Heading South (within Alaska)

We been offline most of the past week. Here’s a brief overview of our past week.  We left Denali National Park heading south towards Anchorage with plans to stay in Eagle River State Recreation Area 10 miles before Anchorage. We stayed there several days last summer while visiting friends in Anchorage. It was Thursday before Memorial Day. We thought the Memorial Day Weekend could be busy. We planned to hunker down for the weekend then proceed south to the Homer area. When we arrived we discovered the campground was full so we continued south of Anchorage. We stopped at a state rec campground near Girdwood for the night. Our next destination was Captain Cook State Rec campground along the water 38 miles north of Kenai. Along the road to the campground we expected nothing but woods. To our surprise we passed a couple of oil refineries and a fertilizer Plant.  Beyond there it got a bit more rural. The campground is at the end of the road and there were plenty of campers, but it was not at all full. The mountain views across the inlet were amazing and very clear.  Rumor had it that several of the mountains were volcanoes.

We stayed there for 3 nights waiting out the holiday weekend. After our stay there we continued towards Anchor Point, 20 miles north of Homer. Our first night we stayed in a private campground so that we could dump our sewage tank, fill up with fresh water, shower, and do laundry. It also was time to do a couple of maintenance items on the camper. The heater stopped working again, but this time I was prepared and had a 5 amp fuse. Replaced the fuse and it’s working again.

This is where things got interesting. We were both in the trailer and as we got ready to head to the truck, the door latch does not work. We are stuck inside the camper. I got out by exiting the rear window which is the emergency exit. It was not easy, but I finally got out. I would never want to get out fast in a real emergency, but I got out. The latch worked from the outside so I could let Marsha out.

Okay, it was time to work on the latch. I took it apart then put it back together thinking that I fixed it. Time to test it so we are on the outside of the trailer and I close the door only to discover the deadbolt lever was activated. Once we closed the door it was locked. So now we were unable to get in the trailer! Fortunately, there is access into the trailer from the rear storage compartment located under our bed. It was a tight fit, but Marsha managed to wiggle her way in. Once inside she could undo the deadbolt then I could open the door from the outside.

After a couple of hours working the problem I gave up and called a locksmith located in Homer. We towed the trailer into Homer and the locksmith had it working after 20 minutes. Lesson learned.