That Denali Highway Bike Trip I've Been Talking About

Well, we made it! Carrie and I are now among the few and the proud people who have successfully biked all 135 miles of the Denali Highway. And we did it without a single fall. I know, right? Can you believe it?!? This isn't to say we didn't have setbacks, of course, but at least we weren't terribly bloody at the end of it.



Sunday June 7th marked the beginning of our adventure. We set out from Fairbanks on a 15 passenger van that shuttled us from Fairbanks to Cantwell. It was probably the longest 5 hours of my life... 8:45 we got on the bus, made a couple more stops in Fairbanks (including the airport to get a bag someone had left or lost and someone's house to pick up a buddy of the driver's to accompany him on the ride), then headed very slowly south on the highway, listening to your favorite music and mine, hard rock scream-o sounds. Carrie said the one positive thing about the horrible station on the radio was that at least she wouldn't know any of the songs so they wouldn't get stuck in her head. Funny, true, but I'm not sure it was worth the aural agony.

After a lunch break in tourist-city Denali, we finally reached the gas station at Cantwell where we loaded up the bikes and set out on our highway. How cool we are. :)



The first few miles of the road were paved, but not too long into our ride we hit the gravel road, which would be our pathway for the following 100 miles or so. There were some pleasant and not so pleasant places on the road. Some parts were gravelly...



Some parts were more packed down and smooth (save for a few bumps in the road)...



(That's me in the road up there.) And some parts were pretty aweful. I don't know what genius decided that fixing the road included putting pieces of inch to inch and half size rocks all over it, but s/he was definitely, definitely wrong. All it does is cause skidding, in case you were curious, particularly when going downhill, and all I could imagine in some places was me tumbling down the rocky slope in front of me. So although I was a pretty strong biker and going a fair speed, I am a total woos going down hills. I have no need-for-speed bones in my body, at least not that kind, so I pretty much rode my brakes the whole way as Carrie flew down ahead of me.



But our adventures were not bound to the biking part. Between the hills and the pedaling were hours of camping adventures. Carrie hauled the trailor with our camp gear (tent, her clothes and bag, basic camp needs) and I carried two back paniers with all the food and some smaller camp needs, and my clothes bag. We started our trip from Cantwell on Sunday afternoon around 1:45pm. From there we biked 31 miles to Brushkana campgrounds which sits near a small river. Not wanting to pay to camp, we biked about 3/4 of a mile ahead and camped at a nice spot off the side of the road.



After setting up camp we headed down to the river to take advantage of the view and, of course, to "ice" Carrie's knee. She figured some really creative ways to get just her knee into the very cold water. I was pretty impressed. And if you're wondering why people do yoga, think of moments just as this, and you might reconsider joining a local class. :)



I'm just glad she didn't fall in. It would have made for a chilly night... Anyway, we went back up to camp and started the dinner process. We picked a nice spot far away from our tent, picked our yummy packaged meal for the night - Beef and Hash - and set up the stove.



Unfortunately, as Carrie was showing me how to use it (since I've never used one before), she realized that it was actually leaking. Initial frustrations aside, we began gathering wood to build a small fire to heat our water instead. Surprisingly, it didn't take very much wood to make a big enough fire just for boiling water (although, by the end, we pretty much settled for "hot" water, not wanting to wait that long to eat). We considered going down to the campgrounds to see if anyone had a spare of the part that was broken on the stove, but then decided that we were pretty cool for going fuel-less and starting a fire, like we are real survivors, and we could go without the stove for the remainder of the trip. So we did. We built a fire every morning for breakfast and every night for dinner. (Okay, no fire on Wednesday morning - but having a granola bar instead of oatmeal, I could definitely tell a difference.)

So starting and maintaining a fire became a team effort, and although we are both capable of it, it was kind of fun to watch each other. I have to admit, Carrie is still better at the whole thing than I am, but she was impressed with my "direct blow" skills to get the fire going again when it got temporarily doused.



She took advantage of the moment to make fun of my funny lip face while recognizing it's effectiveness. Just saying. I don't remember who taught me these mad skills, but it sure worked. Plus, it was nice to have a fire for a little while to keep the bugs away. Though we still have our fair share of mosquito bites everywhere...

After solving that first big issue, things began settling into place. It was good for me to have this time of camping before NOLS, a practice and reminder that, when camping, there is pretty much always something to do (make and break down camp, set up for dinner because in the time it takes to make it you'll be hungry even if you aren't now, take off and hang wet clothes and put on dry ones, make sure nothing can get blown away, etc.) and always something to think about (do we have bear spray handy, how far away is our food, do I have everything in the tent that I want for the night, when was the last time I drank water, and so forth). But I don't mind it - keeping my mind busy, as it really hasn't been while on vacation - and besides, I'm pretty sure the idea of a room with a view can't be beat when camping out in Alaska wilderness. You don't fool around with AK, because it doesn't fool around with you, but it sure is lovely! I really noticed a difference in just the sounds of being out there, how quiet it was, between when it was just us on the road and when cars went by, between camping in our own spot at Clearwater and camping at an official campground at Tangle Lakes with other people around us.



Monday morning we woke up and prepared for our long day. By the end of the day we had to complete 50 miles to get to our next spot. It is amazing the perspective of what 10 miles is. Before the trip, that seemed like a really long way. Now, 10 miles is a fraction. We did 20 miles on Monday morning and stopped for lunch at this really nice spot by a river I can't remember the name of. Right as we were pulling in, my gears started acting funny, but we thought we'd deal with it after we ate. So we did, we ate and sat and rested for a little while. As we were finishing, we saw two men on a raft coming our way. They were actually getting out right where we were, so we chatted with them a little. Then the one helped us as we tried to fix the issue with my bike. Unfortunatly, I don't know what happened, but it's all messed up, so I had to deal with what I had for the following day and a half. It turned out not so bad, and everything was fine. After lunch we headed out for the next 30 miles. This was probably the hardest stretch, as it seemed like every turn produced a new daunting hill.



The views of the mountains that we saw the whole way, however, made every mile worth the effort. This mountain below, whatever it's called, was my favorite. This was a really pretty stretch, mostly flat, really pleasant packed down road, and it ended with an amazing downhill bridge that led us to our lunch stop. Nice. :)



Along the way we stopped randomly for pictures. Many of them are at the top of a significant hill. There was one hill that was about 6 miles long - seriously, completely uphill, no breaks, just up. It took us a while... At the base of it is a bridge, at which we stopped for pictures, water, and anything else we could think of to put off biking up that thing.



But an hour and a half later, we got to this.



Some other top-of-the-hill shots include:



and



Tuesday was a 33 mile ride, and we camped at a place called Clearwater. There are toilets and a river - that's it. This was a nice spot, I thought. We saw lots of moose droppings, but no moose.

Actually, we did see moose and other wildlife along the way. Carrie saw more than I did - we learned on this trip that I am not very observant... We would break, and she would ask me, "Did you see that lone caribou?" or "Did you see the mile marker?" or "Did you see that big enormous sign telling us where we are?" Pretty much every time I would have to admit that, uh, no, I did not see that. I did see a couple moose, an eagle, and a ptarmigan (at least I think that's what it was), and some squirrels, and lots of mosquitos. No bears (thank goodness). Carrie saw porcupine. I missed that one - made me kind of sad.

Tuesday night we camped at Tangle Lakes, which is about 21 miles out of Paxson, all on paved road. This is a more popular campground with official campground spots and more people. We weren't alone that night - there were lots of people camping in other spots around us. It was a pretty spot, however, and it would be fun to go back there at some point to play on the water, do some hiking, and so forth.



It's called Tangle Lakes because the lakes are basically tangles of water wrapped through the hills and patches of land. It's kind of cool to look at, and it'd be a fun place to really explore and boat around in. Andrea, a friend of Carrie's, met us there that evening and camped overnight with us. The next morning she met us in Paxson to drive us back to Fairbanks.



Wednesday morning we completed the last 21 miles of paved road, which felt very nice on our poor seats. There were still some good hills, and the first 7 miles we were basically going right into a nice (sarcastic) headwind, which meant even on the downhills we were working. We got to one hill in the wind and I was so tired I thought I was going to fall over and cry. But I gave myself a little pep talk and made it up just fine. It was interesting - there was a group there, some kind of tourist thing I guess, that was biking the highway as well. I just saw them, but one of them biked with Carrie for a few minutes up the hill (which, really, who talks to someone WHILE they're biking up a hill??). We were glad we did not run into the group later on in our ride.



We made it to Paxson a little before noon where we met Andrea, packed the car, and headed up to Fairbanks. We made a stop in Delta, though, for a yummy buffalo burger and a milkshake - and deserving we were of that. It was basically the best milkshake I've ever had.



All in all, it was a great, refreshing trip. Thanks, Carrie, for making it so awesome! I am planning on continuing to bike this week and next so that hopefully I can maintain what fitness I have gained from all this for my NOLS course which starts in just 2 weeks. I'm getting excited! From June 25 to July 25 I will be out in the wilderness somewhere kayaking, backpacking, camping, and completely out of touch with the world. I can't wait.

Here are a few more pictures from the trip:

The End of an Era

Alright, I know, it has been an era since I last blogged. I was told by a friend that she reads my blog "religiously" (which is really cool, except I wish she had a blog that I could also read "religiously"), and people are starting to wonder if I am still alive. So much has happened since the last time I updated. It has been unbelievably busy with the last days of school, packing, and all of the emotional baggage that I tend to internalize. So I'll give you a basic update as to my doings in the past month.

The snow finally started to melt in UNK, and we saw lots of things that we have not seen in a very long time. Things such as: the sun, the ground, my porch chair, out my window, and people wearing regular clothes outside as opposed to parkas and snow pants.



And then, of course, it was my birthday. Happy Earth Day! On April 22nd I turned 25 years old, which means that I can now rent a car without all the extra hassle. It really was a festival this year. Judie and Sissy made me a Kuspuk, which is lovely, and in the traditional Unalakleet style. Sissy threw me a slam bang party with all the fixings. (I still don't have the pictures from that...) And I had dinner with Adrianna and some other friends. It was a really great week!



Moving on... During the week of August 27 - May 1 I was lucky enough to travel with BSSD high school seniors who are UAF bound to visit the campus in Fairbanks. We left the warming temperatures of Unalakleet (somewhere in the 30's I think) to the sunny summer weather in Fairbanks - it pretty much hovered around 70 degrees and clear skies all week! Unfortunately I didn't plan very well, so most of my clothes were tailored to UNK spring, so it got really hot. BUT, it was totally worth it. I think it made it harder to be in the cold of home after that.

Vanessa was the leader of the group. I'm so glad she asked me to go! We had a great time getting to know each other better. So many laughs!!



We hung out with our BSSD students and some graduates who are now at UAF. I really like being with students in an outside-of-school setting. It's fun to get to know them as regular people and not just as students. :) Of course, I was always the responsible chaperone.



We visited the museum at UAF, and there were a few really cool things to look at, like Mammoth bones (I love Wooly Mammoths!) and sculptures. There were also some Saber-Toothed Tigers and other pre-historic remains. I think this is pretty cool - I pretty much love dinosaurs, although I haven't done much about that until recenetly (foreshadowing).



Moving on, that very weekend we returned was prom, which is a very big deal. I'm not much of a dresser-upper, so I had to borrow a dress from Sissy. And since prom was at the auditorium at the other end of town, Adrianna (my hot date) and I had to walk down, which meant we had to figure a way to protect our nice clothing from the mud.



I wore pants underneath with rubber boots, and when I got there I wore flip flops. Pretty classy, huh? Anyway, here's me with Adrianna and Janelle at Prom 2009. I was even wearing make-up, and A did my hair, and I wore earrings and stuff - I felt so prissy.



Thanks, Sis, for letting me wear your dress!! She made an appearance in the middle to watch the crowning and pick up cake decorations for her mom, Judie, who is the ultimate cake-maker ever anywhere.



Alright, so prom ended, and we had one week until graduation, and then one more week after that until school was out. Needless to say, it was pretty chaotic. Plus, I was trying to pack up my house to move it all to Koyuk, clean up my classroom for the next teacher (Adrianna!), and organize all that I wanted to take with me and leave behind - I threw a lot of stuff away. This is the one good thing about moving so much - it helps me keep my life simpler, with less stuff.

A few other events that I partook in during the last 3 weeks I was in town include...

The first picnic of the season! Sissy and Judie and Adrianna and I went out to the beach to build a fire and eat brats. Mmm!! God bless the Germans for inventing brats. It was a beautiful day, even if it was a little windy.



One minor anecdote... When we got there, we of course unpacked the car, and Adrianna and I had brought our backpacks so that we could hike back from the bonfire, practicing our packing and hiking skills, getting used to carrying the weight and using our packs. So we took them out of the trunk and put them on the ground right behind the Jeep so we could get to the rest of the stuff. Sissy realized she had forgotten some things, though, and decided to go back to get them. As she pulled out, she inadvertently backed over our packs (A's was brand spanking new), then pulled forward over them again! And it gets better. When I packed my bag, I put in things like, a tent, clothes, survival gear, stuff that I would put in there anyway. Adrianna weighed hers down with canned food. So when Sis ran over the packs, she was left with some surprises inside...



Like a completely flattened can of artichokes. Now her brand spanking new cool backpack has the sweet aroma of artichoke juice forever soaked into the fabric. But this did not keep us from having a good hike back home after dinner. :)




We did other fun outdoor things, like hike up Army Hill...



And the last day of school the school has a picnic for all the students, so the high school actually went back to Army Hill, only it was much clearer than the day we had hiked up.



You can kind of see town if you look closely, but that's all the ice on the ocean that's starting to go away. It was gone, but a lot more came in from farther out, but it's warming up. Break-up and melting is happening, and before I left we were able to walk on the beach again, which was so nice! It even smelled like beach, which the cold takes away during the winter, so it kind of smelled like fall again. :)

The week after school, I stayed in town for CASC, which is the committee that goes through our standards and curriculum and makes revisions and changes and updates based on the needs that teachers see. I was on the Reading CASC this year, which was great because I got to work with amazing people, some of my favorite people actually. We had some good laughs, good talks, and of course, got lots of work done.

One great thing that happened was the official signing of the Lease Agreement between me and Jenna, the "Yurtlord" as she calls herself in the contract. (We had plans to fill it with figurative language, but lost time.) She is the wonderful woman from whom I will be renting the yurt. It's getting all pimped out, and basically it will be a rockin' place to live next August.

I spent a lot of time with friends from around the district and in Unalakleet. I tried to get around to everyone so that I could say goodbye properly, make sure I see them before I no longer live there. Of course I will be back there to visit, hopefully often, it will still be very different. I think the worst is that I've made some friends recently, and now I'm leaving, so I feel like I am sort of just missing them. But all is well, and one fortunate thing about BSSD is that distance friendships are somehow maintainable because we are so spread out.

One person in particular... Katie! On more than one occasion we have been traveling through Anchorage around the same time, even though she lives on Little Diomede, which is quite a ways farther out. But anyway, she's a good friend, and so much fun to hang out with! She came through ANC on the 23rd, the same day I came in, so we spent the day together.



After I picked her up from the airport and we checked into the hotel, we did the only natural thing anyone would do as soon as they got into town after a long year in the village: we looked for a tattoo place.

Well, Katie didn't get a tattoo. But I did! I already wanted one, so it's not like it was totally on a whim. But what it is that I got is a little different than I had originally planned. This decision is due to some new friendships I have formed... not a bad thing, just totally unexpected. But I am happy with it! And I think it's a pretty awesome tattoo. (Am I allowed to blog about this?? I know my bosses are reading this...)



Yeah, I got a pterodactyl on the small of my back. So it's not like it's on my face and everyone has to see it all the time. And yes, it hurt, but it was totally fate. Katie and I searched and searched, and everywhere we went they were either closed or booked. We had kind of given up on getting it done that day, although Katie was much more positive than me. As we pulled into the parking lot to go to Bear Tooth for dinner she said, "When God closes a door, He always opens a window." And as we parked, she looked up, pointed in front of us, and said, "Tattoo!!" And so it was, a tattoo place had just opened right in that very spot just two weeks ago. We went inside and asked if they took walk-ins, to which the guy replied, "Yeah, he'll be done with her in about 5 minutes, and then we can take you." It was fate, even though I don't believe in fate, really, but if I did, this would have been a sign. (Lately, with everything working so well, even around all the things that aren't working, my non-belief in 'fate' is really being tested...) I showed him the pictures from the children's books I had picked up so he could see the design I had in mind, and this is what he came up with. Pretty sweet!

So why a pterodactyl, you may ask? The line of the century, something I will never forget, the advice given to me while being convinced that it was a good idea, "It's just a tattoo." Okay, NO one says that. But I like dinosaurs, and even though pterodactyls are not dinosaurs (they are flying reptiles, thank you Alex), they are prehistoric, and they are cool, and no one gets a pterodactyl on their back. I mean seriously. I was going to get the trinity, pretty simple, you know, Mind, Body, Spirit, pretty classy. I was told, though, "EVERYone gets the trinity. That's so normal!" So if I do get that, it will be later. For now, I have a prehistoric flying reptile stamped forever on my skin, and I am totally okay with that. I think it rocks.

(I hope I don't get in trouble for writing about this.)

Anyway, I'm hanging out in Anchorage for the week. It's really nice and warm and sunny here, which is great!! I even got sunburned yesterday. :) My first one of the year! My face has more color, and even though I've eaten pizza every day since I've been here, I think I look healthier. I love the sun!

I'm off for a bike ride. I'm sure I'll get plenty of comments (right??). Take care! I'll try to update more frequently... :) I love summer vacation!

When an Unexpected Opportunity Comes Along that Totally Alters Your Current Course

KOYUK (Koy – yook):



1. A small Inupiaq village on the northeast corner of the Norton Sound. The population is approximately 300 people, the majority being Native Alaskans.

2. This coastal village is part of the three bush locations that some refer to as the “garden” villages. It is not only on the coast of the Sound and within more than reasonable distance to a river, it is also at the bottom of a beautiful hill covered in trees, the presence of which many people envy. Perhaps living without trees makes one appreciate them even more. (Fortunately, Unalakleet is also quite beautiful, so I have not experienced a complete lack of plant life.) It is also a favorite location for caribou hunting, a staple in many Alaskan people’s diets.

3. Koyuk is home to Koyuk Malamute School (a K-12 public education facility in the Bering Strait School District with total enrollment of a little over half of Unalakleet School’s, which is 187 students), some of the nicest people on Earth, and, after this summer, me.



I suppose I should give a bit of an explanation, as this may shock many of you. As my Dad put it, “Wait wait wait – you want to move to a smaller village?” I know, it’s crazy. And maybe I’m crazy. But truly, this is a good move for me.

I had every intention of returning to Unalakleet. I did not want to leave BSSD, and I would have been perfectly content staying here for however much longer I would be here. It is a good place, and this was a pretty unexpected turn of events. I have to admit that I did put in a transfer request just in case a scenario just as this one came up, not because I expected it, but because if I were to move anywhere outside of Unalakleet, I wanted it to be Koyuk. In any case, however, I was truly planning on staying in UNK – until last Monday.

I don’t need to go through every detail, but the idea was presented to me on Monday of last week, I affirmed my interest, and for 72 hours the personnel office was silent. Okay, so they were traveling, and I totally understand that. But I definitely experienced some anxiety. “What are they thinking? Are they going to offer it to me? They have to – I mean, who else would they give it to? But what if they don’t? I have to be prepared for them to say no. Maybe they found someone else. That’s okay – that’s okay. But what if they ask me? What are they thinking?” And so on and so forth. This was my cycle of thought. That and the constant checking of my email probably put me near coronary occlusion… It was painful. Erika and Kyle asked if I wanted to come up to Koyuk for the weekend to visit, and having had kind of a crazy week in several aspects of my life, I agreed, knowing full well that this was not a work related visit, but simply a trip to see friends. In fact, I was under orders not to say anything.

Thursday afternoon brought me sweet liberation from my stress – they offered me the teaching position in KKA (Koyuk), and I happily agreed. I would be leaving on Friday afternoon to visit my soon-to-be home, though I was still not allowed to tell anyone. Although, when I arrived at the school in KKA I learned that everyone knew. And so it became a beautiful and crazy and weird and good and everything weekend, talking about next year, taking care of business, getting to know my new colleagues and friends. It was a little overwhelming, since all of it had happened so quickly, and even now I am still processing it. Since everyone knew in KKA I knew that the wave of the rumor mill would soon reach UNK, and I knew I wanted people to hear the news of my departure from me. So I told my fellow teachers on Monday, or all those that I saw when I got back that afternoon, and I told my kids on Tuesday. That has been an experience in and of itself.



Now I have to pack. One box at a time, deep breaths, and to-do list by to-do list, every day brings me closer to this new thing. And yeah, it isn’t just a new school, a new village, and a new professional experience. I don’t really know how to tell you this.

Remember my last blog about my visit to Koyuk, and I talked about the yurt, and I put up a picture of what one looks like? I even said in the paragraph above the picture of the yurt, and I quote, “I’ve decided that one day I would like to live in a yurt. It’s very cool.” Little did I know that less than three months later I would be given the opportunity to do that very thing. So when I get to Koyuk this coming August I will not be moving into an apartment; I will be moving into a yurt.



Before you object, let me say a few things.

A. Yes, I do understand what it takes to live in a yurt. I understand the work and the responsibility and all of that. Yes, I get it. I am aware. And…

B. Although this yurt is equipped with a wood stove for heating, it also is wired with electricity, so I will be buying an electric space heater for warmth. This is for a couple of reasons, one of which is, yes, I am kind of lazy. It’s also because I do, in fact, enjoy chopping wood – I just want to keep enjoying it. If it’s a chore, I might not. And I think, too, it’s a good idea for me to ease myself into this yurt living thing, what with having teaching responsibilities on top of basic survival… like water.

Yes, I will have to haul water because, no, there is no indoor plumbing. “WHAT?? No running WATER?? How do you flush the toilet???” I will be using a honey bucket. If you do not know what that is, you should look it up. And I will have to haul water in a giant bin, I don’t know yet how often. That’s probably up to me and how much water I use in a week. But fortunately…

I bought a snow machine!!! (To all the lower-48ers out there, that is a snow mobile, the main form of transportation during the long winter months.) So although I’ll need to figure out what to do in the non-snowing months still, in the winter I will have a sweet ride for hauling water, trips up to the hot springs, drives down to Unalakleet, and wherever else I want to go!

So what about internet? Well yeah, unless I want to hook it up at my beautiful new place of residence, which I’m not sure yet if I will or not, I won’t have internet at home. I am told, though, that cell phones work there, as GCI has extended their network to some village locations, so I will be getting a cell phone this summer so that I can stay in touch with people and not be completely disconnected from the world – unless I turn off my phone. :) I will be located more at the edge of town, but like I said, it’s kind of a small town, so I won’t be completely isolated unless I want to be.

Despite the work required for living in a yurt, there are also a lot of benefits. One, I do not have to have a roommate – I can have my own house, albeit a relatively small, one-room yurt. This is something that I was really hoping for. I did not want a roommate, and it was looking like I would have gotten one had I not chosen the yurt. Also, I will be saving a lot on rent, which is cool. The yurt forces one to be less lazy, as basic chores are vital to one’s very existence, as well as forcing me further into developing my disastrously poor organizational skills. My hope is to try and simplify my life, and living with too many modern conveniences gives me the leeway to allow too many things, as in actual items that I do not need into my space. It’s time, with the help of the yurt, to take on the 100 Item Challenge. And so, with that, I feel as though the yurt has taken on a life of its own, and perhaps it deserves now to be given a capital Y – the Yurt – and, in time, maybe even a name. Adrianna wisely suggests “Burt the Yurt.”

And in answer to the ever ominous and inevitable question, “Why?” I simply respond, “Because I want to.” :)

Thoughts?

Twice now I've received a box of Girl Scout cookies as a gift. On both occasions, the box was emptied within 24 hours. Although I have been biking diligently and (albeit slowly) gaining both strength and stamina, my choices in eating habits have steadily declined in concordance with my lack of house-cleaning habits, which have really never existed. I have no more clean dishes to cook with, therefore I don't cook, and therefore I eat like crap, unless I eat with Judie and Sissy (God bless their souls), which is really not fair. I've turned into a bona fide mooch, and they have let me... I should really make them something. I should really, then, clean my house so that I can do such a thing. The only time I ever cleaned regularly was when I had one or more roommates. I was particularly good when we had a chore wheel - loved the chore wheel, especially when my name fell next to "kitchen" as it was also a house expectation that we basically cleaned our own messes. "Kitchen" was almost as good as a chore-free week, so I could basically be "normal." But anyway, I feel as though my healthy choice of biking so much is allowing me to give myself the freedom to pig out. I tell myself, "Oh, I'm biking - I can eat extra tater tots." But a "healthy choice" is not so much choosing to buy one bag of Funyons instead of two, but perhaps zero bags of Funyons and a few apples, which are more expensive to the bank, less expensive to my hips. Maybe a good house cleaning would burn some of those extra calories.

Well, that was about a week ago. This past week we started to get icky wet snow, so I haven't been as faithful in my intentions to work out. Perhaps next year I will invest in a trainer for my house... But I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about the right now, which I am still learning to appreciate as much as I look forward to the future and am thankful for the past.

Some call it the "great white expanse," or well, I think I read that somewhere. I am spending the weekend up in Koyuk. My good friends Kyle and Erika invited me up to visit, which is funny, because Kyle doesn't even live here yet. But he might as well. So, given that this has been a pretty crazy week for many reasons, I agreed. And it's my last weekend to visit here before the school year is out. It was a good decision. I got in on Friday afternoon, and I will leave here on Monday afternoon. (Thanks again for the personal day!) As I was walking back from Jenna's last night I looked out over the sea, and although Koyuk is known for its trees, I don't remember ever seeing anything so vastly blank and white in Unalakleet. At least in our ocean we can see the southern mountains and St. Michael and Besboro Island. Here, there is nothing. And it really is a "great white expanse." It feels very small - very, very small, and kind of like I really am in the middle of nowhere. In fact, I had to look to the other side of me where there are houses and people and dogs just to remind me that really, this is not the middle of nowhere. It just happens to be very far from somewhere else.

I wish I had pictures for you. Maybe when I post again about my visit, I will include some. But it has been a while since I've said anything, so I decided to just say something.

So here are some sweet photos of my cute dog, whom I like very much.





And, it's time for a blast from the past. I don't really know what we're trying to do with our faces in this picture, but whenever Michelle tried to sexy, sad, or mischievous for a photo, this is pretty much what she looked like. So who knows? Maybe her mouth is just full.

Iditarod and Other News

Posted Monday March 24, 2009

Last week my friend Shon, the Special Ed. teacher from Stebbins came up to visit me here in Unalakleet. Partly he was doing work, partly he was just here to hang out. So for about 8 days Shon and I were roommates. Pretty much we just watched a lot of movies and ate a lot of food. He's a pretty cool kid. This is Shon holding the Gold Coast Award which is awarded to the first musher who reaches Unalakleet, along with $2500 in gold pieces. Lance Mackey was the winner this year.



This week is spring break, and since the Iditarod started on March 7, the most likely time for the front runner to get here was the Sunday that Shon was scheduled to leave. Since Stacey is awesome, she let me borrow her machine. I had hoped to have a trip up to Old Woman, but I missed my window. Instead, Shon and I drove up river to meet Lance Mackey as he passed by on his way to our checkpoint.



It was awesome. We saw him several times, as we ran into Adrianna and Ryan on the way back, stopped again to watch him go by (again)...



...then passed him (again) on our way back to town where we watched him come in (again). That's this video.



Of course we stuck around to watch the Idita-thing at the UNK checkpoint. This is Lance Mackey himself, the 2009 Iditarod champion. It's his 3rd win in a row, just so you know. That's history, folks.



It was also cool because when he came in his dogs still looked mighty healthy. Don't know how he does it, but he has a good team going on.



Damon decided that he wanted to get some footage of Mackey driving his dogs up this particular hill north of town, so that night him and drove about 4 miles north of town, I saw a few shooting stars, we watched the satellite and Venus and an airplane and it was pretty dang cool. And then we watched Lance Mackey (again), and then we went home. :)

But there are some cool pictures to go along with the sweet Iditarod season.

This past week was our much-awaited Spring Break - the whole week. Although not as eventful as last year, it's been kind of a different pace to just sit around and really do nothing for a while. Adrianna, Ryan, and I went out for a ride up river. The weather has been unbeatable for playing outside - skiing, snow machining, walking, even biking. Yes, I got out my bike.

I probably wouldn't have gotten out my bike if I was still able to ski, but alas, I am not able to ski. I've had to put my poles away, go on hiatus (sort of) from extra-extrenuous use of my shoulder due to (yet another) stupid move by me. And here's how it went...

I was on my way to return Stacey's machine to her house on Wednesday morning. I cut across the lake/swamp (that is of course frozen) where I would meet the road. But there was a little steep hill that goes up to the road, and because so many people had peeled out at the top, there were ruts and juts and edges to be caught. While headed toward it I had a glimmering thought of, "I don't know, that looks pretty stupid... maybe I should-" but I cut myself off with, "Nah, you'll be fine." This, I've noticed, is my general answer for EVERYthing. "Nah, I'm fine. It'll be fine. Everything's fine." And usually I'm right. (Just saying.) So but well, as I approached it, I felt a little more committed, and decided that the best way to handle the situation was to just go faster. So pushed the throttle and up I went, and sideways I went, and down I went, full force onto my right shoulder, landing inches away from a telephone pole. I quickly stood up and, being cautious and mindful of my surroundings, looked around to make sure that NO one saw what had just happened. Feeling safe and alone, I turned the machine back upright, pulled it to face the road, turned it back on, thanked the Heavens that it started again, and drove immediately to Stacey's. When I got there, I presented her with the oil I had bought, then told her of the accident. It wasn't until then that I began to realize what actually happened and how badly my shoulder hurt. The adrenaline faded, and my body began to go into minor shock. I was consciously aware of my inability to form coherent sentences easily, so I tried very hard to concentrate. I don't think I was too obvious. Stacey agreed that I should go to the clinic. Because they were closed for lunch I didn't end up getting in until a couple of hours after the accident. I hadn't taken any medicine because I wanted to feel exactly where it hurt for a more accurate diagnosis. They told me I had separated my A-C in my shoulder, a fairly common injury. I was told to ice it regularly, take 800mg of ibuprofen 3x/day until I run out (and given a bottle), and to wear a sling. Well, I don't wear a sling. But I did rest for a couple of days. And then my muscles hurt and I was going crazy just taking random walks. I decided it was time to ride my bike. I've been going about 8 miles the past 3 days up the road and back and around town. It's good because I'm getting a decent work out, and it's not too hard on my shoulder. I should exercise it a little anyway so it doesn't get stiff. But I'm going to schedule an appointment for a follow-up to make sure that the injury isn't more than a grade 1 or 2. I don't think it is. At worst it will be a grade 3. But it's probably not. If it's a grade 4 or 5 then we'll have to discuss treatment options, but I don't think that will be an issue. I'm good. Everything's fine. :)

For those of you who are visual learners, here is an x-ray of what my injury looks like, basically. This isn't MY x-ray, so it's not actually MY injury, but this will give you an idea. The left shoulder (your right) is healthy. The right shoulder (your left), which is the one I also separated, is the injured one. You can see where the clavical bone, or the collar bone has been separated from the arm bone, giving way for whatever bone that other one that looks like a finger to push through. That is why I have a lump on my shoulder, and why it is constantly swollen, and why it hurts to move it sometimes. But it'll be fine, really. With time and exercise and other medical stuff, this will heal.



In other news... I got some new things! Since I am in preparation mode for the summer (i.e. why I'm starting to bike like crazy), I bought a tent. Woot! The first thing I did was set it up in my living room. Yes, I did sleep in it that night in my sleeping bag. :)



Also, to match my beaver hat, I bought a pair of beaver mittens from one of my students. Aren't they so cute???



My next Eskimo buy, for myself anyway, will be a pair of mukluks. But I think I will need to save up for those... for a nice pair, I'm imagining that they will be quite expensive.

So that about covers from then to now. I'm sure I'll have yet another adventure to report on in the next week or two. They never cease to pop up out of nowhere! Like happiness, there's just no accounting for excitement. For example, Mt. Redoubt, Alaska's long-threatening volcano, has finally erupted... six times!! Whew.