Pasagshak River
and the only fish I caught in Kodiak

Looking though a XD card from my camera that I hadn't seen in a while and found a bunch of pictures from Kodiak.

These two pictures are of the only fish I caught, that was worth keeping, the whole six and a half weeks on Kodiak Island.

Pasagshak River is all the way out at the end of the road. It takes about 40 minutes to make the drive and even if you don't catch anything the view is worth it. The silver salmon that run up it are bigger than you find in most of the other rivers. Plus I was told there are no bears out there.

This day walked down to the mouth at low tide and walked across the fast moving river. I went up stream aways and tried floating some eggs but my left hip boot got a hole in it and soaked my foot.

Since I had a wet foot I walked upstream to a hole I'd been eying up for a while. After tossing a spinner out there a few time you could see a couple nice fish following it in taking a look. Finally this one took a bite and saved me from being skunked for the whole trip.

It was pretty good size. I didn't weigh it but by the time walked back across the river my hand was tired from carrying it.

How much seed would a wood pecker eat...

I do not know how much the big guy ate but he was a welcome sight Christmas afternoon.

I'm back in Michigan visiting the family for Christmas. After we opened presents this woodpecker stopped by for a bite to eat.

Scooter Gang
in Homer

I met some friends from work in Homer this summer to go Halibut fishing. While out and about we saw this scooter gang from Wasilla.

They brought them down in the back of a truck and were enjoying the weekend even though it was raining pretty good. Just look at the smiles on their faces! Thats how you can tell if you have a happy scooter rider, by all the bugs in their teeth.

New Bike!

The newest addition to my stable
2001 BMW R1150GS

First off I need to say that I stole these pictures of the Previous Owner's (xdbx) SmugMug.


Ever since this years Dawson City ride I've been considering a larger bike that is more road oriented for the longer trips. I also wanted something that could comfortably carry a passenger.

I considered several different makes and models but it always came down to a BMW GS. So when I saw this one for sale in the ADVrider FleaMarket it was hard to pass up.

Currently its stored away in a heated garage of undisclosed location in Michigan. I've got a couple options but most likely I'll fly down in the spring and ride it back to Alaska.

Should be a fun trip :D

Whittier Tunnel (From the Inside)

Whittier Tunnel
Sometime last winter when Mitch and Joe came to visit.

My friend from college, Miner Joe, was in Juneau at a mine his company owned doing some training. It just happens that My buddy Miner Mitch works at that mine and had a companion fare for Alaskan Airlines.

When the weekend came around they flew up to Anchorage for a visit. We had a great time.
I couldn't let my two favorite Miners come to Anchorage with out showing them the Whittier Tunnel.

This picture is while we were driving towards Whittier.

Belarde's Pump Truck

Its a bird, Its a plane, No Its a Concrete Pump Truck!

This was taken on my job down in Kodiak. You can see the forms for new retaining walls at the Teen Center there, and a big blue boom reaching down from the sky.

That big arm is a Concrete Pump Truck. You back the Redi-Mix (Cement) truck to the Pump Truck, dump the concrete in the hopper, and the concrete gets pumped through that long arm and out the hose at the end. Its pretty convenient for jobs like this, things way off the ground like floors of a building, or places you don't want to drive the big trucks.

Three truck loads of concrete later the tops were finished and insulation was draped over the walls to keep them from freezing overnight.

Halibut Etouffee on a Cold Fairbanks Night

Last weekend I went to Fairbanks to visit Aimee. In case you haven't looked at the weather for Fairbanks its been cold up there! And its only going to get colder.

To combat some of that cold we made Etouffee with an Alaskan twist. Instead of using shrimp or crawdads, we used some of the Halibut Aimee caught when she came to visit in Kodiak.