Tom's Alaska Adventure

Tom was gone last week, on the job for the FAA, checking out a couple of the weather systems in the outback of Alaska. He flew to Anchorage, then to Nome...and from there to Wales and Teller, two small Eskimo villages. The areas he visited are so remote, he had to take all his own food. In the village of Wales, there is a hotel of sorts, but no running water and a "honey bucket." Gak. You couldn't pay me enough to be a maid there! In Teller, visitors can stay at the local high school, where there IS running water and toliets. Unfortunately, his backpack containing his sleeping bag, warm clothes, underwear, socks and sleeping pad, didn't make it to Teller. Instead it was put on a charter plane and went off to Granite Peak..or Granite Lake...for a few days. When he finally got it, it was all muddy and one of the zipper pulls was missing. Meanwhile, he was half frozen and stuck with the same underwear and socks for several days. Ewwww!

Sunrise on the flight from Anchorage to Kotzebu (a stop on the way to Nome)


Wales:

Here's the "hotel"

Brr! The beach:

Other photos Tom took in Wales (btw, he took over 500 photos, you are just getting the highlights!)



From Wales, Tom could look out across the water and see Siberia! It's about 15 miles away. A lot of the people in Wales will sneak across the ice (during the winter) and visit relatives over there. In this photo, it is off to the right, in the distance.

Teller:



fish drying

Here's the high school where Tom stayed in Teller:

The only wild critters he saw were muskox. He says they're mean, they don't like to jump down embankments, and they don't like being harassed by the local high school kids--who like to play "chicken" with the muskox. One kid was almost trampled recently when he slipped and the muskox he was annoying, charged at him! I guess this is the Eskimo version of cow tipping)


From Nome back to Seattle:







Here's Tom's write up of his trip (with last names removed)

Trip to Wales and Teller August 2008.
I took the 1300 flight to ANC (Anchorage) and we had to deplane because they messed up the passenger manifest. We got a very late start and I did not get in till 1830. I had an 0600 flight to Nome through Kotzebue and had to get the 0500 airport shuttle. Got some good sunrise photos, when I arrived at Nome I was looking for Frontier Alaska Airlines. After leaving the Alaska Airlines terminal I could not find Frontier. I asked around and got bad directions, then found out that Haggland had just changed their name to Frontier. I entered gave them my bags and met up with Craig S. and Dennis K. They sent one bag to Granite peak or Lake and I got the other one when I landed. We flew to Wales via Teller on a Piper twin engine. Wales was wet and cold. I stayed at the Tribal Council building for $100 with no running water. They did have satellite TV and I watched Eureka (what a thrill). I used a 4 wheeler to get to the Council building. We spent the first day changing out the UPS and getting the site ready for Wednesdays JAI. I bought gloves the next day at the tribal store because I was freezing to death in the rain and wind and my coat was in my luggage on its own trip. The JAI went well and AOS got all but one that Craig fixed on Friday, a missing lock nut on the power panel that the shelter manufacturer left off. After the JAI we got onto the Charter, I was going to stay in Wales at the High school but without my sleeping bag and sleeping mat I did not want to spend the night on the floor (no mattresses available). I got to teller and we off loaded the gear INTO THE CONNEX and then I rode down to the High School with the brother of the Frontier agent, she was out of town. The high school had running water and the shower was really welcome. They loaned me a towel and a mattress and I slept in the library. I used my flannel shirt to cover my feet and my fleece as a blanket; I slept in my clothes and still got cold in the middle of the night. The cost of staying the night was $35.00, but will go up to $70.00 next week. There was no mirror in the locker room so I shaved in the shower, not well, but enough. The first day in teller we prepared the site for JAI and then Craig and Dennis drove back to Nome to stay the night. I could not get a room in Nome so I stayed in Teller again. This time the library had one other guy and there were three or four GCI guys in another classroom. They were up late working on the network and computer systems at the school. They had a van and wanted to go on a short road trip and invited me along where we saw some Musk ox and some scenery. Thursday morning my luggage showed up so I had clean clothes for Friday and much needed food as I had just about run out. Friday Mike B. showed up in a truck to pick me up from the school and we started the JAI. I also got their battery charger working and charged the 4 wheeler battery; it had died over last winter. Craig flew off to Wales to fix the JAI exception and we continued on at Teller and everything went quite well. No exceptions on F & E and just a few for AOS. I rode back to Nome in the Truck with everyone else (5) and we had dinner in Nome. I had a salad and enjoyed it very much, (fresh food). I then flew back to ANC and got in about 12:30. I had an 11:30 flight in the morning and I was very glad I had not tried for the 07:30 flight as it did not take off until 11:00. It was an uneventful flight back to Seattle, with views of the glaciers as we flew over Alaska.