August 18-19, 2006 (Days 86-87)

Friday:
Today is a travel day again. We left Homer at 7:05 a.m. with gray, cloudy skies overhead and some rain sprinkles. It was 49 degrees. We traveled with Darrel and Sharon Waters.

Sharon is an avid quilter and craftsperson, so she wanted to stop at a couple quilt shops on the way. The first was in Soldatna which was only one and one-half hours away. Sharon had called ahead and the owner agreed to open her shop for us early since we were traveling and would be in Soldatna before opening hours. She had a wonderful shop attached to her house. We found shopping very pleasant and worthwhile.

I found a fabric that was designed by a gentleman who has designed the banners, flags, signs, etc., for the Iditerod Sled Dog Races. He is now designing fabric prints of the northwest. The fabric piece depicts scenes of most everything we have done and seen while in Alaska. To make things more interesting, his name is Jon Van Zyle. I believe it has been discussed that Van Zyle might have been the early name of Zile. Quite interesting! So, any way, I will probably make a pillow from the fabric as a reminder of our Alaska trip.

We then traveled on a road about 12 miles out of town to the small place where we had been before in Kenai that has a tremendous lot of fabrics and flannels. After purchasing a couple pieces there, we continued on the main route to Naptowne where we stopped for lunch.

We passed through Anchorage and stopped for gas at 4 p.m. We then got separated from Darrel and Sharon and didn’t catch up to them until on up the road.

It had rained moderately all day, skies remained gray, and the temp only reached 55 degrees. It was a miserable day.

We got to the campground, Homestead RV Park, around 5 p.m., got set up and went for a quick bite to eat, as we had a program at 7 p.m. in the campground pavilion. During this time, it rained so hard, we had to get a P.A. system to hear the program speakers, as it was raining so hard on the metal roof of the pavilion, that it drowned out their voices. The program was about the history of the area we are in, the Mat-Su Valley. It would prepare us for our tour tomorrow. Till then…


Saturday:
We awoke to blowing wind and pouring rain; however, by the time we were ready to board the tour buses, the rain had stopped. It was gray, soggy and windy yet, but we forged ahead in our rain coats and boots! I even had my long underwear on to keep warm! We had talked with Erin that morning, and she said it was to be in the 90’s in Wood River, IL, today. What a contrast.

We had narrators on the tour and we visited the downtown Palmer, AK, Visitor Center and Museum. We were able to tour a colony house, which is where one of the homesteaders of Palmer had lived. We learned about their arrival in Palmer in 1935 and how they lived and homesteaded. Many of the 202 families that homesteaded were from northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. A government act took them to Alaska, allowed them 2,000 pounds of goods, and gave them 40 acres. Building supplies were provided to build homes, barns, and livestock was furnished. This helped inhabit early Alaska. Remember, Alaska didn’t get its statehood until 1959. The tour was very interesting.

After the tour, we visited a muskox farm and walked around the fields of muskox watching the mamas with their babies and the bulls in a separate pen. This is a very ugly animal that serves no purpose except for the fur on their bodies that can be brushed out and made into a yarn that is warmer than wool. Each square inch of fur contains one million hairs. A scarf woven from this fiber could be purchased in their gift shop for $175. I would have liked to bring everyone one, but I’m not! So don’t get your hopes up.

When the tour was done around noon, we returned to the campground where a catered meal was awaiting us. It was very good.

It was brought to our attention by the locals that they had received their first sign of winter over night…..”termination dust”. This is the first snow on the mountain tops to signify that there are only six weeks to winter. They seem to skip fall altogether here. Some of the trees are starting to turn colors and lose their leaves already though. We see mostly yellow. That is the main color of fall. With the cold temps of today and the snow on the mountains, it is easy to believe that winter will be soon, (until we look at the calendar!).

This afternoon, I went with Darrel and Sharon into Palmer to visit a couple fabric/quilt shops. They are very unique and have beautiful materials. When we came back, all the members from the St. Louis unit (nine of us) went out to dinner together to celebrate two of the men’s birthdays. We all had pie for dessert and I had taken a birthday candle that plays “Happy Birthday”. It was a fun time.

At 7 p.m., we had a program again at the pavilion put on by one of our caravaners who used to be a juggler and acrobat for the circus in his career years. He starred with members of his family and traveled with their act all over the U.S. and Canada. He showed video tapes of their performances and a home movie of when they all got together in the 1970’s for a family reunion. The family members live all over the U.S. and this was a great family reunion. After a few beers, they attempted to recreate parts of their act. The movie was hilarious, but as retired men, they found they could and could not do some of the things they used to do. It was hilarious. After the program, we had our driver’s meeting for moving on tomorrow. We will have a long day, as we are headed for Valdez. Till then….

Here are some little known Alaskan facts:
ICEWORMS: are small black worms that live in temperatures just above freezing. The only members of the earthworm family known to live in ice and snow, iceworms generally grow no more than one inch in length. They look like small pieces of black thread. I’ve seen them and they are disgusting.

QIVIUT is the Eskimo word for the soft underhair of the musk ox. The fiber, highly valued for its light weight, softness and warmth, is knitted into hats, scarves and sweaters by Native Alaskan knitters and sold through a co-op in Anchorage. Qiviut is finer than cashmere and does not shrink when washed in warm water.

INUKSHUK is an Inuit word for a stone marker that acts “in the place of a human being.” The five most important uses are to show the way; to warn of danger, to show where food is stored, where a significant thing happened, and most importantly, as a helper in hunting caribou. We have seen them in places such as a front yard, along the road, and along a sidewalk.