For me, it's a relatively small thing to fish for days in a row with no more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep per day. The fish and the wind (and this season, the constant splash of water over our heads) keep us awake and alert. To me, anyway, that's energizing and I can't wait to write about it. But yesterday... oy.
Jake, Hugh, Chris and I started out early to get Jake's fish to the airport. We took a little extra time for pancakes, bacon, and eggs (enough extra that what had started out as a leisurely schedule became a rush to make the deadline for the freight).
I dropped them off at the freezer and ran to the service station to fill up the truck's two tanks. Fuel is expensive here. I rode in the back of the truck to the airport because I expected a call that I didn't want the crew to have to deal with. From that vantage point, I
was able to see, but not hear, what was happening in the cab. Happily I had my camera with me. Chris filled in the rest of the story later. It turns out that Hugh also sings along in his sleep. Here, he fell asleep singing "Don't rock the juke box," by Alan Jackson, I think. Once at the air cargo office we learned that not only would Jake's fish not go out till Saturday, none of the fish we had already brought up had gone out yet and it also wouldn't go out until Saturday. I worried about the family members who might have made long and fruitless treks to their regional air cargo offices. I'm sorry!
While in King Salmon, though, we checked in at the Ranger's station about our planned trip to Katmai and heard about the Bay of Islands, a little beyond Katmai. The locals are ho hum about Brooks Lodge, the vacation destination of adventurers from all over the world. But mention the Bay of Islands? Then their eyes light up with the beauty and glory of the place. We can camp freely there and they tell us not to worry about the bears because they are full of salmon and we don't smell that good to them. This discovery, with the combined courage of this wonderful crew to overcome my own amygdala-deep fear that the world really is flat and we'll be lost forever on that lake - if we don't fall off the edge first, has led us to consider the possibility of camping for two night, which means that my dog will have to come with us. She'll probably hate it.
Here is a map of the area. I've marked the approximate location of our cabins - the leftmost star on the map. We're on the Kvichak Bay. If we follow that river for about 60 miles to the northeast, we'll arrive at Igiugig (which I grew up pronouncing Ee-gee-og-gee but someone recently told me is pronounced Ee-gee-og-gik) and Lake Iliamna. Instead we'll drive the five miles south into Naknek (following the beach and turning the corner following the Naknek River), pick up the skiff at the cannery, and then continue onto the Alaska Peninsula Highway (which I learned this year is the shortest highway in the U.S.) to its end 15 miles down the road in King Salmon (the second star from the left), and then follow the dirt road another 10 miles or so to Lake Camp (the third star), where we'll launch the skiff for our trip. Chris, Jake, Hugh (and really, the rest of the group as well) want to hang around fishing out of the skiff there at Lake Camp, sleeping there for an early start Sunday morning. (I think we'll make a special trip back to Naknek, though, to participate in the Fishtival by dancing the night away at the Red Dog, enjoying the delightful live music of the local talent, Wendy Lee and Todd.)
Sunday morning, we'll meet my wonderful long-time friend's plane for the beginning of our trip. We'll probably depart Lake Camp by 10:30 or so and cross the 25 miles to Brooks in 2-3 hours (depending on whether we dawdle along the way). The water of Naknek Lake is clear, blue, deep, and cold. The trip can be rough if the wind is up.
We had originally planned to camp overnight on the 24th at Brooks, visit the bears at the fall, maybe take the tour out to the Vally of 10,000 Smokes, and head back the next day (the 25th), giving us a good day to finish the closing up. But with the idea that the Bay of Islands is potentially within our reach, we may camp a second night there and return on the 26th, the night before everyone (except Jeannie and I) leave. This will take more shape... as we're in it. There won't be any postings while we're gone - I'm sure we won't have Internet access and besides, I won't have my computer. But plan on seeing some pictures when we get back.
We returned to the cannery to start finishing putting up the boats to find the beach gang already in the process of adding the Bathtub to the stack of skiffs. Luckily for us, they put it on the bottom layer, right next to the water outlet, with no other skiffs on top of it. So we were able to finish it after it had been stored. We lifted the Bathtub's outboard onto the side boards of the propane truck to winterize it. Winterizing the outboards consists of running it with fresh water (to rinse out the corrosive salt), spraying fogging material into the carburetors until it dies, and then removing the spark plugs and spraying it in there for about 3 seconds. Then changing the oil in the lower unit - this involves removing the screw that is hidden at the very bottom of the lower unit and one higher up, letting the oil drain into a receptacle, and then replacing it with a few tubes of gear lube oil from the bottom hole until it starts to come out the top, then holding a finger over the top hole to stop (or at least slow) the exit of oil, quickly replace the bottom screw and then the top one. Roger led this process - on all three outboard. (The screws on the Grayling's outboard were almost stripped - the answer? Roy's manual impact driver. It felt like a little miracle when it worked. Maybe we should get replacement screws for next year, along with a safety clip.)
We also winterized the power packs for the power rollers (changing the oil, making sure the throttle handle moves, and spraying corrosion block on the throttle moving thingie). Then buoyed by Roger's courage and competence, we tackled the replacement of the Ambi's throttle control (successfully!).
All these activities required many trips down the hill to the stockroom or Roy's shop - to borrow tools, to pick a brain, to borrow more tools...
Meanwhile, Big Brad located another of our lost brand new nets (yay!) so we now have 50 fathom of hung gear in the net locker and 100 fathom in the conex. Almost ready for next year!
Anyone who had been working on the Ambi had been smelling the smells of grilling burgers and salmon. And we were hungry. We were finally finishing at about 9. Another very long day in town. So when Hugh suggested the D&D for burgers, it was met with great enthusiasm.
As we were arriving at the D&D, I pulled my purse out of my backpack and found it covered in mud on one side. "What happened here?" David braced himself and explained, "Um, well, I ran over it in the propane truck. Twice." And then hurried to add, "But I had Jeff look inside to see if anything was broken and he didn't see anything!" He explained what happened - especially the "twice" part, but I wasn't tracking so well at that point. No one knows how my purse came to be on the ground under the tire of the propane truck. Not much was lost. Roy thinks the 10 lbs of coins I had in there may have offered some protection. A mirror was cracked, the Altoids tin holding a thumb drive, mailbox keys, nail clippers, tweezers... was crushed, but Chris was able to open it and repair the nail clippers. The case for my business cards was crushed and the case for my reading glasses was dented... but the glasses were intact. The crew thinks the case might be bullet proof.
The burgers were delicious.
Chris revealed that Hugh can be induced to sleep by rubbing his head. After we finished eating, Evan and Jeff double-teamed him and though he struggled mightily to resist, he was powerless. It made me tired just watching it.
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