“I grew up in Rich, Mississippi, on the north end of the Mississippi Delta, outside of Tunica. Rich was just a gas station and store with a little town around it. My grandmother had a farm way back in the woods. We could hear people coming for miles. I grew up there hunting and fishing. I left and went to Memphis and the Army. I was getting a divorce from an evil woman and needed to move as far away from her as I could. My mom was living in Anchorage and working for FedEx, so I got a job and moved out here. I worked for FedEx for 21 years. Now I work for the state of Alaska and drive ferries. I am also a charter captain and go fishing every day. I have fresh fish for dinner all of the time.

I don’t go back to Memphis, but I may have to now because my daughter and grandkids moved back. As a kid, I didn’t know of Alaska. I thought it was somewhere overseas. My blessing was moving to Seward. A job opened here and I took it. I live in a place where people pay thousands of dollars to come here for vacation. This is my dream and I don’t want to go anywhere else. I have several ex-wives, but I am married now to my boat. That boat costs as much as a wife.”