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Well, this year’s Alaska vacation was a little bit different, and not what we had planned!
The plan was to borrow a truck from a friend of Mark (my brother), to tow our camper. Mark had sold his Ram Charger, which we had used in the past. We were going to head for the Discovery camp ground in the Captain Cook State Recreation Area. It is located at the end of the road heading north out of Soldotna on the Kenai peninsula.
Mark and I had been to this park a few years ago. We enjoyed it very much so we decided it would be nice to go back. Unfortunately, we did not get there.On the way to the Kenai peninsula we encountered some truck problems. The truck was a diesel, and neither Mark nor I knew much about diesel engines. Anyway, things started out very well. The truck started very easily and seemed ok.
Before we started though, we noticed some minor leaking of oil and found that it was a quart low. There was considerable confusion about what oil to put in the thing. There were notes on the owner’s guide, but that was a 1983 guide. It finally turned out that we got standard diesel engine oil and added a quart.Part way to the Kenai we smelled what seemed to be burning oil. We poked around and discovered a leaking fuel injection port. Mark brought some tools, so we tightened the nut, and that stopped the leak.
Another strange thing happened. When we first picked up the truck, it sounded like most diesel trucks, kind of noisy. Part way down the road, the noise disappeared, and the truck was quiet. It seemed to be running ok, just quiet. A while later, however, the noise came back, and it seemed to be louder. We were not sure if this was the case, or if it was our imagination.We made it to Soldotna and decided to spend the night at the local camp ground. It was getting late and the trip to the Captain Cook Recreation Area was another 40 or 50 miles with nothing around. With the truck acting up, we did not want to be caught on the open road. This turned out to be a good decision ... read on.
The next day we went into town to seek information about our truck’s condition. We did not find much, but everyone seemed to think it was sounding and running like a diesel.We decided to play it safe and stay in the camp ground in Soldotna. It turned out that it was not very busy, so we were able to find a nice camp site which was close to the water. We spent some of our time fishing and just camping.
One time when we were going to go into town, the truck acted up again. It would not start. It had two fuel tanks, so we switched to the other tank and it started. This seemed strange because the fuel gage indicated there was fuel in the original tank.
Anyway, after three days it was time to head back to Mark’s place. We headed out of the camp site and toward the main road. There was a double left turn lane and we were the lead vehicle in the left one. We were stopped at the light when the truck died. It would not start again, no matter what we tried.A good Samaritan showed up with a truck and chain. While the police held up traffic, we were towed across the intersection to a spot along side of a go-cart park. The owner of the go-cart park was kind enough to let us park there for a while.
You might want to know the time frame about now. This was Saturday, our travel day to Mark’s place. Sunday evening was my flight home.So, here we are, stuck in Soldotna with a dead truck and a camper. What to do???
About the only place that would have a mechanic and was open on Saturday was the Chevron station a few blocks away. Now in Soldotna, a block is about a quarter mile or so. We finally got there, and found that the mechanic was not due back until Monday -- gone fishing.
Hmmm!!!
Hmmm!!!
Oh good grief! The only solution we can come up with is to tow the beast and camper back.
The guy at the Chevron came up with a towing company that would do the job, to the tune of $965.00. They can do the job the next day, Sunday, the day of my flight.
So, ok, we go for it. The tow fellows say they can have it ready to depart on Sunday at noon. My flight is not until 8:00 PM, so that will work.Mark thinks we can just camp in the camper, but I remind him that we are not in the camp ground, and there are no facilities where we are parked. I also strongly suggest that we both need to clean up some. We get a room at a motel that is close to the truck and camper.
Please note that from this point on, we are taking a cab to most places we need to go, especially when it involves carting our bags around.
We devise a plan where if the tow trip is a bit late, I will be all ready to be dropped off at the airport to catch my flight. As it turned out, the two truck drive is really pretty quick and we get to Mark’s place around 3:30 PM.
So, ok, we make it back with truck and camper in hand/tow. The camper is unhitched and the truck will be dropped off at the shop, which is on the way back for the tow driver. That all works out, more or less.
Oh, by the way, Mark talks to his friend’s mechanic and when Mark tells him about the fuel leak, the mechanic says he knows what the problem is. Apparently when this happens to a diesel, air gets into the fuel lines and causes sort of an air bubble. This has to be "burped" out of the system, and then it will work fine again. Lovely!
So, now I’m back at Mark’s place and in time for my flight. Mark takes me to the airport and all is well again, right? Not quite. Five minutes before boarding time, the flight is canceled. There’s a chunk of volcano dust that has blown in the south bound flight path. It can not be detected by the night time flights, so they canceled for safety.
After standing in a very long line for a couple of hours, I finally get booked on a flight THE NEXT NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT. I call Mark, who can’t believe it, and he picks me up at the airport again. Now you have to realize that Mark’s place in Chugiak is about a 30 mile drive to the airport in Anchorage.
I spent another day with Mark, just putting around, and waiting for my next flight. At this point, I am fairly frustrated. We do all that calculating and effort to get me back in time for my flight, and it is canceled. I was planning on having a nice full day of transition before going back to work, but instead that is spent in Alaska, putting around. Argh!!!
Well, anyway, the time with Mark was enjoyable, at least when we were not having truck and travel problems.
So, the above mentioned events took the steam out of my desire to take pictures. Sorry about that. I hope you enjoy what there is.
For those that are interested...
These pictures were taken with my Panasonic DMC-FZ10 digital camera. It has 4 mega pixels with a Lumix lens. The camera is circa 2004. It has a 12x optical zoom and a 36x digital zoom. I have the digital zoom turned off. The millimeter equivalent of the optical zoom is about 35 wide to 450 telephoto. It is a continuous zoom, all with the single lens. It really pulls the images in close.
The resolution of the pictures when taken was 2304 by 1728. However, those chosen for this Internet show were reduced to one quarter their original size. This reduces the quality a bit, but the download time is reduced considerably. I still have the original versions on my computer.
This web page was created by hand, including all the sub-window processing. I did not use any web creation tools. After all, web programming is my profession.