Alaska 16. Road Warriors July 25

We woke up to thick, thick fog. I had been promising blueberry pancakes for a few days now, and today was the day! Dave had made coffee and crawled back into bed. And I crawled out and made pancakes and served Dave in bed. 

Role reversal!

It was rainy and cold so we dug out our rain gear and headed inland, hoping for less rain and planning to fish. it was shocking how fast we came out of the rain. We even saw the sun. Temps rose almost 20 degrees in a matter of miles. We had to drive a ways to find fishable water. That is, CLEAR water. Most of the rivers here are HUGE and silty. That isn’t to say there aren’t fish in them, but I guess sport fishermen don’t fish them. We have NO IDEA what we are doing. So we are just kind of playing around and trying to figure it out. 

What we SHOULD be doing is HIKING. Cuz this girl had drunk way too much beer. Eaten way too many Mike and Ikes, and squirted far too much much Easy Cheese. But we didn’t even bring hiking clothes, assuming it was going to be raining all day. In fact, I have on my heaviest black fleece pants and now it’s sunny and 73 degrees. I’m literally dying. 

One sad note is RIP my small creek Remington Classic Trout rod and reel. Our roof-top River Quiver somehow came open on the highway and the rod fell out. Dave is madder than mad. And I get it. But given that our most prized rods are SAFE and the least expensive of the four that were in there is the one that fell out and got crushed by someone who didn’t see it, I am feeling grateful. It’s still a bummer, but it could have been so, so much worse. 

We caught a few grayling. And yes, Jennie FINALLY hooked a few. And, happily, they DIDN’T stink. So now we think the ones Dave caught in the Yukon stunk because the water stunk. (I only know the water stunk because an air boat roared by us and as the waves crashed against the shore it smelled fishy.) I don’t know if that’s really why those smelled bad, Im just glad THESE don’t. 

We headed back to camp. I was dying of heat. A/C on full blast. Pounding cherries… the cherries on this trip have been SO GOOD. As we neared the coastal mountains, we were back in the clouds and the temp dropped right back down to 50 degrees. Crazy. We had talked about staying a third night, but the forecast is grim, so we plan to leave in the morning. 

As I write this, I realize I’m not taking enough pictures. My photo rolls is filled with screenshots and food. — And pictures of hitch connections, muddy tire suspensions and missing solar panels. Boring.

But I know you want to know about dinner, right? Penne pasta with sausage, peppers and cheese and… instead of cheesy bread, I made grilled jalapeno cheese bread. Seriously a contender for the #1 spot. (The cheese bread, I mean.)

Rain and cold sent us to the camper for a cribbage game before Dave going to sleep just before 9 pm and a NEW RECORD of 8 hours and 23 minutes of actual sleep, per his Apple Watch.