The 2 year plan
For the next two years George
and Dave talked on the phone planning their adventure. George bought a claim in California and went
out several times to work it. We had
made several trips to Colorado and Alabama and the Cheeha Mountains. Hard to believe, but there is even gold in
Alabama. The guys kept in touch with
their adventures but Dave was busy working on something big. He located a claim in Alaska out in the
middle of nowhere. The only way in was
with a bush pilot. He was kind enough to
tell George some story of some plane crash from the previous owner; that George
passed on to me. I still remember my
response, “No way, are you guys crazy.”
I insisted they make use of the California claim. It was much closer and a heck of a lot less
dangerous. Typical men, my caution fell
on deaf ears. I suspect the gold fever
had something to do with it.
The guys left June 29 for
their first trip to their site. They got
to McGrath on Friday and met the bush pilot the next morning. McGrath is only about 300 people and the guys
were greeted with waves as they flew in.
Apparently there is not much traffic.
After getting some coffee and a few high priced odds and ends at the
grocery store the guys met their bush pilot, Mike. He was sporting an old beat up pick up and
informed George he would have to hold the door shut on their short drive to his
plane. Oh yeah, you can see where this
is going. The old pick up pulls up to an
old bush plane literally sporting some duct tape for extra support. They said it took off noisy and landed
rough.
