Friday July 23

With the Sockeye salmon checked off the list on the Kenai, we’ll try Homer again. A shower first, five bags of my new favorite popcorn “Alaskan Brand Theater Style”, a tank full of gas and I hit the road.

Homer is the end of the road in the south central part of Alaska. I thought it was pretty gross. It’s a great place to take another boat trip to see glaciers, puffins or whales but I wasn’t about to shell out for that experience again. Homer was basically a spit of land that sticks out into the Cook Inlet (ocean) surrounded by mountains. While naturally beautiful, the road down the spit was filled with the usual shops filled with trinkets and T-shirts. Not too classy.

Paid $25 for an “organic” pizza served by 2 chicks with seriously hairy pits……and moustaches. Ate it and watched a lone surfer brave the 40 degree water temps.

Homer was not worth the effort so I drove back north to Soldotna, back near the Kenai River. Watched half of the “Lovely Bones” on DVD and slept at the Fred Meyers…..with the 50 other RV’s that were already there. I think I’ve now “used” every stall in the men’s room in the Soldotna Fred Meyer’s, which is a lot grosser experience than you might think…..because all the guys in the other 50 RV’s have too.

Fred Meyer’s is a department store sort of like Wal-Mart. This particular store happens to be situated in the epicenter of the red salmon run on the Kenai River. The store is pristine at 6am and completely trashed by 10pm. People camping in the lot ransack the place. There’s this overlap of the three worlds……. they are; the million people fishing, the hundreds of people “living” in the parking lot, and the daily functions of the actual store. Those things scrambled together create some kind of scene…..in the bathrooms, in the fishing section, near the coolers, near the food. It is total chaos….and there are some sights to behold. On another note, the nearest Wal-Mart is just a little too far away from the action, far enough away to find its parking lot……deserted. For comparison, imagine if they allowed free camping at the Wal-Mart across the street from say…..the Daytona 500 during the week of the race…..you get the idea.

One more thing…..It’s been raining off and on for the last 5 days and it’s getting to me.