Cleaning the Trailer and Fresh Fish

Robert, Saturday, July 19

It was house cleaning day. Leslie took the inside and I took the outside. Most campgrounds do not allow washing rigs but this one has no such restrictions. The nose of the trailer was covered with bugs we had killed and the rest of the outside was covered with road dirt. It was hard to see out the back window as there was so much dirt on it. Inside there was a lot of dust and the floors had gotten dirty. The clean the nose, we back the truck up like we are going to hitch up the trailer. That way I can stand in the truck bed and reach the top of the nose. I do have to use a small step ladder to reach the very top. The best way we have found to get the bugs off is to use used dryer sheets. I spray with water, scrub with a brush on a pole using soapy water, and then used the dryer sheets and a lot of elbow grease. The sheets are just the right texture and they don’t fall apart like something like a paper towel would. About the same time I finished the outside, Leslie finished the inside. We both sat down in the recliners and took a break I then went outside to finish putting away things like the step ladder. Someone from the campground came by and said there was free fish over at the cleaning station. As Valdez is a magnet for those who like to fish, the campground has a table that is about 10 feet by 6 feet where fish can be cleaned. The outside edge is the plastic like you can find for cutting boards, The center is lower and had a hole leading to a grinder. There are multiple hose bibs with short hoses attached so you have fresh water. You clean the fish and when the center fills with fish heads and guts, they run the grinder and flush it all down the drain. I grabbed a couple of knives and headed for the free fish. When I got there, I was directed to a tub that must have had 30 salmon in it. They were all two feet long and weighed about 3 pounds each. I grabbed one and proceeded to remove two fillets. These were “pinks” or humpbacks. There are several different kinds of wild salmon and just to confuse you, they all have at least two names. There are Chinook (King), Sockeye (Red), Coho (Silver), Humpback (Pink), and Chum (Dog). The first four are the ones that people eat. Dog salmon are so named as they are used to feed dogs. I guess they don’t taste very good. Pinks are so named as the flesh is pink rather than the red color that most associate with salmon. We had talked about going out to eat as we were both tired after spending most of the day cleaning. The arrival of fresh salmon changed those plans and we had salmon for dinner. It was very good but we both agreed that we like King salmon better. We hope that we didn’t waste a day when it didn’t rain to clean the trailer but it really needed cleaning.