The purchase of Arcadia 1 was completed, on schedule on 20Jun09. Last Monday, 22Jun09, I picked up Sam Floyd at LAX, with my Land Cruiser loaded to the gills with tools, fishing gear, clothes and 2 months supply of Nutrisystem grub. (A great way to provision a boat, by the way). We made it to Shasta City, just short of the Oregon border that night. On Tuesday, we stopped to see Phyllis’ brother and sister-in-law in Omak, Wa. On Wednesday, (after a long checkout by Canadian border folks, who couldn’t believe that we really didn’t have any guns on board), we drove on to Prince George, BC. On Thursday, we took the road less travelled up and joined the Alaska Highway just West of Watson Lake. On Friday, we got to Whitehorse, where our new friend and the seller of Arcadia 1 had a turnover party at his home that went on until dark. (It never got dark, by the way. At 1:30 am, we were fumbling around in dim light). On Saturday, we finally got aboard in Skagway.
We found the boat cleaned up and empty of all the “stuff”, it takes to live aboard. (As we had asked for it to be). Sam and I spent the day checking her out and buying enough paper plates and stuff to get us to Juneau. That evening, we went to the ferry terminal and imposed upon 4 perfect strangers, (They're now friends. You've gotta love Alaska), to drive the Land Cruiser onto the ferry on Sunday morning and park it in Juneau.
Sunday, after a short handling checkout with Dean in Skagway harbor, Sam and I left for Juneau on our own. The trip was uneventful, although the Lynn Canal provided, once again, 25-30 knot, (true, not apparent), winds right on our bow. It got pretty choppy, which gave us some salt water on the windshield, but since it was right in our teeth we didn’t need the paravane stabilizers for roll.
Monday, Phyllis and Willy flew into Juneau to join Sam and I on the boat. We spent part of that day and all day Tuesday and Wednesday buying bedding, kitchen stuff, crab and shrimp pots and doing a bunch of little projects on the boat. Tomorrow, we plan to take our first jaunt to see if we can’t catch a king salmon or pick up some crabs or shrimp. The planned destination is Tenakee, about 8 hours away, which has been recommended to us a great place for such endeavor. We plan to anchor in one of two or three nearby coves that people have told us about. The plan is to be back on th 3rd, so we won’t miss the fireworks (at 12:01 am on the 4th).
Future plans now committed:
My brother Paul will arrive on the 8th.
Sam’s Friend, Al Locy will arrive on the 10th.
Phyl and Will will return to CA on the 12th. The rest of us will leave for Petersburg then.
Paul and I will leave Petersburg in time for Paul’s flight home on the 18th. Sam and Al will stay in Petersburg and return home from there.
Son Zach and bride, Stephanie arrive about an hour before Paul leaves on the 18th. They plan to stay until the end of July.
Right now, I don’t know of anything that demands my return to the lower 48, (haven’t read all my email, yet), although I could do so anytime after the 18th. The cell phone works well in Juneau. It didn’t work in Skagway, and I don’t know, yet, about the other towns we’ll stop in or pass by.
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