August 2nd, 2016 — Alaska Fishing Trip

I flew to Alaska for a once in a lifetime fishing trip with three of my buddies.


This is the float plane we flew from the Juneau airport to the Highliner Fishing Lodge about 100 miles away.


These are only a few of the salmon we caught.

 
Here I am with my largest catch of the trip, an 80-pound halibut, and my three buddies, Phil with the record catch of the trip, a 110-pound halibut, and the other guys with a few of the halibut they caught. On August 7th, at the end of the trip, we each came each home with 100 pounds of cleaned and packaged halibut. You know how much that is? Think of 100 one-pound packages of hamburger. I had to buy a whole new stand alone freezer which we put in the RV barn to store them.

August 8th, 2016 — 4:00pm — Grants Pass, Oregon

 

While I was in Alaska, Linda was in Austin, Texas. Her sister Carol had become desperately ill in July and Linda had flown from our home in Grants Pass, Oregon to Austin and moved into Carol's house to take care of her dog Murphy and to manage her finances. Linda came back home to Grants Pass on August 7th. Her brother Jeff and his wife Julia had also been in Austin and they drove Murphy to Grants Pass for her. The afternoon they arrived, August 8th, we were all sitting on the back deck, and Murphy and Jeff were looking at the turkeys who'd come into the clearing on our 5-acre property for their afternoon feeding. Murphy had never seen a wild turkey in his life and he was in total disbelief. He was NOT about to leave the safety of Jeff's arm. Look at Murphy stretching his neck! "What the HECK?"

September 14th, 2017 - Shell Beach, California

 

Two of my favorite photos of me and Linda and Murphy and Andi vacationing on a motorhome trip. We're on Shell Beach which is just north of Pismo Beach on the central coast of California. Little did we know at the time that we'd be living only minutes from here 12 months later!