Even The Best Laid Plans… Are Subject To Change 🗺️

On the road again!

Well, plans had already began to divert even before we had departed that day…

Our friends we were supposed to meet up with for the weekend ended up asking if just doing Saturday would work. Due to them not getting off work until the evening and having their kids to navigate, they felt it might be a push to make it all happen.

We understood, and made plans to stay the night at one of Laura’s friends, and co-workers, place. She lived right on the beach in Ninilchik right by that spot we had really liked before that was windy.

So we spent the night there enjoying some nice conversations until it was time for us to retire to The Ohana.

Hanging out inside out favorite spot, we realized the refrigerator was failing to ignite. 😣 Now we get to continue the tale of that new propane tank…

So I went outside and looked at the new dual stage propane regulator I had just installed- and it was pretty frozen up. We smelled a little gas as well. I shut the gas off and began reading up on what the problem might be and I caught on to the issue quick.

From what I read online- there were vertical mount and horizontal mount tanks. Without the correct tank, if the tank was too full it would send liquid into the gas lines and would not operate properly. So in theory if I emptied the gas below the point of the valve, it should operate.

I pulled the tank out and purged it until it read under half full.

The propane began working again – so I thought maybe I had solved the problem for now.

So after getting back to the rest of our evening we drifted off to the sounds of the wind blowing, the surf, and the rain falling on our roof.

The next day we headed North towards Kenai. On the way there we stopped at a place called Jumping Junction to check it out.

It looked pretty neat- and the place was pretty busy. Not one person there was keeping any social distancing or wearing a mask though- so we opted for an area with a bit more space; the glow in the dark mini-golf course. And nobody else was using it. so we had plenty of space to play. 😊

The course was ocean themed, and beautifully done.

The mini-golf course was really quality for being down this far on the Kenai Peninsula. We usually went to a place called Putter’s Wild in Anchorage for this kind of experience, so it was nice to find something like this a bit closer to home. We had a great time! 🏌️

Afterwards we stopped by Walmart on our way through Kenai and bought that sling-shot I had been wanting to try. I ended up going with just a straight sling-shot and not a wrist rocket. I had read online that many states will consider a wrist rocket to be a dangerous weapon, so I was happy to learn without the wrist support.

We decided that night we would try camping out at the Nikishka Beach spot, where we had found the drill rigs, so we headed out that way.

It was still pouring rain, but despite the weather we opted to put on our cheap rain ponchos and still go out to try some target practice with our new sling shot and the pocket rocket.

For the slingshot we decided to try and use rocks as ammo. The beach was full of nice, round, and really pretty rocks providing an endless supply of ammunition. Laura spent a bit of time dreaming about bringing buckets up here and having these beautiful rocks for our driveway.

I could see why she liked them so much. 😄

We set our sights a little far out as we tried to see how close we could get to some buoys floating off shore.

After awhile of ker-plunking rocks into the ocean, we noticed someone had left a beer can hanging in the trees. So now we could set our sights on a bit closer of a target.

After awhile we were getting pretty good! We decided to head inside for a warm up break and I fired up Kalcifer to help dry us out.

**Still Like Beach Camping Right?**
**Sand Covered Sandals By The Fire. 😁**

We went out one more time to beach walk and shoot some rocks before settling in for the night.

Off shore there were many boats anchored, I think they were all fishing tenders posted up awaiting boats to bring their catch in.

Interesting The Difference You Get…

… By Starting The Panoramic Shot In The Opposite Direction.

Since we were here on a weekend the work at the drill rig was inactive, so it was a peaceful experience in that regard.

There was quite a bit of activity from the locals though- but overall it wasn’t too much to bear for a enjoyable night. Between the lights from the dock and the ships off shore, it made for a very pretty sight.

The next morning we awoke, did our morning routine, and decided to give the RV a good sweeping out to clear out all our tracked in beach sand. Kalcifer happily stared out over the shore while we did our chores.

After an enjoyable Breakkie, we decided it was time to hit the road and head back towards Soldotna.

There we did a dump and fill at Fred Meyers and picked up some Sushi- and coincidentally ran in to our friend Joey who we had been planning to meet up the road that evening.

We made a plan to meet at the Post Office in Cooper Landing, then shortly parted ways and headed towards our meet-up point.

On the straight before the mountains we drove through the burnt area of trees from the wildfire last year. Not only did the burnt area provide ample nutrition for Morel Mushrooms, it was encouraging the Fireweed to grow avidly all throughout the area.

Can you see their pink flowers all throughout the blackened trees?

It wasn’t much longer until we were in the mountains and soon in Cooper Landing meeting Joey at the post office.

There we would take the road all the way until it’s end. (FYI- if you find yourself here, please drive this road slow. There are signs everywhere cautioning people to drive slowly due to pets and children. I think the locals of have their fair share of issues caused by people driving too fast- so don’t be that problem.)

On our way in we actually got a wave as we saw our friends Dave & Lyla Nelson heading out- small world!

As we traveled further, the road became tighter- and with the road being a bit rough itself in spots we took our time.

Eventually the road took a sharp turn and we were rewarded with its end, and this beautiful sight.

We scoped the entry area to this beautiful sprawling lake to see if we wanted to camp here…

… but voted for a little further down the lakeside.

Once we chose our final landing spot we decided to set up camp.

Joey had a plan for the setup, she just waited until we were half done to clarify exactly what that was… 🤣

… but we eventually got it. 😜

We spent the first night around the fire, hiding under the tarp on and off as necessary to dode small spurts of rain. But overall it was a great night.

**If You Know And See Joey- Ask Her About “The Halibut Story”** 😉

This night the propane decided to not work again. It appeared that I had frozen up the regulator completely. The plan was official- I was going to quest for a proper horizontal mount tank. The irony in all of this is The Ohana originally came with one, but I didn’t realize you could have the valve replaced and updated with an OPD valve. I thought I needed a new tank. So I got rid of it like a genius… 😬 The strange part is I had used the last vertical mount tank all last winter and most of the summer before I started having any problems. 🤷🏽‍♂️ All I knew is I needed to solve it now. Live and learn, right?

So we were super appreciative of the fact Joey had came super prepared for camping, and not glamping. She was a life saver with her spare cook-stove!

The next day we backtracked up the road a little and headed out down the closest trail. We spent a good 4 hours on the trail.