First blog ever from the great north!
tremendous journey so far, so much adventure. I left Bellingham last tuesday on the ferry headed for Haines. We stopped in Ketchikan first where I left my first alaskan adventurer friend, Henry. He was headed there for the third time (that was as far as his money would take him on the ferry) to make some dough and then maybe catch a boat up further north. Henry was on the way up north for some kind of a walkabout and to look for gold. I didn't think people were still staking claims like that and hoping to strike it rich until I got to Alaska. He was only the first person I met with that as his mission! It really feels like I've gone back in time here in Alaska. And everything moves slower too. When I jumped off the ferry at Juneau, I headed into a little inlet to pass the time. I was looking around at different creatures, bones and stones lying around for a while, I felt like. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't want the boat to leave without me, but when I asked a passerby what time it was, only 15 minutes had passed. It seemed I'd been there for hours. I'm certainly not used to feeling this kind of space and time around me. Everything was so crazy getting ready for the trip and all.
It was a full moon out the last night on the ferry making the about 6 hour trip from Juneau to Haines. The sunset was fine- a sky light up with pink and purples, surrounded by water even a humpback whale! and the mountains to the east and west covered in snow, absolutely doused in the stuff. Despite the fuckin cold, when the moon came up over the horizon, first just an orange light and then huge above us, I felt awake and alive and ready for the next stage of adventure. A few new travellers jumped on in Juneau, some kids who shared beers with me. I played monster and prey with a four-year-old who really liked to pretend she was chewing on my flesh. It kinda freaked me out actually. When I finally tired of that, she went to watch scooby doo on her portable dvd player. the kids who'd jumped on in Juneau had come from North dakota. The one was really friendly and he made me laugh a lot, reminding me of some old friends from boulder. we stepped into the ferry's bar, my first time doing that and had a short drink as the barkeep was closing things down. An hour something later we'd docked in Haines and I gathered my bed up from the lawn chair I'd been sleeping on out there on the deck of the ferry for the last couple of nights and stuffed it in my backpack. From there I went on down to the cardeck and readied myself to get off. I was real tired by then.
once off the boat, I waited a while as a couple of guys i'd been talking to had wanted to follow me to the hostal I planned to stay at that night. They must have left because I waited a while and they didn't show.
On the way to the hostal, following the windy road by the bay, I saw an old dog by the side of the road. my headlights caught his eyes and i recognized him as that of one of the ferry passengers' dogs. I thought to myself that the man must have just dropped the dog off on the side of the road, I couldn't believe it, but I didn't stop. I didn't know what I would have done with the dog. I couldn't have taken him.
I made it to the hostal and found my cabin and went straight to bed. a really cold night, I couldn't get warm even under all those blankets. The next day I woke up and needed some eggs and potatoes so I went into town. I needed to think over a good breakfast about what my next step was gonna be. Ididn't know if I'd stay in Haines or take to the road right away for Fairbanks. At the restaurant, I met a fella who told me about an accident that happened the night before- someone getting off the ferry had taken a curve too fast and rolled his chevy truck a few times and died. I thought of that dog I'd seen out there on the side of the road and i knew who it was. I'd been talking to the guy just before I got off the boat. A quiet older man with a white beard and an old dog. I couldn't quite believe it. I speculated about how he'd gotten run off the road. maybe he fell asleep at the wheel, a friend I made at the diner that morning said maybe he'd had a heart attack- that happened to someone else along that road not too long ago he said. But the fact is, I don't know how he went and killed himself that night.
Later that day, I spoke to the checker at the grocery store. He said that up here in Alaska, death is just a lot closer all the time. When everything is wilderness, you don't have the safety net of civilization all around you. if its not the grizzlies its those pot holes and sharp turns of the road.
There are so many bald eagles around here. I'll go watch them this afternoon by chilkoot lake and see if I can see that grizzly bear the locals talk about.
tremendous journey so far, so much adventure. I left Bellingham last tuesday on the ferry headed for Haines. We stopped in Ketchikan first where I left my first alaskan adventurer friend, Henry. He was headed there for the third time (that was as far as his money would take him on the ferry) to make some dough and then maybe catch a boat up further north. Henry was on the way up north for some kind of a walkabout and to look for gold. I didn't think people were still staking claims like that and hoping to strike it rich until I got to Alaska. He was only the first person I met with that as his mission! It really feels like I've gone back in time here in Alaska. And everything moves slower too. When I jumped off the ferry at Juneau, I headed into a little inlet to pass the time. I was looking around at different creatures, bones and stones lying around for a while, I felt like. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't want the boat to leave without me, but when I asked a passerby what time it was, only 15 minutes had passed. It seemed I'd been there for hours. I'm certainly not used to feeling this kind of space and time around me. Everything was so crazy getting ready for the trip and all.
It was a full moon out the last night on the ferry making the about 6 hour trip from Juneau to Haines. The sunset was fine- a sky light up with pink and purples, surrounded by water even a humpback whale! and the mountains to the east and west covered in snow, absolutely doused in the stuff. Despite the fuckin cold, when the moon came up over the horizon, first just an orange light and then huge above us, I felt awake and alive and ready for the next stage of adventure. A few new travellers jumped on in Juneau, some kids who shared beers with me. I played monster and prey with a four-year-old who really liked to pretend she was chewing on my flesh. It kinda freaked me out actually. When I finally tired of that, she went to watch scooby doo on her portable dvd player. the kids who'd jumped on in Juneau had come from North dakota. The one was really friendly and he made me laugh a lot, reminding me of some old friends from boulder. we stepped into the ferry's bar, my first time doing that and had a short drink as the barkeep was closing things down. An hour something later we'd docked in Haines and I gathered my bed up from the lawn chair I'd been sleeping on out there on the deck of the ferry for the last couple of nights and stuffed it in my backpack. From there I went on down to the cardeck and readied myself to get off. I was real tired by then.
once off the boat, I waited a while as a couple of guys i'd been talking to had wanted to follow me to the hostal I planned to stay at that night. They must have left because I waited a while and they didn't show.
On the way to the hostal, following the windy road by the bay, I saw an old dog by the side of the road. my headlights caught his eyes and i recognized him as that of one of the ferry passengers' dogs. I thought to myself that the man must have just dropped the dog off on the side of the road, I couldn't believe it, but I didn't stop. I didn't know what I would have done with the dog. I couldn't have taken him.
I made it to the hostal and found my cabin and went straight to bed. a really cold night, I couldn't get warm even under all those blankets. The next day I woke up and needed some eggs and potatoes so I went into town. I needed to think over a good breakfast about what my next step was gonna be. Ididn't know if I'd stay in Haines or take to the road right away for Fairbanks. At the restaurant, I met a fella who told me about an accident that happened the night before- someone getting off the ferry had taken a curve too fast and rolled his chevy truck a few times and died. I thought of that dog I'd seen out there on the side of the road and i knew who it was. I'd been talking to the guy just before I got off the boat. A quiet older man with a white beard and an old dog. I couldn't quite believe it. I speculated about how he'd gotten run off the road. maybe he fell asleep at the wheel, a friend I made at the diner that morning said maybe he'd had a heart attack- that happened to someone else along that road not too long ago he said. But the fact is, I don't know how he went and killed himself that night.
Later that day, I spoke to the checker at the grocery store. He said that up here in Alaska, death is just a lot closer all the time. When everything is wilderness, you don't have the safety net of civilization all around you. if its not the grizzlies its those pot holes and sharp turns of the road.
There are so many bald eagles around here. I'll go watch them this afternoon by chilkoot lake and see if I can see that grizzly bear the locals talk about.
posted by Hearts and Stars at 4:39 PM
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