THE FINAL DETAILS OF TRAVEL PREPARATION FOR THE
ALASKA/ KAMCHATKA SIBERIA BIGHORN SNOW SHEEP
AND GIANT BROWN BEAR EXCURSION INTO
THE ARCTIC MOUNTAINS OF KAMCHATKA RUSSIA
August 13-15, 2001
What one would ordinarily assume would be involved in preparations for a long trip would be to pack up all the necessary items one would need at the far end and along the way, and check on tickets and necessary visas, etc. This has been done already-not only for this trip coming up at the end of this week, but also for the subsequent six venue six week trip of multiple activities from Michigan to Massachusetts, to the Himalayas to New Orleans, to Denver; from giving speeches based in seven different prepared lectures and sets of slides to climbing in Nepal and hunting in Colorado.
But the real urgency has involved getting my vitally needed equipment for the very long trips by air and the longer stretches apart from electricity and still able to communicate. That has meant yet another overhaul of my new Dell Latitude Laptop.
Before leaving for the India trip, I had a motherboard replaced by an Ethiopian IBM technician on call and under warranty when the line of keys went out. I explained that the line of keys was now working and so was the computer, as long as I was typing on a line current, but I was flying around the world with all this work to do and all the time to do it in along the way---and that meant that I needed to be on battery power-voila! Two new freshly charged batteries---and the laptop crashed on battery power even before fully booting-not a plus while in the air for long days at a stretch, nor in the towns such as Lei-or in even more remote campsites-where electricity was rare to zilch. So, I put in this request for a new service charge with Dell, and they said it would be coming by after the weekend, since it would take them some time to air express the replacement part. When Dorothy came to my office guided in by dueling cell phones, I saw the new part wrapped under her arm-a new mother board-the second new one in three weeks. I watched this one being installed, and then had to reconfigure my computer with a "video drive disc," since all the settings got mucked up with the disassembly of the laptop and its reassembly around a new mother board by an auto mechanic who has now turned to repair of much smaller and more modular things. I am typing on the battery just now to see how it will go after completing the reconfiguration back to the way it was before the crashing. So far so good. I then loaded the other battery and disconnected the line as the fully powered new battery took charge, and "crash"---without saving so much as a punctuation mark, the machine went down---not a good omen for a long forthcoming trip!
The other necessity for this trip was a pair of giant duffel bags, and a set of hip boots for wading around in the riverside big bear country. I had called on Saturday to ask why my duffel bags had not arrived which were ordered on July 17 in order to be here on time, and Sportsman's Guide said they were shipped on July 17-they must be stuck in my post office. After about six bounces on runaround I called the Derwood post office, and , no, they were not there. So, I had to order another set of them, to see if any could get here before the takeoff date. While I had asked about the duffel bags on the weekend, when they had said I would have to call during business hours on Monday, I asked about two sets of boots-the hip waders which were a specially good price-and they said they were all out of my size. OK, I would have to get them in Russia. Today while I called about the missing duffel bags, I asked about the waders again just before resigning myself to buying the more expensive 17 inch knee boots. I said the hip boots were a good buy but it was too bad they did not have any in my size---"Of course we do!" said the telemarketing woman-and told me there were 18 pairs in my size. What a bargain! Could you get them here by Friday? Yes, but only by ordering the next day delivery which was a 13 dollar item on top of the usual US postal system mailing charges. So, to get the boots here in time, I would have to pay as much for the shipping and handling as I would for the boots---but, at least, I could get the last of the required gear before I met George Sevich at Galyan's on Wednesday evening to pick up my visas, and a pair of walkie talkies he is buying at Galyan's for me to carry to Russia for the guide Victor over there.
I had mailed all but one of the required chapters and illustrations which
I had hand carried to the AVS this morning to have prints made of the figures
for my chapter, and had emailed to Eric Sarin the comments on the second chapter
now past due. I have to register all the hunters for the Nancy's Fancy January
hog hunt before the end of
August, and also set up my estate trust with the extra set of lawyers in light
of changes in the laws and the potential changes in my estate and beneficiaries-with
of course, last minute and urgent business pushed on me by the matter of the
Derwood property resolution now heating up to desperation. So, what I should
think are not ordinary items of urgent business that others would not consider
part of the "ground rush" before departure are getting somewhat resolved
with a constant effort. I had ordered new slide and print film, all of which
is stocked in each of the trips' stashes, and have just now field all the pictures
from the Ladakh-'01 excursion into album VI before Kamchatka comes to fill up
Album VII and the September excursions are flowing into Album VIII