Note: This was written last night.
Avast Mates
With a brandy Manhattan in hand, I’ll start another inebriational tour of Glacier….and bonus, it’s Talk Like a Pirate Day!
Arrg, it that a reef?
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It felt like circumstances were throwing up road blocks to leaving town. It got to the point where all I could do was laugh, so I’ll start reporting a week from the departure date just to set the stage.
Freakouts were going on at work (about my work), so I went home, which caused more even more freakout. Basically, I was being asked to repeat some work and it was going to be really difficult to get it done before I left town. The reason I headed home, was because it was a major day on the construction project. As I walked up the alley, the framers yelled at me, “Grab the center,” which meant grab the center of a truss. The 5th framer didn’t show, and I walked up just in time to help hoist the final three trusses. If you didn’t catch it, I’m trying to work normal hours, general contract a two story garage, and carry on normal life. The backyard:
I headed back to work and the freakouts died down to a point where my commitments to three solid days of work had been cancelled due to a phone conversation with my vacationing supervisor. So it was off to the local big-box home improvement store to pick up four 2x6x14s and four 2x6x10s, a box of Lucky Charms (magically delicious), Sun Chips, you know, the staples.
A New Swabhand
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Our oldest produced a second child, and I asked Julie, “What’s my time commitment here.” “Well, you better show up at the hospital.”
Better set sail for port
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My brother of TN flew into town for my parent’s 60th wedding anniversary. Hmmm, I better show up for that one. (90 min drive-one way) A nice gathering, but I also need to pack a backpack.
Skipper, barnacles are dragging on the port side
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Of course the car wasn’t ready for the trip either. The front caliper was dragging and old Betsy was due for an oil change. Ralph J set this dude up, Thanks Ralph (he’s on this group).
Walk the plank
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Monday I got a call that I’m testifying in court on Thr, which is a day scheduled for our annual training at work. All I could do was laugh. My parole officer said that either I testify, or it’s back to the big house. (Just kidding.) Like someone with ADHD OD’ing on adderall, my testimony was calm and coherent since it felt like a break in my schedule.
Rum for the Mates?
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From last year’s precedent, I better state what booze was in the hull.
Better to sail with torn sails than to not sail at all
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Packing was a hurried affair. I stood in front of the shelving unit (with camping gear), and threw the stuff on a table. Not much time for double-checks, not much thought, not much for a list, just get ‘er done.
Aug 23rd--Setting Sail
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The alarm went off at 4:30 am, I filled with fuel and left town at 5 am. After a couple hours of driving, I thought about what I may have forgotten. Hmmmm, poles! Dammit. I got on the phone to Julie (oh, I’m going solo this trip since Julie has to work). She was the “smart” feature of my phone. I got directions and stock quantities of hiking poles at Gander Mt in Fargo. I had to wait 10 min for them to open, but I got a set of cheap ($40) Kelty poles since the Leki poles seemed to have poor quality control. The cashier asked, “Do you want to extend the warranty on the poles for $2.50 a pole?” “No, that’s ok.”
Back on the road I realized that I also forgot a charger for my computer. Dammit…well, I do have a
car charger for the computer, but this left a nagging feeling that I forgot something important. I arrived in Harve, got a room, picked up some groceries and a DQ, and got to bed about 10 pm.
Aug 24th—Permit Day
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The alarm went off at 3:30 am, and I had some breakfast in the parking and left by 4 am. I picked up coffee in Shelby, filled in Browning, and it was still dark. I made it to the St. Mary ranger station at 6:45 am, and got let in the door about 7 am. My plan was to get a walk up permit for Upper Kintla, Boulder Pass, Hole in the Wall, and then exit at Bowman Lake. I brought a mt bike to facilitate the 22 mile transfer between Bowman and Kintla, but I had no back up plan in case I didn’t get the permit. Basically my real goal was a break from work,
and if I didn’t get the permit, I’d drive to Many Glacier and see what happened.
Ok, out of time for today. Did I get the permit? Stay tuned for the next episode of “Better to sail with torn sails than to not sail at all.”
Jay