Almost 2 months here and we seem to have done so much!

We headed back to Anchorage today but did a 50 minute detour to the small almost ghost town of Hope. The town boomed in the late 1840s during the gold rush, but once gold was found in the Klondike, everyone deserted it. And it’s still in pretty much original condition.

We arrived back in Anchorage and went about some chores. Shopping, shower and laundry. Darci had invited us to stay again so we did, as we have an early start in the morning as we need to get an oil change and our brakes looked at.

We are looking forward to heading north.

We had an indecisive day today. We were going to head back towards anchorage, but the day was so beautiful at the coast that I didn’t want to leave straight away. I’d really wanted to do a kayak trip here but we would have had to book that in advance.

We drove back down Homer spit and the sea looked calm. We checked the availablity of a water taxi to go wildlife viewing. She said we could go on one immediately, and it would just be the two of us. Why not? We thought.

So we jumped on the water taxi and headed into katchemak bay. It was beautiful out on the water with snow covered mountains rising out of it. There is a glacier lake kayak and hike i wanted to do, but i am just so tired from all the late nights watching the sun set.

On our hours cruise we saw a few puffins and sea otters but that was it. We’d probably need to go out for longer to see whales.

After our trip, we headed back towards anchorage. It’s a 4.5 hour drive to Anchorage so we stopped at our lovely lake camp again for the night.

We reluctantly left our lovely lakeside camp and headed on to Homer. The day was warm with brilliant blue skies. But as we headed towards Homer, a sea fog rolled in making it cold and dreary.

We stopped at a gas station to fill up, and that dreaded hose started leaking again. In fact it poured all over the forecourt. I ran in the tell them and a lady came out with some stuff which she scattered over the spill. Then they helped us push Rodger off the forecourt.

The leak is not the original problem, that is fixed now. There is a breather hose which now seems to leak, so Mike folded it over with zip ties to stop it leaking. We then took it to a garage who confirmed this fix should be fine.

We drove out to the Homer spit which has charming seaside huts along it. We had done lunch at a seaside restaurant. We shared some clam chowder and some deep fried halibut and chips. It was yummy.

The sea fog was making it really cold, but it was cool how the snow covered mountains poked above the fog. We booked into a beachfront camp for the night.

The wind died down and the fog cleared and it was stunning evening. We went out at 8.30 pm for tacos. I had halibut tacos and Mike had rockfish. Both were yummy!

We didn’t settle down until after midnight as it was such a nice evening watching the sun set.

We spent another lazy day beside the lake. It was Sunday and everyone was packing up to go home. The people who we have our campsite to brought us a heap of firewood all chopped up, the thank us, so that was nice of them.

So with all our firewood, Mike tried making bread again. But the self rising flour here is so salty. It’s got baking soda in it, and that’s the flavour coming through. Gross! So we’ll toss that lot and get some proper bread flour.

We really enjoyed just sitting around doing nothing. The weather has been absolutely perfect! Clear blue skies, warm, and not even too many mozzies, though we did get a couple of bites.

We are heading to Homer tomorrow which is supposed to be a charming seaside town. We’re hoping it won’t be so busy during the week!

We slept in until 9am! It was another glorious day at the lake. But the people had well and truly taken over our spot. The picnic table was covered with their stuff so my plan of making coffee outdoors didn’t happen.

We pumped up our cheap kayak with plans to go for a paddle. We bought it last year and still haven’t used it.

As Mike was finishing, we saw a campervan leaving a lakeside spot. So I walked over to grab it. At the same time, the people who we gave our spot to were trying to claim it.

I said we would take this spot as we currently didn’t have a spot. They said they were planning to take it. I said we have them our spot so it was only fair we took this one. And it was right on the lake, so we won in the end!

We took our kayak for a paddle. It was stunning on the calm lake, snow capped mountains in the distance, trout leaping around us. We don’t have a fishing licence so couldn’t fish.

It was a glorious day doing nothing. Our camping neighbours gave us some wood and Mike had a go at making camp bread in the fire. We only had self raising flour though and it has salt in it. As we added additional salt, it was too salty to eat.

We’ve decided to stay here a few days as Homer will be super busy on the weekends.

Oh dear, more dramas lay ahead today!

We left darci’s place early as we had a few things to do today. First up, we needed fuel, as we lost all ours when the fuel tank was repaired. We pulled into a service station that also had potable water so we topped that up. But for some reason Mike decided he didn’t want fuel from that station.

So we headed to our next task of washing the van. Rodger had collected a lot of crud when he was towed through road works. As we were washing him, Mike realised he’d left his fuel cap at the gas station we didn’t fill up at. So we went back to get that, then drove out to the airport.

Anchorage airport has a viewing spot right at the end of the runway where planes fly right over your head. And this was no little planes either. Most of them were 747 cargo planes. It was awesome! But the absolute highlight was watching the dream lifter take off. This is a 747 on steroids! It was huge!

We also met a guy who is a curator at the Georgia museum of aviation , and he said if we were ever that way, he’d give us the vip tour!

After our morning watching planes, things went pear shaped. We did grocery shopping and were about to head out of town when we realised we’d forgotten to fuel up. We stopped at a petrol station and when Mike tried it fill up, petrol came pouring out.

So we took it straight back to the auto shop that ‘repaired’ it. The man behind the counter said to leave our keys but it would be hours before they could look at it. We had to argue that we’d paid 800 for it to be fixed and we’d like someone to look at it now.

So they put it in the hoist. He then showed that the breather hose was facing down and that was the problem. He turned it up the other way and told us to fill up slowly.

We took it back to the garage and it started pouring out again! Mike got underneath to look, and a hose had been disconnected and not put back when they did the work.

So we took it back and Mike spent 15 minutes trying to explain what the problem was. They argued with him so he’d had to draw a diagram. They already had another car on the hoist so couldn’t look at it for hours.

Mike said it’s a simple fix and if they could give him a screwdriver he’d do it himself. He then got his mechanic to have a look. Mike told him exactly what needed to be done and he fixed it for us. We then poured petrol from our spare gas cans there and then to make sure it was fixed. Thankfully it was.

It’s unbelievable Mike had to tell them how to do their job. They should never have let it go without double checking all the hoses as it could have been a massive fire risk.

Anyway, we finally got out of town and found a lovely freedom spot by a lake to camp. All the tables and fireplaces were taken so we just parked in the carpark.

Then the people at one of the tables took off and left their fire burning. This was very dangerous. You just had to look around to see the fire devastation in the area. Anyway, we snagged their spot and put out their smoky fire.

We’d just settled down to sleep at 11 pm when a bunch of rowdy people arrived looking for somewhere to camp. I got out of the car to see what was going on. They’d been looking all night for somewhere to camp. So I said they could share our spot and I moved our van forward. But they still had to set up their tents, they had 3 big barking dogs and made a lot of noise. That’s the downside of free camping spots on a sunny weekend in Alaska. Most people are much more respectful. They were friendly at least.

It was quite a stressful day today. Darci lent us her car which was very generous of her. We drove to a cafe and spent the day there editing and uploading a video.

We rang the garage at 11am and they still hadn’t looked at it. So much for fixing it first thing this morning.

We rang back at 5pm and they were just about to start work on it. Geez. So we finally got it back at 6pm and were able to sleep in it outside darci’s house. Not much else to report, just glad to have Rodger back. Oh, and it cost $800! I think we were ripped off, but then they did fit us in during a busy time.

Well, today was quite the adventure!

There are only two auto repair shops in Seward. We took it to the one in town, but they couldn’t look at it until next week. So we booked it into the one out of town for 1.30pm.

He took a look and said he’d have to drop the fuel tank to see what was going on. Earliest he could look was next week. But if we needed a new tank we could be waiting months because we’re in the middle of nowhere. He said our best bet would be to get a tow to anchorage, 2.5 hours away.

We asked if it was safe to drive, he said, no , definitely not. There was a strong fire risk. It was lucky we had decided not to drive on the previous day and discovered it was leaking!

So we rang roadside assistance and they said they would organise a tow truck for the next morning. So we booked into a very expensive camping ground costing us $75! And our tank was leaking even more since the guy had fiddled with it. It was very fumey and I didn’t want to sleep inside the van.

We had just finished our much needed showers when the tow truck company rang saying they’d pick our van up tonight in 2.5 hours!

No problem, we thought, we’d just book a hotel in Anchorage for the night, but this proved impossible. Booking.com was showing nothing. So I rang a few hotels and all were booked out. In a major city!

We thought we could sleep in our car at the auto shop but we were advised against it, not being safe. So we were in a bit of a pickle!

And this is where it gets interesting. A few days ago while we were waiting for the tunnel in Whittier, I got talking to a lady in the queue. We chatted for a bit, then I went back to my van.

Then she came over and chatted to us some more because she was bored. Then she went back to her car. Then shortly after, she came back over with her phone number and address, and said if we needed anything while we were in anchorage, then to give her a call.

At the time we thought it odd and did not think we’d need anything, but how things change! So I gave her a call. She then invited us to come stay, and sleep on her couch.

So accommodation sorted for the night, we just had to get there. The tow truck arrived in Seward up at 7pm, but he’d been told we were a normal van, not a camper van. So we were heavier than he thought. We had to empty our waste and water tank to lighten our load.

It took over 3 hours to tow Rodger to anchorage as we had to go quite slow. We are thankful we had roadside assistance and they are covering the $1000 fee!

Our tow truck driver was very nice and acted like a tour guide and told us all the good places to go. He even stopped at a pizza place for us to get pizza! He gave us his card and told us to call if we need anything other than a tow. It must be an Alaskan thing!

It was a stunning drive into anchorage, with the sun setting as much as it does. We arrived at the garage about 10.30pm, put our key in the drop box, and caught a taxi to our new friends place. She said she is usually up until midnight so not a problem being late. it was about 11pm by the time we arrived and, of course, still daylight!

Darci is really nice, probably mid-40s and lives with her elderly father and teenage daughter. she said it’s not uncommon for all hotels to be booked and don’t even try getting a rental car. Her father has kindly offered the use of one of his cars, but hopefully we won’t need it.

Hopefully our tank will be an easy fix.

We spent a lazy morning at our riverside camp enjoying the view. Around lunchtime we decided to go for a hike to Exit Glacier. It was a lovely walk through forest, and along side a river bed. It was about an hours walk to the glacier and on the way back we had our first bear encounter.

A black mumma bear and two of her cubs were on the side of the path. Mike was going to walk right on past, and I told him to wait up, knowing there was a ranger behind us.

The ranger closed off the path and we had to walk back around the long way. It was no big deal.

It was 3pm and we decided to head out of town for the 3 hour drive to Homer. But 5 mins out of town I decided I wanted to go back to the riverbed to camp, and just as well I did.

We’d just been out for a walk and I’d noticed Rodger’s bum was smelly. I got Mike to check and sure enough there was a very mild fuel leak. We’ll get it seen to in the morning.

We woke up in the damp forest eager to move on. We headed for Seward, a small coastal town.

There were so many roadworks along the way that it was slow going. And our fuel tank was getting low as Mike had forgotten to refuel. Thankfully we have spare fuel on board so we put 15 litres in to get us to Seward.

It was cold and blustery so we parked by the waterfront and had a sleep. I’ve been feeling a bit achy the last couple of days and it feels like something viral.

We browsed the tourist shops in Seward, but didn’t buy anything. But we did buy some groceries.

We left the cold wet town, which reminded me a bit of Thames, and headed just up the road to exit glacier. We found an amazing spot to camp on a dried riverbed, surrounded by mountains. You don’t get much better than that!