Be sure to read to the end of this entry
this is the point where Brad and Bev
make turn to head back to Santa FE.
Our last blog was sent up from Seward, AK. Jay and Rahel were leaving for the airport in Anchorage for their trip to Dallas and back to work. It was a great 10 day visit with a lot of adventures and excitement for all.
Monday, July 25-26th
We took Jay and Rahel to the bus for their trip to Anchorage. We then went back to the campground and got ready to leave for Soldotna, on the west side of the Kenai. Therefore, we will call this a travel day.
You can not travel the Seward-Sterling highway without finding new adventure. It is only about 80 miles, but the Kenai is full of surprises such as wildlife and fishermen. At this time of the year the fish are running and fishers are here from all around the world. As we drove across the Kenai and Russian rivers, we could see them standing "shoulder to shoulder" while fishing the rivers.
We overnighted for 2 nights at the Fred Meyers store at Soldotna and stocked up on supplies as we are heading up to Captain Cook State Park for 3 nights.
Wednesday the 27th - 29th
We are at Captain Cook State Park. This is north along the west coast near the original oil patch in the Cook Inlet. Barbara and I liked this park in 2009 and wanted Brad and Bev to see it.
At this park we did some beach combing for agate rocks, walking the nature trails, and wildlife watching. This park has designated and "social" trails. This was a good time of the year to see the many wild flowers along the trail. We even had a very close encounter with a mother moose on our way back to our site. The moose let us pass without any problem.
Our next site neighbors, Larry and Diana from Eagle River near Anchorage. They showed us some very strange rocks that they had collected on the beach to the north. They have come here for several years and have collected many of these strange rocks. This link reflects some of their work. The rocks are referred to as Sprint Rocks and they have many in their collection. They gave us a rock of our choice. Very interesting rocks.
Saturday July 30th
Travel day back to Soldotna on our way to Homer. We found a brand new Super Walmart at the town of Kenai and that meant that we would spend a few hours in Kenai before returning to Fred Meyers for another overnite.
Sunday August 1 - 6th
Homer is full of adventure. First we find a couple of side by side camp sites in the town campground on the Homer Spit. This is backed up against Kachemak Bay, the bay with a beautiful view of the mountains across Cook inlet.
Homer is a must visit town on the Kenia. Here are a few links, be sure to click on them and then travel to the "End of the Road" along with us.
Homer wiki link
Homer link 2
We road the town tour bus (Homer Trolley Tours) that included a narrative driver to some of the more notable sites.
Historic Salty Dawg Saloon about 1/4 mile from our campsite.
The Pratt Museum in Homer
Lots of Homer stories, so check them out, but don't forget Tom Bodett and his "We'll leave the light on for you".
We enjoyed Homer very much. We did the usual tourist such as the Homer CoC visitor center and the Islands and Oceans Visitor center. We enjoyed the campfires on the beach, the late evening story telling around the fire, the tides that go out and come in, watching the bald eagles watch us and the fish cleaning area and the company of Brad and Beverly, our friends from Santa Fe.
On Monday the 1st a strange happening occurred on the beach just 50 feet from our camp site. A 178 foot beach landing craft sailed to the waters edge, placed an anchor down and just let the tide go out. About 6 hours we found out why. The owner of the Helenka B needed to re-couple the port side propeller shaft that had slipped out of the coupling. The ship, built in 1942, was a mine sweeper that served in 3 wars. It has since been shortened by 40 feet and made into a utility beach landing craft. See my pictures of the ship and the repair.
Brad and Beverly, our travel buddies,
Our campsite on the Homer Spit would be the location that Brad and Bev turn back north toward Anchorage to start their return to lower 48 and then on to Santa Fe. They have to be back on Sept 1st, so this will give them about 25 days to find their way back to New Mexico. This was planned in the beginning, but we are already missing their presence as we were together every mile for the last 2 months. Sometimes we blazed the trail and sometimes they did, together we logged nearly 5500 miles. We have worked together and played together and experienced many adventures in the Land of the Midnight Sun and the Last Frontier. We drove the ALCAN, camped at the 30 mile Tec campground in Denali, drove to the Arctic circle, experienced nature at it best, shopped every store along the way, and had lots of meals together around a campfire. There was never a dull moment. Brad is a ham radio operator as I am, therefore we had good communications along the way. This helped out a great deal.
Along the way, Brad and I would work together and complete many useful modifications to our rigs. We both like to tinker with electronics and mechanical project, so we came prepared and with a list of things to do.
Happy trails
John and Barbara
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