Thanks, Campendium (and Jen!)

June 3 - I've been a big fan of Campendium since I first ran across signs of it last November when I was staying at Government Wash. Brian and Leigh of Aluminarium have been developing the site for the past two years and opened it to the public this year. I really appreciate the robust database they've built inclusive of everything from boondocking locations to state & national park campgrounds to classy, high-end RV Resorts. No more needing to look at a bunch of different sources to find something that fits your taste.

While they have a robust database, many of the locations don't have pictures or reviews yet. They're dependent on users paying it forward by leaving reviews of the places they stay. A couple months ago a retired bomb tech donated funds to encourage more people to do reviews on Campendium.

I noted early on that the Alaska portion of their database wasn't as robust as the lower 48, so I put some effort into documenting some of the (primarily public) campgrounds while I was on the Kenai Peninsula with our Alaska contingent. I wasn't intentionally stuffing the ballot box, but it was really nice to get an e-mail from Leigh saying that our name came up in a week's random drawing.

The gift card was immediately applied to the newest travel tool - maybe that's a bit of a stretch. My old hand-held Garmin GPS died a cruel death when it fell out of my shirt pocket and down a cliff on a hike on Cedar Mesa in April. Its replacement is pants pocket sized, but supports downloads from Geocaching.com, including the description and hints. I'm sure it will get a workout when Spencer joins us in early July.

A super big THANKS to Jen for her funding, and to Brian and Leigh for all their hard work building a tremendous resource - Campendium!

So How'd the Gambling Go?

In late May we posted about some gambles we were taking on a quick Alaska trip. We did very well playing Non-Rev Roulette. We both got seats on our first choice to Seattle, and BJ got the last seat on the first choice flight to Anchorage. I arrived in Anchorage on the next flight about an hour later. Headed south, BJ got her second option out of Anchorage and her first choice out of Seattle. When I headed home, I got seats on my first choice out of Anchorage and also out of Seattle. Six out of eight first choices seems like very acceptable odds!

On the solar project, we ended up making a trip down the hill to the hardware store for a few small things, but we were successful with having all the special stuff we needed, including a couple extra 12 volt outlets.

The AT&T mifi was the right choice! We had super strong signals from AT&T in places where I had weak Verizon signals two years ago. Given a choice, AT&T is still the best option for travelers to Alaska.

Fishing is clearly a gamble, especially for someone who had never fished. With three generations fishing, I expected we would catch something, but all three of us limited on both halibut and king salmon the day I joined them. We ended up with two ice chests (over 75 pounds) full of cleaned and vacuum-packed fish.

Checked baggage arrived on our initial listed flights. My bag got to Anchorage before me, but BJ was on that flight so she was able to pull it from the carousel. I was a bit more concerned with my southbound schedule because in addition to my bag I also had a box full of frozen fish. Both my bag and the fish arrived as planned, and in spite of the 105 degree weather in Phoenix when I landed, the fish was still rock hard.

Two weeks of fun with family for me, and all the "gambles" paid off. How soon can we do it again?

Homer

May 26 - Spring has arrived in Homer, Alaska.

I was surprised to see that Holland America was in the harbor for much of a day. Homer isn't known for its cruise ship traffic.

I think I like Homer because it really is a working town, with much of the employment centered around the sea.

But it's the tired and retired that always catch my eye.

We came for one day, but there are just enough salmon being caught at the fishing hole to keep Jeff and Spencer's interest so we enjoyed three days.

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As usual, there are a lot of RVers traveling to Alaska this year, and some of them are bloggers. You may have noticed that I've added Riveted to my sidebar because they're doing it differently. They often travel in their Airstream, thus the blog name. Sometimes they travel in their Airplane. This summer they're traveling the Inside Passage and Southeast Alaska in their Nordic Tug 34 that they call Airship. I love traveling vicariously with them!