Circle Hot Springs

Saturday morning we left home in the motorhome.  First we needed to dump (you know... ick), fill up with water, and purchase propane at the local service station which offers all three.  Then we headed north on the Steese Highway.  CIrcle Hot Springs got its name because it was thought to be inside the arctic circle.  Actually it is about 70 miles south.  The only road that goes beyond the arctic circle is the pipeline haul road, now named the Dalton Highway.

After the first forty something miles, the road is not paved.  The motorhome drove over the bumps and lumps well, although once in awhile we got a roller-coaster like ride.  Papaw was intent on making the best time, so we didn't make many stops.  I hung my head out the window and took a few photos of the summit.  I hope they turn out well because it was a beautiful blue-sky day.

We arrived in plenty of time for swimming.  Papaw and Mamaw took Jacob and Christian.  I handed my Olympus camera to Jacob and told him to take five pictures.  Papaw gave his camea to Christian with similar instructions.  The photos Christian took turned out well.  I don't have mine back yet.  If I can figure out my scanner's instructions to scan negatives, I'll add a few to my site.  Papaw took off with the prints.

The pools is open until midnight.  Jacob and Christian wanted to stay until closing.  The hot water had other ideas.  First Jacob pooped out and walked barefoot across the gravel parking lot to the motorhome.

"Tell Keith to bring us some water," I said to Jacob.

"Okay," promised Jacob.

After another ninety minutes of swimming and playing ball in the hot water, I was very thirsty.  I convinced Christian we should go get our own water.  He agreed.  Since I had my shoes, I gave him a piggy-back ride across the gravel.  When we got to the motorhome, Papaw convinced us it was time for bed.

"You can swim tomorrow," he said.

The boys were up early and in the pool.  By the time I was ready to get up, we were ready to head on down the road.  We stopped for some photos of the pipeline, and took a side trip to Salcha to look for fish.  Mostly we found more mosquitos.  We were exhausted by this time, including the gas tank, so we headed home about 7 p.m.

The photos are back!

Papaw got a roll of photos developed today, and one is posted on a page about Christian's fishing trip to Valdez.  Click on photo for larger view and story.

Today we are going to Circle Hot Springs.

De boat! De boat!

Riverboat Discovery Alaska

Papaw asks the boys, "For what it costs to ride the riverboat, we could buy one of you a new bike.  Would you sooner have a new bike or ride the boat?"

The boys shout in unison, "The boat!  The boat!"

Papaw parks the truck at the end of Discovery Drive with only two minutes left until two o'clock.  The riverboat, Discovery II, has just left the dock, and they run to get tickets for the Discovery III which has already loaded.  The girl at the counter waves at them,

"C'mon, I'll get you on right away."

The two seven-year olds and their great-grandfather hurry up the gangplank, and she escorts them to the interior of the boat.  Papaw lays $100 on the counter, and his change is 15 cents.

Discovery III was built in 1987 and can hold 900 passengers.  Usually the capacity is held to 700 so that everyone can be indoors if it rains.  The day Papaw and the boys take their 3 1/2 hour trip, however, more than 700 people fill the cabins and sundeck.  No rain is in sight.

A nine-year old Binkley is the coxswain.  She turns and waves at the cameraman.  Papaw and the boys watch her on one of the television monitors.  The guide on each floor is introduced the same way.

As they cruise by the original riverboat, Discovery I, Capt'n Jim and Mary Binkley wave from the deck.  A Super Cub demonstrates a short-field take off and landing.

"Our narrator, Phil Deisher, moved to Alaska in 1952 when he was 3 years old, and he is a motormouth.  He don't never shut up," says Papaw.

While the boat travels down the Chena River and onto the Tanana River, Deisher describes every type of bird and tree.  He shares stories about the rivers, Alaska, and the Binkleys.

---

Captain Jim and the Pipeline People

When the trans-Alaska pipeline was finished, the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company planned to sell their surplus materials.

Captain Jim Binkley approached the pipeline people with the request, "I want to buy a few lengths of pipe to build a dock for my riverboat."

They said, "No, we are going to auction all the pipe in one lot.  So it's all or nothing."

So Capt'n Jim bought the whole lot and built his riverboat dock.

He can flood the pipes of the dock and sink it.  Then he drives the boat up on it, applies air pressure to the pipes, pushes out the water, and raises the boat.  He pulls the floating pipe and the boat onto the shore.  In the winter, he pulls Discovery I and II out of the Chena River, but he leaves Discovery III right where it is.  The river level drops to about three feet; and since it only draws three feet of water, it rests on the bottom.

After he built his boat dock, he ended up with a great big yard full of 48-inch pipe.  What are you doing to do with it? 

A few years later, the Alyeska Pipeline people contacted Capt'n Jim, "I believe you bought the leftover pipe.  Could you sell us a few pieces to repair the pipeline?"

And Capt'n Jim said, "Nope, it's all or nothing."

So he sold all of it back to them, except for the few pieces that he had used to build his dock.

---

At the traditional Athabascan Indian fish camp, Papaw and the boys watch a woman fileted a salmon for drying in 39 seconds.

"We were offered a sample of Captain Jim's smoked salmon, but I didn't go get any.  I figured we had enough of it at home," says Papaw.

The passengers of both Discovery II and III disembark at the Chena Indian Village to view four presentations of Alaska native subsistence culture.  Alaskan Native guides explain spruce cabins, a food cache, and the use of fur.

"When they were trying to show off the reindeer and the dogs, the animals all got in the shade, except when she got out the sled," says Papaw.  "As soon as you hook the dogs up to the sled, they take off.  I bet she slid thirty feet like a slingshot when they were pulling her around the corner on the gravel.  Susan Butcher was out of town, and our demonstration was by a rookie of the Iditarod in 2000.  She is already signed up to race in 2003."

Water coolers are sitting all over the boat and on the ground down at Chena Indian Village.

"I must have drank 15 glasses, at least.  On the way back, I leaned up against a cooler all the way home," Papaw says.

"Jacob, what did you think of the boat ride?"

"It was a good ride except for one thing --the heat!" Jacob says.

When Papaw drove through town, the temperature on the bank said, 88 degrees F.

"It was hot on that boat... the sun is hotter when it shines on you in Alaska.  It feels hotter than it does at home," says Papaw.

"Christian, now which would you rather have:  a new bike or the Riverboat?" asks Aunt Pam.

"Boat ride!" says Christian.

Is is Fish Yet?

We brought the half-frozen fish upstairs to the kitchen a few at a time.  Papaw would cut them into lengths for the pint jars.  Mamaw packed the jars, and Aunt Pam cleaned the rims, added the salt, put on the lids and rings, and loaded the canner.  Once the canner was cooking, Mamaw and Papaw could go to bed.  We did two loads a day.  A few jars broke in the first two loads, and a few jars didn't seal.  So we had plenty of cooked salmon to make into spreads and dips to nourish us during the process.

Are we finished canning?  We still have 13 fish in the freezer.  Papaw says we should give them away or eat them baked.  I believe everyone has had enough canning to last at least a year (maybe two).  Papaw is taking home four cases (48 pints), and leaving the rest for us.

Grandma has worked diligently to keep the kitchen cleaned and organized.  Keith and Papaw did the last two canner loads.

Today Papaw is taking Christian and Jacob on the Riverboat Discovery while Aunt Pam rests and Grandma cleans the motorhome.

Canning Fish

After five days of fishing in Valdez, we came home with 47 salmon.  We kept them iced down, and then we had to buy a large styrofoam cooler because our three other coolers were full.

After an eight-hour drive home from the coast, we stopped by Fred Meyer and picked up more ice.  So we could get some sleep before we tackled the big job of canning all these fish.

The next morning Papaw was up bright and early, raring to go.  I drug myself out of bed and headed to the basement where the first stage of canning started. We needed to prepare the fish. Dad sat down because his foot was still hurting. He'd cut off the fins and finish cleaning them. Then Mamaw would wash the fish thoroughly and place it in the cooler.  I put the cooler on a platform with wheels. Then Christian would push the cooler into the garage where I'd put the fish in the freezer. Jacob was the gofer, keeping Papaw supplied with iced tea and keeping a record of how many fish we'd cleaned.

Jacob's List

• Papaw - cutter
• Mamaw - washer
• Christian - scooter
• Jacob - counter
• Aunt Pam - freezer

Fishing in Valdez

Yesterday I sent a message to the Alaska-Living group, hoping that someone who lives in Valdez would be able to visit us at our campsite.

Hi, everyone, but especially to the Alaska Living group membeers who live in Valdez.

I'm typing this in Valdez Consortium Library... and it's on Fairbanks Drive (isn't that cool?)

If you want to come and visit us, we are staying on Allison Point campground, space 56. We are in a Georgia Boy motorhome and the license has "Yeager" in it (don't remember it exactly). Deb, if you read this today, maybe you can put what the exact address is.

The weather is great, the sun is shining, and it's warm enough to wear a tank top. I wish that the clouds would clear enough for us to see the mountain peaks.

We were planning to drive back to Fairbanks in the morning, but the boys are catching so many fish, that we may stay tomorrow, too.

Dad twisted his ankle climbing up the rocks, so he may need to sit the next one out. He's been fishing the tides, and then when it goes out, the boys go hunting for lures. They are having a great time.

I mailed the Grandma's, Grandpa's and parents's post cards; so you should be getting them in a few days.

I haven't seen anyone so far. We are spending the evening in Valdez, visiting museums (and the library, of course!)

We decided to stay one more night. Maybe we will see someone tomorrow!

We are having a wonderful time in Valdez. We were planning to go home today. Grandma did the laundry today. The boys were running out of fishing clothes (that weren't wet or muddy). We went to the park next to the community college, then toured the boat harbor, and visited the museum.

Dad's fine. He's using Mom's cane to get around. He was up at 4:30 a.m. fishing with Christian. Jacob decided to sleep in probably because he caught five salmon yesterday. All the coolers are overflowing with fish now. Christian does not want to leave Valdez!

The cell phone does not work, no connection, or roaming works here in Valdez. I tried the Net with Debby's phone. Unfortunately my cell phone has a dead battery and I didn't bring the charger.

Jacob and Christian are playing with the stuffed animals in the children's section here at the library. They had wanted me to buy them each a $30 stuffed Alaska animal puppet at the Valdez museum. So I brought them to the library where they can play to their hearts content for free! Unless Mamaw Debby wants to send them each $30! *grin* (There's no sales tax in Valdez.)

We haven't had any visitors so I'm guessing that nobody in Valdez got our message in time. We are sight-seeing today, so it's unlikely they are going to catch up with us now. Although we plan to go back to Allison Point tomorrow morning for high tide to go fishing one more time. Then we must go home! I need a bath!

The weather is fantastic! I've taken four rolls of film. I can see the tops of every mountain surrounding Valdez!

Company's a Comin'!

My parents are arriving this Thursday or Friday.  They are driving their motorhome up from Indiana and bringing two of their great-grandsons with them.  My Dad is looking forward to buying an out-of-state fishing license and taking his great-grandsons fishing in Alaska.

Rain and an All Weather Bear Adoption

We've had a few days of rain this week.  So I put up an adoption of a All-Weather Bear, dressed up in a raincoat, galoshes, and an umbrella and holding a duck.  We needed the rain.  Perhaps the fires will go out now.

That about catches you up-to-date on what I've been doing.

Wheat-free Group Milestone

The wheat-free group hit 90 members the other day.  I'm amazed at how fast this group has grown since it's inception on December 5, 2001.  The members are helpful and supportive.  Since it is totally moderated and private, I hope that people feel free to express their problems and ask for help.  This level has been accomplished mostly without my help.  I've been so busy with other projects that I haven't been posting to the group like I intended.

Moving and Redesigning pamelajoy.com

RivalPro where I have my website hosted is making major changes (for the better), but that means a lot of work for me.  While I have to do the work anyway, I'm totally re-designing the HTML on my pages to allow for server-side includes.  While this may not change the outward appearance of the pages, it will be a tremendous help to me as the webmusher.  (grin, cute eh?)

A server-side include can be a text file that the HTML document adds to the page on the server side without me having to include it on every web page.  An example would be the changing of the copyright dates on every page.  I now have over 500 pages on my site.  If I want the copyright on every page to be current, I would have to edit 500 pages.  Then I would have to upload the edited 500 pages to my site... every year.  Other uses for server-sides includes are adding information that is the same for every page, such as the site navigation links.

Hopefully I can accomplish these changes seamlessly without you noticing any difference.  However, you may be aware of my Perils of Pamela, and if something can go wrong, I expect it will go wrong.

Adding the server-side include means I must change the file name of every page.  That means the old file will not work if I just delete it.  So in addition to re-designing every page, I'm also making a new re-direct page with the old name so that the site has no broken links.

If this sounds like a huge challenge, it is.  However, I'm excited about the changes.  I will be able to delete unused image files and unfinished HTML pages.  That should leave me with more room to add new content to my site.

Note: Since I made that decision, I have decided to use includes with PHP instead of shtml.  However, there are some shtml pages on my site that haven't been updated.