quote:

Originally posted by GSSP:
Hey gang! We're here! Flew out of Salt Lake City Friday night @ 9pm straight to Anchorage. My Storm 3300 double rifle case filled with two soft cased long arms; my CZ 550 in 9.3x62, 20 rounds ammo, Manton 12 ga SxS shotgun, Ruger 4-5/8" Ruger Blackhawk in 45LC, 12 rounds ammo and fishing rod met the 50 lb rule. They never even attempted to measure the outside diameter which in knew exceeded the 72" max size most (Delta this leg) airlines have. My Rubber Maid Action Packer box was right at the 50lb limit and only incurred the $25 fee for a 2nd piece of checked luggage. My carry on was my Eberlestock J107 back pack with most of my hunting clothes, binos and Zeiss 65mm Diascope, tripod and minimum hunting gear to include $ and hunting tags/licenses. Met up with my best friend, Dan, about 12:30 am. The Anc airport, main terminal, not the the north terminal, has pretty comfortable seats able to allow one to stretch out and get some sleep. Six am flight to Nome, via Kotzebue was cancelled due to fog at Kotz. Off and on in 1/2 an hour and straight to Nome. Only arrived 1/2 hour late. BEAUTIFUL weather! Was picked up at the airport by Tok Tozier, brother in law to our Outfitter, Brian Simpson. Drove us around town which took all of 3 minutes to the Aurora Inn. Nice, clean, sort of a Best Western affair. He allowed us to settle in and then dropped us off at the Airport Pizza for a late breakfast. Great food and friendly "high school" aged waitress'. Walked back to the Inn and stopped off at the Nome Outfitters to see what sort of sporting goods gear they had. Price quote; Reloader 22, $31.95 per lb. Was quite surprised at the selection of rifle/handgun ammo they had. Various metrics, lots of modern as well as some dated cartridges. Tok picked us up a few hours later and took us east of town to an area where we could check our rifles sights. He then ran us north of town up on the local mountain to see the sights from the old Air Force radar/commo dishes; if you could call them that. Very scenic. Back to town, naped, showered and walked down to the street to the Polar Cafe. The pork chops, to me, were fantastic! Movie theater, combined with the Subway was showing both "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and the Mummy movie w/ Brendan Frazier. Matinee, $7.00, prime time $10.00. Didn't make the movie, back at the Inn, unpacked, repacked, hit the rack after the TNT network movie "Saving Private Ryan" ended. Sunset around 10:30, I think. I looked out and saw a gourgeous sky around 11:00.

Tried to sleep in but my body is on Utah time which even though is only 2 hours east, I think we are so far west 'cause Alaska is all one time zone, my body is probably 3 or even 4 hours ahead of here.

Next am read for awhile, watched tv, showered and walked down the street to the Polar Cafe for a great breakfast. VERY GOOD food and good conversation.

Tok will pick us up about 1pm and take us over to his house where we will wait until about 5pm when we either drive to Teller, about 70 miles north on a dirt road or fly out to our Grizzly camp, NE of Teller. Their are 4 hunters to stay in camp during the next week. So two fly and two drive. The two that drive will then be picked up by the pilot, Alaskan state senator/doctor Donny Olson, in Teller and flown out to camp.

So from today until around the 16th I won't be in contact. Hope to post the results of a great Grizzly hunt accompanied with lots of photos and tales of fantastic Grayling, Char, Salmon, Pike fishing accompanied by some downed Ptarmigan.

Until, I just want to say thanks for all those who advised, suggested and helped me put this whole thing together.

Wow!