That Was A Perfectly Good Towel

This week proved to be semi-eventful.

Long-time friend and stunt diver, Ali Smart decided that on Friday, June 12th she would light her self on fire and dive off the Railroad Dock 20 feet into 45 degree ocean water. With a last name like Smart, how could anything she does be stupid?

The event took place around 9:00 PM AST just after the final ship disembarked for its next port of call.

Items used to complete the stunt were:
2 hooded sweat shirts
2 pairs of sweat pants (If you know me, I despise all sweat pants, but that's just a side note.)
1 pair of long socks (mine)
1 pair of Carhart work gloves
2 gallons of gasoline
1 towel fastened to Ali by 1/4 thick wire to resemble a cape
1 8 foot pole with a dirty rag strapped to it, used to light the gas-soaked cape


The towel was dipped into a bucket of gasoline and strained to get a nice vapor. In the meantime, Ali did an initial jump into the water to soak her clothes. This gave some buffer time before her clothing would actually start on fire.


The gas-soaked towel was then placed over Ali's head, camera people took their positions, extra people fled the platform, the dirty rag on the pole was ignited, and the cape was set afire.


Ali stood engulfed in a 10 foot ball of fire for what seemed like 10, seconds but was probably only 2. She then dove off the platform blindly (because she was covering her face with her gloves), entered into a perfect swan dive, and was extinguished by the frigid, green water.

When she climbed triumphantly up the ladder, we all gathered our things and headed toward the entrance to the dock hastily.

I was not afraid of getting caught, but I had to hurry because I was scheduled to pick up bus 118 off of the ferry that came up the inlet just as Ali dove into the water.



What would my life be without interesting friends?

Mutiny By Madness

Here are a few tourist moments I have had thus far.

Rushin' Chinese-Canadians:

110 Chinese-Canadians were spread between 3 of our Alaska Coach Tours buses. We were giving them a tour up the pass, but before we headed up, a few expressed that they needed the to use the toilet. There is an outhouse located at the town overlook, so we decided to hit it up before we embarked. It turns out that they ALL need the toilet. Only the ones who spoke English dared ask. As the line kept getting longer, a few of them made their way across the street. Then a few more. Then a few more. Then enough to stop traffic for a mini Chinese-Canadian migration. Men and women both. When one of the drivers asked, "Where are you going?" they covered up their little excursion by saying, "We are camping!"

Chalk this one up on the stupid question list:

As I pointed out a few mountain goats up on the summit, a gentleman from California asked, "Are those wild goats? I mean, nobody owns them, right?"

I guess goats and domesticated go hand in hand in that guy's mind.

Not so witty comeback:

I was driving down Main Street pointing out how the locals live (which most people are interested in). I showed off my house, a few of my friends' houses, and a few other things when a guy yelled from the back, "Take us to the depot, not your cousin's house."

I responded, "I'll get you to the depot, but for now you're on my bus, so you're going where I'm going!"

The whole bus oohed.

**The summer is just getting started.**