June 17 - Fairbanks Break


Note to all:  This e-mail is a bit of a mess. The first part I thought I lost so the second part is what I rewrote.  I have gone back and edited both so that they fit together a bit better. 
 
Look at me, I am back to the old 1/2 hr library time limit.  Well, how fast can I type.  No worries really.  Not a whole lot has happened since my last e-mail but it is rare to get access to computers so I thought I would just stop and say hi.  Oops, just checked back to my last real e-mail and I guess it has been awhile. 
 
Fishing messes with your time.  It all runs together.  You get up it's broad daylight, you go to bed, it's broad daylight and then you do the same repetative things all day long.  My brother, Casey's birthday came and went, I happened to call him on that day but I didn't even realize it was The Date.  Sheesh.  Fourth?  Today?  Oh yeah, the first happened a couple days ago so I guess the fourth would have to be coming. 
 
Anyways, events.  The fishing went downhill, we were closed down for cost recovery for a few days.  Someone else gets a turn at fishing.  We have to let them catch them and then we can go back at it.  Whatever.  I think I have become too gabby for time limits.  Basically, fishing has been wittled away with set screw-ups, piddly amounts of fish, waiting, and wandering the dock. 
 
Everything is just sort of day by day.  Sometimes we fished till 3:00 and sometimes till 10:00 pm.  We've had at least one 1,000 pound day but yesterday we had barely 300.  There's talk and speculation from Skippers and crew.  Dave thinks we're doing it all wrong and was a constant reminder about the pointlessness of it all but I sort of snapped at him oneday and I think his mood has improved. 
 
There's been no more battles on the open sea.  A Mexican sailing ship did come into the harbor for a visit, it was neat to see its lit up guidelines.  I think the highlight I am most excited about for the moment is the day that Paul saw a jumper and wanted to make a set but Dave was in the bathroom.  I have been just itching for the chance to skiff again and Paul wanted his net in the water. It was such a flat calm day and a set that we had done numerous times, before I knew it Paul was calling down from the crow's nest for me to get in the skiff. Before you knew it I was off! ME! Alone in the skiff!  It was great, I was so excited.  I've been wanting a secong chance for so long.  Paul let me do it.  I was so happy.  At least some people don't think I'm a total ditz. I made it back to the big boat without propping the net and no collisions.  I think I messed up the hook, it didn't feel right and I didn't have a watch but it made me think back to my first year of fishing and the times that I went with Paul in the skiff to learn from him " the greatest skiffman ever".  Mark sent a warning out over the radio to Robert to get to the other side of the bay, "Rachael's in the skiff!"I don't think I did my hook right and Paul didn't have anything to say.  I don't know what that means, probalby that there was no point to telling me anything.
 
Speaking of skiffing and all, I've been discussing skiffing with various skiffmen, Alex says it takes a mechanical mindset, someone who thinks fast and can "figure things out" and predict what changes are going to occur.  He refuses to believe that I could ever handle it because I "don't pay attention".  A new theory I heard was from Abby and she thinks that  it's for creative types.  Nothing is ever the same, you are constantly changing and adjusting to conditions and circumstances around you, you've got to make it work with what you've got. There is no rhyme or reason and you just have to do it.  Go with the flow.  Mathmatical types can't handle that there isn't an exact science. See, that sounds like me.  I can do that.  I don't know what was wrong with me the year I tried to learn but I distinctly remember the feeling of panic at the idea of being abandoned out in the skiff by myself and being expected to get back to the boat.  I finally feel better about learning.  Abby gives me hope.  Personally, I think that each thinking style learns and deals in their own way and would be able to work it out but you really need the right attitude, patient, relaxed, confident and don't take the yelling personally.
 
Hey, I've got another head injury to report.  Yesterday,even.  Norman threw the skiff release, similar to throwing a heavy frying pan and it hit Ryan in the back of the head, lots of blood.  I got to hear the story in the harbor but Ryan still had the blood stains.  We got pictures of him with his attacker, Norman. 
 
With time off I have gone to the Lounge with the guys, they play card/drinking games and get really funny.  I suppose the best free day would have to be when we got to go on an impromptu sail ride and hiked a mountain which I still like to gripe about.  A 4 mile hike and then SOMEBODY is all like," Hey, it's only 10 min. to the top from here!  Really, Half hour tops." Mt. Marathon is a mountain with a trail that goes straight up the side.  I mean straight up.  Jordy and Dave took a snow chute that got them to the bottom about 15 min. faster than taking the trail. Time is up and I have to go.
 
Love,
the deck wench,
Rachael
 
(Thanks for the correction Don)
 
Next entry:
Hello from Fairbanks.  That's about an 8 hr drive from Seward.  North.  I'm sitting here snacking on jelly beans.  Bad, bad.  Anyways, fishing is not over, just on pause.  We have finished with fishing in Seward, the Skippers drove their boats around the Kenai Penninsula and are now doing whatever while we wait for the Homer area to open.  Then it will be back to the fishing that I know.  Seward fishing was fun and odd and kind of tiring.  Everyday was hesitant and unsure.  You didn't know if there were fish to fish for, if we would be fishing the next day, if they would even be open.  Some days we worked a full day, sometimes half and either way you were always back in town with other stuff to beckon you. 
 
We had one hard long day, we still aren't sure about the number of sets that we put out but it was just go - go - go.  I thought it was fun.  It was a good challenge, especially trying to work along side guys but they didn't brave it so well.  All I heard was how little money we were making.  Yes, the catches are still small. 
 
  I just love boat life, it is so unusual.  I walk the docks in my pajamas, endless games of Risk, poker with chicklets.   I was waxing someone's shoulders the other day, with duck tape.  It works, you just leave it on a little while so it gets stickier.  It was hilarious.  Such vanity, such pain. This year people are trusting me more with Thai massage and I have done a lot of that in my spare time.  In fact Gladyce was complaining of a sore shoulder which I got to work on. 
 
On Saturday or Sunday the news quickly spread that our lead stacker quit.  Crap.  That would be Dusty.  It's not a huge loss.  He was great to get along with but wasn't much for dishes, still he had such a sense of humor that I never really cared that he has only done dishes about twice, he's funny.  And he was usually posative.  Very important.  I guess he was havining a bad time, at least he wasn't sharing about it.  Anyways, there wasn't much for fishing, Sherri was available to fill a position and then on Monday the Poseidon and Star Destroyer headed back to Homer.  This meant that Ryan was free to stack leads for us.  
 
Sunday was also a huge ego booster day for me.  Dave is always the tough guy and I think that he's a little miffed that I'm not impressed.  For instance I informed him that the only person that I had ever seen pitch fish faster than me was Alex ( and now I remember that Paul was too).  We were talking about this because of how I divided up the fish in the fish hold, sweeping extra on my side for me to pitch in the bucket.  After that he was determined to put me in my place, I think he thought we were pretty close in speed but it wasn't untill he sat out for an episode of pitching that he saw that I was pretty much consistant in always throwing in 2 fish at a time.  Beginners are terrible at gripping the head right and usually need 2 hands for one fish.  I've dedicated my time in the fish hold to perfecting pitching, I'm competive,  why shouldn't I be fast? I know, my pride is really getting away from me this summer but I just have to gloat.  Ashley didn't help me with any lessons of humility either when Dave threatened to throw me in the water," Oh, I don't know," she said, "I think Rachael would win that one," and "she's tough."  I wish I could write it down word for word, I wish  I had a tape recorder.  I'd be playing it over and over.  She just kept going, didn't let it go.   Sunday was a great hang-out night.  A group of us walked to Safeway and got ice cream and the crew from 2 boats shared it.  It was a great splurge.  After that I met up with the Lucky Star crew, they had Monday off so I went to the Lounge with them and we just hung out some more.  I got in to bed at 2 am, ready for my 6 am wake-up call and fishing.  I was pretty sure fishing on Monday would be a bust.
 
I was right.
 
On Monday we saw Robert's 2 fish catch, put the net in the fish hold, drove to the cannery, put the skiff on board and Paul gave me the week off.  I showered, then rode with Sherry to the fork in the road where she headed to Homer and I stuck my thumb out for Fairbanks.  I think it was about 11:00.  I wish I had looked at the time.  First was a spa repairman named Kevin that got me to the outside of Anchorage, 2 people stopped at the same time and my ride went to Wassila, then Dave, a friendly old mechanic took me to Houstin, then he offered to go get his motorcycle and drive me farther.  AWESOME!  I stood at the side of the road and hitched but no one came and soon I was on a Yamaha cruising on the Alaska Highway.  When I got off I could barely walk but we took quite a few breaks.  Dave misjudged the gas and began to run out so he dropped me off at the side of the road where about 10 cars were lined up in construction delays.  I got out my Fairbanks sign and started chatting with drivers.  Two girls straight out of highschool apolagized for not picking me up.  Here, they had seen me in Houston with my Fairbanks sign and were going to Fairbanks  but didn't want to take the risk.  Once we got introduced I was on my way.  I heald on tight and tried not to watch the road thinking wryly of the "dangers of hitch hiking"  I sure felt in danger with them a few times.  They shared the responsibility of driving and operating cell phonesr, finding and changing cds, even taking pictures, and all while I was told about the older sister who had recently been thrown from her vehicle and hit a tree with her body in a car accident that totaled her new truck.  Yikes.  But they were wonderful and sweet and it was like hanging out with the popular girls.  I suddenly felt very detached from the world.  The car was a shrine to friends and parties and prom, graduation tassles from the mirror, hair clips framing the visors.  Low slung jeans, cropped strappy tees, moussed and highlighted hair and both girls ritually checked their make-up before ever leaving the car and chatting with the numerous guys that said hello.  The really awesome thing though was there was none of the cliche music they played all the obscure stuff that I love and miss.  White Stripes, Hole, Powerman 5000, Green Day,. . . It was great.  It was also fun to share in each other's surprise to realize that the other person had not only heard of the music but owned it.
 
Here at Lofthus's it has been great, of course, what else would I say since they are on my mailing list, tee-hee.  No really, we had our two year news catch up, I inform them of every endeavor that any relative back in Minnesota has done and how people are healthwise and I find out what new groups Michelle has started or theme parties that she has had or is planning.  It's been wonderful meals, no cans involved.  I think the highlight is the rhubarb.  I decided that that has to be a Minnesota thing or a relative thing or something.  Here is about the only time that I get to have it, although Lorraine (I think it was) made some awesome bars just before I left Minnesota.  I can't go without saying how much I loved your sugar cookies either Grandma, I've been telling Gladyse about that. 
 
Anyways, it has only been a couple days but I am totally getting all girly, hair, french nails, went shopping.  It's been great.  I even get to go to a wedding before I head back to the fishing.  This is definately a refreshing break.  Hey, I was just going to let you all know, I usually have time now to write a bit, as in snail mail.  I would love to hear from any of you and I will actually be getting the mail at descent intervals, weekends.  I'll be here till August.  I sent out a batch of letters today to start things off.  Also, starting things off, I am finally getting into the hiring process for Antarctica, the first wave of paperwork and tests has been sent off.  A bunch of hooplah when I am just a plan B employee.  Doesn't matter, I don't think about that part.  Dad, when I get home I will be looking for some quick training in tractor driving and chainsaw operations.  Maybe I should try to get certified for the forklift.  Hmm. . . Maybe that would help.  The most important part is someone else has to not hack it in order for me to get my chance.  Things to think about later.  Skittles got his surprise from Trail Days, liked it alot.  GOOD!  Since Skittles gets this e-mail as well I was not able to share with you the epiphany that hit me while I was hiking, heading for Trail Days.  See, Trail Days is the Appalachian Trail reunion and even though Skittles hiked the trail last year he is off hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail so I got a mini journal that I hoped would be trail light and had people sign it all through Trail Days.  I did my best to find anyone that knew him and then strangers, new hikers, old hikers, the police, hostel owners, even a vendor or two, just to get the feel of Trail Days.  I was hoping it wouldn't make him lonesome but once I had the collection of encouragement I was ready to keep the book myself.  I was even able to put in some wallet photos.  It was a blast making it.  It's only about 10 pages filled though.  Maybe?  Anyways, I'm already thinking of Trail Days next year.  I am also thinking of a winter in Dutch Harbor, maybe next year.  I don't plan to be fishing but it would be a shame to be away from Alaska for a whole year or more. 
 
I have lapsed into rambling and I must sign off.  I am just in a great mood.  I try to sit here and momentarily think of each person that might be reading this and it's just so great to be talking to YOU.  I think I am going to go and check on my laundry.  Once Michelle comes home for lunch Gladyse and I are going to take the car to some thrift store that is closing down so it's half off EVERYTHING.  At a thrift store!! 
 
I'm off to Anchorage! And maybe Old Navy.
 
Love,
Rachael
 
Sorry this is extra long.  Didn't quite the time I wanted to compress.

July 30 - this last week

Fishing news this week:  one set.  That's it.  I did just get off the phone with Charity.  She is enjoying a Sabbath visit from her parents at the moment so I am going to call her back later.  I tried to call my parents as well but they weren't around so e-mailing is my last resort at contact with people.  Hello, people.
 
As I said before, fishing has been one set.  Last Sunday we drove the Poseidon back to Port Dick.  There were 3 guests on board.  One that did not fare the sea.  We crew members holed up in the bunks and slept the weekend off while the guests photographed the sea otters.  We saw a big pod of killer whales as well.  What fins they have.  These guests were some of the hosts of Hebrew weekend, parents and uncle of Jeremy, the former Little Star skiff driver - did I tell you that he quit?  And they are also the aunt and uncles of Ryan on the Poseidon - he and Jeremy are cousins.  It's a close knit world.  These are also old friends of Mark and Linda.  Anyways, it was great to talk to Angie, she gave me an open invititation to Texas which I would like to use maybe in September.  I am curious about this Hebrew roots stuff.  I like it. 
 
Anyways, I was in my bunk when I was awoken to go fishing at about 6:00 in the evening on that Sunday.  A tender was coming, the fish were going on board, it was full bore (boar?) into the swing of things to get the tender filled and on it's way.  It was also a cold, windy, rainy, dark night.  Definately bad timing for a visit to Port Dick but it was great fun.  I got to feel all hardcore as I tried to stay standing and stack the net.  The sun is finally setting at night and we had to have big flood lights to stack by.  I'm glad this isn't normal fishing.  We finished delivering at 2 in the morning. I had a better wake up call than the crew members that spent the weekend in Port Dick.  They were sleeping away at 10:00 in the morning, enjoying a lazy Sunday when they were boarded by the Leviathan crew that had just returned from Seward with the news to  gear up and fill 'er up.  The Leviathan was already full and had to go back to Seward when we pulled up, The North Star was at the end of a set.  The visitors were hoping to stay in Port Dick about 3 days and then fly out on a float plane but with the weather that bad they decided to get out while they could, so after an 8 hr trip from Homer they were on their way into bad weather on a 12 hr trip to Seward.  I think they were in Port Dick for maybe an hour.  Poor Mark.  He did the same. 
 
After Sunday the weather was dreary and we couldn't fish without a tender so we just waited.  The Leviathan was delayed in Seward for a day and it was just a waiting game.  A waiting game without hiking or swimming or showers.  I read the literature that I had collected from the Hebrew weekend and wrote some letters.  I was really sort of spent and just content to lay around and do not much of anything.  We did put the net in the water to clean it and to find a hole for me to fix.  While I had been in Homer they propped the net with the big boat and the hole hadn't even been tied up.  I just finished it last night, only small holes left, it's still hanging from the boom. 
 
On Tues. the Leviathan finally came back.  They brought news about the rough trip into town and we took tabs on the pukers.  Three.  Poor Steve had had a head start at sea sickness on the way from Homer, by the time he was heading to Seward he just spent his time in bed, only getting up to puke.  We did some haggling with the cannery but in the end they still weren't willing to buy pinks from us so WE ALL WENT TO TOWN!  Woo-hoo.  Joel was one happy crew member, there is a few crew members that hadn't been back to town since the 12th.  Joel was one of them.  I've seen him once since we've been here.  I just love being in town and at the  docks, we are our own little neighborhood.  The Leviathan is the hangout spot with a big deck if it's warm, a roomy sitting area if it's not and hot showers!! SO NICE.  I've had 2 showers this week. 
 
I was also able to get some check-ups under way.  I am trying to get my doctor and dentist appointments done for Antarctica clearance.  So far everything looks good.  My only concern is my wisdom teeth.  They have never been a problem but I think that dentists like to pull them out if they can see them.  Bummer. 
 
I've been hitching around town from hospital to dentist to doctor, spending money that I don't have.  It's been well over 10 yrs since I've had any of this.  Highlight of the week would be karoake (no idea how to spell that).  Thursdays at Doogan's.  What a blast.  Mike, Alex, PJ, Jaime and me.  PJ is actually a really good singer, him and Alex did a Neil Diamond song, the one about the revival show and there is a preaching part in there that PJ pulled off so good we were all laughing and yelling amen at him.  The whole bar was into it.  There was some other guys that sang the old Karaoke standards, Pour some Sugar on Me, Welcome to the Jungle, Hotel California, Baby Got Back, the Right Stuff.  It was great.  Now I am going to have to go home and practice like a dork so I can sing into a microphone.  The neat thing was that the next day one of the singers I recognized on the dock, he's been working right beside the Leviathan on the NightWatch baiting hooks for long lining.  I went up and called him by name like I knew him. 
 
It has been a time of retouching with humanity here.  With the various rides that I have gotten I have had some great conversation.  Today I met a lady that got married when she was 18 and is still married to the same guy, I learned this as I was getting out of the pick-up and told her how I regretted not being able to have a longer conversation with her.  She summed up her 19 yrs of marriage as: "Commitment, you've got to decide that you're going to do something and you've got to stick to it because it's not going to be easy."  Lesson of the day.  I also met such a friendly mountain man.  He looks like a mountain man with a beard and camoflage long-john shirt but his mustache is long and curls up into a smile.  He's actually a guide for ATV tours and told stories of moose calls, big tip days and his wife surviving cancer.  He was one of those people that you felt like you were having a big family dinner with. 
 
That's that.  We leave tomorrow morning, it sounds like Mark thinks he might be back here in town next week.  There was talk of only taking out 3 of the 4 fishing boats and the tender and getting rid of a crew memeber or 2.  Norman flies out on the 1st so he is now done.  Jaime's ticket is the 9th so she has only this week left.  I don't know what will be going on after that.  Charity isn't suffering from the Chemotherapy but her white blood cell count isn't high enough for her to be released from the hospital.  I got a card from Bethany today, I loved it! Thankyou, Bethany. 
 
Well, I think I will head back to the boat.  I nabbed a bunch of old 70's Christian self-help books.  If they aren't helpful they are at least entertaining.  I am hungry as well.  Take care.
 
Wait!  I forgot my story of the week.  I think this is my favorite yet:  While I was in Homer the people that went to Seward on the Leviathan found out in short notice that they needed to get out to Port Dick to be able to do the Sunday fishing ASAP.  Unfortunately, our skiffman had gone AWOL and was nowhere to be found.  His cell phone is worthless as well - it won't ring, only goes to voice mail.  Sherri and Paul, who had also come on the tender,  looked all over town, no luck.  Well, it turned out that he was right at the dock at Ray's, getting pretty toasted.  Around 10:00 or so he finally looked at his cell phone to see all these left messages from Paul.  At about 10:00 Paul got a phone call that had a lot of background noise and the person on the other end seemed to not have heard Paul's answer.  "Hello?" said Paul again,"HELLO?. . . Dave, is that you?!" and on the other end of the line he heard, "Oh, it's just Paul, he's such a dick."- CLICK.   
 
Love,
Rachael 

August 23 - FINALLY!

HHHHIIIIII!!!! 
 
I am so excited!  Look at me I am on a computer and it's connected to you!  How long has it been?  Almost a month??? I can't believe it.  Well, that would explain why it has seemed to go on forever.  I have to use my journal to review what happened so long ago.
 
There's Dave, our skiffman.  He was allowed to leave the day after I last e-mailed you.  One boat was staying behind and some crew members had to leave for school.  James came to skiff for us, one of the Roth boys.  Things seemed to go down from there.  Well, it was a slow downhill. 
 
There was a 110 ft of hangings that got ripped off the lead line.  That took me 9 hours to fix.  At least it was a rare sunny day.  Joel was empathetic, he'd keep me company on breaks, it was so helpful.  Paul was in town visiting Sherri, everyong else played cards waiting for the tender to return.  Oh, I didn't miss out on cards.  I have a slight loathing for decks of cards now. 
 
That Monday I was not in a sporting mood and out of stupid lack of backbone I ended up wandering around in waist deep water with a plunger pole twice my height.  This was supposed to catch us fish.  Instead Alex propped our net with his boat, the fish did their thing which was to NOT have anything to do with nets, we were hung up on a rock, and Robert filled the tender with his own set.  I got a Twix Bar for my door-mat compliancy and everyone was wise enough not to say anything else to me.  When the tender headed for town almost half the crew members were on it.  I passed up my chance to leave for good- I like torturing myself- and Abby jumped at an opportunity to leave Kameshak and go to Kodiak where her family is fishing.  She wants money.  They were cutting the crews down from 3 boats to two.  The day was perfectly laid out to be horrible and something to really gripe about but the tender ride was just so much fun.  It was all of us girls (Abby, Jaime, and me), Joel, and Ryan sunning on the top deck.  I got to treat everyone to some Thai massage and feel useful again.  Jaime and Abby gave me such a nice long massage, it was a wonderful diversion. 
 
Town wasn't a nice diversion. Dentist told me I needed $1700 worth of work to qualify for Antarctica and I still had to leave with one doctor appointment remaining.  It was just aggravating to be so worried for something that I didn't want to do for a job that I don't even officially have. we were in for less than a day.  Just long enough to be reminded why I wanted to be done.  Joel, Jaime, Abby and Ryan went to catch their rides home.  Everyone who came in on the tender was greeted with their own bad news. 
 
Once we returned only the Little Star and North Star were fishing.  Mike from the Star Destroyer came to stack leads on our boat and he was a real pick-me-up.  I was back in town for a midnight delivery 2 days later and in an even worse mood when I got dumped into the skiff after the 12 hr returning trip for another day of fishing.  Maybe I should remind or explain this new fishing set-up.  Roths have a tender with a chiller.  The fish can stay on the tender up to 3 days before needing to be delivered.  It holds 50,000 lbs.  When fishing is good you can fill the tender in a few hours.  When the tender drives back they figure 22hrs for driving and delivering.  Fish can stay on the other boats for about 8 hrs - no chiller - so with a satelite phone we can find out when the tender departed Homer and know when we can start filling our boats in anticipation for it's arrival.   On days that the tender had to go back it would head out at about 5:00, fishing ends, and we would start again no earlier than 11:00 the next day, maybe even 1:00.  The tender would pull in around 4:00 in the evening or once as late as 10:00 and we would deliver and fish till the day was done.
 
 
Kameshak was a monotonous blur of holes in the net, rocks to hit with the boat, card games that you were sick of, waiting to fish, waiting for fish, waiting for the tender, waiting during the trap set, going dry, and then waiting for the tide to come back in so the boat would be in water again.  At first I was reading out-dated self help books.  Try reading a book about women's roles from 1965.  For your information women shouldn't do masculine work or wear denim.  Things were slow and cooped up.  Food variety ran out.  At least I still had my lentils, ugh.   I was in a very bad mood to say the least.  My journal includes one ranting and one list of "Why I'm done fishing" along with some heavy sarcasm.  I've spent time mulling over the dark e-mail that I would write as soon as we got back to town.  I got as far as discribing the outlook:  "A bad Stephen King novel, maybe something like the Shining mixed with that one where the characters try to leave some haunted town but the road just brings them back to the very same place."  I imagined each of the other crew members could play a version of Jack slowly going crazy, it was just a matter of who would snap first.  The weather played right into the whole mood.  We didn't see the sun for nearly a week.  Cold, wind, rain, either alternating or all at once. Thankfully everyone heald out very stoicly.  We were all in this together and a tender return promised a resupply of groceries, and sometimes unexpected treats.  I have fond memory for how giddy I was about lettuce from Linda's garden, a perfect nectarine, another Twix bar, and this last Saturday Sherri made brownies.  
 
Sunday was the craziest wind I've ever fished in.  Paul was guessing it was 30 mph with gusts at 40.  I would say it was at least that, and cold.  It felt like a bitter fall day.  Stacking net was highly exciting though.  I was sure I was going to be blown off the stack and into the water.  Mike was very helpful though and I only got taken out by the net once.  We both kept getting buried in webbing.  I thought back to my time in Kodiak.  Paul never once told me to pull more webbing even though we were trying to sail with it.  I was very relieved.
 
The skippers just did not want to give up this year.  We arrived in town last night at 3 am and this morning they were still talking of going back out.  Luckily the grips of town eased them out of that idea, but I didn't waste any time today.  I got my steam shower at the Washboard, had my clothes washed in a machine, not a bucket, got my last doctor appointment, and MY TICKETS HOME!  I was planning on the Anchorage to Seattle -  train to St. Cloud but then I found out that I could get a direct flight for less!!! I'll be home on FRIDAY!!! I am so so so excited.  I will have more than one outfit.  I will get to see Dad's boat, I will be home, so much to do.  Get wisdom teeth pulled - blah.  Anyone have ideas for doing that cheap and with little pain?  I found on the internet someone went to Mexico and had a doctor drill out his two for $40 a piece.  It didn't sound pleasant.  Well, I better go.  I will talk to you later and some of you I will see soon!
 
Bethany- congrats on your job. Go for it, go!
 
Amy- I got your letter and I'll respond better than this to it later
 
Mom-you'll probably know my itinerary before you even read this but as I'm writing this I still have to tell you guys.  FRIDAY! Let's go out to eat, I'll buy.  I'll have a whole summer's crew share burning a hole in my pocket.
 
Skittles-hurry up :). 
 
Grandma- Thankyou so much for your letter and the treat you sent with.  I wanted you to know that that went towards all my indulgences today.
 
Charity- are you going to get this on this e-mail?  I'm glad to hear that things are at least looking up.  We've got to get together.  I hope to call you before I fly out.  If not I will call this weekend.
 
Love,
Rachael