Take Me Out to the Ballgame

OK, so this trip has been one hell of a great ride so far and we appreciate all of you nice folks joining along - it really has made our trip that much more rewarding in reading your nice, thoughtful comments - thanks to all of you, we love and miss you and wish you were here with us!

We left San Diego May 1st and by mid June have traveled nearly 3500 miles to the Alaskan border. It will now take us about 3 weeks to make the remaining 250 miles to Anchorage - kinda feels like we dropped the anchor somewhere after entering AK. That's alright though, time well spent getting adjusted to this wild and indescribable place. First off, our sleep patterns have been turned completely upside down. We turn in around 11 PM and the sun is still at about the 6 PM summer position in San Diego. It's pretty weird sitting around the campfire with my shirt off bagging the rays and stoking the logs, but an evening fire is essential in keeping the mosquitoes away - bulletproof, better than any repellant, those guys hate the smoke.

So, to bed by 11 PM and before you know it the sun is up at 4 AM! I usually arise at 6 AM and get the day started while Debbie can manage (don't ask me how she does it) another 3 hours or so. But 6 AM till 11 PM makes for a long day - listen to me whine, didn't mention my standard 2 hour afternoon nap!

Let's catch up since Valdez, shan't we?

Left Valdez and picked out a nice boondock spot right next to a small lake near Lake Louise.
Debbie grabbed this nice photo of a Mama Moose trying to enjoy an evening graze until we came along and spoiled her meal. She's a big'n, huh?


Interestingly enough this was the first full on Moose sighting of the trip. We caught a brief glimpse of one running away a few days ago but nothing like this. What's interesting is that we have been seeing roadway signs cautioning drivers to be alert for Moose since the State of Washington. I was beginning to think it was a conspiracy promulgated by the Friends of Moose just to F with us. Seriously, not a single Moose sighting until a few days ago and then again today.

Better watch my karma here, our next Moose sighting might be into the front grill of the motorhome at 65 MPH! Careful what you wish for, right?

Went over to the Lake Louise Lodge to have a look around. Very nice lodge, open all year with ice fishing, 80 miles of snowmobile trails, cross country skiing and a great, huge bluewater lake for summer boating, fishing and water skiing. Place is for sale if you're interested. Seems like every place we see up here is for sale, that's gotta tell you something, right?

The next day, Saturday, we were dawdling along headed for Anchorage and we stopped at a roadside turnout - these things are everywhere, usually paved and double ended so it's easy to get in and out of - this one was at the highest point on the Glenn Highway and supposedly had a great viewing venue for the Dall Sheep. We have been dying to see a Dall Sheep - I made a brief reference to them in a previous post from Teslin Lake - they are very similar to the Bighorn Sheep we see in the southern CA deserts. They like rocky terrain and thrive in these parts. So we stop and deploy the binoculars and find nothing. But wait, what is this I see down in the valley? I see a couple of folks boondocking in their motorhomes and I say, why not us? We tool on down and post up in a valley which seemed like a huge caldera from an ancient volcanic eruption and spread out surrounded by volcanic crags, glaciers and alpine lakes - breathtaking. It turns out we were in the valley created by the receding Matanuska Glacier and it could not have been better.


Chilling in the rain at the Matanuska Glacier Viewing area....

Later on the skies cleared and turned into a beautiful warm summer day. Just sitting outside from 1 PM until 11 PM soaking up the sun, listening to some nice music and stoking a small but blazing campfire. Geezus, this is very nice, and trust me - it was!

Now on to the topic of this post...baseball, we're talking ABL (Alaskan Baseball League) action. We get to Palmer, AK about 40 miles outside of Anchorage alongside the OLD Glenn Highway - not to be confused with the Glenn Highway - at the Matanuska River Park, a City owned facility with about 40 campsites situated a mile down the road from the bustling City of Palmer, AK.

Palmer seems to be a full service town with all of the modern amenities like shopping centers, quaint downtown, great Alehouse and, and BASEBALL! The ABL consists of 5 teams - the Anchorage Bucs, the Kenai Peninsula has a team, Fairbanks has a team, the Chugiak/Eagle River Chinooks and the local home team the Mat-Su Miners - how cool is that? The Miners play on a very nice diamond on the Alaska State Fairgrounds just a stones throw south of Palmer. We checked their schedule and they were playing a home game Monday night against the hated cross town rival Chinook squad from Chugiak - this we have to see and provide a full report to all of our loyal followers, right?

It was the first organized baseball game that we have taken in this season and it did not disappoint. The PA announcer also doubled as the between inning entertainment and rolled out some nice tunes - Hendrix, Lynrd Skynrd, and he seemed to have a serious need to get the Led out - I was digging it big time. Also, when a foul ball went over the stands and out of sight from the spectators, right at about the time it would have landed he sparks up the crashing window sound. Got the picture? Classic small town baseball at its finest. OK, let's move on.


Small town baseball in summertime America, at its finest...yes, the grand old game is still alive and well here in AK.

Nice crowd around 1500 patrons and all friendly as all get out and we had a most excellent time. We picked up a program with a roster that listed the hometowns and colleges where all of the ballplayers came from/attended. The ABL scouts and signs NCAA college players right after their college careers are over. Obviously these kids want a shot at the big time so they hustle, they laugh and they play some hardball - really fun to watch. At the games conclusion the homewown players came out to rake the infield, pick up trash and cleaned the place up, cool as hell.

Noticed in the roster a kid playing for the Miners from Vista, CA - Brooks Stotler, 6-1, 190# center fielder - he played his college ball with the fine Long Beach State Dirtbag program.


Number 24 on her lineup card and number one in her heart...here's Brooks with his biggest fan - a very nice guy.

Every time he came up to bat the bunt call was on so we saw him bunt (all 4 of his at-bats he got the bunt signal)  in the most ridiculous situations - lead off, you're bunting (actually not that bad of a call), 2 outs and no one on, kid you're bunting - it was like the coaches didn't trust him to swing away and take some honest cuts at the ball, weird I thought.

Went up to him after the game and found out he played at Rancho Buena Vista HS, grew up with youth baseball in Vista, CA and went off to LBSU. I asked him, so how do you like AK? He said this place is wild as hell and I'm having the time of my life. Right on Brooks, being 22 and spending the summer traveling around AK playing ball - you've hit the big leagues in my book, enjoy the summer and have fun playing some hardball my man. He thanked Debbie for her cheers during the game - Debbie's Go Vista!, Go Dirtbags! - he heard and really appreciated. The nice elderly couple in front of us seemed confused though and kept asking Debbie - what's a dirtbag, what's a Vista? We'll catch some more ABL action as we move on I'm sure.


The friendly confines of the Hermon Brothers Field with the backs of the nice elderly couple in the seats in front of us.

Oh by the way, the Chinooks took it on the chin (couldn't wait to use that line!) with a 5-3 loss to the Miners. Chinooks kept it interesting but the Miners closer shut them down big time in the top of the ninth with runners on the corners and one out to seal the deal. Miners are now in first place by half a game over the Anchorage Bucs with an upcoming 4 game road series in Anchorage over the next several days, we'll see how they do. During the 8th inning went for a beer and chatted with a local diehard Miners fan and the HS baseball coach. He says the Bucs have some tough pitching and will always find a way to win - spoken like a true coach, nice man and definitely knew his ABL baseball stuff. I'll be keeping an eye on the ABL action all summer and will provide Sportscenter like updates to you all - da da da, da da da.


Enjoying some baseball, relaxing and gettin' the Led out.

One other logistical issue that we took care of while here at Matanuska today was some catch up cleaning, vehicle maintenance and yes, more laundry. I headed out early to get the Fit washed, oil changed and necessary fluids refurbished. Debbie went out and tackled the thankless laundromat mission to wash bedding, linens, sleeping bags etc which when getting this huge load washed and dried is basically a full day type of an affair. Just doing everyday laundry is usually a slam dunk but bedding and linens, well now you've stepped into the big leagues, not meant for rank amateurs like me.

Meanwhile, back at the blue whale I cleaned the interior from stem to stern with Murphys Oil Soap (great stuff, by the way) and had it minty fresh in about 3 hours time. I am not joking, there was so much dust that 3 swipes with a clean cloth required rinsing to remove the accumulated debris. Man, it smells and feels like the real deal once again and with fresh sheets, blankets and linens to boot - heaven! Also cleaned and lubed all of the towing equipment we use to tow the Fit which was a major task as it turned out - glad that's over with and hopefully should keep us towing smoothly until we get back to SD.

First thing tomorrow we're out to get the oil changed and front suspension lubed on the blue whale and then on down the Old Glenn Highway for who knows what. I'm posting this using the Wi-Fi at the Quickie Lube joint here in Palmer waiting for them to finish up their work.

Perhaps we'll check out Chugiak, the home of the Chinooks and see if they have any home games scheduled. If so I'll be sure to wear my recently purchased Mat-Su Miners T shirt just to test the attitudes of the home fans.

Stay tuned, will update as note worthy conditions present themselves.