Caravan day 29 (Monday July 27) was devoted to the 230 mile transit from Anchorage AK to Homer AK. The transit was down the eastern edge of the Turnagain Arm which is part of the Cook Inlet (hey, I only tell ya what it’s named, look it up in da atlas if it don’t make no sense to ya)…then down the Kenai Peninsula mostly through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge to Homer which sits on Kachemak Bay. For those of you keepin’ score at home…this is the same bay that the Kilcher’s on that Alaska reality show The Last Frontier live…although if you watch the show you think they’re out in the middle of nowhere but they’re actually only 13 miles up the bay from Homer so it’s not nearly as far out in the boonies as one might think.

Anyway…it was a beautiful drive today…the best scenery we’ve seen to date and that’s going some as a lot of it has been pretty spectacular. We got hitched up and hit the road shortly after 0700…the weather started out cloudy and overcast but by 1000 had turned into a clear, beautiful day for the remainder of our drive.

Our major scheduled stop was at the Portage Pass glacier unit managed by the National Park Service…there’s a half dozen glaciers, a 600 foot deep lake at the base of the glaciers and a very nice visitor center that shows a great movie just chock full of beautiful Alaska scenery. 

Overlooking the Alaska Railroad and Turnagain Arm.

The road right down the coast of the arm…a couple of our RV caravan friends pulling out of an overlook.

A bergy bit floating in Portage Lake near the Portage Pass Glacier…this one is garage sized.

A couple of magpies on the roof of the visitor center.

Portage Pass Glacier.

Closeup of the other glacier at Portage Pass…didn’t get the name of this one.

Entering the Kenai Peninsula.

Some rafters on the Kenai River…it has class IV and V rapids on it so is not attempted by beginners.

Pano shot of the mountains across the other side of the Cook  Inlet…they’r about 50-85 miles away.

Closeup of Mt. Illiamna and Mt. Redoubt…two of the larger peaks in the above photo.

Overlooking the bay at Homer…the city is to the left.

Site 76 at Oceanview RV Park…after staying in probably a dozen parks over the years with ocean and view in their name this is the first one that actually lives up to the billing. The second photo was taken standing in front of BAT looking towards the bay.

Neil walked down to the tent camping area and took this shot towards the mountains opposite Homer.

We had leftovers for dinner and then wandered down to the Salty Dawg Tavern here in town…it used to be owned by the parents of the Hillstrand brothers who run the Time Bandit on Deadliest Catch. We had a couple of brews and Neil had a Duck Fart…this is the shot that Captain Phil Harris from Deadliest Catch used to drink by the handful…Kailua, Irish Cream, and Crown Royal. It’s a shot and hence is designed to be consumed in one swallow…the liquors in it are layered so it looks nice in the glass but this means the flavors aren’t mixed except when you drink it. Nice and sweet with a lot of flavor…but one could easily have way too many of them and get into trouble.

Tomorrow we’re off to the trolley tour…hopefully it won’t rain again. After that it’s halfway night for the caravan and we’re having an appetizer dinner here in the park.

Cyas.