July 12 and, so far, July 13... Outside Seward, camped on the Resurrection River

davis676
Jul 13, 2024
4 min read

Greetings...

Did i mention the rain? If not, that's what we have now. Along with low, moody-looking thin layers of clouds skimming the tops of the trees, and sliding silently up and over treed ridge lines, with patches of snow periodically peeking out from behind . These clouds were here yesterday, too. Beautiful, for sure, but we are ready for some sunshine. We were spoiled rotten by the wonderful, clear weather we mostly had the first couple of weeks we were here. It isn't really all cold, right at 50 to 55 degrees, but the dampness makes it feel a little colder.

Slept in yesterday, easy to do with the soft sounds of rain landing on the roof and of the river sliding by a few yards away. The water in the river is silty, like thin chocolate milk, more grey than "chocolate brown".

Were nursing the amount of electricity in our two house batteries, something known as our "State of Charge", or "SOC". We have two, giant, 400 amp hour batteries, but there are plenty of ways to use up all that stored "juice". Powering our inverter, for example. This allows us to plug things into AC outlets (such as my laptop, and the router for our Starlink dish). The inverter also powers our two-burner induction cooktop and our water heater. Otherwise, we use 12-volt power to charge up phones and fans and stuff like that. Over the first two or three weeks of this trip, due to a combination of having no night (it was pretty bright at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m.) and very few clouds, our six solar panels kept us at a high SOC. We were also driving greater distances then than we are now, which also charges up the house batteries. Now, with less driving time, being close to 1,000 miles further south, it being three weeks later in the year, and having a lot of clouds, managing our electricity is a little more challenging. Idling the truck helps, a little, but even with driving around some in Seward yesterday, we were around 60%. Not critical, but we decided to pull into a KOA to recharge the batteries, top off our water, and take longer showers than we can in Tuck's Truck. It was a good call.

As a side benefit, got to walk around some absolutely GIANT coaches parked at the KOA. Most of them were towing a smaller vehicle. Jeez, they are big. Maybe, someday, we'll gravitate to that, but right now we are enjoying the relative nimbleness of our truck, our sailboat on wheels, as it were. Not a "cruise ship" on wheels. (Speaking of cruise ships, did you see that viral video of the catfight that broke out on some cruise ship last week? Bunch of ladies, throwing chairs and punches. Some close-by bystander doing some animated "play by play" announcing. Couldn't happen on our "ship"... no chairs to throw!).

Previously mentioned the plan to get up early yesterday morning to stream the two Gentlemen's Singles Semi-Final matches from Wimbledon on my laptop. Did not do that, in part to a concern about our SOC. However, did follow along on my phone. Alcaraz vs. Djokovic tomorrow WILL get me out of bed.

Had a delicious lunch on the harbor waterfront prior to checking into the KOA (some awesome seafood chowder for me, and a salmon rice bowl for Ann. Tuck later devoured some leftover salmon...). Found "J Dock", a store right on the dock where we picked up some rockfish and black cod. We'll have the black cod tonight. A mid-size cruise ship was in port, adding a nice story element to an image that otherwise would have only been concerned with showing a harbor at rest.

Went back into town after our KOA visit. Drove all around, and past, the town. Pretty dramatic scenery, what with all that rugged coastline, waterfalls, snow, fishing boats, rain, low clouds, etc.

A couple of side notes... If you decide to make this trip, I'd say don't bother with carrying firewood around just in case you can't find any when you get where you are going. A, the chances of not finding firewood are low. B. Campfires are fun after dark and when you can sit around them and stare in the fire, alone with your thoughts. But, when it essentially doesn't get dark, and your thoughts are consumed with how to swat those five mosquitoes that just flew into your right ear, the whole proposition loses some of its traditional appeal. C. After enjoying said campfire, you get to go to bed smelling like smoke. Wet smoke, in this case. And, D., if you have been reading my posts, you 'll know it especially doesn't work when you try to bring wood from the United States.

Also, we have yet to use our very nice, full-sized, YETI folding camp chairs. They are lashed to the back of the truck, wrapped in a big, black plastic bag. Various reasons (see above), including being on the move all the time.

It is still raining, at 12:46. Time for a ham sandwich and possibly a nap.

Tomorrow, we take Tuck, our Service Animal, on a six-hour boat tour of Kenai Fjords National Park. Should be beautiful, but damp and cool. Happy to have a bunch of Gore-Tex and wool around.

Have a great rest of your weekend, and thanks for your interest!

Best regards,

Davis, Ann, and Tuck