The Fourth of July

We had always heard that the Fourth was celebrated in a big way in rural Alaska. This description had us leave Petersburg only to return a week later, so as to not miss the fun. It’s a big deal to ‘backtrack’. In fact, I get teased about my tendency to never go back and sometimes even just pulling over is hard when the destination is still ahead. I do ask for directions if it is convenient, well maybe. (This is a topic for another day, read about the rowboats below for an example).

What impresses me about these travels is really a continuation of the Divine timing or serendipity blog. These magic moments continue to follow us. The backstory is that I was becoming increasingly concerned about the alternator on the boat. It has been a trusty little thing that does way more than what it was designed to do. Every morning after the boat has been at anchor all night sucking power from the batteries, this small, almost car sized alternator would attempt to fill ten big batteries. I always check the temperature of things in the engine room and the alternator was doomed to fail at such high heat. I ordered a beefy replacement about a week earlier that was flown into Petersburg. The parts place did a great job putting together everything I needed. The only snafu was that the pulley was wrong and needed to be changed. The helpful Napa guy in Petersburg did this for me free of charge. All of this could be chalked up to ‘life on the boat’, but the fun part was standing in line in the auto parts place. How is this fun, you ask? It was a Divine appointment with a guy who had a bad alternator in his hand. I told him to come see me… I now had a spare alternator that was the exact match for his. After some great conversation about his family and their summer, he gave us halibut and his favorite lure. (Something about ‘teach a man to fish’ and he too will have fish…) He was delighted to have his problem solved too. I had not been good with the fishing thing thus far, so trading spare parts for fish was a gift to us – a joyful thing.

All of this occurred leading up to the Fourth of July. With the boat repairs complete, we were able to fit into the crowded docks and enjoy what really is a two-day series of many events. The adults were acting like kids with a herring toss contest, (No fish were harmed in the process, they were already dead). I asked where the hand sanitizer was and got a funny look and a question in response,“you’re not from here, are you?”

A blindfolded rowboat race was my favorite since this involved a good deal more than rowing skill. The rower is blindfolded, usually the man. The woman gives the directions since she can see and is generally good at this. On the other hand, men aren’t so good at receiving directions. I think you are beginning to get the picture. This is hilarious since many of the directions consist of ‘your left, my right – or is it port and starboard’? In the heat of the race much of the communication is with frantic gestures. All of which goes unseen by the blindfolded rower.

The 3^rd of July had the whole community out on the main street and the day culminated with fireworks. In Alaska the night sky is too light until 11:00 pm. Kids were everywhere. Summer is in session. As a kid, I never got to ride my bike around town at mid-night. All that remained for the actual 4^th was the big parade. It’s a small town, so they go around the block twice.

God bless America.  Home of the brave and the land of the free.  It’s true here in Alaska.

-mike