Red Salmon and the Kenai

Saturday morning July 30 we left Hope and headed to Soldotna where Dick had heard stories of how easy it is to catch salmon just along the river by the visitor’s center. Several folks we had spoken to him in Dawson City and outside Denali praising the spot and told of their limit catches there of Reds (red or sockeye salmon).

We needed to dump the RV and when we got to Soldotna we went straight to the Fred Myers store where they offer a free RV dumping station and potable water. They also offer RV’ers free overnight parking for up to three nights. When we met the attendant the store provides to monitor and assist at the dumping station, he offered us a space and we decided to stay in their parking lot alongside about a dozen other RVs. It turned out to be very quiet during the night.

We toured the area and discovered the beautiful public park system in the Soldotna area. Tourism and fishing make up a significant part of the Soldotna economy. There are four very nice and easily accessible public parks for fishing in and around Soldotna and they include campsites for tents and RV’s, boat launches and fish cleaning stations. In each of these parks and all along the Kenai River, in conjunction with the appropriate state, local and volunteer organizations, strong efforts have been made to protect the banks of the river in a natural and undisturbed state in order to protect the young salmon fry and yearling salmon prior to their trip to the sea where they stay for 2 or 3 years to mature before they return as adults to spawn and die in the stream or river where they were hatched. Sunday we moved to the Centennial Park Campground. Centennial is a large and beautiful campground right along the famous Kenai River adjacent to the Visitors Center. We were able to move into a site that backed right up to the Kenai and the boardwalks and aluminum stream entry points provided in the park. We had a fabulous view of the river right out the slide out window of the RV.

Unfortunately, as always, timing is everything. The season on King salmon is ending July 31 and the King run was actually all but over several weeks ago. The main run of Reds had occurred two weeks ago and when we arrived it was near the end of the second and final run of Reds and a week or two before the Silver (or Coho) salmon would start to run in earnest. That did not deter me or many other fishermen, including a lot of local persons, from trying to catch the Reds. Looking out on the fast flowing and probably 150 yard broad bright blue Kenai I could see large fish surfacing and even sometimes jumping out of the water. Other fishermen informed me that the large ones toward the center of the river are the last of the Kings. The smaller ones still quite a ways from the bank were likely early Silvers. The Reds were still running and they swim very near the bank of the river.

The stairways built over the banks lead you down into the river about three or four feet from the actual bank into water that is between knee and waist deep on an adult. Waders are essential and the flow is so swift the standing is near impossible at depths above the crotch. In many spots the riverbed falls off deeply just a couple feet further out. The method used to hook the Reds is very much the same as I described in the previous post about fishing at Hope, i.e. trying to lip snag them by getting a line across their mouths. It’s amazing how some people seem to have an innate knack for fishing this way while many others including me just try to imitate them. I spent Sunday afternoon and evening fishing for the Reds, watching, imitating and chatting with some very successful fishermen who were standing only a few feet away from me. Two gentlemen caught their limit of 6 each within 25 feet of me. Pat stood on one of the platforms above the bank and filmed several catches and even filmed my participation as the assisting man with the net. I was amazed how quickly the successful folks could fillet their catch and throw the large carcasses into the river. It was not uncommon to snag a carcass and in the fast current even retrieving them was a struggle.

I did manage to hook into several Reds and even got two right up by the net. What a fight they gave before breaking off. Finally early Sunday evening I did hook and land one Red assisted on the net by a kindly nearby fisherman whom I had likewise previously helped. The Reds are named for their flesh which is much darker than the Pinks I had caught in Hope and are even more tasty!

Monday I spent much more time fishing and hooked several and landed one more Red.

Pat and I also took a drive up to the town of Kenai above Soldotna and drove past Kenai to Captain Cook State Park where we wandered the rocky beach at low tide. The variety of the rocks there is amazing and due to the glaciers of many years ago. Surprisingly we had the entire park nearly to ourselves.

Fishing for Humpies at Hope, AK

July 28th we got a late start from Anchorage and headed south to the Kenai Peninsula. The Kenai Peninsula is probably one of the most beautiful spots in America and is renown for its scenery, fjords, wildlife, rivers and fishing! The peninsula is probably larger than the state of New Jersey and contains many mountains, rivers, lakes and two large ice fields as well as numerous glaciers. There are three Alaska style substantive cities on the Kenai; Soldotna, (pop. 3950), Homer, (pop. 4180) and Seward, (pop. 2900).

We were initially headed to Soldotna, located along the Kenai River because it’s perhaps best know for its salmon fishing on the Kenai River. It is located near the middle of the only main road across the peninsula. However, Dick decided to turn on one of the few side roads in the Kenai and to visit Hope, Alaska just to see what this tiny town was all about. Hope is located at an isolated spot on the south side of Turnagain Arm at the very end of a 17.8 mile road. When we got to Hope, having driven over a newly resurfaced road through gorgeous valleys and mountains, we found a tiny hamlet that consists mostly of two or three small restaurants and campgrounds and one bar and restaurant, a library in a former school, a B&B, a Methodist retreat facility, a post office and a couple of one person stores. We had noted people fishing in Resurrection Creek near a campground. On the spur of the moment we decided to camp there and let Dick try some fishing for the first time this whole trip. Soldotna can wait!

The tiny campground was operated by the bar/restaurant and only offered electric hook-up service. The campsite we chose, the only one long enough to handle our RV and tow, was only about 75 feet from the bar. This being Thursday night it was the once a week night that all the locals and anyone else in the area get together at the bar and they have live music with local guitarist and other instrument players and party hearty late into the night, as we would learn later when we tried to sleep. Before going fishing we had dinner at the tiny restaurant café associated with the bar and for the first time we both tried the Halibut Fish N Chips! Wow was it great! The halibut was cooked just right and the portions were really generous.

For readers who enjoy fishing the rest of this day’s section is for you. (Non-fishing readers may want to skim over the details of fishing that follow.)
It was then off to learn what this salmon fishing was all about. I watched several folks and spoke with them to see what they were after and how. The salmon that are running here now are known locally as “Humpies” or “Pinks”. They are pink salmon; so named because of their flesh color, about 18 to 24 inches long and weigh about 5 to 9 pounds. The males develop a highly visible hump on their backs just after the gill area as they are ready to spawn, hence the Humpie name. As noted at the river in Anchorage, salmon do not eat once they enter fresh water to spawn and die. The method used to fish for them is to cast with a hook that may be a bucktail type fly or just a piece of colored yarn on a 4/0 or 5/0 hook at the end of leader with a hefty weight tied on about 4 to 6 feet from the end of the leader. The weight must be large enough to bring the hook and line down to about six to ten inches off the bottom of the stream. in hopes of having the salmon catch the line in their open mouth and drag the line across until the hook catches them in the mouth. I would call it snagging them in the mouth! The preferred method is to use this rig on a hefty fly rod and cast it slightly upstream and let it drift down and pull the line sharply to set the hook as it reaches the downstream extended position, over and over again in hopes that the line and hook will snag the Humpie in the mouth. Often you can see the salmon in the stream and are trying to cast in front of a specific fish or group of fish. When hooked they put up a vigorous fight and on a fly rod or light tackle it’s quite a challenge. Since my good fly rod was only a 5 weight and this really demands an 8 or nine weight rod I chose to use the salmon spinning outfit so graciously offered to me in Wisconsin by Dan Small.

The Reseruction Creek empties into the Turnagain Arm about 100 yards below the campground. Since the arm has a very large tidal swing of about 8 to 10 feet the levels in the creek vary substantially with the tide for about ¼ mile upstream. I chose to go upstream and walked back up the road to cross the bridge and take a trail up along the far side of the bank to a location recommended by a successful fisherman in the campsite next to ours. See photo of stream and of neighbor boys and their Chum or Dog salmon. When I got onto the bridge I could see dozens of humpies scattered across the stream but concentrated mostly near the far bank. Excitement was growing as I could see several fishermen up where I was headed and one of them had a fish on.

I arrived at the spot, a small spit of small well worn rocks jutting into the turbulent swift flowing stream, and started observing the two fishermen who were both using fly rods. The one man had his two sons with him and the boys were using spinning gear. Each of the men were being very successful in hooking and landing the humpies. The limit is six fish per day and within an hour they had their limits. The boys caught a few also. A few times one of the men snagged a fish by the tail or near the dorsal but if that happened they always quickly released the fish. They also watched me as I tried, seemingly in vain to imitate their method. The man with the two boys, a young black man, was the first to get his limit. He then came to me and offered me the use of his polarized sun glasses to fit over my photogrey trifocals so I could better see the fish in the water. From his courteous demeanor and appearance I would say he was in the military, probably from one of the bases near Anchorage. I took him up on his offer and while it made it clearer and easier to spot fish in the fast water, I just couldn’t seem to get the hang of this drift snagging or whatever you would call this type of fishing. However, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile, and I finally hooked into my first salmon! It was hooked in the mouth and put up a good fight. Note the hump on the back in the photo. I agonized over keeping and filleting it or releasing it. But I quickly decided to keep it and to take it back to the RV to show to Pat and to get the Filet King board Dan had given me to put it to the test.

Pat was pleased for me and of course snapped the photo and then began a search for the ultimate salmon recipe. Actually the neighbor had also brought home another salmon and he offered to filet mine as well….but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to show off and test Dan’s Filet King at the same time so I offered to join him and we’d test out the Filet King while I was learning to filet salmon. It was a double success. I learned a bit while Pat also watched and we both liked the way the Filet King worked to hold the fish and catch the items that fell off. Good product Dan!

The next morning at Pat’s suggestion we decided to stay and spend another day fishing. I still don’t have the hang of how to catch salmon the way most folks do using the method described above but I had a ball trying and did land and release several more and kept two while having a great time on a fine stream. We got to enjoy Hope and took a walk throughout the area as well. The neighbor boys and their dad had a black bear come up quite close just as they were leaving the stream and all three of them got pictures of it on their cell phone cameras. All in all, Hope was a great success and added memories to this whole Alaska trip that we will cherish.

Anchorage

Leaving Talkeetna we headed on down to Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. We plan to do some day trips from there to see some local sights. Found a campsite at the Fort Richardson Army Base, HQ for US Army Alaska. We dry camped without services for the first four days and the last night, 7/27, after dumping and replenishing water moved to a back location with water and electric. Needed the electric as our batteries were down a bit and we had not been running the generator much.

First thing we did of course was to visit the base Commissary and PX. It is located on the Elmendorf Air Force Base that is adjacent to Fort Richardson and is a brand new mall complex with very nice stores. Not your old standard commissary either. This one offers fresh sandwiches and lots of other services like a good quality grocery store. Then off to see the city and perhaps finally see a moose. Anchorage has over 1,000 moose that live within the city limits!!! We did finally see a couple of moose that evening.

We first stopped at a large open-air market that offered just about anything you could imagine in native Alaska and Alaska tourist related items. It is a regular weekend event during the summer months. The to the visitors center, a short walk away. Flowers, flowers, flowers, beautiful flowers everywhere around the visitors center and hanging in very large baskets from street lights all over the main downtown area. This 20 plus hours of sunlight sure agrees with plants! This city is only about 300,000 people and has not real tall buildings due to earthquakes but the streets are wide and other than the usual one-way streets that are confusing to newcomers is easy to get around in.

Walked to the Parks building and watched three free movies on Alaska. One was on Alaska at War and the attacks and Japanese occupation of two of the islands during WWII. Quite interesting even if the narration has been slanted to be politically correct and at times seemed to make the US out as the bad guy in the usual liberal bull type of presentation. Another was on the northern lights and the third was on the Grizzly Bears fishing for salmon and the experience of watching them. This was particularly interesting and we had had a neighbor back at Denali campsite that had just done the same thing after having had their names drawn in a lottery to be able to fly in and camp there.

Next day, Tuesday, we took in a movie on the Alaskan Experience and visited the Ulu Factory. A ulu is an Alaskan native tool used for scraping hides originally and ever since the ice ages but now used for a kitchen tool. Pat has one now and will be sure to tell others about it when we get back to Fleetwood. (Whenever that is?)

We drove one night to watch the Boar Tide come into the inlet and spent a long time in the wind on a small rock pile waiting and watching for it. It was a small tide and not much to see this time. Sometimes they can be very noisy and quite impressive we are told.

We also too a day trip to the Alyeska Ski resort and took the tram to the top of the mountain where we had some fantastic views.

Denali National Park at Last July 16-21

Saturday July 16 we left Fairbanks for Denali NP. Beautiful day and we decided not to put the cover on the Saturn. Big mistake! No more than 20 minutes south of Fairbanks we hit major road construction. We stopped for a flagman and in about 2 minutes we got out and got the cover on it. Done in record time and before the flagman gave the signal for traffic to go. In fact probably ten minutes before we could continue on our way. Lots of messy road construction with mounds of new gravel being applied and stones flying everywhere. The drive was the usual beautiful scenery of forest, lakes and vistas. Made only one stop for the Teklineka Trading Co. where they had a polar bear and other mounted animals on display. As always bought some items.

Arrived at the relatively small commercial strip just a mile north of the Denali Park entrance and found a campsite for the night to allow us to get a timely start into the park tomorrow. Visited the park visitors center and got our tickets and the refund of half our payment, as we now are eligible for the Golden Eagle Passport discount. The campground was very crowded but had great wi-fi connections so Dick got to post what he had ready of this Blog and finally put up some photos.

We have been looking forward to today, Sunday the 17th, since we made our Denali reservations, the only pre-made reservations of our entire trip, way back in February! Unfortunately it was raining when we awoke. We topped off the fresh water and dumped the RV as our four nights camped in the park will be dry camping (without any connections) and we are permitted to only run the generator from 8-10 AM and 4-8 PM inside the park. We detached the Saturn and left it in a long term parking area within the park. Once you enter you must go to your campsite and park the RV. Then all travels are by foot or on the park busses, and we are only allowed to take the bus further into the park and not to take it back out toward the entrance. The rain continued intermittently until just before we reached our campground at which time the sun came out and the day turned very nice.

We stayed at Teklineka Campground, an area 38 miles into the park where only hard-sided campers are allowed. No tents are allowed due to prior wolf activity in the area. The drive in to Teklineka is through varied terrain with mountains and valleys of boreal forest. The mountains become treeless near the top. We chose our campsite from about ten open spots in the two loops of the camp. We took a spot backing up to the Teklineka River bed with a view of mountains nearly all around us. It is so quiet and beautiful here! We can’t wait to go further into the park and see what awaits us there.

We had pre-purchased our bus tickets and they are for Monday morning at 8:30 but we found that we could use them to go on the busses today on a standby basis the same as we will after we use our guaranteed Monday trip. The busses have only 8 designated stops in the park while covering over 120 miles one way on the only road into the park. Our campground is their 3rd stop in. They do also stop whenever you encounter animals or someone wants to stop to take a scenery photo and that can vary a trip length by half an hour or more.

Denali is a designated wilderness area that is to leave nature and the animals undisturbed. Fortunately the road was in place before the designation so it is exempt and remains the primary way to view the park and the animals. The other way is to be a hiker and/or backpacker and be allowed to go anywhere on foot within one of the designated sections of the park or be a mountain climber on Mount McKinley. The Park Service only allows about 12 hikers in any area at a given time. Instructional videos and proper camping gear are required. There are almost no bridges in the park other than several for the road so many hikers must ford streams and rivers to get where they want to go.

We took a bus to Polychrome Mountain, a beautiful area aptly named for the multi colors of the rock on the mountain.

On the way out we saw Dahl sheep on the mountainsides, had a large black wolf walk right up the road by the bus (a very unusual sight we are told), saw caribou and one grizzly bear (also called brown bears). We decided to take a later bus back and took a short hike up over the top of the drop off area.


We got back to our campground about 8 PM and after dinner we took a walk down on the rocky braided riverbed. The very late daylight and setting sun on the mountains made it an even more beautiful night.

Monday – Rain and muddy windows
To go on our scheduled bus trip we both donned our full GorTex rain suits over fleece jackets as the rain was coming down and the wind had picked up too. The bus windows were literally coated with muddy water thrown up by the bus wheels and visibility was nearly impossible much of the trip. We took the bus to Fish Creek turnaround where if you are lucky you could see Mount McKinley but not in the weather we had today. Despite the weather we did see some animals, another wolf, several bears, sheep and caribou. We packed sandwiches and snacks and ate on the bus. We got back from the trip about 2:30.

About 6:30 a young Ranger stopped by to invite us to a presentation he would be giving at 7. He was announcing that it was being held at the bus shelter instead of the amphitheater benches since the rain was continuing. We went and he gave a very good presentation on raptors in the park. He presented it in the form of a mystery game with the poor lowly Artic Ground Squirrel as the victim and the Eagle, Owl and Falcon as the suspects. He had props and photos and did a great job of both educating and entertaining everyone. All in all it was a pretty good first day despite the weather.

Tuesday was sunny with puffy clouds and we decided to take a bus all the way to Wonder Lake, which is nearly all the way into the end of the road. There is one stop a couple of miles past but it is for a lodge for overnight stays. What a difference a day makes! We saw mountains and valleys and vistas we never saw the day before due to the muddy windows. We also saw the tremendous drop offs that we were riding next to and looking nearly straight down into the valleys with no guard rails!

We again lucked out and spotted not just one wolf but a family of wolves and Dick actually caught their howling on the video camera tape as the Alpha female was apparently talking/howling with or to her cubs. Really rare and neat stuff! We also saw a number of Grizzly bears, more caribou and sheep plus beautiful flowers and of course tremendous vistas of the mountains and rivers. Pat will make a later post of just photosof the beautiful wild flowers we have seen on our trip.

It took about 5 hours to reach Wonder Lake where we were hoping to see Mount McKinley. But the top was clouded and all we could see was the lower of two peaks through the clouds. If you enlarge this photo you can see the mountain in the clouds. We are told that no more than 30% of visitors to the park get to see the mountain due to weather. It is the highest peak in North America and is 20,230 feet or very nearly 4 miles high! It has the second largest distance to top from base of any mountain in the world and is always snow covered. It is so big it is said to create it’s own weather. At Wonder Lake we got off the bus and took a short hike in the surrounding forest and then lunched back at the bus stop while waiting for a subsequent bus to take back to camp. The return trip was another beautiful ride with plenty of animals and vistas along the way. See photo of bear with cub.
Having a good talkative bus driver makes for an even better trip and this one was very good. We got back to camp around 7:30 PM getting off the bus at a stop before the campsite and hiking the last mile and a half to camp. A fantastic day!

Wednesday Pat decided she didn’t want to spend another day riding a bus but she encouraged Dick to go for it and he did. Well as luck would have it in addition to seeing a wolf and other animals again, Mount McKinley was fully visible and nearly cloud free.


Dick was really sorry Pat wasn’t along. Got lots of photos but will only post a few here from this bus ride. The rangers did put on another camp program that evening on park controls and history.

Thursday morning, since we had not seen a moose in Denali, we decided to leave early and hope to see some moose in the area near the entrance as folks on the buses had told us that is where they had seen them before they got to our bus stop. Well the weather was perfect and as we rounded a bend on the way out suddenly Mount McKinley appeared in all its magnificence! Pat got to see it and we took many more photos from several locations. Here is the last view of Mount McKinley that we had from within the park.

There is a 1.8 mile walking loop up Savage Creek next to the ranger check-in point about 10 miles into the park. We decided to stop and take the hike and it took us about an hour as we kept stopping to take photos of the scenery and plants in the gulch.

We left the park and headed down the Glenn Highway, or Alaska Highway 1, headed toward Talkeetna and Anchorage. We planned to just make time down the road to get to the turnoff back to Talkeetna but suddenly we had new vistas of Mount McKinley from the East and from the South and they were magnificent so we stopped for more photo sessions. At one point Dick got onto the roof of the RV and took a 360 degree video of the mountains all around as well as Mount McKinley. Can’t wait to show that to folks back home.

Reached the turnoff to drive back to Talkeetna, a small town that is used for the base camp for many people who fly to Mount McKinley to land on glaciers and/or to climb the mountain. Found space at the only RV park in town and went down to town to treat ourselves to dinner out since we had all meals in the RV at Denali. Found a neat little spot called the West Rib Pub and Grill. Dick thought the place would have ribs but the West Rib was a reference to the West Rib of Mount McKinley that climbers use to go up the mountain! Dinner was still good and Dick tried some local beer that turned out to be very sweet but good. Talkeetna has lots of small shops but many were closing by the time we finished dinner and Dick wanted to try the bakery we saw at one place to find more rhubarb pie! He was in luck and got some blackberry rhubarb pie ala mode that was worth writing home about!

Fairbanks and the Artic Circle

7/9 through 7/15

We were off to Anchorage the morning of July 9th to a steady rain. We stopped for breakfast/brunch at a place recommended by the camp host called Rikas Roadhouse. It is actually a very well know small state park with a concessionaire running a very nice and reasonably priced restaurant with also nicely priced Alaska items. We bought ourselves some Alaska jackets and several gift items. Then we toured the Roadhouse and its environs. It is a beautifully reconstructed roadhouse stop used by pioneers. We went into the gift shop and Pat found a really beautiful Alaskan native basket, Happy Birthday my love! It is a hand-woven vase with lid made from smoked grass enhanced with a bone carved bear head, caribou and beaver fur and recycled glass and bone beads. Just after leaving the roadhouse we got to see the Alaska Pipeline for the first time. PHOTO 24a

On toward Fairbanks on Highway 2. A quick look at an Alaska roadmap reveals that there are only about 7 or 8 significant highways in the entire state and they only cover probably 5% of the state! We stopped by Eilson Air Force Base outside Fairbanks and hit the commissary store and PX to stock up on groceries and check on the RV park there. No room at the RV park but we got lots of food and again more gift items. Need more space to store the gifts!
Went on toward Fairbanks and stopped at Fort Wainright Army Base just at the edge of the city. We found a space there for the night and the next day got a more permanent site at the base for the next 6 nights. The rain started and came down hard much of the night.

Sunday the 10th we just did maintenance items around the RV and relocated it to the longer term site. We did take a ride out to North Pole, Alaska and to Sam’s club and Wal-Mart where Dick bought items to make up a high pressure air hose system to run off the RV’s air compressor system that operates the air suspension system on the RV. He wants it to use to blow the dirt and dust off the engine and inside the Toad (Saturn) and some of the RV as well. It will also serve to pump up a tire should the need arise.

Monday we took a riverboat cruise on the Discovery III. It was a great ride and well worth it. The folks who own and run it as a family business really know their customers and do everything right to ensure a good time and offer very reasonable prices for any extras in addition to having free coffee and donuts for everyone. Watched float plane take off and land next to the riverboat. Visited Susan Butcher’s and her famous sled dogs along the river bank. Susan won the Iditerod Dog Sled Race four times and her dogs are amazing. See PHOTOS 24b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j. Also saw a native Athabascan village where we disembarked and were given tours of four various parts of native life. a) clothing and fur making, b) sled dogs, c) family house demonstration, and d) reindeer raising and birch bark canoe making. Also at another spot along the river we watched an Athabascan woman filet a salmon and demonstrate a fish wheel that they use still to catch salmon running in the rivers. The salmon are starting to run now and will for the next month or so. Dick is anxious to try Salmon fishing! We then went to the Museum of The North at the University of Alaska campus. Another great place to visit and learn more about this wonderful land we call Alaska!
Tuesday we visited the Eldorado Gold Mine tour. This is run by the same folks that run the Discovery III and is run is the same very professional and pleasant way. We watched them do a professional sluice where they actually separate out gold from tons of dirt. We again panned for gold and in our bags of dirt, which are a sample of actual paydirt they are mining; we found flakes weighing up to a total of .20 grams. Some folks found more and a couple found small nuggets. They have one nugget that is in the top 25 nuggets ever found. Then we visited Pioneer Park, a collection of original log buildings from round Anchorage assembled in one are to preserve them and to use them to offer related handicrafts and pioneer period items.
Wednesday it was off to the Artic Circle on a Fly/Drive tour. We left Anchorage at 1 PM on an 8-passenger plane to fly to Coldfoot, AK, a tiny spot a few miles north of the Artic Circle along the Alaskan Pipeline. The flight was fun and the pilot tried to locate wildlife and showed us from the air the vast amount of forest that has been burned in recent years and we saw several pumping stations from the air. We saw two small fires still burning. Fires are allowed to burn unless they threaten dwellings or special places. Coldfoot consists of the airstrip, a gas station with a snack bar and some gas pumps and about a half dozen trailers made into a “motel” for drivers on the Alaska Pipeline Highway.
We then took an eleven-hour drive back down the dirt highway in a small bus. Everyone had a window seat and we followed the pipeline on the road that had been used by those who built the pipeline. When we got to the point where the Artic Circle was, we stopped and the driver, a nice young female college student, set out a carpet with a stripe on it and we each crossed over the Circle and took photos.

We ate dinner about 8 pm at a restaurant by the only bridge in Alaska that crosses the Yukon River. A few Grizzly Bears had broken into the restaurant during the previous winter and one was killed in there by natives who found him using the clothes and souvenir t-shirts for a den. The owner showed us a photo book of the place the bears had been using and of the bear that was killed there. We didn’t get back to Fairbanks until 1:30 in the morning but it was still light out since sunset had occurred at 12:04 that morning!
Thursday we got actual mail forwarded by DJ. The system of using General Delivery works well if you know where you will be. Dick washed and waxed the front of the RV once he got all the bugs off. Messed around trying to make a wi-fi connection and had to buy a new PC card as the base wi-fi uses the WAP system. Someday we will get all this computer stuff straightened out! Friday the 15th we just took it easy at the RV doing some cleaning etc. We met some very nice folks, Jim & Pam, in a site near ours. They had also just retired in May and were off on a trip similar to ours. They have two white poodles that travel with them. Stayed up quite late chatting with them in their RV. Perhaps we will see them again in our travels.