Nikishka

It was another beautiful day so we decided to take a scooter ride. The only area nearby we have not been to is the town of Nikishka, located about 10 miles north of Kenai. It is not included on any of the destination guides as a place worth going. Now we know why. They don’t want you to know about the offshore oil wells, LNG processing plant, fertilizer plant and oil refinery that is located there! We had always been told that all the gasoline and diesel up here was brought up from the lower 48 which was why it was so expensive. Not so. They refine gasoline, diesel and jet fuel right there. Maybe someone up here want’s to keep all that a secret.

Our trip started out with the temperature in the mid 70’s, so we did not put on our heaviest coats. That was a mistake. We are located inland quite a distance from the ocean and the temperature fell by 10 degrees as we neared the coast. I was wearing a decent coat, but Dianna only had on a light jacket. She was getting really cold so we stopped at a Salvation Army thrift store in Kenai and spent $6.50 on a really nice coat. She was fine after that.

We explored some of the side roads around Nikishka and found that it was a nice little town with very complete public services. Its economy is obviously not based on tourism and therefore there is plenty of oil money to do anything they want. We rode down to the harbor which was not much. There is access to a long beach there as well, but it would have required 4 wheel drive. I’ve only got 1 wheel drive.

On the way back we stopped at a McDonalds and had a couple cups of “senior” coffee. We have learned to ask for that since the price in the lower 48 is usually only .25. Up here it is .75, which is still less than half the regular price. By the way, if you ask for a senior soda at McDonalds the price in the lower 48 is only .25 for a small in most places, and you can refill it as many times as you want. Just a few cost saving tips, brought to you by The Frugal Full Time RV’ers.

We leave the campground tomorrow morning and will probably be staying in free places for the next few days. Not sure where we are headed, but possibly back down towards Homer. That means no internet and sporadic blog posting.