July 3

SOLTESWEB.NET ALASKA TRIP 2005 - JULY Page 3

Tuesday, July 5 - Solid Rock Bible Camp

Here are some pictures of the camp. A wonderful place for family and children programs. In addition, there are 17 horses, canoes, water slides, etc, etc.

Not bad, Eh?

Tonight was the last night of the family camp, so they had a banquet: prime rib, baked potato, grilled veggies and 4 different kinds of cheesecake. We could get used to this!

July 6 and 7 - Planer Work

Here's the birch lumber we started with in the truck...That's Erv on the left. The boards go through a table saw fitted with a custom fence to produce either 3 1/2 or 5 1/4 boards, then into a planer (George and Bill, there) to get 5/8 thickness. The finished boards are stacked under a tent-like structure to keep out of the weather, and will be used as siding and shingles for a new log cabin. Next week, we may be starting to build this cabin.

Interestingly, no one in the lower 48 would think of using birch as a siding material because it would rot. Here, there are no fungi and especially no termites that could cause any problems. In fact, when a tree dies, it can stand over 50 years without rotting!

While Ed has been playing with the wood equipment, Patty has been enjoying herself watering the many flowers around the place. Too bad this place is so far...we could get used to coming here.

Another project:

July 6 - Flowers at Camp

Friday, July 8

Off today. SOWERS work 4 days a week, and have 3-day weekends. Our plans are to get to town, update this web log and possibly spend some time sightseeing.
The picture on the left is from a sewage disposal truck (honey wagon) that comes to the campground to suck out the sewage! Just another facet of living in an RV that many people have no idea about! Now you know what a honey wagon is!

Russian River Falls

We went to the visitor center in Soldotna (by the way, "tna" is native for "river" and "soldat" is from the Russian for "soldier"). This area was settled by the Russians before the US bought it from them. The towns here are called: Kasilov, Ninilchik, Kachemak, Nikiski, etc. There are also some older eastern Russian churches in the towns. The Soldotna visitor center has the record salmon (97.5 pounds) and #2 record (95 pounds) on display, as well as other trophy fish.

When we found out that the Russian River Falls is where you can see the salmon jumping and the bears catching them, that's where we decided to go. After a 40-mile ride, and a 3-mile one way hike, that's the picture of the falls on the left. We saw some salmon, BUT...they weren't jumping, and there were no bears. Use your imagination! A great hike, but a little disappointing. We took a back road on the way home and did some sightseeing.

How about that fish! That's a 50-pounder, and that was the first salmon that lady has ever caught!

Saturday, July 9

We were pretty pooped from the week's work and yesterday's hike, so we visited some stores in town and the library (for internet connection). This evening, we attended a wonderful community Christian concert put on by the high school groups from a variety of churches in the area. It was very well done; the kids had a lot of talent.

Sunday, July 10

We were back to the same church this morning; a good service. Today, we are feeling lazy, and took a long nap after lunch.

July 11 and 12 - Foundation

Back to work as SOWERS. Can you guess what we are building?

Patty is working in the kitchen some mornings and still watering the flowers. That's her with Sue in the kitchen. What are they making?

Ed spent a little time today reorganizing the website. The Alaska trip is taking over!

Wednesday and Thursday, July 13 and 14

We continue to work on our respective SOWER projects, Patty in the kitchen and with the flowers, and Ed on the building and making more lumber. We found out that the lumber was from fallen trees on the campus here, rough cut at a local mill into slabs then kept under wrap until dry.

| Previous Page | Home | Next Page |