New Friends Across Alaska

-Nathan the Flagger—his neighbor was from Nebraska and the racquetball opponent of his dad.  The neighbor beat his dad at one point and wrote “Go Big Red!” in his dad’s grass with the mower.

-Archie the bus driver-- The shuttle up to the Mendenhall Glacier was driven by Archie, a local Tlingit man.  “Git ‘er done” was how he starts his drive.  He pointed out the historical sites in town on the way, the Walmart that no longer is in town, the Fred Meyer, and the McDonald’s drive thru.  He was a charismatic jovial sort from the town of Hoonah.  He drives a school bus for his usual job.  He also plans to go back to Hoonah to try out the new zip line in town that is a 65 mph shot out of the forest.

-Swiss/Italian (maybe Czech?) Tour Guide—the only guy on the Denali bus who knew how to get the windows to stay up after the passenger next to the window declared defeat against a window that was constantly jostled open by the bumpy road.

-Daniel and Bryce—fishing boat captain (father) and deckhand (son) of the OPTIMIST.  Really great people, super professional.  Lauren, was terrible at taking over driving of the boat and also was unable to locate neutral.  

-The Cox family, a cool grandma, grandpa, daughter and grandson who were the other half of our fishing boat squad.  Fortunately, Connor, the 18 yr old grandson, (headed to play football and baseball at Westminster College in Pennsylvania. Go Titans!)  loved to eat so the family supplied us with unlimited snacks!

-Homer cab Driver “Sam”—lived there all his life but doesn’t know the side roads or how to make change from a $50.  Also a self-confessed fan of Lord of the Rings.

-Sewage guy—helpful late 30s good looking man traveling with his parents in a similarly rented Minnie Winnie that provided latex gloves and instructions on how to “dump our tanks” (Made Margerie very happy)

-Plaid boxers man- A fellow 30s passenger traveling with his mom on our Glacier Bay boat tour who came running out of the bathroom while in mid pants pull up/zip asking us if he “missed anything (new wildlife) or were still watching mountain goats.”  This occurred twice on this voyage.

-Elvis and Cleopatra (not actual names) from Florida, Salty Dawg bar friends who were fearful of being in our blog.  They drank Foster’s, which is probably the real reason they didn’t want to be in our blog.

-Sean, a local in Talkeetna—49ers fan whose “day was ruined” by Lauren, another Seahawks fan.

-Josh (DOC rafting guide) AKA James Smith, Henry Ford, George Washington, a comical, long haired, blond, good looking man from Arkansas.  His pre-raft snack was powdered mini donuts.