Finally Set up!

Well, I'm here! Finally, I'm set up in beautiful skagway, AK, home to tales of gold rush adventure and ruin. Amy and I flew into Juneau on a regular sized plane, but then jumped in a small Wings of Alaska plane that held about 10 people. It was a fantastic experience. To get into Skagway, the pilot has to fly up the canyon a bit, then make a super sharp 180 to get back to the run way. Craaazy.

The flight was beautiful. Even coming into Juneau, the little that I was able to see from my window got me excited and made me think that maybe Alaska is all that the movies make it out to be. I was greeted in Juneau with small planes, woods, a small airport, and a feeling that we were somehow surviving the wild. In reality, I would imagine we weren't as isolated as I felt (although, Juneau has no roads leading out of it!).

When we got into Skagway, my feeling of isolation increased a little, as we realized that we weren't able to get our stuff off the barge(that we had sent from seattle two friday's prior) until "later". Not only that, but when a manager picked us up at the airport, he informed us that we'd be driving in about a half hour. Craaaazy! We did it, and did well. The next day, I had my first passengers.

I've got my uniform and all that. It's quite nice looking actually. A nice shell, fleece, and shirts. I don't mind wearing it. It isn't quite a Fred Meyer brown polo, but it'll do.

On Wednesday afternoon, the barge called to let me know that our stuff had come in off the barge. It took a while because the produce that comes in takes top priority in getting off the boat and to the store. I can live with that. I then realized that although our stuff at the barge was ready, it was also down on the docks, about two miles from our house. With a car, it would be no problem to make a trip or two. On foot, it would be a killer trek of one heavy box at a time. With 20 or so boxes, it could make for a pretty nasty 40 hour walk. Luckily, a good friend had borrowed someone's truck and was able to pick all the stuff up and bring it to his house, which is probably only .25-.5 miles from our house. Our solution to getting the stuff to our house was to empty our backpacks at home, and ride our bikes (which we have now, thank goodness!) back and forth until we got it all. We did a few trips of that, then a friend was able to borrow the truck again.

I was originally really excited to live at the Shop house, where all the busses are kept, because having my bus 100 yards away from me at all times makes for a nice early morning commute. The last four days though, my plans have been foiled, as I've continuously been dispatched to busses in the "in-town" lot, about 1.25 miles away. Now that I've got my bike though, its not too bad, and actually a pretty good way to wake up in the morning, as long as I don't swerve into the road and get hit by a different bus. Craaazy!