Day 34 - Bunko

There is a running club in Juneau called the Southeast Road Runners and they put on races all the time throughout Juneau. It costs $5 to enter each race, and that $5 buys you an official time, a bottle of water, and some nice running company on Saturday or Sunday morning. I was supposed to run in the Ben Blackgoat Memorial Race this morning on the Perseverance Trail but I missed the early bus downtown. I was pretty mad at myself because I had been looking forward to the race all week and was excited to race on the trails. Unfortunately, I missed out on all of the excitement and ended up having to create my own version of the race.

I decided to meet Dr. Nasicmento and Dr. Dee for breakfast at a little diner called the Valley Restaurant. It is run by Philippine women who speak about six words of English – coffee, bacon, pancakes, eggs, orange juice, and toast. Despite the language barrier for verbal words, they can still cook a damn good breakfast. The food there is really good and cheap and the women never let your cup of coffee get below half full. Instead of taking the bus or getting picked up, I ran from my dorm to the restaurant. I ended up going over 8 miles and feeling a little better about missing out on the race earlier in the morning.

I spent some time outside watching the US Open and the Cardinals in the afternoon. Since my TV connection off of the computer isn’t always clear and consistent, I have gotten really into listening to the Cardinals on the big 550, KTRS. There is nothing better than a sunny afternoon and an exciting home run call from Mike Shannon or John Rooney that leads to a Cardinals victory.

The Wilkinsons had an office party at their house tonight. Everyone brought food and drinks and we grilled and ate out on the Wilkinson’s large deck. We watched the bald eagles soar overhead and saw the seals playing in the channel. Not a bad way to spend an evening in and of itself, but the food and the scenery were merely a warm-up for the intense Bunko game that came after.

Bunko simply consists of rolling three dice to try and get a certain number, but I have never seen anything so intense in my life. There were married women fighting young residents on the floor for a pair of dice that had fallen off the table, there was so much screaming and yelling that I’m surprised the neighbors didn’t come over and complain, and there was enough trash talking to make an NFL middle linebacker blush. Who knew that three dice could raise such a commotion? I’m not sure if the intense competition was a result of the drinks people brought over or the true desire to win but, either way, it was an awesome way to spend a Saturday night.

I just finished packing for Haines since I am heading there in the morning. I’m getting back on the fast ferry for a two hour ride through the channel. It’s supposed to be nice again tomorrow so I’ll get some more great scenery off the back of the boat.

I’m staying with Lisa Cone, a hygienist from Haines, and her husband for the next few days. They are coming to pick me up from the ferry terminal and taking me to their home where I will promptly plant myself on the couch to watch the final round of the US Open and some afternoon baseball.

Off to bed dreading another 6:15 AM alarm…