Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Major construction meeting today, will Delta High School open on time? That is the question of the day. I did another walk through yesterday and you can see progress, but is it enough? If they do not finish the Cyber School hallway before we open, then the Cyber School will move to the high school computer lab, which would lock Delta High School students out of the lab. They need to install the ceiling grid, all the lights in the hallways, pipes for the heating system, and the air handlers. Additionally, installing the windows after they arrive is necessary. They are going to stucco the outside above the bricks, can they finish before the rains come next month? All of the outside lighting needs to be in-place before darkness. Then cleaning the school from all of the renovation dust; this is going to be a major undertaking.
Football practice starts next week; will they be able to use the locker room, which is inside the school? Volleyball needs to use the gym and soccer needs to get started also. Teachers normally start coming in the school the first week in August, but not this year, they will be lucky to get in a week before we start. The master schedule is in rough draft, students schedules need to be finalized, year-end roll over is just being completed and we have started a new version of Power School. I am looking forward to a great year!

Sunday, July 20, 2009

Saturday’s fishing was not a complete shutout; I did catch two rainbow trout in North Twin Lake. I had no luck in Delta Clearwater River, I could see the Grayling jumping all around me as I stood thigh deep in clear cold water. I was using spoons and grubs while the guy across from me, in a honey hole, was using flies and caught five while I hooked zero. Went back on Sunday and tried drifting some flies with a spinning reel, still shut out. My fly road is in my household goods, when it arrives, I will slay them! Nina went to Fairbanks with Rachelle to go furniture hunting on Saturday. (We sold our sofa/loveseat/recliner and our dining room table/chairs so of course, we need to get new ones.) On the way back, they saw a mother moose and baby crossing the road. They stopped on the side of the road and took pictures of them in the bogs. She said that they were only about 30 feet away slashing around in the bog eating the plants off the bottom.Today we found out what the Delta Winds are, it was a clear day around 74 degrees with a constant breeze of around 25 mph. It was hard to walk against it and it kicked in the wind chill factor. We can only imagine what it is going to be like at -10 degrees and a 40 mph wind. Nina and I drove back up to Donnelly Dome this evening to look at the Alaskan Range since it was so clear. The temperature dropped seven degrees as we drove through the hills. When we got to the top, the temperature had dropped to 63 degrees and the wind was roaring. Nina had a sweatshirt in the car that she put on, I only had my shorts, t-shirt and sandals, and yep it was cold. The view was fantastic; it is hard to believe how much snow is still on those peaks. You can see the glaciers between the peaks, cliffs of snows, and in one area a huge bowl of snow. One day Nina and I would like to take a flight-seeing tour of it. Nina and I have been in Alaska for two weeks now and the scenery and the wildlife still amazes us daily.

Friday, July 17, 2009We finally found Bullwinkle; yes, we saw a moose, actually two moose with antlers! The antlers were not that big, but they were antlers and we were excited to find the elusive Bull Moose. One of the moose we saw was right along Eielson Air Force Base. I pulled over to take a picture with my phone (we did not have the camera) and while I was sitting there, another car pulled up behind me. I remember I had just passed a sign that said “No Stopping, No Parking, and No Pictures” and figured I was going to get a ticket by the Air Police. First Nina at the Canadian border and now me in Fairbanks; we just need to stop playing tourist and taking so many pictures. Luckily, it was just another tourist looking at the moose, but still I high-tailed it out of there. In addition to the moose, we saw a black wolf. Now talk about big; the wolf was very huge and he looked wicked. I would hate to have a pack of those coming at me. Nina and I felt that the wolf was probably more intimidating than the grizzly bear. Today was the clearest day since we have been in Alaska. The forest fires are only thirty miles away but the wind changed to reveal an entire snow covered mountain range we had not seen before. We went to the Moose Lodge for a steak dinner tonight. I will probably join the Moose Lodge since they have supported the school in the past and I would like to see them continue their support. Tomorrow I am going fishing for trout and arctic grayling. I will have to fish a lot in order to recoup the price of my fishing license. Even though I have an Alaska driver’s license, registered to vote, and registered my car in Alaska I still have to buy a non-resident license since I have not lived in Alaska for twelve consecutive months. It is the same for a hunting license.

Visit to the Big City

We went to Fairbanks yesterday just to look around. It is about 1-1/2 hours from Delta Junction and has most of the amenities of a big city minus the super-mall. On the way we stopped by North Pole, AK to see Santa and his reindeer. Very tourist-orientated town, go figure. We spluged and ate at a fast-food Wendy's. It was delicious and so much more affordable. We are lucky to have a hamburger, fries, and drink for under $16. We stopped by Wal-Mart where we saw our first Wal-Mart Liquor Store. Found out where Sam’s Club was and then dropped by a big Sportsman Warehouse to look at cold weather gear and I picked up a few Arctic Grayling lures. We did not buy much of anything today since we have not nailed down a place to live yet. We are moving out of the Bed and Breakfast in town today and into Billiting on Fort Greely. We will stay in a Recreational Quarters until we find a place to live. Not sure why they're called recreational quarters, must have something to do with the privatization of quarters on the military post. The Fort Greely Housing folks showed us a 4 bedroom field grade quarters that might be available on a yearly lease. We lived in privatized quarters for a year at Robins Air Force Base, not a bad deal. Today we will look at a two-bedroom apartment, a three-bedroom house, and then on Monday a walk-through of the four-bedroom townhome on Fort Greely and then we will crunch numbers and make up our mind. All of them are between 3.2 miles and 7.4 miles from school. All of them are on a maintained winter roads. I am tired of living out of a suitcase and only getting Fox News when the tree is not blowing in front of the satellite dish. (Nina is also experiencing withdrawal symptoms with not being able to see HGTV.) It is strange having almost 20 hours of daylight; we have been up past midnight the last few days and really did not even realize it. I am not complaining, because I know that in a couple of months I will only see sunlight for a couple of hours a day.

Day 1 at Delta Junction (07/07/2009)

First priority is to find a place to live; this is proving much more difficult than we thought. Delta Junction is a small place at the intersection of the Alaska Highway and Richardson Highway. (Even though it is small, it is very confusing ~ it is spread out so much.) Highway work crews or contractors at Fort Greely take almost all of the rentals up until August. We have an appointment tomorrow with a realtor to show us a duplex. We went by today to get Alaska driver licenses but decided to wait since we have to take the written test. We picked up the books to study, oh fun. It will only cost us $100 to register our car for two years. I checked in at the Board of Education and immediately went into a construction meeting with the building winterization crew. I sat there, listened, and wondered how the school is going to start on time. I will continue to attend the Tuesday morning meetings, the superintendent said the one the 21st should be very interesting since that is when they will review the schedule to determine if the school start date will be delayed. Well it is time to head over to the IGA and see what the local grocery store is like.

Day 10 – We made it to Delta Junction, AK, our new home (07/06/2009)

Today we decided to do our longest segment of the Alaska Highway unbeknownst to us this is also the worst section of the Alaska Highway. We drove 500 miles in 11 hours. The first forty miles after Whitehorse consisted of suicide prairie dogs. They stood on the side and waited until you got about 50 feet from them and they take off running at full speed and trying to cross in front of you. After about the fifth one I stopped braking and swerving to miss them. They are pretty good, only one should have retired from the game early. Then we entered a 200-mile permafrost area, what a ride. They needed signs on this section that said, Do Not Eat Next 200 Miles If Subject To Motion Sickness. I hit my head on the ceiling twice and Nina popped her neck several times. I really do not know how to describe it best, really rough seas or really bad air turbulence. Additionally, they put red flags on the side of the road to mark problem areas. Nina said they meant slow down, I said no they mean hold on! After about the fourth marked area Nina won, I started to slow down in order to keep the suspension under the vehicle. Educational note: Did you know that marsh plants contain 10 to 400 percent more sodium than the plants around the marsh? That is why you see moose standing in the middle of a pond, as we did today, eating plants off the bottom. It put it’s entire head under the water and ate for awhile and then raised it’s head and shook. Did you know that swans migrate? Yes, those big things fly all the way up here to nest in the quite secluded ponds. We saw several pairs today on different ponds. Because swans are very private, there is only one pair per lake. When I saw the swans I had flashbacks to a horrible part of my childhood, I can only hope there is a hunting season so I can get even.
Our total trip took 10 days and covered 4,810 miles. More on Delta Junction tomorrow.

Day 9 – the shortest drive (7/5/2009)

We were up and out early with the anticipation of see moose and caribou along the route. We only drove 281 miles today in 6 ¾ hours. Along the route from Watson Lake to Whitehorse, we only saw one moose with a calf. Do not get me wrong, seeing them was wonderful! There we supposed to be herds of caribou roaming along the roads, but no not today. It was very hazy along the route, when we checked in we found out why, there is a large forest fire putting up some heavy smoke. In addition to the smoke, it has been a hotter, drier summer and the winds are kicking up dust. We had breakfast at the Continental Divide Restaurant an hour after leaving the Air Force Lodge; I had to refresh myself on what the Continental Divide is. We continued to travel through mountains, big tall Rocky Mountains, rolling grass covered mountains, tree covered mountains, and mountains that you can definitely see the timberline. During the melt-off, the place must be full of water judging by the number of runoff ditches. We crossed the longest bridge on the Alaska Highway today. We went to see the Klondike; a paddle wheeler that delivered mail up and down the Yukon River. It was closed for tours, but the young cute girl that works for the park service came out and asked if she could take a picture with me (I was wearing an American Flag shirt). Of course, I said yes and smiled nicely. And Nina asked me why I was wearing my flag shirt today (ha)?!?!!! After the Klondike we went to see the fish ladders, it is too early to see the salmon migrating upstream but it was still interesting to walk around them and watch the other fish swim through. From Whitehorse to Delta Junction, our new home is a little over 400 miles. Depending on the number of photo stops we make we should pull in around 7:00 p.m. tomorrow. We still do not have a place to rent so we are staying in a bed & breakfast until we find our new home.

Day 8 – Start of our second week (Happy Fourth of July)

We started or second week with breakfast in a unique placed called Meg’s and Mel’s, a one-woman operation and ended it with dinner in a truck stop called Bee Jay’s. We covered 323 miles in 8:32 hours. We learned several valuable lessons today: 1) Stone Sheep like to lick the minerals off the roadway and usually it is in a blind spot. We had several quick stops today due to sheep licking the road. 2) When caught in a herd of buffalo crossing the road, do not roll down your window! Mosquitoes swamped us, it took the next 10 miles to get them out and I have blood on my jeans from those little suckers. However, we did get some great photosJ. We are still impressed by the Alaska Highway, even in the gravel spots, you can maintain good speed and it is not crowded. We only had two construction areas today, and they were short stops. Today the scenery was outstanding, raging rivers, babbling brooks, rocky peaks, lush green meadows, and tree covered mountains. We saw brown bear, many black bears, tons of buffalos and Stone Sheep. We stopped for lunch at Muncho Lake; the water is blue and green. This would be a nice place to spend a few days, maybe later. We got into Watson Lake and started looking for a hotel. Nina had read about a place called The Air Force Lodge that is a restored WW II Bachelor Officer Quarters for Army Air Corp Pilots. The rooms are plain, just a bed and TV, the showers and bathrooms are down the hall, and quiet time starts at 2230 hours. There is 1942 era music playing in the hallways. It is clean, cute, and continued our day of unique experiences.

Day 7 – First day on the Alaska Highway (07/03/2009

)Our first day on the Alaska Highway was very nice; we drove 362 miles in 9 hours. The road is much better than I expected. We drove on part of the “Old Alaska Highway” and on the only original bridge left. I sure am glad they have improved the highway. We drove 60+ mph most of the day and very little traffic. We saw two bears, one brown and one black within one hundred yards of each other. They would have both been nice sized rugs (Nina took offense at this comment). We finished another book on cd and started another one. No cell phone service in this part of the country so when we got in the hotel we tried a video conference with the girls, we had good sound but no video. I checked MSN when I got to the hotel and found out Palin resigned today, dang one less reason to go to Alaska now. Nina hopes to map out another 300-mile trip tomorrow; we should have some nice side trips. We were surprised about the amount of oil wells Canada has, there are derricks all along the road. We have refigured the number of days and think it will be more like twelve instead of ten since we rerouted. Happy Fourth of July

Starting the Alaska Highway - mile 0 in Dawson Creek. The donut at Robin's was worth the stop.

Day 6 – 07/02/2009

Well we did not make it to Dawson Creek today; we pulled up early in Grand Prairie, Alberta. We traveled 463 mile in a little over 8 hours today. Today was straight driving, no stops, no tours, and very little scenery. Gas is more expensive here in Canada and my new word is ay, every sentence ends in “Ay”. After six days in the saddle, I am happy to report Nina and I are saddle sore free. As we blow past the small towns along the way we cannot help but wonder what is Delta Junction going to look like. I think with every mile we cross off we get a little more nervous about what lies ahead. I hope that I will be in bed before midnight tonight, ay. Good night all, I do not know what tomorrow holds for us.

Fox News Junkie

Got up in time to catch a little Fox News and guess what - Canada does not have Fox News. The local news was good, learned all about Canada Day and the Canadian Stock Market. Nina is happy, they have HGTV. Time to get ready for day 6 in the saddle, North to Alaska.

Day 5 – Canada Bound (07/01/2009)

After getting in late last night, we slept in a little later, had several stops before we left Butte, MO, and did not get on the road until around 10:20 a.m. Today was just a driving day, 494 miles in 9:10 hours, no stops along the way. Almost the entire day was freeway driving through the Rockies, into Canada and on to Airdrie, Alberta. Airdrie is north of Calgary so we do not have to start in the rush tomorrow. The only incident today was at the Canadian border. I had been told not to joke with or mess with the border patrol agents; I passed this on to Nina. We pulled up to the border window and as I handed him the passports he yelled, “Did you take my picture?” I looked at Nina and she said, “No, I took his, you are not in it”. While she was telling him this, she was holding the camera up and he was hiding behind the wall and yelling, “Put it down, put it down!” It was really somewhat funny. He told us that you could not take a picture of a federal building or a federal officer in Canada. At least he did not confiscate the camera. Would anybody like to see his picture? (Nina deleted the picture.) They did let us in without further incident. Next stop ~ Dawson Creek, British Columbia the beginning of the Alaskan Highway. Oh yeah, I picked up three more bottles of bug wash, I am ready for those B52 sized mosquitoes in Canada and Alaska.

In Canada

Leaving late today. Waiting at a car wash to get the wildlife off the front of the SUV.

Day 4 – Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks (06/30/2009)

Got a late start this morning but still had a good trip. We covered 605 miles in 13 hours. We drove through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. The winter must have been rough on the roads in the national parks because there was construction a good portion of the trip and several times it went down to one gravel lane. Nice thing was it gave you more time to enjoy the scenery. We made it to Old Faithfull and only had to wait about ten minutes for it to blow. It was very impressive. The girls (Kristina and Tiffany) and a friend Randy saw us on the Old Faithful webcam. It was an outstanding day for wildlife; we saw a brown bear, moose, elk, bald eagles, and buffalo roaming around the parks. Nina and I were amazed by the amount of snow still in the mountains and the devastation caused by forest fires. After the forest fires there was nothing left to prevent the erosion. The erosions caused landslides that took out entire mountainsides. We thought Grand Teton had the nicer scenery (beautiful mountains, rivers, & lakes) but Yellowstone had all of the wildlife and geysers. Learned another important lesson today, carry extra windshield washer fluid! I have filled up twice already. I stopped tonight at dusk on the side of the road to add more fluid and a swarm of hungry mosquitoes attacked me, I was lucky that they didn’t take me away before I got back into the car. Long day but a good day.