Day 14

We lost our wifi connection for some reason, so we can't upload pictures or post things from the house. We're going in to Soldotna today to get packing boxes for the fish so we can ship them home tomorrow. It sounds like we can get them for free at Safeway, along with the gel packs we need to ship with them. They get them in incoming shipments and just give them away. We have to go to the laundromat so Jeff can wash his backpack. He's been carrying dead fish around in it all week, and he probably shouldn't take it on the plane smelling like it does. They've got free wifi at the Wash and Dry, so that's probably where we'll go. Then we can upload photos, respond to e-mail, etc.

We spent all day Friday fishing. We fished lots of places and didn't catch a single fish! We are going to ship fish back to Sarah's house via air cargo on Sunday and Jeff's going to take a whole box home with him on the plane on Sunday. We're still hoping to catch some fresh fish today (Saturday) so that we've got some to eat once Patte gets here.

Funny thing happened the other night. Jeff went out to use the privy about 11:30 at night. It was dark and so he didn't see the black tub of sand and water sitting on the group. He stepped in it. Sand and water went flying, mostly on to him. Luckily it was sand that had already been processed, so we didn't lose any gold or anything.

There are several moose around the house now. There's a bull (Bullwinkle) and we think two cows and three calves. A moose ran out in the road in front of us last night too. We saw him first though, so we didn't hit him.

Patte arrives tomorrow, but she's going to spend the afternoon with Jana since Jeff doesn't have to be to the airport until much later. Once I drop him off at the airport, I'll get Patte and we'll head back out to Kasilof. We'll probably visit Homer on Monday so she can see it, then start the long trek home on Tuesday. We'll be taking it slow, so it will be at least a week before we hit the Lower 48.