Gardening

Little green bean sprouting!  Can't wait to eat some.

 It's a bit late in the summer anywhere in the northern hemisphere to be putting in a garden, but it is especially so in Alaska.  The sun won’t be rising until 8:00am by mid-September and our first snow came in October the last time we were here so the growing season is obviously a bit shorter.  I, however, will not let time discourage me in my efforts.  First, my houseplants got put in real flower pots with real dirt.  They think they’re something special in their fancy pots with fancy dirt after surviving the trip here planted in shredded paper in plastic cups (Canada is apparently too good for our dirt and won’t allow it to cross the border).  Since arriving, I have also planted 3 tomato plants, a bell pepper plant, chives, and seeds for green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, parsley, and mint.  Since my stacking planter arrived yesterday, I will be adding strawberries to the garden today!  If they survive long enough for cooler temperatures and short days to be a problem (and let’s be honest, that will be no small accomplishment with me tending to them) I hope to bring them inside and keep them going through the winter with a grow light.  Then, I can have fresh veggies year round that don’t cost me a kidney and a plane ride to enjoy!  I will post some pictures of my little garden if the plants are still alive by the time the phone people get over here to hook up my phone and Internet.  That could be a blog entry about patience all in itself.  But after already having an entry on flexibility, it might start to sound more like a character ed program. . .

I've turned the baggie my blanket came in
into a mini greenhouse for my lettuce. 
And covered a box in plastic to turn it
into a planter because I ran out.

Strawberries!  Each layer will hold four plants so
I'll have more plants when they start shooting
runners.  I have two more layers to add to the planter
when it starts really going so I can have a total
of 20 plants - if I don't kill them first.

 

 

Flexibility

First, apologies for such a long stretch without any posts.  The last week has been a whirlwind!!

Living in Alaska has and probably always require flexibility, especially when dealing with life in the bush.  I suppose Alaska was afraid we had forgotten that detail and wanted to remind us before we got too comfortable.  We originally planned to barge everything over last Saturday, but got nervous that would leave us no wiggle room for the long drive up so we rescheduled for Monday before we ever left home.  That turned out to be a very wise move.  While we didn’t have any real delays in our trip, we did spend every second of those extra days in Soldotna getting ready and ended up more exhausted at the end of each day than any of our long days driving.

We drove down to Homer on Sunday ready to launch the next morning, or so we thought.  Our first problem ended up being weather.  While it was beautiful outside, the waves in Nanwalek were forecast to be too high to make for a safe boat landing on the beach so we delayed until Tuesday.  Getting a hotel room in Alaska last minute is highly unlikely, but things worked out perfectly and the cabin we were staying in happened to be vacant that night.  (Our neighbors did get a little confused as to which cabin they were staying in that night around 11:30, but the cabin was ours).  I was scheduled to fly over while Mike rode the barge so that I could bring over the more water sensitivite items, so we had even more moving parts to contend with.  Fortunately, the airport was very flexible and rescheduling was no problem.  We then packed up and were ready to go at 5:30 in the morning for the early start our captain wanted to make on Tuesday.  But, when we got to the dock, it was still going to be too rough and, despite the assurances we had there would be plenty of room for all of our stuff, we would have to make two trips whenever the weather did get better.  Grrr!

Despite that frustration, We got to see the helpfulness of others though the process.  The airport was super and kept my flight clear so that we could load as much of our stuff as possible and and even made an extra trip to get more stuff for us.  The maintenance guys in Nanwalek and one of the teachers were also great and helped me get everything in the apartment while Mike was coming over on the barge.  We got the first barge trip unloaded and into the apartment with no difficulty, but the seagulls were very confused.  There were people on the beach carrying totes and no fish scraps were left behind. They are beginning to have some doubts as to the helpfulness of people.  We, however, are most definitely not.  The next morning, the barge brought the rest of our stuff over and made outstanding time.  So much that when we headed down to wait for the boat, it was almost completely unloaded already.  A couple guys from the community had seen the barge and brought their truck down to help out.  So despite the many snags and delays, the process still went very well.  Now, to find a place for everything . . .

Roller Coasters

We arrived in Anchorage yesterday and the last two days of our trip have been like a roller coaster both literally and figuratively.  There are obvious similarities between a roller coaster and the road as it winds through the mountains with its ups and downs and twists and turns.  There are also a few less obvious similarities.  You always hope both are very well and frequently maintained and feel a much rougher ride when they are not well maintained.  Your ride will get shut down and you will get stuck waiting an eternity, sometimes in precarious positions if the road or roller coaster requires maintenance while you’re on it.  Most importantly, I begin each roller coaster ride with my little conversation starter with Jesus,  “Please, God, don’t let me die today.”  This trip has also incurred several conversations with Jesus.

The road is an emotional roller coaster as well.  As we travel through the mountains, I am frequently humbled and overwhelmed by the beauty that surrounds us.  I also find myself horrified by the constant presence of danger.  There seems to be a direct correlation between the intense beauty and the imminent death waiting to pounce it’s unsuspecting prey.  The more beautiful the landscape, the more dangerous the terrain.  Some of my thoughts as we’ve traveled:

“Wow!  That is amazing!”
“Oh my gosh!  That is a really long drop off!”
“That lake is so pretty!”
“How did I get stuck driving along BOTH lakes of death?!”
“How lucky am I to get to experience all of this!”
“Who thought this was a good place to put a road?!”
“God’s creation is incredible!”
“Why is there no guard rail here?!”
“How lucky am I to be a part of His creation when He already had all of this to enjoy!”
“Why does that guard rail not start sooner?  The drop off is right there!  Anyone could drive right off and die!”
“I wish everyone could see how beautiful this land is!”
“Why is that guard rail so small!  They should have a large concrete wall at least 10 ft tall!”
“A guard rail that tall would obstruct this breathtaking view.”
“Who cares!  I won’t be enjoying the view as I plummet to my death!”

I also have a bone to pick with whoever designed a few of the built in “safety features” in our truck. First, the doors will not open when the truck is in motion.  Even with the doors unlocked, they still will not open.  So if one of the many death traps tackles my truck along the way, I can’t open the door to bail out before plunging into oblivion.  It also has lane assist so if I get too close to the edges of my lane it will gently steer me away from the line.  Well, truck, I am fully aware I am hugging the yellow line.  Do you not see that huge lake of death beside the road I am trying to avoid falling into?  Stop pushing me toward it!  I have decided these safety features really need to have a cliff of death and lake of death override.

Our poor truck - and we weren't done adding to the layers
of mud yet.

I don't remember if I intended to get the mountain in his
photo or not.  I was focusing on the road conditions.  This
almost made us miss the mud and gravel.

Glacier!

That's where we're going - who thought it was a good idea to
put a road here! And that's not even the cliff of death!



This is not the cliff of death either (I didn't take pictures of it
because I was too busy talking to Jesus).  Road construction - yay!

And we're on the death side!  Mike was super comforting
saying things like "Look at how long of a drop that is!"

You are not seeing things, his front wheel is no where near
the road and his back wheels are right on the edge.  I'm not
sure if he's crazy or stupid, but I am sure he's underpaid.

Coming into Anchorage

Leaving Anchorage

Snags

Messing around at the home store of Cabelas

Canola fields covered the Canadian landscape for the
first two days of the trip.

We made it into Alaska last night!!  Overall, the trip has gone very smoothly, but we’ve hit our share of snags along the way.  Mike drove most of the first day because our trailer wanted to get very squirrelly on us.  We tried to avoid packing much in the front of the trailer because that’s where the Harley is and we definitely can’t risk getting a scratch on it.  After the trailer trying to drive us, we had to flirt with disaster and rearrange to move more weight to the front of the trailer.  So, between shifting weight, finding room for our Cabelas purchases (we stopped by the home store on our way through Nebraska - suggested by me because I am an awesome wife!), and digging for stuff at the Canadian border, we’ve rearranged the trailer three times since leaving the house.



We also lost our trailer brakes for a day - during which I was forced to drive the lake of death.  We hit a really big bump in the road that bounced the trailer enough to pull lose and/or cut the wires to 3 of the 4 wheels on the trailer.  But we are the ultimate do-it-yourselfers so we have the skills to do those repairs on the fly - and I am small enough to fit under the trailer.  That proved to be very useful, even if it’s not really a skill.  So with some contortionist maneuvering and some electrical tape from our hotel owner we were able to get the brakes working before we hit the really big mountain driving - particularly the cliff of death.



We’ve had a few technical difficulties along the trip too.  My IPad isn’t communicating with the blog well, so I’ll have to wait to load pictures and I won’t even get started on auto correct.  We also lost use of our cell phones in Canada.  This made getting reservations in Canada a little more difficult, but we had built in WiFi in the truck . . . until we didn’t.  We eventually lost our Onstar satellite signal.  Fortunately I was able to get most of our rooms reserved through the internet or e-mail before we lost satellite signal.  We weren’t able to get a room on our last night before Anchorage, though, so we had to make use of our little sleeping quarters in the truck.

Despite our snags, I’m still agreeing with myself that driving is more pleasant than flying. And I say that after having the extremely traumatizing experience of using a port-a-potty for the first time (I knew I should have risked an indescent exposure charge and gone to the bushes out back).  We got to visit the Cabelas home store, which is like a life goal for my husband.  They did not search our vehicles at the Canadian border and we found the items they wanted without unpacking everything.  Unlike our last trip, we got a room in a really nice place in Watson Lake with the friendliest owners.  We’ve played leap frog with and met some really nice people along the highway.  And we couldn’t find a room last night so we had to spend it camped out in the truck in our mini lap of luxury.  That might seem like a snag for some, but it will probably end up being my favorite part of this entire trip.

 

Pipeline running across the river

 

This is a bridge, that is a metal grate as the "road", and yes,

you can seethe water through it as you drive across!

Bison - he was shy, or a snob.  Either way he wouldn't look at us.



Like Johnny Horton - we crossed the Yukon River!

This is the mama lake of death (I got to drive the scary
part so no pictures of that section).  One of the towns along
this never-ending lake is Destruction Bay, named as a result
of all the damage done by the winds this lake generates.

Why are there no guard rails?!

Experience is the Best Teacher . . . Sometimes

As we have been planning, preparing, and now taking this trip, our prior experience has definitely had it’s benefits.   I’ve already talked about all of the little details we’ve worked out to make traveling as pleasant and comfortable as possible.  Packing was also a little easier because we’ve been there before and have a pretty good idea about what we will and won’t need.  We were also better able to get everything at home ready for us to leave because we know all of the things we wished we had done the last time.  Because we know the area and services available, we’ve been able to get more things in Alaska set up ahead of time.  We have already made the arrangements for our phone and tv, and even went so far as to set up an appointment to get our oil changed on our way through Anchorage.  (The move itself will cover most of the 5000 miles between oil changes and doing it on our way through will save us a trip back later).

Prior experience, however, has also been a little problematic.  All of that preparation greatly expanded our to-do last before we left so it was a bit more work this time.  Prior experience, we have also learned, is only helpful if things haven’t changed.  Having crossed the Canadian border before, we knew which firearms would be a headache at the border so we didn’t bring them this time.  Last time we didn’t have any trouble with his AR15 magazines so we didn’t think anything about bringing them along or putting them somewhere easy to get to.  Canada, though, has since prohibited those magazines because they hold too much ammunition so we had to unpack a chunk of the trailer and dig through several tubs before we found where we had put them.  We would have had to wait until Monday for the post office to open to mail them so Mike had to abandon them at the border.  They won’t cost much to replace, but they had sentimental value because Mike used them in Iraq.  My plants were able to make it through free and clear, though.  I read Canada restricted the transportation of dirt, so I put those little guys in shredded paper for the trip.  I’m hoping they will survive the trip okay, but anyone who knows my abilities with plants will know their biggest disadvantage has nothing to do with shredded paper.  Surviving me will be the real challenge.

Putting Myself To the Test

In a previous post (way back in 2013) I made the statement I would rather drive to Alaska than fly because it was more fun and far more comfortable.  Little did I know a few years later I would be testing that statement.  We definitely have the set-up for comfort.  We have an air mattress made specifically for SUVs blown up in the back of the rig with a little over a half dozen pillows to be enjoyed by whomever isn’t driving.  I’ve tried it out for a nap or two already and it is a little slice of heaven!!  Since we have a fancy schmancy vehicle, we also have a DVD player we have yet to try out and built in WiFi I am currently using to write this blog and wondering how we ever survived without it.  Maybe I would find the WiFi less amazing if I had a smart phone . . . we’ll probably never know.  I think all of that qualifies as traveling in luxury.  The real test, however, will come at the end of seven days during which we will have driven an average of 10 - 12 hours a day.  Will we still think the technology, scenery, better snacks, and our little snuggly, cushy napping area worth the additional days of travel?  As I look out the window and watch the light show of a million lightning bugs over the soybean and corn fields, I think we will.