Living La Vida Loca

Family on the Dock!

By now, many of you know that Mike has returned to Arizona to be with family. After much consultation with the folks at home, he made that choice. He didn't even know until he got there whether it would turn out to be the right choice or a premature decision. He says it was the right choice and I am happy for him and them that he is there. I do miss him so! And so do a lot of the Skagway people. Thank you to everyone here for their thoughts and good wishes.

Of course, leaving just wasn't going to happen without some kind of partying or shenanigans. On Wednesday, July 17 the three of us--Mike, Taylor and I--did a parallel tour up to the Yukon. That is one of our longest tours. Often, when it is absolutely cloudy and socked in at the White Pass, the Yukon will be overcast but without the blinding fog. So, it's a very welcome tour after days of fog.

The night before our parallel tour, we had talked about some shenanigans and with the blessing of one of the dispatchers (I won't say who), we pulled it off with style and panache. The idea was for us to drive each others' coaches....with each others' people still in them. We really hadn't discussed how we were going to go about this. Here's how it went down. At a picture stop, I went in to use the rest room on his coach since there was a line in my coach. As I came down the aisle of his coach to leave, I saw my coach pulling away. Mike's people laughed and were all in on the joke. It went off perfectly. Of course, my tour narration was totally shot, but more importantly, the people and we had a lot of fun together.

A lot of our tours require our passengers to wear a sticker designating to the vendor what tour they're on and what is included in that tour. This was no exception. Sadly, one of the most picturesque photo stops contains a guard rail that is plastered with these stickers. So many of us now give our passengers a choice. They can save it for their scrapbook, toss it in our very well designated trash bags or they can put the stickers on us. Many passengers have a lot of fun putting the stickers on their driver. This time, I told everyone that because Mike hijacked my coach, he needed to wear the stickers!

Sorry it's so dark, but it IS inside the coach!

Later on that evening it was taco night at the Dredge, followed by more drinks at the Pizza Station, then karaoke at the Bonanza. Mike did an amazing job with "Mack the Knife." And I don't think he looked at the karaoke monitor even once! A lot of folks came out to wish him well and that was much appreciated.

Lounge crooner

On Friday, the 19th, he was due to leave Skagway at 5:30 a.m. He got out of Skagway, but the plane only made it 14 miles down to Haines before it had to land due to fog. Lots of calls with our management to rearrange his flight from Juneau to Seattle....and he landed in Juneau twenty-five minutes before the flight was due to leave. The airline desk told him that he couldn't go because he had to check in THIRTY minutes prior to departure. He wasn't even checking luggage! You can imagine the frustration. Because I'm aware of the fog and how weather can really alter travel plans up here, I'd purchased travel insurance for his flight from Seattle to Phoenix which we pay for. The company will get you to Seattle...you're responsible from Seattle to anywhere else. After numerous calls to US Air and the travel insurance company, it turns out we have to pay the $150 change fee up front....and we're supposed to be reimbursed by the travel insurance company. We're waiting on that. After staying over an unplanned night in Juneau, he did get to Seattle on the 20th. Everyone at home was very happy to see him.

The question you're probably wondering is how I'm going to get home. I will be driving our pickup with the majority of our "stuff" at the end of the season. Yes, I'm driving alone. The 3,136 miles. However, no worries...I will be convoy-ing with several other vehicles at least as far as Seattle. After that, at least I'll be back in the U.S. Who knows...maybe your house will be one of my stops on the way.

Life does goes on here and Sunday, the 21st was a bridal shower for Daisy. Daisy and Chris are one of THREE couples who work for the company who became engaged this summer. Now this was a shower, Skagway style. What do you do when there just aren't a lot of stores to choose from?!?!?!? You just make do. You order online and have it shipped, you make do with what's at the hardware store, gift stores and clothing stores. Games were fun, delicious crepes. The young couples hosting the shower did a lovely job.

Shari, Daisy and Amanda at the shower

Other than that, it's been work, work work all week. Work...and more drivers leaving. We will be very busy in the last few weeks. Happily, a few of the highway drivers are staying on and will pick up some of those tours that right now we're scrambling to cover.

One day the sun shone through a crack in the clouds at the Yukon Suspension Bridge and at least the passengers were treated to:

"What does it mean?"

Generally, the Skagway River is a milky greenish gray color due to glacial silt being suspended in the water. But with all the rain we've had, it got very high one day and quite a muddy brown. The compensation for that was that the steep mountains again have many tiny waterfalls.

The rain continues....the high and muddy Skagway River.

As for work, some great tours, some tours that were meh, some that tipped well, some that didn't. Essentially, all the usual. Happily, no problems, accidents or complaints for me. One day I had an afternoon Bridge and Bake where you drive up to the place in the pic above that has the rainbow. There was NO FOG!!!! There was no fog the entire journey up nor back. And we saw two black bears. What a difference being able to see the scenery can have on one's outlook on life!

Alas, it was just one day and then it was back to fog as usual. Today, I requested the day off for my fantasy football draft. I think I have a good team. It will be very, very odd to be watching opening games without Mike. Hope he's happy that I've got a couple of the Jets on my fantasy team!

Later on in the morning, despite the drizzle, I took a wee hike up to Lower Dewey Lake and hiked around it. I believe it's about a 3.6 mile hike. That doesn't sound like much, but it's the longest solo hike I've taken since breaking my ankle last November. I wish I could say that the picture is of blue sky, but it's clouds. But no wind on the lake, so a lovely reflection of the surrounding mountains. It is so special to walk through the mist as your feet crush the fragrant spruce needles. It was good to hike....even a little bit.

Lower Dewey Lake