July 5–We spent Saturday running errands in Anchorage.  We went to the BX and commissary on Elmendorf Air Force Base.  We finally caught up with Rick (Lucille’s nephew) where he works and we hope to visit with him, his wife, Helen, and their kids on our way out of Alaska.

July 6–Sunday we packed up the motorhomes and moved to Soldotna. 

July 7–Monday, Jack had the oil changed in his motorhome in preparation for their trip back to the lower 48 on Thursday.  By noon, we were on our way to Homer.  None of us have ever been there so we weren’t sure what to expect.  We arrived around 3 in the afternoon. 

What a beautiful place!!!  Homer, Alaska has several nicknames.  One is the end of the road.  Believe me we tried to go farther, but we came to the END of the road.  More on that later.  Homer is also known as the halibut capitol of the world.  My favorite is it’s a quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem.

Homer is located on the Kenai Peninsula on Kachemak Bay.  Across the bay are the Kenai Mountains with several glaciers spilling into the bay from the Harding Ice Field.  The town’s most noted feature is the Spit, a 4.5 mile long gravel bar which extends into the bay.  That’s where Homer’s harbor is located.  The 92-year-old gentleman, Lyle, who took the guys dipnetting out of Chitina lives in Homer.  He is in Fairbanks until Wednesday evening processing the salmon he and his gang caught during the fishing trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 8–Tuesday, Jack went out on a fishing excursion.  He left around 5:30 am and was back around 9:30 with his two catch limit of halibut.  When it was all cleaned he took his 37.4 pounds of beautiful halibut to a processing and shipping place where they cut and packaged it in 1 pound packages.  It was then flash frozen.  Jack was to go back the next morning to pick out what he was going to take with him and then the company would ship the rest to Joplin where Jeannie’s sister will pack it away in the freezer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dinner we had a seafood boil out on the picnic table.  We built a fire and used ashes to make a fence post into a totem pole.  It was probably 48 degrees, but it was nice and warm around the fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 9–Wednesday, Jack picked up his halibut.  They gave us a few pounds to take home with us.  In the afternoon, we went to the Bear Creek Winery and tasted wine.  It was very good and, of course, we bought some.  The winery also had a B&B with a beautiful flower garden.  They had gigantic blue poppies.  We also went to a nursery that had a magical garden.  We strolled through it, and I found it fascinating. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were told that if we drove to the end of the road, when the pavement ends, keep going and we would eventually come to a Russian Village.  We went down a God-awful road, single lane, mud and rock.  We came to a place where there were several cars parked.  The road went on, but it was almost straight down drops.  We parked and Richard and Jack walked a little ways down the road.  When they came back, they told us they had talked to a couple of young women who were driving out from the village.  They were married to Russians who lived there and were dressed in native garb reminicient of the Amish.  Their dresses and scarves are made from very pretty material.  They said we could drive down to the beach and we’d be able to see the 40 or so houses in village, but it was posted no trespassing and we couldn’t enter.  They discovered that some of the cars parked where we were belonged to village residents, but the cars didn’t have 4-wheel drive so they couldn’t be driven to village.  The other cars belonged to people who had decided to hike down to the beach.

So, we decided to make the drive down.  We passed several people who where gasping for breath as they climbed the (I’m guessing here) 20% grades.  We went a long way down, rounding switchbacks, dropping into the depths of what felt like and could possibly have been, the bowels of hell!!

Suddenly we came to a place where you could switch back to the left or round a blind bend to the right.  We chose the right only to encounter what appeared to be a straight drop over a cliff.  By this time my equalibrium was spinning and I begged to get out of there.  After about a 6 point turn around, which Richard did with great expertise, we drove back up to the place where the other cars were parked.  There we compared a few notes with survivors of the trip down the mountain and we drove back to Homer.

After dinner, we drove up to Lyle’s house.  He had just returned to Homer.  He is a fascinating man.  His house, which he built by himself when he was 68 years old is high on a hill with a grand view of the bay.  He does woodworking, making clocks, furniture, as well as beautiful cutting boards which he gave Jeannie and I each one.

 

 

 

 

 

Me, Lyle, and Jeannie at Lyle’s home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of Kachemak Bay from Lyle’s front porch

Jack and Jeannie are leaving us in the morning.  We will miss them and wish them a safe trip home.  Their three granddaughters spend the same week each summer with them and that time is coming in a few weeks.  So they are headed home.  Unfortunately, their leaving also signals the end of my vacation because I must get back to work on my manuscript. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That, and the fact that we have gone as far into Alaska as we are going and from here on out it will be back tracking, will hamper my blogging time.  That doesn’t mean there won’t be some excitement along the way for me to write about, but it does mean I will be blogging once or twice a week.

Until then, Richard and Dolores