June 15, 2011 Day 12 Soltodna, Homer and Palmer Alaska

Up early to see how hard it is raining, not too hard but still raining. We are pulling out of the cabins at 7:15. Breakfast was included with the cabin but served only from 8:00 to 9:00 and I am anxious to be on the road as Homer is still 150 miles away. We get breakfast just before we get to Soltodna in the little town of Sterlling. There is also a little hotel there and the rates are better than we have seen so John plans on coming back there for the night and spending a couple of day on the Kenai Peninsula. I plan on heading towards home after Homer. The Peninsula is beautiful, the big mountains as we came in from Anchorage and then it flattens out as we get closer to Homer. We have moments when we can see a little of the Cook Inlet and the mountains on the other side. The road is fun to ride even in the rain but my bike got really noisy, lost the muffler, by the time we got back to look for it there was no muffler, I don't know if some one picked it up or it was destroyed by one of the 30 wheeled truck or if it just went bouncing into the weeds and brush. So now I an a loud bike, not my favorite kind, but will live with it. Homer was a neat town and the spit runs a mile or so out into the inlet and reminded me of the old hippy days with all the weird little shops, people camping and just a reminder of days gone by. The spit is a boat place with lots of charters, derlic boats in various staged of repair or decay. At the end of the spit there is a Very Pricey hotel that seems so out of place. A fun trip out there. We head back to Sterling and actually get a little bit of sun, not too much but a promise of things to come. As we pass through Sterling John swings into his hotel and I keep on going. It has been fun having some one to ride with, especially some one that know the area and a lot of the facts and history of the different things that go on there. I have rain the rest of the day, some times light, some times heavier and once in a while it stops and gives me a break. I hit Anchorage at 6:00 and traffic is still a mess, about 20 miles out of town it get better and I continue on to Palmer. 430 miles for the day, lots of interesting sights and I am headed south, south as in home.