May 17th
It was late when we got to our RV camp site in Palmer. The road had been rough, and a difficult drive, Randy was very tired. When we unhitched from the pickup, the landing gear was damaged. Frustrated, Randy decided to rest this eve and the following day asses the damage closer.
May 18th
After assesing the damage closer Randy decided it would be best to be hooked on to the truck,and then remove the part.
I gave all the dogs a bath. Other then that we rested through out the day. In the A.M. we will hook on to the truck, Randy will remove the affected part, and we will try to find a replacent in Palmer or Anchorage.
It was a well deserved day of rest for both of us. We grilled trout on our little grill for supper.
May 19th
Randy spent about 3 hours removing the affected part of the landing gear, which ment sawing through the metal housing where the propane tanks are kept.
I prepared the camper to travel.
At around 11:30 the part was off, Randy cleaned up,and began calling around to try and find the piece needed.
2 RV places in Palmer,and 3 other places in Anchorage. They all said they neede to see the part as there was no number or name on it.
So off we went, the 3rd store in Anchorage had the right part. It was a real challenge pulling the trailer theough the industrial parts of Anchorage,as well as trying to find a place to park that you can easily get out of, you really need to have fore thought before going into an area. Randy did great!
We left Anchorage with the beloved part around 4:30 or 5:00 pm, why yes it was RUSH HOUR, this was another challenge, as if we needed another one.
On the way out of town we passed by one of our personal favorites, the Turnagain Arm. It is a small body of water that flows in and out from the Cook Inlet. The tide was just begining to come in as we were going by.
In the midst of heavy traffic what should run out into the middle.of the road, but a full grown moose!
It ran accross the road on to one of the many turn out to the Turnagain Arm, and was running directly behind a woman who was takung pictures.
She was unaware of what was fastly approaching from behind her!
Just as she reached her car, it caught up to her and ran past. I am pretty sure she about passed out as she slid into her seat and caught site of the moose from the corner of her eye.
Moose crossing the road on to turnout
Moose coming up quickly behind the unassuming woman
Safe in her car
More people are killed by moose in alaska then by bear every year. This woman was very fortunate.
Tide coming into the Turnagain Arm
You can see the rippling effect of the water at the base of the picture as the tide is rolling in.
The water is full of silt from the glaciers which settles onto the sandy bottom of the water causing it to be very dangerous to walk in when the tide is out, as it bcomes like quicksand because of the slickness of the silt and sand combination, the tide then comes in very quicky rising at least 10 ft. People often times get stranded in very dangerous, precarious situations, with several deaths attributed to this.
The beautiful Turnagain with the Alaska range in the back ground
We camped that night in a forest service camp outside of Seward.
Scene from our camp ground that night pf the Alaska Range
May 20th
Up and around, resting in a little after our long day yesterday.
Randy is putting on the new piece to our landing gear while I ready the camper for travel.
The piece goes in easier then it came out per Randy .
We are on our way at around 1100 a.m. shortly after leaving the site we come to the following sign.
Sometimes these signs say high crash area with the picture of moose on it as well
We were on high alert after our little episode yesterday.
You will often see little shops like this along the way. They are grocery, as well as hotels.
We arrived in Homer later that afternoon around 6 p.m. we found a nice little RV park with a Million dollar view.
Our RV park
Ocean View Park
One of the views from our camp
Homer is a town of about 5,500 people. It has a spit of about 2 miles coming out into the Cook Inlet from the center of town. It is surrounded by the cook Inlet which flows into the Ketchamack Bay, from the Pacific ocean.It’s water bodies are surrounded by glaciers, the Ketchamack Mountians and two volcanos which are inactive .
It is a large port for commercial fisherman, and private fisherman. Tourism also provides for a large amount of income for its population.
During Halibut season, salmon season and the summer vacation season swells to triple its population in size.
We feel strangly at home, in this little community.
The next post will be about our 1 st week here.
Finn, Janette
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