A Darker View

Confusion of Time

My body is awake.

World Time Zone Map — A map of world time zones from Wikimedia

At this point I know not to trust my sense of time or internal clock, I have traveled across far too many time zones. Entebbe to Portland required 27 hours of travel and crossed ten time zones. My body is simply not to be trusted.

The previous evening had consisted of little more than making it from the airport to my parent’s house, then directly to a long sought bed.

The clock reads nearly 7am.

How can this be? The time seems wrong and I have no confidence in the old LED alarm clock in the guest bedroom. Was it set properly? I fumble for the cell phone to double check the time. The phone confirms the seemingly inaccurate time.

Lava Fountain

Driving to Masaka

The day started auspiciously enough…. An early morning thunderstorm swept over the city. With flash and crash it woke up all of Entebbe, rain pouring from the tin roofs, the rumble lasting until dawn. Awakened I stepped out onto the covered porch to enjoy the storm, recording some audio of the thunder and rain.

Masaka Road — A street in Masaka, Uganda

The day had a simple plan, after a minimal recovery from jet lag we would drive to Masaka and the school where we would be staying. A few hours of sleep and I was ready for the challenge of the day, and it would be a true challenge.

There would be four of us… My father, Christopher and Andrew, pastors from Zambia also attending the conference, and myself driving.

Africa

It starts simply enough…

My father is on the board of a Christian charity that runs schools in several countries across East Africa. To coordinate this effort they hold regular meetings with the local staff.

This year the meetings will be held in Uganda, ten days in Masaka. My father is also a bit over eighty, a spry and active eighty, but still. My mother made it quite clear… Dear, if you are going to Africa you need a travel companion.

Andrew? Do you want to go to Africa?

Why not.

On the Dock at Tenakee

The Nordic Quest docked for the night at Tenakee

Neptune at Opposition

Today the planet Neptune will pass through opposition, directly opposite the Sun in our sky. The planet will be well placed for observation all night long, rising at sunset, transiting at midnight, and setting at sunrise. If you are looking to observe Neptune, it is currently shining at magnitude 7.8 in
in southern Pisces just south of the circlet.

Neptune from Voyager 2, Credit: NASA /JPL

As the outer planets Uranus and Neptune move so slowly across the sky, the timing of oppositions is driven by the Earth’s orbit and occur each year at nearly the same time. Neptune’s orbital period is 164.8 years, taking over a century and a half to circle the celestial globe once. As Neptune was discovered in 1846, it has completed a little over one orbit since discovery.

Fishing Halibut

Charter Boat — The quintessential Alaskan charter boat anchored to fish halibut in Yakutat Bay

Remnants of War

Yakutat, like several other towns and cities along the Alaskan Coast was fortified during World War II to prevent occupation by the Japanese. Many remains of this military station are still there to be found by those willing to poke about a bit.

A six inch gun emplacement from World War II at Cannon Beach, Yakutat

Some of the remnants are well known about town. The long ocean beach in front of the town is called Cannon Beach for an obvious reason, two six inch gun emplacements are still present in the trees behind the beach, guns included.

The barrels have been torched off to deactivate these military weapons, but they are still there. There were additional gun emplacements on the point protecting the settlement and harbor, but these guns were removed with only the emplacements remaining.

Home-Made Caviar

The king salmon I had caught proved to be a female. This serendipitous occurance allowed my father to execute the plan.

King Salmon Caviar — Hand made king salmon caviar on cream cheese and crackers

Execution? A trip to the local hardware store to buy a cheap plastic collinder, an hour washing salmon eggs in the sink of our fishing lodge kitchenette, another trip to a local grocery for a box of salt, more fiddling in the kitchen sink, then waiting overnight to see if the result of all this effort is edible.

To my surprise the result was not only edible, but pretty good. Caviar!

An intense salmon taste different but reminiscent to smoked salmon. Served on crackers with cream cheese the bright golden orange caviar was a nice treat after a day out fishing.

To the End of The Road

There is only so much road to explore and we explored much of it.

Yakutat, like so many Alaskan communities is accessed only by sea or by air. Not to say there are no roads, they just do not go anywhere else, much less connect to the road network that crosses the continent.

In the case of Yakutat the furthest you can get from town is about 26 miles as the crow flies taking the road to Dangerous River and Harlequin Lake. This road is a well maintianed gravel road heavily used to access popular fly fishing rivers and hunting areas, as well as by loggers harvesting the local hemlock and sitka spruce.