Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

I can’t believe it’s been a week since I wrote last. Mainly, the reason I haven’t written is because there has been nothing to write about. Up until yesterday, I hadn’t left the house in 8 days. I was going absolutely stir crazy, but I didn’t want to risk taking my car out in -45F weather, after hearing all the weird sounds coming out of it the last time I took it out.  A lot of folks here - who had to go out in the cold - had problems with their vehicles breaking down, power steering lines freezing and breaking, batteries dying, etc. I didn’t want any parts of that, and since I don’t work outside the home, I wasn’t going to tempt fate. But Oh, how crazy I went!

Yesterday, the chinook winds finally arrived.  While the rest of the country is having record lows, Alaska is having a warm-up. As I type this, Weather Underground is reporting 21F ABOVE zero in North Pole. It’s not quite that warm at my house, but it’s above zero, and that’s a welcome relief. I hope it sticks around for a while, but most likely we’ll only have this reprieve for a week. I’ll take it.

Steve was off yesterday, and promised me a scenic drive. We decided to drive down to the Donnelly Dome area - about 120 miles from here. It was partly cloudy, but there was a high ceiling, so we could see the Alaska Range on the horizon. It wasn’t as visible as I hoped, but I’m not complaining.

When we left the house, it was about -8F. As we got closer to Delta Junction, the truck gauge read 6F above. The only downside was strong winds - and they were whipping pretty good, especially when we drove next to the Tanana River.  The forecast is calling for winds as strong as 60mph in that area today and tomorrow. Even 23F above isn’t going to feel so nice with those winds.

We stopped for breakfast at Midway Lodge. Midway Lodge is a regular stopping point for military troops heading to and from Fort Greely for cold weather training.  Our troops are deployed right now, so I’m sure it’s been some time since the owners have fed hungry soldiers and airmen.

I ordered what I always order when we go out to breakfast: scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, hashbrowns and toast. I don’t know where they get their bacon, but it was the best bacon I’ve ever had. It had a bit of a spicy kick to it, and was cooked perfectly - crisp but not burnt.  Steve enjoyed his very large omelet too.

The only negative (my personal opinion) to eating at Midway is that smoking is permitted, and although there was no one smoking while we were there, I could smell it in the air. I don’t have anything against smokers - to each his own - but as a reformed smoker (I kicked the habit cold turkey when I was in my early 30s), my nose is very sensitive. I have asthma too, so if a place is really smokey, it can trigger an attack. That didn’t happen, fortunately.

We drove through Delta Junction to Fort Greely, and turned towards Bolio Lake. Bolio Lake is located in the Delta / Tanana river drainage. Bolio Lake was first stocked back in 1953 with 10,099 rainbow trout from Birch Lake Hatchery (now closed). According to an online fishing site, Bolio Lake has Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Chinook (King) Salmon, Coho (Silver) Salmon, and Rainbow Trout in it. Right now it’s frozen.

We continued south on the Richardson Hwy to Donnelly Dome. Here’s a great article about Donnelly Dome written by Ned Rozell:

Describing Donnelly Dome
by Ned Rozell

Behind Donnelly Dome, Pipeline Mile 560–When I bump off the mosquitoes, the front screen of the tent provides a clear view of a favorite Richardson Highway landmark–Donnelly Dome. I camped near the Donnelly Dome reflection pond to get acquainted with the mountain, which from here looks like a 3,910-foot loaf of stone with green stubble on the bottom third.

Standing alone in the Delta River Valley 18 miles south of Delta Junction, Donnelly Dome always sparks a few questions by those who drive past; I’ve heard people muse over whether the Dome is a lonely volcano.

Before I took my dog for this long walk, I called Tom Buntzen to find out the facts about Donnelly Dome.

Buntzen is a state geologist with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys. Donnelly Dome is a bit odd, he said. In fact, it shouldn’t even be here.

“It is out of place,” he said. “A glacier went down the (Delta River) valley. It should have sheared Donnelly Dome off, but it didn’t.”

There’s a word for bumps like Donnelly Dome, Buntzen said: “Donnelly Dome is a fleigberg.”

Come again?

“A fleigberg,” Buntzen repeated. “A mountain that has been overridden by ice.”

Buntzen has climbed to the top of the dome and has seen evidence that glaciers touched it, even if they didn’t shave it from the valley floor. Buick-sized “erratics,” rocks that came from somewhere else, sit on top of the dome.

“They were conveyor-belted out on the ice and dropped on top of Donnelly Dome,” Buntzen said.

How did the dome resist being scraped from the earth while those around it crumbled under the force of an Alaska Range glacier that covered the area 70,000 to 100,000 years ago? Buntzen said Donnelly Dome may have had the luck to squeeze between two separate tongues of the glacier.

“And there was another glaciation that just missed it,” Buntzen said. “In the Donnelly Glaciation, from 30,000 to 10,000 years ago, glaciers reached just to the base of the dome, but they didn’t cover it.”

I’m glad. Someday I’ll climb my favorite fleigberg. But not today, I’m too tired.

There’s a dirt road that climbs up to a parking area near the dome. From there you can hike to the top. I hear the views from up there are beautiful, but I’ve never seen them for myself. It’s a half day trip up and down, because it’s so steep (which means it would take me all day!), and the wind can be chilly and strong up there. Perhaps someday, we’ll explore Donnelly Dome on foot, but yesterday wasn’t that day.

We drove on the dirt road for a little way, when I caught sight of a group of caribou laying in the snow resting. The caribou with the largest antlers - and they weren’t very large at that - stood, while the others rested. Was he acting the lookout?

We watched them for a little while, and then continued up the hill to get closer to the dome. A few hundred yards later, we came upon a cow moose and calf - also laying in the snow resting. Unfortunately, they were quite skittish, and took off running when Steve stopped the truck so I could take a photo.

Our plan was to drive all the way to Black Rapids, before turning around for home. But that plan was aborted when we got only a little ways down the road and smelled rubber burning. We weren’t sure if it was Steve’s truck, or the big rig that we had followed. If it was Steve’s truck, we certainly didn’t want to find ourselves stranded in the middle of nowhere. Besides, the wind was really picking up, which made the windchills just as dangerous as a -30F day.  So we turned around and headed back to North Pole.

As we made our way home, the smell disappeared. Steve’s truck was working fine, so we’re convinced it was the semi in front of us that was leaving that burning odor behind. I hope he made it to his destination (more than likely Valdez) OK.

After passing through Delta Junction, we turned into Rika’s Roadhouse - even though it’s closed for the season.  The roadhouse looked beautiful with pristine white snow around it and winter blue skies overhead. I wanted to take some photos of the Delta River, but the only vantage point required a trudge through very deep snow (and the wind was still gusting), and I was much happier in the warm truck.

It was only 3:30pm and the sun had already dipped below the mountains. The sky quickly darkened to a deep blue and visibility lessened. The remainder of our trip home was uneventful.

As we passed Eielson AFB, an F-16 did a “touch and go” on the airstrip right next to the road. I would have loved to have taken a photograph, but pulling out your camera along this stretch of road can result in losing your camera. I’ve heard from others that - if seen - the MPs will confiscate your camera if you ignore the *No Photography* signs along the highway.  I’m not willing to risk that.

All in all it was a great day. I’m so glad that Steve took me out for this drive. I was starting to go batty being stuck in the house. I plan to get out as much as possible during this warm-up.

Photos:

These photos were taken the other night during the full moon:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Air Exchange portion of our HVAC system is working again. We had a young man come out and look at the unit and the control panel, and he discovered that the wiring in the control panel on our living room wall was kinked when the cover was put on. Apparently, it was kinked enough that at some point, the wire broke or was shorting out. After thawing the unit completely, and rewiring the control panel, all systems were go. What a relief it was that it was an easy fix.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The fireworks for Alaska Statehood are rescheduled for Saturday night. Steve’s working day shift that day, and doesn’t want to drive all the way home and then rush out again. Maybe Lisa will go with me. (*hint, hint*) I hope to spend time with Lisa this weekend, as we’ve both been absolutely crazy bored.  At least she works during the week, and sees something other than the four walls of her house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Last week, a reader commented to my journal entry with a question regarding Steve’s sons. If you watched the videos I posted a little while ago, there is footage of Steve’s sons Eric and Randy on a trip to Grand Canyon with us and my sons.  This is what Linda asked:

I can’t help but wonder about the relationship of Steve and his boys. After reading your journal, I can’t help but think it is a good relationship, but you just haven’t written about it. You are such a loving person, that I can’t imagine you don’t have a good relationship with them, even though it must be a long distance one with you being in Alaska.

I’m not going to go into too much detail, out of respect to Steve, but I will respond as best I can - from my perspective. When Steve and his first wife split up, their sons were only babies.  Steve had just joined the army - a last resort decision at the time, as he had lost his job and needed to support his family. As most of you know, a life in the military isn’t easy - and always involves moves around the country, and even the world at times. That kind of lifestyle wasn’t something his wife wanted, and so the marriage ended.

Being a soldier, and living 1000 miles from his kids, didn’t make things easy.  Steve would see his boys in the summer while on military block leave, and occasionally at other times of the year, if he could get leave. After we were married, we planned summer vacations to include Steve’s children. Sometimes we all traveled together, sometimes Steve and I went to MO to visit them, and sometimes we flew them to wherever we lived.

The last time we saw them was 2002. We flew the boys to Florida - separately - so that Steve could have one on one time with them. Everyone had a great time, and Steve looked forward to a relationship with them as adults, now that they were grown up.

There were occasional phone calls after that visit. And emails were exchanged periodically. And then communication just stopped.  Phone calls weren’t returned. Emails weren’t responded to. It was as if his kids just fell off the face of the earth.

Over the past year or so, a few emails have been exchanged with Eric, but there’s been no communication with Randy. They’re grown men now, and they certainly don’t have to talk to Steve if they don’t want to, but I don’t think they realize how much it hurts him not to be a part of their lives.

Divorce is never easy, and many times the kids become pawns in the battle between the two partners. I’m not suggesting that this is what happened here, but I also don’t believe that the parents in this situation (and Steve’s not totally without blame), consciously put their kids’ needs first.  In the end, everyone paid a price. Steve misses his kids more than anything, and holds out hope that someday, they will want him in their life again. And his kids are missing out on knowing a wonderful and caring man, who will always love them despite the estrangement, and who thinks about them all the time.

It’s a sad thing, and I feel sorry for everyone involved. I also have hope that someday, Eric and Randy will want to renew their relationship with Steve; that someday everyone can put the past behind them, and start fresh. You can’t have too much love in your life.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Speaking of family, and the ‘old days’, I’ve been editing and resizing photos from the early 1980s. My scanner is not working right, so I’ve been taking photos of photos using my tripod and a steady hand. Unfortunately, the majority of the photos are already turning yellow with age, or faded. I’ve gone through three 100-page albums from the years 1980-1984. I found a few photos of Chris as a newborn (he was born in 1979), but I think the bulk of his photos are in his baby book, and that’s packed away in another box somewhere.

I’ve “converted” photos of my ex husband too, and looking at those photos - photographs of us with our boys - make me feel a bit melancholic. Ralph was my first love. I was 15 and in 10th grade when I met him. He was 17 and a senior. He was a long-haired rock n’ roller, and played the drums in a neighborhood band. The longer hair gave him that bad boy look, which I found quite appealing, although my parents were not as impressed. He and his brother lived with his grandparents. His grandparents - who I would call Nan and Pop in later years - were good-hearted folks who always treated me well, and later loved me like one of their own.

He asked me to his senior prom, and we were inseparable from that day forward. My parents didn’t think he had much to offer - especially to their only daughter. He really didn’t have much to offer, honestly, but he was a kind and considerate boyfriend and we had a lot of fun together.

My parents periodically tried to keep us apart, but that only resulted in me sneaking out of the house, and finding more creative ways to spend time with him. My mom made my life miserable with restrictions about seeing him. The day I turned 18 (December 1977), he planned a special birthday night out on the town, and Mom forbid me to go out. A huge fight ensued, and I packed a bag and left. I never went home again.

Ralph’s grandparents let me stay with them. I continued to attend college (I was going to Drexel University), and he went to work. A few months later, on February 25th (1978), we stood before a Justice of the Peace, with our best friends at our side, and were married. I was 18; Ralph was 20. I called my mother the next day and told her I was married. I didn’t speak to her - or my father - again for nearly 4 months. They were so angry (and hurt, I’m sure).

We bought a house in June of that year, and I found out I was pregnant in August.  I didn’t return to college in September.  Ralph was an attentive father-to-be and we had many good times when Christopher came into our lives. Unfortunately, the responsibility of parenthood, became too overwhelming for Ralph. He didn’t want to give up his fun of playing in a band, and going out on the weekends, so it all fell on my shoulders. It was very sobering to be a 20 year old woman, changing diapers and tending to a baby while all my friends were having fun being young people.

We had Brandon in October 1983, but things still weren’t going well in our marriage. Unfortunately, it didn’t survive. We split up in August 1984. It was a horrible breakup and things were very ugly between us. When the photo albums were packed away, so were the memories. As with many marriages that fail, the bad overshadowed the good.

And so, the other day, as I flipped through page after page of photographs, I felt the good come back. I found myself smiling at the happy memories long forgotten. And I also found myself marveling at the similarity in face of Ralph as a 20-something and Brandon now. They could be twins.  Taking on this project has been very therapeutic for me. It was good for me to remember the days when I loved my sons’ dad. We made two beautiful boys together. Remembering the more difficult days of my younger years, reminds me of all that has transpired to make me who I am today. I feel that my life was supposed to go as it has. I don’t regret any of it.

Destiny itself is like a wonderful wide tapestry
in which every thread is guided by an unspeakably tender hand,
placed beside another thread
and held and carried by a hundred others.
~Rainer Maria Rilke~