Valdez, Alaska

Monday, July 21, Day 49 of Alaskan Journey

Campground view

We got settled at the RV park in Valdez and called our friends Skip and Mary. They had not seen our truck camper before. Later we made plans to go to their campground for dinner at 6 pm.  We were within walking distance, which is a plus of small towns.  

The campground

A bigger plus was that Mary had prepared grilled fresh salmon, mahi-mahi with a pecan topping, garden-fresh green beans, stewed tomatoes, corn muffins, and lemon cake for desert.  Our contribution to this meal was a bottle of fine vino that we had brought from Homer. Unfortunately, our hosts preferred other beverages, so Daisy and I, being good guests, shared our offering with a toast to their long health and vitality. We had a great “fish camp dinner,” as Mary billed it, and a long evening of daylight catching up with them on places we had been and where to go next.

Our hosts, Skip and Mary

Fish camp meal

She is my angel...

and...a fisher person.

Tuesday, July 22, Day 50 of Alaskan Journey

 
We had been traveling daily and it was nice to sleep in and catch up on email and Facebook. The park had good internet so I did blog work and Daisy the FB stuff. Valdez has been Skip and Mary’s home port for their guided fishing business for many years, and they were in the process of liquidating their business assets. While Skip had been the fishing boat captain, Mary had a full-time job as well as running a bed and breakfast in their home, which they had already sold. They picked us up about 1 pm and gave us the nickel tour of Valdez. 

Valdez sits below a glacier so we started there.

The glacier used to be right where we stood.

Yep, there were.

I also stopped in at the local Forest Service station.

 
 

Our local guides and great friends, Skip and Mary

 



Another great stop was a fish hatchery and weir where we could observe Bald Eagles fishing along with the tourists. 

Hey guys, watch out for eagles!

Hey guys, I have good news...the run is on.

Mary informed us that we would also be stopping at a local seafood market for some large Alaskan shrimp, which she steamed for us all back at their place. The joys of being in a seafood port should not be underestimated.  Later in the evening, Daisy and I slowly walked the 4 blocks back to our campground holding hands.

Wednesday, July 23, Day 51 of Alaskan Journey

We slept in again. After squaring away the TC and cleaning up, we spent the day mostly on our own. We went to the visitor center first and then to the Whitney Museum. 

 



We stopped at the Safeway on the way back to the campground. Skip and Mary picked us up and took up to the best seafood restaurant/bar in town. It was our turn to treat them. We had Caesar salad, steamed clams, and scallops Parmesan, and topped it off with chocolate cheesecake. There is nothing like sharing a great evening with friends at the Best Western.



This was scheduled to be our last evening with them. Tomorrow we were continuing on our journey, but we would see Skip and Mary again back home in Arkansas where we are neighbors.

Thursday, July 24, Day 52 of Alaskan Journey

Temperature 55°

Elevation 39 ft.

We stopped at Safeway first, then fueled up for our expected 225 mile journey that day on the Richardson Highway. We were heading back to the lower 48. We were told that the road would climb first and then narrow to two lanes and be a steep, winding downgrade about 25 miles out of town. 

Horsetail Falls

We saw great scenery as we climbed up out of town. 

Bridal Veil Falls

The most exciting thing happened at milepost 20. I lost the clutch. I was shifting through neutral into a lower gear to make the final ascent to the top before the long, curvy downgrade. The clutch would not engage! I also realized that my foot brake was not reacting as it should. Oh, shucks!

The Pass

We gradually slowed to a stop in a nearly level portion—partially in the road and on a narrow shoulder. I got out and blocked the wheel. I waved the sparse traffic around us. One little car stopped and the driver asked if he could help us. I thanked him and said no.  Finally a family with a one-ton pickup towing a travel trailer stopped and made the same offer of help. The driver told us about a gravel stock pile site several hundred yards ahead and off the road. I asked him to tow me there and with my tow strap he did, after first unhooking his trailer there. They let us know that if we had been one mile further on this 7% upgrade we would have been in trouble. Then we would have been in Thompson Pass with no place to pull off. 

Gravel pit meant a safe haven

Here we were finally safe, and as luck would have it our phones worked there. We were able to call our Good Sam roadside service.  We also called Skip and Mary. They came out to sit with us until the tow truck came. 



Our road service wanted to tow us to the nearest authorized dealer. That, however, was in Anchorage, about 300 miles away. I suggested that they just get us back to Valdez. Skip had made me aware of a local mechanic shop that did great work once they got to it. It appears that in these small towns, they take care of local folks’ work first, as you might expect. Skip also suggested a reliable tow truck company for my service to use. I passed on the info.  It was going to be a while, so Daisy went with Skip and Mary back to Valdez. The local mechanic shop (there were only two, one not recommended) would take me in but would not get to the repairs for several days. Remember that the salmon runs were on. 

The drive shaft had to be disengaged.

So the roadside service company took our rig back to the campground we had just left and would return in a few days to haul the truck without the camper to the repair yard. 

Home sweet home again.

The campground was full, but had a spot next to the manager that they could maneuver a small unit in. We had to park 90° to his unit to fit in. We had made friends with the manager earlier in the week so he was amenable to us being there.

Again Mary made plans for us to dine with them. She was planning on serving chicken, but the owner of their campground had caught a 134-pound halibut that morning and we were all invited to a fish fry! 


Actually,things were going well. We were blessed with having the breakdown before the 60 mile narrow steep downgrade. We had phone service where we broke down. We encountered a family that helped tow us to safety. We found a tow truck. The campground made a space for us that the tow driver was able to offload us into, and we had fresh halibut and steamed shrimp, all we could eat, for dinner. God is good! After the repast we held hands again as we leisurely trekked back to our unit. We counted our joint blessings.

Friday, July 25, Day 53 of the Alaskan Journey

I called the mechanic shop early and they told me to bring the vehicle in on Monday. It was raining steadily, so we just went back to bed and listened to the rain drumming on the roof. We spent the day catching up on electronic media tasks and delayed checking out the museums we did not visit the previous week. We were going to be here for awhile. 

Daisy and I are Elks lodge members.

The rain slowed and Skip and Mary picked us up to go to the Elks Lodge for dinner.  This was their big rib eye steak night. We ordered our meal and I went to the bar to get drinks for the table. 

Skip and Mary's local friends

I was leaning against the bar and a guy walked over to me and said “You’re  Chip!”  I had met him (Mac) and his wife (Sam) in a campground in Tucson, AZ several years ago (2000). Sam let out a yelp when she saw Mac give me a hug, and she declared to the establishment that I was a great dancing partner and could sing karaoke. It seems this seaport was also where they spend many months of the year.  An added plus was their vocal endorsement of Daisy and me, which warmed the crowd and we were instantly accepted into the gathering with lots of hellos and smiles. It is definitely a small world.

Saturday, July 26, Day 54 of the Alaskan Journey

The rain had stopped by afternoon so Daisy took pictures of the fireweed and mountains at the back of the campground.  We again went over to Skip and Mary’s, but this time we cooked comfort food for them in their own kitchen.   



The weather was cool so I prepared my signature baked chicken breasts/thighs with thick sliced sweet onions covered with a seasoned stuffing and mushroom gravy. Daisy fried apples and Mary provided a salad. Of course there was vanilla ice cream with sliced peaches and chocolate cake. It was all very good, especially the company.

Sunday, July 27, Day 55 of the Alaskan Journey

It was a drizzly and overcast day. We stayed inside and played with the computers. The park had great free wifi service.  In the afternoon, the clouds allowed sunshine to peak through. After our evening meal we enjoyed a campground sing along in which the ukulele was the featured instrument of choice. 

Mac and Sam

Sam and Mac (from the Elks) came over to join the campfire group and we were blessed by a great rainbow in the mountains.

Look hard its there

 


It started at the left and right edges then gradually became full with some traces of being a double!

Both ends on one camera shot.

Somewhere under the rainbow!

Monday, July 28, Day 56 of the Alaskan Journey

The truck camper looks lonely.

We woke to clearing skies, and the tow truck hauled our vehicle to the shop.  

 In the afternoon we ventured out for a walk to the newer of the two Valdez city museums. 


 


This one provided interesting footnotes on the history of the town including the 1898 gold rush, 1964 earthquake, pipeline building in the 1970s, and the Exxon oil spill in 1989. 






On our way home we stopped at a nearby bar called the Boardroom that was just opening up for the day. We were their first customers for the day. The bartender was a young woman and gave us her perspective on growing up in this seaport town. She invited us to come back after the dinner hour when things would be livelier. We did.

Tuesday, July 29, Day 57 of the Alaska Journey

Skip went with me to talk to the mechanic shop owner. When we dropped the truck off, he said he might not get around to looking at it till Thursday.   After our visit he told us maybe he could get to it the next day. It does help to know a local customer! 

Skip and Mary’s campground owners (the halibut catchers) invited us to come back to their park this evening for a hotdog/hamburger cookout. They do a lot of socializing there, and it has been nice to be included as part of their “family”.  They are great people, but do not have restrooms and showers at their campground.  We have a small shower in our unit but tend to use it for storage. 


That evening Daisy sorted some pictures of our travels and submitted them to the Trailer Life Magazine photo contest. Doesn’t hurt to try! 

(Flash Forward: In October 2014 we were featured as one of the Honorable Mentions and our photo of RVs on a highway in the Yukon Territory appeared in the magazine!)

 Here is that award winning picture!

Wednesday, July 30, Day 58 of Alaskan Journey

At 10 am we got a call from the shop saying that our truck was fixed.  It appeared that the hydraulic line to the clutch from the master cylinder had come loose and all of the hydraulic fluid had drained out. They had reattached it securely and replaced the fluid. 
No parts, 2 hours of labor for a total of $192.00; come and get it.   

My campground neighbor Rick took me to get the truck while Daisy began preparations for us to leave town the next day.  When I picked up the truck I test drove it and told the shop owner that the clutch felt “squishy.” He advised me that was because of air still in the line and that it would work its way out as we drove. 

Not these, but it's the only flower pic from Valdez I had handy.

That evening we gave flowers to Mary and their campground owner to thank them for their hospitality and taking care of us. Having a week off the road for repairs had not been in our plans, but we were fortunate that it happened in a place where we had such great friends. The next day we would be “on the road again.”

That evening we loaded the truck camper back on the truck. Believe it or not, one of the two slide motors twisted itself off its mount with a loud crunch and would not move. I kid you not!! The good news was that I was able to jury-rig a temporary means of holding the slide motor in place and moving the slide in and stabilizing it to not slide out while we were on the road. The bad news was that the nearest place we could go to order a new motor and have it installed was 300 miles back in Anchorage. It was not on our planned route, but what’s a fellow to do? Going back to Anchorage was the right answer. The route we would be using to return to the lower 48 did not have any major RV repair places.

Thursday, July 31, Day 59 of our Alaskan Journey

Temperature 52°

As we moved out of the campground that morning, I was still not satisfied with the feeling of the clutch and stopped by the mechanic shop. The owner was there and assured me that as the owner of a one-ton manual F-350 himself, the clutch operation would get better as the air bubbles naturally bleed out of the system. He went on a test drive with me and showed me two techniques of double clutching and shifting without a clutch that I could do in the interim.   He told me that there was nothing else they could do.  Feeling more assured, we left heading up the Richardson Highway. As we passed the place where we loss the hydraulic line a week ago, I breathed easier.