It was a short drive to the state park in Ninilchek. We parked facing Cook Inlet. We had a view of volcanic mountains out out front window along with the inlet. A little to our left was a boat loading business. Most of their business was putting charter boats in and out of the inlet. They did it with big tractors that backed them into the water then another guy that rode in on the trailer would release them and with a jerk forward of the tractor they were off the trailer. This went on all day. As the wind was always blowing and the temp was only in the 50’s we spent most of the day just watching activity in the water out our front window. The best part was watching the Orca whale feeding and of course the magnificent Bald Eagles. There wasn’t much to the town but we did visit an old Russian town. We did some metal detecting on the beach but the best we found was a huge sinker. We decided we had seen enough and been cold to long and it was time to leave Alaska but since the Salmon were running we would make one more stop at Hyder which was well over 1000 miles away. We moved up to the Palmer to stock up ay Wal-Mart for our long trip to Hyder and then back to the lower 48. While here we went over to the Iditarod headquarters. Joe Redington’s (The father of the Iditarod) was there with a team of Alaskan Huskies and 4 puppies. We toured the headquarters and then went on a sled dog ride. Paula enjoyed meeting and greeting with the puppies. The next day we began what we normally don’t do. 3 long 300 to 400 mile travel days. The first day we arrived in Tok our 1st repeat town. We stayed the night at the rear lot of a gas station. The next day we began the part of the Alaskan highway we missed on the way up as we turned off in Whitehorse and took the Klondike to Dawson City and the Top of the World Highway to Chicken then on to Tok. We arrived in Whitehorse and boondocked at a local campground. The next day after stopping to see the black gophers we missed on the way up we turned off the Alaskan Highway onto the Cassier Hwy. We arrived in Dease Lake on the 23rd with only around 250 mile until Hyder We passed several temp fish camps so we figured the salmon were still running. We filled up with Diesel and got permission to stay in their lot overnight. We pulled over to an out of the way spot. When I went back to check on the car I noticed the RV radiator was leaking. To Be Continued!!!
