Day 13 - Seward then Homer with home on my mind

So I woke up to rain in Anchorage, it seems to be the norm for me!  But not to worry, it cleared up and was nice most of the day, the temperature fluctuates a lot during the day.  Today I saw a low of 60F to 87F and back down to low 70's.  I headed from Anchorage to Seward, about 150 miles, no problem!

It was another great ride following the railroad tracks, right along the ocean.  I was in Chugach State Park and it was really nice and just like the rest of the state, beautiful!  I finally got to Seward and had grilled Hallibut and it was outstanding!  My view below.

It's a big harbor.  Notice how beautiful the water is...

I saw a charter boat come onto shore and watched them fillet the fish right on the dock.

Seward is a really cool fishing village it it has a huge fishery processing all kinds of seafood and neat shops.  I called my Mom to check in with her and she was excited to talk to me.  She likes the blog and pictures. Talking to her helped my homesickness some, so thanks Mom!  I liked the sculpture of the sled dogs, life size and done with one piece of wood.

I found the local post office and shipped more stuff home I was not using and some souvenirs.  I talked to several locals and they were very nice and complimentary on riding from Ohio.  They said it is rare to see a license plate from that far.

I then decided to head to Homer which is south of Seward but took almost 3 hours to get there because of traffic and construction.  I rode through Kanai and the fishing for salmon was on and just like you see on TV, tons of people were lined up along the shore or in waders or rafts.  I did not take any pictures, dang it!  Inthe picture below there is a mountain in the the distance and it is 52 miles away.

So Homer (who Homer Simpson is named after) is a really neat town and I noticed a camping site on a peninsula that goes out to the ferry.  Other tents and a bunch of RVs were parked there so I figured I would bed down here for the night.  It is literally on the beach of the Gulf of Alaska.  Too cool!

The sun is still high in the sky.  This was taken about 7 pm local time, which was 11 pm EST.

I love all of the bush planes and landing on the water.  I saw many flying and landing.  Here are a couple pictures....I would love to be a bush pilot!

This is they arbor on the Homer Spit.  Cool area.

Here is my campsite for the night.  It cost $8 and I think Cathy will be pleased with that cost!

Yes Shelli and Vicki, I fit in it!  It's a two man tent and I fill it up!

Here is the "sunset" at 10:10 PM

So I thought I would answer some questions.

1) Yes my butt hurts about after 150 miles...but I shift around a lot and use my extra pegs to stretch out.  When I am tired I pull over and stretch out.

2) My left elbow is the only thing really bothering me...not sure why.  I have tendinitis...it might be from all the motorcycle wave we do when we pass others.  I even get waves from some HD riders who must have learned the can take a hand off of the handlebars. :)

3) My absolute favorite option on Red Velvet is the ThrottleMeister cruise control.  This is how I can take pictures, snack, drink water, eat jerky, change tunes, answer the phone...done it twice, both times it was Conor....but I do not text and ride!

4) Red Velvet almost holds 10 gallons of petrol.  This means we can go 400 to 450 miles between fillups. 

5) I have only been scared a couple of times and one of those involved a buffalo who buffaloed me into thinking it was not going to walk out in front of me.  This was the one time so far Red Velvet kicked in her ABS.  Thank you Red Velvet.

6). So far I have hit 1,765,897 or so Mosquitos, no-see-ums (which I see fine splattered on my visor), flys, bees, dragon flys, horse flys and some giant insects in Iowa.  Yes, they do sometimes go into my teeth, nose, ears...all with my helmet on!  And it HURTS!

7) Today I hit a small chipmunk who made a split decision mistake that caused me to run him over..poor guy went right and so did I.  I've hit two birds so far on this trip.  Hopefully I am done!

If you have questions or suggestions, text, email or PM on FB! 

Lastly, this weekend is the annual Grove City Alumni Softball tournament and I will miss seeing everyone!  Go 82' CHOICE!  Also, Conor and Zach are both playing this year and I am bummed I will not get to see them play too.  Go 2011 and 2013!

Thanks and I miss you all my friends!