Three Weeks in Skagway

We have been here three weeks and three days so some of the newness has worn off and we have some routines. We have modified and rearranged the space so that living is more convenient. We have library cards, cable TV, and DSL in the trailer. Up to 6 trains a day go by both directions (that's 12) less that 50 yards away and we don't even notice them all. We know our way around town. We no longer rebound at prices, since there is only one of everything, you pay the price or do without. There are fewer surprises at work, but the customers keep it interesting for both of us. It feels like we go to bed early because it is dusk at 11:00 (we haven't stayed up late enough to see dark). Morning comes early because no matter what time you open your eyes it is already light.
We have been told that this great weather (sunshine and 60) is a never-before-seen phenomenon. I heard on the radio that nobody can remember this many dry weeks in a row.
TWTWS con't.....the Skagway Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) is holding a fund raiser today. A carwash and BBQ. They closed off a block of 5th Ave. between Main and State St., put hose trucks on both ends of 5th and funneled cars in from Main. The trucks set their hoses to spray over the whole street so the cars get wet down as they enter, then volunteers hand soap the car before it passes the second spraying truck and emerges onto State sparking clean. This operation did not disrupt traffic since no one really has to use 5th instead of 4th or 6th and the tourists seldom wander off of Broadway.

I wrote all that this morning. Then Peggie got off work early so we decided to go for a drive. Sounds crazy since there is only one road which I drive 6 days a week already. But that means I get to see all the changes and wildlife and Peggie doesn't. So we drove the 65 miles to Carcross and she was just as amazed at the scenery as all my passengers are. Plus the changes in snow cover since we arrived is amazing. The only wildlife we saw was a porcupine and the resident dall sheep and mountain goats on Montana Mountain. On the way back Peggie commented that the battery on the camera was about to go, so I suggested we save it in case we see a bear. And we did. And it was on the edge of a large pull-out instead of on a narrow blind curve. We stopped about 100 ft away and took pictures (3) until the battery konked out. We continued to watch it grazing on the grasses as I moved slowly closer. I had to stop at the verge but it continued to graze closer. Finally, it passed within 6 ft of the front bumper, all the while showing no interest in us. We could see its teeth and the pink skin inside its ears! After about 15 minutes, during which no other vehicles went by, it went down hill and we left. Yes, we stayed safely in the truck the entire time. Scroll down for the best of the three photos.

Look at what I won!!

Last Friday was Spring Stroll. It's a time when the seasonal employees pick up a card to be stamped, coupons and advertisements and race through town to visit every participating store in the three-hour time period. Maria asked me if I wanted to join her and since I had the day off and hadn't visited any of the stores since I've been here I said yes. Maria is a full-time resident who has worked at the quilt shop for four years. She has a 6-month old baby and she's a stay-at-home mom for now. We began our tour shortly after 3:00 p.m. but found that we were stopping so often to visit with people that we were going to run out of time to get to all the stores and fill up our card with stamps--necessary to be entered into the Grand Prize drawing of $100 from the Chamber of Commerce. That's when we began racing from store to store--cut the chatter! Most of the stores had drawings for gift items and I won this bag filled with these goodies valued at $100 from the White Pass Railroad Gift Shop. Very cool! And I found out that there are more shops than just the quilt shop and grocery store--who knew?

Today I also learned about a four-ship day and an RV Tour and what happens to business. It GROWS! At lunchtime I found a picnic table near the Masonic Temple and the streets were crowded with people. The weather was unbelievably wonderful and my 30 minutes went by way too quickly. On my walk home I looked at Pullen Creek that weaves in and out and thought it might be nice to soak my sore feet in it. So...that's what I did...for about four minutes...and my feet were then numb. Pure bliss!

And here is my internet setup in the RV. Guess where I spend my time...besides work, and the laundromat and the creek (now that I know how effective that is).

Join me as I go to work...

It's time to get up bright and early...well, okay it seems as if it is always bright up here. Sunset last night was at 10:41 p.m. and sunrise probably followed two or three hours later. As I look out my dinette window, I can see the thermometer Bill added to the tree. It's a bit fuzzy here but maybe that's because it's BRIGHT AND EARLY and I'm a bit fuzzy. I think 40 degrees is perfect for a walk to work. I'm three-quarters of a mile from work and I live at the end of Broadway. Sounds sophisticated, doesn't it?

This is Broadway! I walk a few blocks through residential and reach the business district. You can see that a cruise ship has docked overnight. We're going to see quite a few of those in the coming days. I've begun checking the schedule to see if it's a three-ship, four-ship, or five-ship day. We'll have our first five-ship days this week so the season is definitely upon us!

Here is a picture of Skagway taken from an overlook point about a week ago. The deciduous trees have little leaves on them but have filled out quite well in the past few days.

I work on 3rd avenue and the quilt shop is a great one. People are amazed at the quantity of fabrics and patterns stocked. There are great patterns by Alaskan artists and many fabrics relating to the north. The shop has quilts hanging throughout and kits are put together so people can easily get what they need/want/MUST HAVE. We also carry something like 3,000 bolts of fabrics (it just feels like 30,000 when we're unpacking and lugging them in/out of storage and on to the shelves). We also carry quite a few gift items and handmade wooden sewing notions. Janie (my main coworker) and I absolutely love meeting all the people from so many different countries.

Quite a few non-quilters come in just to see the variety of quilts we have in the shop. Many of the Australians have told us that fabric is about $30/meter in their country. You know, that makes it expensive to have a bit of a stash. My quilting buddies will understand when I say it's easy to "have about $200 worth of fabric". Ya think? Some of the less glamorous parts of our jobs include being on our feet for 9-10 hours with a 30-minute sit-down for lunch (and I thought I was on my feet a lot as a teacher--NOT) and climbing up the ladder to re-stock the store. We have very tall ceilings and a very small storage area in the store.

It's behind the curtain in the picture. We have a two-step stool, a ladder, and a ginormous ladder that has a bajillion steps on it. It takes two of us to set it up and a lot of wheeling and dealing to see who has to climb it. Actually, I'm the designated climber. I set boxes up below and toss the inventory down. I guess some of those basketball players see the world from that height, huh? No...we're way higher!!!!!!

After work I walk home to see what Bill's been up to. Here is our fancy shoe rack and TV stand in the living room backed up to the kitchen.

Here's another picture of the kitchen and dining room. I hung a shoe bag next to the refrigerator for my spices and we put up a shelving unit for "stuff". There now you've seen most of our house!


Last week we decided to head out one evening for a drive. See how warm it was? Actually, in the 50's is quite comfortable when the sun is shining and the wind is calm. On that drive we saw harbor seals, eagles and a wolf. Bill has seen two bears or one bear twice out on his tours.

We are having a GREAT time. I have internet hooked up to the RV (YES!) and TV for "American Idol" (yes, I'm a junkie--go Adam!) and "So You Think You Can Dance.”

Give us a call when you want to visit!

Work and stuff

Skagway is a town of monopolies when it comes to services to locals. There is 1 bank,1 gas station, 1 grocery store, 1 hardware/lumber store, 1 propane service, and 1 electronics store. There are also the missing stores. There is no drug store, no dept store, no appliance store, no auto parts/tire/repair store, and no theater. There are just a few brand names: Wells Fargo, True Value, Radio Shack, and (drum roll) Starbucks.
I have a favorite bakery (of 3) which also makes good sandwiches. She has a sign:
If you want fast food, go to McDonald's--110 miles
If you want good food, stay here,
If you want good fast food, good luck.
There is no fast food here, and no fast service. If you are in a big hurry, don't eat now. But if you want generous portions of food fixed fresh when you order it, served by a friendly face who will remember your name, this is the place. But watch out, some restaurants allow smoking. The restaurants that stay open year 'round are frequented by locals, the seasonal ones serve the seasonal workers, and the gimmicky ones get the tourists.

I mentioned monopolies up top. There are plenty of tourist-oriented multiples:
food or snacks-a dozen; Alaska curios-a dozen; tours-a dozen; tourist clothing-half a dozen; museums-3; jewelry-347(approximately,I think more people have tried to count the more than 8000 pieces of driftwood on the AB building, than have tried to count the jewelry stores).

I work for Southeast Tours, one of the companies that provide a narrated drive around the city and/or into the interior. Our longest goes 65 miles into Yukon for horsebacking, ATVing, dog carting(not enough snow for sleds)or gold panning. There are maybe 3 or 4 gold panning places in town. Southeast has me and one other full time guide, and the owner who works the office and drives when we need it. That way we can handle nearly one hundred people a day. Just for comparison, I have taken tours with just two passengers. Some companies have the guides learn a prepared spiel, but we get to personalize. That is one of the reasons I chose this company. Our customers come from all over the world. I have had Australians, Brits, Mexicans, Columbians, Italians, and Canadians, as well as Americans. The oldest was in her eighties, the youngest 9 months. They are retirees, honeymooners, and people on holiday.

Those of you who said I would be good at this job were right. I am not being vain here. My customers tell me how much they enjoy the tour and tip accordingly. I am absolutely having a ball. If this is a job, what have I been doing all my life?

One of the park rangers (most of Skagway is a National Historic Park)is a seasonal from Tucson. Whenever we see each other one of us says "It sure isn't 100 degrees." Then we both laugh and go on about our business.
Peggie will have to tell you about her job.

Oh, another installment of TWTWS....we have internet hardwired into the trailer now. I went to AP&T to arrange for someone to come on Peggie's day off. Her day off was Friday, I went in on Monday. One of the two women working in the office was raised in Tucson. We got to talking and I told the story of the water pump gasket from our '95 trip. They both started trying to guess who the old man was.(If you don't know the story, who are you, and why are you reading this blog?) On Thursday I stopped at home with a loaf of still hot sourdough and found the modem and wiring on the steps with a note that we were hooked up. But the cord wasn't long enough so Peggie went to AP&T Friday to get a longer one. They had become so curious about the old man that they had asked around and determined that it was Vern Grishim who had the gasket. He is still alive in "one of the Dakotas." Where else but in Skagway does the cable guy come a day early, do the work, and trust the whole community not to steal the modem (I know, what could someone do with it?)and the office staff gets involved in a 14 year old anecdote?

It's Great To Be a Mom!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers in my life.

The Way Things Work in Skagway...TWTWS

So, Peggie said to tune in and read what I have to say about Sunday, May 3. It's now a week later but...TWTWS...

May 3, 2009--Great weather ended today at about 3 o’clock. It was windy when we got up so we knew change was coming. It is now 7 and clouds are low and temperature is low and it is still windy. Peggie was off today and got lots of arranging around the RV done today. She went with me in Don’s (my brother) truck to the airport to get my brake pads (more later) and to the lumber yard/hardware store because the AP&T (Alaska Power & Telephone) office behind the lumberyard is a wi-fi hotspot. She went online while I got some necessities. She would call going online a necessity.

I was also off yesterday so before I took my brakes apart (reference baaaad sound in previous entry) and I got some hard sewer pipe. In our RV spot, the sewer is on the wrong side. I decided that hard pipe would make it easier to keep a downhill flow over such a long distance. Back to that later. TWTWS – I went with Don last Thursday to get him his uniform pants at Klothes Rush (get the Klondike gold rush reference?? Cute, huh?) They did not have his pants there so a clerk took him to another store…many merchants here have more than one business…I stayed looking for Levis (at $50 I decided I didn’t need them). I stepped outside and here comes Don walking down the street with his new pants, to pay for them back at the original store. Only honesty kept him from taking them home.

TWTWS continued…The hardware store has everything but food. So, wanting sewer pipe, I go there. I am told that it is at the lumber yard. I drive the block (I am going to have to load the truck) to the lumber yard. I walk in the front door and there is a rack of sewer pipe right in front of me. Before I went to town (10 blocks from “home”) I carefully calculated my needs. That is to say, I looked at the sewer connection on the trailer, decided it was eight feet from the back, another eight feet under the trailer and an additional eight feet to the sewer head. Like lumber, pipe is in 8 foot sections, right? So I need 3 plus an elbow, a coupling and a 45 degree elbow at the ground connection. The lone clerk finishes with the single other customer and I tell him I need sewer pipe. “Those are in 20 foot lengths. What do you need?” I’m thinking I need an 8 foot and a 16 foot. He pulls the first piece, and lo, it is just over 6 feet long. Hmmm…if I get a 20 foot cut in half, I will have a 10 foot and a 16 foot—close enough, “go for it”. So, he cuts a 20 foot in two, we load it into the truck and I say, “I need some fittings.” “Those are at the hardware store.” He hands me an invoice with no amount, just “26’ ABS” on it. “You pay for this there too.” Then he points up the alley and says I can just go in the back door there. The fittings I need are just inside the back door. I get what I want, unseen by any people, because this is an attached back room to the store. But again, honesty compels me to take my invoice and my fittings and pay for them. The trust these people put in a stranger is amazing. The other amazing thing is that the 26 ½ feet of pipe is perfect. Ten feet to the back and 16 ½ feet over, just as I figured. (Don’t go back and re-read what I said.) Okay, sewer successfully built, I can get on to the brakes. Plan A was: I had to go to Whitehorse with Dave (boss) and Barry (other driver) to get the buses. Dave would give me intro to Service Manager at Whitehorse Motors and I would schedule my truck in for repairs on Tuesday, my day off. WRONG. They need at least a week. I don’t know my next day off so I can’t schedule it. Plan B: I disconnect the offending noisy piece and continue driving until I can get it in. So, I remove the tire and look at the wheel. I see no nuts, bolts, screws, clips or other removable part. But it makes a baaaad sound when I spin it. Plan C: Don comes over, “Those are easy to replace.” You don’t say. All I need is an allen wrench to remove bolts that face in so I didn’t see what they are. Don has the correct size. Good because I don’t. Okay, that’s done. “The pads should just pop off.” You don’t say. They just pop off with right size screwdriver which Don has. Good because I don’t. Aha! The pads are bare metal, obviously the source of aforementioned baaaad sound. Don takes me to THE gas station where we got the water pump 14 years ago. “No, we don’t do that anymore. You’ll have to call Haines.” Haines? Haines is a town, who do I call in Haines? “I think Big Foot is the place.” I am a temporary worker. No phone book for Skagway, certainly not Haines. She has phone book for SE Alaska. Who knew?? I get number for Big Foot. Yes, they have the part in stock (miracle), $40 (reasonable), ship to Skagway? TWTWS continued…”I’m new here so I’ll have to check on that.” Later…yes, there is a flight from Haines to Skagway at 5:45, $11 shipping. They can accept my credit card on the phone; all is good. Except, if they don’t get any passengers, they won’t fly until tomorrow.

Now it’s tomorrow. The phone rings; my part is at the airport. This is where I started. Got the brakes on while sun was still out. More back story…Yesterday I also built a front porch from pallets and plywood that were lying around. Put up the awning. Washed the windows. Got bike ready to ride. Today I replaced brakes—needed a large C-clamp to spread the pad holders. Don had right one. Good, because I didn’t. It went very smoothly because Don supervised and had the tools. Barry came by and asked for assistance in getting his trailer re-leveled. Maybe later I will talk about some of the trailers here. So we did that. Later he came by again. With the trailer in the new position, the door latch no longer aligned so we cut and drilled that. He had a good sense of what to do but has no tools because he flies in and has no car. The trailer stays here. Anyway, I got the slide-out covered on ours and was cleaning up when a fellow comes over and, quite frankly, states that his ride has canceled on him and he needs someone with a truck to take him and his gear to the airport. He has a large tool box and other gear in addition to clothes. He actually offered me money, but wasn’t surprised at my refusal, agreeing that helping each other is the normal…TWTWS continued. Don and I then cleaned up some cut wood on the area by the trailer by taking it down to the tent section for them to use. The three of us got together to finish up leftovers for dinner and Don brought turnovers from the bakery. Mmmmm, good!

White Pass Summit to Skagway

I've been unable to access wi-fi at the RV park so updating the blog has been a bit of hit and miss. Tonight I'm at the library where it is warm!

At the summit of White Pass, eight miles from US Customs as we headed into Alaska, there is an 11% grade that runs almost all the way into Skagway, roughly 11 miles. It was breathtaking. The scenery was gorgeous and we were experiencing a horrible grinding noise from the front passenger wheel. Both things were breathtaking for me!
Bill assured me that we still had seven wheels with good brakes and there were truck escape ramps (aka runaway truck ramps) if necessary so not to worry! I won’t say I was TOTALLY calm but it was one of the most gorgeous sites I’ve ever seen and I didn’t want to wreck it (no pun intended) with worry.

I started work the day after we arrived and my main co-worker is a retired PE teacher, Janie, from Pennsylvania. We hit it off immediately and have enjoyed many laughs as we learn our new jobs. The first few days were backbreaking hours of moving boxes of stock, rearranging storage, cleaning and setting up displays. Our backs and feet have rebelled a bit. She lives a few RV’s away from me so we’ve been walking to work together and hobbling home at the end of the day thinking about the ice cold beer awaiting us at “home”. As teachers it was margaritas; as day laborers it’s BEER!

All of my near and dear friends and family know that working on cars/trucks is not exactly Bill’s forte. When Janie and I were walking home on Saturday, I mentioned that I hoped Bill had figured out the problem with the wheel because I needed to do laundry the next day and needed the truck. Her response, “I thought you said your husband wasn’t very handy with stuff like that.”

Tune in tomorrow to find out what Bill has to say about that!