Sunday August 8

I started my morning eating breakfast at the world’s northern most Denny’s. By day’s end my mental glass is so full I could barely function. Today I went to the Tanana Valley Fair. There were so many sights, sounds, and people that I will never be able to properly describe what I saw with words. The Fair was simply a mind blowing experience.

I wondered how many of the people I’d seen over the last month and a half all over Alaska, would pop back up at this official state gathering. The answer was staggering…..there were tons. Football players, coaches, vendors that I first saw 400 miles away in downtown Anchorage, the pony ride people that gave the kids such big smiles on the 4^th of July in Anchorage, families and folks I’d seen and even talked to around Fairbanks.…..the list goes on and on. You stick around here long enough and the world gets smaller right before your eyes.

The most incredible repeat personality was, if you’ll remember, the gold panner, hillbilly guy who helped me fix my tire and offered me weed 250 miles away near Denali. That guy had his own booth at the fair as, of all things, the guy who guesses your weight and gives you a prize if he’s wrong. I was a little disappointed. My image of this guy was now a little tainted. Here I thought he was this wreck loose woodsman type and he’s doing 14 hour days yapping away with a microphone in front of his face.

There were wild rock bands, marching bands, rides and foods of all kind…..all the usual fair stuff. But again, it was the people who stole the show. You can come to a lot of conclusions about a place just by checking out the faces of those who live there. This crowd makes the crowd at demo derby night at the Spencer fair look warm and fuzzy. I look at the kids here and I feel like so many just have no chance to make it. Either they are 2 years old and being sworn at and screamed at by their parents or they are a little older and are part of the incredibly high 50% high school drop out rate. The examples that are set for them are appalling and their role models are nonexistent. On one hand it makes me sad…….they deserve better and I wish they got it. But there sure are times at home, at school, etc., where you see kids get every opportunity under then sun and it’s still not enough, especially for their parents…..and that is even more sickening. Every high school kid from Fairbanks should have to trade places with every kid from Nashoba for a year. Man, what an experiment that would be. Talk about getting a lesson in perspective. All would be better for it.

The highlight of the day was the 63 act “Fairbanks Has Talent” contest. It took all day and I watched most of it. As you can imagine, some of the acts were awful, people who had no business singing or dancing. Some were so whacked out ,like really little kids doing the armpit farting thing for the full allotted three minutes. Other acts were fantastic. They included a ballet trio, a hilarious singer guy who sang songs about what it’s like to be Alaskan, a couple of younger girls singing or playing guitars, and a quadriplegic singing country songs in his wheelchair. All these acts were magnificent. However, one little girl stole the show. She was about 10 years old and did the best impersonation of Michael Jackson I’d ever seen. She’d watched his video 10 million times and had all the moves down pat. To top it off she was the cutest little thing. She had the outfit and everything. She moved around the stage effortlessly and worked the crown into a frenzy. I knew she was good and caught her outside the contest tent after round one and she took a photo with me. Her friends were in awe, they screamed, “You’re like a star!!!!” I even asked her to do me a move and she snapped into one of those famous MJ poses. She was an absolute sweetheart. When her name was announced as the winner she went wild with happiness. As the winner, she was asked to do her routine again which she did with a huge brace filled smile on her face and tears in her eyes. Towards the end she threw in some kisses to the crowd and made a big heart shape with her hands…….She was simply dynamite.

Here’s the story from Monday’s paper if you care…..comments are there also.

http://www.newsminer.com/view/full_story/9047260/article-Tanana-Valley-Fair-talent-show-attracts-Fairbanks--finest?instance=home_lead_story

Another funny performance about living in Alaska here...

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mtsaley

It was a full day, 10am till 11pm. There’s just too much to say about the Fair. It was like nothing I’d ever seen, and it was overwhelming. Today was the sunniest and warmest day in Alaska that I’ve experienced, clear skies and 70 all day long. It was also another full day spent almost entirely outdoors. I’ve never spent more time outside than I have in the last 2 months. If I’m not in the camper, or blogging in some building, I’m outside, and it’s been so, so good.

What an insane last 3 days…….Tomorrow……the Arctic Circle. Can I drive there? We shall see.

Saturday August 7

Are You Ready For Some Football!!!

Bought 4 new tires this morning. I probably needed them. If I was going to attempt driving to the Arctic Circle I didn’t need any surprises. They are way better than the ones I had on there and I felt a lot safer just driving around. They had much thicker sidewalls to better support the weight of the camper as well. The kid that sold ‘em was maybe the best salesman I’ve ever encountered.

It was my goal today to visit two very different high schools and watch the first two high school football games in America for the 2010 season. By October in Alaska the place is inhospitable so they start the season way early. The first day of double sessions is the 3^rd week of July and the first game of the season is the first weekend in August. The students still have 2 more weeks of summer vacation.

Game one pitted the Kodiak High Bears against the Eilson Air Force Base Ravens. The game was on the Air Force base and the players were from the families of soldiers based there. I had to actually go into this office and get cleared to enter the base to watch the game. For the record, most states out here require you to carry proof of vehicle insurance card. Massachusetts has this wacky system where you can’t register your car without proving that you have insurance. As you know, it says the name of your insurance company right on the registration. This was a considerable curveball for the guy at the desk. He doesn’t get many visitors with Mass plates and he had to call in some higher up to get the a-ok………all for a high school football game.

The game was pretty good. Kodiak dominated and were lead by a group of huge Samoan kids. They pretty much trampled all over the field making plays both on offense as well as defense. Kodiak is an island about 800 miles south of Fairbanks. (Imagine Nashoba playing say, some team as far away as Georgia every season) The teams in Alaska are very used to long airplane flights and nights spent sleeping on the home team’s gym floor. Visiting teams are limited to the amount of players they bring as costs add up quick. Today Kodiak came with about 18 players and crushed them.

The crowd was small but enthusiastic. There were 5 cheerleaders who were great. There was even a guy from Kodiak doing play by play in the stands using his cell phone to deliver the signal back to the island. He was super talented and smooth. He sat there and called every play, using all the players names, interjected interesting historical Alaskan football facts, and even did the sponsors announcements before and after the commercial breaks….all on his phone.

Game two was held at a more traditional setting, West Valley Public High School across town in Fairbanks. The West Valley Wolf Pack were host to the East Anchorage Thunderbirds. The stands were packed and the game was a thriller. West had an unbelievably potent offence but was bogged down again and again by penalties. Had they been able to cut back on the penalties they would have won. West Valley made a few spectacular plays, both long passes and long runs to score enough points to hold off East. As seen in the photo, one old Eskimo guy could have cared less about the game. He spent the afternoon coloring in his grandson's coloring book.

It was a brilliantly sunny day. For 30 minutes there was a torrential downpour in the middle of the second game, but the sun was out again by games end.

A few interesting Alaska high school football tid bits.

-Way more passing then home. Lots of long effective passes.

-The sportsmanship was impeccable. Strangely better than I’d ever seen at a high school sporting event……….players helping each other up, pats on the back from opponents, hugs and handshakes at games end.

-Every players name was announced at the beginning of the game.

- When the players from Both teams leave the field the parents and fans of Both teams together, make 2 lines that the players have to walk through. More hugs and high fives for players from both teams.

-The prices to get into the games were the same as Nashoba’s.

- The players were big, fast, and rugged. All four teams would have beat Nashoba. West Valley and East Anchorage would kill them…and Leominster too.

By the end of the day I was toast……totally exhausted.

Friday August 6

Headed back to Fairbanks by way of Denali National Park. I stopped at the park again because they offered a free sled dog demonstration that I wanted to see.

After a traumatic dog experience as a kid, I was never a fan of dogs. However, the demo was excellent. They encouraged you pet all the dogs which I reluctantly did.

The dogs were pretty cool. They were working dogs, used to carrying heavy loads across the huge expanse of the park in extreme low temps. They were super fired up when the ranger hooked them to a sled and dragged him down a dirt road and back. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the whole experience way more than I thought I was going to.

After the demo I completed the 200 mile drive back to Fairbanks where I blogged a while at the Barnes and Noble. Bed after that.

Thursday August 5

Woke up and walked around the wacky village of Talkeetna for what I thought was going to be the last time. Talkeetna has been a great little stop. Centrally located, yet slightly off the beaten path, it has been a warm and welcome pit stop as I crisscrossed the state through out the summer. Talkeetna has two very distinct personalities. As I stated before, it is the “quaint little Alaskan town” stop for the Princess Cruise Lines with it’s hourly waves of name tag wearing visitors passing down it’s Main Street, like waves of salmon passing upstream. Talkeetna’s other personality is one that contains a special group of very unique characters who seemingly would never fit into mainstream society. These are the locals, the lifers who endure the tourist invasions as well as the insane winters. They are unique like no other. Being a regular visitor to Talkeetna at this point, I have given many of them nicknames. They included:

- Hula Hoop Girl, I’ve never seen anyone hula hoop better with one hoop. She hoops for hours on the town lawn.

- Tight Rope Guy, the kid sets up how own wire between two trees and does stunts on it, for hours. He invites anyone who passes by to get on the wire.

- Rodney, The only black person in town. By day, running the register at the Tesoro station 14 miles out of town. By night, manning the door at the historic Fairview Inn. Often times, doing both jobs in the same day, also does an excellent rendition of Don King haircut.

- Fruity Fly Guy, passed out free samples of smoked salmon and conned people into McKinley flight seeing trips, when it was so rainy you couldn’t even see though the shop windows.

- The Skulkers, a group of 20-30 year old scurvy looking people who skulked around town looking as if they were up to no good and were often drinking bottles of whiskey in the middle of the park at any time of day.

-I have been observing these quirky folk from afar. In my opinion no person has a greater visual impact on Talkeetna than a guy who I nicknamed, “The Mayor” (Actually the Mayor of Talkeetna is a cat named Stubbs who was legitimately voted in by the town’s people as a write in a candidate, Talkeetna right?) My guy, “The Mayor”, was all over town, but in a subtle kind of way. He knew every little back way and short cut and slipped around town and seemingly made everyone’s day. He was quiet but hugged people until their hats fell off. He wore the coolest leather jacket with a design on the back he painted himself. It appeared that he was jobless as he was ever present. One thing was for sure, everyone who knew him, loved him.

So as I ate my bagel in the chairs outside the general store I watched “The Mayor” do his thing. Moving around town making everyone happy. I was to leave Talkeetna today. I’d probably not see it’s cast of characters again and it was bittersweet.

Heading out of town I was in search of a place called Sunshine Creek. 45 minutes up the Parks Highway I realize I passed it 30 miles ago. It was a river that was first suggested to me by Rob at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Fairbanks on the first day of my arrival in Alaska. You may remember this. I was in a debate now whether to drive all the way back, essentially retracing my steps. Rob said he’d even be there around the beginning of August. I felt like I had to go back.

Surprisingly, when I arrived Rob was actually there fishing. It was good to see him again and swap stories. We shot the breeze about my trip and his summer. He was thrilled to know that I followed the plan for the entire summer that he helped me formulate almost exactly as we had planned it 2 months ago.

The fishing experience was another wacky one.

The Sunshine Creek deal was similar to other situations I’d encountered in Alaska, where one clear creek meets a silty, grey, glacier river. The fish seem take a break from swimming in the silt to clean their gills in the clear adjoining stream. It creates an ever-changing group of fish continuously entering and exiting the clear water. You can see this “edge” in the photo included. My plan now was to catch a limit of silver salmon, filet them, and bring them to a fish-processing center, have them smoked, and shipped home. The first silver came easily, about a 7 pounder. The second one took 6 hours. During that 6 hour span I was surrounded by quite a variety of folks.

Group one included a snaggle-toothed family, papa with his double barrel slung over his shoulder. His 7 year old daughter I needed to adopt, to save from the disaster her life was probably going to end up being. I wanted to abduct her and return her to her family 15 years later after she graduated BU and have her say, with the perfect smile, “Remember me??”

Group two included a big mouthed yahoo from Minnesota who, halfway down the trail was heard yelling to anyone who would listen, how amazing it was that he was in Minnesota just that morning and how lucky and incredible it was that he ended up here fishing in Alaska just 6 hours later. You would think someone who seems so enthusiastic about fishing, would know something about it. Him and his pals showed up on the scene way under gunned with two little trout rods, then hemmed and hawed every time a fish broke off. It turns out the guy really did know almost nothing about what he was doing. He proceeded to pummel my pal Rob for the next 3 hours with every ridiculous question under the sun. Rob had some kind of patience to deal with that guy. The man was way too loud…simply put he removed any possible serenity from the day’s fishing experience.

Group three included Uncle Mikey and his two nephews. Let’s just say, these two kids weren’t playing with a full deck. For example, they asked why we weren’t trying to catch the fish that were half dead on the stringer…….I was like, huh? They pretty much irritated everyone who was fishing at one point or another….getting in the way, squeezing between people to cast, crossing people’s lines with their casts…..one kid played with a half dead salmon for like 3 hours. It got a little creepy. Uncle Mikey? Well, he had nothing to say to anyone including the two nitwits.

After landing the second Coho salmon, Rob performed the Alaskan fillet on ‘em both. We took some photos and went our separate ways. What a solid guy Rob was. Sportsman’s in Fairbanks was lucky to have a guy like him there, ultra patient and super knowledgeable on all things Alaskan. I was completely lucky to have crossed paths with him. Thanks for everything Rob.

Back to wacky Talkeetna for the cherry on top of an already wacky wonderful day. Who do I end up alone in the TV room at the Fairview Inn with? You got it, Mark, the man about Talkeetna. We actually got to talk for a while. He was sincerely happy when I told him how I’d been watching all the warmth and friendliness he'd been dishing out over the summer. He was a totally a cool guy.

This morning I thought I’d be heading out of town. Meeting Rob at Sunshine Creek and wanting to catch some fish to send home, I found myself bedding down for the night back in my favorite camping spot in all Alaska, Main Street, Talkeetna, AK. All was good.

Wednesday August 4

More rain. Locals are saying it’s the rainiest summer in a long time. It can be a drag.

Woke in my usual Talkeeta parking spot, saw the rain, and decided on a few more hours sleep.

When I finally woke up I called the bakery and put in my order for 60 more ginger cookies….those suckers were good and they’d last me another 3 weeks.

Listened to a ranger talk on climbing Denali (Mt. McKinley). It was pretty good. Tons of people attempt unprepared and end up dead, 4 now this year.

Picked up the cookies and hit another local river supposedly teaming with salmon. I caught a few more pinks and chums and even hooked another monster king. It went nutty after I hooked it, jumping and blasting down stream. I was way into my backing when it finally broke off. Funny how you can be out there in the middle of nowhere and bump into people. Spoke to this guy from Maine for a while in the rain before he drove is rental off through the mud.

The Fairview Inn in Talkeetna is a famous place that climbers stay either before or after their attempt of Denali. The rooms upstairs are sold as is, meaning that the music will be blaring in the bar below through most of the night and you might never fall asleep. They have live music every single night. You can be in the bar below and find yourself sitting next to a world class, world famous climber. The place attracts an interesting variety of other folks as well, including the seasonal foreign workers, the Princess Cruise patrons, and the local odd balls of Talkeetna. Tonight there was this guy playing his guitar while his girlfriend wiggled around like a worm singing these song they’d written. I think I worked out the lyrics of one song. It went something like, “If you’re going to wear T bone cologne, the dogs will follow you around.” The place is such a dive that all the doors can be found wide open and at any time (including tonight) up to 4 or more local neighborhood dogs can be found jetting around the place, even blasting right thru the singers legs as she sings. The place is just fun.

A final observation on Talkeetna’s weirdness is that everyone in town stays up way too late. The Fairview Inn and downtown street are alive with people ‘til well beyond 2:00 a.m. every single night. In the morning the town is empty, no traffic at all until around 10:00 a.m. When I imagine the rat race at home at 6:00 a.m. every day I wonder who the weird ones really are.