26 July: Days-47, Total-50; Miles-0, Total-1682 – Chuck

It is now 11:30am and rain showers are still blowing across our island. Between showers, Bill and I checked the canoes, grabbed some snacks and the two-way radios then crawled back in our tents.

There is a 500-ft wide expanse of sand before any higher ground, which has some small bushes. Bill chose to camp about a hundred feet from the river's edge, I pitched on the more distant higher ground. Usually we are in closer proximity and can easily shout between tents. Hopefully, we can get underway within the next couple of hours and the inconvenience of the distance won't be an issue.

Later...the winds are increasing.

Even though both Bill and I set aside three months for this trip, we have both adjusted our calendars as we got ahead of schedule. Our revised plan does not have much flex time in it. Bill has some friends and relatives he wants to visit on the way back to Florida. Then he will hustle to finish and possibly sell the "Spec" home in which he was temporarily living. Then, he will complete several other activities in time to enter Law School in New Zealand in the spring, their winter term.

I adjusted to the advanced schedule by asking Betty to meet me in Anchorage. The best available flight arrives on 5 August, so now I have a new goal.

A few weeks ago as we were paddling the hours away, we talked of other remote places, in Alaska, that we would like to visit. Bill has wanted to see Nome and I have wanted to go to Point Barrow, the northern most point in North America. We decided that IF we complete the canoe trip with enough time remaining, we will fly to both destinations. We would like to do this from Emmonak after we paddle back from the Bering Sea. All this, maybe, before we fly to Anchorage. And, if it doesn't work out, we'll put it on our long list of things we would like to do.

It is now 12:30pm and the rain has stopped, but the increasing wind continues to blow and whip up sizable waves. We continue to wait.

At 3pm, the wind is at least 30kts and some of the gusts maybe 50kts. We just baled water of the canoes, waves had washed some in around my canoe cover. Also, we reinforced the tent stakes and added more tie downs. I placed some driftwood on the windward edge of my tent to help keep sand from blowing under the fly.

Inside the tent is kind of interesting. The wind howls around the sides and there are lots of flapping sounds, even though it was pitched 'tight as a drum'. Sometimes the top is blown almost a foot off center. Both of our tents are made by North Face and are expedition models, VE-25, built to withstand high winds (mine is a smaller, mountain version). The weakest link is the sand that holds the tent pegs. The tents seem to be holding up well, maybe better than I am. One time when I went out to check the canoes, I could hardly walk, plus sand was blowing across the island in eerie waves. It is almost surreal.

I have now finished my Jack London book. Bill finished his "Shadows On The Koyukuk" and loaned it to me. He has one more book before reading the Contract Law text he brought along.

It is now 10pm, the wind has been strong for 22 hours and no sign of relief. Sure hope we're not here long enough that I am reduced to reading Contract Law.

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"
Kodi.