This past summer, Chris and I embarked on what started out to be a 1-month trip to our “old friend”, Coffman Cove, Alaska, but it quickly morphed into a whole summer stay. We experienced some of the same exciting fishing and wildlife we had before, but also ventured into “parts unknown”, including visiting new places on the island and meeting new interesting people we hadn’t met before. Our journey’s destination became a journey into ourselves as we explored possibilities for setting up some kind of permanent residence there, and we learned unexpected lessons about what “progress”, even on a small scale, can do to the quiet beauty of remote life. Disconnecting became a blissful blessing at times and an annoying curse at others.
Getting There…
When we commit to getting to Coffman
Cove, we have to stay at least a couple of weeks, as it takes us almost that
long to get there and get back. Life can
get way too complicated on its own, so we figured this trip we would “wing
it”…kind of play it by ear in terms of where we stayed exactly or when we
arrived anywhere, including our intended destination, Coffman Cove. We virtually made no reservations, and knew
we could be in for some “adventure” because of it, but decided it would be
worth it just to have the freedom of movement (no set times/places to be). So the three of us—our cat Shoppie was going
to see Alaska with us this year--took off in the truck, pulling our 23-foot
trailer. Here’s what those 5 days of
getting there looked like.
The First Leg (Make That Arm!) of our Journey
Tues. 5/24/16
Having no idea what lay ahead of us,
we got underway out of Salem at about 8:00 a.m., the trailer and truck fully
loaded, and Shoppie in the front with us in her preferred carrier bed, ready to
take her travelling naps. We made it
through Seattle which was a nightmare pulling a trailer, and then battled the
not-so-great signage to get to Sumas in northern Washington. There are several early-on signs that announce
the border-crossing town, but then those are gone, with no “commitment” to the
actual exit. Great. Luckily, we were already schooled in this,
and we stayed on our toes, still almost missing it.
On our way to the border, we were
amusing ourselves with the fact that Shoppie had become an “audio addict”—she made
noise and carried on when it was too quiet, but settled right down once the
audio book, music, or radio was fired back up.
It was pretty funny and I tested it several times, chortling every time:
music off—mewing/crying; music back on—quiet.
I’ve mentioned this before but here’s yet another prime example of our ability
to get by on really cheap thrills and entertainment. You’re probably thinking you’re glad you weren’t
on this trip with us.
We crossed the Canadian border around
4:00 p.m., then soon after Chris exclaimed “Woah!” and looked over at me with
more fear than I’ve seen in his face since his diagnosis. This frightened me, because he just doesn’t
normally become startled, let alone, afraid.
A friend of mine once shared with me that she didn’t remember her mother
ever having the kinds of physical problems that she herself was now having
after age 60. “Then I realized,” she
said, “that it was actually that she never complained…she undoubtedly had most
all of this.” That would be Chris—I
share-all generally, and freak out regularly, as he bends and flows with what
goes on with his body. Not this time.
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| Day 5--Much better, but ugly!! |
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| Day 3--Still swollen |
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| Day 2--Still swollen but better |
Needless to say, we began looking for
the hospital “H” signs in the first town we came to, which was Hope, B.C., and
ended up in their ER by about 5:30. The
doctor there spent about 10 minutes with him and diagnosed “bursitis”—but had a
hard time convincing us as to what caused it.
Chris hadn’t bumped it or anything.
After spending the exorbitant moolah ($800 for 10 minutes) to get some
peace of mind (we were, after all, in Canada, where U.S. VA medical insurance
isn’t even on the radar), we decided to camp there. There happened to be a campground really
close to the hospital, so we could stay and make sure his arm got better before
leaving the next morning. We ate and
flopped.
Worth mentioning would be that all
was well in Shoppie’s world: she gave
this first campground a “10” for “kitty television” (mostly fellow campers,
dogs, and squirrels)…and made herself right at home for her first night in
Canada.
Wed. 5/25/16
Chris' arm seemed to have gone down some with a night's rest and ice pack treatments, so we headed out from Hope at about 8:00 a.m. for a usual day of travel--audio books, snacks, gas stop at Williams Lake--then looked for a much-needed break stop at about 1:30.
Chris' arm seemed to have gone down some with a night's rest and ice pack treatments, so we headed out from Hope at about 8:00 a.m. for a usual day of travel--audio books, snacks, gas stop at Williams Lake--then looked for a much-needed break stop at about 1:30.
We wound up stopping for a nap
overlooking the lake then drove into Vanderhoof where we got hamburgers/gas
around 7:00 p.m., then hunted for a campsite, finding a great one on the east
edge of Fraser Lake. Another stop and flop.
Ferry Dust
Thurs. 5/26/16
Breakfast and off again around 7:00
a.m., heading for Prince Rupert where we would ferry over to Ketchikan. Chris’ arm was really turning some ugly
colors, so we attempted some stops to get it looked at, but that failed since
the $100 clinics weren’t available and it would take another whopping cost to
just take a look. Chris said to heck
with it (other words may have been used).
Kinda put us both in a foul mood about that but we drove on…
Finally got to Prince Rupert and went
straight to the ferry office to see about getting tickets, where we were
greeted with astonishment that we did not have reservations. After the shock wore off for them, we were
able to purchase tickets for the next ferry, Saturday a.m. (it felt like magic
per our reception), then landed a
nice big spot at the Prince Rupert RV
campground (the manager was a native of Viet Nam and he and Chris struck up a
kind of kinship that I believe was partly responsible for our nice private/big
spot). We crashed after dinner, and
Shoppie was definitely happy to join us for that.
Fri. 5/27/16
Great (10-12 hours) sleep and we all
3 lazed around—got the day off! Rain was
falling outside, and we were content to stay in bed, watch stuff on TV, do
puzzles, eat breakfast, and play Scrabble.
We had talked about maybe staging at the ferry after supper, but then
decided to go ahead and sleep first, before getting up at 3:00 a.m. to make our
departure.
Sat. 5/28/16
Got in some more sleep—maybe 5
hours—before waking to the sound of another RV heading out, 10 minutes before
our alarm was set to go off. Got up and
outta there, then onto the ferry in pretty short order and were the first ones
loaded. We decided to use one of
Shoppie’s sedatives on her since this was her first ferry riding experience and
there were lots of unfamiliar clanging noises down there in the belly, where
she would have to stay, and where we would not be allowed to stay with her. We put her on the bed in the trailer and she
zipped under the covers before we locked her up for the trip. We were upstairs playing cards by 4:30 a.m.
Chris and I passed our time on the
ferry in typical fashion—doing puzzles, playing cards, looking out the window,
napping, reading, etc.—until arriving in Ketchikan. We arrived there at about 11:00 a.m. and went
about the business of trying to get Inter-Island tickets to Prince of Wales
(POW) Island. We ended up on Stand-By
for the 3:30 ferry (it so happened we planned our take-off around Memorial Day
weekend and that had filled up their reservations), then shopped/hung out in
the trailer while we waited to see if we would be getting on the ferry, or
camping in Ketchikan until the next available space. Around 3:20, we got the word that they could
indeed fit us in and we “hopped” aboard the Stikine ferry.
Three hours later, we arrived in
Hollis on POW, and our first stop was in Klawock at the SEARHC clinic we
learned about from some local folks, Jerry and Candy, we met on the ferry. The doctors there checked out his arm and
determined that it was a broken vein vessel which they wrapped and told us to
watch; they wanted him to return in a week for a follow-up appointment.
Coffman Cove, Here We Come…
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| Welcoming Committee on the road to Coffman Cove |
We had no idea what to expect when we
got into town, but we started by heading to the Oceanview RV campground where
we had stayed several times in the past.
The place looked about the same as it had before—same gorgeous view out
into the Inside Passage (Clarence Strait)—so we took a
spot, and fell asleep
not long after setting up.
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| View from camp: Looking out at Clarence Strait |
Sun. 5/29/16
Longtime beloved Oceanview campground
host Deedee Jeffries made her appearance.
We paid her for a
week and caught each other up on our latest news. Deedee has a place across the bay from the
park and magically shows up whenever anyone stops to make camp.
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| Deedee and her glorious smile |
We took a drive around the town to see what had changed, then it started raining and we headed back for some Scrabble and a movie. Shoppie’s thrilled to be camped for a while—whew!! Five days of travel, including 2 ferry rides. The little cat was an AWESOME traveler. We were so dang proud of her, and she seemed a little full of herself too, actually.
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| Road to the campground with mountains and Clarence Strait ahead |
Reacquainting With the Island…
Up and ready to explore today—driving
up to Port Protection on the north end of the island. We needed gas but the station didn’t open for
another four hours, so we weren’t sure what we were going to do. Fortuitously, we ran into Mike Warner from
Coffman Cove Adventures (we stayed with him in 2014), and he unlocked the gas
tank so we could get a full tank. Chris
also talked to him about boat rental possibilities while we were here.
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| Fawn starting to "drop dead" in the road... |
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| This fawn is in full "dropped" mode but is at least off to the side of the road. |
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| We generally left them alone, but Chris finally moved this fawn (playing dead the entire time he moved her) because she was smack in the middle, about to get run over! |
The Yin of the Communications Yang:
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| Snail Mail Communications: The Coffman Cove Post Office, open 2 hours a day, Mon.-Fri. |
When we got back to town, we tried out the Coffman Cove Library to see if we could check email on their
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| Coffman Cove Library |
·
Wi-Fi in Coffman Cove: We also got
introduced to the Wi-Fi library “lines” whereby people parked outside the
library, tapping away on their devices…it was a virtual parking full of
“tappers”, especially when the library was closed and folks just needed the
Wi-Fi connection. We ended up right
there with them whenever we needed to email someone or perform some other Wi-Fi
necessity (like playing Scrabble online with my sister, of course!!).
·
Land-line Phones: If you didn’t live there and pay
for land-line phones, you had to rely on land-line phones you could find. We had one in the laundry room at the
campground which we could use for local calls—or for long-distance calls if we
used a purchased minutes card—but since others used this phone, there was
usually a wait. We were in the habit of
calling people with the card, then having them call us back on the laundry
phone so that it wouldn’t eat up the minutes on the card. One time my sister Kris called that phone number
and the people who were in the laundry room at the time were able to come to
our trailer and get me so I could go up and talk to her—lucky timing!
·
Cell Phones: In order to use cell phones, you have to
drive the 27 miles required to access a cell signal at special places called
“phone booths”—parking spots at 2 places where we could access a signal (most
times) and place calls. Sometimes there
were “lines” there when people trolled back and forth in their vehicles waiting
for their turn at the phone booth.
Back to camp—supper, a movie, playing
with the cat. We scored tonight’s movie
quite high—“Firewall” with Harrison Ford.
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| Another view from camp |
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| Wild flowers in bloom all around camp |
Tues. 5/31/16
Today we drove the 70 miles into
Craig for various errands, chores, and Chris’ checkup at the clinic (we
probably averaged about 1 trip per week into Craig for various reasons). We ran into the Coffman Cove library
volunteers who we had met at the library—really nice couple who live here—who love
to fish, love Coffman Cove, and have really great senses of humor—and who
happen to have the names Steve and Connie (ironically, Steve Biddinger, Chris’
longtime fishing buddy, was the one who introduced us to Coffman Cove in 2001
and his wife who we are fond of as well, is named Connie—just a little fun coincidence
there). They offered to let us use their
skiff anytime.
Got library chores done in Craig
(faster connection, easier to do!), made phone calls, did some shopping,
then
called Jerry and Candy to thank them for the clinic “assist” and they invited
us over. We stopped by, enjoyed their
incredible view, and then let them get back to unwinding/unpacking (they had
been away several months).
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| Shoppie crapped out with her wheat grass |
Drove home to camp and gave Shoppie
her treat (wheat grass from the Craig store—heartiest one of these we’ve ever seen!) She had things to tell us and we figured she
was letting us know about some views of deer (we later confirmed this “live”
when our “resident” deer made their appearances). Dinner, Scrabble, flop…
No Sense Repeating…
For a 3-month long excursion, there
are of course “routines” and various things that come up. Instead of day-to-day from here on, I’ll try
to summarize the tapestry that became our life in this remote place. Assume that we ate and slept well every
night, played Scrabble, worked puzzles, played with Shoppie, watched movies, enjoyed
evening campfires, and otherwise entertained ourselves when otherwise not
engaged.
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| Coffman Cove's answer to a "Weather Station" |
Operation Get-a-Boat, and Rain…
6/1/16--6/4/16
It rains about 134 inches per year on
this island, so it’s not surprising at all when you run into some of it during
your stay. Our first 4 days were very wet,
but we managed to accomplish the following while toughing out the onslaught
(and several of these routines became the norm on many of the stormy days we
encountered while there):
- Walking around town, checking on a cabin we considered purchasing
o
Interesting
(Odd) Side Note: we really liked it from
the outside and were excited to see the inside but the day before we were
supposed to see it; the realtor said it was taken off the market. We heard later that deals going screwy were
not unusual with this realtor!
- Driving about town looking for boat rental possibilities
- Checking on computer updates as well as checking out more movies and books at the library
- Driving about the island and filming fawns, lakes, etc.
- Driving into Craig to look at boat purchase possibilities
- Looking at a skiff for sale in Coffman Cove
- Playing (lots of) Scrabble
- Working Puzzles
- Making brownies
- Movie-binging (watched the entire series of Lonesome Dove again—a real treat)—this saved us from getting too cabin-fevery at times, which we naturally did (snapping at each other over little things like covering items when micro-waving them, etc.)
- Making reservations for my trip back to Salem to take care of mail and other chores so that we could stay for the entire summer.
- Chris king-fishing (he had a great time—saw dolphins and whales) on Bill Lyons’ upgrade boat while work was done on the skiff Chris was buying from him (had a wonderful steak and bottom-fish meal that evening—yum!).
- Boat-buying—a process that took a while, as the boat had various issues, then the bank had various issues and miscommunication (our bank, then Bill’s bank—it was like a continuing comedy of errors…only the senses of humor were waning by about week 3, especially when Bill’s bank wouldn’t accept the final transfer because it had to say “William” not “Bill”---aghghgh!!)…but finally all the kinks were worked out, Chris had his skiff, and everybody was happy.
It DID get beautiful
there (hot even!)…days so nice we treated ourselves to $5 ice cream bars at the
Riggin’ Shack.
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| Coffman Cove's Harbor on a hot and sunny day |
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| The Riggin Shack sign: the store had quite an inventory of items, just scary prices! |
A Scare and a Neat Surprise:
- Our trailer door had opened wide during one night (wasn’t closed all the way without our knowing it). We had lots of moths to contend with after that but were so glad Shoppie had stayed on board. An additional lucky plus was that evidently we didn’t take on any biting bugs during that whole ordeal—sweet!
- We
met one of the “Port Protection” TV stars, Amanda, and found out she was living
in Coffman
Cove part-time and also took care of some of the yard maintenance in our campground. She was really nice and sweet to us any time we ran into her, and was very modest about her “fame”. She patiently played along with those-who-were-star-struck…even got on the phone with Steve Biddinger (also a “Port Protection” fan) when Chris handed her the phone.
Posing with celebrity friend Amanda
People Make the Place
Our interactions with people
definitely enriched our trip. Whether
just running into people at various places in town, or spending time with camp
neighbors, we always came away with a great appreciation for the friendly folks
there. And we definitely appreciated the
characters too. We even could understand
why some folks wouldn’t want to be “too welcoming” thereby attracting more
population and disruption to their simple, peaceful worlds.
Amazing Grace and Other Camp Neighbors
- We got to know Grace well after the “Great Laundry Explosion Day”:
o
The
laundry loads evidently overloaded the drainage system one day and water had to
be shut off. Deedee and Shane (the guy
at the other end of the campground) worked on the problem and this is how we
met 3-year-old Grace (Shane’s daughter).
I spent the day with her since Shane was otherwise occupied, Mom Sara was
in Hawaii temporarily, and Grace’s older brother Arthur who could also look
after her was in Oregon with grandparents.
Grace was a spitfire—we had snacks, played cards, went to the
playground, library and Riggin’ Shack—and she ran, ran, ran, climbed,
jumped—wow!! She wanted to talk to Chris
about frog noises he could make and got her chance when he returned. She entertained us while the big CAT backhoe
dug at the clog at the far end of the campground, and then she later got a
spinning ride on the CAT which was cute—she enjoyed that! The root of the problem turned out to be
rocks covered with dryer lint.
Whew! Different kind of a
day! But it cemented a special
friendship for us with Grace, which was priceless.
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| Grace talking to us about Coffman Cove |
o
Little
Grace showed up often after that and became a regular guest at our
trailer. She was so inquisitive and full
of creativity…never a dull moment! She
would watch some of our film and get excited when she saw herself. She once
invented some kind of “gradated art” with buttercup flowers she had
picked. She helped gather sticks when
Chris built a fire, then wanted to help me on the trailer, so I gave her jobs
like drying off pots which she thoroughly enjoyed (ah, youth!). Her mother Sara, a teacher, had some great
creative things going on for her—one involved fish prints (artistic prints from
actual fish), so Chris and I donated some bottom-fish to that cause--fun.
o
Grace
also had an enthusiasm for any of the “snacks” that Chris and I were getting
into (we admit, our habits are not that great on vacation—eventually succumbing
to cookies, brownies, chips, and the like).
Mother Sara put the brakes on the unhealthy stuff with Grace and from
then on our little friend informed us of what was okay to give her (“I can eat
carrots or bananas, and cookies are okay as long as they are HEALTHY cookies!”)
- Kim & Heather, a neat couple from Washington gorge area, camped until taking the Petersburg ferry. Kim was quite the fisher and Chris gave her a tip for catching salmon in the streams that she happily succeeded at—then shared her bounty with us—yum!!
- Lee
and Bill from Central Oregon became great neighbors—both in their 70s and still
halibut-fishing their hearts out!—Chris went fishing with them, then one day
with just Bill, so Lee and I took the
opportunity to go to Craig and chat. She’s a feisty but warm amazing woman…it was fun to get to know her. One other time, the “boys” went out for some fishing in the rain and she and I partied in our trailer (had happy hour with peanuts/snacks, and watched a movie—fun!).
Another view from camp
Unexpected Connections
- About 2 weeks after arriving, we went to the Post Office to mail some stuff and the gentleman to our left who was picking up packages suddenly said, "Aren't you Darcie? Darcie Preuitt?" He turned out to be
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| Dave Rotman with his Yellow Eye catch from one of our fishing trips with him. |
· When Dave’s girlfriend JoAnn visited, we all 4 had some great boating adventures—and
some fun filming opportunities for me as we all enjoyed the porpoises, whales,
and eagles, and of course fish-catching!
o
Dave
also mentioned possible available lodging at his place (he had purchased a
place that allowed him to offer self-guided trips as well as lodging) and this eventually
led to some nice lodgings we could offer to family who visited us (Chris’
sisters Kim and Dawn, and his son Dustin).
- On one of my walks, I ended up at Deedee’s place and she invited me in for coffee. She has always
amazed me and she only gets cooler the more I know about her. A true pioneer of a woman, she has made her place in the community and is the “go-to” for just about any kind of situation. She is an amazing photographer and I bought 4 of her photo cards while there. She showed me her gardens and gave me Snow Pea tastes, a bag of fresh arugula, and some strawberries for the "road" (my walk back). She is a treasure there and Chris and I both had fun talking to her...we even had a "Happy Hour" complete with air-conditioning one night that she joined which was fun (it was a hot 77 degrees out and warmer on the trailer, but I'm sure our Arizona relatives would still guffaw).
One of our "Happy Hour" views from camp
o
Deedee
is definitely the “go-to” for stranded situations too. If you can get to a place where you can call
Deedee, she can get the people you need.
She helped connect Chris to go help Dave when he was stranded, and then
again connected with Dave to come rescue us when we were stranded in Thorne
Bay.
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| Bert and Chris look out over at the view off the Starfish porch. |
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| And here's the view form the Starfish porch! |
- In my search for possible places for Chris’ son Dustin to stay during his visit, I wound up meeting another special gem of Coffman Cove. Her name’s Roberta but she goes by “Bert” and she and I had one of those inexplicable connections when we met—she was lovely and down-to-earth, and was totally hospitable to showing us the place she was cleaning. I only wished I had met her sooner in our stay, but who knows how much more time we might have been able to spend together—she’s the harbor master and wears several different hats, staying really busy throughout the season. She also introduced us to the place that will be our spot for a month next year—the Starfish Resort (a place where we can spread out a lot more than we could on the trailer).
The Veteran Connection
Chris connected with several veterans
in the area after one of them about mowed me down on my way to the “phone
booths”, mainly because Chris had a 1st Cavalry sticker from Viet
Nam on his truck bumper:
- I was always a little extra "aware" when I took the truck anywhere by myself since there’s hardly any
vehicle traffic, no cell service, and lots of bears and mosquitoes out there
(should something go wrong, like a flat tire, etc.). So there I was, headed out of town, when
suddenly there were flashing his lights
at me, wanting my attention…I was a little worried that something was wrong with our truck so I slowed down. He was trying to flag me down in case I was going to town—we later learned this is kind of a common practice among locals, to give a passer-by an item you might need from the great-beyond Craig stores (70 miles away). He mentioned the Viet Nam bumper sticker and I explained that it was Chris’…his name was Gary Wilburn, also a vet, and he and Chris later connected and shared their stories when we drove out to his place on what he called “Snob Hill”. What an incredible place he has built for himself—interesting guy—winters down in Arizona and summers up here. He reminded Chris and me both of brother-in-law Greg. His sisters didn’t think so, but it was funny how both Chris and I thought so at the same time.
View of Coffman Cove from "Snob Hill"
Fishing/Boating Days…
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| Scene from the boat on a beautiful day. |
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| Dolphins splashing right in front of Joanne |
May--August
Most days involved some sort of
fishing for Chris, and I tagged along when it was nice (I’m more of a
fair-weather boater, yes, I admit it)—mostly on the skiff with Chris. The skiff was a challenge, shall we say, for
a woman having to take care of “things”, and when you’re out for 8 or 9 or so
hours…well, let’s leave it at a “challenge”.
When Chris was off on one of those excursions where I decided to pass, I
read, wrote, pet the cat, cleaned, walked, went to the library, filmed around
town, etc.
The nice days were spectacular, including amazing sights:
- Killer
whales—we saw several of them ourselves, but Dave and his buddy Albert had a
thrill one day
when the orcas actually came up to their boat, noses into their boat!!
- Humpback
whales breeching, tail-flapping, bubble-netting—we saw it all
- Porpoises
playing around the boat, including an awesome display they did around Dave’s
boat when
the 4 of us—Dave, Joanne, Chris, me—were out for the day. They just kept coming back, right up to the boat!
- Eagles
in abundance (except for the 2 weeks when we had visitors—they were everywhere,
then they were nowhere to be found it seemed…then came back after people left!). We had an especially huge invasion by dozens
of them in camp that we were able to capture on film—truly awesome!
- Several times we were entertained by the crows that pestered eagles a lot…and of course, Chris practiced his famous crow-calling.
- Sometimes, we used our skiff as the “camera crew” boat and would follow behind Dave and his buddy Albert while they launched and pulled up the shrimp traps, filming them all the while, which was fun.
Boat-Towing…Boat Scares
- One
time when hopping onto Dave’s boat from the dock to get it started, Chris
slipped and the rope tether went with him.
He had to get a “tow” from a local guy in a skiff and we all laughed at
him as he was towed back. Chris
humorously waved to the “crowd”, clowning around. Nice laugh.
Chris gets a tow ride back to the dock
- We got our chance to “pay-it-forward” when we were heading back in from fishing/boating and spotted a boater just out of the bay couldn’t get his motor started, so we linked up and towed them back (I drove)…it was nice to be able to “rescue” someone and they were really grateful.
- One time we were out in the choppy waves heading back and the boat didn’t want to crank. I tried several times, then Chris did—the whole time, we were moving perilously close to the rocky shores of Beck Island as the waves tipped us back and forth. Chris started up the trolling motor, after several attempts, and then we made our way back. During that time, Chris tried the big motor again, and it turned over and worked from then on. Not sure what the problem was, but it got the adrenaline going!
Unexpected Delay:
- The day after the “Great Laundry Explosion” (when we got to know our little friend Grace) we were trying to get our clothes washed up and ended up with a huge flood in the laundry room that we had to mop up; Chris discovered the drainage hose that had been removed to flush out the system had not been replaced in the drain spout (that would do it!). Ah, the things you don’t plan for that wind up dictating your day…
When is Fishing NOT a Good Idea?
Here’s an exchange that sums up the fishing “bug”:
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| One of Chris' halibut hauls |
Chris: “Well, Bill’s asked me to go halibut fishing so I’m going to go.”
Me: “Sounds
good!”
Chris: “Of course, I really don’t need or want any more fish…”
Me: “Well,
then just donate it to Bill.”
Chris: “I don’t think Bill needs or wants any more fish either.”
It’s all in the fishing, not the harvesting, I guess!
Fish-catching, included:
·
Plenty
of bottom fish (like the beautiful huge orange-colored Yellow Eye, and the Ling
Cod that Chris’ son Dustin caught)
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| Ling Cod and Yellow Eye from Dustin's catch |
·
Halibut
(lots of fun battles and excitement there…Chris managed to catch some really nice
big ones (70 to 100 pounds). The big
exciting day for him was when he was fishing by himself and landed 2 good-sized
halibut—quite a feat! He had a fan club
at the docks when he arrived (I was up on the “lookout” point and was able to
film him coming in—pretty neat).
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| Chris drawing a crowd with his halibut haul (by himself on the skiff) |
·
Some
salmon, but they weren’t as abundant as in years past.
·
Shrimp--some
exciting times were had at times just getting the traps up—they can get caught
and
one snag even snapped the anchor!—but we ended up with some really decent
and tasty hauls.
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| From one of the shrimp hauls |
·
Crab—only
had a few catches this year but they were delicious!
Fishing/Boating trips made in Dave’s boat (longer ones we wouldn’t have wanted to try in the skiff) included:
o
A
Snow Pass excursion Dave and Albert. The
day was absolutely beautiful and Chris caught a 65-lb. halibut. Albert’s a sweetheart and really went the
extra mile helping out Chris’ sisters get their 50-lb. fish box loaded onto the
ferry and onto their plane after their visit.
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| Scene from one of the pretty boating days |
o
A
trip past Stanhope (quite the boating adventure!) where we had to anchor behind
an island for protection from the wind…and I caught a small (15-pound halibut)
there then Chris wound up catching a 100-pound halibut—whew, quite the battle!!
Non-Boat Fishing:
- Big
Lake—he caught all kinds of trout as well as bug bites on his trip. The lucky guy doesn’t feel any itching from
the bites, but they still looked bad.
Steve Biddinger got mauled there himself on one of
their excursions years ago and has since affectionately referred to it as “Bug Lake”.
- Various
rivers and streams on the island
- Whale Pass Snagging—a place Chris and his dad discovered where you can legally snag salmon…they have fun out there!
Fish-Catching Means Fish-Eating…
We ate like royalty—salmon, halibut,
crab, shrimp, bottom-fish (flounder, rock-fish), various trout—you name
it!!
Special Visits
Chris’ Sisters Dawn and Kim
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| With Dawn, Kim, Dave, and Albert Feasting on seafood |
What started out as an attempt to
surprise Chris with a visit from his sisters for his 70th birthday
on August 7, ended up as a planned trip because the communication and logistics
just got too complicated for a “surprise”. Two of his 4 sisters—Dawn and Kim—made it
(Dallas and Laurie wanted to come but could not). They came the week before his actual big day
and I took the early ferry over to meet them in Ketchikan, then we ferried back
to Prince of Wales Island together.
- Chris
and I had fun introducing them to Coffman Cove the town (including burgers at
the Bait Box and
a trip to the “phone booth” which they found hilarious) and various sites on the island (Karsts, totem poles, El-Capitain trailhead, wildlife-viewing drives, etc.).
Placing orders at the Bait Box
- We
got a rare (great) view of a mama bear and her THREE cubs, then also spotted a
big grey wolf—
very rare (very cool). Kim got to fish with her brother—she caught a dozen salmon!—and they both really enjoyed that. Dawn and I had fun roaming around town while they fished and then Dawn and Kim both got treated to a skiff boat ride with Chris. They lucked out weather-wise—it was absolutely gorgeous (sunburns!). And Chris, the gentleman, drove them to the dock for a “potty break” (nice brother!), providing some decorum for both brother and sisters. He and I don’t do the “dock-trek” breaks—although there are days when I could have benefitted from them—dang!!
Sister Kim shows off "her" cafe in Klawock 
Sister Dawn poses outside the Coffman Cove Liquor Store
·
We
all had some adventures around the rental car which Chris and Dave had already
had some fun with previously. It had
broken down near Thorne Bay and Chris had to go help Dave get back to town. Then it broke down again on the 4 of us, once
again near Thorne Bay, and Dave had to come rescue us. It turned out to be some weird quirk with
Suburbans whereby the fix involved fist-hitting the underside of the gas tank
to jar the fuel pump and get it going again.
The left rear window had also stopped working—would not go up—making
travel interesting (mosquitoes found Kim and me), but also quite comical…we got
into some serious laughing-until-we-cried jags.
When Dave rescued us, he ended up loaning us his truck for the rest of
their stay…which performed well until the tire went low. More laughter, more adventures. Memories!!
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| No matter what the adventures driving, the scenery is awesome! |
·
Had
a great send-off feast their last night and while they (Chris, Dawn, Kim) were
out and about earlier that day, I was able to get my birthday present for Chris…which
was me getting MY fishing license to actually fish (not just film) with
him. We sang “Happy Birthday” at the
picnic table…simple fun.
Chris’ Son Dustin
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| Dustin battling fish |
Coffman Cove) as well as some fishing
with his dad. Chris loved introducing
him to Alaskan fishing.
- The rain was pretty bad, especially on the first couple of days of his visit, so we were really thankful that Dave had a lodging alternative for him (he had initially planned on tent-camping there at the campground but ended up spending a fitful first night in the Laundry Room which Deedee had offered up because of the pouring rain). Dave also managed packing a cooler of fish Dustin could fly back with and share with his family.
- We enjoyed our evenings with him, playing cards and talking, and he and Chris got around to other parts of the island, which was great.
- The final cap on his trip was his first-time flight on a float plane (and a bonus extra trip because he and Chris had arrived at the dock early).
Drive-About Days
There were those days where
drive-abouts made more sense than anything else we had planned, and we had some
enjoyable highlights from those:
- Stopping
at Maybeso Creek to admire the tons of salmon trying to make their way up to
spawn
- Checking
out Sarkar Rapids at just the right time when there was an abundance of bald
eagles by the river (we counted at least 15 on either side of the
bridge—amazing—they were all fishing and we got some footage of them)
Eagles at Sarkar Rapids
- Visiting
Staney Creek—a beautiful place especially on a beautiful day (Chris
occasionally casting about in the stream to see what was in there)
View from Staney Creek Cove
- To
Craig (70 miles) to pick up supplies and other “town” biz (Chris’ appointments,
shopping, recycling, phone calls, etc.), and eat out sometimes.
- Down the east coast of the island to Thorne Bay…lots of wildlife sightings. One time we picked up a fellow whose truck had broken down…he had walked 3-1/2 hours and ours was the first vehicle he had seen. We got him back to his wife in Thorne Bay, bought a couple of groceries in the very claustrophobic market there (aisles have barely enough room for 2 normal-sized people to pass each other), then drove on back home.
- To
the Karsts on the north part of the island with sisters Dawn and Kim.
Totem poles in the middle of the woods in Kasaan
- To
see totem poles in Hydaburg and then Kasaan.
A memorable day once again, with sisters Dawn and Kim as we met a most inspiring native named “Hagu” who educated us about totem poles, customs, and life.
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Shoppie the Slayer—NOT!
·
After
returning from one of our drives, Shoppie held her ground with a big neighbor
dog, Chewbacca, who
was acting like he wanted to come aboard our trailer. She growled and stared him down--was quite
proud of herself--until he let out a greeting bark which sent her into her box,
not to emerge again until after supper.
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| Queen of her domain...sort of! |
Small Town, Big Finds
One of the ways Coffman Cove is also
a Utopia for Chris is that he can find a way to get just about anything
accomplished, without all of the big-city hassle:
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| Coffman Cove clinic and EMS truck |
- When the skiff was ready for its maiden voyage, we discovered that the ball on the truck (the one towing the trailer) was too big for it. Instead of having to take the long drive to Craig to get something, Chris checked with Bill first and then Josh (the boat/motor/repair guy) and got a brand new great one the correct size complete with “stinger” for only $25—wow!
Then, there was Yoga for me, even:
- Coffman Cove’s yoga class—it was great! Held at the library, where there is internet connection, they play a YouTube video of chair yoga (keep their shoes and normal clothes on). The women are fun to be with and I attended every class that I could.
I also found a piano to practice in
town, which amazed me:
- Grace’s mom, a teacher, informed me that the school house had a piano I could play but I would need to get a key from City Hall--"They rent keys out for the workout room, I'm sure you can rent one." I went to City Hall (a mobile home), and asked for a key to the school and was told they don't rent keys out to just anyone or for any reason (namely, the piano).
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| Coffman Cove City Hall |
I definitely benefitted from having
this outlet (most times I had the place to myself but sometimes Grace would pop
in when her mom was prepping and we even played a “duet” one time). There were times when I got a bit “wonky”
from the isolation (and no way to just pick up a phone and call a friend when I
felt like it), especially when Chris was out fishing, but I found my “groove”
thanks to that piano, Yoga class, and other “niches” for me.
Darcie Goes Back to Salem Temporarily
From 6/23 until 7/7, I trekked back
to Salem to fulfill lists we had made for various things we needed done for the
remainder of our time in Coffman Cove (banking, cancelling appointments, paying
bills, stopping mail, etc.) and to work on a piano DVD project for my mom
(practicing, filming, downloading, editing).
It was also a nice rejuvenating time for me in terms of better connections
with people that I couldn’t stay in touch with while there (friends, family)
due to the communication issues. The
all-day trek from Coffman Cove to Salem included:
- The 70-mile car trip to Hollis
- The 3-hour ferry trip to Ketchikan
- Little ferry to “airport island” to board
- An hour lay-over in Seattle, and then boarding agents informing me, “You’re not on this flight” (those of you who know me are saying, “Wow, she always has some kind of travelling luck!!”). I had been bumped off from over-booking and delayed beyond hope of making my HUT (the last one of the day) from Portland airport to Salem. Before I had time to raise much of a stink, the pilot came to my defense/rescue and claimed that the travel insurance that I bought meant that I wouldn’t have to pay extra for a missed flight which is why I got bumped—he was pissed!! More importantly, he got me ON the flight! Had to run-run-run in Portland to catch the HUT but did it—WHEW!!
An hour delay in Portland on the return flight had me running
through airports once again (and those of you who know my luck are thinking,
“But of COURSE!”). Then Chris (he was
meeting me in Ketchikan to ferry back with me to the island) got delayed with
his ferry from Prince of Wales Island.
On top of that, his medical appointment in Ketchikan was fouled up and
our phones were not connecting. We
finally somehow managed to run into each other, both very frustrated. We got over it and made our way back to our
simplistic summer life once again.
Town Events
While I was in Salem, I missed out on
2 major events at Coffman Cove—the Silver Salmon Derby and the 4th
of July parade complete with fireworks.
Chris filled me in on the highlights:
·
Silver Salmon Derby:
The Salmon Derby
included anyone who wanted (kids, locals, and visitors) to join in on the catching
and
weighing of various silvers, and cash prizes were given out to the biggest
ones. Prizes for the largest salmon of
each species were several hundred dollars each.
Then there were lesser prizes:
Chris won 3 cans of Coffman Cove canned salmon.
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| Kids try their hands at winning some derby prizes |
 |
| July 4th floats |
 |
| Greased Pole Competition |
o
The
day of festivities also included a greased pole competition where entrants took
a running jump onto a greased pole over the bay and tried to slide out all the
way to the end to capture the flag and claim the prize.
o
Fireworks.
Coffman Cove has some pretty serious fireworks enthusiasts and they
definitely show their stuff at events, especially the 4th of
July!
§ Side Note: Fireworks are not illegal on the island (a
special privilege brought to you by the Volunteer Fire Department, of all
things!) so you’ll hear many a session during most other days as well…all of
the pyro technicians perfecting their craft as it were. Sometimes we wondered whether they were doing
this for their own enjoyment, or were trying to send a message to visitors who
threatened to take away their beloved remote way of life. Or MAYBE, the Volunteer Fire Department was
trying to drum up business. Either way,
Shoppie was not impressed…kept herself in her box until the noise died down
most nights.
·
Art Festival:
I had been “recruited” at the library to help set up the tents for the
big August Art Festival,
so I showed up at my appointed day and took
instruction from sweet-faced woman-of-many-hats (librarian, drill-slinging
boss-for-Arts-Festival-preps) Carolyn. I
met some neat people during this volunteer stint, including one “Mrs. Bear”
(a.k.a. Penny) from Burns, Oregon who became my partner. She and I made a good team as we made our way
around reinforcing all bases and putting up ends and backs as needed. I also met a woman from Monument, Oregon here
for a week—she was spunky and fun and told me I looked happy when I told her we
had been here since May. I told
her I
had taught high school in Pilot Rock and knew Monument and the surrounding
areas well. It was funny to be connected
with so many Oregon folks here in tiny Coffman Cove.
 |
| One of many festival booths |
 |
| Natives entertain during the Coffman Cove Art Festival |
o
I
had earned a free meal ticket from volunteering and the 3 of us (Chris, Dustin and
I) had decided we would split my “winnings” on some kind of appetizer. Thanks to Carolyn, we ended up getting the
most expensive (best) one which wasn’t even part of my “freebie”—she was
thanking me for the help—sweeeet!!
o
Lots
of folks showed up for the festival—sailboats docked at the harbor from Seattle
and elsewhere.
o
Music
was provided by the mayor/garbage-hauler, backed by a band from Portland.
Unexpected News
When Life’s Fragility Sends Out Reminders…
One day while checking email, we
opened one from Chris’ sister Dallas, with the subject of “The Best Laid
Plans…” Upon opening it, we learned that
our lovely 16-year-old grand-niece McKenzie (Dallas’ granddaughter) was very
sick, diagnosed with lymphoma and in Doernbecher Hospital. The rest of our day took on a somberness and
sadness (and yes, anger, at the unfairness of it all) as we made our way back
to some known cell connection spots where we could call and offer our
support. Dallas didn’t want any extra
help at this point…things were pretty hectic and understandably they needed
their privacy more than anything, but it was good to hear her voice and be able
to send out our love, prayers, hugs…
Armed with this reminder of life’s
unpredictable fragility, we made our way back with a renewed energy to
appreciate every moment of life the best that we could. I think we probably said “I love you,” more
than usual. Since Dallas understandably
didn’t make this Alaska trip, we were hoping our “Starfish” place might offer a
possible “make-up” trip for her next year.
With our heads still shaking, and
eyes still tearing up, we put our dinner together and turned in with a
heart-felt movie (“Antwon Fisher”). The
rain really poured down outside…it seemed fitting.
I’m happy to report that McKenzie is now cancer-free and finishing up her
chemo treatments. A blessing!
Winding Down and Heading Back
Saying goodbye to folks was hard
(Deedee, Bert, camp neighbors, Grace) and I played one last
time on the piano which I’d come to
think of as “my little corner” before turning in the key. Chris gave out copies of his books to people
who had expressed interest and we battened down the hatches on his skiff to
keep until next year. We spent a couple
of days getting prepped and ready to head back on our long trek back to Salem.
Some heading-back highlights:
·
Ran
into Pete (of “Pete and Roger” who were our neighbors in 2007 at Coffman Cove
and then again in 2010) on the ferry back, who is 79-years-old and riding his
Harley all around Alaska…still living it!
·
The
ferry was 3 hours late getting into Ketchikan
·
Got
a cabin on the long ferry back to Prince Rupert so we could sleep and prep for
the driving part.
·
Had
to wait for an hour for Canadian Customs to show up in Prince Rupert (we were
actually stuck on the ferry—like Chris said, “How long would we have had to
wait had we been on time—3 hours??!!”)
·
Got
to the Canadian U.S. border 5 minutes late (closed at 5:00 p.m.) but U.S.
Customs let us through anyway so we could get across—whew!!
·
Dealing
with a 300-pound bureaucrat at Detroit Lake, Oregon on the way back, because we
hadn’t stopped by his booth for “permission” to look at campsites.
Back in the Land of Communique
So, yes, it’s nice to be home and
have the conveniences once again. But it
took maybe a couple of weeks of traffic, and various cosmopolitan-like frustrations
(security and identity-theft paranoia, etc.) to make us pine once more for
the remote simplicity that still (mostly) is Coffman Cove. It drives us crazy to be too connected, and
then it frustrates us at times when we’re so disconnected.
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| These guys don't care about identity theft... |
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| ...they just need a place to stretch and jog!! |
We’ll definitely be going back to
visit while we still can, but we also understand that it’s not the same place
that it was 15 years ago when we first vacationed there. As Chris says, “The word got out…” It happens all too often. We’ve seen it take place in Oregon and now
the fingers of progress are reaching out to
Coffman Cove. It’ll be nice, I’m sure, to someday be able
to make easy cell phone calls and fully shop right in town. But the peace and quiet of the past will be
missed.
