Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Seward Wednesday June 21

We had 70 miles to go to Seward.  Hard day isn’t it?  We left about 8:30 AM.  Along the way…DSC_0001DSC_0002DSC_0003

Hey, we saw a moose…DSC_0011

Seward….DSC_0012DSC_0013DSC_0014

We are camped right on the water.  No hook ups $20 bucks a night.  The view is great.  Some drizzle, heavy overcast,  temps in the 50’s.DSC_0025

The Bald Eagle has the guts that Mark threw out from the one fish he and Ed caught today.DSC_0021DSC_0027

We are with Mark, Ed & Sandy, Jon & Sue and Bob & Tammi.  We are all parked next to each other on the waterfront except Bob & Tammi. They are one row back.

Sue & Carol went and reserved seats for a sight seeing boat tour for Thursday.  It’s a 6 hour Kenai Fjords Nat Pk Cruise ($159 each).  We never have done this cruise so this is new to us.  For some reason they kept my name off the reservation list!?

Retirement is having the ability saying, “You are wrong!”.

See ya when we see ya….

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

No Hope Tuesday June 20

I woke up about 6 AM to rain.  I leave the awning out so we can have a dry place outside.  No wind so it’s been OK here and elsewhere.  Outside was in the mid 40’s and inside 50’s.  I lite the portable LP and was up to 70 degrees in no time.  Our voltage is at 12.2V.  No leaks, all is good and there is Hope.

I got a call from Alaska Destinations and Adventures canceling my RESERVATION for a charter.  They said it was booked full for a week.  Long story…they over booked on purpose or their reservation system failed.  Either way… it’s cancelled.  Plus, because of my attitude with them they banned me from future charters.  They said it was because of my threating manners which they could not explain.  You have a company cancel your reservations and see how you like it.  Yes, I was mad but cool.  I think I stumped them as to why they cancelled my reservations.  I think I pissed them off earlier so they took the easy road and cancelled.  I was inquiring about all their surcharges and fees.  One thing is that they couldn’t answer my questions and became very defensive like I shouldn’t be questioning their other FEES.  They added $100 dollars to a $300 ticket.  Anyhow, no charter.  Now I have to wait to get a credit for my Visa charge.  BEWARE with this big company in the Tour Saver Book which we endorsed for many years.

It rained until after lunch.  Then Carol, Mark, Ed, Sandy and myself played a board game.  I forget what the name is.  It resembles the Sorry game.  I think we played 5 games of it.  It was a blast for sure. 

Sue and Jon came over for a while.  We’re trying to find out what all of our plans are.  We settled for all of us going to Seward tomorrow (Wed).  Ed is going on a fishing charter Thursday.  He booked his reservation hours after me – not cancelled.  He didn’t ask them any questions is why his wasn’t cancelled.  Oh well…..

I think we ended the group around 9:30 PM or so.  We were outside a few hours for sure.

Retirement is having the ability to ask, “why.”

See ya when we see ya…..

Monday, June 19, 2017

Hope Again Monday June 19

Well, we drove (us and Mark) the 40 miles to Hope again. DSC_0011 This time it was empty compared to no vacancy  before.  The Seaview Bar/Restaurant/RV Park had one RV.  Their bar and restaurant don’t open till Wednesday.  Oh well, we will miss that adventure.  Maybe another time. So we drove over to Porcupine USFS, no HU, $18 night.  Along the way we met a Porcupine that was crossing the road.  He was greeting us.DSC_0005

Just a few miles before we were greeted by a moose.DSC_0001DSC_0002DSC_0010

Back to to USFS park.  We had old fart passes so it was only $9.DSC_0013DSC_0014DSC_0016

Jon & Sue Glick are here.  Sue Valentine, Jan/Bill Mains and Harry/Carlena Schoolcraft left after one night.  They only spent the one night in the area.  Loosey Goosey.

Us along with Mark, Jon/Sue Glick, Ed/Sandy Kruty had a party all day long.  We got tired out after dinner and only partied a little bit longer.  It was great seeing Ed & Sandy for the first time.

I booked a fishing charter for Seward for the 22nd.  So it looks like we will move down there the day before.

It started to rain off and on here in Hope during the day, not too bad.  Later it started to rain the wet rain and continued through the night.  I’m glad were on asphalt.

Retirement is having Hope and being there too.

See ya when we see ya……

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Williwaw USFS Sunday June 18

So we (Carol, Mark, me) went on a morning hike…. from our campsite.DSC_0001DSC_0002DSC_0004

Bottom of a small glacierDSC_0005DSC_0010DSC_0013

We went thru here somehow.  A lot of moose poo..DSC_0014DSC_0015DSC_0016DSC_0019DSC_0022DSC_0020DSC_0023DSC_0025

And the end of the little hike.DSC_0027

We all set out most of the day and evening.  We even built a fire and used wood not LP.  Skeeters were out but under control.

We tried to get a fishing charter for Seward but we needed an internet.  I guess that will be on the To Do List for tomorrow.

We figure we will go back to Hope and meet Jon & Sue Glick who are already there.  They saw Jan/Bill and Harry/Carlena leave.  We thought they would stick around but Loosey Goosey.  Ed & Sandy Kruty said they would meet us there before noon (Monday).

42 degrees outside this AM.  Inside 52 degrees.  Turn on the portable LP heater!  No wind.

Retirement is Loosey Goosey at times.

See when we see ya…..

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Hopeless Saturday June 17

We left Anchorage about 8:30 AM and went to Walmart.  The base didn’t open till 9 AM and we didn’t want to wait.  We stocked up some more.

We’re going down to the city of Hope about 100 miles south.DSC_0002DSC_0006DSC_0010DSC_0014DSC_0016DSC_0019DSC_0020DSC_0021DSC_0023DSC_0028

There is really Hope……….DSC_0029

We didn’t get any pictures of Hope.  The city when you look at it, it appears to already lost Hope about 2-3 decades ago. We were too busy trying to get a site to get pictures.  Seems like we forgot that it was Father’s Day weekend and the very rustic camp was full.  Even the nearby US Forest Svc (USFS) campground was full.  Bill and Jan were there as were the Harry and Carlena.  They were looking but already had reserved sites just down the road a we bit. 

Carol & I decided to go to Williwaw which is a USFS campground near Portage Glacier towards Whittier.  They had about a dozen sites left out of 60 some sites.  No problem.  We found ours and claimed it. 

This is a glacier right across from our site but is hidden by the overcast here.  We saw it without the overcast and it was really nice.  It even had blue ice showing then.DSC_0032

Well, we called Mark let him know about Hope.  He decided to come up from Seward and he too was Hopeless.  The park is now full by the time he got here.  We had a plan C.  He came to our site and backed into our long site.  .  We went up and talked to the Host who said as long as we weren’t on the grass or sticking out in the road she didn’t care.  We were here under the old fart pass and it was $9 bucks.  Adding Mark didn’t add any cost to the site.  It was no HU.DSC_0033

We found out later that Sue Valentine was at a rest area near Hope and was staying there.  She will check out Hope Sunday and see if the locals left hope for us and a site.  We will then move back to Hope Sunday and have Hope again.  It has a bar and a restaurant next to the so called camp sites.  That’s the kind of Hope we’re looking for at the moment.

We cooked some chicken on the grill and ate inside.  Then we all sat outside until about 10 PM.  The skeeters were out but the wind kept most of them away.  The big ones could navigate in the wind but we just ducked when they came zooming by.

Being here in a glacier valley it was kinda like opening the door to your freezer.  After a while we got use to wearing heavy coats and hats.  We just BSed until we ran out of stories.

Retirement is having Hope whenever possible.

See ya when we see ya hopefully.

Friday, June 16, 2017

Anchorage Friday June 16

We decided to stay another night.  Why? Because we got full hook up and TV with a chance for a bear or moose to visit us.  Well, that didn’t happen.  We spent a lot of time just setting outside enjoying the sun.  One night turned into 3 nights here.

I washed the RV with my brush, soap, etc.  here at our site.  I thought for awhile the rear of the camper had a slight tan color.  Nope, just built up dirt.  My hubcaps are even shinning now.  Carol did an extra cleaning on the windows both outside and inside.  The camper looks real good.

Later in the day we walked down to Harry and Margaret’s site.  There staying in the area to take care of some regular medical appointments Monday.  Plus Harry is gonna play golf Saturday with Briggs.  We solved most of the world problems.  It was fun as usual.

Peace and quiet all day long here on base except the jet fly overs ever so often.  We vegetated.

Tomorrow we head for Hope to meet some other Loosey Goosey members.  It’s about 100 miles from here.

Retirement should be slow enough to catch up.

See ya when we see ya……

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Anchorage Thursday June 15

We decided to stay another night here.DSC_0001DSC_0002

The cat loves being outside.DSC_0003

I rearranged our compartment.  The chairs and tables go into the empty space.  All the heavy stuff is on the driver side and center.  The camper is heavy on the right side.  DSC_0004

DSC_0005I found this growing in the weeds.  I had it burnt by lunch time and only ate half of it.

Charley and Margret showed up here at the campground too.  We all got together for a social hour.  It was great talking to them.  There gonna be here a few days.

Retirement is having the time to look at life a little differently.

See ya when we see ya….