AT LAST

Sunday, June 06

June 6, 1944, D Day, the day the liberation of Europe began on the backs of U.S., British, Canadian and a few other soldiers.  Some of those soldiers died in the waters of the English Channel before ever setting foot on the shores of France.  The same France where thousands of these Allied troops would die and be buried to regain freedom for the French, just the same as some of their fathers and grandfathers had done years before in World War I.  This is the same France that today is no friend of these same peoples, who deride and despise them, who time and again fail to support them as they work to gain freedom for other peoples.  These are the same French who, but for the brave young men who died for their worthless souls, would be speaking German today.

It is time these same peoples let the French go their own way, drink their wine, whine and cry and lose their country to another people who are poised to take it from them.  As in the past the majority of them will lie down and surrender without so much as a whimper.  When people value their lives more than freedom then they have already lost their freedom.  It just hasn’t yet disappeared.  Americans should be aware of this truth.

And now for the story of the day:

Onie was up before the driver.  She had coffee and played games on her computer until he rose and had his shower.

He joined her at a quarter to eight.  Outside it was partly sunny and forty five.  Inside it was toasty as the heater had been running for almost an hour.

Steel cut oats, blueberries, walnuts and honey along with coffee and tea got us moving.

View from Grandview RV Park (East)

View from Grandview RV Park (West)

Grandview RV Park

Motoring at nine forty five the odometer sat at one hundred ten thousand twenty one miles.

Coming out of the park one of first things to greet the eye is Matanuska Glacier.  Then there is a long downhill grade.  This road is fairly new and in good shape but we feel we will soon be in construction.  Road crews have been working for years on this stretch of road.  Across the valley from the downhill grade we can see the road climbing out of valley.  At the bottom of the grade, in the valley, is Caribou Creek and then the long climb out.

Before heading down the grade too far we stopped at a pull out to get pictures of Matanuska glacier.

Matanuska Glacier

Five miles out of camp on a bluff overlooking the road was a cow moose and calf.  We saw them at the last instant and couldn’t stop so we have no picture.

Where construction existed in years past there is now a really very nice road.  By looking closely one can see where the old road snaked, twisted and turned around the mountains.  The road was narrow and boasted blind curves with little or no shoulder.  In its place there are now wide shoulders, passing lanes, gentle curves and an engineering marvel.  The road crews literally moved mountains to create this road and the driver and navigator never thought they would live to travel on the new road.  The job seemed so prodigious that it would take years, perhaps decades to complete and here it was done and we were rolling along as fine a road as one can imagine. 

Of course we eventually got back to a portion of the old road and it was one of narrow shoulders and a few sharp turns but very scenic with a good surface.  After traveling the new road the old road didn’t even seem like a minor inconvenience.  It was simply rural.  

We crossed the Chickaloon River which flows into the Matanuska River.  Both were full of glacier silt and the waters rolled and swirled like thin gray mud.

In the town of Chickaloon there is a nice display of old mining equipment including ore cars.

In addition to the people out fishing there are a lot folks out on four wheelers, one assumes they are after bear, black and grizzly as the spring season is in full swing.

At a bridge we encountered a small construction project with timed red lights.  We waited our turn and after a short wait proceeded.

We began coming into Palmer at eleven.  Both of us thought it would take much longer to be this far along but the roads were remarkably good and our hats are off to the crews who build and maintain them.

Palmer is among the bigger cities in Alaska.  It has nice suburbs with beautifully landscaped homes and well maintained businesses.  Diesel here is only three sixty eight a gallon.  We paid three ninety eight at the border.

Eleven ten found us on Alaska Highway 3, also known as the Parks Highway.  This stretch of the Parks Highway is the only true freeway in Alaska, that the driver is aware of.

Now it is just a hop skip and jump to Anchorage.  The right foot is off the fuel peddle.  We are in cruise, turning 1600 rpm, rolling along at fifty nine miles per hour.  The speed limit is sixty five.  Like any big city some drivers seem think the speed limit is just a suggestion and they seem to be going seventy five as they whiz by.

Here in the outskirts of Anchorage we are under high clouds with lots of sunshine finding its way through.  It is another beautiful day to be alive.

We crossed Eagle River and passed through the town named for it, Eagle River.

Now we know we are in and near big civilization as we just passed the Anchorage landfill.

Ft Richardson is now outside the navigator’s window.  This is where the family at Toad River was headed along with the new graduate from West Point.  The new grad will start his career here and his soon to be father in law will finish his and then retire here in Alaska.  He will join many who have gone before him, having served their country and then opted to retire to Alaska.

Our normal exit in Anchorage is Muldoon but there was a detour so we wandered around a bit before arriving at Fred Meyer at twelve thirty.

In the parking lot we had pizza for lunch and then it was off to shop.  We were back out at the coach at two and began fueling a few minutes later.  We got a discount of twenty and thirty cents per gallon off our diesel.  The difference is another story.

With no more stops planned we were traveling again at two thirty and were soon on Alaska 1.

Now it was around Cook Inlet and on to Turnagin Arm pass and then to the Sterling Highway.

The weekend warriors from Anchorage are returning home and traffic around Cook Inlet is very heavy with returning RVs, pickups pulling boats on trailers and trailers with four wheelers as well as every variation one can imagine.

It is three thirty and we are officially on the Kenai Peninsula as we have passed the sign that says “Welcome to the Kenai Peninsula”.

There is still a lot of snow in Turnagin Pass, in the fields and on the mountains.  There is at least as much as in ‘01 when we stopped and the grandkids played here.  Some years there is no snow left when we arrive but there is a lot this time.

Heading out of Turnagin Pass toward Seward

The miles seem to be passing faster now and we are on the Sterling Highway just two or three miles from Cooper Landing, the home of Princess Lodge, RV Park and restaurant. We have stayed at the RV Park but not the lodge.  We have eaten at the restaurant and the food is good, not gourmet, in my opinion, but very good.

As we cross the Kenai Bridge, Kenai Lake is to our left and the Kenai River is to our right.

Kenai Lake

The base of the bridge on the right is a favorite put in place for local guides for sight seeing float trips, trout or king trips.  The current beginning here, in the river is six to eight miles an hour.  The water flowing past here now should be in camp about the time we are parked there and could throw a rock in and hit this very water.

Closer to camp we passed a “high wildlife crossing area”.  The writer has been trying for years to figure out how the Parks and Wildlife folks know the animals are high and where the animals get the stuff to get high with.

We are on the home stretch now.  There is a long straight stretch of two lane highway and then we go a over slight rise, there is a gradual turn to the right and then we are in Sterling.

Two and a half hours from Anchorage we are in Sterling, very good time and a testament to the good condition of the roads.  Kudos to the road crews.

The roads were great except in Cooper Landing where the locals seem to have problems with the rest of the area, refusing road improvements and generally being hard to get along with.  Some day the state government may decide to improve the road and just bypass Cooper Landing.  If that ever happens Cooper Landing may come to regret its recalcitrant ways.

Our first stop at our summer home is not at our summer home at all, but at the local car wash, Noble Car Wash, where we stopped at five twenty.  We washed the toad and cover first and set it out to dry.  Then it was the coach’s turn.  We relieved it of a few pounds of bugs and dirt, washed out the jack pads real good and got under the wheel wells.

When we were finished the driver drove the coach to camp while the navigator followed in the Forester.

We finally arrived in camp at seven thirty with the sun still very high in the sky.  It was another good day in the neighborhood.

We looked for our resident moose on the way in but she was out to lunch.  Never mind we will see her soon and maybe a bear or two.  The ridge next to camp is called Grizzly Ridge, by the locals since grizzlies have traveled the ridge since time in memorial and because of that a few times a year a grizzly comes through our camp but bothers nothing.  It just makes the dogs bark.

With Onie’s help the Marlin was backed into our space and the electric hooked up.

Sidney, Barbara, Dennis and Chuck came over to welcome us then we went up to Kurt and Becky’s for supper.  They had invited us so Onie wouldn’t have to cook after a long day.  His mom, Darlene, was there along with her husband, Gene.  The food was good as well as the visit.

We were home at eleven when we sat at our table and talked, watching the river, until twelve when we retired.

FIRST DAY

Monday, June 7

This will be our first full day here at our summer home and it promises to be a busy one, as usual.

It was thirty five at five thirty but when we rose at half past nine the temp had already climbed to forty two.

The Keurig brewed Onie a cup of coffee and then a cup of Chai Tea while the tea water heated.

Steel cut oats cooked on the stove.

After breakfast and showers it was time to begin turning the coach into our summer palace.  That meant leveling perfectly as we don’t expect to move the coach for several weeks.  The wooden jack pads were placed underneath the metal pads and the process was begun.  Sometimes this exact process goes quickly and other times it takes a while longer.  This was an other time

Leveled so that doors swung only when moved by hand and water drained just right the slides were put out, after the electric land line was connected, and the navigator began cleaning preparatory to arranging the house.  Rugs were being washed along with clothes while she labored away inside the Marlin

Outside the driver was putting on wheel covers to protect the tires from UV rays.  The coax from the satellite was connected and Onie got the TV working.  The rug under the awning, which was not yet out, was put down.  The basement was unloaded and items stored in the shed after the plant containers were set out, waiting for new flowers.  That will come later.  The Subaru was unloaded and items placed in the shed or coach as dictated by need.  Our neighbor, Dennis, helped the driver remove the apartment refrigerator, from the Subaru, we had brought up, move it to the shed and get it running.

With clouds gathering overhead and a few warning sprinkles falling, it was decided it was time to put out the awning to keep the rug dry.  It was extended.  Then the driver moved tie down eyebolts that are in the timbers that mark the outer perimeter of the site.  When they had been properly placed the base of the legs of the awning were removed from the coach and placed on timbers.  Then the awning was secured with ties downs and bungees.  De-flappers were placed on the awning and then the unloading continued.  Chairs we placed under the awning along with a table.

Somewhere along the way Onie had gone to fold the clothes.  The driver stopped what he was doing and went to help but she was finished with the job so he simply carried the basketful back to the coach.  The clean clothes were put away.

Back outside the driver continued his chores while Onie worked on the inside.

Around seven the energy from breakfast gave out.  The driver went in.  Onie was already in the process of cooking supper during commercial breaks on Lifetime.

Another good salad with more tomatoes and avocado started us off.  We finished with pasta covered with the spaghetti sauce we made back at Toad River.  Onie had frozen it.

After supper the dishes were washed and Onie started another movie.  The writer settled down to play FreeCell and gain enough energy to write.  The energy didn’t come so he joined Onie in bed to watch movies.  We watched three with Natalie Wood when she was a child.  Onie succumbed to sleep about half past eleven.  The writer hung on until twelve thirty.

Outside it was almost dark and forty eight. 

REBEL

Tuesday, June 8

After a restful night’s sleep we got up at eight.

Inside it was toasty as we had let the big heater run all night, set on sixty five.  Outside it was forty two under bright sunshiny skies.

Onie had her coffee and the driver started his tea water.  They both read the paper then Onie started breakfast, sausage, an egg and toast.  We had the homemade preserves with the toast.  The Anchorage Daily News has two crosswords each day.  We each worked on one.

Then quick showers were taken and we dressed for the day.

Onie took the Subaru and went to Soldotna to shop and visit Curves.

The writer went back to work outside.  The outside step for the shed was retrieved from Dennis’s site where it had been stored and a new load of fresh water was taken on.  Readers from past years will remember that we do not have full hookups here, only electric.  We have to load our water tank with a hose and the holding tanks have to be emptied using the honey wagon.  That job will come in a couple of more days.

When Onie returned she had some chicken kabobs with her which meant the gas grill needed to be retrieved from its winter resting place under the Hager’s fifth wheel hitch.  Dennis helped with that chore.  An “S” hook was lost along the way and later Dennis, Onie and Sidney turned to helping the writer find it.

When the writer and Dennis returned with the gas grill Frank and Enga were at the coach, to visit.  We sat down and chatted until they had to leave.  Then we resumed our chores and rolled up the foam rubber padding used to protect the front of the toad, when we tow.  It had been washed and laid out to dry.  As we were finishing up Kurt and Becky came by.

They were on their way out to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.  Sitting outside we visited with them.

The Anniversary couple, 25 years for Becky and Kurt

They were dressed nicely and looked very happy.  We wished them many happy returns and told them we would take more pictures on their fiftieth.  They laughed, said their so longs and left for dinner.

It was getting chilly and we were getting hungry.  Onie went inside to start the salad and Pawpaw stayed out to light the newly retrieved grill.

With the grill hot the chicken kabobs were put on to cook along with a vegetable medley Onie had put together, wild Iowa asparagus, onions and squash.

While these were cooking Chelsie and Dixie drove into camp.  They are our neighbors across the drive this year since Frank and Enga moved up the hill to a cabin.  They came over and hugs and greeting were exchanged.  Seeing we were about to have supper they didn’t tarry but promised to come back for a longer visit, tomorrow.

With the vegetables steaming and the kabobs done we went inside to dine.

The sun was high in the sky and the thermometer was still in the fifties when we sat down to eat at eight.  The last of True Grit was playing out on the TV. 

After supper the writer made a few notes and wrote a bit while the navigator cleaned the kitchen then both retired to the bedroom to watch Rebel Without a Cause. It was just as the writer remembered it but it was so vague in the navigator’s memory she wasn’t sure she had ever seen it.  James Dean, long gone, due to a fast car and lack of respect for traffic laws, is ever young in the film and reminded us that hard as it seems to our children and grandchildren we too were once young.

Now, as we walk the road our parents trod before us and theirs before them, we wonder how and what our children and grandchildren will cope with and look like when they have completed as many birthdays as we have.

James Dean had finished his film debut when we turned out the lights.

THEY ESCAPED

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Onie was up early, at seven, to get ready to go to Curves, Safeway and Fred Meyer.

As she was leaving the writer rose and started his tea water.  Then he opened some mail, listened to some voice messages, played a game of Freecell, read the paper and then sat down to breakfast.  As he ate he worked on a crossword.

After breakfast he began writing.

Outside it was overcast and fifty.  Sidney was mowing the lawn, Barbara was fishing, Enga stopped by and dropped off a bar of Swedish soap and Chelsie and Dixie were busy in their coach.  Earlier Dennis had gone by, walking his dogs.  It was a normal day in camp.

Dixie and Chelsie went down to the grate, Chelsie to fish and Dixie to visit with Barbara.

The writer stopped to shower, dress and make the bed, then returned to writing, Asleep At The Wheel played on the CD player.

Writing continued until he stopped to open mail.

Onie returned and he helped her in along with her purchases.

Chores continued until company dropped by to visit and then they were put aside for the better part of the afternoon.

Chelsie and Kurt went to the grate.  Within five minutes they both had a fish.  The writer and navigator joined them.   A few minutes later the cold sent the navigator back to the house.  The writer stayed on and managed to hook four but they all escaped.

Supper was a little late and then we settled in to watch a movie before falling off to sleep.

ICE BREAKER

Thursday, June 10

Onie is getting in the habit of getting up early so she will have a little quiet time before going off to Curves.  This morning she got up a bit before seven, made her coffee and looked at emails.

Outside it was cloudy; we may get a few showers today, and cool, around forty five.

The writer woke and rolled in bed a bit before joining the navigator around eight fifteen.

By a quarter to nine Onie was out the door and on her way to exercise.  The writer retrieved the morning paper and became the reader.

Front page headlines proclaimed the shooting of an Anchorage PD officer during a traffic stop.  It seemed for years that Alaska was immune to the influences of the outside, the lower forty eight, but with an influx of folks from there and the south Pacific they have brought old grudges and scores to settle while bringing gangs with them.  This is the second officer in Anchorage to be shot while on duty this year and the earlier crime hasn’t yet been solved.  It was a drive by.

Reading the election results was another matter and brought grins and chuckles to the reader as he read about a convicted felon winning a primary against an incumbent.  It seems the people are for anyone other than the folks they have now.  One would hope that they don’t put all their trust in promises for change as that is what they have been experiencing the last eighteen months, hope and change.  Many folks are just hoping they have some change when the dust settles for they realize they already have much less freedom.  We need change in Washington, if we are to survive as a world leader, and we certainly need hope. 

We need a change from the drive to ruin us financially and we certainly need hope that our children and grandchildren will enjoy the same and more freedoms than we have.  It is time to begin repealing laws and doing away with government agencies.  When kids need a health card and license to open sidewalk lemonade stand it is time to call a halt to power hungry over-zealous politicians.  The writer believes the American citizen has enough sense to take care of himself, to decide whether or not he wants to eat saturated fats, to live in poverty or work for a living, to buy cigarettes and alcohol or health insurance and to take care of the needy in their community or let them fend for themselves, to name a few things.

Our founding fathers would not and could not recognize the America of today as what the constitution authorizes.  We need a return to personal responsibility and an absence of government in our everyday lives with burdensome taxes imposed by career politicians who exempt themselves from the very laws they enact.  That is just a few thoughts for the day.  If you really care about the writer’s opinion you should ask him.

The clouds of earlier in the day were delivering on their promise bringing showers now and then.  When the showers fell so did the temp.  When the sun came back out the temp rose.

Onie was home and cleaning house when Dixie came to visit.  She had a pot roast cooking but they were going to have to leave camp, she to go to Anchorage and Chelsie to go to Whittier to help a friend move a boat, so they wouldn’t be around to eat the roast.  She offered it to us.  We accepted and gave them some smoked brisket for sandwiches and nibbling on the road.

The windshield and side windows were cleaned and the screens put up as the sprinkles fell and the sun shone.

Sidney and Barbara were supposed to come play Skip-Bo but he was under the weather so they decided to pass.

Supper was the pot roast and salad.

Outside clouds still flirted with the horizon and the sun shone through a cooling atmosphere, fifty two at six thirty.

Onie retired to the bedroom to watch TV and the writer sat down at his laptop to finish this story and another day or two.

Later he went to the grate for a little fishing.  Kurt joined him and Becky went to the coach to visit with Onie.

There must have been a small school coming through as the writer hooked four and landed two.  Kurt hooked two and landed one.  Kurt caught fish the other day but this was the ice breaker for the writer and he was happy to have some fresh filets for the fridge.

Fish cleaned and bagged the guys joined the ladies in the coach.  Both couples had a good time as it was good to be back with warm friends sharing good times and good fishing.  Outside another shower blessed us with more rain.

When Kurt and Becky finally had to say goodnight, Onie returned to the bedroom and a movie.

The writer sat down to finish this story before joining the navigator, in bed.

LIKE A BANSHEE

Friday, June 11

The navigator got up early, again.  It was coffee and an egg sandwich while she checked her email and then got ready to go exercise. 

It was still cool outside, forty two, the low had been thirty six, but inside it was a toasty sixty five thanks to the heater.

The writer got up around nine, fixed his tea, had some cold cereal and checked his email.  There was a request to analyze an insurance document which he did before taking his shower and making the bed.  Then there was more email to read and answer before he played a couple of games and then settled down to write. 

Asleep at the Wheel played on the CD.

Writing continued until Onie returned from exercising.  It was interrupted long enough to visit with her as she dressed for a big day of going from yard sale to yard sale, looking for bargains. 

Darlene and Gene road along in the Subaru as the threesome set out for their adventure.  Sometime in the early afternoon they would take a break and go to Veronica’s for a quiche lunch.

The driver stayed at the keyboard until Kurt showed up and convinced him that fish were swimming up river.

Together they went to the grate to whip the water and harass the fish.  Later they returned.  The writer had two and Kurt had one.  So far they were even for the season.  They discussed where they might find some left over stringers that might still be hanging in the water from last year.  It had been rumored, last year, that some fishermen might have stringers at several different places along the grate so as to facilitate quick stringing when the fish were really running.  We concluded this must be an urban legend as no such stringers were found.

The two fishermen, now about to become furniture movers, went up the hill to the house.  They hadn’t been there long when they were relieved of their duties.  Onie, Darlene and Gene had found a dining room suite that might be just the thing for the house.  They called Becky and the three of us set off to find the other threesome at a yard sale in Kenai.  Upon our arrival Becky looked at the set and declared it nice but unsuitable.  It was oak and she wanted something else.  The threesomes got in their respective vehicles.  The folks who had been shopping the yard sales headed for the camp and house.  The inspectors were hungry and headed for a local Chinese restaurant, for supper.  It turned out that the shoppers hadn’t eaten until around three and weren’t hungry.  It was just five thirty.

Later back at the house Sidney came over to invite us to a hamburger cookout.  Don and Julie Hickle were in camp for the weekend as was Sandy, Dennis’ wife.  We went over and had some blue cheese on Vidalia Onions before the writer went to fish a little.

He was alone on the grate but he soon had company, a fish on the end of his line.  Screaming like a banshee, for someone to come net for him, he attracted the attention of folks at Sidney’s.  A couple came running, thinking he had fallen in the river, but when they saw him standing fighting a fish one of them grabbed the net and landed the fish.  That was to be the only fish he caught that night but it would feed them later.

A lonely red

Soon after, in the coach, we got ready for bed.  It was close to midnight.

PIZZA

Saturday, June 12

The sun was already up when we got up but then it had gotten up about four thirty.  We were a bit later in greeting the day.

Coffee and tea were made and sipped while the cook stirred up a batch of her world famous stone ground whole wheat flour biscuits.  When they went in the oven a link of sausage went in a pot to boil.  With breakfast cooking crosswords were worked on.  When breakfast was served the crossword solving continued.

Showers were the next order of business and then we set off for the laundry to do a couple of loads of clothes.

While the clothes washed both occupants of the coach took care of chores around and outside the house.

A few attempts, three hundred casts, were made at catching a fish but as luck would have it the fisherman was just that, a fisherman, and not a catcher.  At least he didn’t have to clean any fish.

In the early afternoon Kurt called and asked us if we would like to go into Soldotna for pizza at St. Elias Brewery.  We said yes.  Later they picked us up for the trip into town and the meal.

Back home by about nine thirty we got ready for bed.  By ten we were tucked in.

A sharp knock on the door at ten thirty woke us from a sound sleep.  Donning his robe the driver answered the door.  It was our friend Don.  He had a large campfire going at his place and several couples were there.  They were wondering where we were and he had come to invite us over.  It had been a busy day and a busy week.  We were tired so thanked him for the invite but passed.

By a quarter of eleven the writer was again in the arms of Morpheus.