Still in Soldotna

Last night was our 3rd night in Soldotna, AK. We had to stay through today because we needed to replace the tires on the trailer. We have about 15,000 miles on them and on Saturday I noticed that one of them had something imbeded in the tread. All the tire places were closed until today and we decided to also get the bearings packed or greased or whatever is recommended.

Yesterday we went on a 3- mile hike in the Wildlife Refuge. Before we did that we watched a really good film on the wildlife of Denali. The day before we had seen another one of the guy who decided at age 52 that he wanted to build a cabin in the wilderness of Alaska and then spend a year there. This area was accessible only by airplane. He ended up staying over 30 years. The film was a documentation of his first year while building the cabin. He was a Master carpenter and it was very interesting to see how he made his own tools and build the log cabin. He also kept a journal and his experiences have been included in a book, the title of which I cannot recall.

Today we drove out to the Cook State park. Along the way we passed through a small community that had an amazing domed swimming pool/recreation center. I imagine this facility was funded by the oil and gas operations that are abundant in the area. The pool had a 132 water slide, along with many other outstanding features. They also had a small fitness center and we found that they allow overnight RV parking. Depending upon tomorrow's weather (rain is forecast) we may stay there one night and take advantage of the fitness facility and the showers. Then, we weill go to the state park for at least a couple of nights. The campsights are in a very lush setting and overlook the Cook inlet and offer beautiful views. We are really looking forward to a campfire so we can use some of that wood that we purchased from a roadside vendor the other day. For $10 we got a huge amount. This was on the honor system where they had various amounts of wood stacked with price signs and a box into which you were to place the money.

This area is home to the guy who grows world champion gourds, melons, etc. I may try to find him and see his garden. I'm sure some of my Hattiesburg gardeners would like pictures. I still cannot get pictures to load at any of the wi-fi places I am using. Maybe I will eventually get that done. I have taken quite a few and they really would make this blog come alive.

I want to stay in this area at least until Saturday. I have always wanted to do a race in Alaska and we learned that there is a fairly large 5K/10 miler on Saturday. Of course, I will do the 5K since I am in no way prepared for a 10 miler.