October 10th - Packing to leave!

Well, finally the USPS delivered all my stuff from Alaska...thank goodness I spent the last few days making room and the luggage carrier for the back of the camper! Amazing how a couple totes worth of space can free up some space in the truck and the camper!

The luggage rack came out beautiful and it works great. Mounted it yesterday on the bumper and painted it to match the camper. Today I unloaded the totes and sorted out what can be put out back! Totes are loaded and secured!

Here is my stuff from Alaska! Too much crap!



Here is the rack mounted on the bumper!



Totes Loaded and secured for travel!



My plans call now for leaving on Friday morning - October 12th. Head straight down to Dillon, Montana and meet some friends for a little stream fishing and good food, drink and laughter!

Then after a couple days I will head to West Yellowstone and do some exploring and take a picture or two in Yellowstone. Then arriving in Salt Lake City on the 23rd.

The 26th my imaginary (soon to be real) girlfriend arrives from Ohio and we leave for a two week adventure in Southern Utah...4 day raft trip - 4 or 5 National Parks and some out of the way exploring and camping!

Stay tuned for details and photos!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

October 8th - Productive Day!

I had several goals with regard to the camper for this coming winter. Last year was get acquainted and figure out what was missing and what improvements I could make to make living full time in a small RV a little better.

Well, most if not all of my goals have been met. I got the trailer brakes fixed, new tires on the trailer, new tires on the truck, and solved some of my storage problems with some compartmentalization and re-distribution and the dumpster. But today we embarked on a huge solution to some storage issues...see below.

Freezer space was also an issue and I purchased a small freezer which should arrive tomorrow which should eliminate that as an issue. We'll see how it fits where I propose to put it...but I have other options if that doesn't work.

There were two projects for today, one was to smoke some of my Alaska salmon and the other was to fabricate a rack for the back bumper on the trailer to hold a couple storage containers...great headway was made on both, actually the salmon is done!

Adding some lemon pepper to the brine'd salmon before putting it in the smoker.



In the smoker!



The finished product and Ohh is it good!



Happiness is being with a good friend who has a complete fabrication shop...cutting steel, welding all a easy job with the right equipment! Jim Flinchbaugh is amazing and a great friend...

Starting fabrication!



More welding!



And the nearly finished project - one more brace to install, then weld it to the back bumper of the trailer, mount the spare tire and load it up!



My plans have not changed a whole lot, still waiting for the USPS to deliver my containers from Alaska, then a day or so to get organized then off to Yellowstone for a few days, then Salt Lake City by the 23rd or so...then a two week adventure to Southern Utah and Northern Arizona!

Stay tuned for more details as they happen!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

More work in Kalispell - October 1st 2012

I am in Kalispell Montana and will be for a couple weeks. I got here last Wednesday and have been busy getting the truck and trailer squared away and ready to travel. I am waiting for several containers of things I shipped down from Alaska, so I will more than likely be here until around the 12th or so.

Yesterday was a highlight! I managed to apply a new decal I got to the truck. I personally hate those little stick families people put on their cars, so when I saw this, I just had to buy a couple for the truck!



I mentioned in an earlier post that I would post a photo of the generator I put in the bed of the pick-up truck to power the camper when remote camping or when I need to charge batteries or whatever. As you can see, it fit nicely in front of the 5th wheel hitch and other than not being able to run it when sleeping (exhaust fumes might kill me), it will power the entire 5th wheel including A/C if needed. I would just un-hitch and park the truck away from the camper enough to avoid fumes.



Here is a closeup of the generator. It is electric start with a remote so I don't even have to leave the camper to fire it up!!



More detail on travels over the next couple days. Taking a trip down to the Bison Range for the annual roundup tomorrow. Should be fun and a few pictures!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

Last update for Yes Bay!

It is hard to get out of the daily habit of posting something on the fishing report, this morning while I was making some reservation calls for 2013, I realized I had a couple pictures on my boat camera that needed to be uploaded, so here they are. These are from a "real foggy" morning with our last group.

The first one is Batman's boat after they just boated a real nice double of silvers!

Yes I can tell in the picture he is putting the net away and we were closer than the picture looks. The fog was very dense.



Next is my second "Fog Bow" of the season. This is a fairly rare occurrence but a full explanation can be found by googling Fog Bow!



We are taking new reservations for 2013 daily, make sure you have your reservations in and deposits made, space is going to be a premium next season!



Capt Jim
(Professor)

Fall Schedule

Well my last season at Yes Bay Lodge in beautiful SE Alaska is complete! I was very sad to leave Yes Bay this year, but also very anxious to start my new adventure for the remaining part of 2012 and beyond. Hard to believe that I will not be returning to Yes Bay!

I flew from Ketchikan to Kalispell Montana on Wednesday the 26th of September. Picked up at the airport by my buddy who has stored my truck and 5th wheel while I was gone for the summer. We had a ton of projects planned for the summer for the truck and the 5th wheel. I list a little summary of projects which my good friend Jim worked on while I was gone and a few we have finished since I have been here.

Here is my 5th wheel all washed and ready for my arrival!



1. Fix brakes on trailer - Jim took care of this while I was gone, a small electrical problem - that will make traveling and stopping much easier.
2. Check brakes on truck and oil change - all done when I got here!
3. New tires on trailer - Done while I was gone!
4. New tires on truck - was real lucky here, Jim found a very nice set of tires on Craigs List for a great price and hardly used. Thanks to friend Dustin at Les Schwab had them mounted and balanced and on the truck! They look great and the truck is much quieter and handles way better!



5. Installed a new generator in the bed of the truck - remote start which will make it nice! Pic on this tomorrow!

6. New television mount - custom fabricated by Flinchbaugh engineering!



7. Today we finished the wiring for the TV and installed an A/B switch and repaired the cable TV hook-up for when I am in a campground...I don't have to run the wire out the window and into the TV - We repaired the trailer hook-up wire and also the antenna hook-up wire to the A/B switch so just a matter of hooking the cable to the trailer outside hookup spot and hit the switch!

8. Installed two waterproof tool boxes in the back of the truck bed behind the hitch to store my tools and trailer hook-up supplies. This will make some more room in the trailer and the cab of the truck.



Travel Plans - My schedule for the next month is pretty well set. I will be here in Kalispell for the next couple weeks, I have to wait until my stuff arrives that I shipped down from Alaska. I am also going to make a few short trips into Glacier National Park and the Bison Range again. Plus continue to make the trailer a little more liveable. New inside stereo and a few other projects.

Then around the middle of October I am going to take a leisurely trip through Yellowstone and the Tetons and end up in Salt Lake City on the 23rd of October. I may have a friend meeting me in Salt Lake for a little vacation and rafting trip scheduled out of Moab Utah, then down through Monument Valley and back over to Antelope Canyon and two additional slot canyons out of Kanab Utah ending up in Zion National Park then back to Salt Lake City. After that my schedule is up in the air, I am in contact with several places to work and spend the rest of my winter, but plans have not been finalized as of yet.

Stay tuned for more details and some great pictures this coming month!

Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

September 22nd - Final Fishing Report

The end of the season is always a time with mixed emotions, the crew is all anxious to leave and yet sad to see the summer end.

We were very fortunate this year, we ended the season with a huge bang! We had a large group of 18 who had the entire Lodge for the past 4 days of fishing (or should I say catching!)! It was a fantastic group some were returnee's and a few first time visitors to the Lodge but they all knew each other so there was a lot of ribbing from boat to boat all day everyday and especially at dock time! Every one of them had a great time and we could not have asked for better weather or fishing! It was a huge success and a fantastic way to cap off a wonderful season at Yes Bay.

Successful - I would say so the group is leaving with 1335 pounds of frozen fish! That is dressed, frozen and vacuum packed!

Here are our final catch pictures for the 2012 Season!

















Look at that 14 plus pound Yellow Eye - and a side note on the King - It was caught while halibut fishing in 178 feet of water on the bottom!



And how about this nice Squid! You never know what you will bring up from the bottom around here!





Always an Adventure at Yes bay Lodge in SE Alaska!

I will be giving a Lodge/Crew update tomorrow!



Capt Jim
(Professor)

September 21st - Fishing Report

The day started out perfect with very calm winds and calm seas and tons of real dense fog, so the travel time to the fishing grounds was a little longer, but it didn't matter the fish waited until we got there to turn on and turn on they did with many boats having a limit of 6 per person way before lunch, then they went in search of bottom fish and quite a few of them were found as well! It was a superb day of fishing at Yes Bay with a ton of silvers on the dock, some great halibut, good sized yellow eyes and rock fish!

The pictures will tell the story and there are a bunch!













Look at this late season feeder King! And a white King to boot!











And a little Guest fun! What it means we have no idea...but it must mean something to them!!





Always an Adventure at Yes bay Lodge in SE Alaska!

Capt Jim
(Professor)

Septmber 20th - Fishing Report

I fish, therefore I lie!!

I lied yesterday when I said, "It just don't get any better than this"...well today proved me wrong, because from a weather standpoint it got better, the salmon fishing slowed a little, but the weather was amazing. Calm winds, bright blue skies and very warm. The water was glassed off most of the day and when it wasn't glassy it was a very minor breeze chop!

We had a great day of fishing, after yesterdays amazing silver day many boats planned to focus on the bottom for halibut after getting some silvers early...so the entire afternoon by most boats was pounding the bottom and we were rewarded, with some great yellow eyes, some nice rock fish and a good selection of halibut!

Lots of great pictures today and look at the bright sunny weather this afternoon when the boats hit the dock!

















And Snapper with a Sculpin he brought in for Myron!





Always an Adventure at Yes bay Lodge in SE Alaska!

Capt Jim
(Professor)