KetchikanAlaska

Early in 1968 we were approached about going to Southeast Alaska. A deal was made and a date was set. I do not remember the date but i think it was spring time. It was for a one month engagement. We decided to go alone. The ladies were in Salem living a normal life so the four of us were going it alone. Alaska has a ferry system called The Alaska Marine Highway , that serves the southeast peninsula of the state . It sails from Seattle on the south making stops at Ketchikan, Juneau and so on up to Sitka I believe. It is a seven day round trip. Ketchikan is about 44hours out of Seattle and is the first stop. Some boats stop in Prince Rupert B.C. Ours did not. The boats are pretty good size. You load your cars on the lower deck and then state rooms, bars, restaurants etc are on the upper decks. The state rooms are for sleeping only you have restrooms, showers etc down the hall. Gary and I shared one room Leon and Hoot in another. The rooms had bunk beds. We were using Hoots Volkswagen van for the equipment and took no other cars. The only way in and out of Ketchikan is by boat or by air and at that time the airport was on Annette island which is a short trip by seaplane from Ketchikan. At that time there was only about thirty miles of highway in and out of town. We had a good time on the boat. Most of the trip is inland water ways which is very smooth water. The scenery is fantastic and the boat has several nice observation decks from which to enjoy it. The food is very good in the restaurant and there is a snack bar for people like me that always need a snack. There is one part of the trip, where you cross Queen Charlotte sound, that can get pretty rough in bad weather. We were told by several of the crew members that ours was one of the worst crossings they could remember. I got big time sea sick. Other than that the boat ride was something new and I loved it.

Arriving in Ketchikan we unloaded and found the club and our apartments. The apartments were upstairs from the club and offered no real amenities. Once again Gary and I roomed together and Hoot and Leon were in the other apartment. The club, though kinda small, was pretty nice. We had great crowds and they were very nice to us. There were some strange characters but over all the people were great. I have always heard that Alaska is known for its alcohol consumption and after working there I believe it. It was common night or day to see people crashed in the doorways up and down the street sleeping it off. The bars open early and stay late and are always busy. In the afternoons while rehearsing we were always being approached by bar patrons wanting to buy us a drink or requesting a song. I was awakened every morning by the Beatles song Hey Jude. From our upstairs apartment we could hear the jukebox and this was a popular song of the day.

Ketchikan is a very popular place for outdoorsman. The fishing and hunting are great there. It rains about 95 inches per year but in spite of that it’s still a great place for sportsmen. It is the Salman Capitol of the world. There is like three salmon seasons. While there I got acquainted with a young man that loved to fish and hunt. He took me fishing every time I could get away. I was never very interested in hunting so he didn’t press the hunting issue. My first experience at salmon fishing was when the King Salmon was running. You simply load up with food and drink, fishing supplies and troll all over the waterways. It’s all smooth water and unless you’re getting some action it’s pretty boring. I never caught a king but sometimes, in order to break the monotony we would stop and drop our lines to the bottom and catch cod or other bottom feeders. That was kinda fun but I really wanted to catch a king salmon. Never did. Sunday was our day off so if we wanted to do something where we didn’t need to worry what time we got back Sunday was the day. One Sunday my friend Sheldon took me steel head fishing. steelhead is a large, ocean running trout. When you fish them you fish the rivers and streams in the mountains where the fish go to Spawn. We took Sheldons boat,which was a small 16 foot plywood boat with a 55hp outboard engine on it, about 20 miles up the coast. We had to cross about a mile of open water where it got pretty rough for a small boat, but we made it ok. We tied up the boat on shore and walked up a small river fishing pools of beautiful clear water all the way. It was a fun day and we fished all day with some success. Late in the day Sheldon said we had better start making our way back so we didn’t get caught in the dark. It had rained on us some during the day but we never considered the weather. We got back to the boat and noticed the wind had picked up considerably. We started back and when we got to where we had to cross the open water the waves were huge. He said he thought we could make it so we proceeded on. That small boat would toss and roll and I was scared to death. We turned back and reached the shore where he gave me a quick lesson on survival if we capsized. Keeping in mind he told me I had to reach shore as quickly as possible because one could only survive in that water for 20 minutes because that’s how long before you froze to death. We kept trying without success. On our last try at one point the boat came way up in the air and when it crashed back to the water we hit a huge log. We thought it had punctured the hull of the boat but thankfully it did not. We turned around and slowly limped back to a small marina that was located at the very end of the only highway out of town. We found a phone and called for help to learn there was a small craft warning and the coast guard had been alerted that we were missing and a search was about to get underway. Sheldon tied up his boat there and some one, I guess his wife, came and picked us up. I have told this whole story and it now occurs to me this didn’t happen on our first trip to Alaska it was on our second trip. I know this because I now recall Susan was there when this happened and she wasn’t there for our first trip. Oh well same story just a different time.

Next time The end of Prince Charles and The Crusaders