Sunday, April 29, 2012
Slept late. Mmmmmm. The Fisherman set out right away helping The Bear clean out another building loaded with years of storage, dust, and squirrels' nests. There are several small cabins on their two acre property. They rent them to seasonal fishing guides mostly, guys who don't mind that there's no running water but who appreciate a warm room where they can cook food, watch a movie, have a refrigerator, and hang their chest waders up to dry over night. The building the guys worked on today has never been touched since they bought the place. It's going to be a nice cabin. They've always callled it The Taj Majal, as a joke, but I think it's going to become the reality among their cabins. They've made an exchange with their carpenter: he can live there rent free this summer if he does the remodel. I think it's going to be nice. And finished quickly, too, I imagine.

Later The Fisherman and I went to Soldotna where we met my new boss. He is a genuine "character." Much of his time since moving to Alaska has been lived in a wall tent, either out in the bush or in a small town setting up his tourist gold panning business. He's travelled the mountains on horseback with several pack horses following behind as he looked for gold in streams (and found it). He's lived a simple life, sleeping on the ground, hunting and fishing, and looking for gold. He's a nice man, generous, positive, spiritual, gregarious, bigger than life, and happy.

Monday, April 30, 2012
Drove up from the Peninsula to Anchorage where we accomplished a couple of things and then headed north. We spent the night near Talkeetna hoping for some Northern Lights in the night but no such fortune. The skies were clouded over.