It Has Been A Long Time

 2012 was a different type of year - it went very fast and I am not sure where it went. As we are heading for 2013 I want to make an effort to keep up with Dan's blog as well as my own. Even though I feel that we did not accomplish that much in the motobike department, we did do some stuff that had I blogged I would be able to acknowledge right now!
So here goes!!! yesterday we went down to Westchester Lagoon to ice skate. It was warmer here yesterday than it has been for about 4 months, I think it may have been 50 at one brief point. It was windy though so we still had to toggle somewhat. The wind made it interesting as we would move across the ice with no effort one way and then have to really work to skate back against it later on. Couple of times Dan's chair went off sideways and that was interesting/fun. We hope to go out again on new Year's Eve for another skate. Westchester Lagoon is by far the best lake skating one could wish for.

Valdez Vacation

This is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to, I hope you all get to go there one day and see it for yourselves.

It Has Been A While!

I can not believe how long it is since I last posted, my excuse is " I am busy!" Although we have not done as much motorbiking this year, we have done a bit. We also had a great trip to get our fish at Kasilof and a day at Eklutna Lake, both these trips were with the 4 wheeler. We had some mechanical trouble with the bike early on in the year and Daniel had got a new head array on his chair and the array we use with the bike no longer fit. We have had to Jimmy Rig something up here, it is so so.
We lost Lukie this year, it was very sad he was a wonderful dog one in a million. I think of him all the time and hope to meet up with him again one day.
Molly is our 4 legged friend now, she is a sweet girl, full of joy and energy. We hope to get her out on Pluto, Kevin and I tried earlier this year but it did not go that well and we just have not got around to trying again.

We Have A New Toy

We thought it would be fun for us and Daniel to go 4 Wheeling. We would need a 4 wheeler and a specially made trailer to hold Dan in his wheelchair. Finding the 4 wheeler was not too hard, we found a yellow one on sale that had what we needed on it. We then found some great people to build us a trailer. We have to take it slow due to the bumping around. Covering Dan from the mud is a challenge and the clean up is grueling, but boy does he like it!

Dip Netting At Kasilof

We just came back from dip netting on the Kasilof River. We got there Tuesday evening after a day of packing (seems that we take more STUFF each trip!). This is my first time dip netting and it really is like nothing else you do. A ton of people all show up at one location (where the salmon come in from the ocean)with anything and everything you need to get fish. We show up in motorhomes, trailers, tents, pick up trucks and cars. People are all dressed in waders and are carrying huge nets and coolers. There is no campground, it is just a place that you somehow find "a spot". Seeing as we are so big we found our spot on the side of the road. Some of us stayed a while others would be there for the day. Seeing as it does not go too dark right now it was a busy noisy place. When the tide starts to come in you see the people toggling up and heading out there to fish. Kevin was with them, they all line up, place the nets in the water and wait. It is a no brainer really, but it is also hard work as you do have to hold the net there against the current, and your arm pit deep in water.
Kevin caught most of our fish on Friday evening/night and the rest on Sat evening/night. All in all we got 40 red salmon.
Whist we were there we took Arnold out to Homer for the day. I drove the first 40 miles, it was incredibly windy and this is all I could manage. When I stopped to let Kevin take over I could hardly move my shoulder joints and wrists. Homer is a lovely town, the view is beautiful.
By Saturday we had run out of water and it was all getting too old. Dan and I were going nuts cooped in the motorhome, so we headed out to Fred Myers this way we could dump, get water and more ice for our fish. We spent the night in the parking lot with friends, the plan was to find someplace to camp and clean fish. That did not happen as everywhere was full so we all headed home Sunday morning.
Once home we had to start the job of cleaning, cutting and wrapping and canning the fish. We worked till 3.3oam Sunday night and all day Monday. You know you can really get sick of the sight and smell of fish!






Cooler Full Of Fish, we got 40 red salmon

Poker Run and Pig Roast BBQ

On Sunday we took part in the Last Frontier Poker Run. The weather was wonderful and so was the scenery. We left Anchorage at 12pm, our first stop was Eagle River. We then headed out to Jonesville Cafe in Sutton. This is one of my favorite places, the people are warm and friendly, their food if scrumptious.Check out their very naughty deserts too!! Our destination was the Pig Roast at Wheeldog's Ranch near Wasilla.
There was a large turn out and it looks like we all managed to eat a whole pig! Dan and Kevin both won BMW T shirts and I won Gorilla Tape. It was a great run through the back roads.

Once The Snow Goes

Whilst the snow was amazingly beautiful by April we are all quite done with it and have zero tolerance left.But it was May before the weather permitted us to get riding again. We joined a motorbike club called "The Last Frontier" and started riding with them on Thursday nights. It is a ride and a social at a local eating place.
We took our first camping trip two weeks ago to Cooper Landing. We had a great time riding the bike on new roads. We went over to see the Exit Glacier, there is a very nice accessible path around the area.
If you happen to be in Kenai make sure you stop at Veronica's to eat. It is a very quaint place, serving wonderfully home cooked food. Say hi to Diane as she is a lovely lady there.