30 June: Day-23, Total-24; Miles-40, Total-863 – Chuck
FLASH: As you may have noted previously, Bill dropped
his PocketMail computer device in the water a few days ago. It was only
wet for a second but it hasn't worked right since. He will be working
with the folks at PocketMail to get back in the email mode, in the meantime
he will send hand written journal notes to Betty and she will type them
and have them posted on the website.
Yesterday, we pulled our canoes up on the gravel slope at the east end
of Fort Yukon. After tying them to some bushes, we set off to see what
was open on a Sunday afternoon. While passing the very first house,
a woman stepped outside into a fenced backyard, chatted a minute and
invited us inside for "tea". We begged off and she insisted.
I asked if I could take her picture, she said "Sure, they call
me Millie the Model". As I snapped the shutter, we were making
a hasty retreat. A couple minutes later, a young guy named Eric, came
out of another house and wanted to know about us and then wanted to
show us around the town. We walked to "Jean's Store" to ask
about using a phone. Jean, a Frenchman, directed us to the town's only
pay phone, which is at the airport, a half-mile away. Eric followed
along with us and hit us up for ten dollars so he could buy some bootleg
whiskey. I had already bought him a soft drink at Jean's. A few steps
after we said no, he gave up on us. Bill was uneasy about the town and
decided to go back and watch the canoes while I made some phone calls.
I had to wait 20 minutes for the phone then after several calls, started
walking back. I stopped at the Yukon Outpost, a gas station/store to
see if they had veggies, etc. They had only a few items that campers
might need. I talked with Trader Dan Teague, the owner, about the town
and found out he used to work on a river barge. After making lotsa notes,
I found that it had been 20 years since he had been on the river, so
all his info is pretty dated.
When I got back to the canoes, Bill was gone so I sat in a shady spot
and started reading. After a few minutes Bill returned worried that
I might have had trouble. He really had bad vibes about the town and
was ready to leave. I agreed that it would probably be best. After pushing
off, we missed seeing the entrance of the Porcupine River, it was behind
an island. We found a quiet island about five miles downstream and pitched
camp.
This morning we continued through the "flats". The wind was
on our nose the whole day at about 15 knots. The wind also disturbs
the water surface making it difficult to follow the strongest flow.
We found another good island to pitch on. We both took baths in the
river and had dinner. I think the river water is getting warmer, Bill
thinks it is still just as cold as ever but that I am getting accustomed
to it.