click here for New picture link with descriptive captions
In my last blog, we were in Homer. I should have mentioned that Homer is the home town of Tom Bodet, and as he said for years, "we'll keep the lights on for you". I think you'll remember Tom.
Tom must have a lot of money, because the Homer Electric Association charges $.208 per KWH, the highest in the state. They generate from a hydro plant and a natural gas fired plant. HEA offered a large reduction in rates if the city of Homer would allow them to build a clean coal technology plant, the city fathers turned it down because it has to do with coal. FYI, coal is everywhere up here and the Healy coal is being shipped to South Korea. Homer used to be a coal producer for a European company about 90 years ago.
August 25th
We left Homer around 1400hrs on Tuesday. Before leaving, we walked the beach at low tide for a few hours. We dug for razor edge clams. These clams bury in the sand with a digging foot. They have an opening in the sand where they take in water and food. The shell is sharp and can cut your hand if not careful. The idea is to dig down beside it and grab the clam's head and pull it out of the sand. We dug several different places, but since we don't really know what we are doing, we came up empty handed. We saw several people with clams at the cleaning station, therefore we know they exist here. We drove north along the coast, usually within a few hundred feet of the Cook Inlet, the passage of water north and west of the Kenai Peninsula. Our destination for today is Captain Cook State Park, located on the north west corner of the Peninsula about 100 miles from Homer. We made a short stop at Ninilchik beach where we did a little beach combing and gathered enough coal to fill a 5 gal bucket. Coal has been found on the beach for hundreds of years and some of the locals drive there truck to the beach and gather it up, using it for heating in the winter. It varies in size from small golf ball to a big cow pattie size. The color is from brown to dark black. It is easy to break up and will burn under the right conditions and leaves a yellow ash in the firepit.
We stopped at the town of Kneai visitors center for information and checked email (free Wifi) did some shopping and ate at McDonald's. Walmart is building a new Super Walmart just a block away. I would guess that it will open in a couple of months.
Aug 26th
From Kenai north is oil country. The first oil wells in Alaska were drilled about 50 years in a little place called Nikiski. Oil has brought highways, employment, and money to this area. Captain Cook State Park is at the end of the Kenai Spur highway just past the last oil field. There are 53 campsites here and we had our choice of almost any of them. We chose one with a view that looks out across the water to the volcanoes on the far mainland shore more than 50 miles to the southwest. One of the more well know is Mount Redoubt, last erupted in May of this year dumping about 1/4 inch of ash on Anchor Point and Homer. Mount Augustine is currently spewing steam, check my picture, really neat. In the evening we get a really gorgeous sunset across the water. The days are starting to shorten up, we are loosing sunlight every day and we are seeing the foliage change.
The campsite that we chose also was ideal for displaying the Texas State Flag. Anyone coming into the park gets a good look at it. This flag was given to me on my retirement by my friends and co workers, Terry Paxton and Ron Griffith. I worked with these guys for over 25 years and I think they knew I needed a Texas flag while traveling in Alaska. Thanks Griff and Terry!
Barbara and I walked the beaches of Captain Cook and looked for agates. We found many, mostly quartz. The beaches come alive with a opportunities to dig clams, fish, and hunt for neat rocks. Ever since Barbara and I have been camping, we have collected rocks for our back yard and this trip is no exception. Every rock has a interesting history so we fill in the blanks with wild guesses. Our gross vehicle weight is increasing each day... remember Lucy and Desi Arnez in the Long Long Trailer where Lucy loaded the back of their trailer under the bed and caused the front of the trailer to lift up. I've started calling Barbara, Lucy.
After our field trip, we built our usual campfire, except this time we used that coal that we collected down on the beach. We started the fire with wood and broke up our coal into crushed pieces and put it in the fire. It burned fairly well, but put our some smoke. I went back to the wood fire for cooking. We seasoned a Silver salmon fillet and baked it, it turned out perfect and tasted great.
With the some of the remaining coal, Barbara is going to tie a ribbon around it and give everybody a chunk of coal.
Aug 27th
Guess who is having a birthday tomorrow while traveling in Alaska??? 1949 you do the math...
We made our plans for the day, we will drive to the 40 miles to Soldotna for fuel, an overnight at the FM and use their dump station. Should be a short drive and we can spend time in Soldotna and Fred Meyers. This is a neat store and we did not have enough time the first time we were here last week.
Tomorrow our plans are to drive to the town of Hope. Hope was one of the original gold rush towns in Alaska. In 1896 3,000 miners rushed to Hope and found 400 ounces of gold, but the Klondike gold rush began and all but 150 miners left for the Klondike. The next year 10,000 miners rushed back to Hope. Gold panning is still a big draw in Hope. We still have our shovel and pan, so I expect to strike it rich, maybe. I have an made an image of our route starting on the 28th. We plan to travel the Slilak Lake road for about 17 miles. It is more scenic, an if we choose to spend the night, it has a nice campground on the lake.
Fred Meyer is very busy place, the parking lot is nearly full and most of the 30 pumps at the gas station are in use.
Aug 28th Barbara's birthday and we are still at Fred Meyer's in Soldotna.
Booty Reed had entrusted a gift to me before we left Lubbock, I kept it hidden in the trailer. The timing was perfect, Booty called and I gave Barb the gift and card during the conversation.
I also gave her a special heart shaped chunk that would make any girl happy! Special gift for a special girl.
John and Barbara reporting from Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula.
No comments:
Post a Comment