30 July: Days-50, Total-54; Miles-34, Total-1814 - Chuck

It rained hard during the early morning. By 10am it was only misting and small waves were on the river with a light following tailwind. We decided to depart without cooking in the light rain. Bill tacked while towing my canoe. It was slow going but we made steady progress with little effort. We stopped at Pilots Station to send/receive email and to reload on Snickers. What a friendly village. Four young fourth grade boys welcomed us from the shore and walked along as we drifted to a landing. They asked about our trip and wanted to know where we lived, we told them Florida. As we were walking to the town's only store, the boys followed along telling us about the town and asking lots of questions. Bill carried the trash he had accumulated to a barrel. Seeing this, I said, "Damn, I forgot to bring my trash". One of the boys asked me if everyone from Florida used swear words. Slightly embarrased, I told him no and that I should stop doing that myself.

We found a pay phone, but the only store was sold-out of Snickers. Everyone was friendly and we felt comfortable in their village; we like Eskimo country.

As we were preparing to depart, a small group gathered by our canoes. A few kids, plus Dan, and Tony & Irene, "Wings". They gave us lots of information; Tony was quite knowledgeable about many of our areas of interest. They wished us well and we pushed off.

More tacking, backing and forth, and soon we could see Pitkas Point and St. Marys. Even though St. Marys is a larger town, it is a mile or two up another river so we elected to pass on by it. We camped on a great beach site across about two miles of water from Pitkas Point village. It was breezy, the sun appeared and began to dry our gear. The sunset was awesome. Bill and I stood watching the sky and the water while chewing on some thin slices of smoked salmon. I toasted Ron Severs and Dan Stangle as I finished the last two "Alaska" beers they left for us. Life is good, we are blessed!