!

Enjoying the Kenai Peninsula

Tuesday was a glorious day so Mickey and Lynn and us decided to drive down to Ninikchik and check out the AK State Rec Areas and see what was available for the guys to go halibut fishing. And boy did we check them out! We went into 6 different areas, almost all of them had no campers in them. The fee is $10 per night and we found 2 different ones that we absolutely want to stay in! One even has a dump station ($5). All are no hook ups. They do have pit toilets and water fill available. I truly believe these are the last of the "bargain" camping areas in Alaska. I do know that several of them fill up during the Razor Clam season, which is usually right now but it has been closed because a paralytic poison has been found in some of the tested clams! Glad I don't particularly like clams. It's a shame for those who do. We also called Bob and Mollie Pinner and stopped by to see them and  friends who are travelling together. It was so much fun visiting and catching up with a bunch of SKP friends! They are staying at a park down there and have taken a couple of successful fishing trips from there. They were glad to share fishing tips with the guys and visa versa. Lynn and Charles signed up with Ninilchik Charters for an all day Halibut fishing on 7/7. They got the last 2 spots available until near the end of July. Lynn had a coupon from his TourSaver book, so they are going for half price! Can't beat that! They are both excited about it! The limit is 2 per day so we hope they will get some nice size ones. They are SO delicious! Yesterday was my brother, Al's, 70th birthday so we called and wished him a Happy Birthday! I also asked him if he would be home on 7/9 to accept a FedEx delivery of halibut! He has an empty freezer waiting for it. His wife, Leslie, loves Red Salmon so we hope to be able to ship some catch to her also. Stubby, our little RV, has very little freezer room, so when we head to AZ in November, we can stop by and pick up some of our halibut! He told me that fresh halibut at his grocery in TX is $29 per pound! The sun was shining and we had clear, blue skies so we were able to take some great pics across Cook Inlet and view Mt. Redoubt and the other volcanoes. Yesterday, Carolee and Dan arrived from Watson Lake and joined us a Camp Freddy Meyers! (that's a grocery store parking lot that welcomes RVers and even has a free dump station.) We drove out to Nikiski to Capt. Cook State Park for a picnic lunch. Unfortunately, it was quite cloudy and misty fog so we weren't able to get any clear views or pics of the inlet and volcanoes. Although we all enjoyed our lunch, we all stood up and ate as we swatted mosquitoes! They were horrible and never let up! The Deep Woods OFF did not phase them. We stopped at the Kenai Moose Lodge, on our way back, where we and several others are members and talked to our friend Joe, the Admin. We will be volunteering on the 4th of July for their annual fundraiser. We will actually start our prep work a few days ahead as we will be selling food at the July 4th Kenai celebration at the ball park. We sell out every year! Charles and I  have done it before and it is a lot of fun and a very worthy cause: Mooseheart, a home and school for kids. Lynn, Charles and Dan volunteered to fix a bad electrical hook up and a problem water spigot for the Lodge too so they began work on those projects and are finishing them up today. We all moved to RV parking spots at the Lodge this morning. It has not stopped raining in more than 24 hours. Made for a good day to catch up on work and now this Blog!