Four scenes from a bike ride: chair in the woods; airplane in the sky; children on a log; young diners at Abby's; why it took three days, not two; rambling on the bayou, Yukon and elsewhere

Friday night, I stated I would not post Saturday and likely not Sunday, so that I could finish up the project involving the B-24. As can now be seen, I did not post Monday night, either - although for a very different reason than readers might suspect.

At practically the same moment I sat down on Saturday to get back to work on the project the phone rang. It was Margie's siter Janet, calling to let us know that her brother, Red Nose (Rudolph, officially, but no one calls him that) was scheduled to have a most serious heart operation on Monday.

Margie and I both strongly felt that before he was wheeled into the operating room, it would be helpful if he could look into his oldest sister's eyes and see the love and care that had brought her from Alaska to his bedside. The problem was, we had no way to get her there. The week before last, I signed a contract in anticipation of a decent advance early last week, but the contract has to work its way through various people in a system and it is moving like a snail. Until I get the advance, we are broke. I need to drive to Anchorage and there is enough gas in the car to get me there, but coming back will be a problem.

Oh, this freelance life I subject my wife to!

On Alaska Airlines, a one-way frequent flyer trio to Tucson, where he is hospitalized, is 20,000 miles (remember when round trip was 15,000?. I had 16,000 miles left in my account, Margie just over 1000, so this was a problem we had to work on. Melanie came to the rescue with a one-way frequent flyer ticketto take her mom down. Once she knows when she will return, Jacob will get her a frequent flyer ticket back.

I came upon this chair while I was out pedalling my bike on the other side of the Little Su. It is at the bottom of a steep embankment and is unlikely to be seen by passing motorists. I wonder if anyone ever goes down there to sit on it? I suspect it was probably left there, along with other pieces, by someone who did not want to go to the trouble of taking it to the land fill and so just decided to dump it on society's back.

So I didn't get much writing done Saturday. Saturday night, I had to drive Margie to Anchorage to catch her plane. I got a fair amount done Sunday, but not as much as I had hoped, because I kept going off on paths I had not anticipated. Some of those paths proved significant, some I had to back away from and leave behind.

This airplane passed over me as I pedalled my bike near Mahoneyville.

I was going to write a fantasy/lament to go with this picture to the accompaniment of the lovely, lovely, beautiful, fiddle solo in Hank Williams Jambalaya, about suddenly coming into $2 million so I could buy a good little bush plane, and then spend the next three or four years wandering about Alaska at will, without worrying about money, doing all the photo stories I have always wanted to do, including something indept on the fiddlers living along the drainage of the Yukon River - and the preachers, too.

I knew for a fact that at the end of that three or four years, I would be as stone-cold broke as I am right now, but I would have done it and could then fantasize about the next two million - maybe three, if inflation gets bad.

I am too tired to write this fantasy right now, so I will skip it.

I am too tired because I caught fire yesterday afternoon. I finished the story and when I got to the end, I wept. Then I had to go through the mechanics of preparing and sending the photos and text out through the net and that took me until 3:30. I put on my headphones, set my iPhone to shuffle and did it all to shifts through the aforementioned Hank, Miles Davis, Robert Johnson, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Peter Paul and Mary, Iñupiat gospel, Nirvanna, The Carter Family, CCR and several others, blue grass included.

I finally went to bed, but I was wired, hopping, I could not turn the music off. I laid in bed with my headphones on listening to more until just about 5:00 AM. Then I forced myself to shut down the music, take my headphones off and in time I dozed off.

I woke up at 6:30 AM, tried to go back to sleep, couldn't, gave up at 7:30 and got up.

During the Great Gray Whale Rescue of 1988, the National Guard brought up a press contingent, headed by Major Mike Haller. Haller saw my Uiñiq magazine and was very impressed. He told me he wanted to schedule a time to bring his press contigent to my work quarters so they could see how a truly sharp, well-organized, media project was run.

Ha! This is how I do it, Mike, how I have always done it, and in the midst of physical chaos and clutter, cats clambering across me to step onto my keyboard, block my screen, fish swimming at my side, electric train circling the room - and son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou (and here comes the fiddle... the beautiful, beautiful, lovely, fiddle...).

I parked my bike outside Abby's Home Cooking and went in to drink a Pepsi. I wound up eating a hamburger and fries.

After Red Nose got hospitalized, he said he wanted a hamburger and fries. The doc said, "no."

Apparently, there was some kind of major injury accident in Tucson Monday morning. The doctor scheduled to operate on Red Nose had to divert to it. His surgery has been rescheduled for Wednesday.

For those of you who pray, whether you are religious or irreligious, we will appreciate your prayers for Margie's little brother, Red Nose Roosevelt.

Did I ever tell you how they got the family name, Roosevelt?

The BIA, US Army, and other government staff Margie's people had to deal with could not pronounce many Apache names, or write them, either. So they made the Apache take on English names. Ok, Margie's grandpa agreed, he would be President then. He named himself Teddy Roosevelt. Her Uncle Franklin Roosevelt was killed in combat in Korea, as a young child, her sister, Eleanor Roosevelt, was legally kidnapped by "Christian" missionaries and raised in Colorado by a family that eventually abandoned her. She has yet to come to terms with it all.

Comments

[Mrs Gunka]

Red Nose Roosevelt will certainly be covered by a big prayer from Colorado! Sending lots of wishes for him and thankful his big sister could be there for him! Will send one for you too Bill. May your check get there soon!

I could swear that young man on the right sitting on the stool at Abby's looks like Track Palin. Isn't he in Afghanistan? Do they still get R&R after 3 months deployment? He could be home for a month. Not familiar with his wife, but you would think they would have their baby with them. I've been reading too many Alaska blogs! :-) I know I would recognize your family if I would meet them on the street! Especially the ones with trains in their hands!

[Cyndy E]

I'm thinking the good thoughts for Margie's brother, Red Nose. We too have some AA miles. Let us know if we can transfer any?

[Logbook - Wasilla - Beyond]

Thank you, Mrs. Gunka and Cyndy. We appreciate the offer but Jacob will cover.

Mrs. Gunka, I ran the photo by Abby. It is not Track Palin - it is her nephew, Branden Mahoney.