August 22, 2026

Monday 22nd of August

Had some errands to do. First went to the post office to send the paddles, that was cheaper than expected. But it also made us a bit nervous as we were told we had to put an American address on as sender, we did not do this with the first 3 boxes! Just as the first time we were here the service was brilliant!

We had some tablets and stuff I wanted rid of and I had found out we had to go to the hospital pharmacy to sort that out. We had half an hour if we wanted to catch the next bus back but it only took us about 10. Found the pharmacy easily enough and while queuing Chris saw the box to drop it in and that was it.

Back to town to change bus to go to The Barnes and Noble shop we had seen near Walmart. It was cosy enough and we sat around for a bit but then we got on a bus to found out how to get to the train depot as no buses went straight there! Very helpful bus driver told us where to go from the bus stop, it was an app. 10-15 minute walk. The train depot was closed and we managed to walk back to the bus stop to catch the next bus. We went back to our part of town and back to the campground.

The campground is very noisy, not the people on the campground but more the fact that it is right next to the road.

When Jane writes ‘tablets and stuff’ what she actually means is morphine. Way back when Lars visited his doctor in Denmark, he explained what we were doing, and either Lars or his doctor suggested we might need something a little stronger than aspirin if we, say, got mauled by a bear.

Hmm…

So, Lars’ doctor wrote him a prescription for about 20 morphine tablets. Now, I know morphine, and I react really well to it. I should perhaps explain that, clarifying that I only know morphine from the times I have been recovering from an op in hospital, the kind when something has been removed and there is some pain. I’ve gotten really good at saying I can feel the pain, rather than adopting the more stoic and, frankly, pathetic British approach which is akin to ‘It’s only a flesh wound’ that I used to say, suggesting it wasn’t all that bad. A couple of ops later, and every time they offer me morphine, I just say yes.

So when we split on the river, Lars gave me half of his prescription. And whereas I might joke about saving the morphine for a rainy day - of which there were lots - or saving them for a mauling, which would not have gone well, there was the slight issue of walking around in America with Class A drugs. Oh, and no prescription.

Jane was a little concerned, and I should have been.

Jane, having worked in plenty of hospitals, also knows how to get rid of said drugs, without the need for a party or a mauling. So we trekked out to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and, as Jane notes, got rid of our stash.

Jane consoled me by indulging my purchase of Han Solo plus Tauntaun. They’ve been with us ever since, and I’m looking at them now, at my desk, thinking of Alaska.

More drug-free stories from Alaska, tomorrow.