Small town Trapper

The small town aspects of this place are starting to show. . .
A son of a Spenard Builder's Supply (SBS) employee was hired to help out with the new cabin. He's been helping hang drywall and do other things around. He and I went to the dump (He can't drive yet) and on the way back we were talking about the music in the area. Turns out he has similar taste in music so we were talking about the selection of stations here. I told him I've only found ONE station that's tolerable. I told him which one and it turns out that someone he knows of is the morning DJ - someone by the name of Trapper. When I commented, he said that Trapper isn't actually the kid's name and when he said that it pinged something in me. Turns out it's the same Guy that works at The Crossing that Frenchy and I saw just standing out front, practically in the parking lot, with a podium.

I don't think I went into much detail about it. On the way into the restaurant we asked him what he was doing and he told us he was security, but in a joking tone. We never did find out exactly what his real purpose was. On the way out of the restaurant Frenchy went to get the car while I went to the bathroom. When I came out she was just getting to the car, which was all of 15 feet away. I asked her what she was up to and she told me she was talking to the 'security guard,' and was excited to tell me his name was Trapper and that he didn't know his real name because everyone has called him Trapper for so long. I asked her what his last name is because the last name can make or break the first name sometimes (Bruce Bustamante, Ray Chumley. . . both great names). She didn't know so she pulled up to him on the way out and made me ask. Normally I would just go about my merry way and not ask such a question, but not when Frenchy's involved! He told us his last name and it didn't really fit with Trapper as well as I was hoping it would, so I asked him his real name. He told me the same thing he told her so I just repeated, "so, what's your real name?" He leaned in and lowered his voice like he was revealing a state secret and said, "Leon J Important IV," or something like that. As you can see, I don't remember the full name, just that his first name was Leon and he had a roman numeral and it sounded like a very regal and distinguished name. He just goes by Trapper, though. So Alaska. Gotta love it.

Coming from a small town myself, it's interesting to start to see here that everyone does know everyone else just like at home. There are always people whose reputation preceeds them in small towns, and it seems like this Trapper character is one of those. Maybe, maybe not.

The reds are in! And so are the guests.

This place is crazy right now! The salmon come through here in runs, which is when they spawn, so it'll be dead on the river and suddenly there are thousands of fish coming through. The other day there were 2000 coming through every hour! Wow. There are 4 different types of salmon in the river, so there's fishing pretty much throughout the summer because each type has a few runs. The reds are the big ones, so people go crazy around here for them.

News travels fast about their arrival. The other day it was all I heard about. "the reds are in, the reds are in!" Every time I hear someone say that I always think, "the redcoats are coming, the redcoats are coming!" I'm definitely from Boston. Since then, the population has seriously swelled around here. There is nonstop traffic. Not real traffic, it's just that there are a lot more cars around - the main road is always buzzing. There's river access right on our road, so there have been a lot of trucks parked around here to go fishing. Soldotna ('town' to me) is crazy busy. I went to the grocery store today and boy was that a mistake. Wall to wall people. It's just amazing how this place suddenly gets a pulse when the fish are in.

I considered going fishing tonight, but decided against it because I'm extremely tired. Kevin and Ed moved out of their cabin because we had a group coming in that was slated to stay there, which means I spent half the day getting it ready for the group's arrival. Boys are messy. It was the 'Bruce Bustamante group' that was arriving. What a name! Bruce was in charge of the chamber of commerce, or something like that. He's now the director of Princess Cruises Tours. . . or something like that. Wow, I'm so detail oriented! I just can't remember the specifics, but Frenchy told me, "If you're gonna suck up to anyone, he's the one," because of the possible Princess Cruises perks. Yeah. . . no thanks. I'm going to treat him like I would any guest! He seems like a nice enough guy, but I didn't really get to talk with them much, so we'll see.

We also have another guest, Matt, that just arrived tonight. I like how he ended up here. He had a flight issue with a connection and he didn't want to wait so he told them to just give him a connection through Anchorage for a few days. . . because he had never been to Alaska. He came yesterday and stayed at the B&B for a night and when he mentioned he was thinking of going fishing, Frenchy told him to come on down here, so here he is. Frenchy kept telling me that he's cute and that she told him to tip me. . . then she said, "who knows, maybe he'll tip you by taking you out to dinner!" Ever the matchmaker she is. I need to break her of that habit. She knows I'm not looking, but she's the type that figures a date is good for dinner if nothing else. I'm just not that type. If I'm not interested, I'm not going to pretend that I am! Even if I were looking, this guy just isn't my type. Not in the least. He's good looking, but that alone just doesn't cut it for me. He's attractive, but I'm not attracted to him. Follow me? I just don't understand people that can go on looks alone. There has to be substance!

Frenchy will be down tomorrow. It's her birthday and she's ordered me to create a to-do. I told her I'd give her a s'more. She told me she needed a cake and presents and cards and, and, and. I told her that I don't really do birthdays. She repeated her requests. I told her she's not supposed to ask for a birthday celebration. She told me that she knew I'd take care of it without her asking, but she didn't want to be disappointed so she figured she'd doublecheck with me. So tomorrow I have to go buy a cake. . . and I'm thinking of making the guys wear cheesy party hats while they work. I hate pretending to act excited for people's birthdays. They just don't excite me for some reason. Some birthdays excite me I guess, but most don't. My own birthday doesn't even excite me. I woudn't be surprised if I forget my own birthday someday. Seriously. I just hate when people expect to be treated like royalty and given freebies on their birthday. "But, it's my birthday," is one of the worst lines ever uttered. I'm not a complete birthday grinch, I mean, I like a good birthday celebration and all because I like that it's an excuse for people to get together. I just don't like when it's an excuse to grovel at the feet of a person because it's the anniversary of their birth. Who says I want to celebrate that fateful day you were spawned?! Okay, maybe I am a grinch. Whatever.

Hobo Jim is THE MAN in Alaska

The people at the Kenai B&B Association meeting were really gung ho about getting him to play so of course I had to look him up. I can see why now. This guy seems legendary around here. He was a logger, commercial fisherman, and cowboy before he started writing songs. Basically this guy is all that is and ever will be Alaska. I'm really hoping he agrees to play for the Summer Solstice because I'm volunteering so I'd be able to see him. I'd rather see him in that setting than a bar setting because festivals are just more fun.

Everyone send emails to him telling him to play at the KDLL Summer Solstice Festival.

Getting There

I can now say that I've explored every possible way of getting out to Alaska. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong. I need to arrange to have a car while up there and I need to be there through August, then I need to be home to be in a wedding on September 7th. Tight time frame, but I would not miss this wedding for the world.

I've looked at every possible combination of flights, drives, ferries, rentals and shipping. This is my plan:
Drive like crazy to Alaska in late April/early May to hopefully arrive there by May 8th. It will be a horrible, horrible drive. All I have to say is CANADA. I will be driving at least 11 hours a day, but it's supposed to be a really beautiful drive, so I'll be okay. I'm going to try to camp most of the way up because camping is fun and camping is cheap! Plus I'll be in some amazing wilderness which I really shouldn't pass up.
For the way home I'm going to drive to Seattle, leave my car there with a friend while I fly home for the wedding etc for a few weeks, then fly back to Seattle to pick up my car and do some exploring on my way home.
Let me know if you want to join me for any leg of the journey back or have any suggestions as to where I should go.

Now all I have to figure out is how I'm going to get my bridesmaid dress tailored while I'm in a place where dresses are practically forbidden. I'd probably get laughed at if I attempted to bring it to a tailor there. Things aren't so formal there. I requested a visitor/transplant guide from the closest city to get an idea of what the area is like. The most telling part of it was this ad that a mortgage guy had in there. Usually mortgage and real estate brokers have professional pictures taken to go on business cards and ads, as I'm sure you've noticed. Well, this guy had a picture of himself squatting on a riverbed showing off a fish he caught! That is his 'professional' picture?! I'm entering a whole different world.

INAUGURAL POST

I will be heading to Alaska this summer.  I plan on driving out there at the end of April/beginning of May to arrive around May 8th.  I will spend most of May exploring the state before I settle in on the Kenai Peninsula for the rest of the summer.  I'll be living in a cabin on the Kenai River in the small town of Sterling, AK.  

So, those are the major details.  At the urging of a smart family member (thank you, Phyllis) I've decided to keep a blog of my Alaskan adventures.  I'll plan on posting nearly daily for my drive up there and for my stay.  I'm also going to get a few posts up before I head out there to detail my preparation and a little bit of info about where I'll be and what I plan on doing.  I'll also be able to post slideshows.  I plan on taking a LOT of pictures while I'm there.  Until then, I've posted a few pictures of where I'll be.

If all goes as planned, in addition to being a family and friends updater, this should become a good little diary of sorts to keep for my memory.  I'm going to enable comments, so feel free to leave me comments, ask questions or make suggestions if you have them.