Swanson Lake Canoe Trails and Dump Station Madness
SWANSON LAKE CANOE TRAILS
What a gorgeous three days we had canoeing and camping on the Swanson Lake Canoe Trails on the Kenai Peninsula. Sunny. Blue skies. Not a cloud to be seen. Temps in the low to mid 70’s. Wow! Our trip took us across 7 of the many lakes with 1/4 -1/2 mile portages in between and back again. We had an old-time Old Town canoe which weighed 78 pounds empty and caused us to double portage each time. Once with the canoe and once again with our stuff. What a work out, but it was all good as we had no particular plan and all the time in which to do whatever we chose.
Here’s what we saw in addition to the general beauty of the lakes, trees, lily pads, mountains etc: tons of fish, which made me wish for my sister and brother who both love to fish, nesting Bald Eagles, nesting Trumpeter Swans, loons, and beaver. Surprisingly, no moose and no bear, not even a blackie. The mosquitos were non-existent until the last day, which was both amazing and welcome.
What a lovely trip. My friend Sue and I are thankful for the experience and are looking forward to another adventure….
DUMP STATION MADNESS
I arose this morning back in my new house and had to face the fact that my tanks were full, which meant I could not avoid the DUMP STATION (cue music of the most dire sort) any longer. Hmmmmm. Well, I won’t even go into all that happened during my first visit to said station, but suffice it to say, anything and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. It was decidedly not a pleasant experience. Goodness gracious.
I ended up back at the RV dealership where I had to play hide and seek. I had to seek as they were all hiding from me. We are at the point where once they see Dora pulling into the lot, they scatter while saying to each other, “It’s your turn to help her. No it’s not, I helped her last time, it’s your turn. No it’s not. I’m outta here!”. Poor things. Anyway, I managed to find and lasso one of the service managers to give me a hand which actually involved some minor reconstruction of my sewer system and all turned out well. I’m off after this to buy some hefty gift certificates to one of the nicer local restaurants for him and his assistant who have consistently helped me with smiles on their faces even though I know they would have prefered to kill me or at the very least, ask me to please take my business elsewhere.
Stay tuned.
Alaskamarge Travels 
Margie – I love reading your posts!! You have me cracking up. Sorry about the insanity at the dump station – but at least you got things worked out. I can totally picture the staff at the rv place running for cover everytime they see you pull in.
Keep up the crazy adventures!
Oh heck, I wanted to hear the tales of the dump station in complete detail. Did the connection come loose? Did the sucker upper refuse to go chuga, chuga? Did the flusher outer, sucker upper instead? With similar problems on a houseboat, the technician said, “You need to go ashore for big fellas.” The vicarious journey with you is going to be fun.
As usual, love the photos, especially the swan. Beautiful! When you texted that you had a disaster at the dump station, I imagined all sorts of sordid things. Glad it all turned out okay. Keep those posts coming.
Margie, those lakes look awesome. Wish Elo and I could have been there fishing. You might have to give us all the gorey details of the dump station. HA…. What an adventure you are on. Well glad to hear everything got worked out. Just remember when it all looks like it is going bad… “Wax On, Wax Off” :~) Love you.
Love the pics…and the story. Dalene
Be sure and put a lock on the little door for the sewer hose as ours was stolen one night at a camp ground. Sounds like you are having so much fun. By the end of the summer I think you will have your shit figured out, I mean you will have learned a lot about all the “kinks ” that come with a home on wheels. I continue to look forward to your adventures and I love the pictures. Many thanks for your postings…Margie
This is just more examples of your bravery and willingness to take on the world! The whole dump station madness would of freightened me for at least 30 minutes!!
That sort of self-awareness and ‘pity’ for those who help you will serve you well on the road!