Escape with Style

 

We all know Alaska is a tough place, after all how would reality TV survive without us ? And in the 40 years I've been around Alaska I've witnessed just about every kind of disaster ever invented. We've had earthquakes, tsunami's and avalanches. We've worked through fishery disasters, many floods and high wind events, volcano eruptions and ash fall like snow, record cold, record hot, Sarah Palin.....but I gotta tell ya this Funny River wildfire that we're now in the 7th day of has been about the worst yet, the air has been just thick. Here's a pic through the windshield as we self evacuated Saturday morning at 8 am.

I'll save you all the graphic fire pictures, those are all over the Internet. But the short and long of this thing is this....it doubled in size every day for the first 3 days, now it's size is estimated at 190,000 acres making it the 2nd biggest wildfire in Peninsula history. Luckily it has burned towards the wilderness and the 800 firefighters on scene have been able to stop it when it had threatened homes in Kasilof and the Kenai Keys area of Sterling. The smoke has been terrible and I seem to be unusually sensitive to it. I spent 2 days in the house and then we left....it was a kismet's moment. I live a little like Forrest Gump, good things just seem to happen in my life. Several weeks ago knowing that I wouldn't be fishing on Memorial day weekend my friend Chris Fejes invited us to his interior Alaska Nancy Lake home. Ol Chris kinda threw us a life ring, he said we'd have gourmet food and wine, outdoor life and of course....fishing. So Saturday morning we're outa here, hand our town over to the firefighters and the news people.

I just love a road trip. Having been north of Anchorage only a few times we had fresh sights to see, new people to meet, just the ride, we're going, we're moving on, we're mobile....just that is enough. And Nancy Lake is a pretty cool place, it's a pretty rare thing in Alaska really, a gorgeous large Lake that is actually in private hands, the people that live along the lake love this place. and boy did we get a glimpse of how successful Alaskans live. What's more Alaskan than this place which is just one of many with their transportation tied up to the dock.

These two pics are the property everyone on the lake talks about. The house sits on a point above the lake. These are the on lake parts of the estate, boat houses and how about an elevated barbecue lounge. I was reminded of what a guy told me at his Kenai River mansion house warming party...."ain't it amazing what you can do with a million bucks".

I kinda connected with this memorial along the lake. I could feel this guys presence, he was hard fisherman, maybe a bit of a loner who searched the lake for every rock and drop off, obviously an avid fisherman, and when you fish that much, well things just seem to happen. I remembered when I was cutting my teeth on the Kenai , Woody called me 'sand bar King'. Click on it to enlarge.

Chris has got the stuff. That boat right there I was about as impressed with as I have ever been with any piece of equipment. It's a MasterCraft ski boat with a 400 horsepower Corvette engine in it. It has direct shaft drive so there's no loss power, when boaters say the boat ' jumps up on step'....well if they jump, this one leaps. Incredible speed and power along with a bit of luxury. And a pic of MPeasy and Melinda in another boat of the Feje's mosquito fleet....and I'm not going to guess at the horsepower propelling that deal. Nope, ain't gonna do it.

Our first morning I was up at 5 am casting my pike lures from the dock. If people who don't fish were with me they'd see it all so clear. I'm the first up, the water is so flat it's hard to tell the real from the reflection, Chris has told me that float plane pilots have to learn to not let that confuse them. Out in the middle of the lake two Loon's cackled along and way off in the distance even with my bad ears I could hear a unique Alaska sound, Sled dogs. It was a little chilly, and I like that two. I cast for a couple hours and had one Pike follow...I felt him about mid retrieve and set, then again at 3/4 retrieve and then he was at my feet along side the dock and I left the daredevil in the water as long as possible but no fish, no hook up. That's fishing, and it's enough for me.

For the first time in my life I found a 4-stroke outboard motor that didn't work flawlessly. It's a Suzuki 9.9 horse and this darn thing gave us fits. It would run, then it wouldn't run....but Chris is pretty good shade tree mechanic and even though my expertise is in running the heck out of them we finally figured out a short in the kill switch mechanism and lucky us, we were out fishing at 4 am the next morning.

We trolled the cove with cow bells and worms for trout....notta.... we trolled daredevils at the outlet for pike....notta.... We threw frogs and weedless into the weed patches....notta. So I've always said the joy was in the pursuit and don't I look absolutely over joyed in that picture ? For me just fishing somewhere new for something new is exciting, it's really what I want to do as I settle into to be an old fisherman. Here's a pic of me watching the Indy 500, pretty comfortable with a guitar case for a back rest eh....


Chris and Melinda rolled out the red carpet for us, I kind of think they do for all their guests. Below is a picture of the chef himself with Saturday nights entrees. We had some fresh Copper River Sockeye salmon and halibut with a nice white sauce topped wit side stripe shrimp. Then we had some wonderfully fresh spot shrimp from Prince William sound and some aged Fillet mignon that was about as tender as anything I've ever eaten. And you'll notice one of my favorite things, a real nice sipping Tequila straight from Mexico, this one is a 'blanco' Jimador brand. It's funny that you don't think of tequila as being a sophisticated thing but.....as long as you don't throw it down and then slap your glass on the table upside down, it's really a flavor treat. And a bottle of Silver Oaks, what can you say about that?

And two pretty girls just a 'swingin'.....

So thanks Chis and Melinda for the rescue, it was a wonderful time. And that thanks isn't as much about hospitality as it is friendship, you know what I mean. And today May 27th a few years back Mary Patricia Brown King was brought into his world...and for that I'm a happy guy...and of course finding her was a pretty good trick too.  So happy B-Day MP, I'm crazy in love with you.