Home Again

Well the emergency trip South went well...It was nice pulling into the HITW to a burning fire...no not the forest fire but the poo-paws fire...complete with coffee.
My little house was set up and ready for me top take occupancy...and the kids spent lots of time at the Eagles nest...Unfortunately after the first night...there was no fire in the pit...spending all day chasing forest fires on one day and packing in the rain on the other...we had no chance to sit and chat at the fire...but from the news reports I am getting we the purpose of out trip was achieved and as long as no one moves their cabin to Tustamena lake all is well...
I would say the most eventful part of this weekend was actually the trip home. The moose rig is crippled and had to limp home...this required frequent stops...turning a 3 and a half hour trip into a nine hour one. but it was a good one...one of the best I have taken...stopping often relieves that "damn I am sick of a riding in a car feeling." We stopped first out side of Ninilchick at the burned out motel/bar...hoping to see a glimpse of the retreating fire...this turned into and adventure for Kimmy and Heidi and a night mare for poor Sierra...she sat with me in the Yukon...afraid of the ghosts in the building...I think she was right...what a creepy building...no luck here but a few of the crew needed to potty and do not squat so we headed up the road to Deep Creek. Stopping at the potty Papa moose ambled his way to the river, of course. He immediately noticed a tourist from Tennessee fishing and had a minor confrontation with him about the fishing regulations...of course at the time the guy was in "bonking" a poor salmon over the head...being caught the ass threw the dead fish back!!! Now this really pissed off Papa moose...but being non confrontational he sat and strewed...calling the troopers would have been useless...we saw not one the whole trip. Unfortunately for those travelling South the jerks were not only killing salmon illegally but the proceeded to swig a few more beers before getting in their truck...pulling a fifth wheel and head south to Homer...guess if you drink it while your stopped it is not drinking and driving. Realizing there was nothing we could do short of blowing out their tires we headed North again...made it to Clam Gulch...where we stopped on the beach and saw the "Twins" a brief nautical lesson for mama wolf and some "run time" for Kim and we were off again...making it to Soldotna we stopped for food...now we left Anchor Point at 3:00pm it was 6 when we pulled into McD's....longest trip to Soldotna I have ever had....after food and a smoke we were headed North again...Cooper Landing Camp Ground was out next stop...now that river is intimidating river. This stop was more a potty break as we new we would stop for awhile at the bottom of the pass...Tern Lake was our next stop...with all these kids someone had to potty at every out house we found...so we did leave a trail for other to follow...Now the most interesting thing I found at Tern Lake was a sign for "Old Sterling Hwy mile 961" I will drive that old dirt road someday...I know my grandparents probably did...now I want to...After a long run around...which did nothing for the energy level of Kim...that girl can talk...and move for hours...we headed up the pass...Hope junction the moose left the path again and we found ourselves under the old "Canyon Creek Bridge" We walked out on the bridge and Warren tried to climb it so I herded my buffies back to safety but not until after I glimpsed the valley from a very new view...I remember it was a long way down...looking out the truck window many years ago...now what was a long way down stands above the bridge...mighty tall trees growing in that protected valley. hope fully Heidi has the pictures on her flicker...cant link it as I dont have the address and am too lazy to go find it.
Being all down hill from here we made it to Girdwood before we again stopped...coffee had...smokes smoked and we were ready to move again...Donny had to poo...once everyone was buckled being 10:30 we hit the road...we were in Indian when Heidi turned around and realized we had left Donny in Girdwood...ooops...new I would do that someday. Thank God it was the big kid although we can not figure out why Kim and Sierra did not tell us Donny was no longer with them. Leaving the Moose to cool off we headed back for Donny. We found him sitting on the bench looking dejected...will he ever forgive me? We did catch the moose again at Potters Marsh...and stopped for one last sit...I parted ways with them at this time...found the Wolf Den lights still on at midnight...dropped that crew off on the road side...I am getting good at that now....and headed for home...Took Donny, Britt and I less that fifteen minutes to unload and de garbage the Yukon and Donny was off to bed....Britt and I rehashed the weekend until 3am and now it is back to reality. So a weekend of house cleaning turned into a fun adventure that I can remember in years to come...although the trip to Anchor Point may never be three hours again...there is a lot of cool places between here and there you pass right up at 80.