Today we had a 200-mile drive to Anchorage from Copper Center.
But I got up early enough to see if I could get another fish or two before we left. No luck, but I met Dan McDowell of TheLastFrontiersman.com guide service.
Dan specializes in guiding disabled travelers (especially disabled veterans) and their families on fishing trips on the Kenai River. He's on vacation now and doing some fishing across the state himself, but I got some good information and a couple of tips on guides from him.
Soon, we were packed up and ready to go. We said goodbye to all our Salmon Grove friends - Kory & Sara & Kyleigh, Steve & Kathy, Lee & Claudia, and Dan. They were all so helpful and welcoming, and they got more excited when I caught a fish than when they did. And, coincidentally, Kory & Sara and Steve & Kathy were leaving today as well.
I had filled our fresh water tank last night, and we dumped tanks on the way out this morning. It was another sunny day and I took this shot from the road as we went north toward Glennallen.
As we turned west, we could see the peaks of the mountains that we couldn't see last time we traveled the route, but there was a smokey haze from the large fire in the Kenai Peninsula.
Kory & Sara were going in the same direction, and this is their motorhome going over the hill as we continued toward Anchorage.
Once again, about five miles east of Sutton, the road improved and we breathed a sigh of relief. We have a new noise in the motorhome when we go over wavy sections of the road, and our refrigerator door has gone wonky. While the rig is in for service tomorrow, we'll have them adjust the door, although who knows how long that might last.
In the late afternoon, we pulled into our stopover Anchorage home at Cabela's. There weren't nearly as many RVs as the last time we were here. We pulled into the same spot we had before and set up for the night.
The first thing we wanted to do was get our cooler full of frozen fish shipped. However, there was a problem. Because tomorrow is a holiday, FedEx and other shippers wouldn't ship anything today for fear of not being able to deliver it the Fourth of July. The earliest anything would go out would be Friday and then only if there was guaranteed Saturday delivery to the package destination. And we didn't have a way of keeping the fish frozen until Friday.
Then I found Alaska Luggage & Seafood Shipping. Their policy is to never ship fish on Friday to avoid frozen fish possibly sitting unclaimed over the weekend, so if we went with them, our shipment wouldn't go out until Monday. However, they have freezer storage service, and since we were shipping with them, they stored the fish without charge. The guy I talked to on the phone was reassuring, but the new clerk where I dropped the fish off didn't instill much confidence.
It was a valuable package and it's extremely expensive to overnight frozen seafood, so I called the boss back and asked him to personally supervise our shipment. He assured me he would and everything would be fine. So, Linda's Mom is supposed to get the fish by noon on Tuesday. Fingers crossed.
After that, we went into Cabela's to look for some fishing tackle and a heavy duty fly rod for Linda to use for Sockeye Salmon on the Kenai River. They were out of a lot of supplies, and we couldn't get anyone to wait on us. So we left.
I later drove over to the Bass Pro Shop on the other side of town. Same thing. I had questions but was completely ignored, and they were out of some of the items I wanted. So I left.
I ended up at Sportsman's Warehouse not far from Cabela's and a very nice, knowledgeable guy helped me. We found a heavy duty fly rod outfit - Redington Path - for Linda, and he showed me what he uses on the Kenai and Russian Rivers. He told me what items he thought were junk and worked with me on finding the best gear for the price. He even showed me some knots, and he tied the lines and leaders together on Linda's new rod. Now that's the customer service I was looking for.
Back at the rig, Linda determined she hadn't had enough protein, so I went got us both burgers at the Smashburger in front of Cabela's. After that, we settled in with our excellent Verizon internet service and eventually called it a night.
Tomorrow, we take the rig the mile over to Great Alaskan Holidays and, hopefully, we'll leave with our electrical system working again. In the evening, we're having dinner at Renee's place. She is an Anchorage resident that attended our Spring Rally in April in Nevada, and she has graciously invited us for a Fourth of July meal. So, we won't be celebrating Independence Day completely in a customer waiting room and parking lot.
I've been to that Sportsmen Warehouse and you're right, very helpful.
My daughter, son-in-law and grand-daughter, 1 year old Emmie live in Chugiak so you drove right past their exit. I live in Illinois across the river from St. Louis so they are too far away from me.
I love reading about your adventures. I'll be going up in September to help with Emmie while her daddy is at "moose camp" for two weeks. I can't wait
Safe Travels
Posted by: Pati Cherry | Tuesday, July 09, 2019 at 09:27 PM