Fred Myer’s parking lot in Soldotna. Nice to have a couple of free nights. They also had a free dump and water fill.
Tuesday, June 21 A mobile RV repairman came and changed out the batteries, we dumped and filled, then went to a tire place and bought a new rear tire on the trailer. The trailer repairman was very knowledgeable, but expensive. He says our batteries weren’t hooked up right, that only one battery was in use, the other we weren’t using. That means when we bought batteries last year in Missouri, they weren’t wired right. So we have been going a year with two batteries, but using off one only. Grrrrr. Now we have pictures of how it should be connected. Then why buy two new ones? That’s the way to do it. One was used up. One was charged and never used and had very limited life. So two new ones.
A replacement tire showed uneven tread wear. The repairman said we needed new hangers for the axle. The tire repairman said it was the trailer shocks causing the problem. We just got a new tire and will keep an eye on the wear and hope we can get back home and then fix whatever problem we have.
With unreliable batteries and the money we had spent, Fred was really tired of Soldotna so we headed south toward Homer and FISHING! We stopped in Ninilchik (Na Nil Check) at a Passport America and found a nice spot overlooking Cook’s Bay.
Wednesday, June 22, Happy Anniversary to us! 48 years today. Fred went to book a fishing trip for tomorrow and found they were booked so we rushed around to get him ready for a trip in the afternoon. The wind came up and they canceled because of weather, so we scurried around and took off to see Homer.
On the way we passed the
Beehive RV park and thought of the Stroope’s, because of his bee keeping and Mike & Delores for their airstream trailer. If you didn’t notice the bee in the yard was an old airstream with sewer hose for wings. Too bad we didn’t get a front view.
On down the road we stopped to visit the
Norman Lowell Gallery. He has been painting a long time and we were impressed with his pastels and 
oils. We took more pictures of other paintings, if you want to see them.
We stopped at a road side park/scenic view and WOW! The
mountains of the Kachemak Peninsula went on and on and overlooked the
Homer Spit,
the shadow arm across the bay is actually a four mile long spit.
Out on the spit we looked at everything from
Eagles on roofs, to campgrounds, RV parks, and restaurants. We enjoyed watching a
We ate at Captain Patti’s then walked the boardwalk of local crafts, charters and would you believe the
“Time Bandit!” For those that don’t watch the Deadliest Catch, the Time Bandit is one of the featured boats.
Thursday, June 23 Fred was up at 4:00 am to catch his charter boat at 6:15. Olivia arose at 6:00 and followed him to the office so she could then follow the rig out to launch. There were 10 on the boat including the deckhand and captain. While waiting we found two of the couples were from Ellis Co.
We talked and realized one of the men graduated from
Waxahachie High School. Olivia asked which year and would you believe he said “61, she said, Whoa, wait a minute you were in my class!
It was Jerry Eastman. They had not seen each other since graduation. He lives in Fairfield.
He said he had received his reunion packet from Jeanette! Olivia encouraged him to attend their 50 year reunion in early October.
Small, small world.
He is in the blue jacket in middle.
In case you locals might know them, the man on left is Billy Fulton from Ferris, son of Sammy Fulton. Olivia’s mother grew up in Ferris and the Fulton’s and Olivia’s aunt’s family went on vacations together. Sometimes Olivia’s family was with them.
Another small world.
Over the years when traveling we usually ran into someone we knew. When we started retirement traveling we have only met people we knew when we planned it. This was a first for us.
Now on to the fishing business. Olivia followed the group huddled into the back of a covered pickup. They called it the patty wagon, which also hauled their boat, the Exciter. When we arrived at Deep Creek park they headed the rig toward the water. All the passengers climbed out and
onto the boat, still on the trailer. Strange.
The boat was unhooked from the truck. Stranger still.
Then a tractor hooked on and took them down 
to the water and backed them in and let them go! 
Off on Cook’s Inlet and toward Mt Iliamna and ready to catch their limit.
As Olivia left the park she noticed
Eagles perched watching the whole show.
The fishing was uneventful.
After about a 30 minute choppy boat ride we anchored about 15 miles from our launch point. We fished on the bottom in 125 feet of water. Almost as soon as your bait hit bottom, you had a bite. Then you wait until it’s more than a bite and reel in. We caught many smaller halibut and returned them to the water. Finally Fred caught one about fifteen pounds and kept it. There’s some fight to fish this size, but not much. Then an hour later he kept another about 15 pounds for his limit of two. The biggest fish from our boat weighed just over thirty pounds. Halibut grow to over 400 pounds, so we were far from a record, but our was a good eating size.
While Fred was fishing Olivia was back in the trailer working on the computer when something made her look up and out the back window of the slide and there went a
moose! The camera disc was in the computer, she grabbed it, inserted it in the camera and ran out to see if she could find the moose. She carefully walked around the cabins and there it was at the end of the row behind a 
picnic table. Later we found that happens all the time here. We have been looking and looking and this was Olivia’s first sighting.
While talking to a neighbor, she made friends and they took a small trip to see the Village of 
Ninilchik, a Russian village settled at the turn of the 19th century. A trail leads up to the green and white onion domed Russian Orthodox Church is on the hill. They visited two camp grounds and saw an
eagle in flight.
Mt Iliamna 
had blossomed in the bright sun light, then Olivia had the call the boat was coming in. The launch was
reversed and they were on shore. Everyone caught their limit of two each and many thrown back. A successful trip!
Back at the RV park and Afishunt headquarters they
hung the fish for pictures, comments, and the hands started 
filleting the fish.
Sure enough we had about fifteen pounds of halibut filets. Fish anyone! The going rate in the stores here for halibut is $19.00 a pound. Fred says that’s about what it cost him too. We ate our first package for supper, then visited with the other Ellis Countians for a while.
We realize we are posting very often, and it is because we never know when we are going to have service or electricity, so we post. Please bear with us and enjoy.
We love hearing from you so email us at
Olivia@bobheck.com or Fredharrington@yahoo.com
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