Monday, June 23, 2008

Combat Fishing

As I leave Alaska for what I'm thinking will be a while, salmons are starting to school up the rivers. Readying themselves for what salmon do best they take off for multiplications, smelling their way toward an inevitable death. Little do they know what awaits them on the way. If it wasn't enough that these swimmers had to swim against the flow and switch from salt to freshwater, they have another predator to fend off. And it's not only the bear. Once they reach the mouth of the river, the worlds most dangerous predator awaits with a stick. As the salmon season starts, people everywhere sharpen their hooks, string out their rods and prepare for little more than Last Frontier elbowroom in an event coined Combat Fishing.

Just Crazy

Crazy is such a good word. The US loves crazy. There is a whole industry of doctors out there who rely heavily on Americans acting out of the ordinary and needing to talk about it. Even the shrinks go to see shrinks and talk about the crazy stuff they hear from the crazies. Crazy is cool. So when you go to the middle of nowhere, to an island sans trees which was never intended as a place to live, and meet some crazy locals full of spirit and spirits, crazy hits another high. And all the while you watch the craziness unfold, you come to the realization that these people aren't crazy at all, but I am for thinking so. They have come to terms with their craziness, and are completely at ease in their findings. As Captain Ahab says: "They think me mad--Starbuck does; but I'm demoniac, I am madness maddened! That wild madness that's only calm to comprehend itself!"

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sea Trippin'

One of the most amazing things about this country is their road system. It just works, it's a fine tuned machine. Americans love their cars so much there are actually on average more cars than there are people to drive them. Each U.S. household holds 1.9 cars and 1.8 drivers. Every day people set out on roadtrips, ready to spend some quality time with their vehicles, seeing the land buzz by in a fleeting and speedy way as they howl to their favorite pop songs. It's the freedom of the land of freedom. But there are other ways to see land. By boat, for example. Less people do it, there is no hassle with traffic in your lane, and the road is always not taken. So, in these times of costly fossil energy and much disdain with general gas consumption, I urge you Americans, set sail and find a different freedom. It's the ultimate roadtrip.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Breaking Bearings (again)

Nome. Again. Only this time there's no snow. At all. Completely gone. In the stores hang posters wishing welcome to watchers of birds. Apparently one of Nomes biggest pulls in the summer is birds. And gold. The miners are in full fledge dredging the sand through washtubs resembling half-sunken ships. Apparently there is money in this gold business, although you wouldn't imagine by looking at them. Face and hands are so embedded with dirt they look like they just came out of a cave. They probably did. Come out of a cave. Like the bears. Come to think of it they actually kind of look like bears. Their stories are great and they are always busy with something. I am also going on a boat. In the Bering Sea, an ocean I'm completely facinated with, but also a little scared of. Which is the best reason to go I think. I'll be back in three weeks with some pictures and some more stories, wet stories.