And so, the second month in the wild begins...

June 01, 2013

After two hard days work, I slept in real good.  Soon after awakening, I learned that our Fenton Girls Soccer team had won the District Championship by defeating the hated Linden team, 3 to nil.  Great start to the day of cleaning and rearranging.  Unpacked from JUNEAU trip and pampered my Habanero plant.  Throw in my first use of the band mill and a table top was constructed.  It was opening day for King Salmon on the Gulkana River but the flow is still heavy and muddy.  Seems all the late snow has melted and this east half of the state has flooded lowlands. 

Celebrating the Fenton Girls Soccer District Championship…I was just a part of the MACHINE

June 02, 2013

I awoke this morning with my head spinning, it felt like I had been at sea for weeks and finally was upon dry land.  Ate some oatmeal, peanut butter and had a green tea then went outside to goof around a bit.  Topped off the water, flushed the gray tanks and rigged a ramp for the gray water tube before lunch.  I found a stand of Diamond Willow, collected a piece and stripped the bark to reveal the diamonds.  Went for a bike ride to the river to check on the status and helped Jim and Debbie (Jon’s neighbors) put the pickup camper on their truck.  The ride to the river was easy and downhill and it had yet to improve…no fishing for another week or so.  Pedaling back, I toured the Village of GULKANA, an Ahtna native village.  It is small but they have positioned themselves around the best subsistence lifestyle area available, the Copper and Gulkana rivers.  Once home, I built a fire and cooked a brat for dinner.

 Gulkana River is DOUBLE wide

Alcohol is Verboten in GULKANA

A few GULKANA residences (Ahtna Native Corporation)

June 03, 2013

Second morning spinning so I must be ill ‘cause I’ve changed up my diet and that didn’t stop the spinning.  The spinning lasted throughout the day but I made dinner anyways.  Sliced up some brats, spiced them heavily and browned them in the fry pan.  Added black beans chopped stewed tomatoes and a handful of oatmeal…wasn’t too bad. 

 One pan dinner ‘cause the dishwasher is on the fritz…

Around 4:30pm I got acquainted with neighbors, Dieter (71 Yrs old) and Hannalore Reizig from Hagen, Germany.  I called Opa/Freddie and let him talk to Dieter while we checked out the Klutina River conditions.  I hope Freddie got a kick out it and he must have because he wants Dieter’s contact information so he can talk again.  Unfortunately Dieter doesn’t use his phone here in the U.S. because it costs a couple of Euros per minute ($4.00+) but he does Skype.  The Klutina looks to be settling down a bit and Dieter plans to try for Sockeye/Red salmon this Friday, I’ll probably be right next to him…should have studied German.  After the drive, we returned to their motor home and the guys had a beer, imagine that.  Their retired life is three months in Germany, three in Mexico, three in Arizona area, and three in Alaska.  They own the RV they are in and keep it at friends in Arizona.  They also have a smaller one back in the old country for touring Europe.

June 04, 2013

Felt better today but some dizziness is still there.  Hand-washed some clothes and hung them outside to dry before I set off to the north to try fishing for some grayling (a trout with an over-sized dorsal fin).  Fished for three hours only had one bite but I did find a caribou calf that had drowned in the flooding waters.  I also saw live caribou crossing the road in several locations.  Had the last of the brat/bean chili and it was fantastic.  Leftover chili has never failed to impress.