Monday, July 7, 2014 What an adventure

Monday July 7 we left Homer Ak. where we had been for the 4th of July celebrations and the wonderful trip of fishing for Halibut.
We traveled back thru Soldotna and stopped for our first trip to Fred Meyer which is a all in one store somewhat like Wal Mart  and Meijers in the lower 48 but I like it much better.  
I finally found the sweatshirts that I wanted for the Hedrick girls.   Papa got a good deal on caps with Alaskan wildlife on them.   We needed to pickup some snacks to take with us to Skilak Lake where our friends Jeff and Sharon Lawrence have a cabin on a Island.
We turned off the highway onto a gravel road and everything that could rattle DID.   Larry even said, "Mem, something is rattling in that cabinet"  my comment was unless I empty that cabinet it is going to rattle. We arrived at the Lot C parking area which Sharon had told us to go to, and find a large gravel parking lot to leave the RV's in.   Now this is in the middle of a forrest but we have plenty of room as there are only 2 boat trailers parked in there. 
Sharon and Jeff have come across the lake in their boat to pick us up and take us to the Island, by the way, Caribou Island is its name.   The is a small one named Frying Pan Island,which looks like a frying pan.
We all get in the boat including Linda and Jim's 3 little dogs, their first ever boat ride and off we go.   Now the lake is beautiful blue in color as it is partially fed by a glacier and it is COLD.   Sharon says you could last about 4 minutes in the water.  Don't want to try that.   It is a little choppy but nothing that we can't handle.   Since I have experienced some rough water on Lake Michigan many times I was okay.
We had a wonderful time on the Island.   They had lunch for us and then we took a walk around to meet some of their neighbors.   One couple is from Germany and they live on the island from Feb until Oct.   No electricity, no running water and have an outhouse.  They have solar panels,     get water from the lake and of course you know what an outhouse is for.  Sharon's outhouse is all decorated, I will post a picture later.
I had read a book "Winds of Skilak" written by a woman who along with her husband left Ohio in the 80's and came there and built a cabin and lived there many years.We got to walk up and see the original cabin that Sam and Bonnie built,  I have a picture of us in front of the original cabin.
After having a wonderful dinner it was time to get back in the boat and head back to the mainland.  The water had calmed down a lot so it was going to be a smooth ride back.  It was until Jeff went a little too far down the lake and the GPS quit working and he was a little to close to shore and the motor was digging into the dirt and I was getting a little more concerned. This lake is about 600 feet deep in some places and as I said before very cold.   However , everything worked out and we got back to the landing safely.  Larry said he knew that I was afraid as I stopped talking.  Imagine that>>>
I went to bed around 11:30  woke up at 1:30 and noticed it was darker than usual outside.  I walked to the front of the motorhome and the moon was just about full and right in front of us.  I got some pictures but they really don't do it justice.  On the right side I could still see the sun just on the horizon. 
All in all it was a WONDERFUL day and we are so gratefully for having been able to go and visit with Jeff and Sharon. 

Now we are in Anchorage for a few days before heading on up the road to Denali and Fairbanks.