We made it last night to James’ friend Grant Fairbanks’s place on the Holitna (sp?) River. He has 40 acres up here with a 30-year-old hexagonal log cabin and a new three-story house that he’s in the middle of building.

It’s a whole different lifestyle here than anything I’m used to. There’s no indoor plumbing and bathing is done from a basin, Japanese-style, after which you plunge into a one-man hot tub to get your body temperature up. Fortunately, it was quite balmy last night, so I was able to wash up and put on clean clothes. This was very necessary after three grimy days on the boat.

Our cigar supply has gotten dangerously low, and James has started looking furtively around like a junkie who knows that hard times are ahead. We’re down to our last box with three days to go, and a rationing program has been put into effect. We need to make sure James doesn’t get the DTs, because he’s driving the boat.

I spent quite a while yesterday afternoon rowing the boat while James and Willis fished. A very pleasant afternoon actually, though they didn’t catch much. Jimmy got one silver and Willis was shut out entirely. We drifted down the George River three times before heading back up the Kuskokwim.