Bill and I are flying out of Branson, mid afternoon on August 29th and flying to Anchorage, AK. We'll arrive there at that evening - there's a 3 hour difference in their time and central time. Bill booked a book at the Microtel Airport Inn for $167. Our flights costs $1591.82 round trip.

We get up the next morning and go shopping. We'll need to buy staple items such as meats for 2-3 dinners as well as other items we don't want to take up on the plane. There will be other items that we'll share later when we have our list.

We leave for Kotzebue mid afternoon. It's a 4 hour flight with one stop. We are using Jim Kincaid, an outfitter and pilot in Kotzebeu. We will fly from there to the Kelly River. It will be a 30 mile float and we'll fish for ocean run Andromous char and grayling. These char average over 15 pounds and will grow to over 25 pounds. Grayling are good sized too.

We're taking one shot gun for ptarmigan and bear protection, as well as bear spray.

We are getting our gear together and ordering supplies and clothing we need, but we have most of everything. Bill has great camping gear including bags and tents. We've scouted out dried foods. Everything is coming together.

We've considered, or really are still considering renting a Sat Phone but we're not sure we need to go to that expense. The river is class I so no danger there. Not many bears. But it is remote - not many other people or planes flying over.

I'll let Bill add to this entry. It's his idea to start this blog, hoping to help those who may consider taking a trip like this in the future.