Eagle River to Wasilla, AK

It was another day of plans made in jello. After uploading yesterday’s blog, I started reading on my new Kindle. Taking a short break from it, I turned it off and came back a few minutes later and it would not start again. There were no lights, but I left it on the charger all night, but from everything I could research, the battery was dead. So we decided to take it back to a Best Buy this morning to see what they could do for us since we wouldn’t be near one for close to two months otherwise. As they didn’t open until 10am, that delayed our start to Wasilla. We drove down to the Best Buy and waited until they opened and we were sent to the customer service counter. The clerk looked at our receipt and had me go back to the Kindle area, pick out a new one and bring it up for an exchange, and we were on our way. We were hoping to meet up with Cool Judy of Cool Rvers, but she was unable to meet us. Fortunately with the RVing lifestyle, we’ll meet her and her husband Luke some other place down the road. We drove back to Ian and Jennifer’s and got the RV ready for travel and were on the road soon after that. We crossed the Knik River bridge as seen in this next photo.

As we drove to Wasilla, the engine dropped in voltage again. Drat!!! We thought we had taken care of that problem when we had it in to Cummins last Friday and paid close to $1200 for a new alternator. Ken made a few phone calls, and it looks like we’ll have a change of plans for our future travels. We’ve decided to continue on to Talkeetna on Thursday, then on to Denali National Park next Monday for four nights. From there, we’ll return to Anchorage to make sure the engine problems are resolved as we certainly don’t want any problems as we head back to the lower 48.

After getting settled in at our new site at the Palmer Elks in Wasilla, we drove the Knik-Goose Bay Road as well as the Point MacKenzie Road. This next photo is of Sleeping Lady, the mountain in the background.

We got out to a point where there was a view of airplanes taking off from the airport in Anchorage.

We even got a glimpse of Anchorage across the Knik Arm.

This is looking back at Eagle River where we left earlier in the day.

Our plan for tomorrow is a sightseeing trip to Hatcher Pass. We hope to have some great photos to upload for that trip so stay tuned.

A Hedgehog, Earthquake, Iditarod, and Bears

A couple of days ago, Jennifer decided to take her nephew’s hedgehog for use in her classroom at school this year.  Today she brought him home where he will stay until school starts.  Cozmo was anxious to meet him close up and personal too, but that wasn’t going to happen much to his disappointment.

Jennifer and the girls went on a hike this afternoon with a friend and her children, so after lunch Ian joined us for a trip to Anchorage to go to the Earthquake Experience Theater.  We watched a 15 minute film and sat in chairs that shook a couple of times to simulate an earthquake.  There were several exhibits throughout the building with photos and statistics about the 1964 earthquake.  This next photo is showing photos from Seward and the boat shown is still sitting on the road going out to Lowell Point.

Next we walked over to the Bear and Raven Theater on E Street to watch a film about the Iditarod.  For $5 extra they also had a film about bears in Alaska so we also went to that.  The show included some the extra effects of a snow storm and the Northern Lights.  The girl at the ticket counter had no idea how to handle the free tickets that Jennifer had sent with us so she returned them so they could be used again.  I’m sure Summer and Corey will be able to enjoy the show at a later date.  The film about the bears centered on the bears in the McNeil River fishing for salmon.  It was made to be very entertaining for children, but we likeed it as well.  There were also several displays in the lobby area for photos as shown in the next two shots.

This is our last evening in Eagle River with Ian, Jennifer, Summer and Corey and we will really miss our time with them.  We’ve had a very special time this summer with both his and Kimber’s families, but it’s time for us to move on.  We have reservations in Denali National Park for 4 nights starting next Monday and we have plans to stop in Wasilla and Talkeetna prior to our stay there.

A Surprise Birthday Party

Last night I finished reading Alaska by James Michener which I wanted to do before getting too interested in the Kindle I bought last month.  Today I started reading Big Lake by Nick Russell who is a member of our Escapees RV Club.  As I recall, this is the first mystery fiction book he has written and I’ve already read 75% of the book and finding it to be very good.  It was only $.99 through Amazon’s Kindle book store making it a very good deal.  If you think you might be interested in reading it, do a search for it on the Amazon link on my page (upper right side of blog) and buy it.  If you like a good mystery, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

This evening, Ian and Jennifer prepared a dinner of flat iron steaks, shrimp, potatoes, salad, cucumbers and also surprised me with a birthday cake.  Summer made the birthday card shown in the photos and they all signed it.  What a nice surprise and thanks so much!

Front of card.

Inside of card.

I did also receive many birthday wishes from my Facebook friends and family…thanks!

Tomorrow is our last day in the Anchorage area as we will be driving to Wasilla on Tuesday for a couple of days there.

Mooses Tooth Dinner and Sightseeing Near Anchorage

This afternoon we went with Ian and family to the Mooses Tooth for pizza to celebrate their nephew’s birthday.  After getting full on pizza and cake, Ian drove us to the downtown area where he showed us the Alaska Railroad yard and facilities.  After that we drove to a turnoff near a fish hatchery on Ship Creek.  It is a fast flowing creek with clear water and is very scenic.

This next view is looking toward the hatchery area.

Corey and Summer threw a few rooks into the water.

We also took a drive up the Arctic Valley Road to the ski area.  It is all gravel road but offers an outstanding view of Anchorage and the Cook Inlet.

Jennifer took our photo, but using the cell phone for photos doesn’t let you see the view.  We should have brought our cameras!

Back at the house, we were inside visiting when a sudden heavy rainstorm started.  Cozmo loves to chase and attack water, and the rain pouring out of the gutter provided him with lots of wet fun.

Ian was able to get some time off work on Sunday and Monday, so we’ll primarily be having some continued visiting with family before we continue north.

Repairs to the RV and Errands

This morning we packed things up and drove into Anchorage for our 9:00am appointment at Cummins Northwest.  After our earlier visit there this week, they ordered a new alternator for the motorhome to resolve the problems we had been having with low voltage.  While the that work was being done, we drove to Walgreens to pick up the gel-kam that we ordered a couple of days ago and the prescription Ken needed refilled.  After another stop at Costco to pick up a few more items, we returned to Cummins and the work was already completed.  That was so much better service than we’ve received at other repair facilities.

We returned to Eagle River to fuel up at the Fred Meyer store.  They offer a $.10 per gallon discount if you’ve purchased over $100 in groceries during the month so that definitely helps with the fuel bill.  After that, we drove to the Eagle River State Recreation Area to dump the holding tanks, and then returned to Jennifer and Ian’s place for a few more days.  Summer and Corey had decided to spend the night with some friends, so we took Jennifer and Ian out to dinner at Jalapeno’s and we had a very good Mexican dinner there.

Bore(ing) Tide Day at Turnagain Arm

Ken picked up some information at one of the visitor’s centers we had visited about upcoming bore tides in Turnagain Arm.  From this website about bore tides, it indicates that “The bore tide is a rush of seawater that returns to a shallow and narrowing inlet from a broad bay. Bore tides come in after extreme minus low tides created by the full or new moon.”  If you want to click on the link, it has much more interesting information.  We decided to make an afternoon of it and take Summer and Corey along with us to see the bore tides.  We were expecting possibly 3 foot waves with the incoming tide, but were disappointed that there were only small waves as shown in the next few photos.  Some of the waves were made more distinctive with kind of a whitecap effect that made them easier to follow as they came in.  We made three stops along Turnagain Arm:  first at Beluga Point, then a pullout near Indian Point, and finally a stop at Bird Point.

Ken, Summer and Corey at our stop near Indian Point.

Bird Point has a very nice walkway and overlook where we watched for the bore tide, which ended up kind of boring since we didn’t get the wave action we expected.  We did turn around toward the parking area and got a view on the hillside of a Dall sheep (the small white spot to the right of the strip of snow).

And there were also two black bear on the hill.  So the day wasn’t an entire bust!

Summer fell asleep in the back seat on the way back to town.

It was a great day even though the bore tide didn’t produce spectacular waves.  Tomorrow we take the motorhome into the Cummins repair facility in Anchorage to get the new alternator installed.

Resolving the Prescription and Hot Water Heater Problems

Today was not a typical tourist day as we continued to work on resolving the prescription and hot water heater problems that started yesterday.  The part that we picked up yesterday to repair the propane portion of our hot water heater was the wrong part.  As a result of that, we drove back to Anchorage and fortunately the service center had the correct gas control valve so were able to switch them and be on our way.  We then decided to try going to Walgreens to see if their pharmacy would have the gel-kam.  They didn’t have it stock but assured us that they could have it there by Friday.  Since that turned out to be a positive result, I asked the pharmacist if they would be able to help us get Ken’s prescription filled using one of his other doctors.  She said they could do that too, so hopefully that will take care of the prescription refill.  With that accomplished we got back in the truck, and as we were about ready to drive out, when we saw this accident and called it in.  The car on the right received a lot of damage when it rear-ended the car with the open door.  Once emergency personnel were on the scene, we continued on our way. 

We stopped for lunch at Peggy’s Restaurant, across from the airport on the Glenn Highway.  It’s in an older building and locals coming out told us it’s been around for years and that they put out a good meal.  We enjoy trying out the local restaurants when we do go out as opposed to going to the chains.  This one was nothing to write home about, but it was okay.

We also did a little bit of shopping at Barnes & Noble, and Walmart then went back to the motorhome for the rest of the day.  Jennifer fixed dinner for us tonight and that meal was one we really enjoyed.  Jennifer’s mother Sharon joined us for dinner along with Summer and Corey.

Tomorrow we’ll actually be doing some tourist things again.  That will be a nice change of pace!