Shopping, Boxing, and Shipping for Gambell

One of the WINGS tours I do each year is Gambell, Alaska in late May/early June. While Jon Dunn is the primary leader and Paul Lehman the second leader, rather than go out in the field with the group all day, I actually do the cooking for the week-long tour. This involves planning the menu, buying the food, getting it there, and cooking it – this year for 15 people including myself (though there's a chance a couple more may sign up). Think of it as a week-long dinner party.

This is Gambell, looking NW over town towards Russia. (Yes, this is actually where you CAN see Russia from Alaska, 45.3 miles away.)

After planning the meals, I next need to buy the food, and the first step is to buy all the non-perishables here in Tucson and ship them all to Gambell, which I usually do in early May. Since I leave tomorrow for a month's vacation in Europe, I had to do all this during my short time at home after the Jamaica tour I just led.

Before: All-day shopping yesterday using a rental car, about $1000 worth of groceries.

After: Boxing until after midnight, finishing up in the early morning. Box contents all carefully itemized.

I returned the rental car just 20 minutes late. Now to pack for a month in Europe!