Danger

I used to think that the most dangerous thing I did
was ride on the carnival ride “The Zipper” in Nicaragua. You see,
Central America is allegedly where carnival rides go to die. If a
carnival ridedoesn ’t pass safety standards of the US, they are sent to
our neighbors to the South for continued use. Later I learned that the
most dangerous thing I could do was ride on buses through the mountains
of Ecuador. I saw my life flash in front of my eyes as we flew around
snow covered curves through fog thick as the Alaskan permafrost.
Speaking of fog and snow, my climbing of Mt. Rainer was by far the most
dangerous thing I have done, as we traversed crevasse scattered ice
fields, and ascended up walls of loose gravel that went down as we
tried to go up.

Now, I have found a more dangerous thing to
do, fly the “milk run” in Southeast Alaska. The “milk run” as referred
to by Alaskans, is the flight in Southeast Alaska that goes from
Seattle to Juneau with stops inKetchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg . I
am writing this from the Alaskan airline 737-400 that carries
passengers up and down the Alaskan Inside passage. It is similar to a
trip on an Ecuadorian bus in the way that everyone knows each other,
they play 80’s music, the people dress like they are living during the
80s, and the flight is utterly terror filled.

Our first approach was announced with the statement, “We are not beginning our initial approach to Petersburg,
it is snowing hard, but the highway crew assured us that they cleared
the run way.” I wondered… does the highway crew lie? Why the need for
assurances? The approach began, and it was bumpy. Now the runway is in
sight and I felt assured… but wait. Are we pulling up? There goes the
stomach, we are pulling back up, and there goes the runway. GoodbyePetersburg. After about 20 minutes we are told, “Unfortunately, the runway lights are not working in Petersburg, and as visible as it is, we couldn't
’t take the chance. We are now turning around to try again, because it
looks like things have cleared up.” We landed, but we had two more
stops to go.

If you are reading this, I have made it to Ketchikan
and been reunited with Gabe and Harley. I am thankful that I enjoy
adventure and a little bit of danger I desire. Now that the ante has
been upped, what will it be next? Mushing? Sailing to Croatia with Gabe
and Harley? Grizzly bear watching? Who knows, but whatever it is, I
hope there is danger.