|
Seward to Soldotna
After a beautiful 3 days and nights, we left Seward with
many fond memories and drove west across the Kenai Peninsula to the town of
Kenai’s newly opened Wal-Mart west of Soldotna. These two towns are on the
Cook Inlet. Again snow covered mountains afforded fantastic views along the
way.
PLAN A: to volunteer as school ground hosts at
Nikiski Elementary School north of Kenai. But, as the Alaskan sourdoughs would
have said, “That didn’t pan out.” It was a nice looking school, built in 2004,
but we were uncomfortable with the space designated for us to park—hidden from
view behind the school where our coach might be vulnerable to the kind of
mischief we were meant to deter. The school already had graffiti on it. There
was no apparent way to take care of the holding tanks. Located perhaps 5 to 10
miles from an accessible dump station, this just wasn’t a good fit for us. (A
news article
a few days later reported a neighborhood watch
organizational meeting had a militia faction demanding equal time.)
SO, PLAN B:
We boondocked at Wally World that evening. At 2:15 a.m. two late teen/early
20s guys were skateboarding in our area of the parking lot. Then at 4:01 an
earthquake of the 4.7 magnitude occurred. The epicenter was to the south of us
near Homer. Monday morning we scouted around Kenai, Soldotna, and Ninilchik
looking at campgrounds. Ninilchik has a quaint green and white Russian
Orthodox Church with onion-shaped domes. The church cemetery has many graves
dating back before the 1900s. Many of the campgrounds we checked were rustic,
few had sewer hookups, and some didn’t even have a dump station.
We finally settled in on Monday evening at The Edgewater
Lodge and RV Park on Funny River Road in Soldotna. It has 60 sites right
above the Kenai River, and is as neat as a pin and well maintained. There are
steps leading down to the flat areas by the river to a private fishing access
for the guests here only. King salmon and trout are now in season. Red
salmon will be running in July and we’re told the population of this area will
swell by 50,000 fishermen. The Milepost states at points: “CAUTION: Drive
carefully during fishing season when fishermen walk along bridge and highway.”
There are several public fishwalks that make the popular Kenai River more
accessible.
Wednesday morning a gangly-legged yearling moose ambled
through the campground about 45 feet away from the coach. It circled around
behind a neighbor walking his dog—neither noticed! This afternoon on the way
back from Wal-Mart we saw a moose grazing in the ditch beside the highway and
then a few hundred feet ahead people were pulling over to watch a group of
caribou about 60 feet off the road: 2 males, 5 females, and several babies.
Traffic signs say “Give Moose a Brake” and “174 killed this winter.”
Larry purchased his AK fishing license and King salmon tag
today (total of $245.) Alaska is truly a last frontier in many respects. The
Hunting and Fishing Dept Manager told him that Wal-Mart is phasing out sales of
handguns and rifles in most areas, but here these are still big selling items
for guides and bush pilots as a necessary item for protecting their safety while
doing their jobs. And Alaskans love their guns!
I mentioned my love affair with mountains. Mt. Redoubt
(10,197 feet) is visible from several spots in Soldotna. It erupted in March
2009, after a 20 year nap, and closed the Anchorage airport for a few days. In
October it was declared dormant again. There are mountains to the left of us
and mountains to the right, or if you go around a curve, they are in front of
and behind us—snow covered of course. Today was a heat wave for us with mid 60s
temps. Alaskans have been wearing shorts and tank tops for the last week with
temps topping out at 45 to 50. Monday we passed two girls with halter tops on
out riding their horses bareback—low 50s. I had my winter coat on!
When the sun finally sets after 11 p.m., we forget to go to
bed at our regular time because there is a period of “functional” daylight for
another couple of hours, and then almost-dark lasts only three to four hours
before the sun is rising again before five a.m. Seven minutes of additional
daylight daily are added until June 21 when the process reverses until December
21. We have yet to use the pieces of foam we brought to block the shower
skylight. If you’re tired, you can go to sleep.
DirecTV requires a four foot satellite dish to work this
far north. Larry had contacted Russ Cross back in February to discuss a setup
when we arrived in the area. So we arranged an appointment with him for
Thursday evening. At eight he called to say he was detained: remember
the long daylight hours. At 10:30 he was on his way, did we want him to come
so late, and he’d need to stop for some food. Arriving at 11:00 p.m., he ate
quickly, and set about the job. His Siberian husky dog ambled about until it
got tired or cold and climbed back in the truck. The functional daylight had
waned by the time the installation was completed at 12:45 a.m. Friday. Russ
gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “make hay while the sun shines.”
.
TRIP FACTS:
4,328 miles in 17 Travel Days
Total cost of fuel: $1,817
Days out: 23 (May 2 through May 24)
Boondocked: 4 nights
Elks or Moose Lodges: 6 nights
Campgrounds with hookups: 19 nights
Total Camping Costs: $354
We’ll play in this area until sometime in August: there
are many, many places to visit and lots of fish to catch. At that time we’ll
retrace our route back through Tok, AK, and pick up some of the places/events in
the Yukon that were not open in early May. September should find us traveling
the Cassiar Hwy south through western British Columbia to the “lower 48.” Our
next route would be from Washington down through Oregon to San Francisco and
then over to Las Vegas for the American Coach Fall Rally in early October. On
our way back to MO we’ll be stopping to visit friends in Kingfisher, OK, and
then Grove, OK, and arrive back at our landlocked home late in the month
|
American Coach Association