Went down to the Delta River to do some survey work with my friend Mike. I go there several times a year (Flight time... April 3). The weather was awful, wet, sloppy snow on the way down, the wind blowing like crazy, and lots of cars in the ditches. As Mike always says: "It doesn't get any better than this."
After I got there and met Mike , we launched the boat OK, as yet there was no ice in the river, but then the steering was frozen up. In trying to free it, the gears or whatever broke. So we had to drive back to Glennallen, where Mike works, and get a different boat. By the time we got back, it was getting dark, so we spent the night at a small cabin nearby. The next morning was clear and cold, about 20 F, and it made for a chilly boat ride. But we were able to get to both survey sites without too much trouble and finish the work in spite of the bad weather.
This will probably be my last survey trip on the Delta. Mike had been looking to move on for a while and he will soon be leaving Alaska to start his new job. We worked together for over ten years and I never found any one who worked as hard or was easier to get along with than Mike. My wife thought we were like twin brothers with different mothers.
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