May 31, Wasilla

May 31  Hard to believe that it was a week ago today that we arrived in Wasilla.  The time has gone so quickly.  We FINALLY got our Internet and cable tv hooked up this morning.  Cable is handled differently here than the way Cox did it back home.  Everything here is Cat 5 cable.  We still get HDTV through it and have what appears to be very good through-put on the Internet.  I am running software updates and we have around 275 Kilobit download speeds to my MacBook, and Peggy is using her iPad online at the same time, so I'm satisfied.  And, thank you to the local anonymous owner of the open NetGear wifi that I've been able to "borrow" from time to time this past week.

Helped a client of the Matanuska Air Service get set up to wash his plane.  There has been quite a rush of pilots here to get there planes converted from wheels to floats now that the ice has gone out on most of the lakes in this area.  Grant has been busy doing the conversions, and he is now working to get his own Super Cub converted so that he and Debby can fly out to their cabin this Sunday and Monday now that their lake is open.  That's when we start earning our keep!

I contacted our daughter, Becky, back in Omaha to have her send us our macerator pump.  The "poop" pumper (macerator) will allow us to keep our trailer in its current location and be able to pump our holding tanks into the property's septic system which is now about 30 feet away from the trailer.  Without it we would have to relocate the trailer next to the septic drain which would not allow us to look out our picture window at the mountains and Lake Anderson.

Peggy and I took Grant and Debby out to lunch this noon as my thank you to Grant for having taken me flying last weekend to look for bears and see the glaciers up close.  A local restaurant has a Friday special on halibut that tasted the best we've had so far.  We also went to Sportsman's Warehouse to look around as they have displays of animals similar to Cabela's back home.  Supposedly, Cabela's is coming to Alaska sometime in the near future.

We are very excited because on Tuesday, June 4, we have reservations for the Teklanika campground in Denali National Park!  We will stay 4 days returning to Wasilla on that Saturday.  We are totally pumped for our first adventure into this park.  The campground is the furthest in the park that allows RV's.  The weather is calling for some rain and sun, so I figure we have a slim chance of seeing Mt. McKinley's summit.  However, we could be returning to the park again this summer if we miss out on seeing the entire mountain this trip.  Thankfully one of us (who shall remain nameless) has qualified for the NP's Senior Pass which provides free park entry and 1/2 off our camping.  Sometimes it pays to get old!  :o)

We will document our Denali experiences and then post them to the blog when we return to Wasilla as will be without Internet while there.

May 28-30, Wasilla and Anchorage

May 28  Nothing really exciting today.  We did some running around to the cable/internet company to arrange for our cable tv and Internet hookup.  We were a bit bummed to find out that they have to do the installation.  I thought they’d give me the option of DIY, but they maybe have found it easiest to have their own installers do the job to alleviate calls for tech support from the DIY clients.  Peggy and I also went to get prescriptions filled, etc.  

It has been unseasonably hot here.  Temps have been into the upper 70’s and lower 80’s.  People are complaining about the heat as these are the temps they usually have in July.  And with the low humidity, the whole area here in the MatSu Valley is at a Red Flag warning as the fire danger is very high.

Grant and Debby had Peggy and I over for drinks after they had walked us through the operation of their fire and burglar alarms.  Nothing too complicated, but something we’d need to know for “just in case”.

May 29  Peggy and I drove to Anchorage to play the roles of tourists.  We stopped at the downtown Visitors Center and got really good help from a lady who moved to Alaska from Casper, WY.  We had purchased the TourSaver book of coupons which I’d recommend to anyone coming to Alaska.  It has many 2 for 1 coupons to a variety of activities.  We had 3 “stop in our store, sucka” coupons where you get a free gift.  Actually, I think any cheap merchandise that isn't selling goes into a grab box.  Refrigerator magnets are big give-aways.

From downtown we drove to the Sourdough Mining Co. restaurant as hear it was really good food- and it was!  it was recommended to get their corn fritters, and with the honey butter they are gooooood!  

From the Sourdough we then drove to the Alaska Native Heritage Center which is working with high schools and universities to preserve the culture of native Alaskans.  It was a TourSaver coupon so was worth more than the price of admission to us.  We got to see young adults giving presentations on native games, dances, music, and native homes.  All of them did a great job, especially Kyle, who was our tour guide on native housing.

Alaska has 11 distinct cultures that are made up of 21 different languages.  It is a goal of the center to maintain the integrity of this diversity by combining all cultures into 5 groups which share similar cultures or geographic proximities.  

We drove back to Wasilla in rush hour traffic which is typical of any large metro area- bumper to bumper and almost stop and go until we got about 10 miles north of the Anchorage city limits.

Today's Posted Photos on Picassa
Today's Video Uploaded to YouTube

May 30  Today was a relaxing day.  Slept in a while, cleaned the camper, and went to the Post Office and grocery shopping.  We also started planning our next adventure and we are tentatively looking at going up towards Talkeetna or even to Denali NP.  We will be able to find out more tomorrow after our Internet is finally connected.  

Not much more to report today other than Grant, maybe feeling I needed something to do, had me help convert an airplane from being wheeled for land-based use to being water-based by removing the landing gear and replacing them with floats.  

Peggy and I have been walking every evening around the neighborhood.  I think the local dogs must be getting used to us as they bark less each time we go by.

Tomorrow we get Internet and Cable TV!  Then I won't have to depend on the local "free" wifi which is available intermittently.  

May 27, Wasilla

May 27  Happy Memorial Day!  Hope this day allows you to honor the brave men and women who have served this country so ably, and especially to remember those who gave their lives for our freedom.

Peggy and I had another leisurely start to the day.  We got up, and Peggy made muffins for breakfast.  We discussed what we might want to do today, and we decided to drive up Hatcher Pass in the mountains a very short distance north of Wasilla.

I went out to talk to Jim who is a retired employee of the air service we are staying at.  It's a beautiful day- clear blue skies with temps near 70º and a light breeze.  He was resurfacing the floats for his seaplane so I "supervised" his work while we talked.

Grant and Debby drove up in their Jeep and they are driving up to Hatcher Pass, also.  I told them we'd maybe see them on top.  Peggy and I left for the pass and sure enough, we were at an overlook when the Chapmans drove up so we visited with them for quite a while.  They were leaving the pass area and Peggy and I were still on our way up.  They left heading back to Wasilla and we continued our drive up.

The pass gave us a nice look down into the MatSu (Matanuska and Susitna Rivers) Valley.  There was still a lot of snow on the mountains but with the temps we've had since our arrival it is quickly melting.  The creeks, streams, and rivers are running full and some areas are having minor flooding due to ice dams forming.  We took pictures  of the scenes and also of a rodent smaller than a marmot called a whistle pig by the locals.  I don't know what the actual name of it is.

When we got back we were watching a float plane being transferred from land onto the lake.  Debby yelled and wanted to know if we wanted to join them for lunch.  For being spur of the moment, she put on a very nice meal: shrimp, pasta salad, and kabobs, and then angel food cake with huge strawberries and whip cream.  I think if I had asked, Debby would have pulled a rabbit out of a hat, too!  They are very gracious people, and we still can't believe our good fortune to be here!

I called my dad in Brookings, SD, and he is doing well.  Said it was cool, cloudy, and windy there.  Last night my iPhone weather alerts kept beeping with all the thunderstorms and possible tornadoes around Omaha.  The World Herald website said that many areas in the Omaha area were without power as a result.

Peggy called the girls as she hadn't visited with them recently.  Nice to get caught up with all they they have going on in their busy lives.  

And then there was a knock on our camper’s door.  Peggy answered it, and it was Debby wanting to know if we were doing anything.  She and Grant wanted to take us on a boat ride around Anderson Lake on their “Tug Boat”.  Grant is really a good fabricator.  He took two plane floats and fashioned them under an airplane trailer used to put float planes into the water.  He then built a wheel house on this making it look like a tug boat.  It was sure fun to tour the lake in such luxury!  There will be a picture of the “tug” on Picassa

Tomorrow we hope to get our cable tv and Internet connected, or at least get the wheels started turning on that process.  I'm still working off of the "borrowed" wifi.  Wish I knew who it was so I could at least thank them and suggest they initiate more security for it so moochers like me can't have access.

Today's Photos Posted Picassa Photos

My "free" wifi has been off the past couple of days so this and any subsequent posts will be late.  But I can't complain 'cause it's free, and I get what I pay for!  :o)

May 26, Wasilla

May 26  I want to start by saying that if you have been following any part of this blog you fast realize I am not writer.  I reread my Day 17 post and was embarrassed at the number of errors and typos!  I was in a hurry to post it as this pirated wifi I am on comes and goes, and I want to post before it "went".  Hopefully I have cleaned up and edited that post so that it makes some sense.

Because Alaska is 3 hours behind Omaha, I started watching the Indy 500 race coverage as soon as I got up this morning.  Congrats to Tony Kannan for winning.

The next two days will be at a leisurely pace for Peggy and me.  We have no real agenda or itinerary other than to do some shopping and gain more familiarity with the Anderson Lake/Wasilla areas.  Anderson Lake is where the Matanuska Air Service is located.  Anderson Lake is like a subdivision of Wasilla.

Planes continue to come and go both on Anderson Lake in front of us and the Anderson Lake Airport across the street from us.  I'm sure this activity will slow down after the Memorial Day weekend.  When we leave in our pickup, we need to stop and look to make sure no airplanes are either landing or taking off from the airport, nor taxing down the street to get to the airport.  They always have the right of way!

We will not have our own Internet until Tuesday at the earliest, so I am reliant on the open NetGear wifi.  It has a weak enough signal that I can not always find in from my MacBook.  Neither my iPhone or Peggy's iPad can see it anytime as a result.

I again want to thank Dennis McIntyre for being the trip's Chief Cartographer.  He has updated his previous map to show our reaching our home base destination in Alaska.  Dennis' Updated Map

So, that's about it for the time being.

May 25, Wasilla

May 25  Slept really well last night.  Temps get down to about 40º so it’s good sleeping weather.  I was awakened about 6:30 by (you guessed it) an airplane reving its engine for takeoff.  This is one of the best alarm clocks I could imagine.  I’m sure I’ll tire of it if it happens everyday at that time.

I turned on the coffee maker and was checking email on my iPhone.  Peggy had gotten up and fixed the rest of our leftover cinnamon rolls.  I had just finished eating when there was a light knock on our door.

It was Grant, the owner of the air service we are working for.  “Hey, Tom, whatcha doing?” as I stood there in my pajamas.  “Want to go look for bears?”  "Heck, ya’ I do!"  I quickly get dressed.  That's the fastest I've put cloths on this body in a long time, and also brushed my teeth.

I grab the camera, take a quick swallow of coffee and bound out the door about the time Grant taxies by in his yellow Piper Super Cub airplane!  He fuels it up, has me squeeze into the back seat of this two person plane, and off we go.

I don’t know where I picked up my good luck (my life has been full of it- marriage, birth of 2 kids, having 3 grandkids, etc.) but here I go again for an incredible experience!  We climb to about 1000 ft and fly southeast of the Wasilla/Palmer area.

We follow a broad, braided stream bed with little ribbons of water flowing.  Off to the right I can see the Cook Inlet which is part of the Pacific Ocean.  To the left are mountains and towns in the wide MatSu Valley.  It’s what up ahead that has me google-eyed.  

In the valleys of the mountains ahead of us are glaciers!!  OMG, they are huge looking.  Fortunately I took my camera with me.  Unfortunately, I had not recharged the battery, and I only have 1/4 charge.  Uh-oh!

As we enter the mountain pass, Grant, who incidently worked as an investigator for the FAA and has several pilot certifications, banks towards the left to get us close to the mountainside.  Oh, ya’, we're looking for bears.

We almost immediately spot about 8 Dall Sheep and Mountain Goats.  Grant says he’s never seen them so close together.  A short while later I, (yes, the rookie bear spotter) see a sow bear with her cub.  She hears the plane and both of them bolt for the trees.  We also see a couple of moose but no other bears.

Grants flies several different interconnected mountain valleys all with glaciers in them of varying sizes.  I’m giddy taking pictures of these incredible rivers of ice.  After about an hour Grant says in the headset that nature is calling him.  Nature’s calling?  Look out your window- there’s Nature!

He flies to an area where there are natural (geez...everything’s natural up here) deltas and gravel bars left by the glacial runoff.  Off to the right at the base of a mountain I see a small runway with a couple of planes there.

However, Grant cuts the engine’s power, puts down the flaps, and banks to the left.  Uh, Grant, the runways over there I’m thinking to myself.  I’m sitting in the back seat so I strain to look over Grant’s shoulder.  Grant, there ain’t NO runway there!  All I see is gravel covered with scrub brush.  We go lower, and slower.

The grounds moves up to meet us, and we make a remarkably smooth landing on this gravel alluvial fan left by the retreating glacier.  Wow!

We climb out, and I go to one side of the plane to take photos of the glacier while Grant goes to the other side to answer the call of nature.  He then comes back around the plane and asks if I want to do a small hike to see more of the glacier.  Yes!  Grant takes the .22 caliber rifle which is carried on a wing strut and loads it.  He said you never take for granted that there isn’t wildlife around that want to do harm to you.  And off we walk.

We hike about 1/2 mile up a small hill which give us a better view of the valley and you can see the expanse of the glacier.  I take photos of it and also of Grant’s plane and the “runway” he used.  I’m speechless to think that we landed there!  Grant says he is a fairly typical Alaskan pilot- capable of landing most anywhere.  He tells me stories of flying into Eskimo camps where a plane has damage or might have been repaired.  His job with the FAA was to determine whether or not planes were air worthy.  Some of those camps were not only remote, but the runway was nothing more than a sandbar along a river.

We hike back, take off, and this time he flies low along the foot of the glacier where large blocks of ice are in various stages of breaking off (calving) from the ice sheet.  The sights are remarkable.  I don’t have enough adjectives to describe what I’m seeing and what I’m feeling!  I’m again lucky that the camera battery doesn’t crap out on me, and I continue taking photos.  I’ll be sure to post these pixs to the picassa site as soon as we get cable Internet.  

(And, guess what...I've found another unprotected wireless hub which I'm conveniently "borrowing"!)

Back at our camper I’m babbling to Peggy about this fantastic experience, and then I realize this poor lady sat home while I had another experience of a lifetime.

So, feeling a tad guilty, I went out and wash as much muck and dirt off the camper and it’s windows as I could.  What a guilty feeling guy will do to ease the tension.  :o)

We found our way to the laundromat and grocery store after lunch.  That’s a start on finding our way around the area.  Because Wasilla is in foothills and around a few lakes, none, and I mean none, of the streets run straight.  And, there was no rhyme nor reason to naming the streets.  Few streets have a number and most have a name.  Makes for tough navigating.  No wonder “Karen” my GPS is sometimes confused.  Seems this area may have outgrown its infrastructure.

Grilled steaks for supper!  A walk around the neighborhood put the end to another fantastic day.

The Start of Today's Photos in Picassa

Day 16, Valdez to Wasilla, AK

May 24  We soon leave Valdez this a.m. for what has been our initial destination in Alaska, Wasilla.  Our two day stay in Valdez has been awe inspiring.  It's taken our emotions from being- what have we gotten ourselves into with all this snow to- look over there, its a bear; and look up, there are eagles!

The people here are like people everywhere- friendly.  Our next door neighbors in the campground had grilled fresh shrimp our first day here and shared with us.  They also help identify bears high up on the mountainside adjacent to the campground.  The man at Mark's Auto Repair squeezed in a lowly request to get a tire fixed even though his shop was overflowing with business.

So, it is on to Wasilla and the Matanuska Air Service to meet Grant and Debby for the first time.  We will then get into our rhythm for our summer part time job, property caretakers for them as described in our March post In the Beginning.

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We left Valdez around 8:00 taking the Richardson Hwy in a northerly direction to Glennallen, AK.  There we picked up the Glenn Hwy taking us in a southwesterly direction.

We again are able to see snowcapped mountain ranges.  As we near Palmer, AK, we can identify the Matanuska Glacier, something we were not able to do around Valdez because the snow cover there was still to deep making everything look white.  We also go by Gunsight Mt, so named for the square notch at its top, and by The Kings Mt., so named for it pyramid shape.

The Glenn Hwy is in generally good condition, but like all northern highways it has its frost heaves which are not as readily marked as they are in Canada.

We arrived in Wasilla around 3:00 when the GPS on my iPhone decides it needs to do a “rerouting”!  It worked fine when there was only 1 highway going to Wasilla!  So, my navigator convinces me the best thing to do is to call the Chapmans at Matanuska Air Service for directions.  Of course this asking for directions is contrary to my male instincts.  However, since all we have is an address and no street map of Wasilla, I agree to call.

Debby Chapman happily and accurately give us the various turns and roads and streets to take.  Peggy writes the info down.  After our call is complete I go back to the GPS app.  Sure enough “Karen” has rerouted accurately and is in agreement with Debby’s directions.  Way to go, Karen!!  Better late than never.

We pulled onto the Matanuska Air Services premises and Debby is there to lead us to where we will park our trailer.  We found that both Debby and Grant are as pleasant and fun in person as they were during our phone conversations with them from Omaha.

We parked our trailer in its spot and set up.  After we have supper, Peggy and I take a few photos of the grounds and find Grant and Debby sitting at the lake shore.  We shared some good stories and laughs.  

We watched airplanes land and take off both from the lake and the runway across the road from us.  This is going to be fun just from the standpoint that airplanes are so fascinating to watch.

We then went for a walk around the neighborhood.  It is amazing at the number of homes that have aircraft parked in their yards or driveways.  The streets provide taxiways for them to get to the airport.

That pretty much wraps up our drive from Omaha to Wasilla!  We still have much to do and see in Alaska.  There is the Kenai Peninsula, Denali NP, Fairbanks, day boat tours to Glaciers and whale watching, and charter fishing trips.  

Because the lake that their cabin up in the mountains is at is still ice covered, Grant and Debby will not be leaving this weekend so we are not on “formal duty” to watch the property.  This will give us time to explore and learn to find our way around the Wasilla area.

We can’t contact the cable tv/Internet company until Tuesday, but Wasilla has about 13 over the air channels.  This should be enough to get us through the weekend.  Years ago we never even brought a tv camping with us.  Evenings were spent around a campfire.  But now, Peggy and I are nothing but a couple of “camping dudes” (some would call us “camping snobs”).

The Start of Today's Photos in Picassa

Day 15, Valdez, AK

May 23  Alas, the trailer does have a flat tire, so got up this morning, ate breakfast, removed the flat and took it to an automotive repair shop.  They said I should come back mid-afternoon and pick it up as they are very busy.

Have been researching Valdez and it has quite the history.  It was a settlement of Native Americans, and then discovered by Russians, and EuroAmericans.  This is the northern-most ice free port in the United States.  This fact was important later in the pipeline development.

In 1964 the Good Friday monster earthquake's epicenter was 45 miles from here.  Not only was the quake devastating to the town, but the soils upon which the town sat were disturbed to a point it was deemed unsafe to occupy.  As a result the town was moved about 2 miles further up the bay to its present location.

Directly across the Port of Valdez (the bay) from the town is the Alyeska Marine Terminal.  This is where oil tankers are filled from the TransAlaska Pipeline after the oil has traveled 800 miles from the  Prudhoe Bay wells.  You do not see the pipeline from about 25 miles north of Valdez on down as it is buried beneath the highway.

The terminal is capable of holding 800 million barrels of oil in large tanks.  The tanks are surrounded by huge concrete walls capable of holding 110% of the filled tanks in the event of a leak.  The terminal then fills the oceangoing tankers to ship the contents to refineries in the lower US states.  I'm hoping a tanker ship comes in so I can get a picture of it.

More later!

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Have returned to the camper for lunch.  Drove out and around the Port of Valdez which took us as close as we could get to the Alyeska Marine Terminal.  The terminal has a security buffer zone surrounding it both on land and the bay.  I believe all boats need to remain a minimum of 1500 feet from the terminal.

We then drove up the highway towards Thompson Pass.  There were some waterfalls along the highway and an old, carved out by hand railroad tunnel.  I'll get pixs posted later.

For got to say that we have had several Chamber of Commerce days in a row with clear to partly cloud skies and NO wind!  The temps have been in the mid-50's with last night only down to about 40º.

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This afternoon we went and parked the pickup on the viewing dock at Valdez.  The weather is really nice (60º), and it was relaxing to just sit and watch the few fishing boats coming and going.  We then went to the Valdez Community College to the Jesse and Maxine Whitney Museum.  The Whitney's came to Alaska in 1947.  They became instrumental in collecting many artifacts and relics from the past history of Alaska.  Many of their collections are now in the museum.  There are many Eskimo and other Native American artifacts along with natural history items.  For the price of admission (free) it was an excellent place to grasp the early history of Alaska.

Then it was time to go retrieve our tire.  The tire had been punctured by a nail and so was the best scenario as a screw puncture or sidewall damage could have rendered the tire useless.  So, if you get a flat or need any mechanical work done on a vehicle here in Valdez, I'd recommend Mark's!  The tire is back on the camper, and we'll be ready for an early morning departure.

We may have to go to the next door hamburger stand for our dinner.  The smells coming off of the grill's exhaust are to tempting to pass up again!

And, I've tried something new with posting on our Google Picassa photos web site- I put up a couple of short videos.  This is a new feature to me on Picassa so thought I'd give it a try.  Let me know what you think.

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Alaska is truly magical!  Peggy and I are waiting for our supper order from the hamburger shack next to our campground when I look out the window.  I see birds flying around...wait...those are bald eagles!  I have my iPhone with me and try to capture them on video but they look like sparrows flying on it.

We take our burgers and fries back to the camper, and the eagles are still flying around- close to the ground and circling much like vultures.  Can't let my burger and fries get cold so I eat.  Out of the camper's windows I still see them flying.  I quickly finish eating, grab my camera, go out to the camper and switch from my peewee lens to my big boy lens (55-250mm zoom with image stabilization.  Same lens I tried to shoot the far away Dall Sheep with.)  Don't laugh, you with your big, looks like you're toting a cannon, lenses!

The eagles are now flying around across the street from our campground.  I point and shoot, point and shoot, point and shoot...click, click, click, click, click, snap, snap, snap.  I aim and shoot repeatedly until I realize I am holding my breath and now am gasping for air.  But holy crap, how often does a flatlander from Omaha, NE, get to see 20+ eagles circling around sometimes what seems like an arm's length away.

And then I see him.  A man is throwing out herring into a parking lot and the eagles are swooping in for the meal!  He says he spends $30 for a bag of herring on the docks and comes out and feeds them.  The eagles will come in to eat from him if they aren't catching enough fish on their own, and he says right now it's in between seasons for fish to move into the Valdez bay so the eagles are more hungry.  

What a spectacle!  I thank him for the show and hustle back to the camper to upload the images to my computer.  As I am doing so, I think of a former colleague of mine, Vince Moragues, whose hobby was photographing eagles.  He was even an award winner at local fairs back home.

Here is a tease of what I shot:

There are more eagles and today's photos in my Picassa site.

Here's today's photos

Waterfall Video Uploaded to YouTube
Eagles I Video Uploaded to YouTube
Eagles II Video Uploaded to YouTube
Eagles III Video Uploaded to YouTube