Pacific NW

Expeditions

Last night we celebrated, walked the town, and took hot showers. And today we gave “Silent Partner” a bath. We gutted the boat and gave her a complete cleaning, stem to stern. Christoph and Lee have been such a great help on this journey, and today they went above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks again guys! “Silent Partner” sits shining in the harbor, surrounded by work boats and bald eagles. We have a very interesting next-door neighbor, who is a drunk and has, apparently, two glass eyes, which he showed to Christoph. We can’t quite figure out how he can see, but some questions are better left unanswered! Around 1400 hrs our new friend Johanna came down to the freshly-cleaned Silent Partner, and drove us to the Mendenhall Glacier. It was strange zipping around in an automobile after a month at sea. If I had been driving I probably would have had that car going no faster than 10 knots! At least for the first few minutes. At any rate, we rocketed off to the Glacier, an immense field of blue ice flowing from the expansive Juneau Ice Field. Johanna proved to be a wealth of information on all things pertaining to the plants and animals in the area. We hiked several trails in the vicinity of the glacier, which all held their own interest. One area was full of beaver dams and felled trees that had been gnawed down. We looked for a semi-domesticated wolf that frequently roams one of the trails, but he never approached us. Later in the evening Johanna drove Lee and Christoph up to the Hostel in town, and then we went out to the airport to pick up my next crewmember: my Dad! I was extremely proud to show him all of the improvements I have made for “Silent Partner” and we stayed up late, physically exhausted but too excited to sleep.