What Next?

Since we have arrived in Fairbanks I have had to fend off repeated attempts to take us cross country skiing.  "What do you mean you don't ski?" "Have you skied to work yet?"  "Where ar your ski's?" and on and on.  Everyone keeps skis in their office at UAF and just hops out to ski and the miles and miles of University groomed trails at lunch.  There are ski trails, walking trails and even "pooch loops" for those who prefer walking with their dogs.

Well, I was quite dubious about the whole thing, given my great lack of balance and overall clumsiness.  But Dylan had given David cross country skis and boots and I had picked up a whole outfit for $10.00 last summer at a flea market, so when Gary, my great boss, offered to take us on December 11 off we went.

I learned how to get up from a fall, and even better, to get up, which was a good thing because I think I was down more than I was up. David, of course, didn't fall once.  And Fred stayed inside, even though Gary and his friend's dog romped along side of us as we skied on the Tanana River, just below Gary's lovely home.

 Gary's house

 The skier's at -10

 The skiing group...2 pro's and us

 What a stance!  No wonder I kept falling!  Notice the garage sale fashions!

 Gary and G'winzee the Venetie dog who stays outside all day and night while Fred the luxury dog lies wrapped in a blanket next to the fire!

 What a boss!

the most amazing thing is that we loved it and can't wait to go again!!!!

This Sure Isn't Kansas

It is hard to live in Fairbanks and not be aware of the dogs:  dog trucks with their beds filled in with a box capable of holding at least 12 dogs; dogs howling in the trucks parked in parking lots; dog yards of anywhere from 8 to 100 dogs; banks with dog biscuits; several stores dedicated to mushing equipment; and, of course, all the trails filled with mushers and their dogs.

Dog lover that I am, folks find it hard that we only have Fred, but that is just fine with me.  HOWEVER, I have become a handler!  That means that I now work with a musher in her dog yard doing everything from scooping poop to feeding to running dogs.  Peg Harpsham is “my musher” and she is going to run the Yukon Quest in February. 

I was lucky enough to meet her last year while David and I were walking on a trail near her house when we lived on Buffalo Lane.  Shy, retiring me immediately asked if I could help in her yard, and when I did not hear from her right away gave her a call.  I cannot even imagine what she thought of me appearing in her dog yard with not the slightest idea of what to do.  She put me on a sled right away, which was a disaster!  On the sled...in the snow!  Back on the sled (having run after it while Peg jumped off her own sled and caught my 4 dogs)...in the snow!  As you can see from this photo, I was far from relaxed.

 The Quest is the 1000 miles race from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada to Fairbanks. (That’s this year.  Next year it starts in Fairbanks, as it did last year).  Peg started conditioning her dogs in September, as soon as it got to be in the 40’s since the dogs do really well in cold weather, but suffer a bit in the heat. 

She started conditioning me as well!  I learned to hook up first 4 and now up to 8 dogs to a 4 wheeler and take them out on the miles and miles of trails behind her house.  We started at 3 miles each time and are now up to 30 miles.  When we started we ran the whole way in sunlight and now, when I go on Thursday’s after work, the whole process is in the dark! I spend about 4 hours on Thursday and all day Sunday at her yard and am just in awe at what dedication it takes.  She has 45 dogs…that means it cost over $40.00 per day just to feed them, not taking into account the equipment, etc, etc.  All the feed stores here keep a full pharmacy of medications since all but the most difficult cases are treated at home.

What am I doing?  The noise, the power, the sheer energy of the dogs is overwhelming.  But last week I knew that I had made progress when I was kneeling in -15 degree weather with bare hands, untangling a line that hooks the dog’s collar to the main or gangline totally unfazed by the 7 dogs leapt about, screaming and howling and ready to go!  Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?  However, to all those who say it is just a matter of time before I have my own yard and sled, etc, etc,. I say “NO WAY!”

So far we are running the dogs on 4 wheelers because the trails are not quite ready for sleds.  That’s fine with me since the tales of falling of a sled are horrifying.  Apparently one must “hang on at all cost” which means somehow hooking one arm under the sled handle while being pulled along face first in the snow while trying to jam a snow hook in the snow with the other hand.  How will I ever manage?  The power of the dogs is fantastic. 

The dogs are so powerful that one day Peg, "my musher" was hooking up dogs to her 4 wheeler and I was hooking up to mine and she went past me and shouted back, "Where is my 4 wheeler?".  Well, she had 8 dogs hooked up, her ice hook attached to the lead dog and dug into the ground and the 4 wheeler in gear with the brake on and the dogs simply took off and were running down the trail pulling her monster 4 wheeler.  They are amazing!!!!  They eventually stopped when the 4 wheeler hit a rut and they could not dislodge it.

The whole 4 wheeler thing is so typically Fairbanks...Peg, "my musher" only had one 4 wheeler and it was too expensive to rent one for months and months so I started asking around if anyone had one to rent privately.  One day at work a guy called who I had never heard of and offered to lend me his.  It turns out that he is the next door neighbor to a woman I sing in a choir with and I had asked her if she knew anyone with a 4 wheeler.  I didn't even know this amazing man and he lent me the 4 wheeler and a trailer!  Wow!

I took David with me a few weeks ago for a ride and all he could say was “You’re nuts”.

In order to run the Quest Peg must qualify by finishing two 300 mile races.  She will run the GinGin on December 26 and the Copper Basin on January 7.  This will be my first race experience and I can’t wait, despite the cold.

Don't Get Eaten by Polar Bears

I'm not sure why, but the warning I hear most from friends back east is "Don't get eaten by polar bears". "Pola bears," I say. "are MARINE mammals and Fairbanks is in the INTERIOR!" No matter, I hear the warning often.

HOWEVER, David had a great desire to get near enough to a polar bear to be eaten, so off we went to Kaktovik on the Arctic Ocean for an overnight polar bear viewing trip. (Quite expensive)

We took a 6 person propeller plane to Kaktovik and David was quite perplexed that there was absolutely no security and the pilot doubled as a baggage carrier. It was also a bit disconserting that the folks who checked us in weighed our luggae as well as US!

We stayed at the home of the brother of one of the students in the RAP program who is a guide for polar bear viewing and all things Arctic. He is also a passionate advocate against drilling in ANWAR which led to some interesting discussions.

The village of Kaktovik is in the North Slope Borough which benfits from North Slope Oil taxes and land leases so it is a small, but reasonably wealthy village with no trees and right on the sea.

Robert, our host, met us right on the tarmac and took us in his truck to his house where we would stay overnight. Quite ironic that we have to go to an Arctic village to have indoor plumbing! Quite nice since Kaktovik was very windy and an icy wind blew off the sea which made it more uncomfortable than Fairbanks. Robert's grandaughter and her cute baby Athena lived with him.

Robert arranged for us to hop onto a motor boar and go out to a barrier island close to the mainland where the polar bears hang out during the day. It was freezing and windy! We were lucky enough to see a mother and two cubs. David's new camera has a healthy zoom because we were not able to get very close, but his camera let us see great detail.













Look at those paws!



Robert drove us around Kaktovik, seeing the sites and allowing us to experience a landscape without trees.







This graveyard, one of several, was near the sea. Notice the whalebone arch.

One of the places that polar bears gather is the "bone yard" where the whales are cut up and the bones are left. It is purposely away from the town to encourage the bears to keep away from people. There is an area where the new bones are and then an area where last year's bones are left. The bears come at night to feed on the remains. When we were there, we saw 6 bears, which is a low count. Robert thought that there was a dead whale about 20 miles up the beach that was keeping the bears satisfied.







The gulls in the place are huge!!!! Don't call them sea gulls! I was corrected several times!

There are two hotels in Kaktovik that cater to researchers and the tourists that come to see the bears. Waldo Arms is by far the one with more character, but dubious comforts. It is made of a series of Atcos and looked quite derict, but had a cozy gathering area and quite genial hosts (Waldo and his wife).

At night Robert took us to a high point where we watched brilliant green auroras swooping across the sky from horizon to horizon (no treeline to obsucre the sights). The night was so clear and the auroras so bright that they lit up the sea with their reflections! No photos, alas.

We had a great time at Robert's as he was a wonderful host. Even though the quilt that was to cover us never made it to the drier we were cozy because he was careful to turn the heat way up at night to keep us warm. And we had huge meals: breakfast of pancakes, eggs, fruit and spam; lunch which included beluga muktuk and dinner of caribou ( which, unfortunately was a little tough because Robert accidentlaly defrosted a big hunk of beluga instead of caribou roast, so he quickly defrosted a caribou haunch and made it into a stir fry which probably wasn't what that cut of meat was meant for).

We were to leave at 3 pm the next day and although the morning broke windy but sunny as the take-off time neared the snow was swirling and the sky lowering. Luckily our plane came in. We got to the airstrip early and the pilot loaded the plane, and because all 6 of us were in our seats 15 mintues before take-off...up we went! No one even asked our names...they figured out who we were because the pilot seemed to know everyone BUT us!The pilot is loading the baggage, which in our case included a cooler full of beluga for Robert's sister in Fairbanks.

The hairy thing about the landing strip is that it doubles as a road to the boneyard and at one point we actually pulled off and let a plane land while we were travelling around Kaktovik!

Our New Home

We had always planned to stay at our first rental home for two years and then move to another place in Fairbanks. Our first home was in the "hills", about 20 miles from town and, as we got busier and busier, we realized that it was too far out to navigate easily with one car. We were always debating whether to stay in town if we had something at night or make the long drive home and back just to have dinner. And then there was the issue of Fred, who had to be fed and walked. And even though I had Emily, who was our wonderful dog sitter, there were always issues late at night.

So we started looking for a place either in town or near the University. We were handicapped by the dog since many places did not allow pets, and we were very particular about where we lived since it had to be close to work or town. So, we ended up in the dread DRY CABIN, within walking distance of the University. The shower thing is not too bad since I always took showers either at my gym, or in my building where there is a shower. And now David takes a shower at work too. Many folks have dry cabins so many offices accommodate them by providing showers.

It is a 20 x 20 full log cabin with a full upstairs and a balcony and a greenhouse!

The outhouse thing isn't so bad yet since there is only a little snow on the ground and at the coldest it is about 19. Wonder what it will be like when it is 50 or 60 degrees colder. Does pee freeze?

Our kitchen is nicely equipped with a 40 gallon holding tank under the sink so every week I go to the natural springs in Fox, about 15 miles from us to get water in 7 gallon jugs that we empty into the holding tank and then use a foot pump to pump water out a spout to use in the sink. HOWEVER, it drains into a 5 gallon bucket under the sink that has a tendency to overflow if we are not careful. David is in charge of toting it outside to the disposal area.

The cabin is fully equipped with all the essentials...internet and a wood burning stove!

All in all, we are quite happy here. Even Fred.



Upstairs



View from our front window



View from the balcony