Village Updates

So I know we've left the village, but it's still a very special place that will always have a piece of my heart, as will James and Carol.  They just thought they got rid of us.  We may not be there anymore, but we'll definately be chatting.  I got to visit with her on the phone and hear how everything is going in the village.  They've had some warm weather, so much so that it was comfortable outside without a jacket (and my brain fried by temperatures above 100 is thinking "What was I thinking?").  Summer solstice was last week so the longest day of the year has come and gone and she said you can tell the days are getting shorter.  Since it never gets dark right now, I'm not sure how exactly one goes about figuring that, but she says you can.  The red salmon usually start running in late May and we were told they had seen some in First Hole shortly after we left the village.  This year, however, they aren't coming upstream in large enough numbers so Fish & Game has shut down all fishing in the village.  Everyone is hoping that the salmon are being slow because the water is considerably colder than it usually is at this time of year and that they'll start coming in later.  If not, those who decided to be the early birds and have already cleaned out their freezers of last year's fish, might wish they had procrastinated a little more.  This year the early bird may go hungry - or at least not eat much fish.

Sunny's Corner

Hi!  This is Sunny and I finally convinced mommy and daddy to let me write and share my story.  Last summer we all moved to Alaska and have had a lot of fun this past year.  There was much to do in the village and I kept myself very busy despite my family's interference.  I tried to visit the neighbors downstairs several times, but had to be very sneaky to even get out the apartment door.  I also tried to explore the village and introduce myself to everyone but mommy always got me at the outside door and would never let me get any further - how very unfriendly!  She kept fussing about the dogs in the village.  I guess she was afraid they might kidnap me and take me home to their houses.  In all the time I spent sunning in the windows I never saw any other kitties, so I bet critters of the feline persuasion and pretty valuable in the village.  I was allowed to venture out onto the deck and enjoy the outdoors from there, but it's very hard to stalk and catch a bird in such a small space with no cover - for the record they have some very large birds that looked very tasty, but I'll never know as my hunting grounds were so unfairly limited.  I did discover the village has some very tasty fish!  I have become a connoisseur of fish preferring my salmon raw and at room temperature and expecting it on demand.  Halibut, though, is not so tasty which is a pity considering their huge size.  While my parents wouldn't let me go visit the neighbors, I did have one neighbor who would come to the house just to see me.  Miss Carol would keep me company when my family was gone, play with me, brings me presents.  She loves me very much and just might be my very best friend.

Now it's summer, though, and it was time to head back to Missouri.  I must confess I think my family had this a little backwards going to Alaska for the winter and returning to Missouri for the summer.  Kitties get cold very easily and require sunbeams for proper napping and those are in very short supply in Alaskan winters.  At least I got to ride in first class on the way home.  Well, it was coach for people, but until the people at the airlines learn to appreciate and recognize pets as the members of the family that they are, coach for people is first class for critters.  Otherwise you're stuck between some smelly, slobbery dog and someone's luggage full of stinky shoes and dirty laundry in the cargo area.  So I rode home in class and have been working diligently to get everything at home situated and comfortable, but there is one major problem . . . I am going bald!!  Ever since I've gotten home my hair is falling out everywhere.  Mommy insists I'm just shedding, but I don't think she is taking this problem nearly as seriously as she should.  She is also not providing me salmon on demand any more . . . I may need to find the number for the humane society to report neglect . . . and learn how to dial the phone with my nose.

Trip Pictures

Caribou - Her rack has seen better days, but she's still a cutie

This time we were on the death side of the Lake of Death

The Lake of Death's view from the truck - eek!!

 Baby elk

Stone Sheep

Home!!

We are home!!  It only took 11 days to get here, but we're here.  We had to make a pit stop in Salt Lake City for a couple days to attend my dad's wedding.  I suppose everything in the universe must balance out eventually, so our relatively snag free trip seems to have been made up for in their wedding plans.  When we arrived in Salt Lake City on Tuesday we expected to attend their wedding on Saturday.  They had made arrangements to have the ceremony at a friend's house and had every detail figured out and in the works except one . . . a preacher.  Wendy spent most of the next two days calling trying to find someone who could officiate the ceremony, but none were able to.  Thursday she called the courthouse to see about getting married by a justice of the peace, but all of their appointments were booked already.  Fortunately, the nice lady on the phone did say they could do a walk in ceremony that would be held in the hallway outside the office that issues the marriage licenses (which, interestingly, also happens to be across the hall from the bathrooms) so Friday Mike and I went to be witnesses to their marriage.  They still had the party on Saturday and did a little commitment ceremony so the rest of the family could witness their union so, despite the stress, all ended well.

We packed some of Wendy's things in our trailer and were on the road for home Sunday morning.  This time we had three drivers to share the load which proved very helpful  given it's a very long trip to make in two days.  I would say all went well, but no one thought to mention that this road had it's own cliffs of death that I, of course, was so lucky to be driving through.  Okay, so they had guard rails, but how much security can those things really offer?  I want five foot concrete walls.

Despite the death traps along the way, we were able to arrive safely and will be posting pictures very soon.

Back in the U.S.A.

We are back in the lower 48 and finally have internet access.  While we've had a couple minor snags, the trip has gone very well so far and we've had no major complications.  Camping in the trailer has been lots of fun and I must admit that I'll miss it a little as I sleep in a hotel room, but I very much enjoyed the shower.  The critters have been on the move and I will be posting pictures when I have my camera and computer in the same place and also have internet access.  We've seen a very large rabbit, moose, caribou, swans (one was nesting - so cool!), stone sheep, geese, what was either a goat or a sheep but was too far to be able to tell the difference, white tail deer, mule deer, antelope, and 1 suicidal but unsuccessful squirrel.  I wasn't able to get to the internet each day, but did make an entry for each day and posted them tonight.  The post dates won't match the entries, but I titled them according to the day to avoid any confusion.

Monday

This morning I could definitely feel one effect of living in Alaska for the past year.  Having seen so little sunshine, I very much enjoyed cooking breakfast on the tailgate of the truck in those yellow rays of happiness.  That said, it took about five minutes of that happiness to decide that, at 63 degrees, I was going to have to change into shorts before were were on our way.  I also decided two days in a row of dry shampoo was more than my scalp really cared for.  Since living in a fly-in village encourages hoarding, I had lots of empty orange juice bottles that I had filled with water for the trip but didn't think to bring a tub of any kind to hold that water so that I could wash anything.  I did have a shoebox and a trash bag and they worked just as well.

With only three hours of sleep Friday, I slept a good portion of the first day and I guess I slept through most of the scary places I remember from last summer.  We are no longer on the ALCAN and I've not seen half of the places that encourage getting one's heart right with Jesus.  While the roads are rough and filled with death traps, distances between any sign of human kind are vast, and prices are high (we paid $8 a gallon for fuel - I don't know what fuel prices are like back home, but we won't be complaining) there are some things about it I'll miss.  Miles without man also means miles of untouched and unmessed with nature to enjoy.  The roads may be rougher and only have two lanes, but they also have less traffic.  You can go for many many miles before seeing another vehicle.  Living in the village has made me an impatient driver and I'm missing not having to wait on other cars to do what I want and not getting stuck behind the world's slowest drivers.  Mostly, though, I'm missing the road stops.  They are pretty frequently found along the ALCAN and all come fully equipped with trash bins and bathrooms.  Now they come much less frequently and rarely seem to have a bathroom.  This is very high on the priority list when sleeping in a trailer on the side of the road.  It's interesting how one's circumstances can change what's important.  Happiness is having my honey beside me (that never changes), a place to do my business that does not involve bushes, and a shoe box to shampoo my head in.

Sunday

We spent our first night in the trailer last night and all went relatively well.  We had to rearrange the tubs a little to make room for the mattress which required a littler coercion, but it all worked out.  We found a nice little rest area with a bathroom (no business in the bushes - yay!) in a beautiful valley next to an icy lake that quite possibly may be the windiest location in North America.  Several times in the night I woke up wondering if the wind was going to tear the trailer apart and leave us lying on our happy little air mattress looking up at the stars.  Despite the powerful winds and gradual sliding to one side of the mattress due to the unlevel ground of the rest area, we slept well and were fully rested come morning.  A baby wipe bath, dry shampoo, and quick bite to eat and we were on our way.

Much of the road on this portion of the ALCAN interfered with making impressive time.  The permafrost under the road melts and refreezes (making me think we should change the name to something like flexifrost) creating frost heaves that give the road a bit of a roller coaster feel at times.  There are also multiple sections of the road unpaved as construction workers repair the damage of harsh winters.  The places that have good pavement and few frost heaves are usually too curvy to go very fast, but that also seems to be where all the good critter spotting is so we're not complaining.  We're in no hurry anyway.