The End of the Road OR Back Homer Again

Well, we have reached our destination - Homer, Alaska.  It is known as "the End of the Road" since I-A1 ends here (that would be Interstate Alaska 1).  Along the way we have traveled 6553 miles through 6 states in the lower 48 - Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington and through 2 Canadian Provinces - British Columbia and the Yukon Territories plus Alaska.  We left Mission, Texas on February 18th and arrived in Homer on May 31st.

Our sojourn here begins this coming Monday (June 6th) and is over on June 16th.  We are going to be doing some building repairs, painting and maybe some teaching about sharing the gospel with those that aren't Christians.  The church here has a Sunday attendance in the upper 20s usually.

There are 3 other couples with us here - John and Lorraine Hawk; Richard and Cheryl Swift and Ron and Lineta Grimes.  We've worked with the Grimes before - 2 years ago in Saguenay, Quebec. We've never had the pleasure of working with the Hawks or Swifts.

We got here after spending the Memorial Day weekend visiting my sister Franny in Sterling, AK about a hundred miles away.  While there we took a day trip to Seward, AK - named after the Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State William Henry Seward - the man who arranged the purchase of what we now call Alaska from Russia in 1867. Seward is the southern Terminus of the Alaskan Railroad.

Fran came down to Homer on Wednesday, June 1st.  She and Irene had a bible study and she made the decision to put her faith in Jesus and was immersed for the forgiveness of her sins and the reception of the Holy Spirit that afternoon. AMEN!

Thursday Fran and I went on an All-Day Halibut Fishing Trip.  Homer is known as the "Halibut Capital of the World."  You are allowed to catch TWO halibut in a day.  One of them MUST be UNDER 28 inches long.  That's because they don't want everyone just going for the BIG breeders (100-400 pounds).  I caught the first Halibut of the day.  My "over" (28") was about 36" and probably weighed about 35 pounds.  Here's visual proof I ain't just telling a "fish story!"

Franny caught what was easily the largest fish of the day.  I was about 55 inches long and probably weighed 80 pounds.  Here's a picture that she got of it (she couldn't lift it.  That's the ship's captain holding it up for here).

Here's a short video of the fish caught that day.  The B-I-G one near the beginning of the video is Franny's.  The suddenly NOT so big one at the end of the video is mine.

On a totally different note:  I love king crab and where better to get in than in it's "state of origin" - Alaska.  Maybe some of you are familiar with the TV show "World's Deadliest Catch."  Anyway, I've had it four times in Alaska and it NEVER disappoints (except in the one restaurant that said "King Crab" on the menu and ended up serving "Snow Crab)."  Lord willing, I'll be personally responsible for the killing of a couple more crustaceans before I leave Homer.