June 28th

THE DETAILS:

THE WEATHER: 55 degrees to start with cloudy skies. There’s the threat of rain but the sun broke through the clouds around noon time and the temperatures rose to the low 70’s. It remained partly cloudy

THE DESTINATION: We left Talkeetna at 11:00 am and arrived in Houston (not Texas!) around 9:30 at Riverside Camper Park.


I was able to walk this morning for the first time in a long time. About a ½ mile away, a red fox with something dead in it’s mouth crossed my path. It ran ahead of me for the next ¼ mile. He was so funny. He kept looking back as if I was out to get his breakfast! Yuck.

We drove the 14 miles back to Parks Hwy and stopped to fill up the gas tank. As we went to pull away there was a strange thumping sound in the motor. Gary pulled over to the side of the large parking lot and that’s where we stayed for the next 2 ½ hours. Major problem #2. The thumping that we had heard was a belt that had been frayed and broke off. He discovered that it was the alternator belt that gave way. Of course he brought a spare alternator belt…. doesn’t everyone travel with a spare alternator belt? It was a project getting it all back together but he, as usual, accomplished the job and we were on our way with the motor sounding better than ever. Thank you Lord for the perfect place to work on it & no rain to deal with!

We got to a bridge where we found a lot of fishermen in the river. The Mile Post said it was a good river to fish for kings so Gary decided to try his luck. The other fishermen were frustrated and said not to bother, the fish weren’t in. One guy did see a grizzly this morning though, walking along the bank. There was nothing at that stream so we headed further towards Wasilla and visited a state park that also looked promising with lots of cars in the parking lot but after talking to a guy that happened to sit on the board with the fish & game department we decided to not even get out of the RV. First, he confirmed that the fishing this year has not been good. He said the fish just don’t like the water this year. Then he told Gary that if he went down to the river and stood shoulder to shoulder with the others and tried to fly fish!! Who ever had the closest gun would pull it out and tell him to leave! These are some fierce fishermen…. And not just men… there are a lot of women and whole families that are rigged up and spending the day at the river. The F & G guy told us that they are what’s called “meat hunters”. They literally depend on the fish in the summer to fill their freezers for the winters. I can understand with the prices of food up here. It’s high.

So the F&G guy told us of a place that was his “secret” fishing spot and swore us not to tell anyone. It’s where he catches trophy rainbow. So we spent a few hours there at a BEAUTIFUL stream and caught….. nothin’! Well, like they say, “a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work”.