The usually packing and loading was the order of business. I had actually been able to sleep in for a change so I was late for breakfast but early for lunch. If you are passing through Palmer the Valley Café in open 24/7 and the food in good and decent priced. The girl at the front desk told me that there was tent camping place just down the road called Fox Trail. It’s was about 10 miles outside of town and cost 18 dollars a night. That the cheapest campground price I have paid sense I started the trip. I picked out a spot down by the lake and setup camp. No one was around so I decided to find out about getting my bike tires mounted and balanced. My Dad drove his truck up and before he left I threw a new set of tire in the back. Once in Anchorage he left them at a friends house. So I dialed in the BMW Motorcycle shop in Anchorage into my GPS and headed out. Anchorage is a city and the size of the Quad-cities. Once I got to the shop I was quoted a price of 100 dollars a wheel to change the tires and 70 dollars a for storage. I told them I would call them back and make sure that I was going to be able to get the tires. My dad was having a hard time getting a hold of the guys with the tires last time I talked to him about it. After that I stopped at Walmart to pick up a couple of things. I wandered over to the automotive section and picked up a gallon of oil for 21.00. Yeah, I’m a cheap bastard. I was going to change the oil once I got home but I figured I had a little down time and the bike has over 6000 miles on current oil change. A litter box was the only other thing I need to do the job. Total expenditure was 24.00. Oil changes are usually about 120.00 buck. That’s the price without the neck massage. Once I got all my stuff on the bike I was ready to find some supper. The Valley Café was so good I figured I would hit it again. Falter eating I decided to go for a ride around town. Palmer is a nice clean little town but it pretties much a 15-minute tour and you’re through. So I headed out of town towards the east into the mountains on the Palmer outer loop. This was a awesome ride. A huge shallow stream on one side and a mountains on the other. The about halfway around the loop I saw a ground on people fishing at a boat landing. So I figured I would stop in and see what was biting. There was about 30 people all just hanging out and fishing I didn’t see any fish that had been caught so I figured I would explore the bank line. I found a bridge that went over to a small island. I figured I could take photos of the people fishing easier. As I was walking up the trail I noticed several cars that had been dumped in the river. Junk to one man is a gold mine to another. No and am not going to take the cars. I wanted to take pictures of them. Thinking about those two statement I not sure, which sounds weirder. Well, anyway I had blast shoot these old rusty junkers half buried in the riverbank with plants and trees growing out of them. The great thing about Alaska is that the sun is never directly over your head. So it makes it easy to get shadows and reflection in your pictures. The other great thing is that the days are so damned long you have plenty of time.
I decided to head for the tent and call it a night. On the way to town I show a cool old bridge so I spent a hour wandering around it. It was about 9:30 when I got back to camp and I figured I would check my email. I discovered that I was locked out. I was running low on power so I plugged into the plug-in next to the washer and dryer. I jumped up of the dryer and started trying to remember the day’s events. The own and her son pulled up and stared at me. I guess this did look pretty hillbilly. I smiled and asked it I could get the password to the Internet. She acted a little confused and then she remembered I was tent camping. She apologized and invited me into the office to have a seat. Once inside the boy said” What kind of person sits on a drier in a camp ground to use a computer. I laughed and said one the needs power. My response still didn’t seem to make sense until his mom said “he the motorcycler in the camping area. The boy them said “Oh”! He had foot surgery for an abscess and was focused on trying to change the bandages as well as quibble with his mom. The son and her were curious about me. She offered me a glass of wine and said so what is it you do? After I told her I was a teacher in Graphic Arts she told me she had taken a bunch of courses in Desktop Publishing. She was having problems getting her website finished in Dreamweaver. I told her I would be glad to give her a hand if she needed. Realizing, I wasn't going to get any blogging done I found out that her and her family were from Lexington Kentucky. Her husband was a musician and they ran recording studio before coming up to Alaska. She had taken classes in Desktop Publishing to develop brochures, CD covers, posters, and fliers. It was a familiar story that sounded a lot like my own. At about 11:00 I decided I was to tired to think and need to head to bed. Great day of exploring, photography and visiting. I am sure this sounds like an odd vacation but I kind of think of it as practice for retirement.
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