It’s late Thursday night and I am watching a French movie titled Bob Le Flambeur. We drove into Elmendorf about 10:30. It has been a pretty long day but let me tell you about yesterday first and then we’ll get to the mess today. We ate breakfast with Carmen and her family. Then Tom and Charlie went to get the Kennecutt Mine Tour. The plan was to come back and pick me up for lunch. I didn’t go on the tour because, well, my knee that I have not tended to was hurting. Tom and Charlie had to go park the truck, then walk across a bridge into McCarthy, then catch a tram up to the mine. I didn’t see them again until 2 in the afternoon and they were dead tired from all the climbing up and down those restored mine buildings. We had lunch in the gazebo that Carmen and John had built and then we all went and took a nap. I had spent the morning going through all my photographs on my computer and getting rid of duplicates. The three of us slept for two solid hours. We ate supper again with Carmen. Then afterwards, John took Charlie and Tom up separately in his airplane – the one he built. I will just insert here that John and Carmen have pretty much built everything on their property – barns, tire repair shop, cabin, houses, gazebos, fences, paths, airplane hangers, root cellar, and more. I was a little overwhelmed – it would take me and Tom a year to build a gazebo and we would probably never finish it! Anyway – the small plane ride was a first for Charlie and I think he was pretty nervous getting in and taking off. He said once they were up in the air, everything was great – they flew over Hidden Lake, some glaciers, the mine, and much more. They were in the air a good 45 minutes. Then it was Tom’s turn - same trip but the landing was a little “bumpy.” Tom had a great time – he loves that stuff and took loads of photos. When they flew over Carmen’s retirement home, John opened the door and leaned out and took the photo. Really. He’s a great pilot and don’t forget he built the plane.

After a wonderful breakfast this morning we left Carmen and family and headed back out on the dirt and gravel road to Chitina. Charlie drove us out. At about the 50 mile mark, only ten miles from Chitina, I said, “Charlie you are doing great. I believe you are going to beat Dad’s time by almost half an hour.” About a minute later Tom said, “Pull over, the front right tire is flat.” Okay, I spoke too soon and jinxed everything. It was all my fault. But it was just a flat and we had a good spare.

Tom and Charlie got out. I remained in the truck. After a while I realized it was taking entirely too long to get the spare out. I hopped out and saw the situation and quickly got back in the truck. That spare wasn’t coming out. Tom said the turning bar was stripped. Several people stopped but Tom said everything was fine. So they went on. After about 45 minutes of fooling around I suggested that Charlie hitch a ride into town and call AAA and if that didn’t work, to call Carmen – cause that family is pretty much prepared for any situation that might arise in the Alaska wilderness. I gave Charlie some cash, my calling card, my AAA card and Carmen’s phone numbers. He hitched a ride with the next car that came by. Happened to be a couple on their honeymoon from New Hampshire and he had to talk to them the whole way in. Remember you can only go about 20-25 miles an hour on this road and sometimes you have to creep, so it takes a while to drive ten miles. Back at the truck, you can imagine the situation. Dee had told me when she was here that sometimes it was best just to be quiet. So I just be’d quiet. It was hot but a cool breeze was blowing. I helped Tom put covers on the two side windows to block the sun and we left a crack for the wind to blow through. It ended up being pretty comfortable in the truck – except for the insects that kept coming in. We sat in silence. I got out a DVD to watch on my computer to keep my mind off the tire and to avoid any conversation about it with Tom. Several people stopped, Tom told everyone our son had gone into town to get help. We figured three hours till Charlie would get back – an hour in, an hour to get help, and an hour back. One man told us about Boone – the tire fixer in Chitina. I just hoped that Charlie would choose to find this guy – that someone would tell him to go there and that Charlie would get this guy to come out. I didn’t care what it cost. At about three that afternoon – 3 1/2 hours after the flat – I had fallen asleep in the back seat. A man pulled up and this guy would not leave. He kept wanting to try different things to get the tire down, and also hook up this thing to try to get air in the front tire - so we could at least get to Chitina. He wasn’t going to leave us there. Then he found out we were friends with Carmen and John and he was bound and determined to help then. I was listening to all this half asleep and finally raised up to help Tom with the conversation. The man was startled, “There’s a human in there!” (He had only seen Roxie in the truck.) We had a great time talking to him. Another local, a friend of his stopped by. After he left, our friend told us he was the son of Mudhole Smith – a quite famous Alaskan Bush pilot. I’ll have to look him up online. Then here comes a huge truck carrying a long load of gravel with a tremendous cloud of dust behind him. The man said “Better roll up those windows – he’s on the clock and ain’t gonna slow down.” I’m racing to raise the windows and that truck slows to a fast halt. Charlie hops out of the passenger side. Then the driver hops out to check things out. He couldn’t get the turning rod to work either. Charlie had, in Chitina, contacted Carmen and her brother Joe was on his way. When they heard this, both of these guys seem to realize we were in good hands. So the gravel man pulled out. Charlie had actually spoken with the Boone tire place in Chitina. Mr. Boone had quoted him $75 plus $3.75 per mile which added up to around $112. Charlie thought that was way too expensive so passed on his help. I couldn’t believe it - I would have paid twice that. Our friendly helper said there was nothing more that he could do and knew Joe would be there soon. So he left. Inside of three minutes, Joe pulls up, hops out, picks up the rod, examines both ends, sticks it in and lowers the tire. By the time we discovered he had lowered and removed the tire, Joe was jacking up the front and had pulled off the flat. Then we went up there to help, but he didn’t need any help. That tire was changed in a flash. Tom let down the jack and the tire was flat – not enough air in it. No problem – Joe went and got an air machine and pumped up the tire in a few seconds. Before we knew it Joe was heading back to his truck. Tom tried to pay – but no way. And here’s the kicker. He followed us all the way to Chitina in his truck to make sure we got there. We had spent four midday hours on a hot dusty road in the middle of nowhere with no phone service - but at least we will know which end of the rod to insert to lower the spare when we have our next flat, Charlie has learned that $112 is not too much to pay to get a tire fixed on the McCarthy Road, we spoke to the son of a famous bush pilot, I watched a great movie, Tom read Harry Potter for the first time, and we found out how helpful and determined the local residents are who live on the McCarthy Road. We drove all the way to Anchorage, stopping for supper in Glennallen, and arriving home at our pop-up at 10 pm. It was like we were the only people on the road till we got to Palmer. Took about three minutes to get into bed. Roxy was glad to get out of that car. Pictures coming...

Charlie and Tom will go to Hope to river raft Saturday and on to Seward for kayaking on Sunday. I’m remaining here with Roxy. We leave on our ferry trip to the Aleutians on Monday night.