Alaska with Dad - 1977

I ended up spending 10 months on Guam. That was another tremendous adventure and ended when I was chased off the island by Typhoon Pamela. However, that is another story.

By the summer of 1977 I was back in Cincinnati but itching for another adventure. I guess I get those itches naturally, because Dad had the same itch. So we made plans to spend quality Father/Daughter time together with a 3 month trip to Alaska. The excuse was to get my belongings out of storage, but that really was just an excuse.

So, the beginning of June 1977 Dad arrived in Cincinnati from Florida with his Dodge panel van outfitted something like a camper. I was planning to sleep in a small pup tent I bought at Kmart for a few pennies (not a wise move) and we were off. At least this time we had 2 drivers for one vehicle and we were not towing anything.

So the first night out, we got to up-state Michigan and found a nice campground. We called it a night and Dad was in the camper and I was in my tent. Middle of the night, this huge storm comes along, knocks down my tent, I get drenched and have to move into cramped quarters in the van. A horse was running wildly through the campground, spooked by the storm. Oh what a night!!

After that, our next big event was on the ALCAN when the van suddenly started using a lot of fuel. Dad gets under the van and sure enough, we have a puncture in the fuel line. Lucky for us my Dad was a man of many talents. During the course of his life he was a welder, cabinet maker, kitchen installer, appliance store owner, grocery store owner, butcher, and on and on.

He looks at that puncture in the fuel line, pulls a golf tee out of his pocket, pokes it in the puncture, wraps it with duct tape, and off we go. No more leak!! The repair job lasted for many years and was still in place when Dad finally sold that van.

I can’t really say that the trip was without tension. I had always been such a Daddy’s girl. He and I were very tight. But during this trip the relationship loosened a bit. He was an old style kind of guy, definitely believed in the traditional roles of men and women. His idea was that I was going to do all the laundry, all the grocery shopping, all the cooking, and all the housekeeping chores of our travel. When he laid this plan out to me, I asked, “Well, what are you going to do?” His answer was that he was going to change the oil in the van. I looked at him and knew I got the short end of that stick. I said, “Well, I can change the oil in the van.” (which I could) and offered up my suggestion for the division of labor. Basically this stand off was Mom’s fault.

She also was firmly planted in the traditional male/female roles of our culture and over their 45 years of marriage had totally spoiled Dad. So, as an example, when we were sitting in this tiny little camper eating dinner he asked for a fork, which was in a drawer next to his elbow. He looked at me like somehow I had failed him, but did get his own fork.

He wanted me to put up his tent anytime he decided to sleep outside the van. I looked at him and grinned. “I’ll show you how to put it up, but after that you are on your own.” He never did sleep in that tent! Ya, gotta love the guy!

When we arrived in Fairbanks we headed over to Ghetto Gulch. This was basically a junk yard on the outskirts of Fairbanks which is where Kevin Coor lived. Kevin was another old boyfriend with whom I had stayed very close friends. He had a trailer in the Gulch, along with several other of our friends and that is where they lived. Kevin let us park the van in the Gulch and basically camp out there for free. He was working the pipeline and wasn’t around at all, so I slept in the trailer and Dad stayed in the van. There were some real characters who lived in the Gulch and Dad made friends with all of them immediately.

Karen was in the middle of building her cabin on the Chaitnika, so I made a trip down Murphy’s Dome to help with that project while Dad went gold panning in the area. In the photo to the left that's Karen and John Murphy, pulling a log into place.

Jack and Karen were now a family with the arrival of their son Robin and were still living full time on the Tozitna. Bob Batley flew us out for a weeklong visit with them. Dad had a blast there, fishing all day and learning the ropes of bush living from Jack. It was fun to watch him in this element as it was very different from anything he had ever known. Robin is eating a pickle on the left and on the right is Jack & Karen's cabin on the Tozi.

We made a trip down to Anchorage to visit with my friends Dale and Karen, whom I had met when I worked in the GMC dealership. Red James was still the agent at the Fish & Wildlife Office, so we got in a good visit with him. All in all, I got to visit with everyone who still lived in the area.

One night a bunch of was hanging out at a bar in town when we all decided to go visit Jerry Reiger. Jerry had been a member of the Willow Street gang and was a very popular guy with our group. During the time I was gone he had married and started a family, 3-4 kids I think.

By the time it occurred to us to go for a visit, it was probably 2 AM, and a married man like Jerry was sound asleep in his home. Practice in Alaska is that doors rarely get locked. So about 8 of us trooped in to his house, at 2 AM, in the dark, and circled his bed while he and his wife slept away.

Finally, I think the force of all those eyes on them woke him up. He sat up in bed and looked around ….very puzzled I might add. He got up, started going around the circle to see who was there and got to me….”What the hell are you doing here?” was his welcome. It was a really great party that night.

There were many more adventures that summer, too many to share here. Soon the summer was over and it was time to head home. Dad and I had done pretty well together, but the trip home finally did us in. The final 7 days in the van together we didn’t talk to each other. We both had our gripes and it was a very tense time. It took an additional six months after we were home before our relationship got back to normal…but it did, thankfully!