29 JUN 98

I forgot to mention something exciting from the last time I was in Banff. One evening, when we returned to camp, there was a large bird of prey on our picnic table. He left a small dropping on the table and luckily, thanks to some previous passengers, I had a book for identifying birds by their droppings. It is a joke book, but nobody knew that. They all thought I had a bird dropping identification book, complete with pictures, measurements, and descriptions.

Then, the best part of the whole bird experience, we looked under the picnic table and there was a dead squirrel. It had been ripped open and there were easily identifiable organs littering the area. It was gross. Before I had a chance to clean it up, another squirrel came and stole the dead one, just dragged it away. I guess for a decent burial.

After I left here last week, I went to the Gaslight District and took a chess lesson from the guy on the street. For the first time in my life, I have a strategy when I play chess. I can't wait to play someone else and try it.

Last Wednesday, I drove back to Seattle and the trip ended. My friend Gillian, who was a passenger on one of my trips back in November, was in town for a few days. We went to the cool beach area in West Seattle to hang out. It was great to see her again. She brought me a CD from England that I had asked for. Now I can listen to my new music, a mix of rap and classical. Unfortunately, I had to work on Thursday and then she left on Friday.

Saturday night, Sue and I went to an Alpine Luau. Her old boss had a party at his house and I ate very well. It was a nice big suburban home with lots of families running around. They roasted a pig on a spit and had coconut-shrimp. It was probably one of the best feeds I have had all year.

Sunday I watched a little World Cup Soccer on TV and prepared for my next trip.

For years I have been expecting to meet somebody I know by random chance while I travel. It finally happened. One of my passengers on this trip, Trev, was my tent mate for ten weeks when I travelled through East Africa in 95/96. It was quite a shock and we have spent most of today catching up.

We finally have nice weather up here, so all my new passengers are enjoying a bike ride in the park. Tomorrow we leave Vancouver and start heading north. We don't stop until we get to Alaska. My current trip is called 'The Klondike'. We will take 22 days to drive up to and around Alaska. Then we will take the four day inside passage boat trip back to Seattle. It should be a lot of fun, although I don't expect to find very much Internet access to tell everyone about it.