The Kenai

The view from the mountain behind the Dunlevy place

Fishing the Kenai river

Salmon we caught

Scenery along the Sewart Highway

Colorado Creek gold claim
Colorado Creek
We have been camped at Bill and Glenna Dunlevy's for the last week. They are a couple we met at the gold show when we first arrived in Alaska. The group from the GPAA gold show have been really great to us. We have spent a lot of our time running around with them. The Dunlevy's have some ground near Moose Pass on the Kenai where we stayed. We went fishing 3 days for Red Salmon. With the help of Bill to show us how it was done we filled our little freezer with fish. We ended up with 7 for the 3 days all weighing about 5 or 6 pounds each. MAN DO THEY FIGHT!!!! We had a blast. I caught 4 and Louise caught 3. On the 3rd day Louise stayed at camp while I went with the guys fishing. I saw my first grizzley bear!!! She and her club were walking along the river we were fishing on. Of coarse I didn't have my camera with me. We have been wanting to see a bear since we got here and Louise missed it. One day we went to Colrado Creek to do a little gold panning. We found a little but didn't stay there long. The weather was kind of bad that day. Today, Friday, we left to return to Anchorage to do the laundry before Stacy and Carrie get here on Sunday. We pick them up at 12:30 am!!!!! Then it's off to Denali National park.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Ready to go

We are visiting with our friends Tedd and Sandi. I finally got all the parts I needed to repair the hitch and will be heading back out on Friday. I recieved and mailed in my papers to make my retirement final. We are going to a gold propectors meeting on Thursday night. Friday we are heading to the Kenai to do some fishing and maybe a some prospecting. I hope to get some good pics of that area and of the fish we catch.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

The down side of the rv life

Bent hitch

Hole I cut to get to the bolts

After the trip from Tok to Palmer we stayed at our friends Joe and Pat for a few days. The road from Tok was full of frost heaves. For those that don't know, frost heaves are where the ground freezes and pushes up or drops down the blacktop. You will be driving along and all of a sudden hit what seems like a speed bump. I was walking around the coach checking things out before we were to leave and I looked at the hitch. I couldn't believe my eyes, the hitch on the coach was BENT!!! Apparently the car got above the hicth and pushed down on it. I checked the the hook-up on the Jeep and it was LOOSE!!!! One bolt was gone, the other 3 were loose. Looking at the Jeep I couldn't figure out how to get to the bolts to fix them. The only way was to take the front cowling off the Jeep. That would require me to break all the little snap rivets that cars are put together with now a days. I didn't want to do that, soooo I cut away part of the plastic cowling so I could get a wrench on the bolts. The bolt that was gone I had to redrill and tap with a larger bolt. It took me about 4 hours of work to get things fixed. Today I went to find a new drop hitch to replace the bent one. When I got there, they had one. The down side is they told me there was a guy on the way to buy it, that had called in right before I got there. I waited around to see if the guy showed up, he did, he bought it. Now I have wait till Tuesday when they are suppose to get more in. One of my tow chains had a bad rub spot so I bought news cables while I was there. Here in Alaska they don't stock a lot of things, they order it for you. The prices are a little higher but what choice do you have. On Friday, Jeremy, our son, had to go to Shreveport to GM for me. I got all my retirement papers from GM that had to be signed by the Rep at work. Since I couldn't get there, he had to go for me. While he was there I had to get on the phone with the Rep so he could explain everything to me before he would sign them. Now Jeremy has to mail them to me so I can add the other documents they need and sign them. I will officially be retired August first. The paper work will not make it on time so I will have a delay in my pay. Jeremy has been great to do all this for us. Other then a bad day or two, we are still having a great time. Today we are parked at Tedd and Sandi's, friends we met at the gold show. They are great people to visit with . Tedd took me around looking for the parts I needed to fix the the coach. We will be here till the part gets in and the mail gets here.
Till next time
Duane and Louise

In Palmer again for a few days

Simon Andrew Latimer

6-21-07

Jackson Henry Buechter

7-5-07

Valley view

Tazlina Glacier

Since we have have been on our journey we have 2 new additions to the family. Meet Simon and Jack, our first 2 Grandsons. We have 2 Granddaughters, Madeleine and Allie. We are getting grandkids spread out over the country now. Two in Ohio, one in Texas and one in California. Maybe it's a good thing we live in a motorhome. When we get back from Alaska we will have to to flip a coin to see which way we go first. We are spending a couple of days at our friends' house in Palmer. We spent the day at the doctors office. Louise was feeling a little under the weather and we thought we had better get her looked at. Seems she may have an infection so she was given drugs. Hopefully that will take care of it. Our insurance has a web site where we can go to find doctors in the area that take our insurance. Makes it fairly easy to locate them when we need them. I just hope we don't need them often!! The weather has been rainy for the last week. Other then that we are having a great time.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

Tok, Alaska

We left Chicken and drove to Tok. We have been ask how Chicken got it's name. The story is that they wanted to name it Ptarmigan, after the bird, but no one knew how to spell it. So they just named it Chicken. The drive was only 80 miles but rained all way. We decided to stop in Tok for the night in a camp ground so we could fill the fresh water tank, empty dirty water tanks and do the laundry. Tomorrow we will head south toward the Kenai. Planning to do some fishing and prospecting along the way. Sorry no new pics for today.
Till next time
Duane and Louise

Panning in Chicken

Getting ready to pan

Digging for gold

We are in Chicken with the Anchorage gold prospers group. I have been going to the claim with the group doing some panning. Finding a little. Some of the guys are finding quite a bit, so far I have not been that lucky. Louise

Back in Chicken

Glacier river view

Lake at rest area we stayed at

The office of the mining camp

The Gold Prospectors of Anchorage camp

We are back in Chicken, AK for a get together of the Anchorage Gold Prospectors Asso. They are having an Alaska miners Fourth of July party tomorrow. Big steak cook out. I have going with the guys to the stream panning for gold. Found some but not enough to pay off the motorhome yet.....lol Three of the guys have found quite a bit. I haven't found that hot spot yet. I will try again on Thursday. We will be here till maybe Sunday, not sure. The weather has been a little rainy the last few days, not bad, just showers off and on all day. I take a rain coat to the stream, can't let a little rain stop us. Louise has been visiting with other wives. There is one of the ladies that is a quilter and one that knits so they have something to talk about. She has been working another quilt and catching up on her reading.

Till next time
Duane and Louise