On the final day in Alaska, I finally feel like I'm sleeping soundly. I'm ready to sleep all morning, but get up at 7:30 to take Jayson to a sight-seeing tour with Copper Valley Air (their above-the-tree-line hiking tour sounds fantastic, by the way.) I head back to the camp site, stir Kevin and Dan, and start packing for the last time. It tales us a long time to pack because we have to pack for the commercial flight home; it's amazing how much less stuff we have when packing efficiently.

We stop by the side of the road and snap on last picture of Mount Drum before heading west. I drop Kevin and Dan at the Caribou and then pick-up Jayson. My meal was waiting at the sit-down counter when I return and it's served with enthusiasm and sass. Coffee was $0.25. Highly recommended.

We drive three hours back to Anchorage but it seems even longer longer. I'm occasionally getting sleepy but Jayson starts a conversation that lasts the rest of the drive. I stop to add an extra 3 gallons to the tank and take a quick baby wipe bath in the gas station bathroom. It feels amazing to be clean. I put on the last clean shirt I have, a white undershirt. I use deodorant. I'm definitely back in civilization.

We head to the Snow Goose Restaurant, which contains the Sleeping Lady Brewery. We sit on the deck on a perfectly clear afternoon and watch F16s performing maneuvers over the Cook Inlet. This a a very relaxing cap after several days of non-stop action.

The rest of the day in Anchorage was a blur. We walk around the touristy downtown area, drop Dan at the airport for his earlier flight, search unsuccessfully for a replacement gun case for Jayson at Wal-Mart, find one at a local sporting goods store, have freezer-burned ice cream at Baskin-Robbins, head to the airport, clean-out the car, and back-packed to the terminal.

At the terminal, Kevin finds that he is accidentally scheduled on the flight for tomorrow. After a few minutes of confusion, the lady behind the counter takes care everything and he's on our flight. We hang-out at TGI Friday and wait for the flight. Wait a second, that's Dan wandering around the terminal! Isn't he supposed to be on a plane right now? Turns out, he was upgraded to a direct flight home.

Kevin and I end up in the exit row with an empty seat in between us. This is the first time he and I really spent talking one-on-one and we take full advantage. We talk the entire flight. I'm amazed by his spiritual growth and his vision for the church. His sacrifice of status and prestige for a pure vision for Cool River Church is inspiring. We talk about Vietnam, Haiti, people we knew, and ourselves.

I say a quick good bye and rush off to my flight to Indy. I sleep about 20 minutes but can't find a comfortable position after that, so I watch an couple of episodes of Battlestar Gallactica on my Treo to pass the time. A quick baggage claim and I'm outside waiting for my father-in-law to pick me up. What a great surprise when my smiling wife shows up instead! Have have a happy little reunion and head home, where I doze in and out of nap state for the rest of the day, in front of the TV. At night, I finally get to experience darkness again, and I sleep very soundly.

I awaken two hours before anyone else to slightly lifted cloud cover and a cold morning. I perched on a the rock ridge with my sleeping bag and listened to an entire O.A.R. concert before anyone else stirred. We had a quick meal, packed the car, and headed north to explore the glacier and do some more fishing.

The Worthington Glacier is a short 10 minute drive away and is largely a mystery to us. There is a little tourist shop in the parking lot, a fenced-in observation area with a few trails on the other side of it. Are we allowed to climb the fence? Are we allowed to hike the trails? Are we allowed to hike the glacier? We have no idea. So we jump the fence and start to climb up the mountain to the south.

Half-way up, it's decision time. Dan and Kevin decide to slide down the steep embankment and head to the glacier. Jayson and I decide to take the trail back. After a few minutes of hiking, Jayson finds easier access to the glacier and goes to meet Kevin and Dan. I head down to the base of the glacier on my own and start snapping photos.

I'm taking photos along the base of the glacier. The sediment in the glacier shows why the rock bed is so heavily work. I start talking to a couple of retired tourists and they tell me they just saw a couple of guy walk across the glacier about half way up. I start scanning and see Dan and Jayson on the far side and Kevin coming back down the original side.

Apparently, out on the ice, Kevin decided it was too difficult/slippery to cross. Dan was determined to walk across and Jayson decided it was more interesting to go with Dan than with Kevin. I'm slightly jealous that I didn't get to cross it, but I'm also glad I didn't slide to my death due to slippery boots. Luckily everyone makes it out unscathed save my soggy right boot during the stream crossing.

We head to Tiekel River Lodge for lunch and it is the best cooking of the trip. We chat-up the diner chef and he tells us the best fishing is back south, at the lake near the glacier on the east side of the highway. We head back south to see if the fish really will jump out the water onto our hooks.

After 2 hours of fishing in 40-degree weather, we have the one fish that Dan has caught, a smaller female lake trout. Our fingers, noses, and ears are numb and we're ready to find a place to camp. So we head back to Glenallen with our second and final catch. $220 for fishing licenses means that we've caught 2 $110 fish. Oh well, we had fun doing it.

As we were fishing, a bald eagle flew overhead and I didn't have my camera with me. I rushed over to my backpack, snapped on my 80-300mm lens, and was able to capture one descent shot after the eagle had already passed.

We stop by the grocery store and Dan get what he needs to prepare the fish. Kevin and I head to get beer and ice while Dan prepares the fish. Beer; no problem. Ice; the entire town of Glennallen is out. That's right, there is snow visible on all of the nearby mountains but all 4 grocery stores are out of ice. As a last resort, we stop by the Caribou Restaurant and they take pity on us. We get a free garbage bag full of ice. Cold beer is a hard-won luxury.

Dan cooks the fish and it is excellent. By far the best fish of the trip; perfectly seasoned and cooked. It's amazing the transformation Dan has undergone. He was ready to call it quits the first and now he a glacier conquering, fish catching explorer.

After dinner, we play a quick game of basketball. At 11:30 PM. Unfortunately for me, it's the hardest workout of the week. Sure, I hiked a glacier earlier that day and only had 4 hours sleep the night before (and the night before. . .), but that wasn't the main reason for my pain. I hadn't played basketball in 4 years and it showed. I'm getting older and more out-of-shape. My team (the two tall guys) win the game but I'm definitely the loser. My feet, legs, back, and stomach are all complaining. Time for bed. But not before applying more deet.

Enough of the hotel already; we came here to hike and camp. Based on the advise of the Copper Valley Air guys, we head down to Valdez. It's a beautiful drive and we're surprised how much the scenery has changed. It's probably because we're driving through the mountains as opposed to around them. We pass a couple of beautiful waterfalls as well as a glacier that we will plan to explore the next day.

We stroll around Valdez and it seems to be what we'd expect a real Alaskan town to be. Lots of evidence of the oil and fishing. It's always overcast and has a gritty, industrial feel to it. We have lunch at MacMurrays Alaska Halibut House, the local equivalent of Long John Silvers. The fires are soggy but the fried fish is fresh off the boat and excellent. The salmon was great, but I think Jayson's halibut was even better. Guess that's why it's not called Salmon House.

There are very few mosquitoes in Valdez and surrounding areas. We are happy.

We stop by the local tourism office and ask about hiking and camping. We're disappointed that the long train long the coast with camping is washed out an unavailable. We settle on a shorter trail north of town that is guaranteed to have bears. I'm excited. I want to get a photo of a bear and I have my 300mm lens ready. We start up the trail and are surprised to find it's actually a service road to the dam above. We immediately see bear scat and we each check our bear mace canisters. We sign the logbook and head in. Soon after we see a big black shape suddenly pop-up above the ridge in front of us. My eyes widen and I read for my camera and bear mace at the same time. It's a dude on a mountain bike.

That was the most exciting part of the hike. At the end of the trail was the dam, which we climbed down. We hung-out for a while and then hiked back to our car. A giant grizzly marked the side of our car! Well, upon further inspection, it looks like it was probably a dog. Our bear viewing experience was a bust. At least I was able to get a photo of a bald eagle perched on driftwood in the middle of the lake.

We headed back north to Blueberry Lake campground. We were initially a little disappointed with the selection of sites, but eventually found a perfect place for 4 tents and no neighbors at back of the grounds. The fog / clouds were thick and it made for a cool and eerie camping experience. We scavenged fire wood (because the camp ground had none for sale), made a fire, boiled water for our dinners, and finished-off (I take most of the credit) the Jack. The cloud cover made for the dimmest night we'd seen, and you actually needed a flashlight to read in your tent. It was also the coldest night we'd had, reaching down into the 30s.

At 8:00 AM I wake to the sound of a small plane getting ready to land on our lake. "The plane! The plane!" I hear someone yell. In my excitement, I can't unzip my tent to get out of it. Good thing this was not a bear attack. I busily start breaking down my tent and packing away my Thermarest and sleeping bag. I then hear the bad news. "It's not ours."

The competition, another air service, finally returned to break-down the other (better) camp site. Thanks guys, but it would have been nice if you did that 3 days ago. The others start eating breakfast but I keep packing. About 45 minutes later, a plane flies over our campsite and dips it wing at us and then heads over the pass to land at High Lake. This is our plane and it will be back to get us soon. This is a very quick response from the Copper Valley Air guys. I keep packing and I'm ready when the plane lands. Dan and I load up and say good-bye to Camp Mosquito. I feel bad leaving Kevin and Jayson to pack the inflatable boat, but someone had to be on the first and I was packed.

Back in civilization, there was no doubt as to where we would be camping: Tolsona Lake Resort. We unpack the plane and head over to check-in. I sit down at the bar, order a beer, order an egg sandwich, and check-in to our room all at the same time. Nice. More hotels should offer this type of service. After everyone is back and had visited the restaurant/bar, we head our room. Under normal circumstances, we would laugh at the fact that this place calls itself a resort. But today, it seems appropriate, if for no other reason than there is a hot shower.

We head out to find some local Salmon fishing. We stop at multiple locations and get a different story each time. "They aren't running yet." "The King's are running strong." "People i just talked to have only caught 1 in the 4 days." "You need fancy lures, salmon roe, and waders to catch them." "My two kids caught 8 fishing off the bank last night using colored string as bait." The "expert" appears to be Sourdough Joe, the bearded old man selling fireworks outside the Hub of Alaska gas station store. He tells us which fancy lures we need (they sell ones he's made inside the store) and he tells us how to attach the roe to the lure. He yells the entire time we talk to him and doesn't charge us a thing. We start talking guns and he pulls a .50 caliber single shot hand out from behind the counter. He also has a .44 barrel for it. He has another pistol there and also says he has Ruger Super Blackhawk, but he can't find it behind the counter. Jayson tells Sourdough Joe that we'll bring him some specialty Buffalo Bore high-powered rounds for his .44. He's never seen these before and is very excited.

We head out to the liquor store behind which there is "awesome fishing" according to Sourdough. Before heading to the river, we stop by the liquor store for some Jack and advice. The guy claims no-one has ever caught anything behind the store (under the bridge) because the water is too fast. Since there is no one there fishing, we believe him, and head over to Copper Center. It's combat fishing, with about 30 people casting into the river. We try our luck for about an hour and a half and catch nothing, using every combination of bait and weights we can. Kevin is starving and has a nasty hamburger by the river before we head back to the resort for dinner.

The special for the night was Prime Rib. I'm not all that hungry, so I go for the grilled cheese sandwich. I'm sure I've insulted someone. Exhausted, I head back to the room for a shower and a nap before karaoke night. About an hour later, I'm back at the lodge and the others are playing pool. The locals are very in to their karaoke; a couple of them perhaps too much so. I'm still half asleep and the bell rings, meaning someone just bought a round for everyone. As we finish our beer, Jayson asks for the tab. I'm still half asleep, but I insist that we don't leave without singing first. The 4 of us join one of the employees in "Knocking on Heavens Door." Someone notices the 4 of us leaving ask us if it is ture. We confirm and someone shouts, "You all are a bunch of pu****s." If I were well rested, that would have been all it took to get me to stay until 4:00 when the closed-up. But I was exhausted and had to agree with them and head to bed.

I awaken in to morning to about a dozen mosquitoes on my tent, hoping I get close enough to the mesh flap that they can bite me though it. Turns out, some already have. There is hum that fills the woods. The hum of mosquitoes. It's no fun being hunted.

At breakfast, we decide to regroup and figure out what to do. Dan still isn't having fun. Jayson thinks we should either take the boat out of the lake and all the way back to civilization - he's checked his maps and it's possible - or hike our way out. Kevin and I still think we should give it Kaina Lake a chance, so we decide to explore the lake, do some fishing, and do some hiking.

We all four jump in the boat and head to the south end of the lake. We head about a mile upstream toward the mountains and discover a couple of beaver dams. We head back to the lake a fish some more. 3 hours total and not one bite. But at least there are not many mosquitoes on the lake.

Back at camp, we rehydrated our lunch and, an hour later, Jayson and I decide to head out for a hike up the tallest peak on the west side of the lake. An easy walk quickly turns into a difficult wilderness journey. The brush and trees are very thick and the terrain is steep as we try to make our way to the ridge that lead up to the peak. The trees are so thick that we have no idea how close or far the ridge is. We finally hit the side of it and the trees are brush are just as think, just more vertical. We keep fighting through and eventually break the tree line and read the upper edge of the ridge. Wow! Now this is a nice view. And an enjoyable hike. I'm hoping we find a great place to camp at the top and that we can spend a couple of mosquito-free night up on the mountain.

We make great time above tree line and are excited to be reaching the peak — until we find out it's a false peak. We have about another 400 ft of vertical to climb.

We finally reach the top (click here to see Karaoke Peak in Google Maps) and it was worth the work. The view of the lake is beautiful. The view of Mt. Drum is inspiring. The cool air and breeze is refreshing. The mosquitoes swarming around our head at 4400 ft are surprising. We sit down, cook dinner, and finish our water. After taking in the view one more time, we head back to camp.

We think we're about to rained upon, but the weather passed us by to the south. It made for a great picture though.

Instead of following the ridge back down the way we came, we decided to head straight down to the lake and have Kevin and Dan pick us up in the boat and float us to camp. We're using Garmin walkie-talkies so we can talk to them and see their exact location via GPS. They agree to pick us up and we head down. Straight down. The terrain was much more difficult than we anticipated. Several small cliffs we had to work around, loose gravel and rocks, difficult brush, etc. It was no fun, but it was too late to turn back. We made our way down, frequently slipping and occasionally uprooting trees. The descent was just a hard as the ascent and that's not how it was supposed to work.

We finally made it to the lake and I was exhausted and very thirsty. I need twice as much water as I had, and I should have taken off my long sleeve shirt much sooner. Shorts would have been a great idea if not for all of the brush, rocks, etc.

At the top of the mountain, Jayson and I had come to a decision. We'd done all the fishing, exploring, and hiking we could. We were low on deet, low on gasoline for the boat, and didn't have anything more to experience where we were. There was no place mosquito free. The following night was Karaoke Night at the Tolsona Lake Resort. It was time to leave. In honor of that decision, we named the mountain we'd just climbed Karaoke Peak.

We share our thoughts with Dan and Kevin. It is unanimous. Since my wife Nicole is pregnant, I rented a satellite phone "just in case." What a great idea, because it was going to get out out of here. Luckily, I stored the number for Copper Valley Air in my Treo and have it handy. Spirits are high for all of us. To celebrate, we decided to shoot some stuff.

We start our target practice session at 10:00 PM and switch between our two .44 magnums. Dead-eye Dan nails everything he aimed his gun toward. Kevin flinches and ducks every time he pulls the trigger. I shoot Jayson's Ruger Redhawk and I'm impressed the by accuracy of the 5.5" barrel (I thought it would be much less accurate than it was), the comfort of the Hogue grip, and the visibility of the Williams FireSight. Although I personally prefer the deliberateness/safety of my single action Ruger Super Blackhawk, the unwieldy 7.5" barrel and stock grips make me think "upgrade." The only advantage of the Super Blackhawk was potentially higher muzzle velocity from the longer barrel; it did seem like mine gave more of a kick. I'll need to do some more research.

After target practice and 100+ rounds of spent ammo, we call it a "night."

We awaken early, after about 5 hours of sleep, to a warm reception. Apparently we picked the right yard. We were lucky enough to have coffee with honey (it's an Alaska thing, I don't understand) and biscuits with tundra berry jelly. We're told not to miss lunch at the Eureka Lodge because it is excellent.

We wait our way though the road construction and make it to Eureka two hours later. Perhaps the anticiaption was too great, because the food was only average, through the staff was very friendly. We did get a great view of the Eureka glacier from the front of the restaurant, although we started to notice there there were some mosquitoes.

We make our way to the west end of Glenallen, AK and find the Copper Valley Air float plane on Tolsona lake. We unloaded our gear and got ready for our flight. Before departing, we each purchase a $55 week-long fishing license at the Tolsona Lake Resort.

Kevin and Dan load-up the plane and take the first trip out to the lake. An hour later, Jayson and I do the same. Well, almost. With 40 gallons of water, two guys + pilot, and Jayson's 85 pound backpack, we're too heavy for take-off. Jayson gets kicked off the plane and we have no take-off problems at all.

At Kaina Lake, we find that our intended camp site is taken, so we setup on the opposite shore. Kevin and Dan have the boat inflated and most of the gear on top of the hill where we are camping. Upon exiting the plane, I'm immediately swarmed by mosquitoes, so I start spraying 100% deet all over myself. We get the plane unloaded and it heads back to pick-up Jayson.

After we get our tents setup, all four of us head out on the lake to do some fishing. We visit the other campsite but it is abandoned. Kevin quickly catches a 14-inch trout, which he named Larry the Lake Trout. We continue to fish another hour but can't replicate Kevin's success.

As we're cooking dinner, we start to realize that the mosquitoes aren't bad — they are insane! Each one of us has a swarm around our head and they keep landing and probing for deet-free zones. We cook-up Larry the Lake Trout to supplement our dehydrated camp food. Dan reveals he's not having any fun and would rather be home. Jayson reveals he hates mosquitoes. Kevin and I are ready to stick it out another 5 nights. We head off to bed at 11:00 PM and it's no where close to being dark and the view out over the lake is beautiful.

I'd finished packing my backpack the night before so I could work a half day before heading to the airport. This was not the best idea, as I felt like I left 10 loose ends behind. Regardless, Nicole and I had a quick lunch a Arby's and said our good byes. The trip officially begins.

I brought a pistol with me for bear protection. It was taken into the airport in a locked case and I was surprised how easy the check-in process was.

A couple of hours into my layover at Denver, Kevin Colon finds the gate. It's great to see him again. We figure out it's been 3 years since our last visit. I meet Jayson Ayers for the first time and the three of us sit down for a beer and a sandwich and begin to speculate about our trip.

The flight to Anchorage, Alaska reveals some beautiful scenes of mountains poking through the clouds. I'm getting excited about the trip to come.

I sit and watch luggage being unloaded from the plane and noticed a small, hard-sided case that is completely destroyed. Turns out, it's Jayson's gun case. Gun and bullets are both about to fall out of the case. None of the workers or airport visitors seem alarmed. Strange.

We rent our overpriced car from National and head to Wal-Mart for bear mace and camp stove fuel. As we leave the airport, we ask the native Alaskan lady at the rental car checkpoint how we should get to Wal-Mart. "Why, you forget ya warm clothes??" We ask again and she says "It closes at midnight. You got 20 minutes. You not gonna make it!" We ask again, and she tells us "You not gonna make it!!" Finally she tells us to "Take C Street! It on the right!"

We race to Wal-Mart and find it after only 1 U-turn. We make it in the door but the guns and ammo section closed, so we can't purchase the bear mace. No problem, Shauna the manager takes care of us and re-opens the registers. Shauna is the most beautiful girl in Alaska right now. Unfortunately, that isn't saying much.

Dan's flight doesn't arrive for another few hours, so the three of us kill some time at TGI Firdays. It's past midnight, completely bright, and completely dead. They stopped severing food so we have a beer instead and wait for Dan to arrive. An hour later, we're back at the airport and I meet Dan Hensley for the first time, we stuff the car, and head out to find a place to camp.

We drive for an hour and a half, apparently past our intended camp ground. Jayson declares that it's not a problem, some people from Denver said we could camp in their front yard. We find the gravel road, follow the directions, and there is no house. We backup and try again, but the gate colors are wrong and the Warning / Trespassing / Keep Out signs are not as described. We finally pull into someones driveway and Jayson thinks this is the place, even though we didn't follow the directions. We're tired. It's still daylight. It's 3 AM. We don't care. We pitch tents and hope we don't get shot.

In 2004, the Colts were red hot but I watched them to the New England Patriots (after a long, cold drive home after the heater in my car quit.) It was a long, cold, miserable terrible night.

In 2005, the Colts were on fire but I watched them lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Colts were rusty and disappointing.

Before each of these post seasons, my wife and I agreed that we'd get a flat screen TV in our family room (in addition to the front projector in the home theater room) to watch the Super Bowl if the Colts made it. But they didn't.

In 2006, the Colts got off to a great start but sputtered later in the regular season, losing to weak teams. I thought they'd missed their chance. At our house, there was no talk of getting that new TV. That is, until the Colts won the AFC championship in spectacular fashion. We hadn't talked about it in over a year and I somewhat jokingly I asked Nicole "Can I go get that new TV now?" I was expecting at least a little debate, but really wasn't all that surprised by her too-good-to-be-true Super Wife response: "Yep." End of discussion!

It was a somewhat unlikely year for the Colts to make it to and win the Super Bowl, but I'm glad they did and I'm glad I'm in Indianapolis to experience it. It's been an interesting few years since 1999 when I started dating and eventually married a Colts fan. I think back to those Sunday afternoon I spent watching football with my wife-to-be. I was an instant convert (because there are no NFL team in Kentucky). I was worried they'd never make it to the Super Bowl and that Nicole and I would never be able to celebrate such a victory together. They did and we did. Go Colts!!!

I was searching for a last minute costume to wear to Oz's halloween party. I hate spending money on costumes and I apparently hate planning ahead. I'm searching through the closet and then a brilliant idea (perhaps based on Diggnation Episode 66??) came to me. ScubaNinja!

I quickly pulled out my 0.5 mm Scuba skin, gloves, and scuba mask/snorkel. I found a ski mask in the coat closet that I acquired during my 1999 winter field testing in Bemidji, MN. I grabbed my black house shoes. I went to the basement and searched around for the replica Ninja sword I bought in 7th grade. I quickly dressed and yelled to Nicole I was ready to show her my costume.

What happened next was unexpected. She opened the bathroom doors to see my costume and I decided to add some flair. The room was dark, I jumped up in the air, drew the sword, and shouted "ScubaNinja!". I thought the ridiculousness of my costume would have her on the floor laughing. I was not expecting her to scream in terror, slam the door, and run away!

There is a lesson to be learned here. Do not underestimate the might of ScubaNinja!!!

I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did.  Nicole really deserves the credit for putting together such a fun evening — I mostly just helped out however she needed.  I had a great time visiting with old friends and meeting some new people as well.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't get circulate and spend more time with more people, but I guess there was just too much going on.  I especially want to thank everyone who drove up from Columbus, making sure it wasn't a total "Lilly party".

The last guests left around 2:00.  Nicole spent a little time cleaning up before we called it a night.  One post-fest benefit is that we now we can look forward to having the remainder of the 4 kegs of beer ready-to-dispense for the next several months.