West Seattle to Fairbanks, AK

I spent the first part of this morning going back and forth with the blog site proprietor to try to solve my posting problems. It did kick back on this morning, as yet unclear what was the issue or why it apparently resolved. He finally did agree with me that in some way, shape or form, the server was the issue. Maybe a cache problem. The problematic post is still stuck at the top but at least I can post and I have his attention.

Next I drove over to Glazer’s Camera to have them rush clean the sensors on both camera bodies. This has needed to be done for a while, but I have not been near any camera stores that could do it. I could have sent them into Canon sequentially, but the shipping is always a risk. They charged me a premium, but got it done. I know that Art uses this place and it caters to professionals, so I trusted them to do a good job.

While I was waiting for the cameras to be cleaned, I completely repacked for the flight and specific situation that I would encounter up in Alaska. Then Libby, another of Art’s assistants, kindly took me for a tasty Mexican lunch, and then to pick up the camera bodies.

I had a little - well really quite a lot - of extra time before I needed to leave for the airport to catch the dreaded red-eye. So Libby unwrapped a copy of Art’s new book, Wild Lives, and let me be the first to page through it. That was a nice treat.

Rather than wait at the house, I decided to get to the airport early. There is a Centurion Lounge here, at SEA-TAC which looked encouraging. Until they told me the new rules were that I could not enter until exactly 3 hours prior to the scheduled flight. They actually sent me back down to wait the 20 minutes. Air travel is becoming ever-increasingly unpleasant. Even checking my bag was a hassle. Like the grocery store, they shunt you to the self-service kiosk, which is actually rather tricky. The agent who finally helped me also had trouble getting my boarding pass to scan - and she knew which way to hold it. Yes, I do realize these are first world problems. But they are still exhausting. I really do prefer driving - at least I am in control of the situation.

Hopefully once I arrive at Chena Hot Springs north of Fairbanks, it will all be worthwhile. Stay tuned.