Tuesday, July 15, 2014

A Troublesome Toilet and a Bore Tide

Centennial Campground, Anchorage Alaska – July 14, 2014 Seward Highway Gravel Lot, Portage, Alaska – July15, 2014

Our well laid plans to continue on to Portage were waylaid by a leaky toilet. We had been noticing a small bit of water next to the toilet for several days but could find no obvious leaks. And having completely rebuilt the toilet before leaving on the adventure this year, Frank was not quite willing to admit the toilet leaked. The next indicator was that the water pump began cycling on and off when it shouldn’t. We definitely had a leak.

Twisting his body into pretzel-like configurations Frank was all over the toilet trying to find where it might be leaking (this is fresh water we’re talking about). Finally deep inside the mechanical workings, he found a drip. Actually more like the end of a drip. He couldn’t find the beginning of the drip. So some serious thinking ensued. The water valve was replaced two years ago, so that’s probably not it. More probing found water leaking out of the top of the vacuum breaker. Ah ha!

A stop in Anchorage was in order since that’s the only place near that has any RV part stores. So a plan ( sound of  snorts and laughter ) was formed where EJ would beat the laundry into submission and Frank would find a vacuum breaker and fix the toilet. Then we would continue to Portage. Hah!

After visiting 3 RV stores, one was found that had a decent selection of RV toilet parts. But, murphy’s law intervened and they didn’t have the exact item needed. But they had a vacuum breaker for another brand of toilet. It’ll just have to do.

After purchasing it he raced back to the RV to install it and test it. Sigh, the drip didn’t go away. EJ and Frank both went over the toilet again with a fine tooth comb and decided the only thing left that could be the source of the leak was the water valve that was only 2 years old. By this time, it was too late to buy a replacement as the stores had closed for the day.

But a new plan was hatched ( more giggles ). Frank would rig up a spray hose like you find on the kitchen sink and we’d use that to flush the toilet then head on to Portage. Notice we never said it was a good idea, because the spray nozzle ended up leaking more than the original toilet leak. Sigh, we need to find a place to spend the night and go hunt for more toilet parts in the morning.

Anchorage is a fairly RV UNfriendly city in that it does not allow over night parking at Sams Club or Walmart. So we must find a real campground. Church’s Alaska Campground Guide shows that Centennial Campground, a city run campground, is the closest to where we are. They have dry camping available so we sign up. But the dry camping area turns out to be the more seedy area of the campground and that night we are entertained with drunks shouting and threatening one another. Most enjoyable. We’ll cross this one off our list.

The next morning we rush off to buy the necessary water valve and luckily find the exact replacement. We rush back to Centennial Campground to get it installed. As you can imagine, by this time we are experts at removing and installing RV toilets.

Very soon, all parts are installed, the water is turned back on, and much to our amazement, the leak is gone. Now it’s time to pack up, dump and fill, and go return the hose and sprayer to Lowe’s and get our money back. As we are dumping and filling, EJ thinks she sees a big dog wandering near us. Turns out it’s a bear. We are both  so busy staring, we forget to take pictures.

Finally, 24 hours later than planned ( now you see the reason for the snorts and giggles above ) we are actually ready to head towards Portage.

Views along Turnagain Arm.

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On the way to Portage, we will pass by Girdwood which has a tram up to the winter time ski area. As it turns out, we have a coupon good for one admission on the tram. Another side track, but hey, that’s just being loosey goosey.

Girdwood is a ski resort town and its proximity to Anchorage makes it very  popular. It originated as a mining town around 1900, it enjoyed another boom in 1917 when construction on the nearby Alaska Railroad began. When the gold played out and the mines closed in 1930, it became a ghost town. Then in 1949, it enjoyed another boom when construction began on the Seward Highway.

In 1954, 11 local men purchased property and formed the Alyeska Ski Corporation and the little town continued to grow. Then in 1964, the Good Friday Earthquake caused the town to sink below the high tide line of the Turnagain Arm. The town was relocated 2 1/2 miles up the valley to it’s present location.

It is also a popular spot for Para gliders. We saw this one aloft and another crazy soul ready to go.

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This is a view looking up at where the tram will drop us off.

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This is what we’ll be riding up in.

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EJ seems to be enjoying it.

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An overhead of a kettle lake, formed by receding glaciers.

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Here’s the view up top looking down at where Big Guy is parked.

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That little white spec to the left is Big Guy. Here’s a blow up.

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Ah, there’s a glacier.

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Up top we can see Turnagain Arm so named when Capt. Cook’s team had to turn around again because this was not the fabled northwest passage.

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Luckily, our timing is excellent and we get to see a bore tide. This is when the incoming tide over powers the outgoing water flow and creates a wall of water. Although this wall is only 2 or 3 foot high folks have surfed on it for miles. We were told the world record for the longest surf board ride occurred right here. The dark line in the picture below is the bore tide. Remember, we’re several thousand feet up and about 2 miles away from this wall of water.

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Whew! After all that hard work sightseeing we need to check out the pub up here. We’re sitting at the bar admiring the view with a brew and King Crab cakes. Not too shabby.

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This is their wine rack.

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We’ve enjoyed our visit, but it’s time to go.

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Another adventure under our belts, it’s time to start thinking about where we’ll spend the night. We consider the lot we’re currently parked in, but decide to drive a few more miles towards Portage before we quit.

As we drove along Turnagain Arm, we were lucky enough to see the bore tide from road level. And of course more mountains & glaciers.

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We pass several pull outs where we could spend the night, but they’re too close to the main highway. We still have some daylight left so we keep driving. As we approach the turn to go to Portage, we spot a huge graveled lot. This thing must be an acre in size. This will be our resting place for the night.

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