Day 35, Cantwell, Alaska

Today was a sad day.  Not from anything that happened here in Alaska, but I will get into that at the end of the blog.

Today was another lazy day.  We didn’t plan anything for today.  We stayed in bed until we wanted to get up and then set around the motor home drinking coffee.  Later Gary wanted to go to a stream he remembered from when he and Mattie were in Alaska about 15 years ago.  We never did find that stream but we did see one we could get off the road and park next to.  We got out our gold pans and decided to see if we could find a little color.  I know everyone has heard of fool’s gold.  Well guess what?  I found out why they call it fool’s gold.  The first shovel full I started cleaning with the water from the stream was alive with shiny glittering gold.  I really thought it was the real stuff.  My first clue should have been that the stream was right next to the highway and we didn’t have to get in line to get to the stream.  The clincher was that it stayed on top of the sand and mud instead of going to the bottom.  The last thing was it would break up under your finger but it made a fool of me for a little while.  No money but fun anyway.

Gary made his Salmon chowder this evening.  Really good.  We brought some cherry pies we got at Sam’s in Fairbanks with some vanilla ice cream.  After supper we played “George” until about 10:30pm and then went to bed.

Now for the sad part.  We got word that a really good friend, a member of our Good Sam Chapter in Oklahoma had passed away.  We knew he was in the hospital and not doing well.  John Sexton was his name.  John had been fighting cancer for several years and his heart was only operating at about 15% of normal function.  John and his wife Mary were one of several members of our chapter that spent the winter in Aransas Pass, Texas.  All of us had come to love John and Mary.  John kept us laughing most of the time with his dry wit and humor.  We’re going to miss you buddy.  John, when you get everything organized up there be sure and save me a parking place for my RV.

This is a picture of John and Mary at a cook out that we had last winter in Aransas Pass, Texas.