BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: bet
Date: 12 Jan 06 - 11:58 AM

KT, Thanks for the reminder, It's been on my calenday for a while. Hope things work so I can participate. Yesterday I applied for a job with the "new" Barnes and Nobles Book Store opening in March. If I get on it my interfer with my free time as I will continue to substitute during the day.
I heard that the sight over Denali in the plane was great, I had planned a couple of times to do it but the weather didn't cooperate so didn't get it done.
highly volitile hydrocarbons, o.k. my face is stern gnu.
bet

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: gnu
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 04:35 PM

Because of the possible contents of highly volitile hydrocarbons. Hey... it sounds good if you say it with a stern look on your face.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 03:09 PM

I give up. Is this a riddle?

(I just realized that I didn't post a word about being in Southeast last August.... Even talking to Ebbie.)

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Metchosin
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 02:49 PM

OK, I noted today in the news that Augustine Volcano has erupted and that officials, amongst other warnings to nearby residents, have advised not to burn wood, that has volcanic ash on it, in their stoves and fireplaces. Why?

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: GUEST,KT
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 12:30 AM

So glad you like it, Bet! Keep in mind, the Alaska Folk Festival is going to be happening soon!
KT

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 11:10 PM

Denali's one of the great places. We flight-saw Denali in a small plane out of Talkeetna. Magnificent. And the only way to travel. Made me wish for a pilot's license.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: bet
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 07:48 PM

Sorry I missed this thread. I was in Denali Park working when this was going on and no internet. I love it up here. bet

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: robomatic
Date: 23 Jul 05 - 06:59 PM

When it's time to leave the bush for home, and you're dry as a bone and full of insect bites and the roar of the wind o'er the tundra has created a pocket in your eardrums, you don't ask fool questions of the pilot such as "done a 'weight 'n balance' on this thing?" Nope, you want to believe that he can horse it aloft and get you started on your way back to grovestand OJ and Desperate Housewives.

I 'member a flight out of Shishmaref on a Ryan flight where we seemed unnaturally devoted to low-level flightseeing. My friends later told me they referred to the airline as "Dyin' With Ryan".

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: gnu
Date: 23 Jul 05 - 12:46 PM

What did you expect in SKAGway? Now, I'll tell you about the barskag, er, ah, barmaid, in Nain, Labrador if you'll tell me about the Skag in Ladyway... did "it" require a dose of serum?

Anyone ever read "The Sparrow Falls"? I think that's the name of it. Been over thirty years, but I can still "see" the dog growling. Minds me of your dog team, Rap.

Hmmm... one time, in an Otter, we lifted off from the water at Makkovik, Labrador and buddy nailed her full flaps at redline. We never got any more than forty feet up. We dipped twice and nearly pranged both times before he decided it was a no-go and feathered back into the bay. We just had too much weight. I could only see the passenegrs on my side of the plane because the entire "aisle" was loaded to the ceiling with mail parcels and other freight. Passengers were holding their luggage in their laps.

Back to the dock and unload freight. At one point, Old One-Eye, the pilot, lifted a burlap bag and asked, "'oo h'own's dis and whot da 'ell is it?" I replied, "That's mine. It's a soil sample." He looked at me curious and then threw the bag toward the dock... but it "slipped" and sank into the cold water. Old One-Eye looked at me and said, "Ne're a worry me love, dere be lotsa rocks in Goose Bay."

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: robomatic
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 08:14 PM

And now I've got my own DSL connection UP In Alaska. I can write in to my fave web site hunderds of time a day. wellwell well well well.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: robomatic
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 05:33 PM

Gary once passengered up to White Mountain in a single engine Cessna. Being a pipe smoker, he arranged with the pilot that he could smoke once they had made it into the air. Gary was in the right seat, next to the pilot. There were passengers sitting behind as well, one of them a bit 'under the weather.' The pilot taxied the plane out to the runway, made his runup, rolled out, and took off. As they climbed out, Gary then lit his pipe, and no sooner was drawing on it when something 'popped'up in the engine compartment and the cabin filled with smoke.

As if that weren't bad enough, the inebriated guy sitting in back reached into the front seat, grabbed the pilot by the neck and screamed, "make him put out the pipe! make him put out the pipe!"

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: emjay
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 04:37 PM

I've had trouble getting to Mudcat for the last few days so had missed this thread completely. I first came to Alaska in 1955 and people kept telling me, "You should have seen it in the old days before .... " and to this day there is still something that has spoiled the real Alaska to hear some people tell it. It might be the ferry system, the Alaska Highway or cable TV. It is still a beautiful and interesting place but after 40 years here, I am so used to it, I can't think what might be interesting to someone who doesn't live here.
Ragdall, your last link led to a lovely picture of violets, not wild geraniums. Wild geraniums grow all over the lower 48, they are not unique to Alaska, and they resemble violets only in color. Any good wild flower book should have pictures of them.
Our days are getting shorter now. I had to get up at 10 after 1 this morning to drive a suddenly homesick grandchild home. It was dark enough to use headlights, though not dark enough to use a flashlight out in the yard.
The thing most amazing to me after so many years here are dark nights that are warm! That is very rare here. When it gets dark, it is usually getting cold.
I lived first in Ketchikan where we were married in the territory of Alaska. I have also lived in Juneau, and now in the Matanuska Valley.
Moose regularly visit our yard, Bear and fox come less often.
Emjay

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 01:55 PM

That warn't no lady.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Jul 05 - 01:37 PM

I also got "it" from a lady in Skagway once, but I'd rather not discuss it.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 11:22 PM

You got it. *G*

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 11:15 PM

No, wait, I know! They came from Neut Gingerich!

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 11:34 AM

Aren't they some sort of atomic particle?

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Jul 05 - 10:59 AM

Sometimes ya can't tell. Have you heard of neuticles?

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Jul 05 - 02:46 PM

If they'd been broken I would have had them fixed.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Jul 05 - 02:44 PM

OK, then.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Jul 05 - 01:47 PM

The dogs were old enough to be responsible for their own actions, without let or hinderance by me.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Jul 05 - 01:28 PM

What doesn't kill you makes you a better person,eh. I'm glad there was an upside to your ordeals. But do look upward- is that black cloud still above you?

I wish you had consulted me before you began that trek. Could have saved you a lot of grief- and your dog team. Those poor things. They were probably not fixed- do you have any idea of how many mongrels and quarter wolves on the tundra you will ultimately be responsible for?

No doubt you will be hearing from the Wildlife Federation. On the tundra ravens nest on the ground. The rapacious habits of an ever increasing flock of dogs can only exacerabate the situation in an injurious manner, altering the delicate balance of nature.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Jul 05 - 09:06 AM

No. I was so hungry, though, that his dog would have been in danger. YOU try living for six months on tree bark, snow, tundra, brackish water, mosquitoes, black flies, and no-see-ums. I only had my own personal body for bait, and the Northern Lights were my only source of heat during the winter.

On the other hand, I came out of it a better person.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: gnu
Date: 18 Jul 05 - 09:01 AM

Did you meet up again with Sargent Preston of the Royal Canadian Mounted?

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Jul 05 - 11:38 PM

Surviving alone for six months in the Yukon after the plane crash left me nearly naked, with no equipment save for a broken pocketknife and a roll of mint candies.

But that was in the Yukon and this thread is about Alaska, where we did actually drive 3,625 miles in 1998 (although some was in BC and YT as well).

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: gnu
Date: 17 Jul 05 - 09:48 PM

And, THEN what was your next adventure?

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Jul 05 - 09:40 PM

Anyway, I got out of the hospital in fairly good shape, only to find that the Mayor of Nome has "requested" that I pay him a visit.

So I popped into his office. He was sitting at a big roll-top desk, and he had a mustache that give him an uncanny resembalance to a walrus. I cleared my throat and a door in the back of the room opened. A man walked in, and kicked the Mayor out of the chair. The Mayor when waddling off and the man said, "Sorry. Being this close to the Bering Sea we have continual problems with walruses." He stuck out his hand. "I'm the Mayor of this thriving metropolis."

I shook it and took the cup of coffee he offered.

"So," he continued, "you're the guy who brought the serum."

"Yes," I replied shyly, "I am."

"Have much trouble getting here?"

"No, not really. I lost my team, though."

"Too bad about that. But I do have a question."

"Yes sir?"

"We've got a mighty fine hospital here. All the kids have to get DPT shots before they can start schoool. We've got airline service to Anchorage and from there to some of the finest medical facilities in the world. There hasn't been a case of diptheria in the whole state in years. We're glad to you came, but my question is: why?"

I was completely nonplussed. My whole journey had been for naught? There were no children suffering? No epidemic?

"I...I read in a newspaper that an epidemic of diptheria threatened Nome," I replied.

"Ah, what was the date of that paper?" asked the Mayor.

"Well," I said, "it wasn't a recent one. At least, I don't think that it was."

The Mayor laughed. "Thanks for the effort," he said, "but the diptheria threat was in 1905. Probably before you were born."

"Oh," was all I could say.

The next day the ASFOSD (American Society for the Furtheranace Of Sled Dogs) flew me out to the Pribilofs to look for my dogs. They were there, and had no intention of coming back with us. They had found that there were TWO trees in the Pribilofs, and were obviously wondering how to cross the sea and see the other one.

And so, forsaken by my dogs, my journey ended, I flew back home. And, except for the six months I spent alone in the Yukon after the plane crashed, it was uneventful.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Jul 05 - 11:17 AM

I think I'll ask Pene Azul if he'll post a couple of Denali pix.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 Jul 05 - 01:34 PM

I flight-saw Denali. Left Talkeetna aerodrome in a small plane (a Beaver). Got some great pix. One of the best things we've ever done.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 16 Jul 05 - 01:22 PM

LOL robo.

The pilots of Alaska Airlines do a really neat thing though when the "mountain is out". They will sometimes leave their scheduled flight path and go closer to Denali (20,320 feet tall. Massive.) to give everyone a close-up look.

Actually I don't know if they still do that, but they did as recently as 11 years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: GUEST,robomatic
Date: 15 Jul 05 - 08:14 PM

Used to be that when flying from Anchortown to one of those destinations north of the Arctic Circle, the pilots would regularly spin a little yarn about the 'arctic band of turbulence' you had to cross in order to get north of of the circle, kinda akin to the pantsing and keel-hauling they give to tourists on boats crossing the I D Line (oh, nobody told you?). Anyhow, someone pissed and moaned about this habit of shaking the plane up and down when crossing the critical latitude and the chairbound executives gave orders would the pilots please stop.

Next flight up, the pilot came on and said: "Now, we've been told to explain how maybe in the past we gave a sample of arctic circle chop, and that maybe we used the aircraft controls to exagerate the chop, but of course there isn't always turbulence at this point.

HOWEVER, if you've ever looked at a globe or a map, you've observed there is a line of dashes placed exactly at the arctic circle, and sometimes we have to navigate to avoid them, so please stay buckled."

followed by a STEEP turn to the left, and a STEEP turn back to the right.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: GUEST,gnu
Date: 15 Jul 05 - 06:43 PM

I settled into my seat... glad to be going home for the Labour Day Weekend. To see my sweet Nicole and stroll along the sandy beaches on the Northumberland Straight and, maybe, just maybe, get stuck at Kissing Rock at high tide. I fell asleep in a flash.

We had been waiting for the flight out for four days. It was Thursday. The wind had been blowing 40 knots or better all along the coast of Labrador. The eldest pilot with Crash Airways rang down Makkovik and Annie said it was calm. So, we taxied out into Nain Bay almost a click. Number One hit the ignition three times on the turn.

That's when the wind hit. I awoke with a start. I looked out the window from the rearmost seat (next to the two rear doors on an Otter - safety concious lad that I am) to see the right pontoon about six feet under water. Then.... another hit on the ignition, but, this time, full throttle. She pitched and lurched and shook and shit... no, that was me that shit.

When we got back to shore and offloaded, my boss told me Number One confided that, in 42 years of being a bush pilot, that was the closest he had ever come to death in the freezing waters of the Labrador coast.

Rum and Pepsi never tasted so good... until...

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: robomatic
Date: 15 Jul 05 - 06:24 PM

'member a flight from Bethel to Napakiak (not Napaskiak). There was a strong odor of original pinesol in the airplane. This means an instant headache for me. I made the natural assumption that the pilot had been chewing or drinking or both and covered up the telltale aroma with the overpowering stench of cleanliness. He seemed reasonably compos mentos so I climbed aboard. It's a fifteen minute run and as I exited the pilot was emptying the front cargo compartment which consisted of a Costco sized cardboard box of pinesol bottles, one of which had gone bust.

On another flight from Bethel to Napaskiak (not Napakiak), one of the passengers who may or may not have been drunk, was playing a boombox of REO Speedwagon songs, or something generically no different. Pilot told him to shut the damn thing off or he'd turn around and set 'im down back in Bethel. He had to start the turn in order to be taken seriously (or the other passengers would've started pou nding on the guy anyway).

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: gnu
Date: 15 Jul 05 - 06:12 PM

So.... you cut off your ears and escaped the clutches of death?

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Jul 05 - 11:58 AM

Some time later I again awakened. Someone was fiddling around on my forehead.

"Lie still, my son. I'm Father Raphael, and I'm giving you Last Rites. They will ease your passage into Heaven."

"What the..." I exploded. "Wadda mean, 'Last Rites'?"

"My son, when they found you you were completely frozen. We thawed you here, in our humble hospital, but frostbite-caused gangerene has spread from your ears to you head, and I'm afraid...you must be brave, braver than you have been in bringing the serum to us. Because, as you know, the only sure cure for gangerene is amputation."

"GOLLY!" I exclaimed. "To cure me they're gonna cut off my head???"

"Yes, my son, I'm afraid so," said the kindly old priest. "So you must be very, very brave."

I sank back down in the clean fresh sheets with a sigh. Somewhere in my head a tiny little voice was saying, "Screw this bullsh*t -- let's git outa here!"

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: gnu
Date: 15 Jul 05 - 10:06 AM

Oh me nurse... er, nerves.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: gnu
Date: 14 Jul 05 - 12:48 PM

Coma on... what happened next?

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Jul 05 - 12:15 PM

I awakened to the cool touch of a gentle hand on my forehead.

"We're awake," the nurse said. "How are we?"

"Mmmmph," I replied intelligently, and sank back down into unconciousness.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 14 Jul 05 - 11:38 AM

snif I was playing to your eddication, Rap. snif

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Jul 05 - 09:00 AM

Ol' Jud wasn't "dead." He was "daid." And it was summer and they were runnin' out of ice.

Running out of ice wasn't exactly my problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 14 Jul 05 - 01:48 AM

Jud is dead. Poor Jud is dead. Say it isn't so. Look behind the logs, Rap. Under the third one from the top, about 1/4 of the way from the northern end is a heating pad. Plug it in and warm up. You will survive. You hear me?

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jul 05 - 09:44 PM

Scoured nearly clean of my clothing by the wind-driven ice, I stumbled on toward the faint, faint glow on the horizon. My head bowed against the wind, catching only the briefest glances of hope, praying that I wasn't chasing the Aurora Borealis, I trudged along on bleeding feet, the precious serum clutched to my bosom, sheltered from the sleet and snow and warmed by my now-partly frozen and bleeding body.

Onward and onward I stumbled through the drifts, my bleeding feet no longer able to feel the cutting shards of ice upon which I trod. Finally, I could go no further and collapsed against some logs.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: gnu
Date: 13 Jul 05 - 08:14 PM

Ya know... even if that story was real, I wouldn't tell it.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Jul 05 - 08:14 PM

LOL Judging by your brilliant display of reasoning power, Guest, it weems to me that you yourself must be in either Minnesota or Alaska- dead fish don't have to bloat before they float. I don't know anyone who eats bloated fish. yuk

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jul 05 - 07:34 PM

it's an argument whether this happned in Minnesota or Alaska. Opinions vary, but IQs suggest it could have been either:

Arnie and Buddy took Arnie's new SUV and Buddy's new hunting dog out onto the frozen lake to do some jawbonin' and 'bomb' fishing. Parked on a nice thick bit of ice, they went out about a hundred yards, walked a hundred feet over to the open part of the ice, and prepared to chuck a stick of dynamite in, expecting to kill a mess of pike and maybe some char and collect 'em off the surface afther they'd bloated 'n floated. So Buddy lights the fuse and skids the stick over.

Dog catches it and fetches it

Guys wave and shoot at the dog.

Confused, the dog takes cover under the vehicle.

BLAM

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Rapparee
Date: 13 Jul 05 - 06:50 PM

A number of years ago a couple of friends were flying in for hunting trip. One of them had a wonderful, expensive new rifle that he was very, very proud of. The other was the pilot.

While over someplace like North Dakota they developed some trouble with the transponder and the pilot radioed the tower. Unfortunately, he used the wrong code for a broken transponder; he used the one for "I am being hijacked."

The tower immediately diverted the small plane to a nearby Air Force Base and handed them over to the USAF. The guys in the plane thought it a touch odd that the Air Force would fix the transponder, but hey! a fix is a fix.

The tower directed them to land near a remote hanger...they did, and the owner of the rifle took his rifle with him...he walked slightly behind the pilot...until they passed into the hangar, when he was flattened beneath about 10 Air Police.

I understand that it took several days to get it all straightened out.

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: robomatic
Date: 13 Jul 05 - 06:34 PM

Outside FAA instructor to class:
"now the purpose of the class is to review techniques you Alaskans have for off-airport landings. are there any of you who perform these kinds of landings?"

young guy's hand goes up

FAA instructor: "young man, what kind of landings do you consider safe off-airport landings?"

"I like to put down on sandbars for fishing, fields for hunting, and clear areas to reach my cabin."

"And how do you choose a safe landing spot?"

"I look for signs of airplanes having landed there before - I like to see if an airplane is already down there?"

"And if there is an airplane already down there, you consider it safe to land?"

"Not necessarily. I always take a good look to make sure the airplane already down there is right side up. If it's upside down I don't try to land there!"

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: robomatic
Date: 13 Jul 05 - 06:22 PM

young fella with fear in his voice called in to a tower operator. He was in a small plane, he was over a thick layer of clouds in mountain country, he had no firm idea where he was, no transponder, and no instrument experience. The controller made an executive decision, told the kid he was not far from an airport, he just had to lower himself wings level through the clouds, and talked him through it. The controller thought the kid was doomed but deserved to have an injection of confidence and a friendly voice during his last minutes of existence.

But...


The kid lowered into a valley, and there WAS an airport below!

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Jul 05 - 11:38 AM

And then what happened, she asks breathlessly. There is little chance of survival with that moustache gone. Is this how it ends? Will the serum run NOT go down in history? Stay tuned. (As though we wouldn't!)

Subject: RE: BS: Waaaaay UP! To Alaska....
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jul 05 - 08:54 AM

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