Sorry about the last email. I probably should have waited a few days before writing. But, it was like a purging of the old to begin the new.
On to the lighter side. Since my new job in this immense town (one and a quarter miles long and three quarters of a mile wide, surrounded by hundreds of miles of Arctic and Alaska wilderness) is about four blocks away, I now have a morning commute. The worse part about it is there are no drive-thru cappuccino stands (of course on a 4 wheeler I would freeze my buns off waiting). I am due in at 8 AM now and it seems like everyone else in town with a job also goes in at that time. There are a couple of paved roads that run the length of the town and these are the major thoroughfares. As I made this morning's run to work, I was struck by the traffic on the road (not literally). Everything from folks on foot, folks on foot pulling a sled, folks on 4 wheelers, snowmachines-some pulling different types of sleds with folks on board, folks on cross-country skis, and of course the usual cars, trucks, clunkers and what have you operated by the folks who just have to, "keep up with the Jones's". I actually have to wait at the intersections for the traffic. This drags the commute out to about 7-8 minuets! And, if it's snowing hard, well, just forget it. At least 10 minuets! Well, the folks in the bush do say this is the big city.
It has been snowing for the last two days and as I have said in the past, this softens everything into a beautiful white landscape. I am still amazed when I look at the big flakes of snow falling on the black seat of my 4 wheeler after I clean it off. They are actually in varied star and geometric shapes like they portray in cartoons. Yea, it's the little things that fascinate me. Another uniquely Alaska thing is the commercials. Last night there was the site of a lady behind a full team of dogs on the crossroad of a snowy trail somewhere. The dogs stopped and looked back at her to which she responded, "alright we'll go to Taco Bell again". Cut to her in the drive through with the team pulling her away from the window as she admonishes the dogs that next time they will have to pay.
Well the traveling begins. Tomorrow Patty is going to Point Hope for the day. This is about halfway from Kotzebue to Barrow, the northernmost point of North America. Point Hope is a whaling village on the Arctic Sea. We leave Saturday for a week’s vacation in Anchorage where we plan to partake in the festivities of the Fur Rendezvous-it means just what it says-and watch the start of the Iditarod. After Patty leaves I will stay there after for a conference. After I return to Kotzebue I am slated to go back to Anchorage the Next week for another two day meeting. I come back for a week and then go out to one of our villages for four days. What have I done? I never was crazy about flying-especially in a small prop driven plane. The views from the planes however are beautiful they say. Many folks come back with tales of caribou, bear, moose, and other animal sightings. We will see. We still have not seen caribou although a lady I now work with told me her and her husband took a walk on the loop road in back of town, and spotted a small herd.
One other thing I had to chuckle about. Our apartment is the last in a row of hospital housing with our back door facing across one part of the bay to the tundra, and the side facing across another part of the bay to the sound and tundra beyond. When we leave in the morning, we go out the back door and to the road that runs along the bay into town. It is still dark when we leave now and one day Patty tells me she sometimes gets the willies at the corner. I asked her why. Her response was there is nothing back there but wilderness. I stop and thought a moment. I then realized the nearest civilization that way except for maybe a camp or two is over a hundred miles across the frozen wilds. The caribou according to the lady I spoke about are only about three to four miles back there. Banquet on the hoof for the locals and anything else that might be out shopping. Maybe Patty's right.
To those of you from New Orleans, hope you enjoyed this Mardi Gras day. I realize it may be a few days before a couple of you are able to read this with both eyes open and not barfing on the keyboard. Oh well, Laissez les bons temps roule!
Carlo
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Last updated:
08/29/05