It's a roller coaster of emotions when you go from
stressful RV parking to fun adventures with friends only to
end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, we just
got a tsunami warning. Uh, 11 o'clock at night, this is terrifying.
I mean, do we follow everybody else but the
problem is if you go towards Kenai, you're just following
the coast like you're following the water. Alaska, well known
for its vast wildlife, endless outdoor adventures, and
world-class fishing. Oh yeah, might we add plenty of rainy
cool days during the summer season. After exploring the
breathtaking beauty of Valdez and Palmer, it was time to
conquer the legendary Kenai Peninsula, Hanks style. This
story begins at Diamond M Ranch RV Resort in Kenai, Alaska.
(music)
You know what is so wonderful about travel days? We get to go
somewhere new. And I love that. Off to Homer, Alaska we go.
I've heard a lot of great things about this area where
we're going and per Google, it is the halibut fishing capital
of the world. You know every place has that thing that
they're known for. We're posting up in Anchor Point
at a small RV park there. And then we'll be about a 20 minute
drive to Homer which I think is pretty good. So if you guys are
looking for RV parks to stay when you go somewhere touristy
don't forget that you can go on the outskirts of that area. You
could save some money by doing that. I do see some fishing in
our near future. We've been talking about wanting to go
fishing but it's a little bit more complicated than just
going fishing. You have to go with people who are
experienced. You have to have all the gear and, and the issue
with going with some of these companies is that they're very
expensive. Very expensive. I'm not saying you don't get your
money's worth. I'm not saying that at all but it's like
sometimes $400 a person, and if you have a large family and
you're on a budget, that can be really difficult. We're on a
budget as well because everything in Alaska is pricey
and don't you worry, we are going to be breaking down the
cost of like how the Alaska trip was like RV parks,
everything. We track every penny still to this day because
that is what helped us become debt free was like watching
where our money goes and because of that wonderful
habit, it has stuck with us and we still do it to this day.
And look, we're here. What do we got here? What's, what is
here for us? Anchor Point. What kind of turn is this? Look at
this thing. Like, what is that even mean? Yup, we're good.
Hey, at least the weather is cooperating with us. It's
going to be nice and rainy when we go to unhook. Groceries.
I mean, it's nothing major but it's groceries. Oh, we're going
down a hill. Wow. Never been here before. Really? First time
for me too. You want to hang out? I'm Renee. Nice to meet
you. Carl. I do like that there's a lot of walking trails
in this area. Hopefully, bears. I want to see bears. I don't
want to get close to a bear but I would like to see one at a
distance. You know, this is small. I told you it was
going to be small. Oh, wow. I don't even know if we both fit
in here at the same time. Holy cow, where are we even going to
go? There's no turning around. No. Oh my gosh. I'll just go
this way. We're just going this way. I don't even know.
Look it. We're already at the end of the park.
Ah. We're here. Yup, this is it, honey. Okay. We're actually
in our site already. So, hop on out. I'll show the amenities.
Okay, thanks. Water, sewer electric, ever heard of it?
You have? I'll show you anyways. Isn't that how they always do
it at the RV park?
We're home stinky.
(Dexter meows)
Was that dad? Did dad call you stinky?
Tell everybody you're just you get bored.
Your belly's full but you get bored. Anyone else who
has a Siamese cat understands. Okay I talked to the lady.
Okay. She said we're going in to 9 and 10. Oh sweet. She's
like I was trying to stop ya. I missed ya. I was like no
problem. We're already in a position back up and get right
in our site. Alright. That's what we're going to do. Put in
an R for race and go backwards. Okay. Wow. Everybody's getting
the behind the scenes. Wow. Who's every on. Oh snap. I
didn't know you guys were here. Welcome. Welcome to chaos.
Yeah. Look at how we're procrastinating on backing in.
Yeah, we're just going to sit here for a couple
of hours and be like. Is the... It's raining. Where's the
valet, park your RV service?
I'm so cold. What a nut. That woman is something else.
And that's why I married ya.
Look at her. She looks like she's off the movie Coneheads back in
the day. Remember that one with Dan Akroyd. You want me to just
back up? Start backing up? You can start backing up. Let's try
our Apple Watches together. Apple watches. Then I'll use my,
I'll use the phone to get some awesome shots for you guys. But
just know I'm cold and out here in the rain so, send, send some
warm love. Hello. Okay, perfect. Bye. Bye.
Go up to Keith and ask him if he's ever back in an RV before
because goodness it's been 10 minutes. You know this
would be a perfect time to do it. Nice day out.
What's going on over there?
They're small sites for sure. I mean it said
it would accommodate their length but since they got that
mini split they're like a tiny bit longer now. Well that's
okay. Cuz the best part is we're in no rush. Normally
rainy days and backed up travel plans would stress us out but
not anymore. We're in control. Kinda.
What is that? A birds nest? What is that?
Where did that come from? Right there.
No!
Howdy. Let's do this. Come on back. Swing it a little bit
more here. Okay, you're cut, maybe too much now. Start
cutting it hard. Like as much as you can. There's no way I'll hit
those rocks there? Oh my god, there's moose right there.
There's like two huge moose. Oh. They were right behind me.
Did you see that? I thought it was a person behind me and I
jumped and... There was moose right there the whole time.
Oh my god. There's so much going on.
I thought you were going to run into me
because I was standing like right behind you.
Like, you know what? Just keep pushing it like that because
that'll work, I think. Yeah, keep doing that. Keep doing
that. I'm just watching my six for more moose. If you do that
and then like you just will pull forward and just have to
wiggle it in here. Look at I'm so nervous that more moose are
going to be behind me. That was wild. If this ain't Alaska all in
one shot here. Raining, moose, and hard back ins. Just don't
get better than this. Okay that's too tight. Too much.
Yeah. Come back. Go ahead. Cuz we're going to try to split
this thing and... Okay you just said pull forward. Now you want
back. See what I gotta deal with? Perfect keep coming back like that.
Okay, stop, stop, stop. You're in the tree. Sorry, you're in
the tree. How's actually that? That might be good. Yeah, pull
forward a little bit though because you're really into the
tree here. Wow. Whoopsie. Okay, right there is probably good.
Oh, wait. Hold on. This thing, I know, I know. Okay, stop,
stop, stop, stop, that's perfect. It's wet inside the
truck right now. It is raining right here. I just want to let
you know in on that secret. I don't know about you but I'm
freezing my butt off in here.
I'm looking for the moose. She's going to kill me.
(music)
It's an early one here in the Hank's household. Five o'clock.
It always comes a little bit too early. I kind of feel like
I'm talking to you guys a lot with my eyes closed right now
for good reason. Who knows what's going on behind these
eyelids. You don't want to know. Fishing today. Yes.
Finally. Alaska. We're doing it the right way this time. All
y'all halibut fish out there. Look out. We're coming for ya.
Starting to wake up now. I got my favorite tee on, so that's
bringing good vibes. I will let er rip when we get out on the
boat too. Let er rip in the fact that I'm going to rip some
fish out of that ocean and feed our family. Wilderness Carl's
coming out. By the way, I'm hitting this stuff hard today,
okay? No seasickness today. Sea legs. Yeah. I'm all about that.
Sea sickness. No. You could take the backseat. Alright,
Hanks family. We gotta roll out. We got 10 minutes to get
there. We gotta walk and go. Let's go. Let's go. Alright.
Alright. Alright. Alright. Alright. Wait. We gotta pack
some sodies. Here we go with hooking up the whole camper.
See when you go on excursion with Ney, she tends to take
everything with her like everything you can possibly
imagine that you might need in a case of an emergency which is
great but then, I only have one backpack and she overloads it
to like 50 pounds. So, the inside joke is that I'll just
go hook up the camper and take everything with us. Maybe
they'll just tow the camper behind the boat today, that
might work. Listen, when you're starving in a few hours, you're
going to thank me. Listen, I'm not eating, okay? I'm going to
keep my belly empty. I'm NPO which is a fancy nursing term
for not eating and yeah, nothing by mouth.
Oh, good morning by the way.
Just a typical day in the Hank's household.
Oh, by the way, I got your muck boots on. Those
things that you've been carrying since we sold our
house back in two thousand seventeen, you never wear em.
Yes, my muck boots. I'm so glad we have them. Me too.
Wonder if we're going to encounter any moose along our
walk here. And I forgot to tell you guys the other morning. I
got some sweet shots of moose as well and some eagles and...
Okay there was this one bird. I gotta know your guys' opinion.
What is this bird? It is driving me bananas. Is it an
eagle? I think it is. It's of the eagle family. But give me
some specifics here everyone because I need all the help we
can get. But how about the Hanks finally getting some
sightings of some wildlife. That's what I'm talking about.
(music)
I feel like I was pulling in a shark.
(music)
We got the fish.
Our freezer is going to be in overload.
But now, what do we do? Cuz we live in an RV and our freezer
is like this big. I feel like Santa Claus.
You got that? You know, I'm, I'm managing.
(music)
A short drive from Anchor Point landed ourselves in the famous
Homer Spit. Hey, we needed a break from all that halibut so
we decided to explore other flavors of Alaska. With plenty
of parking, food, and shops to explore, we were fully immersed
but to our surprise, our adventure in the beautiful
Kenai Peninsula felt like it had come to an end all too soon.
Well, we just got a tsunami warning.
Uh 11 o'clock at night. We're like in Homer area.
I don't know if that's like considered higher ground.
You have like a topography map to see that or?
I just know that bluff is right there
because you know when you look across the way there's
those houses? Yeah. On the hill, we're up on that same elevation.
Okay. If there's a back road that takes
us to like a mountain too, that'd be ideal. Yeah. I would
just head to the highest elevation.
This is terrifying.
I mean, do we follow everybody else but the problem is if you go
towards Kenai, you're just following the coast like you're
following the water. Right. How much fuel do we have too is
another concern. Here, let's get our radios on. Hey, we have
our radio on. Um let's charge up our phones while we can.
Trying to get as much light as I can here. Sorry, I know the
video quality is horrible but we are in the middle of parking
lot. Keith right now is talking to the state police here trying
to get an idea where we should head. All we need to do at the
time was grab Dexter. Grab a couple of our quickest
valuables within reach. Put on our shoes and head out the door
and that's exactly what we did. We don't know what's to come.
But if you're ever in the situation just get out.
Don't start panicking and trying to grab everything.
Just make sure you're safe.
That's the most important thing. Stay calm.
What up my man? Okay. So she said the warning and the...
there's a like a seven point something earthquake that
happened over by like Kodiak. And I guess that's where the
tsunami warning is. So they're not even evacuating Homer
along the spit right now. So she said if it is danger for
here specifically we would get another warning and then
they would be driving on the roads like with sirens and stuff like that.
Okay. I'm freezing. I'm cold too. I was not prepared for
this. Might be the adrenaline man. Yeah. So, I think we're
actually good to go back. Okay. Okay. And then she said we'd
get another warning. Okay. Wait, did you find out where
to go if we do get another warning? Here. Just right here.
Yeah, she said this is high enough. Well, I guess that's
the best possible news we can get. Stinky butt is safe and uh
he's not sure what's going on but hey, you do what you can.
Yeah and I didn't grab his cage because my thought is like if
we're dealing with water, like the last thing I want him in is
a cage. Yeah. If you guys want to come back, if you're if
you're comfortable, I think you're completely fine. We're
not going anywhere. Right now, the waves in Sandpoint are only
a foot and a half. Okay. And the Cook Inlet that we're on is
super shallow. Okay. And there are buoys all the way so they
measure them and they give us times like it wouldn't even
touch Kodiak until like 12:35, I think. You
plenty of time and I don't think we're going to see
anything but we will continue to watch. So, if you guys
want to come back, you're, I think you're safe. Oh yeah.
Like, how common is this? You know, it's like we're acting
like such we're, we're such non locals right now. Yeah.
Whoo. Okay. I feel so much better because um, you know, it's one of
those scenarios where you're like no one else is really
panicking. There's a few people like hustling and getting on
the road but it's like you don't want to be like naive to
the that you could die. So the alert that we got on our phone
before everybody says why did you panic? I'm going to tell
you why I panicked. The National Weather Service has
issued a tsunami warning. A series of powerful waves and
strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in
danger. Period. Says get away from coastal waters. Move to
high ground or inland now. Yeah. Not two hours from now.
Now. We're surrounded by the ocean. Goodness, that's crazy.
So thankful we're safe.