Seward's folly

So my bro and I made it back alive! We had the true unalaskan experience staying in a hotel for three nights and dining on fast food. We did try... having borrowed our tow truck drivers fishn poles, however, neither Josh or myself really know how to rig a pole up or fish, especially fly fish with a spinning rod and reel. The nice folks at the tackle shop helped us rig one of our poles, setting us up to fish for silver salmon. We bought our hip waders, line, hooks, roe, knife and three day fishing licenses. We went to the kenai river access behind our hotel and began to fish, after little action and alot of tangled line, we gave up having caught NO FISH! Josh had to fly from the Kenai airport back to Fairbanks Sunday evening to catch his flight back to NC the following morning, meanwhile, I was still stranded in Soldotna with broke down transportation. I got up Monday, took a cab to B & D auto and then began to explain what "happened" to the car before it died. The mechanic that was going to look at it said it sounded like a serious problem, minutes later he came back and explained it was just the alternator belt. This came as bittersweet news knowing that our whole excursion was derailed by such a simple problem-- if only we had gotten help in time or broken down in the right place where immediate repair was available!!!!-- yet I was relieved to get the rental car, which was not to be driven past Denali, fixed easily and without spending a fortune. More importantly, I could now get back to Fairbanks. However, on the lonesome drive home through amazing vistas I couldn't help but obsess about what might have been, how Josh and I were set to have another unforgettable time roadtrippin' far from where we should be. We just had shit luck this time. However all was not lost, we did go rafting near denali national park which was a white water blast as we both got to ride the "bull"!!! and we met the bald eagle lovin'/glamour shootin' tow truck driver Matt. We also met Rick who was the coolest guide ever--however not ours-- and reminded us both of Nathan. So in conclusion, we will return to Alaska someday soon to fin ish what we hardly started. Next time we will have Natedog in tow and book our adventure with Rick.

In retrospect, we should have probably attempted to go to Seward instead of Homer. We almost surely would have made it that far. My friend Lydia and her sister both grew up in Seward and boldly/biasly endorsed there former homestead. After being presented with the cruise ships vs no cruise ships dilemma, I chose Homer's spit and cruise free waters. Whale, by now you know what happened. If I had only listened to Lydia and her amazing christian cookies--better than the Hatch family recipe oatmeal butterscotch-- we might have made it to the ocean!!! Zak's folly.






Lydia