Before leaving Anchorage this morning we were to have the Tiger serviced, an oil change and new fuel filter. The replacement of the fuel filter was something I was a little nervous about. It is a task I will probably have to do myself while we are in South America and I had read that it is difficult. It's hard to get access to it - and also that once replaced it can be difficult to get the fuel lines and pump primed with fuel. This is a well known problem with diesel vehicles.

I chose not to go to a GM dealer but picked a local repair and lube shop from the phone book in the hope that I could watch the process and learn.

The replacement of the filter proved to be less difficult than I had read, but the priming of the fuel system turned out to be as warned. The guys spent a good hour trying to get the engine started after replacing the filter and oil. Even after I unpacked the 4 volume workshop manual that we are carrying to discover the location of the manual priming pump it still did not start. However eventually after a little more experimentation and opening a second valve in the fuel system to let air out the Tiger fired up and all was well. I hope I have learned enough to do this myself.

About 12:00 we left the workshop and headed out of Anchorage south to the Kenai Peninsular.

Unfortunately it was raining and we did not see much of the apparently great scenery along Turnagain Arm nor once we crossed over to the peninsular.

Seventeen miles out of Seward we pulled into a State camping ground to see if it would be suitable for the night. After a tour around the available sites I noticed air leaking from one of the tires. I could not believe it. After all those miles on gravel roads where we had been warned about flat tires we get a flat driving around a campground. It took only about 30 minutes to put the spare tire on and then we were on our way to Seward looking for a place to repair a puncture.

We found Terry's Tire still open and left the flat tire to be picked up in the morning. The lady at Terry's also directed us to camping on the water front in downtown Seward, so that was where we headed next. We found that almost all of the water front in Seward was given over to camping and almost all of it was vacant.

After selecting our spot we went for a walk around the town in the light rain, and then to bed hoping that tomorrow would provide some better weather and an opportunity to see this town in better circumstances.