Two and a half weeks seem like years

David and I cannot believe that we have been here almost three weeks.  Our trip across country feels like it happened to two other people.  It is weird.  I still am surprised sometimes when I realize we are actually in Alaska.  The sense of un-reality is strengthened by the normal and abnormal things we have been doing.  For example, as we go down our dirt road to the main road, we usually come upon two groups of spruce hens.  These are quail like birds with an absolute sense of entitlement to the road.  We either stop and wait for them to move or follow them slowly as they waddle down the middle of the road.  Then its on to the main road into Fairbanks where we have actually seen a moose in the road and many trucks loaded with freshly killed moose as well as pick up trucks fitted out in the back with dog boxes to haul the sled dogs.

Then we stop at my favorite place on the way into town:  The TRANSFER center.  This is the local dump where everyone takes their trash...and EVERYONE shops for new-to-them stuff.  Dumpster diving has reached new heights here:  some days it seems that there are more folks taking stuff out of the trash bins than putting stuff in.  And many folks have specially home-made picks for going through the dumpsters.  And there is a whole section that is like a yard sale, where the "good stuff" is dumped. I just got a wonderful oak desk chair today!David is quite willing to throw things in, but has yet to rummage about taking things out.

Then on to Wal-Mart.  That is what makes it all seem so unreal.  The shopping center has Lowe's, Pet Smart, Barnes and Noble and Wal-Mart.  Hard to compute.

Then, if we continue into Fairbanks proper things get weird again.  There is no real center of town; there are two main streets, and then everything kind of mushes out from there.  The paved roads are only one or two streets deep and then everything turns to gravel.  Log cabins are everywhere.

Since our house is located by so many great trails we have done a lot of walking in the woods, as well as down the road and back for a round trip of a little over 1.5 miles to get the morning paper.  We are starting to see a lot of dog sled activity and the other day we saw a 4 X 4 being pulled by a team while the driver stood hard on the brakes.  Our neighbors and landlords have 6 dogs which they use to attach to themselves and get pulled on skies over the trails.  Not Me!

We decided to go t the Chena River Recreation Area and go for a hike last week.  When we arrived (about 1/2 hour from our house) and got out of the car, we realized that we did the same hike 5 years ago when we travelled in AK.  How strange.  But we had a good time and saw another moose. Please note that I am somewhat overdressed as other folks we saw were without hat, coat or scarf.David keeps warning me that I better slow down with the amount of clothes I put on in this relatiely warm weather or I will be so overstuffed with layers in the real cold that I won't be able to move.

David is quite pleased now that we have a "tongue" hanging out of our car just  like everyone else. The car has been winterized and now has all the fluids needed to get us through a cold winter as well as the heaters needed to keep things warm under the hood.

Went to Denali on Sunday, the day after the buses stopped running through the park so it was quite empty.  Saw fox and moose. and visited their resident sled dog teams which were way too quiet, not at all like the ones near us that howl and bay with as much vigor as inner city police sirens.  But not at all unpleasant.

Weather is getting cooler.  We had frost this morning, September 22, but the paper says the frost is two weeks later than last year.  Hmm.  What are we in for?

David and I have "full time jobs" looking for real full time jobs and it gets ugly around here as we push and shove to use the computer.  We both have to calm down and behave.

We are doing a lot of volunteer work for the Obama campaign here in Fairbanks.  There was a fully staffed office with about 6 staffers, 4 from out of town.  Then when Sarah as announced as VP candidate, the Obama folks conceded AK and pulled their out of towners.  So, now there are only two young women working night and day.  Its very active and intense.

We will post as frequently as we have good photos to share with you.