The View from the Outhouse

Good morning from Silty Slough. 27 degrees at 7 am when I went outside. About 2” of new snow. Sunrise is 10:20, we are gaining a couple of minutes a day.

Last Thursday Cory, Jess, and I headed down the trail to Deshka Landing. Jess has been here about two weeks and needs to get back to the uncivilized world. Cory was in the lead. I was next with a sled load of empty barrels, totes, and a dog kennel with Jess and Steve’s dog Artie in it. Artie is short for Artemus daughter of Zeus, she is the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, nature, childbirth, and the care of young children. A name befitting a black lab.

The run in was good, trail was fairly smooth. The light was flat in the middle of the trip and a few moguls appeared out of no where. I came off one sandbar headed down pretty steep to the river thinking “This is going to hurt.” Everything worked out for a really good trip. Cory gave us a ride to Wolf Lake since Jess and I came out to the cabin via helicopter.

Jess got her truck warming up while we broomed about 10” of snow off both the trucks. Then she and Artie headed home. I fired up the Kubota to snowblow the driveway. It is getting late and my big plans of shopping, buying fuel, and heading back to the landing to get the sled loaded for the trip back to the cabin tomorrow changed. Now it is Jersey Mike’s for a sub, Lowe’s for some bolts, and Carr’s for prescriptions and seltzer water. Last week I received a message from the bank that someone tried to charge $700+ dollars at Target and Best Buy on my card. I dismissed it as a scam. Guess it wasn’t, my debit card was declined at two stores and an ATM. I’ll fix it when I get back to the cabin.

Traffic is horrendous now. Wasn’t like that 28 years ago when we first got here. I’ve made a few observations about winter driving in Alaska. The posted speed limit is the minimum it takes to blast through the snow on the unplowed roads. It is best to draft off the vehicle in front of you to get through. You need to get right on their bumper and turn on all the brightest lights you have. This will blind you so you won’t be scared when the vehicle ahead of you has had enough and hits the brakes. If you come to an intersection and want to turn right on red after a stop. Don’t stop or you will be assessed a two stroke penalty and have to wait for traffic, let alone having the drivers behind you honking horns and flashing their lights. If you are driving a big lifted pickup with two snow machines on the tall rack in the bed all rules are suspended. You have the right to blast through red lights, pass on double yellow, and run little old ladies off the road just to get you to the trails quicker. There you rip up the groomed trails with your machine to make them miserable for civilized riders. I won’t get into the 80 mile per hour minimum speed limit for trucks pulling an enclosed snow machine trailer. If you happen to hit a moose you really need some momentum to knock it out of the road and not block traffic for the rest of the convoy to the trails. I’ll write about pickups with snow plows some other time.

I thought I woke up early enough Friday morning but time slipped away while I was packing up 16 eight packs of seltzer water the woman ordered, the mail, and a few other things in 3 coolers. I was planning on steak and eggs for breakfast but was running late so it is a hot dog and a root beer at Newmans in Willow for breakfast.

At the landing I loaded the coolers on the sled and filled the two 55 gallon barrels with gas, suited up and I’m ready to go. Cory and I had a good trip out, it was warm, the trail smooth, and the sun shining. When we got past Fish Lakes Creek and by Roger’s, Cory waved and split off for home. I have about a mile to Silty Slough. Kari has been out packing our trails, she and the dogs were happy to see me. I had stopped and picked up a few dog booties that had come off along the trail from the dog teams we passed. The boys like them and will add them to their arsenal of doggie toys. I’m hungry again. There is leftover prime rib for a sandwich on sourdough bread that Jess made. First we need to unload the sleds.

Saturday afternoon Kari and I went to the Phillips for a visit and to pick up Al’s Arctic Cat that Roger put a new track on. Then we went to Cory’s to pick up Dave Reed’s freight sled for our next trip to town. I managed to squeeze in a few minutes on the treadmill. Studying for the stress test the FAA requires for my medical exam in March.

Everyone stay safe and healthy!!

Thank you Lord for watching over us.

I’ll be in touch.

Blue skies!!!