Our Grand Alasakan Adventure

July 23, 2014 ? Day 64
Not a lot of sleep last night.  The bunks were narrow and not very comfortable but I won?t complain too much, I wasn?t on deck in a tent or in those slightly reclining chairs. Or with kids crying because they are in a strange, noisy environment.  Cafeteria wasn?t open when we docked about 8 AM so waited until were on Kodiak Island.  It is very pretty coming into port.  Broken clouds and breezy, it must have rained overnight.  I only felt the ship sway a couple of times, so a smooth sailing.  Off the ship we grabbed a taxi to get out to the airport where Avis was.  Tammy was our driver and she pointed out a few things on our way.  Picked up our Toyota Matrix and headed for the Comfort Inn to check in.  Dropped off gear and went in search of breakfast.  I needed something fast so the local Micky D?s did the trick.  Stopped off at the Visitor Center, gathered a little info there.  Then over to the Kodiak Wildlife Center with some nice exhibits of life size Kodiak brown bear and a fully articulated gray whale skeleton.  Next to the life size bear was there version of the ?bear supermarket? with different berries, grasses and fish a bear might eat.  It was a cute idea.  Next was a stop across the street at the Baranov Museum also known as the Erskine House.  Originally the house was a fur warehouse built by Alexander Baranov in 1806.  It is the oldest Russian built structure in Alaska.  In 1867 W.J. Erskine bought and turned it into a residence. In 1962 it was declared a National Historic Site.  There were 3 exhibit rooms with Russian, American and Alutiiq items on display.  Not big but interesting.  By this time Jim and I are fading fast, I needed more than a power nap, so back to the hotel we went, closed the curtains and snoozed for a while.  Got up and showered trying to feel human.  Grabbed camera?s and took a drive up the Chiniak Road as far as we could then turning and went up Pasagshak Bay Road till its end.  All the while looking for bears, none.  We did find the Kodiak Launch Center. Didn?t even know they had one. 
Passed the largest Coast Guard base in the US.  I think they can only claim this because of the amount of land it claims as part of the base. Made our way back into town for some dinner at Henry?s.  It is a local bar that serves a variety of foods.  Okay, nothing to write home about.  Made another drive out to Woman?s Bay where the Coast Guard base is to snap a few pictures for Vic who was stationed there years ago.  We did stop at the gate and asked if there were any tours of the base or anything we might photo.  The security guard was very nice but said ?no? and encouraged up to move on.  He did say the Navy Seals had been training lately and they didn?t want anyone near the base or snapping pictures.  We thank him and went our merry way, I for one don?t want to mess with the military.
Decided to drive a little further to the flats part of the island where bears have been seen.  Plus it gave Jim another chance to check out the creek for fishing.  He found fish and we found 2 pairs of bald eagles.  One flew right over my head.  One pair perched at the top of 2 light poles before moving down to the water?s edge.  Still no bears, I am beginning to think these Kodiak bears are made up.  Ended back at the hotel and I think we are both exhausted and it is time for bed.
TTFN

July 24, 2014 ? Day 65
Slept late, what else is new, we didn?t make it for breakfast here at the Comfort Inn.  Went into town to King?s Diner.  Good variety for breakfast so we both had French toast and the bacon was cooked perfectly.  I wanted to go back later and get a BLT, but I didn?t, maybe tomorrow before we sail back to Homer.  Totally full we drove out to Fort Abercrombie to have a look see.  Heavily forested with moss growing on the trees and ground.  If you had to camp you could make a nice soft bed with all the moss.  Took the Wildflower Meadow Trail, nice trail with your standard ups and downs.  We came to the WWII emplacements, bunkers and building foundations scattered along the trail.  They are mostly on the bluffs but with the trees it would have been hard to see them, there were even a couple of left over cannons. It was a nice hike.  Back to the hotel because Jim was going to go fishing and I came back to read, channel surf and be lazy.  That was nice also.  Jim fished Sergeant Creek, caught 2 pink salmon and 1 Dolly Varden, he was pleased.  We then headed across Near Island Bridge to the floatplane area to hopefully meet up with someone to take us to see Kodiak Brown bears.  We met Kellor, the pilot, he discussed the situation with the bear viewing over the last few days.  Not much had been seen, as a matter of fact one operation had 20 people out to view bears and they saw NONE.  He said he wouldn?t waste our time or money to fly over to their site because the bears were not down by the water.  He suggested a flightseeing trip of an hour and try to spot some from the air over Kodiak instead of Katmai.
To say the least we were disappointed to hear what he had to say but appreciated his honesty.  So we agreed on the 1 hour flightseeing and kept our fingers crossed.  We did spot 8 bears total and we were within 100 yards of the first three.  Kellor landed the plane on the water and we watched as the sow with 2 cubs became skittish with us so close. This sow was close to 9 feet, Kellor thought, she 15-20 years old.  When we spotted the other bears we couldn?t land but we circled around to get better views. At times we were just skimming over the ground.  One single bear looked strange, it had a dark brown body but had a blonde head.  Kellor said he may have not completely lost his winter coat which is darker brown.  We spotted a lot of bald eagles and Kellor said we don?t care about eagles, just bears.  I actually lost track after 25 bald eagles, it was amazing to see so many. Well our hour turned into about 90 minutes and I was sorry we couldn?t stay up longer and look for more.  I guess there will have to be a next time.  Jim and I agreed that we had not scheduled enough time here but the ferry schedule was either 2 or 4 or more days and we were not sure we could find enough to do with more time.  We were wrong again.  We finished off the night at the Old Power House restaurant.  We had an excellent meal with an Asian theme.  I can say after we drove out to Monashka Bay we had driven almost every paved road on Kodiak.  Pretty awesome.
TTFN

Unfortunately the Kodiak Brown bear pictures are too large to download even after I re sized them.  I guess everyone is invited to our house for a night of our vaca pictures.

Hey  thanks for the picture for the Base. Vic was there in the late 50's from October to March and he learned about King Crab!!! The weather wasn't great but the crab legs were.  See you soon Mick. Love you

July 25, 2014 ? Day 66
Riding the ferry back to Homer today.  Set the alarm so we made it up in time to return car, etc.  We did make it to breakfast at the hotel.  Made a quick trip into town for some munchies for the ferry ride and since the ferry was at a different pier we stopped at the office and ended up checking in.  That worked out well.  Back to hotel where Jim dropped me off and he returned the car to the airport about a block away.  Called for a cab and said our goodbyes to Kodiak, really didn?t spend enough time here.  Ferry scheduled to depart at noon for arrival in Homer at 9 PM, so no berth this time.  We schlepped our stuff with us unfortunately.  Today we are on the SS Kennicott, it is a bigger vessel with more cabins, food court, gift shop and a play area for the little ones.  We claimed a table in the Forward Observation Deck.
We had to take turns scoping out the ship since we didn?t want to cart everything with us.  It is not as much fun by yourself.  Had some lunch and then I went to the theatre to see Saving Mr. Banks.  I have seen it several times and I still get teary eyed.  A few times I came out to check on Jim who was having a marvelous time watching whales.  Total I saw 4 or 5 and he saw 20-25.  He was making memories and didn?t snap one picture.  Some were breaching and lobbing, so there were some happy whales today.  Went through a few rain showers and could have used windshield wipers on these big windows.  The ship also showed a Marine Highway documentary about the last 50 years.  I thought it was very interesting and made me want to travel the 3,500 miles and visit all 35 ports.  The marine highway began in the winter of 1963 into 1964.  It was a way to connect villages to the outside world since Alaska is 1/5 of the US.  Most of it is coastal and only reached by the marine highway.  Originally the voyage began in Seattle but after 2 decades and a disagreement with Seattle the marine highway moved to its new home in Bellingham, Washington.  The fleet is made up of 11 vessels, the smallest carries 300 passengers and 34 vehicles, the largest carries 600 passengers and 134 vehicles.  Each vessel usually follows the same route, maybe the Southeast/Inside Passage, the Gulf Crossing or the Southwest and Aleutian Chain.  Haines to Skagway is the shortest route of 1 hour and Unalaska to Kodiak is the longest at 59.5 hours.  I might put on my bucket list to ride all 3,500 miles and visit all 35 ports.  I might have to do this alone, not sure it is up Jim?s alley.  But what an adventure it would be.  Docked in Homer and jumped in the car to go get WeBe set up for our journey tomorrow to the Russian River and for me to head home for a week to take care of some business and get my grandson fix. Well, we did jump in the car and headed for WeBe but when we got there she had a flat tire on the passenger side.  We have Good Sam or AAA for these things and since it was 9:30 PM no one was going to come out tonight.  We will have to wait till the morning for someone to fix it.  It was not the end to a fantastic trip Kodiak I had planned for, but it is just another bump in the road. I will miss Jim but it will be nice to be home for a few days.  While I am gone, Jim?s duty will be to keep the blog going as best he can.  He will be in a no man?s land for internet service, so it might be limited. So till we meet again, TTFN.

July 26, 2014 ? Day 67
What a morning we had.  You know that the tire on WeBe was flat, so we stayed in the storage area for the night.  We were safe and not blocking anyone.  But it did mean no water or electric, which is no big deal but we had emptied our water tanks before we went to Kodiak.  We had our gallon jugs we always carry and the campground showers and toilets were only a short walk away.  We survived.  While Jim was waiting for someone to come look at the tire I went to the grocery store to stock up for him. Came back and unloaded everything, I think he we be just fine food wise while I?m away.  The tire guy from Alyeska Tire came and put air in the tire, enough so Jim could drive it to their store for them to remove and check.  Jim is feeling the tire just lost air after Alyeska checked the tires when they were doing the oil change.  It seems with the dually wheels on the rear of the coach the valves are not easy to get to, making it difficult to check.  They took the tire off, ran all the tests and sure enough the valve thingy was stuck and deflated the tire.  Refilled and put back on, we are ready to roll.  We are only about 90 minutes off schedule, not too bad.
Today we are driving to the Russian River Campground outside of Cooper Landing on the Kenai Peninsula.  It is very close to the Kenai River and actually flows into the Kenai and is home to ?combat fishing?.  This is where fisherpersons are stacked up together about 5 feet apart trying to catch a fish.  Jim should be entertained while I am gone.  Not a bad drive up out of Homer, mostly cloudy so we couldn?t see the mountains, but we knew they were there.  Settled into campsite and will head off to Kenai for some dinner and flight to Anchorage connecting with my flight to Denver. 
TTFN

July 27, 2014 ? Day 68

Hello to all you Our Great Alaskan Adventure readers.  While Michelle is in Denver, I?m going to try to keep up the blog.  It certainly won?t be up to the standard she has established. 
Last night, after I watched her plane leave for Anchorage to make her connection to Denver, I started the drive back to the Russian River Campground and WeBe.  You would not believe the traffic on the highway out of Soldotna, headed to Anchorage.  And it seemed every one of them was towing a fishing boat or had big dip nets on the roof of their vehicle or both.  It?s amazing how the salmon runs power the economy up here.  Just before I got back to WeBe there were a bunch of cars stopped ahead of me along the Kenai River.  I stopped too and watched a sow grizzly and her three half grown cubs fishing for salmon.  Even the bears get in on the action!  She caught a salmon and all four bears wandered off into the brush for a late dinner.
Today, Sunday the 27th, dawned clear and cold.  As I was getting ready to move WeBe to its new campsite for the next three nights, I started to ask Michelle to check something when I realized that Michelle wasn?t here.  It?s really weird to have her gone.  We?ve spent so much great time together on this trip. 
Got WeBe moved and setup again.  I talked to some very nice people from Eagle River, Alaska who are camped down the way.  They actually live close to our friends Cindi and Dick.  I spent the afternoon fishing the Russian River, which runs along the base of the hill that I am camped on.  It is actually clear, normal water like what I?m used to back in Colorado.  No glacial silt to give the water a green or gray tint.  I caught some rainbow trout.  It was such gorgeous weather I could have fished in my t-shirt but those mosquitoes hovering in the woods along the shore persuaded me otherwise.  After dinner, I went to check out the Kenai River ferry.  So many people want to get across the river to fish for salmon that a private company, in cooperation with the Forest Service, operates a ferry that takes them to the far shore of the river.  It looks and has an engine like a boat but is attached to cables that run from one shore to the other.  People have to buy a ticket in order to be taken to the other side, fish and then return to this side of the river. 
It?s about 9:45 PM as I write this.  Just starting to turn to dusk outside.  It?s been such a beautiful day, I think I will go for a walk before bed.  No bears or any other critters today.  Talk to you tomorrow.

Jim
Here is a picture of Bubba the Pack Mule.  This is from our Kodiak trip.  Just thought it was funny.

July 28, 2014 ? Day 69

It was 58 degrees in the motorhome today when I got up, 6 degrees warmer than yesterday.  That?s because it clouded up during the night.  I can see a stray beam of sunlight peeking through so we will keep our fingers crossed.  Today is a fishing day.  I was fishing the Russian River for rainbow trout.  So, attaching my bear spray to my belt, off I went.  Everyone has warned me about the bears in this area, both black and grizzly.  I have seen fisherman with shotguns over their shoulder or .44 magnum pistols in shoulder holsters.  They take their bears seriously up here. 
For my fishing buddies (you know who you are), yes I did use a fly rod today. I enjoy using either a spinning rod with a Blue Fox spinner or a fly rod.  I just like to catch fish.  During the morning I caught 8 rainbows and lost about 5 others.  The last three of the morning were really nice fish, 16-17 inches and fat.  After a break for lunch I tried the Kenai River but it is so big and fast I didn?t have any luck.  Plus, I promised Michelle that I wouldn?t drown myself while she is gone and you could do that easily in the Kenai so I wasn?t fishing all that intensely.
I went back to the Russian River and fished till dinner.  It started to rain and my luck seemed to desert me.  I didn?t get a bite for a long time and then when I did I didn?t hook the fish.  I did see a BIG rainbow chase my fly.  Finally, right at 5:30, with the rain really coming down, I landed a nice rainbow.  He was fat and had a bright red stripe down his side.  I let him go, as you have to do with all the trout here, and called it a day.  Back to WeBe to dry out and have dinner.  It?s still raining as I write this.  Nice to know that I still have the Freas talent of bringing rain to wherever we camp.
Talk to you tomorrow.

Jim
Combat Fishing

July 29, 2014 ? Day 70
Wow!  It?s hard to believe that we have been gone 70 days.  What an experience this has been.  I don?t think you can appreciate what a beautiful country we live in until you take the time to see it.
When I got up this morning it was cold and dark, with fog drifting through the trees in the campground.  Given that I?m reading a vampire novel it certainly set the right tone for a chapter or two while I ate breakfast.  I decided to do some exploring today so I drove up the Sterling Highway to Quartz Creek Campground.  It?s a good looking campground if you don?t mind not having hookups.  I didn?t see any fishing opportunities there as the stream was very deep and fast and all the trees that had fallen into the water would make wading difficult.  I thought: Why not look at the creek where the highway goes over it.  Maybe fishing would work there.  So, drove a little more and what a sight: The stream was full of sockeye salmon.  They have green heads and bright red bodies now that they are in spawning mode.  It was like watching a National Geographic special on TV.  They were everywhere.  Another guy who was looking at them mentioned that his wife?s father had seen a bear there just yesterday.  It makes sense that with all that protein swimming in the river that the bears would be there also.  Since I promised Michelle that I would still be alive when she comes back, no fishing there either.
I went back to WeBe and fished the Russian River again, all the way down to where it meets the Kenai River.  A ton of people were lined up on the bank, all trying to snag a sockeye salmon.  They weren?t having much luck.  There seemed to be a lull in the waves of fish coming up the river from the ocean.  The good news is that about noon the skies cleared and we had a beautiful day on our hands.  I took a bike ride after dinner and explored all the other campgrounds here.  Talked to Michelle tonight.  She misses me.  That?s good news since we just spent the last 65 days together.  Its 9:45 PM as I write this and it?s still light enough to read by. 
Talk to you tomorrow.

Jim

July 30, 2014 ? Day 71

Beautiful day today.  Blue sky and white clouds floating overhead.  All the same, it was a frustrating day.  Today is the day to move WeBe to a different campsite but still in Russian River.  We had made a reservations for here in a piecemeal fashion and couldn?t get all the days in the same spot so I have to move.  The frustration was that you have to be out of your campsite by noon and the people who were camped in the spot I was moving to stayed in it right until noon.  And since I had to be out of the old site by noon, I couldn?t go anywhere and do anything while I waited for them to leave.  It was after 1 PM before I was moved and set up.
I decided to go over to Soldotna and try to fish the Kenai River.  No luck there.  It?s a big strong river and unless you have someone local to give you some advice and spots to fish you?re out of luck.  Fortunately, I had planned for that and took our laundry with me.  I went to a laundromat that I thought I remembered doing laundry in back when Michelle and I were here 13 years ago.  It sure is.  I talked to the guy who has run it all these years.  He is a retired Alaska state employee who now works on a contract basis directing firefighting planes when there are big fires.
Back to WeBe.  Still a gorgeous day.  Early to bed tonight since I have to be up at 5 AM for my guided fishing trip.  So, naturally what did I do?  Stayed up until 10:30 reading a book.  Oh well.  I can sleep this winter.
   
Talk to you tomorrow.

Jim

July 31, 2014 ? Day 72

Another beautiful day today.  Lots of sunshine and warm in the morning with some scattered clouds this afternoon.  I was up at 5 AM and met the guide, Pat Murphy at 6.  We were fishing by 7 am.  Guess where he took me?  Up to Quartz Creek, to some of the very spots I had looked at the other day.  That?s what fishing with a local will do for you.  He knew when to get to the water and where it was safe to cross the river to go from one pool to the next.  I fished until 1:30 with Pat being the perfect guide.  I would certainly recommend him if you ever are in the Cooper Landing area and need a good guide.  I caught some rainbow trout and a lot of Dolly Varden, which is like a brook trout to you non-fishing folks.  My biggest was about 2 ? pounds.
I went back to the motorhome and had some lunch.  What did I do after that you ask?  Well, I went fishing of course.  I have a feeling this may have been my last day of fishing in Alaska so I wanted to make it count.  Fished from about 3:30 to 7 PM and caught a bunch of rainbows, nothing of any great size but some sure could jump out of the water!
I just talked to Michelle on the phone.  I?m looking forward to her getting back in two days.  Tomorrow I pull up stakes and head back to Eagle River, just north of Anchorage.  You will remember we stayed there awhile back.
   
Talk to you tomorrow.

Jim
Sockeye salmon swimming in the stream.

I have so enjoyed reading about your adventure as it brings fond memories of Alaska and our hope to get back there.  I do not fish but want to know if you put them all back or do you take some back to your MH?  Seems like you get an awful lot of them for just two people.  LOL
By the way you are doing a very good job in her absence..

Sheila

You are indeed doing a good job in Michelle's absence   Like Sheila, I too want to know if you keep any of the fish.  I was really surprised by your statement that all the trout had to go back.

I have loved following your adventure, I think we will all be as sad as you when your adventure ends!!

While I like to eat fish, I generally let them go so they can be there to catch again.  Some of these streams get fished so heavily that if everyone kept what they caught, you wouldn't have many fish in the river.  Plus, many of the streams I fished have limits on the size or number or both for the fish caught.  And probably most important, Michelle hates the smell of fish.

Jim

August 1, 2014 ? Day 73

Another beautiful day today.  Lots of sunshine and warm in the morning with some scattered clouds this afternoon.  I was up early to pack up WeBe.  I will drive about 120 mile today to Eagle River Campground, where we stayed about 3 weeks ago.  I left about 10:45 and got the campground around 1:15 PM.  An uneventful, almost boring, drive if you can call driving through such beautiful scenery boring.  I drove along Turnagain Arm, which was explored with the hopes that it was the fabled Northwest Passage through the New World.  It wasn?t but it is an impressive body of water, with its tidal bore.  That?s the wall of water that moves up the Arm as the tide comes in.  At this point we?ve driven a little over 5,000 miles in the motorhome and over 4,000 separate miles in our car.
There is an Alaskan law that is in effect on certain stretches of highway, like this one, that if you have 5 vehicles bunched up because the first one is going too slow, the first one must pull over and let the others by.  There were so many vehicles on the road heading to Anchorage you couldn?t tell where one group of 5 started and where the one before ended, so everyone just kept on driving. 
I got WeBe all set up and then took it easy until it was time to go visit our friends Dick and Cindi.  They are promising salmon for dinner.  We, along with their friends Tom and Dee, talked until about 10 PM.  They told interesting stories about walking out of their respective houses at one time or another and noticing that strange black dog down the street and then realizing that it was a bear, not a dog.  Tom mentioned that one of his neighbors is having trouble with a bear breaking into her freezer in the garage.  As I headed back to WeBe it was still light enough to read a book.  I hoped to get some things done tomorrow so I was going to hit the sack as soon as I got back.  It wasn?t to be.  The family in the next campsite over apparently hadn?t read the campground rules about quiet time starting at 10 PM or didn?t care.  And, who could blame those little kids, running around and playing at 11 PM in the great weather.  They finally quieted down and I went off to bed.  Michelle comes back tomorrow and I want it to get here quickly.
Talk to you tomorrow.

Jim

August 2, 2014 ? Day 74
Another restful, beautiful day.  It was 72 degrees when I was in Anchorage.  I got a haircut and did some grocery shopping.  After lunch I drove into Anchorage to a gun show that Tom and Dick were at.  I spent a fun hour or so walking around with Dick, talking guns and watching the people.  I made my way back to WeBe through Anchorage traffic and thought about dinner.  Sorry no exciting things to tell you today.  It was just a day to relax.
I was taking a walk tonight and had some profound thoughts that I want to share, since I don?t have that many. 
Thought #1  As I was driving around today through Anchorage and Eagle River, seeing the hamburger chains and the grocery stores and the phone stores and all the modern hubbub, I thought about last night at Dick and Cindi?s and their stories of the bears.  And, think about Anchorage.  If I have my figures correct, within the municipal limits there are over a 1,000 moose, hundreds of black bears and 50 or so grizzlies.  When Dick hikes in the hills above his home, he always carries a heavy caliber pistol for protection.  As I walked tonight, even in the campground, I saw signs urging me to watch for bears and moose.  It sure makes you a little more alert and aware of what is around you.  The veneer of civilization up here is just a thin layer over the wildness of the real Alaska.  Mother Nature could reach out and just take it all back if she wanted to.

Thought #2
Why do people try to pretend someone else doesn?t exist?  As I was walking tonight, a couple was walking down the campground road toward me.  The road can?t be more than 15 feet wide.  I could have reached out and touched them.  As they approached, they averted their eyes, staring at the ground.  I said ?Hello? and you would have thought I was invisible, the way they acted startled.  In this day and age have we forgotten how to acknowledge other people and interact with them?  This isn?t the first time this has happened.  And, I had a haircut today so I know I didn?t look so weird that they wanted to avoid me.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Jim

August 3, 2014 ? Day 75
I?m Back, hope someone missed me.  It was a great week away, not that being in Alaska is a hardship, quite the opposite.  But I really enjoyed the time with family and my best friend, even though it was far too short. We truly miss our family and friends. 
I arrived early this morning around 12:10 AM which was 2 AM Denver time and I was tired.  I don?t sleep much without Jim and this trek was no exception. We headed for WeBe and made it to bed close to 1 AM.  We were camped back at Eagle River Campground just outside of Anchorage.  Broke camp and began our 39 miles to Palmer, the home of the agriculture experiment.  This town of about 5,000 is part of the Mat-Su Valley (Matanuska and Susitna Valley).  ?In 1935 Palmer became the site of one of the most unusual experiments in American history: the Matanuska Valley Colony.  The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, one of the many New Deal relief agencies created during Franklin Roosevelt?s first year in office, planned an agricultural colony in Alaska to utilize the great agriculture potential in the Matanuska Valley, and get some American farm families-struck by first the dust bowl, then the Great Depression-off the dole (Milepost).?  So Social Workers pick about 200 families from Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and one family from Oklahoma (why just 1 family).  They moved to Palmer in the summer of 1935, given 40 acres, material to build a home and equipment to farm with seed.  The US government thought with the growing season of 100-118 long days and the unique micro-climate would grow giant vegetables.  At the Visitor Center they have a large garden with some huge cabbages, rhubarb, broccoli, and other vegetables and flowers.  The Alaskan State Fair will be held in Palmer later this month, too bad we won?t be around to see all the giant pumpkins, squash and cabbages. While wandering around the garden a tour bus with Chinese arrived and took over the garden, some had 2-3 camera?s around their necks.  After that, we tried to go see the Colony Museum because it was one of the 4 basic house plans available to the colonists.  Unfortunately, it was closed because it was Sunday.
There is also a Musk Ox farm outside of town which we went to check out but they were having some sort of race and we couldn?t get near the place.  As the young lady said at the Visitor Center, they pretty much close up the town on a Sunday.  Okay by me, we went back to WeBe and had a power nap.  Did some research for places to stay close to Seattle since we hadn?t picked a place yet but we still have about 5 weeks till we get there.  After dinner we went off for a walk which was rudely interrupted by a Rottweiler that came charging after us on the street.  He was barking, baring his teeth and basically scared the ?. out of me. His collar was made from a heavy, heavy chain.  If it wasn?t for Jim and his quick thinking I would have been dinner for that dog.
With my heart still beating twice the normal rate and my whole body still trembling we walked slowly away and to the Big Bear Campgrounds office (which was in our sight) to ask about the dog who wandered into the campground after nearly sending me to an early grave.  They were well aware of the dog and reported it again to the authorities. They apologized profusely.  I was ready to go hide out in WeBe which is exactly what we did.  Jim caught up on the check book and I read. Then we did a little research for another dream vaca for 2015.  We still have almost 2 months to finish up on this adventure. But you have to keep dreaming, right?
I want to say thanks to Jim for filling in for me, I read his blogs and I think he did a great job.
TTFN

Glad you're back Michelle.  I know at least one person missed you! 

Jerry carries either pepper spray or bear spray when he walks.  He's been attacked numerous times by unleashed dogs, the last time just a few weeks ago by one of our neighbor's dangerous dogs ("he wouldn't hurt a flea") that has now bitten five different people on our block.  This time Jerry called Animal Control and our homeowner's assn. is getting involved.  When you spray a dog in the face it will stop and slink away with his tail between his legs.

ArdraF

Jimbo  you did a great job with the blog and great pictures. I especially liked the one carrying everything.  I was so nice to have Mick back in Denver for a few days and missed seeing you also.  We had some rainy weather for her!!! Keep up the wonderful travels and be safe.  Love you guys.

I, will keep the spray in mind when walking, thanks.  And Zoe it was great being home for a few days, thanks.

August 4, 2014 ? Day 76
Well we have made the big turn around and now will slowly make our way back to Centennial.  We still have plenty to see and do in the next couple of months.  But I can?t lie, it seems weird to be heading home. So many years of dreaming about this trip and all the planning it surely can?t come to an end.
Rained off and on all night and is raining as we try to get everything together to hit the road today.  Jim was working on the motorhome and I went off to the post office to get stamps.  Stood in line behind about 15 people, but the line moved fairly quickly.  We met at a turnout about 2 miles out of town and hooked up the car.  Skies went to just cloudy as we drove to Matanuska Glacier.  We visited this same glacier 13 years ago.  According to the Milepost this glacier is the largest accessible by vehicle and the glacier?s average width is 2 miles and at the terminus it is 4 miles wide.  Over the last 400 years the glacier has remained fairly stable.  To think that 18,000 years ago it reached all the way to Palmer 75 miles away.  We never should have driven WeBe down the extremely pot holed dirt road to where we paid our $35 to have the privilege to walk all around the glacier.  We suited up in our long underwear, coats, hats and gloves and began the journey.  Walking up it looks like a huge mass of dirt and rocks but on closer inspection there is ice underneath.  There were times when we were slipping and sliding on the surface.  Saw some folks ice climbing, not something I want to try.  At one point there was ice protruding up from the ground in an S shape, so I jumped on it and instead of ?How to Train Your Dragon?, it was How to Train an Iceberg.  Just having some fun. But my butt was now cold and wet. Lots of little rivulets of melting glacier to cross over.  We spent about 90 minutes playing and by the time we were almost back to WeBe I had begun removing layers of clothes because I was so hot. Continued our drive on the Glenn Highway to Tolsona Wilderness Campground about 14 miles west of Glennallen.  Lots of thin spruce trees mixed in with aspen trees.    Some pretty big climbs out of the valley floor near the glacier.  As Jim drove my mind wandered a bit and began looking for odd shaped trees that I refer to as Dr. Seuss trees.  Didn?t stop to take pics or we?d never get anywhere.  We were watching the clouds build to the south of us as we drove and wondered if we could make it to the campground before the rain hit.  Well, we didn?t and the skies opened up, there was lightning and thunder too. Fortunately the storm didn?t last too long and then the sun came out with big blue skies.  Nice walk after dinner once we put the head nets on so the skeeters couldn?t eat us alive.  They still got Jim several times on his hands and he had repellant on too.  Watched a movie and going to call it a night.
TTFN
Some pics of the glacier with cloud cover and with the sun.  It really changes the look.