Chapter 17

(December 9, Anchorage, Another Chena Too, 6:45 pm)

Word traveled fast about the food at the Chena Too buffet style gourmet restaurant. Some of the very first customers were those from Anchorage who had stayed at the lodge after they reopened. One was a Travel Editor who had written about the lodge and the restaurant in Fairbanks. With him was the Food Editor from the newspaper.

One question asked was, "Will you be open for Christmas Dinner?" Tracy and Sam had decided earlier that they wouldn't, but would prepare dinners that could be picked up by 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve. A year earlier, she would have considered it yet another business day. With Sheila buying the house in Anchorage, Tracy and Sam were going to let her have the hands on operation of the Anchorage restaurant.

That meant that they had built the fabulous Walker Lake Lodge, and now needed a couple to run it. Sheila never hesitated, "I know Daddy and Mama can't do it, and we just flat stole Grif and Tara's dream right out from under them without a thought. Since they are like family anyway, and you and Sam are getting married next Saturday, and then they will be, let's make the announcement at the wedding."

Tracy couldn't have agreed more. Their wedding was to be held at the Walker Lake Lodge as an inaugural event, before Sam and Tracy went to Mazatlan for their honeymoon. Chris would stay at Walker Lake until they hired a regular caretaker, and help his uncle and get it ready for the season.

When the time came there would need to be canoes, boats and rafts brought in along with a few kayaks for those river runners choosing that mode of navigating the Kobuk or just overnight trips on some of the wilder parts of her tributaries. Except for the boats used for rescue or other official use, the boats were to be powered by 28-pound thrust electric motors. These provided all the speed one needed to travel the lake and troll for the big Lake Trout.

Other than one for fillets, or four in the case of the whitefish all would be released unharmed, back into the lake or river. Guests requiring a trophy mount were encouraged to visit the store on G street in Anchorage on the way home, where realistic fiberglass mounts of their fish could be purchased, and crated to accompany them home on the plane.

Catch and Release was the order of the times, and the fiberglass mounts replaced the old skin-mounted trophies of days gone by, with their misshapen heads, shriveled fins, and the problem of oils leaching through the paint a year or so down the road. The new mounts were an exact cast of a typically nice specimen, and they were assembled and painted to look more realistic than any conventionally mounted fish ever did. Catch and Release also insured a healthy fish population for years to come, because a trophy could be caught and released several times over its life expectancy.

The horses presented another set of logistical problems. They would need to be trailered in after the snow melted to Bettles, and then herded across and around several streams to Walker Lake. Then the food was to be flown in by the cargo planes. Since the insulated barn had not yet been built, and there was already a lot to manage at Walker Lake, the horses could possibly wait another season.

When the lake thawed, and the lodge opened, Chris and Grif would be no more adept at catching the Lake Trout than most guests. Digital fish finders would be needed for the guides, of which they needed to find at least two. Most of the fishing was to be done by guests whose boat use was part of the stay, and on their own. Also being considered was a barrier cable to be stretched between buoys across the lake outlet to keep the anglers from being washed down the river. In front of the outlet, the headwaters of the Kobuk River, there was a point where the water draining the lake was sweeping a boat out where nothing short of an experienced river guide with an outboard could escape it.

Everything else was going down the river, period. Being swept through the first rapids would no doubt damage the trolling motors on the rocks. Tara speculated that with the whole lake above, someone would claim the prohibited area was the best fishing spot in the lake. If so, they could rent a raft with oars to fish there.

Ten mountain bikes were ordered for delivery around May 1. The fishing tackle and lures were ordered, and the navigation aids for the airstrip were to be set up in May. Until then, twelve lights on poles would give an indication of the location in darkness or low light if the regular lights were buried by snow.

With Rudy and Tim hired to help with the flying, they were sent to Wichita for their Flight Safety Certification training on the 11^th of December. They would fly down in the AVAS Pilatus PC-12 with three of their pilots sharing expenses, and were to return just before Christmas. Rudy and Tim were to update their Certification in the Cessna 208, and the transition in the Citation Sovereign. That would make four pilots able to fly either the C680, the BKA 350, or C208.

As Sam and Tracy planned the wedding that week, Sheila and Donna had their hands full with the new restaurant in Anchorage. Tommy and Bonnie were in school in Anchorage while Donna home schooled herself. This didn't set well with the younger two, but Sheila was new to the concept of home schooling, and would need to have more time to devote to two of them. For Donna, it was preferable to the work-study program.

(Sunday evening, Dec. 12, 2004, Another Chena Too, 6:25 pm)

Several of the clientele were doctors and pilots, including the one who treated Tracy for her mauling. Dr. Dennis Bryant was a specialist in trauma due to bear and other wild animal attacks. Sheila recalled him from Tracy's ordeal with her leg, and struck up a conversation with him after noting that Dennis always came in with another doctor or a group of doctors, and never with a lady, and this time he was alone.

After his asking about Tracy, Sheila explained that her sister was getting married the next weekend at the new Walker Lake Lodge.

"You look a bit disappointed," Dennis noted.

"No, Tracy deserves a good husband for once," replied Sheila. "Mine will come along if the Lord means it to be."

"Well," Dennis opined, "I always believed that the Lord made someone for everyone, but we don't always pick the one that is truly destined for us."

"That's for sure," Sheila agreed. "The rascal I picked, or should I say, picked me, was far from a marriage made in Heaven."

"He was killed by the bears too," asked Dennis, "was he not?"

"Now that was destiny," Sheila chuckled. "I was going to divorce him after we got back from the trip. That is enough about me. I never see you with anyone but the other doctors, yet sometimes you come for breakfast, other times lunch, and here you are for Seafood Sunday."

"What can I say," Dennis complimented, "the food is awesome, and there's nobody home to cook for me so, here I am. I was coming with Dr. Groves but he had an emergency at the last minute."

"Well, Doctor Bryant," offered Sheila, "my shift just ended, and I can most certainly spare some time to keep our best customer from dining alone, if you would like the company?"

"I would like that," Dennis accepted. "My treat of course," he said holding out his free-meal punch cards, and handing them to her.

"My goodness," Sheila exclaimed, "you have been here more often than I thought."

"I guess I was hoping to be introduced to your chef," Dennis grinned teasingly.

"You know that saying, be careful what you ask for?" asked Sheila. "Well you just met the Head Chef and Managing Partner."

"Oh my," Dennis blushed, "I thought it was because you hired some of the staff from the Aurora View."

"I used Gina Owens' menus and recipe book, but I did change some things," Sheila admitted. "Some things like the Shrimp Scampi, and the Chicken Parmesan are mine. The Almost Sinful Apple Pie is mine too."

"Now that is worth the trip by itself," said Dennis. "Why did you name it that?"

"You know, Adam and Eve, and the apple?" replied Sheila.

"Ah," Dennis noted, "how are you sure that it was an apple? It was the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I never actually found where it was an apple. I suspected that it was chocolate!"

"Chocolate?" asked Sheila.

"What else would so effectively tempt a woman?" reasoned Dennis. "The Cocoa Bean. And how do we know that in the perfect Garden of Eden this tree didn't grow assorted chocolates? How hard would it be for the serpent to tempt you with chocolate?"

"Probably pretty easy," Sheila admitted without realizing Dennis' motive. "Easier than with an apple pie."