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Home › Forums › Campfire › On the Web › Meanwhile, in Alaska
David Thomas.“On the web” seemed the right place for a very “off the web” story.
Our Public Radio station manager also runs a map shop. Today she posted on Facebook:
Just talked to a guy wanting some topo maps. He’s militantly off the grid — no TV, no internet, no media. This is his once-a-month trip to town for groceries. “It’s the weirdest thing,” he said. “There is no absolutely toilet paper at the store… .”
Oh, Alaskans. Social distancing without even meaning to.
I’ve long noticed if you go far enough down a dirt road, it gets increasingly hard to tell which century you’re in. I don’t know that anyone fully achieves the 19th century, but there are some early 20th century types who seem to aspire to that.
“Once a month “ right now could make one feel like they have come out of a time machine.
I am jealous. 3 weeks, however, is not enough.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-news.html?referringSource=articleShare
Reading New Scientist last night I discovered that un “unknown illness hits China”
“at least 59 people in China…”
(11 Jan edition)
Our local library closed last night for 8 weeks.
So I borrowed a few extra magazines and books as well as 4 Italian movies. No other patrons would have been inconvenienced by my choices.
We are kind of old fashioned up here. We still play board games, do puzzles, get books at the library. We sing when we hike, no headphones. Everyone was stocking up at the library before they closed, which is kind of cool! Libraries are so valuable in economic downturns.
During my self quarantine, I started sorting and organizing old photos, found one of my dad on the troop ship to England in WWII. He was so skinny! they were all skinny, but he is downright gaunt. They were poor, always, and had little food. He didn’t like army food, but at least got three meals every day. He would not have turned up his nose at the last remaining cans of lima beans on the store shelves. We’re spoiled, when we can’t get what we want 24/7. His family shared bread with two neighboring families, who had nothing.
If Alaska sounds romantic, consider my download speed of 1MBPS and upload of .5. And yes, they are hoarding TP here too. Sigh. I thought we were better than that.
Other things to do during the down time: start garden seeds, clean closets, organize gear, ski, hike, cook, bake. Cut firewood. Anything else?
Write letters. Not emails, not text messages, but real letters, by hand.
And keep a journal if you’re in to that sort of thing.
I got my lettuce, arugula, spinach, and cilantro sprouted, should be ready to go out in a couple weeks.
I prepared the bed outside. Turned cover crop. Should be ready in a couple weeks.
Do I get chicken manure? The beds are pretty good already but would probably be good to add chicken manure.
I’m next to a golf course. While I was outside people were still golfing. They were within 6 feet of each other, like 2 in one golf cart. I just kept my mouth shut.
^^^
Maybe they live together, so no big deal.
I’ve done two backpacking trips in Alaska and it is an amazing place. It’s also very remote and wild location, unlike any I have ever experienced in the lower 48. It’s a backpackers paradise in the short season after bugs and before winter!
that’s exactly what I said to Brenda, maybe they’re family members
we had a good laugh
Brad: when I’d gotten to all 50 states, Alaska was the one I was going back to the most often. The day I met my wife-to-be (on a backpacking trip), we talked about Alaska – I’d been a number of times for work and play and she was about to go for a med-school rotation.
The trick is to embrace the winter sports in addition to the hiking and backpacking. Or to be a “snowbird”.
True David. Living here in southeast Tennessee I’ve never gotten into any snow sports, though I’ve post holed through a foot and a half of snow backpacking a few times, and I lack the financial resources to be a snow bird!
I’d have to find a new industry to work to work in if I were to move to Alaska too!
David is right, the farther down a dirt road you go the more interesting things get. I live partway down one. My landlord keeps Canadian Innuit dogs. Much crazier then the ones you see on the Iditarod. In the old days they would pack up and hunt polar bears.
I sort of saw the writing on the wall so I visited friends before the “Social Distancing” hit. I also have a stock of ammo. Not for Zombies. I might not go to town again before hunting season.
i dream of living in AK but my wife would never do it, she has trouble with winters in northern IN, she’d leave me if we lived up there.
Josh, towards the end of any Alaskan job interview of someone from “Outside” is what I call the anti-interview where you’re kind of convincing them to NOT take the job:
You know it get to -40? You know the sun rises at 10:30 am in December? What does your spouse think of this move?
Because, yeah, sometimes only one spouse is into it and then they either bail after one or two winters. Or one of them does.
This winter in Fairbanks has been hell. I’ve been in Alaska for 30 years, but this winter – ugh. Not super cold, like -50, or even -40 for long. But consistently below -20 or -30 week after week, never got above zero. And dark. Used to be sunny here in winter, even if cold. Cloudy all winter. 9 inches of snow expected this weekend – April is definitely the cruelest month. Pile on top of that the economic situation here which has been awful for 5 years, then an epidemic, what next?! An earthquake maybe. I’ve thought about leaving, but the current crisis everywhere has me thinking Alaska isn’t so bad. At least we have open space all around. We can go outside no matter what the virus does or when it does it. We are never stuck inside. But you have to be a bit tough to go out every day at minus 30.
Yeah, it’s been a tough winter in Fairbanks. I know all of the Directors on the GVEA Board of Directors and as much you hate to see higher rates, they hate to rise the electric rates.
I’m more of wimp than you Karen (hence, I live in Kenai) – my first winter in 1998/99 (we had 2 weeks below -20F and 3 days before -40F), I found that the bottom of my “fun meter” was -15F. I could go lower. And survive. But I didn’t like the anxiety of knowing that a twisted ankle would convert it into an instant survival situation. And the dog didn’t mind when I turned around to go home, quite unlike most of our walks/skis.
I realize I am blessed to be able to do a 1/2 mile loop around our 13 acres and see absolutely no one. Or drive 1 mile from home and walk the dog through the woods and, in the 5% chance I see someone else, turn around and avoid them completely.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>What I thought was hilarious was the attitude in Alaska towards “hot” weather.</p>
On hiking trip a 13 year old said “Man 60 degrees is just to hot, I get sweaty, I feel nasty I don’t likevit.” I asked him what he considered cold. He considered 0 a bit cool. 20 below was starting to get cold in his opinion.
I think all our kids agree that our hardest trip was a hike along the coast when it hit 80. Oh boy that was brutal. Way more complaints then camping trips in cold weather. I gu
When our kids were little, we were comparing notes with cousins in Citrus Heights (outside of Sacramento, California). Their kids had outdoor recess when it was below 100F (38C) while above 100F, they stayed in the air-conditioned buildings. While our kids, in grade school and pre-school, did outdoor recess down to -10F (-23C).
When our son was looking at colleges, he extended the North/South Korea DMZ of 38N* across the US and only considered colleges north of that.
*Or maybe it was the 4 generations of ancestors being born at 38N in and around San Francisco.
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