I left the Columbus airport at 7:30 a.m today. The plane
landed in Detroit, Michigan a little over a half hour
later. All went well until I got to the gate to meet
the plane that was to take me to Seattle, Washington.
I learned, upon reporting to the gate, that my flight
to Seattle was delayed because of some
unspecified mechanical problems. Finally, another
airplane was substituted. We ended up leaving Detroit
more than three and a half hours late. This assured that
I would miss my Alaska Airlines connection in Seattle and
that I would not make it all the way to Skagway today.
I arrived in Seattle at about 2:45 Seattle time and went
to the Alaska Airlines gate. My plane to Juneau, the
capital of Alaska as you know, stopped in the Southeast
towns of Ketchikan and Sitka. Ketchikan's economy, for
many years, was based on timber. There was a large pulp
mill there which is no longer operating. Today, there
is some commercial fishing and some boat building and
and repair, I am told. Sitka was the capital of Alaska
when the Russians controlled Alaska. Russia sold Alaska
to the United States in
A. 1866
B. 1867
C. 1868
D. 1869
for HOW MANY DOLLARS?
I arrived in Juneau, at about 7:00 p.m. I had missed
my plane to Skagway, and since it was dark, no more planes
were leaving for Skagway. I would have to wait until
Friday to fly to Skagway. So, I got a room at a hotel
near the airport and went to sleep before 9:00 p.m.
Keep in mind, however, that 9:00 p.m. in Juneau is 1:00 a.m.
in Delaware where my journey had started.
Needless to say I felt a bit frustrated about having
not made it all the way to Skagway as planned. Then, I
remembered the hardships faced by the stampeders of 1898
who were trying to get to the Klondike gold fields.
They spent weeks on a boat to Skagway or Dyea, then many
more weeks climbing the Coastal Range (the mountains
that lay east of Skagway), before they had to build a
boat for the float down the treacherous Yukon River.
Remembering their experience helped me to put mine in
perspective.
Unfortunately, I am unable to post a picture for you
today. The digital camera seems to be working fine, but
the pictures which are obviously on the camera cannot be
read by any of the computers I have access to here at
Skagway School. I'll keep trying to solve that problem
and hope to get pictures posted soon.
More to come...
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