2006 July 24 to 30

2006-07-24 Monday

Moose River CG, Sterling

Did a little exploration around the town. The Kenai river is running right through it and the Moose River joins in from the North. This is a fisherman's paradise.

Every quarter mile there is a boat launch area, there is some mild white water and the color of the river is like green steel, it looks like it came directly out of a glacier, which it probably does.

Naptown rapids of Kenai river - looking downstream

Kenai river looking upstream

2006-07-25 Tuesday

Sterling, AK to Mountain View CG, Palmer

Left Sterling at 08:00 and drove the now familiar Sterling Highway towards Cooper Landing and the Seward Highway towards Girdwood and Anchorage. Very light traffic and some rain sprinkles on the road.

Stopped at the Potter Field House (Chugach SP office) near the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge to visit with Tony Cirocco a fellow Escapee, who is volunteering there with his spouse. We had a nice chat.

The rest of the drive through Anchorage and up the 40 miles of the Glenn Highway to Palmer was uneventful.

Mountain View CG is aptly named, sitting in a bowl shaped extension of the Matanuska valley with Matanuska Peak ( 5464 ft) towering over the campground. Nice, flat, grassy sites. Pay-for WiFi from MTA (Matanuska Telephone Cooperative) at reasonable prices (15.95 USD/week; 19.95 USD/month) with excellent signal strength and speed.

2006-07-26/27 Wednesday/Thursday

Mt View CG Palmer, AK

House keeping, Fred Meyer visit and a visit to dentist Dr. Karn in Peters Creek to fix a small cavity.

The Matanuska valley is very good for agriculture, due to the silt laden, glacier fed rivers, that over the eons have deposited a rich soil in the river bottoms. Palmer claims to grow the largest "krautkopfs" in the world - more than three feet in diameter.

Pioneer Peak 5690 elevation; the valley floor is only a couple of feet in elevation

At 23:00 local time the sun is still illuminating the mountains

2006-07-28 Friday

Palmer   - Knik River Jet Boat Tour

Sean, the son of Dee, the CG owner, occasionally gives tours on the Knik
(pronounced K-nik) River up to the Knik glacier. His father had built a boat with a Chevy 504 and a Hamilton Jet as propulsion.

The tour is about 4 hours and it starts a couple of miles upstream from the Old Glenn Highway bridge over the Knik river.

The river over the ages formed a wide alluvial plain or fan with several meandering branches, is quick flowing and has some minor rapids.

The water's color is a milky, light green from all the rock flour carried along.

The tour so far was one the highlights of my Alaska adventure.

Click here for Photo album of Jet Boat trip

On the trip I met Sally who resides at the CG. She is from northern Washington State and she is an artist, who creates small toy animals out of wool which she gets from sheep on her farm in WA.

In the afternoon Sally and I went "downtown" Palmer to the "Friday Fling", a Farmer's market cum art fair. Today was Palmer appreciation day and local businesses had sponsored a free picnic.

We ate hot dogs and a medley of fresh, locally produced vegetables and listened to a speaker who proudly proclaimed, that Palmer was called the place to be today on ABC's Good Morning America. Not bad for a town with a population of only 4,500.

Later we checked out the supposedly best bar in Palmer, it was ok, but not anything to write home about.

Again a glorious sunset as an appropriate ending to a fantastic day.

2006-07-29 Saturday

Mt View CG Palmer

Went to a welding shop and had them make a replacement step out of aluminum diamond plate for my ruined lower step on the Sportster. Quick Walmart run and on the way back I stumbled over a German butcher shop. I stocked up on Landjäger, Sülze and Leberkäse.

2006-07-30 Sunday

Mt. View CG

About noon time a rental Class-C pulled in two places over and the Gentlemen deplaning instantly were recognizable as Europeans by the activity gear (Addidas) they were sporting.

I started a conversation and found out they are from Bregenzerwald region in Austria. We exchanged pleasantries and after I heard that they are drinking Budweiser, I gave them 4 bottles of my Henry Weinhard's Summer Weizen.

They reciprocated with a nice big fresh Salmon. They have to go back to Austria on Tuesday. Later on they treated me to home-made "Obstler" -delicious.

Updating of web site. Excellent dinner with Sally at the Mexican Restaurant in "downtown" Palmer.

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