ARIZONA TO ALASKA

Last night I cooked that 20 pound turkey, tonight I have the first dinner with it. About 2 weeks until Thanksgiving, but that is just a coincidence.

There were only 2 of us at work today, Gary (Galileo) and myself. We only had a little freight going out. We worked a little into lunch, and called it a day. We went home but were still on call as usual (24/7). And the call did come.... a plane was landing around 6PM with some hot freight. I usually do this myself.

The freight was for our regular customers, a couple of the Clipper boats. There are 4: Clipper Epic, Clipper Endeavor, Clipper Surprise, and Clipper Express. They were all tied up at the far OSI dock. The roads are very slick, with ice that is melting. I kept in the middle whenever possible.

It takes only 10 minutes to get to OSI, even though it is the most remote dock we regularly deliver to. It was getting dark, 7:00. All 4 Clipper boats were tied up together. They are nice sized boats at about 200 feet long, maybe a bit less. I saw Clipper Epic at the head of the line and went on board. Some of the freight was for them. There were 3 boxes. It took a couple trips up the gangplank to get the freight on board. This gangplank required care to negotiate, but was relatively safe to use.

Once I had the freight on deck, I still saw nobody on board. But all lights were on, as well as the TV in the galley. I took the boxes to the galley and was leaving a receipt when someone finally appeared. He signed and I asked him where he was when I was lugging that freight in...

I had one more package for the Clipper Endeavor. I walked down the dock and went on board. Same story, nobody around. I was not going to search the entire ship. I left the box on the bridge with the receipt. Lots of interesting equipment to check out...

I headed back. I noticed The Northwestern at Harbor Crown, probably being offloaded.. This is one of the boats from Deadliest catch, with captain Sig Hansen. I did not see a lot happening at the time. I read in the LOCAL paper (The Fisherman) that one of the crews from a Deadliest Catch boat was in a gang fight at The Grand Aleutian Hotel. By the time the cops got there, everyone was gone and no charges filed. Crab season is ending.

Tomorrow I check out a new place to live, a duplex on Haystack Hill. It is brand NEW... no mystery stains! New appliances! New carpet! Never lived in! Already talked to my boss, looks like it may work. The only negative is there is a steep road leading to it (Haystack Hill). It can get INTERESTING in winter trying to get up and down...

But I get a front door of my own, somewhere to let the cat out.

I continue to have problems downloading photos on this site. SORRY. I believe it is my location and not the site. It is one at a time, and tedious. The site cuts out and I start again...

WELCOME TO DUTCH HARBOR!