Gotta go, Mile 14

Something about the traveling gene that us humans seem to have...no matter how cool a new place is you're always happy to get there and then happy to leave. I guess we just gotta move on. It's Semana Santa in Mazatlan which is kinda weird in itself, on one hand it's the holiest of all weeks and on the other hand the biggest party as well. Guess I just don't get that part but when we left two days ago the beaches were full of young people and beer. MP and I came across this on the our last bike ride and trying to make sense of it we came up with this...It was displayed this way to be a graphic example to be careful and not drink and drive during Semana Santa, or at anytime I guess.

It really was time for us to go. The morning we left Monsanto was really busy with the cloud seeding. Mmmm, maybe genetically altered party behavior for Semana Santa , I don't know but the sky was full of this stuff...or maybe it was just a bunch of Happy people like us headed home, who knows ?

I was hoping for another nice Robalo as a going away gift but I'd bet you can guess that the fishing has been real slow from my lack of pics/bragging/self promotion...But the other day I hustled up the beach following some birds and this Roosterfish said good bye Jethro. He's a bit on the petite side but I got all the faith in the world that he'll grow into a noble Guyo of 25 pounds. Cute,  ain't he ?

Our arduous trip goes like this....MZT-LAX-SEA-ANC- Puffin Inn - ENA...and all of that is good except LAX which I think they should rip down and start over, but that's just me. At customs they have a new system with facial recognition that looks like this. MP wasn't real fond of her pic and the lady from Anchor Point behind was appalled but that pic below matched up with who I'm supposed to be and I breezed right through customs with just a big ol smile and not a single question.

And then it was onto Virgin America Airline's Airbus, our first experience with Alaska's newest airline. They only have 8 first class seats and we had two of them courtesy Fejes's and Associates travel outreach program. Holy Moly, the leather seats recline and have lumbar support as well as a massage feature. They offer you a cocktail as soon as you enter the jet so you're having a nice nerve pill while the rest of the passengers are boarding....wow...I did a selfie and MP ain't to proud of this pic but she was reading the in-flight menu.....mmmm.....I guess we'll have the Angus Steak Salad with avacado and pepper sauce. Oh, those deals in the middle are reading lights that you can direct so that the other passengers have darkness if they'd  like.

Then it's home to the Kenai River a larger house and a King sized bed...In MZT we sleep on a double and we coined the phrase ' synchronized sleeping ' to describe rolling over at night. I love her to pieces ya know but a little extra room is kinda nice. And, it's soooo quiet here. In MZT even if the the drunks upstairs aren't partying there's still some noise like the guards walking or the surf rolling or the Gecko's chirping....but here at Mile 14, it's still, quiet, wonderful. The air....cool , crisp and clean and....well its just nice to be home. Here's a pick from our slider, the mountains in the background and the river still frozen.

And boy oh boy, as much as I enjoy doing this blog it's been a real struggle with the super slow Telemex internet at our building. So this I'm liking and I'll get back on track with a better schedule for Mile 14... hope you keep reading. And you can't tell by looking outside but we'll have fish pics in 6 weeks I figure.

Alaska / Mexico

Being on final approach for re entry to our vibrant lifestyle along the shores of the world famous Kenai River I kinda get a little thoughtful, kinda introspective on our life style. The differences in location are like so different you can't compare , somethings I miss from both, somethings I love about both....But fireworks in Alaska pales to Mazatlan. Here if you get married, fireworks, New people at the resort, fireworks. Holiday, fireworks.....here's a short clip of Saturday night's ' Festival of Light ' which were the display that usually goes with the Pacifico Marathon but the pyro technics were delayed while work was being done on the Malecon. The best display I've ever seen. They had 5to 7 stations set up so the fireworks came from all locations and scrolled up and down the Malecon. Bill and Diana sat on the concrete wall and watched and hour with us....it was fabulous except for the standing back up part that kinda reminded us all of our age.

So some of the things I miss at Mile 14... A television menu (  although we watch little TV here when we do it would be nice to know whats on but it's all pirated so no tv guide ).  I miss the health club, and those friends. My guitars. Running into people that Really know me. Even though I'm good at dodging work I miss sometimes feeling productive. I miss licorice and buttermilk. Reading an actual printed newspaper. Clean air. And i know this sounds weird but I miss being alone...which I'm good at.

Some of the things I'll miss from mile 5014...Mexicans, I love these people, yesterday as we shopped downtown I chatted, laughed, cajoled with the locals, they like me and I like them. Avocado's . A value, our first shopping trip to the Fred Meyer store will be a heart stopper. I'll miss 85 % of the residents of our building. Fishing the surf. Ernie. Mariana at Athina Spa, the guru of deep tissue massage. Spending money vrs making money. ...anyway, you get the idea, it's time to fly.

Things like this just jump out at me....when was the last time you saw an early 70's Ford Maverick ? Or signs at the clothing store that are ....ahhh..... brutally honest in a fun way.

Team X has a recruitment scheme that is pure genius....just show up. But if any of you aspiring Team X ers have leadership ambitions you need to keep an eye on Ernie. When we first met him years ago his value to the team was immediately apparent , he ain't no scraredy chicken. We were all impressed with the way he would handle the mid flight snagged Pelicano that every surf caster will eventually have to deal with. He'd just reel them in and grab it by the beak and surgically remove his lure and then they'd fly off, usually ....so I wasn't surprised to see the other day that ol Ern is also one hell of a snake charmer. We ran into several of these guys and Ern just lovingly returned them to where they had come from....what a guy.....me, I hate snakes....

So me and MPeasy jump the jet one week from like right now. I'm working hard to catch one last Robalo but the conditions are a challenge, we'll see. Combine that with the start of Mazatlan's biggest week, bigger than Carnaval, Semana Santa ( holy week ) starts this weekend. We've never been here for it but people say the beaches are so crowded with Mexican vacationers that fishing is impossible....it should be fun to witness and be a part of. I'm playing music on Saturday and I'll try and get a video on the blog so I hope you stay in tune. Then we're back at Mile 14 and onto Kenai Salmon Volume 37....

There's nothing you can't do too much of....

A wise friend told me that once about all the coolness he / I have in our lives. It's been cold here ( I know, I know, don't complain ) and the fishing is super slow.  The building had it's yearly meeting and other than the fact it hurt worst than the dentist I was left with this take away... this condo building has wonderful people who are overwhelmed by a small group of the meanest, manipulative and most vile bunch of liars a drunks you'll ever meet. In short, it's horrible the lack of plane and simple courtesy that is routine here at Mile 5014.....so it's a about time to get back to the friendly flow of our small town and the Kenai river.

Thanks.... I feel better already. With cabin fever setting in a bunch of us road tripped to Dimas to see the 4000 year old petroglyths, They charge 60 peso to view them and another 45 if you take pictures and of course the fishing is for 'locals' only...good thing I'm one of them. My friend Jake took the most wonderful picture for me.

So that's pretty cool.  Fishing from antiquity, of course this is Mexico and there's a chance they turned a guy loose with a Hilti tool... Here's one up close. The funny thing that jumped out at us that there seemed to be no fish, maybe it was before the ocean got here ? I don't know but this must have been a successful bunch of people with time to communicate through art.

The little town of Pixtala has the most wonderful restaurant perched on a hill over looking paradise. Life is awful slow here. we ate a great shrimp lunch and climbed the lighthouse like kids...we're feeling good.

MP's on going knee problem kept her off the stairs so I took a pic of her from the top.

It's wonderful thing when you get to the point with your passion that you truly enjoy seeing other people catching fish as much as you do yourself, or more. My friend Willy was on his last day in Mazatlan before the drive north. Alejandro and I were talking about our friend who has passed away recently and up from the beach walks Willy with the most gorgeous snapper I've seen in a long time. It's the magic of fishing really and  I think there's some design to it.

For all my fishing buddies in Alaska who deal with the busiest Marina in Alaska for the care of there boats I took this picture. We were on Stone Island when I noticed the local repair shop. They keep the stuff running as good as any place in the world and they get to work outside with the music blaring...For some reason here in Mazatlan we still see lots of new 2-strokes which in Alaska you just don't see anymore, maybe easier, maybe cheaper, I don't know,

There's no doubt that the ' water closets ' in Mexico are different. But when I saw this sign and the camera to go with it in one of the nicest restaurants in our city was kind of amazed. I mean, what do they think you're going to steal ? mmmmm.....see you next week, I'll try and find a something chuckly to report ...

40

Kinda of a milestone....40 years ago March 4th we got married. We used to celebrate it on the 5th because like a lot of things for me and MP we were confused a bit. Our old friend Bill Hunt was a Workman's compensation Judge and he said Jeffrey Shannon King do you take this woman to be your wife and etc, etc, etc....and I said....ahhhhhhh,,,yeyeyeye, yes, of course. It was really pretty simple, if I didn't get married she was leaving and back there in the deep recess's of my 24 year old melon I knew I could make a success out of my / our life and Mary Patricia Brown who is the smartest, prettiest, most interesting and talented woman I ever met. No brainer...AND, she liked me and even loved me. I told her I would never hurt her and I meant it.

Now how couldn't ya love somebody that cute....And this picture below illustrates her hard at work doing her job. On the fridge here at Mile 5014 she has a sticker that says ' Marriage lets you annoy that one special person for the rest of your life'.

Imagine being good enough to pull off both of these tricks in the same fishing trip...she really is quite remarkable.

A wise friend of mine told me one time that the definition of love is when you always think you got the best part of the deal....Now here's the confession and evidence that she's the secret to our success, People seem to think that because I'm kind of a type A take charge person that I'm the leader on this expedition....Wrong.

We had our first son the wonderful Maxwell Stephen without me even knowing that we were ' trying'.

She bought our first house  without me even looking at it.

She bought a house in Montana all by herself and she surprised me with the gift of a condo in Mexico without me knowing...She has a way.

When the lights finally went on for me and I realized we needed to make some $$$ as hard as I worked, she worked harder.

Look at our boys,,, two successful men with good healthy  lives .

Here's a close up of part of the guitar that she built me for my 60th birthday...man oh man, by far the coolest thing I own...So here's the deal MPeasy ( I now you read this )  let's retire, lets get really old and let's have new adventures while we do it...Thank you, I love you, I couldn't be without you and yes.... I'll continue to work on some of those things you point out from time to time, I promise.