Yakutraz Day I

The plane left JNU true to its word, 50% on time. We flew above the clouds and even some of the mountains peaks could still be seen. After the clouds parted several glaciers could be seen carving out the mountain sides. While descending, all I saw were mountains, valleys and other prettyish kind of wilderness. I thought how could there be an airport here. There's nothing! Then suddenly we touched down on pavement and I saw this rusted airplane hangar w/ broken windows that I only hoped hadn't been used in ages. As I waited for my bag I looked around for the car rental person who was supposed to pick me up. Since neither one of us knew who we were looking for, we never found each other. I opened my cell phone to call the credit union..."searching for signal".

While still waiting for my bag, my cell phone vibrated. "Someone's calling me. Somebody loves me!" I thought. It was only my cell phone powering down. Apparently when I charged it the night before I had stuck the charger in the headphone jack instead of the charging jack. I walked over the the Yakutat Lodge which sported a sign saying, "Food, shelter, booze." All the necessities of life. I asked if I had a room there. I hadn't and I couldn't remember the name of the place I was staying. I knew it was something with Lodge in the title, but apparently everything has Lodge in the title there. I spent $3 calling Juneau trying to find out where I was staying. $3 to call less than 300 miles. Fortunately one of the ladies there at the lodge knew one of the tellers at the CU called her up. She even brought me to my rental car place. I was praying they wouldn't give me a minivan. But alas, I got there and the guy had me put my stuff in a faded green minivan. Luckily that was just to take me to my ride - a Ford Expedition, Eddie Bauer Edition.

I drove straight to the CU as I was supposed to meet the other teller there. I waited and waited and saw no one show up and the lights were dark inside (from what I could see through the house door leading into the CU). The CU was inside a general store type of shop. They had furniture right next to ammo, which was right next to the CU. I decided to check into my room. When I got there, they showed me around my room but gave me no key. I was situated in a building w/ two bedrooms with a bunk bed to each, a kitchen, bathroom and dining area. The dining room table, which had the word LIFETIME molded into the plastic (which must have been the brand b/c it certainly couldn't be the warranty), had an old TV on it that didn't get and TV channels. It only played VHS, of which I had 3 to choose from, Enemy of the State, Heist and Heartbreakers. All Gene Hackman movies.

I went back to the CU and it was still dark inside, but I saw movement. It was the teller who was supposed to meet me there. She'd apparently been there the whole time. She just likes to leave the door unlocked and the lights off (rather than the other way around) so no members will come in before they open. The branch consisted of 2 teller stations and the manager's office/vault room, which had no door. So members were able to see us loading piles of money into the vault. The new teller and I went to the post office to get our shipment of money from the fed, which consisted of over a hundred grand in currency and several thousand in coin. We transported it to the branch and huffed it up the stairs armed with nothing but my knife for protection from robbers and pree-verts. The members were lined up out the door and one of them exclaimed, "Holy cow!" when one of the bundles of money fell into view. That was nothing. It was only about 20,000 in fifties and hundreds. Of course, if it were Hollywood it would have been a million dollars.

The day consisted of counting money and helping members. We closed at 5, but didn't get out of there until nearly 7, and we still weren't done. We only had half the money counted and we didn't finish the vault b/c it was off from the day before. It was a mess. After that I needed a drink. On the CU of course. I couldn't find a store in town that sold alcohol, which shocked me immensely. How could anyone live in a town like that and not drink? So I went back to the Yakutat Lodge and had a beer and a ham-a-burger. That was the first thing I'd eaten all day, not counting the itty bitty bag of pretzels from the plane ride. The bartender even built me a frilly drink w/ pineapple juice. I had asked for a Mike's Hard Lemonade, but they didn't have it. The barkeep apparently hadn't even heard of it b/c she started naming off soft drinks they had instead. Too uptown for Yakutat I suppose. All the fishermen there were prolly thinking, "That's the girl who gets her salsa from New York City." After dinner I went home and fell right to sleep at 10 pm. I woke up the next morning at 9 am. I musta been tired. Normally I can't sleep for 11 hours unless I really try.