Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Today I found 90 cents. . . 6 dimes, 1 quarter, and 6 pennies (very unusual since I found more silver coins than copper ones). I also found a large marble. Sadly, the large marble will not count towards the daily totals.

My day started in Fairbanks, AK, where I was determined to explore the local surroundings more throughly than I had the night before. I had heard there was a natural hot spring about 60 miles from Fairbanks where people could go and relax in the hot water. Driving down a very scenic road I quickly found the Chena Hot Springs at the end of the road. For $10 you could sit in the hot springs all day. I could only stand a few hours of relaxation as the water was a natural 112 degrees. It was at the Chena Hot Springs that made my first find of the day, a single penny on the ground in the mens changing room.

After driving back to Fairbanks I decided to gas up again and I found another single penny at the gas station. I checked a local car wash that I had spotted the day before and was rewarded with 31 cents (three dimes & one penny). All the dimes were very mud covered, from a storm several days ago, so I was grateful that I was able to spot them. The penny on the other hand was so shiny that Ray Charles could have seen it.

Driving around looking for some lunch I saw a KFC. I certainly wasn’t going to eat there, but I did help myself to 21 cents (two dimes & one penny) that I found in the parking lot. Directly next to KFC was a Fred Myer, an Alaskan grocery store. I went inside and found 26 cents (one quarter & one penny) on the ground by the self-checkout line.

My main reason for going to Alaska was to watch the 100th annual Midnight Sun Baseball Classic. For the last 100 years the Fairbanks Gold Panners, an independent league baseball team, have played a baseball game under the Midnight Sun. The game starts at 10:30pm and goes through midnight. At no time in the previous 99 years have they ever had to turn on the stadium lights. Driving to the game I was at a stoplight when I saw a dime in the road. Retrieving it a woman, who was a passenger in a truck next to me, looked out the window and replied, “that’s a good find. It’s good luck.” I smiled an told her since it was a dime it was probably 10 times the luck of a penny. We were both happy.

For baseball purists you will be happy to know that the Fairbanks Gold Panners won the game. The game featured some very poor baseball, but that’s to be expected in the Independent League. One pitcher, reminding me of Wild Thing in the movie Major Leagues, actually threw the ball over the 30 foot high net behind home plate. Very entertaining stuff!

Totals for the day: 90 cents
Race Totals: $91.64