So how was my first day going solo in the boat?

I actually blew the front seal of my boat's engine about 2 hours into my tour and had to return to the harbor after only taking 3 pictures....

Day two of my first week soloing in my boat:  I was actually in a spare boat as my engine was still in the shop.  Then about 4 hours into my day the power steering hose blew in the boat.  So, back to the harbor.  That is after waiting about 2 hours for the mechanics to find me.  They got lost twice on the way out to assist on my way back....

Day three started out the same way for someone else....  I had to make a run to the local sea plane dock in Craig, Alaska with the Marketing guy for the Waterfall Resort because another boat broke down and the shuttle boat was sent our to cover the broken down fishing boat.  Then, the guide for the shuttle boat (Craig) and I headed out for pictures after our 2 hour detour.  We witnessed a battle between two bull sea lions on one of the rocky capes, with the loser heading back into the sea...  Above the jagged rocks where the sea lion beds were thousands of bald eagle's keeping a watch on the spectacle below.

Tomorrow I have my first day off in the past 10 days....   I will not be up at 5:15am....!   Tomorrow...

But, I will not ever get tired of driving around looking at all of my God's creation...!  There are hundreds of whales and sea otters.  Thousands of eagles and fish...   Snow capped mountains, many islands with small inlets and coves.  I just stand amazed that I am here!

Rick's first day off does not coincide with Gwen's.  Gwen got to sleep in a couple of days ago and do laundry and clean the room.  She also got a chance to visit with some of the other staff here at Waterfall.  There are many wonderful people working here.  It is a great chance to get to rub shoulders with people of all ages and backgrounds.

I (Gwen) have been able to create hundreds of fruit baskets for the guest rooms, stock and re-stock all the drinks sold here and some of the clothing...fill out hundreds of Alaska Fishing Licenses and even got to be the Salmon Derby Hostess for a day (filling in for Stephanie's day off).  The Derby Hostess records all of the biggest salmon and halibut caught on any of the 25 boats that day and announces the winners at the evening meal.  Tomorrow will be a "turnover day" for me, which means that we will be checking out about 85 people and welcoming the same number in the afternoon!  It will be very busy!  Huge groups of men (mostly) very eager to get right out to their boat to fish!

I better get to sleep.  We are getting used to going to bed before 9pm, so that we can be up and to work by 6am.  The sun only sets for about 3 hours a night here, so we go to bed in the light and wake to the light!  We have been thoroughly enjoying the hard work and time to live in this beautiful place!

Our Blog is starting off a bit slower then we had hoped.  But the internet is even slower then we had hoped.  We are restricted from sending any images over the internet here.  We will try to update it as much as possible and then if/when we get to town we will update with images.

I have been out on the boat a few times in the ocean but tomorrow will be my first day out solo.  I have seen whales, sea otters, and seals.  I have caught a ling cod and a halibut.  Just today i walked out of the warehouse and saw an eagle drop down about 50 yards away.  It picked up a fish out of the water and flew away.

The other day we (all the guides, customers and I) were all called back due to severe weather.  The winds were getting up over 35 mph and the seas were choppy with 2-3 foot white caps.  We (my trainer and I) were on our way back when a boat with customers broke down out on the ocean.   We were called to go back the 2-3 miles of rough open water and transfer the guests onto my boat and get them off the ocean.  However, on the way out, the tow boat caught up with us so there was not much time spent out there.  Just the 6 mile round trip on the ocean.

Will let you now how my day goes tomorrow.  I will also let Gwen have some time on this as well.......

Rick

Alaska at last.....

We finally made it to Ketchikan on Friday...

Saturday it was rainy and cloudy all day...  but we are here.

Everything is green.... from the mountains (well at least the bottom 2/3rd's!... tops are still white)...

to the rocks...

...the roofs.

even the roots and ground are green.

We have seen our first 8-10 Alaskan Bald Eagles, a few gray whales from across the bay and about 3 harbor seals.

This little guy was just below a large fresh water rapids and I think was just enjoying the cold fast moving water.  He would swim up roll on his back and just slowly swim up in the fast moving flow.

Just a side note, we have come to really enjoy the food and hospitality at the Sweet Mermaids, which is just a couple doors down from the Gilmore Hotel, where we are staying.  Good food, great coffee and really nice staff.  When we come back, this will be a place we will definitely stop again!

So if you ever take a cruise to Alaska and or stop by Ketchikan, we would recommend them.

From Alaska and until the next time....

"Will we... or won't we leave?"  That is the question.....

 Wednesday, May 30th did not start like any other day.  It was our last day in Silver Lake.  We needed to finish packing the RV.  We were not sure where it would stay for the summer yet, and we needed to get to Manhattan, KS for the night.  Well, things went much slower than we thought, as we still had to disperse many of the final few items that we could not fit on the RV or would not go to Alaska (thanks Mike and Kathy...  their sale will be on June 15th & 16th on North Topeka Blvd.) Our kind neighbors forced us to take a break for a lunch at Gambino's and then washed a couple loads of laundry so we would not have to do that once we got to Manhattan that evening.

Thankfully, we were able to get the Tiffin RV parked at some other friends who have a large yard, and were willing to babysit it for the summer.

We then packed our final few items and headed for Manhattan, KS. After traveling a block and a half we turned around in a drenching storm with hail.  About 30 minutes later and with no power we tried a second time to head to Manhattan, through downed trees, single lane construction with no control lights but made it to Gabe's house by 9:30pm safe and sound!

On Thursday May 31, we headed to Kansas City International Airport at 8:30am for our 1:05pm flight.  All was going well till we arrived at what we thought was going to be a tricky check-in, with six checked bags.  After waiting for over 20 minutes we found out we were in the wrong terminal.  Yes, it was an Alaskan Airways flight but it was actually on an American Eagle flight.  By this time it was about 12:15.  Once we were checked in and had boarding passes we were told to run to the gate.  We made it there with five minutes to spare, quick hugged the boys goodbye and rushed through the security checkpoint.  Then we heard the announcement,  "Due to severe weather at Chicago O'Hare we were on an 1 hour delay..." We would not take off till after 2:30pm.  Our flight in Chicago for Seattle took off at 3:35pm and we arrived at 3:50pm.  We now had 6 hours to kill before we could leave on the next and last flight of the night to Seattle.  So we took a walking tour of O'Hare airport and saw the "Tunnel of Lights" (thanks Gabe)

and the Hydroponic Gardens (thanks Chicago Police Officer / Tour Guide).

So, we waited for the 7:40pm flight that took off at 10:10pm for Seattle.  We arrived in Seattle at 1am local time and 4:00am our time.  We re-booked our Ketchikan flight AGAIN, collected a few RON kits.  (I told them that I was not Ron and needed a "Rick and Gwen kit", but they still gave us the RON kits) and we used them....nothing like a toothbrush and deodorant when you have nothing else!

It is also amazing what a little sleep and a shower can do for you.  On June 1st we got up at 8:00am (11am our time) and made it  to the airport to leave for Ketchikan at 10:00am.

Arrived in Ketchikan on time at 12:00pm local time, but about 18 hours later than our original itinerary.  We saw over four cruise ships in port when we arrived.  That did not matter to us, we had made it....we ferried over from the landing area to the main island and waited for a cab.  The first one that drove up was pirate.  He had a patch on one eye and wore suspenders, but got a call before we could get to his cab.  I think that may have  been a good thing as we look back over the events of the past two days.  We did get a cab and arrived in our room at the Gilmore Hotel at about 1:30pm.  We were settled in Alaska....

Then the Norwegian Pearl decided to notify us that she was leaving at 2:00pm and was blowing her horn right outside our window....this was the view.  We were told that there were about 8,000 tourists in town that day.

That is fine.....
We have made it with ALL six of our bags a well.....

We are off to breakfast and take a few pictures with my real camera, instead of Gwen's iPhone.

Till next time...

Four Days and Counting.....

Gideon has graduated officially. He was able to get his diploma this past week. On, Friday May 25, we moved him to Manhattan, KS with Gabe. Then we started the one week count down.

I have about half of the coach washed, polished and waxed and Gwen has started to move items into the coach. Last night we were able to move the flat files that Gideon made in woods shop this year into the basement of the coach. It looks like we have also found a covered storage area in Topeka for the coach, we have tried multiple places but no luck.

Note:

Motor Home (noun): a large motor vehicle equipped as living quarters.

Coach (noun 'koch): a large usually closed four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage having doors in the sides and an elevated seat in the front for the driver.

Camper (Noun /'kam-per'): a portable dwelling for use during casual travel and camping.

I like the sound of the Coach, even though the coach has already been named "The Nomad."

Nomad (noun no-mad): a member of a people who have no fixed residence but move from place to place usually seasonally and within a well-defined territory.

Our Mascot

Until our next post.....

So here we are, wandering around the house and thinking, "what have we been doing in the past 2 months that has made us so tired....?"

March 15th we sold our house...
March 17th to March 25th we spent Spring Break with my folks in Pensacola, FL...
March 29th through March 31 we were in Box Elder SD to set up our new state of residency...
April 4th we had our 1st April birthday...
Saturday April 7th we drove our purchased RV home from Manhattan, KS...
April 20th we had another birthday...
Saturday April 21, 28 and May 5th we had large whole house tag sales...
The following weeks were sales on CraigsList...
May 6th was a going away party from our friends at NorthLand Christian Church...
Gwen's last day at the Silver Lake Public Library was on May 16th...
Rick's last day at the Kansas Department of Labor was on May 17th...
May 19th was Gideon's Open House with friends and family...
May 20th Gideon graduated from Silver Lake High School...

What started this whole process?  Oh that's right! We accepted positions at the Waterfall Resort, west of Ketchikan, AK and purchased our one way tickets form May 31, in early March.

We wonder why we are tired, but I cannot worry about that YET...  I have to go wash and wax the RV this week and we need to pack it full.  Gideon is getting ready to move in with Gabe in Manhattan.  Gabe is already working his summer construction job.

Do you ever sit and wonder, "what is normal?" or "when will life slow down?" or even "does life ever slow down?"

I am contemplating if I will ever have some time to just sit and wonder.....

Till our next post....

The Saga continues

I will try to sum this up in a short paragraph or two.  So much has happened since Rick's last/first post that we have barely had a chance to breathe!
We sold the house in early March and are renting it back until May 31st, when we will fly to Alaska to work at the Waterfall Resort.  Rick got his dream job of being a photographer for the resort for the summer.  Gwen will work at the General Store and help sell his pictures!  Check  out Waterfall's website at www.waterfallresort.com to see where we will be!
We will return to KS from Alaska sometime in late August where we will hang around until October.  We have already secured jobs at Amazon.com as part of their CamperForce.  We will help fill orders at their distribution center in Coffeyville, KS until December 23rd. 
From there we plan to drive back to Manhattan, KS, where we will spend Christmas with Gabe and Gideon...possibly driving to Tuscon, AZ to see Rick's parents.
Here are some pictures of the beautiful new home we will be living in.  These are pictures the former owners took when they were trying to sell it.  They are wonderful folks that live in Manhattan and were extremely patient and helpful to us in purchasing this.

We have seen God prepare the way for us each step of the way for us to get to this point.  There are so many "back stories" it is unbelievable almost! Ask us and we will be happy to share those with you.
This weekend we will be having a major Moving Sale to get rid of anything that does not fit into this new home...that does not leave much to keep.  We are excited to see where we will be able to go and what we will be able to accomplish with God's guidance in our future.  Come along with us on this trip!  We want to share it with you.