At any rate the garden was doing fine and Fred needed a rest too so using the fact that our wedding anniversary was near at hand we declared a holiday and getting together our best bib and tucker we set out for Juneau.  It was a gorgeous morning when we started.  The tides were just right for us to start out about four A.M. and the sky was showing the early colors of dawn. Beautifully calm waters, just a ripple here and there with the sunrise tinting them with wondrous hues, Ah! What a season for a holiday.
As badly as I hate to get up early, I had to admit that on a day like this it was better to be awake than sleeping.  We had coffee and were pounding away anticipating our holiday. It was about three hours out when Fred complained that the motor was running hot.  He raced her to clear her out but it did no good.  With a worried look on his face he shut her down to cool off.  Presently we started again.  After a few minutes we had to shut down again. Soon it was a mere matter of minutes running before we would have to stop.  Not a boat in sight.  Usually there were many of them. cannery tenders, small fishing craft etc. But the day was Sunday and not a boat was in sight. We drifted  swiftly backwards and wasted what little we had gained. Doggone, Doggone, Wow! What a grand day to be on our way and there we were drifting around out in the middle of icy straits.

Fred was prowling among the odds and ends that a gasboat carries trying to get an inspiration.  He must have subconsciously been guided by his childhood funnypaper days for presently he emerged with a funnel, rubber hose, clamps bolts etc. etc.

"What under the sun?" I asked.

He chuckled. "Well we'll get to Juneau sometime I’ll bet  but I sure won't guarantee when it will be.  And so he set to work with his funny contraptions and you should have seen the result! It worked though perhaps I would be more accurate if I said that It made us work for the idea was that we would have to bail water up from the bilge, pour it into the funnel and let nature or the engine take its course. At first it was fine as I timed myself I found I had to bail in one bucket a minute. Gradually it gained on me, one each half minute. We took turns getting rested buy taking the wheel while the other fellow bailed No time for coffee now, bailbail, slursh glug bail, After a time she howled so much for water that Fred pulled out the plug in the bottom of the boat and we bailed into that motor as fast as she ran into the bilge. Thunder and lightning! what a drunkard that gasboat was and the more she got the more she wanted.

At any rate the garden was doing fine and Fred needed a rest too so using the fact that our wedding anniversary was near at hand we declared a holiday and getting together our best bib and tucker we set out for Juneau.  It was a gorgeous morning when we started.  The tides were just right for us to start out about four A.M. and the sky was showing the early colors of dawn. Beautifully calm waters, just a ripple here and there with the sunrise tinting them with wondrous hues, Ah! What a season for a holiday.
As badly as I hate to get up early, I had to admit that on a day like this it was better to be awake than sleeping.  We had coffee and were pounding away anticipating our holiday. It was about three hours out when Fred complained that the motor was running hot.  He raced her to clear her out but it did no good.  With a worried look on his face he shut her down to cool off.  Presently we started again.  After a few minutes we had to shut down again. Soon it was a mere matter of minutes running before we would have to stop.  Not a boat in sight.  Usually there were many of them. cannery tenders, small fishing craft etc. But the day was Sunday and not a boat was in sight. We drifted  swiftly backwards and wasted what little we had gained. Doggone, Doggone, Wow! What a grand day to be on our way and there we were drifting around out in the middle of icy straits.

Fred was prowling among the odds and ends that a gasboat carries trying to get an inspiration.  He must have subconsciously been guided by his childhood funnypaper days for presently he emerged with a funnel, rubber hose, clamps bolts etc. etc.

"What under the sun?" I asked.

He chuckled. "Well we'll get to Juneau sometime I’ll bet  but I sure won't guarantee when it will be.  And so he set to work with his funny contraptions and you should have seen the result! It worked though perhaps I would be more accurate if I said that It made us work for the idea was that we would have to bail water up from the bilge, pour it into the funnel and let nature or the engine take its course. At first it was fine as I timed myself I found I had to bail in one bucket a minute. Gradually it gained on me, one each half minute. We took turns getting rested buy taking the wheel while the other fellow bailed No time for coffee now, bailbail, slursh glug bail, After a time she howled so much for water that Fred pulled out the plug in the bottom of the boat and we bailed into that motor as fast as she ran into the bilge. Thunder and lightning! what a drunkard that gasboat was and the more she got the more she wanted.