People we met.

One thing that stands out in my memory of this trip is the interesting collection of people that we met in the lower 48, in Canada, and in Alaska.  We were treated to pleasant times with people all over.  I can only think of one adverse interaction with an old grump while fishing who said: "Go home, Alaska is already full!"

There was the old fellow from Alberta who I helped move a table that was too heavy.  Over that evening and the next morning, he treated me to a number of interesting and somewhat pithy comments like, "You have to get to the Yukon to get good sourdough bread...they don't know how to make it here."  His description of the sticky buns at the Haines Junction Bakery was accompanied by an expression that reminded me of Cole Gergely trying to pick the perfect donut out of the box at breakfast.  We stopped at the bakery on the way up and on the way back.  He was right.

WE went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by the RV campground owners in St. George, BC.  The people at the table next to us recognized us as from the lower US and visited with us about Canada.  He and his wife were from New Brunswick and had been transferred to British Columbia not too long ago.  I think they were lonely for the part of Canada that had been their long-time home.  I think we should visit New Brunswick and the other maritime provinces of Canada to see the wonderful sights that he described.  His comment about British Columbia is that its all trees, just trees.  Over the next week, we found out just how true that was.

The woman who examined Pat's arm in the Soldotna, AK hospital took time to tell us about growing up in Soldotna fishing as a little girl and catching big salmon from the rivers around there.  She described how the fish population had shrunk in number and size and the importance of the work to preserve the fish that everyone around the world loves to eat.  She made us feel comfortable and was very comforting to Pat, taking great care of her.

The nurses  aid who helped Pat while her cast was being put on in Anchorage had grown up in Oregon, moved to Homer and been a commercial fisherwoman before she began working as a nurses aid.  She described being out in the ocean in winter catching the salmon, tuna, and haddock that we buy in the stores and how you came to terms with the fact that if you ever went overboard, you would be dead before they could turn the boat around.  She enjoyed the solitude out there and enjoyed her job.

Then there was Karen who could be a tough businesswoman, but had a heart of gold. Disrupting her RV repair schedule to take care of us and get everything fixed, she fixed the tow and the rv so we could continue our vacation.  All the while she fed us cake and breakfast and let us stay in her parking lot rather than pay for a rv parking spot.  Then she worried about us until we called her from Tok to tell her that everything worked.

And Eddie who we found on the shore of Lake Kulane in the Yukon with a broken down car.  His alternator had quit so we jumped his battery and followed him up the highway to his house, going about 10 miles between battery charges.  While he and I stood outside on the side of the road charging the battery, he told me about panning for gold in the mountains, running from Grizzly bears while working on the highway, and the fact that there had been a Sasquatch sighting near Haines Junction.

And the people at an rv park just outside Edmonton, AB who let us dry camp on their manicured lawn rather than turn us away because they were full. 

The woman in Dawson City who cut my hair while telling me about living there in the winter and sharing ski patrol stories with me because she had done that while in high school.  She was trained as a true barber and shaved you with a straight razor, something I haven't seen in a lot of years.  She truly loved where she lived and enjoyed winter being outside in the cold Canadian winter temperatures.  Just bundle up and be careful.