June 3 2016: Inku arrived... and no one got hurt!

We've started thinking about how to get the Friendly Ranger down to the beach. For the past few years we've been moving them around on the back of the boom truck but (and I hate to admit this) I don't know how to use the boom! David always does it and I think Jeff also knows how to use it. Maybe Sarah does too. But I haven't ever taken up the challenge of learning to use it. And it seems that the precious and maybe irreplacable Friendly Ranger isn't the place to start. I could drive it through town, but that's hard on the roads and maybe hard on the ranger, and in places, probably also hard on the driver. Maybe our friends at AGS could take it down for us? No, they're not quite ready to start their beach trips yet.

Eddie offered to let us use his tilt-trailer. We went to his place and checked it out. And I saw his house through a new crew member's eyes. Pretty cool, huh? He is a hunter, among many other pursuits... now, including parenthood!!

I don't know this, but I'm guessing that this is part of a moose that he hunted. He probably shared most of it out.

People used to store their sleds on their roof. Really, I don't know why, though I know why I would do it. Two reasons: 1) to avoid tripping over it in the non-snowy months; and 2) to be able to find it in the snowy months. The tradition continued with snow machines for many people... but I don't know how they get them up there.

Once we finished gawking at Eddie's window boxes, birdfeeders and pile o' antlers, we got back to business and checked out his trailer. He told us we'd need a 1 7/8" ball hitch for the truck and it seemed pretty sure the one we had was bigger. I thought we could do that. The weather forecast said it probably wouldn't rain (much) today, so we thought this might be a good day to (a) try out the trailer and (b) haul down the beach (and up the cliff) some of our stuff we sent on the barge in late March. The priority was (b) because we didn't want to be have all our stuff soaked in tomorrow's rain. So while I went to King Salmon to get Inku, Jean and Matt stayed at AGS to get two of the totes loaded into the back of ol' Red and to get the new ball to use with Eddie's trailer.

Not only did I get to take Phil's little fun-mobile up to King Salmon again, I got to take Phil with me. (Ok, so maybe he was looking for an excuse to stop working for a minute.) Inku arrived... with all his luggage. Our check for Matt's luggage came up empty, so it would probably make it on the next flight. I wonder if the luggage that has already become separated from the passenger has a lower priority than the luggage that is still with the passenger. I think that's what I would do if I were in charge of luggage. The first luggage-less person has already adapted and already forgiven the airline or vowed never to use it again. And that person has already stood in line to fill out the necessary paperwork and that paperwork has already burdened the system. So I think I would avoid all that for a new person and just stretch the original person's patience a little bit more.

We returned to AGS, got the totes loaded, and on the way down the beach, I thought about using that tilt trailer to get the rangers. I tried to imagine how it would work. Maybe I didn't look closely enough at the trailer, but it looks like the bed and the tongue tilt down so the ranger can climb on until it goes over the tipping point, and then it tips the other way. I'd have to hope that the truck would be right in the right place to catch the hitch. Naah... that can't be right. But I finally decided to ask Mark up at Pen Auto to take it down to the turn around along with the one he worked on this winter. It took a few days to get to that decision - the third of June being one of the most significant of those days, leading to this relatively conservative decision. More on that later.

On the way down the beach with the totes, we stopped by Eddie's second hangar to pick up the blue four-wheeler. I had tried to start it earlier, with a lot of grinding and not much starting.

The same thing happened this time. However, this time I did something different: just in case it was lower on gas than I thought, I turned the control to "reserve"... and it started right up. OK, back to the gas station and on to the beach, this time with Inku on the blue four-wheeler and Matt on the green one. Here they are going down the tundra road (Beach Access Road).

Here is Inku, after his first ride down the beach on a four-wheeler.

We put the tram into service to pull up the groceries and other items we bought in March and shipped on the barge. It's a platform about 3' square that my brother in law designed to ride up and down the stair stringers. The wheels fit perfectly over the angle iron he welded to the stairs and we use a capstan winch at the top to pull it up. Jeff is usually the operator so it was a stretch for us to get it going and feel confident about it. The winch is set back on the tundra about 50' from the stairs (because that's where the screw anchor was). We attach a 1/2" line that doesn't stretch much to the front end of the tram, run it through a pulley at the top of the stairs, and back to the winch. We lowered the tram and tied the end of the line to the tight line that was holding the load, between the winch and the tram. Then we all went down to help load. We stacked about half a tote per load, then we all ran up the stairs for the pull. Matt stood at the top of the stairs to watch the ascent and signal to Inku. Inku started the winch engine and watched for Matt's signal with his finger hovering over the kill-switch waiting to stop it when he got the signal that the load was at the top of the stairs. I controlled the line and the rate that it came up the stairs. We had four wraps on the drum of the winch, so it was pretty secure. I had the time to run the line through the eye of the anchor and tie it off, then we all went to help unload.

We emptied the truck that way, packed the boxes and crates into the crew cabin where Jean was working on putting everything away. We went back into town for the other two totes. We brought up one load; it went fine. Then we brought up the second load. This time, I thought instead of taking the time to run the line through the eye of the screw anchor, I would try to just tie it off on the taut line, like I did when the tram was at the bottom of the stairs for loading. After all, at the beginning of the pull, it was a pretty mellow process to get the winch started, untie the clove hitch holding the fully loaded tram in place at the bottom of the stairs, and start the pull. I thought the tension would be about the same, thinking that the four wraps of the line on the drum took most of the excitement out of it. After I tied it off, I started toward the tram to help with the unloading, but noticed that the knot was beginning to slip. So I thought I needed to go back to the way I had been tying it, through the eye of the screw anchor. I started to untie it, thinking it was pretty secure with the four wraps and was surprised (to say the least) when the whole thing ripped out of my hands and the tram started to careen down the stairs. Bang! The tram, filled with many pounds of cheese and vinegar and waders, slammed into the tailgate of the truck, the only part of the truckbed that worked. It damaged the leg of the tram, putting the

wheel out of alignment and tearing a weld. The tailgate took such a dent that it is now a inch from latching on either side. Or maybe a little more. The beach was covered in cheese and vinegar and surprisingly, nothing broke. Well, none of the groceries broke. I guess the tram and the trailer took it all. Here we are examining the damage. See the wheel that isn't exactly straight any more? Inku proved himself to be a true setnetter. His strategy was to wale on that aluminum strut until it straightens out.

Matt and Inku brought most of the rest of the stuff up the hill while I help a neighbor get their four-wheeler un-stuck. Another person stopped to help and said he had gotten stuck just the other day. The beach is s-o-f-t. Once they were on their way, I went to work delivering to the crew cabin the supplies Matt and Inku were bringing up the stairs, and Jean put it away. It was a grueling evening's work and I could not shake off such a frightening mistake that could have had terrible consequences... and didn't.

The next morning, Matt went off to spend the day working with Phil. Inku had also planned to go, but he woke up feeling pretty sick - sore throat. He is feeling better now.