Wednesday July 2nd

Sign into Homer
The Homer Split
View from motel window
Pacific Ocean at Homer
Boardwalk on Homer split
Road outside of Anchorage
Great views both front and back!
Mountains fogged in at Denali


Today marks 1 month on the road for me as I left on June 2nd, it seems like years have passed since I left my beloved Kansas. It is funny how the farther away you get from home how people are more interested. When I was in the lower 48 and people asked where you were from and you told them Kansas, they just kind of snickered and when on their way, Since I have gotten here to Alaska, and you tell them you are from Kansas, they are like, "Really, that is a long ways away" and of course all of the wizard of Oz Comments that go along with it, but I don't mind.

This blog encompasses a few days and I will try to fill in the blanks as best as possible.

I headed out of Denali on Sunday the 29th, it was foggy and their were no decent views. I was glad to be on my way, I don't want to sound short about Denali, I think no trip to Alaska would not be complete without a trip their, especially if your are doing the cruise ship thing. Take the tour packages, etc and you will have a good time.
I headed south and was going to stay in Talkeetna, but it was once again a little touristy for me. It was a quaint little town, kind of reminded me of Weston Mo., but there was a festival going on and the town was packed with people and it was a small town to begin with, so I felt a little claustrophobic and headed south, I found a small camping spot off of the highway, there were no mosquito's out and the weather was clearing so I just slept on the picnic table.

Monday the 30th I headed into Anchorage to get a new set of tires, My GPS has not been working so navigating the one way down town streets was a real treat. I found the shop and they had my tires, I decided to take them with me, as I still have some miles left on my old tires and with the price of motorcycle tires being so high, I decided to run my old ones as long as I could and I will change them as needed.
I headed out of town as it was just too busy for me and started down the Kenai Peninsula, I was faced with heading to Homer, or Seward, the cruise ships dock in Seward and Whittier so I decided to go towards Homer, it was a good choice, I stopped in a town called hope which was on a small highway and on the "Cook Inlet", it was a nice little town, I stopped at the hostel and was going to get a cheap bunk for the night, there was a group of Young folks in the common room, who were pretty "Stoved" up and after a couple of them hit me up for money, I decided to head on down the road. I ended up at a little town called "Coppers Landing", there was a camp ground and road house there, so I stopped for a few beers. Comes to find out there is an Iditerod dog racer named "Tim" who looks just like me, in fact the locals said I looked more like him than he does!, what ever that means. I spend the evening downing brew with the locals and ended up staying at the road house for the night. It for the most part was a good evening, but I found out that the locals, don't really care too much for tourists, other than for their money, and I also found that there was a different pricing schedule for locals rather than tourists, much like in Hawaii, I found this to be distasteful, I don't think that is true in all areas, probably more in small local areas. I was given the better price in Copper Jct and my bar bill was considerably less than it would have been otherwise!
Tuesday the 1st I headed on down the road to Homer, the views along the Kenai Peninsula where out of this world, the combination of both mountains and oceans were fantastic! The weather was clear and picture perfect, it was a little cold with the wind blowing off of the ocean, but is was warm enough to ride without a helmet. I stopped in the town of Ninilchik to book a fishing trip with a guide who I had been referred to from the locals in Copper Landing. They were not able to get me on a boat until Thursday the 3rd. I booked the trip and headed the last 30 miles to Homer, not knowing what to expect, but knowing that I needed to spend a couple of days here.
I got to Homer around 1:00pm and all I can say is that it was a great choice! Each town I stop in, or go through, I say to myself, "would I live here" there have only been a couple of towns so far that would qualify on my places to live, and Homer tops the list. It has just the right mix of local flavor and tourist attractions. While it obviously makes it money from the tourists and fishing, it is not overran with crazed tourists from Hell! There are a lot of nice little shops and eateries. I was thinking about camping out on the Homer "Spit", and about set up my tent, when some other motorcyclists I had been "Leap Frogging" all day came up and told me about a nice little motel. I checked it out and for a little over $60 found the best room of my stay so far. It is a large room with a kitchenette, nice and clean, with an ocean view. This is where I am at until Thursday morning and then I will head back to Ninilchik as my fishing boat leaves at 7:30 am, they claim that the Halibut fishing in the "Cook" Inlet is the best in the world.
In the mean time, I am emerging myself in all food, related to crab and Halibut. Last night I had crab dip, crab cakes, crab salad, crab chowder, and Grilled Halibut. Tonight I am going to have the 2lb crab sampler with has 3 different types of crap, (ippellio, king, and dungeness). For those of you who watch the show the "Deadliest Catch" Homer is a close as you can get by road to "Dutch Harbor" which is out in the Aleutian Islands.
I am going to close for now, as it is time to venture out into town and find all things related to "Crab"!

Loving it in "Homer"

Tim