Glad to finally have my wife back with me, I wanted to let her sleep in this morning, her first in Alaska, so at 6:30 A.M. I quietly dressed and filled the room's trash can with water, liberated the toilet brush from the bathroom, and took a collection of liquid soap, Turtle Wax, and wash rags that I had brought along outside to clean the caked-on dirt from the Al-Can Highway off of the motorcycle to get it ready for sale. Two and one-half hours of hard work later, the bike was essentially clean from the soapy brushing but still in need of a serious final hosing, rinsing, and wiping. The Bev was ready for her first day in Alaska and after packing, she followed (me on the BMW, her in the rental car) for breakfast and then in search of a car wash to finish cleaning the motorcycle. We stopped into the Alaska Leather Store on Spennard Street to ask directions to the nearest wand-style self wash car wash to prep the BMW for sale. Barb, the owner of Alaska Leather asked me what model BMW I had, saying that she might be interested in buying it!! She came out to the parking lot to check it out. I offered her the keys to test ride it and she refused, saying that she wanted to buy it for the $1,500 sale price for my machine. Barb suggested that I go fetch the title while she went to the bank to withdraw the necessary cash!
We went back to U.A.A., finished packing, dug out the title, and raced back to see Barb at Alaska Leather. Bev took photos as I signed the title, accepted the 15 $100 bills, smiled side by side with Barbara and the K 75 S, and gave my great and faithful two-wheeled friend a final, tearful kiss on the tank good bye.
We pointed our 2014 Nissan Sentra Alamo rental car south for our tour of the Kenai Peninsula with our first destination Homer Alaska and the Homer "Spit" at the southwestern edge of the peninsula on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Leaving the greater Anchorage area, we were stunned by the scenic beauty of Alaska Route 2, known as the "Turnagain Arm" bordering the Cook Inlet, surrounded on all sides by water, mountains, and glaciers. We stopped on the way in Girdwood, Alaska to check out the famous, grand, and classy Alyeska Hotel and also the Girdwood Train Station (smaller than our bedroom), both for later reference.
The village of Ninilchik, Alaska was on the way to Homer, and we stopped to check out the Russian Orthodox church with its interesting architecture and unique graveyard for pondering and photos. As we were driving on the half-mile long dirt road from the church back to the main road, suddenly a huge bald eagle with full, open 5' wingspan, flew out of the woods at the edge of the road and appeared right over our windshield, shocking both of us, as the eagle was in pursuit of a smaller bird. Up close and personal- what a surprise and what a sight!
We arrived in drizzly Homer, checked into a suprprisingly spacious and well-appointed Best Western Inn, had a lovely dinner and hit the hay.
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