July 24th

We moved back up to Soldotna and are back in the same campground where we caught all our fish. We took a different route back up north just to change up the scenery a bit. A road called Kalifornsky Beach Road! How’s that for an address! The locals call it K-Beach road. It’s about a 20 mile stretch that winds along the Cook Inlet. It would have been very pretty except… you guessed it! It’s cloudy, cold, and threatening rain. The high has been 58. As we traveled along we noticed a “For Sale” sign on a piece of bluff property. It is a wooded lot with road frontage and the back of the property drops off into beach front property. Gorgeous! The cliff is about 80 feet high above the Inlet which looks out across to Mount Redoubt and the Aleutian Range full of glaciers. So our curiosity got the best of us and we called the real estate agent selling the property. How does $165,000.00 for 1.3 acres grab ya’? HA! We thanked her very much and got off the phone quickly before she could ask for our names & phone number! So much for our great idea of buying property, leaving the RV parked and flying home.

We visited a fish cannery that was in operation back in the 1920’s to process fish in this area. One sign said they could filet 4-6 fish per minute! Can you imagine…. That’s approximately 300 fish per hour. Incredible. The deck in the back overlooks the mouth of the Kenai River and there were a ton of boats moving in and out. The ones that caught my eye were the small boats who were dip-net fishing. Something I’ve heard about since we got here and have seen the monstrous nets that are used for sale along the road, but I’ve never seen it in action. It was interesting. The fishermen drop the nets down next to their boats and then travel along slowly, close to shore while fish swim directly into their net! That’s fishing???? Okay, the other day there were a few dip-net fishermen that arrived back at camp and said they had caught 22 fish in one day.

So Gary needs to catch 5 fish to fill our 2 boxes to go home and then we can continue on our way from here. Until then, here we sit.

July 23rd

Not much is happening today. It's a beautiful sunny, warm day (for a change) and Gary has gone out fishing on the river here at the campground. I think he's worked out something for tomorrow to go out on the boat with Travis early... around 6 am! So today is a rest & relaxation day. Yipee!! So not too much to post other than to answer some of your comments:

Dan: Thanks for explaining the whole "Deadliest Catch" thing. I was confident that you would clear it up and add appropriate links to inform us all on the details of that. It does sound interesting.... and dangerous. Sorry about the slow trip through Alaska. I had no idea that when we got here we were on such a time schedule.... or at least an alphabet schedule! Can't you do your magic and make it work? I believe you can figure something out! Does it help that this campground and the next will be repeats? I hope we helped you out there.

Martie: THIS is not camping. We have literally brought the kitchen sink (and the leaky toilet) with us! Who goes camping with the microwave and refrigerator/freezer? Other than paying a camping fee, we are traveling in "luxury".... well, at least compared to our typical camping trips. The down side to traving in this luxury is... we have to fix the kitchen sink and the leaky toilet.

Gerry: Sorry to hear that you are spending a very hot summer hauling wood off OUR lot in preparation for winter. Remember... we did beg you to come out here and join us for the very low cost of 10 bags of Bolivia's Best coffee.... but NO! You are just too busy for that. Gary enjoyed the conversation also. See ya' soon.

Geoff: I trusted Gary, with his boyscout skills, to always be prepared. Why he didn't have a toilet valve in his back pocket.... I don't know!!