Thursday

 

I was just thinking.

 

Sitting in the den, mom and dad watching tv, me watching the smoke rise in the still room from the cigarette in the ash tray (cigarettes in the ash trays).  No stray draft of air to disrupt the thin unbroken stream for six inches, maybe ten, until it suddenly disperses in a swirl of curls.  As soon as someone gets up and walks past, or moves around in the room disrupting the air, the pattern is broken, and the smoke is messy until the air settles down again.  As the air stills, I watch the pattern return and the thin unbroken line of smoke reform.

 

And a glass of scotch.  There is always a glass of scotch on each table next to each recliner, next to each ash tray.  Never an indication of excess, never an inebriated parent, never a problem, just a comfortable glass of scotch at the end of the day.  That’s life in the evening for adults at our house, a glass of scotch, a cigarette, and television in the den with no ventilation.

 

In the present day, I see the signs in every restaurant.  “Do not drink during pregnancy; it’s bad for your unborn child.”  “Don’t smoke during pregnancy; you’re risking birth defects.”  And it occurs to me that my brothers and I, and our entire generation, are mostly all products of smoking and drinking during pregnancy; what no-one at that time knew might be bad for you.  We are all the product of what you’re now not supposed to do.

 

We drove the Richardson Highway today.

 

There is smoke in the air from forest fires; a front came through with wind and blew up the Swan Lake Fire on the peninsula and a few more started, but the scenery is still spectacular.  It’s very big here.

 

Early fall colors.

 

Tonight’s windshield.

 

We’re boondocking next to the Alaska Highway east of Delta Junction.  We could have driven straight to Tok from Glennallen, but we received so many warnings about road conditions on the Tok Cutoff, we chose to drive the extra miles through Delta Junction.  We’d rather drive farther smoother, than shorter rougher.

 

Valdez to Delta Junction part of the trip map

 

Good weather all day.  It’s cold and raining tonight.  We’re snug and warm inside.

 

4,175 miles to Sandpipers.