This is 'dated ' June 15th .. I am actually writing it 'after-hours' on Thursday .. June 14th ..
The 'camera situation' is nearing a resolution .. read on and do NOT silently 'weep' ! .. I am doing that (silently weeping) for you all ! ..
With my Nikon S4100 down in California being worked-on .. NEEDING A CAMERA NOW ! ..
I purchased a second Nikon camera .. a model S4300 .. and IMMEDIATELY is has mal-functioned .. I turn it on and its lens comes out and immediately retreats back to its 'closed' postion (silently telling me "Dad .. not now !") .. and to make matters worse it then gives me a message IN FRENCH ..
I called Nikon (with whom I am now on a 'first name' basis since I am still dealing with my Nikon S4100 having sent it to Nikon some 'other-lifetime ago' ) and Nikon told me .. "Send your NEW S4300 in .. you can NOT work with it because when it closes its lens its menu function then shuts down immediately " ..
I thought silently to myself .. "I will just take it back to Costco for a full refund .. I am NOT sending a brand new camera anywhere !"
Patti arrived into Fairbanks on time and on schedule yesterday .. Wednesday .. June the 13th .. so .. BEING IN FAIRBANKS .. I strolled (without passing 'GO') to SAM'S CLUB on College Road and I BOUGHT .. FROM SAM'S CLUB .. ANOTHER BRAND NEW NIKON (This one a Model Number S3300) digital camera ..
And I successfully got this new Nikon Model Number S3300 fired up ! .. into it I put the new battery from the S4300 with that Nikon's memory card .. and immediately it came-to-life (saying to me .. "Dad ! .. I AM READY!") .. and its menu worked .. I selected ENGLISH .. programed the day and the date and the time successfully ..
So the new Nikon S3300 seems .. ready-to-go ..
My buddies at Nikon down in California e-mailed me telling me .. "Your S4100 has been shipped to you !" .. and gave me a UPS tracking number .. UPS told me .. "Your S4100 was delivered to Billie Cook in Fairbanks at 3:30PM Thursday June 14th !" .. I called Billie Cook and Billie said to me .. "Yes Cap .. I have .. on my kitchen table .. a UPS package for you ! " ..
So I will go to Billie's Backpacker Hostel and pick up my (I hope !) satisfactorily repaired Nikon S4100 a veteran of India and Hong Kong and San Francisco and Apple Valley and oh yes! .. a veteran of Anchorage !
Then .. fully armed with TWO (2) working Nikon Cameras .. I will start taking photos for you all ..
When Patti saw my 'working lists' .. Patti just 'rolled her eyes' .. and smiled ..
Right now we plan to be in the Fairbanks area until next Monday .. June the 18th .. at which time we will roll NORTH .. we will roll PAST the turn off to Manley Hot Springs and go to the Mighty Yukon River .. cross the bridge .. pass the Yukon River Construction-Trailer-Hotel and go NORTH five miles to the Hot Spot Cafe and Sleeping-Place .. this place has the world's best hamburgers ! .. IF IT STILL EXISTS ! .. the Hot Spot Cafe and Sleeping-Place is NOT answering NOR returning my calls .. LOVE Alaska ? .. I CRAVE ALASKA! ..
After eating hamburgers at the Hot Spot Cafe and Sleeping-Place .. and staying overnight .. maybe BEFORE staying overnight .. Patti and I will then drive NORTH to the location of THE ARCTIC CIRCLE .. at least where it crosses the Dalton Highway (the Dalton is the 'haul road' NORTH to the oil fields on the North Slope of the Brooks Mountain Range here in Alaska) .. either way .. Patti and I plan at a minimum .. two (2) sessions of eating-the-world's-best-hamburgers at the Hot Spot (Cafe and Sleeping-Place) ..
I called Patti from Manley Hot Springs Wednesday Morning at 9:45AM saying .. "I am just now leaving Manley" .. silence .. Patti was thinking .. "Hummm.. he has a four (4) hour drive and I am due into Fairbanks at 2:30PM" .. I did interrupt Patti's thinking when I said .. "IF I am not at the airport on time .. call a taxi and go to Billie's" .. and kindda sortta hung up saying .. "I GOTTA shag ass and GET OUTTA HEAH!".. and did .. both .. FULLY KNOWING I HAD PLENTY OF TIME AND WAS NOT IN ANY RUSH .. you do NOT rush the road trip on the road out of Manley Hot Springs IF you have so much as one 'whit' of common sense that is ..
NOT GOOD .. it was raining .. it was fogging .. it was dark and gray overhead .. NOT GOOD ..
Lord God of Abraham in Heaven Above .. I LOVE ALASKA .. I think that the drive to Fairbanks from Manley Hot Springs was the worst ever of my past fourteen (14) years .. well .. one of the worst ever .. on one trip in 2002 I was off-the-road in February at 30-degrees-below-zero for fourteen (14) hours .. my Suburban's steering wheel has many finger prints embedded into it and the drivers seat has MANY 'pucker-marks' also ..
(Zilla .. a 'pucker-mark' is when that place you sit upon and which sees very LITTLE SUNLIGHT .. 'puckers' up at the same time your fingers are gripping the steering wheel so tightly your fingers turn white and your hands go numb as your finger prints are being embedded into the steering wheel as you are sliding sideways NOT knowing how you are going to get 'outta-this-one-alive' .. ) ..
FORGET WINTER WITH ITS DARK AND COLD .. THE SUMMER MUD IS HORRIBLE TO DRIVE .. sometimes almost axle-deep and slick as slick can be .. Mark and Jeanne who were behind me all the way in .. towing a long flat-bed trailer behind their Suburban totally agreed with me and my assessment of the road .. the eighty (80) mile stretch of the Elliott Highway from Manley Hot Springs to the Dalton 'Haul Road' intersection with the Elliott Highway .. was VERY VERY BAD Wednesday the 13th of June 2012 ! ..
This morning .. working diligently with a small plastic motel-size-ice-bucket and a wheel-cleaning-brush .. out in front of Billie's Backpackers Hostel on Mack Blvd here in Fairbanks .. it took me a full two (2) hours to clean my Suburban .. it was covered with a coating of glacial mud from the bottom to the top .. it will again be covered with mud (this is NOT a new phenomenon believe-thee-me) and I WILL photograph him for you at this future time ..
ENOUGH ! .. well .. TOO MUCH CAPTAIN .. but here it comes .. Over and Out for now .. just hit 'Publish' .. THEN go get Patti to 'proof-read this Post' .. Smiles from ear-to-ear .. Cap ..
The 'camera situation' is nearing a resolution .. read on and do NOT silently 'weep' ! .. I am doing that (silently weeping) for you all ! ..
With my Nikon S4100 down in California being worked-on .. NEEDING A CAMERA NOW ! ..
I purchased a second Nikon camera .. a model S4300 .. and IMMEDIATELY is has mal-functioned .. I turn it on and its lens comes out and immediately retreats back to its 'closed' postion (silently telling me "Dad .. not now !") .. and to make matters worse it then gives me a message IN FRENCH ..
I called Nikon (with whom I am now on a 'first name' basis since I am still dealing with my Nikon S4100 having sent it to Nikon some 'other-lifetime ago' ) and Nikon told me .. "Send your NEW S4300 in .. you can NOT work with it because when it closes its lens its menu function then shuts down immediately " ..
I thought silently to myself .. "I will just take it back to Costco for a full refund .. I am NOT sending a brand new camera anywhere !"
Patti arrived into Fairbanks on time and on schedule yesterday .. Wednesday .. June the 13th .. so .. BEING IN FAIRBANKS .. I strolled (without passing 'GO') to SAM'S CLUB on College Road and I BOUGHT .. FROM SAM'S CLUB .. ANOTHER BRAND NEW NIKON (This one a Model Number S3300) digital camera ..
And I successfully got this new Nikon Model Number S3300 fired up ! .. into it I put the new battery from the S4300 with that Nikon's memory card .. and immediately it came-to-life (saying to me .. "Dad ! .. I AM READY!") .. and its menu worked .. I selected ENGLISH .. programed the day and the date and the time successfully ..
So the new Nikon S3300 seems .. ready-to-go ..
My buddies at Nikon down in California e-mailed me telling me .. "Your S4100 has been shipped to you !" .. and gave me a UPS tracking number .. UPS told me .. "Your S4100 was delivered to Billie Cook in Fairbanks at 3:30PM Thursday June 14th !" .. I called Billie Cook and Billie said to me .. "Yes Cap .. I have .. on my kitchen table .. a UPS package for you ! " ..
So I will go to Billie's Backpacker Hostel and pick up my (I hope !) satisfactorily repaired Nikon S4100 a veteran of India and Hong Kong and San Francisco and Apple Valley and oh yes! .. a veteran of Anchorage !
Then .. fully armed with TWO (2) working Nikon Cameras .. I will start taking photos for you all ..
When Patti saw my 'working lists' .. Patti just 'rolled her eyes' .. and smiled ..
Right now we plan to be in the Fairbanks area until next Monday .. June the 18th .. at which time we will roll NORTH .. we will roll PAST the turn off to Manley Hot Springs and go to the Mighty Yukon River .. cross the bridge .. pass the Yukon River Construction-Trailer-Hotel and go NORTH five miles to the Hot Spot Cafe and Sleeping-Place .. this place has the world's best hamburgers ! .. IF IT STILL EXISTS ! .. the Hot Spot Cafe and Sleeping-Place is NOT answering NOR returning my calls .. LOVE Alaska ? .. I CRAVE ALASKA! ..
After eating hamburgers at the Hot Spot Cafe and Sleeping-Place .. and staying overnight .. maybe BEFORE staying overnight .. Patti and I will then drive NORTH to the location of THE ARCTIC CIRCLE .. at least where it crosses the Dalton Highway (the Dalton is the 'haul road' NORTH to the oil fields on the North Slope of the Brooks Mountain Range here in Alaska) .. either way .. Patti and I plan at a minimum .. two (2) sessions of eating-the-world's-best-hamburgers at the Hot Spot (Cafe and Sleeping-Place) ..
I called Patti from Manley Hot Springs Wednesday Morning at 9:45AM saying .. "I am just now leaving Manley" .. silence .. Patti was thinking .. "Hummm.. he has a four (4) hour drive and I am due into Fairbanks at 2:30PM" .. I did interrupt Patti's thinking when I said .. "IF I am not at the airport on time .. call a taxi and go to Billie's" .. and kindda sortta hung up saying .. "I GOTTA shag ass and GET OUTTA HEAH!".. and did .. both .. FULLY KNOWING I HAD PLENTY OF TIME AND WAS NOT IN ANY RUSH .. you do NOT rush the road trip on the road out of Manley Hot Springs IF you have so much as one 'whit' of common sense that is ..
NOT GOOD .. it was raining .. it was fogging .. it was dark and gray overhead .. NOT GOOD ..
Lord God of Abraham in Heaven Above .. I LOVE ALASKA .. I think that the drive to Fairbanks from Manley Hot Springs was the worst ever of my past fourteen (14) years .. well .. one of the worst ever .. on one trip in 2002 I was off-the-road in February at 30-degrees-below-zero for fourteen (14) hours .. my Suburban's steering wheel has many finger prints embedded into it and the drivers seat has MANY 'pucker-marks' also ..
(Zilla .. a 'pucker-mark' is when that place you sit upon and which sees very LITTLE SUNLIGHT .. 'puckers' up at the same time your fingers are gripping the steering wheel so tightly your fingers turn white and your hands go numb as your finger prints are being embedded into the steering wheel as you are sliding sideways NOT knowing how you are going to get 'outta-this-one-alive' .. ) ..
FORGET WINTER WITH ITS DARK AND COLD .. THE SUMMER MUD IS HORRIBLE TO DRIVE .. sometimes almost axle-deep and slick as slick can be .. Mark and Jeanne who were behind me all the way in .. towing a long flat-bed trailer behind their Suburban totally agreed with me and my assessment of the road .. the eighty (80) mile stretch of the Elliott Highway from Manley Hot Springs to the Dalton 'Haul Road' intersection with the Elliott Highway .. was VERY VERY BAD Wednesday the 13th of June 2012 ! ..
This morning .. working diligently with a small plastic motel-size-ice-bucket and a wheel-cleaning-brush .. out in front of Billie's Backpackers Hostel on Mack Blvd here in Fairbanks .. it took me a full two (2) hours to clean my Suburban .. it was covered with a coating of glacial mud from the bottom to the top .. it will again be covered with mud (this is NOT a new phenomenon believe-thee-me) and I WILL photograph him for you at this future time ..
ENOUGH ! .. well .. TOO MUCH CAPTAIN .. but here it comes .. Over and Out for now .. just hit 'Publish' .. THEN go get Patti to 'proof-read this Post' .. Smiles from ear-to-ear .. Cap ..
