[IRCA] Back in Oklahoma + KYUK

["John H. Bryant" <bjohnorcas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Friends,

Our leave-taking from Orcas Island, WA was delayed about 12 hours 
last Monday due to 90+mph winds, power outages and a totally messed 
up ferry schedule (hey, 90 mph winds will DO that!)  However, after a 
rocky start, it was smooth sailing across the Great Basin and down 
the Prairie to our home in central Oklahoma. We arrived in late 
afternoon Friday, after a thankfully boring trip.

My wife and I tend to idle the hours away across the West (probably 
our 40th crossing, lifetime) by playing the "license plate game" and 
listening to National Public Radio. About mid-week, there was a 
feature on the rocketing price of gasoline. Rather than the now 
too-familiar wringing of hands as various folks lament gasoline 
hitting $3.00 or industry analysts warning that $4.00 is just over 
the horizon, this report was about the MOST expensive gasoline in the 
50 US states.... in isolated communities in Alaska. The town featured 
was Bethel, an inland city in Alaska's sparsely settled southwest. No 
roads reach Bethel and the gasoline is barged in up a long river to 
reach the settlement. THe barge only arrives a couple of times a 
year.  The price at the pump in Bethel, currently just over $7.00 per 
gallon, is used in snow mobiles and the vehicles in town. There is 
one long road in Bethel (several miles long, reaching the "suburbs") 
but the gas prices there are still a very serious concern. 
Interestingly, the price at the pump does not creep up in fairly 
small increments like in the Lower 48 states. In Bethel, it remains 
exactly stable until a new barge load comes in; then it REALLY jumps. 
The report was done by the local NPR Affiliate in Bethel, KYUK-640AM, 
which I recently heard on Orcas and from whom I just received a QSL. 
Ain't this hobby great?

John B.  

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