And The ADVENTURE Continues...: July 1, 2016 Saying Goodbye to an old friend and trip to Homer, AK and July 2, 2016 Visit with Atz Kilcher and a visit to the homestead

Friday, July 1, 2016 Saying Goodbye to an old friend and trip to Homer, AK

Today was a very sad day in the Montgomery household. Fred our 24 year old cockatiel died today of kidney failure. He is going to be truly missed. I am going to miss the good morning kisses, his whistling going down the road, his pretty bird and puppy, puppy ,puppy chatter. He was just a small little guy with a big personality. Losing a pet is never easy but he is in a good place.

We left our campground and headed further south to Homer. It rained all of the way and we arrived around noon. We are staying at Heritage RV Park which is on the spit that goes out into Kachemak Bay. Nothing fancy but they have nice facilities. The mountains and the ice fields are just beautiful that surround us.

We took a short ride down the spit and then to the Visitors Center to get any kind of information about Homer. Homer is home to about 5,000 people and has the title of the Halibut Fishing Capital of the World. We will see how true this is when Mike takes his charter boat out on Sunday. Homer really started to grow around 1915.

After dinner we walked the beach and saw an eagle trying to eat what was left over from someone filleting a salmon. The remains of the fish were too much for him to carry so we just watched as the sea gulls tried their best to get it away from him. Finally the head broke away from the body and the eagle flew away with it and left the rest for the seagulls.

Tomorrow we are meeting Atz Kilcher (from Alaska, the Last Frontier) for coffee. How it started is Mike and I wanted him to remarry us but he stopped performing this ceremony when he started to get busy with the TV show so upon his suggestion we are going to have coffee with him. How exciting!!

Saturday, July 2, 2016 Visit with Atz Kilcher and a visit to the homestead

We arrived at the local coffee shop just before 8 am and within a few minutes Atz rode up on his bicycle (getting in his morning exercise). We had a great 1 ½ hour conversation with him. He was very personable. He talked about family and the homestead.

After we said our goodbyes we drove to the homestead. We were met by Atz’s niece and his sister, Stellavera. She went into much detail about life on the homestead when she was little. Not only is there 2 boys but there is 6 girls also. Her father, Yule and her mother, Ruth were both visionaries. Yule came over in 1936 and Ruth came in 1941. So they both are a very important part in the history of Homer as it is today. Seven of the children still live on the homestead to raise their family. We all learned a lot from the Kilchers. We saw a lot of love for the land that was instilled in them by their parents. Yule picked a beautiful piece of property.