Day 38 - Seward, AK to Homer, AK

Spence and Madi Schaaf #2 - Tailgunners                                                    Friday, July 16, 2010


One more travel day today. It started out cool this morning and I think a lot of us were tired. Many left later than usual today. After the last rig left, we were just biding our time until it was our moment to leave. Gazing out the window I realized there was a Bald Eagle perched in a tree right in the campground. Spence said he saw a youngster nearby; probably under the watchful eye of this larger bird, either momma or papa eagle. Great way to start out the morning.

However, as we readied our RV for the trip ahead, we discovered that our main slide motor was broken and our big slide would not come in! Can’t travel that way! Well, with a lot of shoving and pushing and gnashing of teeth, Spence was able to get the slide to close. A lot of noise, grinding and groaning, screeching and scraping, and it was finally in. It seems a screw broke off, causing some teeth on the gears inside the motor to break as well.

We finally got out of the campground in Seward about an hour later than scheduled. Spence had said yesterday that he wouldn’t mind spending the summer in Seward. He almost got his wish!

It was not the bright, sunny day we experienced yesterday. However, it was pleasant and the surrounds were beautiful.

We stopped in Soldotna at the very large Fred Meyers store to see if anyone was still there. We saw Karen, Nelson and Marlene, Jeff and Noreene and Bob and Peri. We are only guessing that many, many more of our group had already stopped there. It was very crowded and nerve-racking trying to negotiate in that parking lot, which also contains an RV dump site, adding to the congestion. We were glad to pull out of there!

We passed by the village of Ninilchik where the Russian Orthodox Church, ca 1900 sits atop the hillside and is visible from the road. We would have had to unhook our tow in order to go down there so we will save that for tomorrow. Additionally, along this route is Anchor Point, where you can drive to the most westerly drivable point in North America. That is another trip we will save for tomorrow.

As we approached Homer, the panorama was spectacular. We arrived at the Oceanview RV Park and took our space among the ocean vista sights. Because it is on a downhill slope, affording magnificent views of the ocean and surrounding glacial mountains, it is difficult to get level quickly. It took us quite a while to do so, but finally we called it good enough and settled in. Oh, wait……we had to hand crank our slide out with two wrenches. I can’t wait till 4 days from now when we will have to hand crank it back in!

 

Social hour was lightly attended, as most folks had taken off for the Homer Spit area to see what there is to see, check out the Salty Dog Saloon, or have dinner.

Or all of the above.