July 19, 2007
Rest Day at Robert and Janet's place: floating down the Chena river
Janet has rented some canoes for a floating down the Chena river, a tributary of the Tanana river. At the put-in place we find that they have misunderstood and we are one canoe short. So Janet and Kathy decide to do some other sightseeing while we board one two person boat and Travis takes the single seater. Travis is the 23 year old great nephew of Janet who escaped his family in Florida and is trying to find a job with room and board up here in Alaska. For the moment he lives in Robert and Janet's van out behind the house. He works with Robert on the house to earn his keep.
The float is about 1.5 hours and takes us through Fairbanks. A few parks and high rises downtown other than that just industrial areas and warehouses, not especially scenic, but we do see several beavers cruise in front of us before diving with or without a slap of their tail.
We have lunch at Chili's, drop off Kathy at her B & B and then head back up the mountain. Robert is an interesting guy. In August of 1999, after a bike trip in Eastern Australia with Janet, he biked across the Nullarbor Plains to Perth, then did a "walkabout" into the Great Sandy desert where he by choice walked for 41 days with no food. He also purposely did up to 6 days without water. He was finally "rescued" by a search crew and became "news" for a while in Australia.
This evening we all the leftovers from yesterday's feast. We relax on the couch and Patrick starts reading Robert's book.
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