Sunday July 3rd, we took a day trip out to Knik (pronounced Ka-nick), AK to view the Knik Arm which is a body of water lying a bit north of Anchorage alongside the Turnagain Arm - combined, these two bodies of water surround Anchorage proper.

Knik/Wasilla is big time dog sled territory and many of the famous mushers and dog teams reside, work and train in this area. It is also home to the Iditarod dog sled race headquarters and about a mile from Todd and Sarah Palin's palatial manse out on Lucille Lake.

The Iditarod (the Rod) is a dog sled race held each February that covers some 1100 miles from Anchorage to Nome, AK and is considered the Boston Marathon of dog sled races - if you win this baby, hell if you even finish this baby, consider yourself a true musher.
The race follows the old Iditarod trail that brought gold miners from Seward up to Nome, AK back in the day.
In 1925 the village of Nome had a diptheria outbreak and the life critical serum could not get delivered due to horrible weather conditions. Teams of very brave dog sleds headed out from Anchorage in unspeakable conditions following the Iditarod Trail in darkness, sub zero temps and white out blizzards to bring the fragile and temperature sensitive serum to Nome thereby saving the day and countless lives.

We checked out the Iditarod Race HQ and spoke with the docent at the front counter. She gave us the layout and general info on the place - explained the museum, gift shop, movies that were showing and described the grounds. Then, her eyes got as big as pancakes and whispered to me, you know we have a legendary musher on the grounds today. Really, who would that be and where can I find him?
Why his name is Raymie Redington, the son of the Iditarod race founder Joe Redington, Jr. and veteran of 14 races dating back to the inaugural race in the late 70's. Alrighty then kind docent lady - screw the movies, the hell with the gift shop, forget the museum and artifacts - I gotta go meet Raymie post haste.

The Rod HQ in Knik/Wasilla, AK....

There were only a few people around as the cruise ship day tour buses had just left so it gave us a chance to chat with Raymie for a good 30 minutes or so. What an interesting and fun discussion we had and man could he talk! Very matter of fact, down to earth with a lot of home spun humor, he spoke on all topics - politics, the economy, Brexit, oil in Alaska, the lame Alaska reality TV shows, and mushing - we enjoyed it tremendously. He showed us the sled - explained how it functions, introduced us to his dogs - all very beautiful and well groomed and told some Iditarod tales - all fascinating and from a very experienced heart, there was no bullshit coming from this fine gentleman.
Here's Debbie in the foreground with Raymie at the helm in the background..
..

We were firing questions at him and he was very patient and thorough with his responses. Have you ever won the race? No, but I tried 14 times and got very close a couple of times but I always finished. So your Dad founded this event? Yes, I never had a chance, was going to be a musher from the day I was born - kind of like being the son of a farmer I guess. By the way, his Dad in 1979 at age 62 mushed a dog sled team to the 20,340 foot summit of Mt. McKinley 'just to show the world what a dog sled team could do'. I'm betting the coming down part was the most difficult aspect - stone cold stud right there!
Click on the photo to peruse this man's resume...a man's man for sure.

I asked him what's the toughest obstacle to overcome in order to finish or win this race? He thought long and hard on this one, thought maybe I had stumped ole Raymie - sleep deprivation, yep, lack of sleep, that's it for sure. Lack of sleep for the musher or the dogs? The dogs are fine it's the musher that gets tired, lose concentration for a brief second and your race (and maybe your life) is over. So how much sleep do you get during the race? We do 10 hours on the sled and 2 hours to eat/feed the dogs/rest and we cover about 60 miles a day - rinse and repeat non stop for 18 long days! It is also extremely cold with about 4 hours of daylight at that time of the year, incredible. I'd say Raymie looked to be a spry early 70's so I asked how has the race changed from the early days. He said that unfortunately, like all challenge events these days, it's become kind of a bucket list item for rich folks so the big money has prevented a lot of local teams from no longer being able to compete. How so, Raymie? Well, lets take dog feed for example. I go thru 40 pounds of feed a day all year long and twice that much in race season. The winner of the Iditarod got $75K last year for first prize which, he said, would almost cover the annual expenses for a mid level competitive sled team. Now of course there's always gonna be some guy out there who will shell out the big bucks to get specially formulated feed which costs 3 times as much and will produce stronger dogs with more stamina than others. Throw on top of that the expenses he can easily cover for expert dog trainers, groomers, high dollar vets and competitive dog sledding gets to be out of reach for many. He said, hell if some guy claimed that feeding the dogs Cheerios worked then some of these bucket listers would immediately start feeding their dogs Cheerios 4 times a day and not even think about the cost. Oh, now I see, that kind of sucks Raymie - he shook his head, looked down at his feet and said I really miss the good ole days. Me too, Raymie. And good on you for coming out and keeping the old memories alive for the next generation, your Dad would be proud of you and perhaps the good ole days may return someday soon. Maybe after some of these bucket listers have kicked the bucket.

After a most interesting and fun time amongst the mushers we needed to quench our thirst - you would be correct, another brewery visit. This time to the excellent Bear Paw Brewery in Wasilla which has been in business for only 7 months but their beers were delicious! We got the sampler and both of their IPA's were damn near perfect for my taste and Debbie really enjoyed the Milk Stout. Our vote is these guys run a very close second to Midnight Sun in Anchorage but only by a hair. They leave the other Wasilla brewery we tried the other day, Last Frontier, way in the dust. Talked to the owner and brewer and they have the right idea, I wish them all the best with their new venture because they make some damn fine tasting beers.
As we were driving around we noticed signs advertising the City's annual 4th of July fireworks show and we were very interested. That was until we noticed that the fireworks show BEGINS at midnight July 3rd - it never gets dark enough for fireworks but their best chance for viewing is well after midnight. Too late for us, we passed. We did however enjoy a nice campfire that evening with neighbors Andy and Jackie, a young couple visiting from Zurich, Switzerland who rented an RV for 3 weeks and are just starting their trip. I noticed him struggling with his fire - the firewood up here is not for amateurs, this I have learned from some very smokey and frustrating campfire experiences on this trip. This stuff MUST be split into pieces that we would consider kindling in order to burn. Once they get going you've got a fire that will burn hotter than hell and all night, but you cannot put anything bigger than kindling sized wood into the fire for the whole night or it will smoke and go out, no joke I've never seen anything like it. I'm guessing its because there is no real time to dry the wood due to the climate because the wood is wet and a little on the green side. So I head over, introduce myself and present my recently purchased long handled, heavy duty maul axe. Later on he and Jackie came over to return the axe and we sat and talked/shared beers/listened to some tunes for a couple of hours, very nice people. I told him my Little Wrangell line about Switzerland and he damned near fell out of the camp chair laughing. It's true, it's true (in a very heavy Swiss German accent) is about all he could say between fits of laughter. A good time was had by all and it was fun to hang out with them. We may see them again in Denali next week as they will be there at the same time as us. Interesting, they stayed at the same game preserve in South Africa (Dale and Shannon's Rhino River Lodge) as we did on our trip back a couple of years ago. For travelling thru such a huge expanse of land on this trip sometimes the world can be pretty small - weird, huh?
We spent Monday just being lazy around camp watching young families pack up to head back home after the holiday. We reminisced on how many going home pack ups we did from camping/Baja/beach/lagoon trips with the kids when they were growing up.  We cherish every memory from those days but it really is quite a lot of fun to sit back and watch others go thru it. Went for a hike and a spin on the two wheeler around the lake and grilled up some brats for dinner.
Earlier went on a hike up to Thunderbird Falls near the campground. Very nice walk.
Also checked out the nearby Russian Orthodox Church built way back in time.
















They had some interesting graves in the cemetary.
I really liked the one on the far right fashioned to look like a very comfortable 2 story home complete with decking. Notice all of the window blinds are drawn...guessing someone won't be down for breakfast.








Tuesday July 5th we move on to just south of Anchorage for 2 nites to visit some sights down that way and chores to take care of in Anchorage.
Here's our homestead for the next couple of days at Bird Creek SP right off the Seward Highway about 25 miles south of Anchorage.

Tuesday morning before leaving Eklutna Lake I went outside for a stretch and coffee and noticed this gal grazing next to our campsite. Reports were that she has been in the area with her calf but I did not see the calf, which had me concerned. A mother moose with a calf is certainly nothing to fool around with, she will stomp the ever living crap out of you if she thinks her calf is being threatened - many locals say much more dangerous than any bear. All it takes is to accidently get between her and her calf and its on brother and its all over in about 6 seconds. So I kept my distance to an arms length away from the motorhome door handle and as a result the photos were not the best. But I didn't get the living crap stomped out of me either so thats a good thing. Hey, I'll only go so far for you loyal followers. I do have my limits, hope you understand. Great way to start the day though - waking up to find a beautiful girl in your campsite, not too bad.

 

 Plan for the next couple of weeks is to meet my sister Sue on Friday in Anchorage and take 2 days to travel the 200 miles or so to Denali NP. Thinking we'll camp mid way Saturday nite in Denali State Park (not the NP) which actually is much closer to Mt. Denali for the best viewing we hear. Then drive closer to Denali NP on Sunday and camp somewhere near the entrance to Denali NP that nite and check into Teklanika Camp 35 miles w/in the NP first thing Monday morning. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nites in Denali NP and we return to Anchorage to meet my brother Mark and his family, pick up their rental RV and all take off for the Kenai Peninsula Saturday morning for a week.
This is going to be two fantastic weeks, spent with great people whom we love dearly - we can not wait!
We'll as always keep you guys updated and close to our hearts, take care all.