The latest from up here (out there?)

The final meltdown

2010-03-29T08:28:00.003-08:00

So-- first thing: The ice park people were thinking about placing our saguaro into the Ice Museum! That's a refrigerated building downtown that's open all summer, and where the tourists can go to get their ice-art fix. Very cool, though it would entail chopping the saguaro up, and rebuilding it in the museum. However, due to severe melting (see next paragraph), this may no longer be an option, though there's still a chance we may rebuild one there.

The ice park's final day was yesterday, and most of the sculptures lasted up until the very end. Well, the last day, anyway. Warm temperatures these last couple days, combined with breezes have chewed up some of the sculptures somethin' fierce. A few had fallen over, while others were highly eroded nubs of their former selves. One, a single block "Cell R' Ice" was standing when we first walked by (before the lights were turned on for the night), and had fallen by the time we made it back around later that evening. Several statues were making faint cracking sounds.

I'll put up a few before/after shots when I get the chance.

That's a wrap!

2010-03-06T11:25:00.003-09:00

Wow, what an amazing week. I can barely type, my wrists and trigger finger are so sore. After 5 1/2 days of redesigning, sawing, grinding, chiseling, prying, dragging, scaffold climbing, gluing, freezing, more grinding, and torching, create "Sonoran Sunset". Now, all we need to do is a little more cleanup and drop off the lighting diagram and we're Done! Done! Done!

I wonder what we'll carve next year....

Day 4 - Saguaro stands TALL

2010-03-04T08:07:00.003-09:00

What a great day! The wall is finally complete, we've lifted our sections (mostly cut by Tim) onto the saguaro, which now stands at approximately 18 feet. Katie came in and whipped out a baby javelina (off camera), the cougar is now taking shape in its' cave, Jill's prickly pear pieces are in place. It's amazing to see it all coming together.

We had a mad rush, and ended at 2am last night, because we needed to get all large pieces glued into place so we could start working them today. Today, all the rest of the elements will probably be in place, so that tomorrow we can spend the entire day going over our sculpture and texturing it.

Right now, we have nearly 2 unused blocks worth of ice... which will go a little towards our river, but will likely remain mostly unused. oh well... the desert doesn't need to be crammed full of stuff, anyway. :)

next day....

2010-03-03T07:40:00.003-09:00

The saguaro midsection has been carved, but is off camera. Also, some prickly pear. Katie arrived in the evening as we were mounting the cougar cave. Feelin' good! and tired.
Catch the action here, or at icealsaka.com
http://kiska.giseis.alaska.edu/Input/celso/iceSB2010.html

multiblock - second day

2010-03-02T09:03:00.001-09:00

A really quick summary: We built wall. We built wall from 10am to 1am. As usual, there were plenty of little hangups, like pieces that don't quite connect. But, the wall is essentially done, and we can finally move on to other stuff. Today: Tim'll probably work on the cougar, Jill will probably work on her prickly pear, and I'll be running around like a chicken with his head cut off.

First day Recap

2010-03-01T07:24:00.002-09:00

We started working with our ice as soon as the 9am horn sounded. Jill and Tim started by trimming the orange marker marks (made during the ice harvest) from the edges of the ice, and then cutting the white ice off of a block or two. Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out which ice blocks needed to go where for the wall, and strode around the site with a measuring tape trying to figure what-goes-where.

After leveling the site (a futile effort I was to learn) we pulled our first block up into position. That big vertical block in the back is going to be the base of our cougar, and anchor for the background wall.

Another block we had moved into a vertical position to stage right. That is going to be the base of the Saguaro. Unfortunately, we learned after the first cut, the saguaro block is riddled with fractures. Actually, most of our ice is very fractured. This may be a side-effect of such a low snow year, because the snow, which cushions the ice as the forklifts push, pull, and drop each bock, was AWOL. We got to experience this throughout the day as each of our blocks were in turn abused and fractured. Mimi, a few sites down, had one of her blocks completely crumble.

SOoo, with the ice not behaving ideally, we spent some time wandering around our site trying to decide just how bad the damage was. Our tool: An iron which we used to clarify the blocks enough to look inside. Our answer: pretty bad, but we'll give it a go. If things get really bad, we have the option to get 2 replacement blocks of ice.

One of the challenges we face comes from the depth of the ice. Our ice is somewhat thick this year, and while that's nice, it also means that even our longest chainsaw can't cleanly cut through an entire block in any direction. That's why you'll see us circling the blocks with chainsaws, and cutting in at both sides.

Our next little setback was when we tried to split the third block in two. The resulting pieces were to be stacked upon each other, making up the wall right next to the large vertical block. The back piece fell over and shattered. (another victim of little padding). We had to split the remaining piece to make up for this. We opted, however, to do it in smaller sections. which would also go to make up the wall. As for the shattered bits? They'll make nice craggy bits to top our wall.

All this took quite a while. Meanwhile, off camera, one block had the edges rounded off of it. That block was destined to become a prickly pear bush. Another block was marked to become the middle section for the saguaro.

Somewhat near the end, we had a couple blocks pushed into place and glued.

Lessons learned yesterday:

Whenever a block is going to change orientation or has the chance of falling out, scoop lots and lots of snow to cushion it
Think ahead of time about what ice is going to fall where, and make sure that nothing else you care about is nearby.
Get scaffolding early in the competition. We don't really have any, as it's all doled out to other teams.
Move thicker blocks and wrench them into position to carve, rather than trying to move anything delicate.

Today's assault: Finish the wall, get the saguaro to level2, start saguaro #2, and get the prickly pear into position. We may even get to cut out a block specifically for the cougar/cave, and another couple blocks for the javelinas. Of course, this plan is subject to change....

AAAAaand they're OFF!

2010-02-28T06:52:00.002-09:00

We registered yesterday, and will be at site #7. Tim's got gloves, Jill *finally* got her chainsaw, and Katie will be joining us Tuesday night.

Somehow, after lots of planning (and continuing through this writing), we've finally survived to our first day. The blocks look thick, and the site is smaller than anticipated (20'x25'). NOW it starts, and you can expect this blog to get terser and somewhat less coherent as the week wears on.

Yesterday was mostly a break, with a trip to Chena Hot springs with other sculptors before we returned to the ice park for final registration and a safety briefing.

Today, if the camera is up and working, expect to see us clearing the area, scraping orange marker off the ice, and then cutting the large blocks of ice for the saguaro and backdrop. Catch all the action HERE: http://icealaska.com/videocam/10Cam/mb10/CAM10mb07.html
The camera will take a new picture every minute or so, so if we've been stationary for a while, refresh the browser.

Deep breath...

Single Block in progress

2010-02-23T15:45:00.001-09:00

But the ice-alaska webcam pages are messed up. Here's my own page that has the correct images for a few webcams.
http://kiska.giseis.alaska.edu/Input/celso/iceSB2010.html

Back to the desert

2010-02-23T09:34:00.005-09:00

OK. So, I suppose it has been a little while since I reported upon our own ice preparations. Over the last couple weeks, Jill and I haven't touched much ice, but have been doing plenty of background work. We've been modeling in clay, modeling on the computer, sketching this & that, and working more on templates.

Of note, the puma/cougar/mountain lion will be hanging out in a cave near the waterfall. Instead of being completely exposed and open (where we'd have to carve the entire thing) he/she'll be chilling, paws crossed, taking in the action from halfway within a cave. The waterfall itself is changing (not present in this diagram), to be a smaller, split waterfall coming in on either side of a perched boulder. I'll add the sketches as soon as I find them.

Another positive thing: Some while ago, I'd discovered that the cholla will be best created as a table, with the various appendages glued on to that. It'll provide some more stability and allow it to be fluffier. An inital attempt at carving the cholla base was promising.

I'm ALSO contemplating the addition of an Agave plant. maybe multiples. I think they'll be good groundcover and will help to use up those inevitable diagonal ice fragments that get scattered everywhere.

- -
By now, a small amount of panic has set in: We start in just under 120 hours. Tim left Africa Yesterday, and will be arriving tomorrow evening. Meanwhile, Katie is coming in either next Tuesday evening or Wednesday to help with our final push.

Quixote's Nightmare, a study in Ice

2010-02-23T09:14:00.004-09:00

The single block competition has started about 20 minutes ago and will continue through Thursday. Lars Hansen and Mike Ossmann (Site #40) are working on "Quixote's Nightmare", an evil windmill straight from the bowels of hell. I've checked out their clay models, and am excited for them.
Webcams should be accessible soon from: http://icealaska.com/10/10sbindex.html, but as of this post they're not quite there yet.

Of interest: Look for Lars's cool homemade tools, including the ice-lathe, "Bob" the boiler, and a slab cutter that is made from bicycle wheels, a car jack, and a washing-machine engine.... Then, there are always the hockey-stick chisels.

The story of their creation is told on Mike's Blog. PS, don't tell them I added Quixote. -- though I'm not responsible for the other alteration...

What's safe about ice carving?

2010-02-05T13:07:00.004-09:00

Nothing, really. This comes to mind as I ponder all the tools we'll be using to create our "masterpiece":1 - 14" electric chainsaw
3 - 18" electric chainsaws
1 - 42" gas chainsaw
6+ - long handled chisels (~3' long)
2 - angle grinders with uber-aggressive disks with guards removed
3 - die grinders with more uber-aggressive bits
2 - (1'x1') Scratch pads (with either hundreds of nails or other abrasive item)
2 - Mallets
1 - 5' breaker bar
? - misc small chisels
2 - small saws
1 - broken iron (stuck on)1 - weed burner
oh, and 54,568 pounds of ice!

Another clay session

2010-02-05T11:30:00.004-09:00

Jill and I got together to work the clay some more and pay closer attention to the structural aspects of our creation. This time around, we concentrated on plants.

From 2010 World Ice Championships preparation: Sonoran Sunset

Prickly Pears: ~ 3+' tall (to ~ 5'?)
We decided that trying to attach individual pads would be infeasible for a bunch of reasons: The pads themselves are heavy, gluing the ice can be a finnicky process. Picture a bunch of misshapen dominoes crashing to the ground. Instead, we're opting to create a base (think "lips"), which will have several pads etched into it, with a few pads rising up out of it. Additional pads would be created in 2's, 3's, 4's, whatever, and attached to the base. The extra advantage here is that there will be more surface area available for attachment, and also multiple surfaces. This produces a stronger bond.

Cholla: ~4-5' tall
The cholla presents some challenges, too. In reality, the plant is a series of connected nodules (picture ovoid tubes) covered from one end to the other in nasty terrible spines. The real plant would (again) be a nightmare to try to recreate, with a noticable lack of support for the tubes. In our version, the plant would be supported by a stable pedistal topped by a multi-armed star and additional vertical support. Tubes will be cut with bob-the-boiler in long shapes, and then will be "segmented" by etching with powertools. Textures will also be added by drilling lots and lots of tiny holes into them.then, they'll be assembled like one of those geodesic hemispherical playground climbing bars.. Hopefully.

Barrel Cactus: ~3'tall
~2' diameter cylendar, tilted somewhat, deeply etched with many crenelations. I've played around with the idea of spines, but am still unconvinced if I'll even bother. We'll try to do flowers on top, and see where that leads.

Saguaro #1: 20' tall, arms start at 6'
In the photo, toothpicks represent places where block seams will go. A person, then will be as high as the skinny green toothpick. The saguaro has been made skinnier, giving it a more svelte outline, and taller feel. The arms will go to 10' to 12'. yipes. I'm both excited and apprehensive about this piece. Once fully erected, we're not going to want to be anywhere under it.

Into the future!

2010-02-04T20:50:00.001-09:00

While 10 blocks of 6'x3'x4' ice may seem like a lot, it won't feel like it. Much ice will be lost to irregularly shaped scraps. Some will be lost to shatterage. Most of it, though, will be taken up by the sculpture. The saguaro alone, will be responsible for most of 3 blocks. I'm using the CAD program "Google Sketchup" to help me figure out block usage and create templates. All this pre-work is incredibly important... it's no fun to stand around in -30 weather, scratching your head, trying to figure out what to do next, while the clock continues to mercilessly tick down.

Here's the site, under construction

Here's the details for our Momma Javelina

New toy!

2010-01-28T11:23:00.004-09:00

I picked up a Makita die grinder (GDO600) from AIH yesterday. This would be neat, but not too exciting, except that I also received two of the bits that I ordered, a Roscoe Bit, and a V-bit. A quick test proved that the roscoe bit (a thin, long bit) carves through ice like a warm knife through butter. It'll be used for details, and should be uber-handy with creating creatures.

The V-bit is a wide bit that will be heavily used with texturing and will likely be used for creating detail within the cholla.

Now, I'm just waiting for the super burr and burr bullet that I have on order. With those, there'll be Ice Mayhem.

Dreaming of tools

2010-01-23T12:49:00.002-09:00

Last night, I broke down and ordered some ice-carving bits for the Die Grinder that I don't yet own. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I shouldn't have found a sponsor....
Meanwhile, were still collecting a pile of tools a saw here, grinder there, and a cool now melty device that Lars has created.

Designed to WIN

2010-01-22T12:00:00.003-09:00

Here's the design sketch I submitted on our behalf. We're paid up, have turned in our bios (mostly) and this sketch. It's really going to happen now!

uh-oh

2010-01-20T10:21:00.002-09:00

A couple days ago, I put chisel to ice for the first time this season. Oh my. 15 minutes with the chainsaw and angle-grinder, and my wrists are spaghetti. No doubt about it, this is going to take some conditioning.

In other news, I'm still thinking about the layout and order of things. I figure the saguaro will have to be assembled at the END of the competition, 'cause of the danger it would pose to those of us working around it. Plus, I'm starting to have 2nd thoughts about the bats. Tim's fighting hard for the cougar, and I'm beginning to wonder how much time would be sunk into the bats, which have a great chance of breaking anyway. We'll see.

I grabbed small cougar figurine and a Toob of desert wildlife and as models for sculpting. As a bonus, there's a roadrunner in the pack. hmmm... a roadrunner would be cool. coyote? oh, where to stop? The one thing I wanted, a Javelina figure, seems to be unattainable up here in AK. Maybe I'll entreat upon one of my AZ friends to send me up one....

Icecarving team taking shape

2010-01-14T12:44:00.002-09:00

It's official! Tim's coming up from the Congo to help carve. That's a guaranteed 3-member team, with Katie probably coming up to lend a hand. With that knowledge in hand, I've formally submitted our application. On the to-do list: just about everything. (sigh)

First brainstorming - clay model

2010-01-11T07:58:00.004-09:00

Yesterday, Jill came over to put a chisel to ice. The weather was cold and windy, and there was plenty of other modeling to do, so instead we worked on a clay model and discussed some possible carving techniques.

At right, you see the fruits of our labors. There's a mountain in the background that wraps around, with a waterfall (green clay) leading into a pool at which a few Javalina (mom & babies) are drinking. Crossbedding will show that the mountain is actually fossilized sand dune. A small saguaro flanks the scene (right), with a damaged spot showing the internal ribs. There's a large saguaro (probably ~18' when completed), jackrabbit, and mouse poking nose out of saguaro. The yellow ribbony thing represents a bat-flight, exiting a cave in the background, and looping around behind the saguaro (this will be tricky). There's tracks on the ground (as represented by the yellow blotch of clay), and plenty of prickly pear cacti. The pile of tubes represents a cholla plant, and a barrel cactus sits off to the left. Stanchions are small prickly-pear plants.

The items within the clay model are not to scale yet.

Next: The figures within the model have to be scaled out, so we know how much ice we have, as well as the size of each item within. Also, we need to figure out how things will be manufactured.

'Tis the season (again)

2010-01-10T12:00:00.000-09:00

The Icealaska world ice art championship is right around the corner, and being the fool that I am, I'll be leading a team in the Multiblock competition (28 Feb - 5 Mar). We get to carve up ten blocks, each approximately 6' x 4' x 3', turning them into some sort of scene.

My team was likely to consist of Jeremy Harbek, Jill Shipman, Tim Macintyre, and myself. It turns out, though, that Jeremy has his nose to the grindstone throughout the spring, as he's trying to graduate, so a replacement is needed. Tim happens to be in Africa, but brief email exchanges thusfar make me optimistic that he'll be able to tear himself away for the competition. While, as far as I know Tim doesn't have any ice carving experience, he's been known to wield the chainsaw and I'd bet he is at home with heavy equipment. Jill has carved in the Amateur competition a couple times, but has never competed.

I'm currently hoping that my friend and previous carving partner, Katie Hessen, will be able to take the mantle from Jeremy. The only problem is that she's in Africa right now (coincidence), and has a real job. She's got tools and has worked on just about everything that I've carved, including "Ahab" from a previous multiblock competition.

As for me, I've carved in the multiblock once: lots of chainsawing, and basically just following directions. I've also carved in the single-block once, and have done several other sculptures in the amateur competition, the kid's park and a couple other places. This'll be my first captaining of such a large project.

The project itself: "Sonoran Sunset" (or some such name). I've recently returned from a trip to the deserts around Tucson, where I managed to gather some resistance to our weather (currently -32F ), as well as gained inspiration for this project. A mock-up photo (1st really-really-rough draft) is included here.

Within the photo: Saguaro cacti, cholla cactus, barrel cactus, plenty of prickly-pear, and javelinas drinking at a desert oasis, with a small waterfall cascading off some rocks (fossilized sand-dunes). In the original mock-up, I have a mountain lion looking on... he might reappear, but I actually envision a bat-flight instead. The cactus may have a creature ot two poking out, and there may be tracks in the "sand" nearby.

That just about wraps it up

2008-09-01T10:00:00.002-08:00

Sunday, August 31, 2008 : Seward to Fairbanks
We were incredibly lucky on Saturday. The weather was gorgeous. The water was flat. The winds were calm. Today, rain threatened, and finally made good on its threats. We spent the morning in the Sea Life Center, where mom was thoroughly entranced by the puffins.

After lunch, we high-tailed it back north. We zipped along up the Turnagain, past Anchorage, and onward. Night finally overtook us as we ate pizza in a small shop just south of the Entrance of Denali. Then, we passed through glitter gulch, and high-tailed it back home. We arrived back at Belfair at about 1am. Hurray!

Seaward in Seward

2008-08-31T09:00:00.003-08:00

Saturday:

We took the fancy-schmancy tour of Kenai Fjords. Puffins, Humpback Whales, Cormorants, Gulls, Sea lions, Otters, and Calving glaciers were the order of the day. This small paragraph, utterly understates it, but the photos sure won't. (The route was the yellow route from the photo)

On the boat, we also met a cool traveler, Theresa, who is touring around after spending a little while up Barrow way. Lunch was served on the boat, and Dinner was a salmon bake on Fox Island.

I connnected back up with Theresa and her coworkers at a local bar to chat, drink Alaskan Beer, and dance to a really cool group that consisted of two people and a lot of rhythm.

Unboring Tidal Bores

2008-08-29T22:49:00.001-08:00

Friday:
Seward Bound. We got up pretty early and had breakfast with Chloe at Middleground cafe(?), next to REI. Mom picked up some more harty rain and winter gear at a store nearby, while Chloe and I poked around REI.

Also, today, I learned that our governor is up for the job of McCain's VP. Hmm. Newspaper headline: Bear attack in Gateway to the Arctic.

Mom and I took most of the day wandering in and around the Turnagain Arm. We had lunch in Girdwood, then watched the tidal bore come on in. Also, we got to see several beluga whales that were following the bore. They were playing around and even getting relatively close to shore. Plenty of photos were taken.

Afterward, we went to portage, where we got a view of a couple glaciers and saw some beautiful (if not slightly beat up) salmon. Bright red bodies and green heads.

We arrived in Seward to remember that today marked the start of the Labor Day weekend. The beach is full of RV's, and there was a steady stream of traffic all the way to Seward. We found a camp site right in town, though. Dinner was awesome.

Southward migration

2008-08-29T07:00:00.001-08:00

Thursday, August 28, 2008
Woke up around 9:45 hungry. Meandered downstairs and to the lobby to take advantage of the continental breakfast, and to write down the notes for our time in Skagway. Somewhat later, mom came down to join, and we wandered outside to finish off our coffees.

There were a couple local Tok(ians?) / Tok-folk around drinking coffee as well, so I started chatting with them about stuff. Again, I got the story of a wet rainy summer. Also, about the fires from long ago, that nearly took the town. and how --even though there was 24 hrs of daylight-- the crews only fought the fire on a somewhat 9-5 schedule. I also got the back story for the lady who was working the hotel; up from a small town in WA. Semiretired. Lovin' Tok. While we talked a couple little planes zoomed overhead, each wearing those really large tundra tires that make them look like toys.

We finally left the hotel about an hour after checkout time, and started off for Seward. When we had arrived last night, it was with the idea that we'd march off to FBX and be done. However, lying in bed before breakfast, I started to recall the days ahead. We still had 4 days before the weekend was over and I was due to start school. Once I start up again, I really won't be able to do any lengthy trips, so... the plan changed.

The Morning's working plan is to drive to Seward, spend a couple days poking around there, and then drive back home. (Ignoring Denali in the process 'cause Mom can get there whenever she wants, while she's in FBX. En route to Seward, we'll check out the bore tide (if favorable), maybe see Beluga whales, check out the museum, go on a wildlife float, and hike to Exit Glacier.

We didn't hit the road until noon. We drove down the Tok Cutoff, with the vegetation around us going absolutely nuts with fall colors. The weather was pretty rainy, with just enough patches of sunlight to really make mountains "pop" here & there. We dropped in briefly at the visitor center in Slana, where mom learned that porcupines climb trees, but not well. Most have taken a fall or two, breaking stuff in the process. :(
Lunch was at the Caribou in Glenallen (good fries). We then proceeded down the Glenn with many a backwards glance toward the Wrangell mountains--which never appeared owing to the low cloud deck. More gorgeous scenery, and a couple glaciers escorted us to Palmer, where we picked up the Anchorage newspaper. Headline? "Lovelorn musk ox gores prized sled dog". Ah, Alaska.

Then, Anchorage. The sunset and rain made for some spectacular rainbows along the way.

Once in Anchorage, we met up with Katie, who works there in the Imaginarium, a cool hands-on museum. We ate and drank and caught up over pizza at the Moose's tooth. I pawned off my broken chainsaw to Katie, who would get it fixed in town, while mom plied her with some of her home-made jewelry.

Once dinner was over, we headed over to Visit / stay with Chloe, who is finishing up an internship in AK. She put us up for the night, and let me in on the speech that Obama had just given. Damn, It's good to see my buddies again.

SO... Tomorrow, we head towards Seward after making a stop to get rain gear.

The long journey

2008-08-28T02:00:00.002-08:00

Wednesday (a sleepy missive)
My eyes snapped open at 7am... but It was refreshing to know that I didn't need to actually drive anywhere. I wandered along the now empty streets, snapping a few photos before the cruise ships let out their cargo and all became chaos. Next to the hotel was a small stream that had a few beat up salmon still struggling to stay put, while their deceased cohorts formed fish-jams downstream. I remember a documentary where they talked about how important all the fish carcasses were to the overall ecology of Alaskan Streams. They leave as little tykes, get all large and nutritious out at sea, and then bring all that yumminess back into the streams to be decimenated to bear, bird, and plant once they've finished their spawning trip.

I returned to the hotel to meet mom for breakfast. The cook, who I'd struck up a conversation with the previous day, kept bringing out stuff just for mom & me.

We then hightailed it to a ranger talk "Food of the Gold Rush", which was a bit disjointed, but entertaining and informative nonetheless. Then, looking at the throngs of tourists raiding the diamond and fir shops, we decided to leave town.

The trip out was gorgeous, and as we went over White pass (There were two passes out of the area. The famous Chilkoot pass, which left from Dyea, and the White pass. The Chilkoot was for people carrying their own stuff. It was shorter and steeper than the White Pass. People took horses on the white pass, but plenty of 'em (horses) died. We're talking thousands. The rub was that after getting food (Canadian customs required each miner bring 2 tons --a year's supply-- so that they wouldn't be a burden on towns in Canada), traveling to Alaska, hauling food/equip up the pass (30-40 trips, each lasting a day), Waiting for the lakes to break so they could float another 600+ miles to Dawson City..... all the gold bearing streams were totally staked out.

ANYWAY, the pass was gorgeous, with powder-blue lakes interspersed with deep blue lakes, mixed with dramatic rocks and some tenacious trees. Wow.

The rest of the day we drove, and drove, and drove, and drove. Went through Canadian customs--pleasant. Went through Whitehorse, where we got some not-so-great KFC to eat further down the road. We ate over by otter falls, on a bridge that was out of order.
Somewhere along the way, we saw a couple caribou. Elsewhere, we passed Kluane Lake, and visited a really beautiful visitor center in Haines Junction. Also, in HJ, we grabbed ice cream cones at the Village bakery which looks like a really cool place in high season. They were going to close on the 6th. Everywhere we drive, there are places either closing down or about to close soon. Skagway, for instance, has its last cruise ships on the 26th, and more than one person is eager to board up and enjoy the silence.

Later that night, we passed American customs and got some wierd questions like how much money we had, how long I expect to be in school, and how mom was leaving the state. I expected that going into a foreign country, but not Alaska. Weird.
Then there were 47 miles of construction (still better than the 150 miles of AlCan in Canada just prior to the border) before Tok. WE got in after 1am local time and had to got to a few hotels before finding one that was open -Golden bear Motel. Along the way we stopped to look at the stars, with a great many constellations vying for attention.

A Day In Skagway yawgakS ni yaD A

2008-08-27T06:32:00.001-08:00

Tuesday
It's so nice to have a day to breathe, and very refreshing to know that I didn't need to drive anywhere today.
Breakfast in the hotel, where we were served by cute Bulgarian waitresses in pajamas. I caught up a little on the internet, then we joined the throng on the streets. The morning was spent looking for additional gear for mom... gloves, hat, scarf. NO scarves are apparently to be had in Skagway.

Poking into more stores.
Then, we took a walk to some point on the coast, just west of the shipping lane. There were 6 red helicopters flight seeing back and forth down the fjord. Along the way, we saw oodles of mushrooms, of which we took many photos.

I tracked down Gavin, who's working above a saloon. He uses metal detectors to find miner junk and enter it into the GPS. We arranged to meet for dinner, and then Mom and I hopped in the car to head to Dyea (Pronounce dah-yII!) to look for the grizzly bears that are supposed to be haunting the area. While we saw no griz, we did see plenty of scat. By the size of it, one would have thought there were rhinoceroses on the coastal flats. We also saw an eagle.

Along the way, there were people touring on foot, horseback, bicycle, and bus.

When we got back into town, it was after 6:30. Mom & I split ways, she went to repack do laundry and organize her stuff, while I met Gavin for a burger, beer, and reminiscence. It was great to rehash the old hiking club days, massaging those neurons associated with names and events from Flagstaff. It feels like such a long time ago, but I remember when it was all so new. He gave me a CD containing all the photos from "The Wall"

North! To Alaska, : Skagway

2008-08-26T08:11:00.004-08:00

Monday 25 August 2008
Today was a long day... but not nearly as punishing as some of the more recent days. We started the morning at the Air Force Inn, in Watson Lake. After showers and some internetting, we moseyed over to the Belvedere for breakfast. I had french toast with blueberry-rhubarb sauce and little orange slices. Nice!

After I grabbed Gas, we wandered about the signpost forest that contains signs from every corner of the world. Originally intended to express the feeling of loneliness & distance for one guy, it now contains thousands and thousands of signs (many of which may or may not have been stolen from street corners and construction sites) commemorating peoples journeys through Watson Lake. I chatted briefly with a lady at the visitor center who told me that Homer Alaska's sign had been extradited a couple times, but keeps coming back.

Drive drive drive... Lunch in Teslin. The terrain we're going through is mountains and swamp and tundra. After lunch, we made a brief rest stop where I showed mom Crowberries, Blueberries, Labrador Tea, and a voluminous amount of cranberries (Lignonberries).

We eventually found our way to Whitehorse, where I devised the following plan: We're going to Skagway for a day & half. Then we'll drive to Haines Jct or Tok, and then on to Fairbanks. This plan, is dependent, of course, on how we're feeling.

We drove to Skagway, along the way seeing a black bear and a bald eagle. The road was beautiful, with fall happening in patches along the mountains and roadside. In the mountains, there's an amazing area of scoured landscape, scattered trees, and lots of water. Then there was lots of fog.

As I write this, I'm in a hotel room in Skagway. I can barely express my joy at being back in Alaska, even though I have a long way to go before I actually make it "home". We drove the town which is larger than I expected... stopped at the Westmark, a hotel that had reasonable AAA rates, and checked in. Then, we went to one of two restaurants that were open -- a Thai place. Mmm -- not as good as Fairbanks Thai, but pretty darn good. PLUS, they had Alaskan Amber. A beer which I know and like. How at home is this? very.

The waiter gave some good advice about what to do "Take the train" "hike up to the lake" "see wildlife from a trail that starts at the airport". I intend to take him up on at least 2 of 3 items. Currently, though, a wet wind is howling through town, slowing down only enough to make the "wind blowing through town" sound.

Shovel your roof off.

2008-08-24T18:29:00.002-08:00

Sunday, Day 10
Late morning getting out of Fort Nelson. Woke up after a good night's sleep, feeling like I need only 10 more hours of sleep to feel "normal". Multiple days of 8am-Midnight are beginning to leave me a little flat.
We ate a nice little breakfast provided by the hotel (Lakeview Inn), then packed, checked weather, and --surprise, surprise-- I called ahead to make reservations in Watson Lake. My original "plan" had been to try to drive all the way to Whitehorse, YT, but that would have been a 600+ mile day, and experience was showing that that sort of mileage is actually relatively unobtainable.

I chatted up the girl at the front desk (Tanya), who has lived there for the last 12 years. Heavy snows this winter collapsed the roof of the local ice skating / curling rink.

Lunch was at Muncho's Lake (I think) where I had a nice litle discussion about rocks and obsidian with a guy who worked on the highway. His wife was serving lunch; good soup & chili.

The drive itself was very pleasant. We started off in the rolling hills just west of fort nelson. Pretty soon, though, we were in more mountainous terrain. The rest of the drive was through mountains. Today's wildlife included a bunch of woods bison and caribou. We also stopped to poke around an aluvial fan, shortly after lunch.

Sasquatch

2008-08-23T23:51:00.003-08:00

Even less to report today. We drove and drove and drove. Dinner was great: Sasquatch. Made it to Fort Nelson just before midnight local time (Now, we're in Pacific time)

Total distance today: 537 miles
Northward Travel: 4.75 degrees

We're like in Canada, eh?

2008-08-22T23:39:00.002-08:00

Started in Conrad, MT and made it to Whitecourt, AB having driven through Lethbridge, Calgary (mom drove the traffic jam, and did just fine), and Edmondton. Not really too much to say. The entirety of the trip was with wheat fields and the like.
We entered Canada without incident, and stopped at the first town to get some Canadian dough. Just outside town was a great little visitor center, with a T-rex (no photos) and plenty of rocks for people to climb upon.

Further down the road, in the town of Nanton(?), we stopped for a stretch, and stopped in to a cafe for some coffee & saskatoon pie. Mmm.. The pie was good, with what looked like blueberries, only they were mostly intact, keeping a pleasant "i'm eating berries" texture.

In the end, we were going to camp, but couldn't find a place. As I searched for a campground, we passed a couple gas processing plants (?) with flames shooting out of the smokestacks. The bright light of the plants was in stark contrast to the dark of the night that surrounded them. Failing in our quest to find a campground, I decided to just camp somewhere off the road. Having selected a relatively flat wide spot, I dug out the gear. I had a couple of the tent rods ready, when I started to smell something dead nearby. In the end, we opted to stay at a hotel (a 15 minute drive back, wrong direction). I selected a hotel at random, which only had smoking rooms left. These rooms didn't smell like smoke though, so we stayed despite the wierd bubble windows.

Travelled further North by 5 degrees, 54 minutes.

Weather is here, Wish you were beautiful

2008-08-21T21:47:00.006-08:00

4 degrees further north, 6.5 degrees further west. 511 miles for today's total.

Today was the long slog across Montana. I had hopes that we'd be in Canada today, but the drive has taken longer than expected. We started the morning in Gillette, WY which is experiencing a huge energy boom; result: expensive hotels and lots and lots of people. All of which, so far as I can tell, were trying to use the same toaster this morning, at the same time.

We finally started traveling after 10am, after I finished messing around with online stuff (uploading photos to facebook, catching up with this blog, etc) while Mom repacked the cooler. We grabbed groceries in Sheridan, WY with which we'd make lunch, and then headed over to Montana. There were no rest-stops until a good long while into WY.
Lunch was on picnic benches in an old town that belonged to the town's historical society. Tasty sandwiches on croissants. mmm. Also, hallelujah, we saw our first rain today.
Deeper into Montana, just before sunset, we witnessed some fantastic cloud formations. There was a storm passing over us that had mammatus clouds roiling out the bottom. We were hoping to see some tornadic activity, but had to settle for a strong wind and cold raindrops.

Cold? yep. Ah, it's SO nice to be chilly; it's been so long. I threw on some jeans, and then we took scildy-zillion photos of the sunset and double-rainbows associated with the storm. This portion of the storm passed by like some gigantic silent pink/gray beast. Impressive.

I was still hoping to make it into Canada today, but we had to settle for Conrad, MT. I'm bushed. I've already heard a train go by (oops) so I'm hoping all the training I've done in Flagstaff will pay off. G'night.

To the Devil with ye

2008-08-20T20:54:00.005-08:00

Today we were going to try to make it to Billings. it didn't happen. However, instead, we saw (from a distance) the Crazy Horse memorial, which promises to rival Mt. Rushmore. I can't help but vaguely wonder, however, if any Native American tribes would be in favor of this blowing up of the mountain. Without actually going in, I may never know.

Breakfast was at a nice little bakery in Custer, followed by a scenic loop through Custer State Park ($10) where we saw a great many pronghorn antelope, as well as the occasional lone bull bison. There was a bison herd, but I'd seen 'em before, and these were too close to corrals and paddocks for me to bother trying to get their photos.

Lunchtime (2:00, notice the slipping schedule...) was at Cadillac Jack's in Deadwood. Meh. Casino. My Caesar salad was OK, but mom's sandwich didn't cut it.

We drove on 'till we hit Devil's tower, where we hung out in the KOA store, munching ice cream and filling out postcards. Actually, we were stalling, 'cause the heat was a little overwhelming. By the time we got to the visitor center, it was after 5pm.

My first impression was that the tower wasn't all that big. My second impression, as we got close, was that the tower was somehow related to Moby Dick. There were a huge number of birds (vultures?) circling around, taking advantage of the thermals rising from the mountain.

The mountain is absolutely gorgeous. Mom and I took a walk around the base (1.3 mi), after I'd set up a camera to do time-interval photography hoping to catch the shadows crawling across the monument. As of this writing, I haven't looked at 'em yet.

Total mileage for today: 255. Tomorrow will be at least double that as I work my way towards Alaska.

The Rush of patriotism

2008-08-20T04:11:00.005-08:00

I slept really well in the new tent, with my learned Alaskan talent for ignoring bright light while sleeping. The moon is nearly full, so the entire night was well lit. No rain fly for the tent meant that, had we not had a full moon, we would have been able to watch the rest of the stars whirling past.

We started the morning with a small hike over Saddle Pass, which took us up, above the prairie, through the formations to a higher prarie. The whole area is striped purple and gray and tan, very much like a prairie-floored painted desert. Despite steep slopes and heights, we both managed to do the whole round-trip without incident.

Then, after a good breakfast at the nearby lodge, we packed up tent and drove the length of loop drive towards Wall. The badland features encroached upon the road, with fingers of dirt mounds to either side- - sometimes rising above us, sometimes dropping away below. But always nearby, and always interesting.

We stopped at the big-pig dig, which was a big bust. No activity was going on. However, we enjoyed wandering along taking pictures of flowers.

The final overlook was what we actually took for badlands. It looked into a beautiful, dry land with spires that stretched out for a distance that said "this would really suck to have to find your way through". Meanwhile Bighorn meandered about on the nearby mountain.

After a stop at Wall drug and DQ, we headed off towards Mt. Rushmore. (I almost didn't mention: There's a place across from Wall where I ordered an Indian Taco. Blech. It was OK, but it didn't hold even the tiniest candle to the Navajo Tacos to which I am accustomed -- ex. Cameron, AZ) Despite our general lack of enthusiasm for a defaced mountain depicting political figures, we dropped in: how could we not, if it were so close?

My first impression was that of an airport. The monument is designed to handle an absolutely amazing number of people in its 6-section, multi-tiered parking garage. Then, there's a long walkway with plenty of visitor facilities, that leads past the state flags to an amphitheater and viewing area. The presidents were impressive, looking out from the mountain. It's definitely something to be viewed in person.

We took the little walk around the base of the mountain, where we poked at the geology, smelled the Ponderosa pines (I missed that vanilla / butter smell). A few information signs existed that contained factoids on each president. Under later consideration, if I were to care a bunch of political figures into the mountain, Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, and Lincoln would probably be the ones. I'd already come around to thinking "not bad!"

THEN there was the ranger program. We almost left, but the new influx of people convinced us that this was something to check out. The ranger started off with some presidential trivia, and then moved on to discussing the flag. What I didn't know, and most people seem not to, is that the Star Spangled banner was a poem with 4 verses. (Read them all HERE). The first verse, which is the one we sing at baseball games and such, is actually the one that asks whether the flag was there. The second verse discussed how they couldn't quite tell which flag it was still up on the ramparts. The third needles the British. These three were spoken poetry-style by the ranger. Then she sang the fourth verse, beautifully, which extols Francis Scott Key's feelings upon seeing the flag. It's beautiful, and I can understand finally why it made our national anthem. However, I'm left wondering why we only sing the part where we're wondering if our flag still is up there.

After this, there was a short video (absolutely perfect audio system, blaring out across a possible audience of thousands) discussing briefly the presidents, and the creation of Mount Rushmore. Finally, service members from the audience came down to participate in the evening's putting away of the colors. I doubt there are many flags in this country that are so well taken care of as the one at Mount Rushmore. It was great to have my own patriotism recharged a bit, for sometimes it gets buried beneath the cynicism directed at the current administration.

Finally, after the event was over, we headed down into town to stay at a hotel. The previous day had been hot, and and we were ready for showers. After checking into the hotel at the top of the hill (others were full) we showered, charged batteries, and wandered down into town to find dinner. All dining areas were closed except for one that offered up a buffet. One casual walk past the buffet platters led us to the conclusion that we were better off without. old. very old.

Then back at the hotel, I started to plan the rest of the trip. It looks like we'll need to hightail it past Devils tower tomorrow and start our journey north. Meanwhile, we're both starting to suffer what we can only assume is allergies. You can see the grass seed drifting through the air in South Dakota.
Till tomorrow...

A Corney day

2008-08-19T15:05:00.004-08:00

Well, the long days seem to be the norm, I guess. (duh)
This morning, we ate a lovely breakfast outside, then wandered into town to mail mom's postcards. They've such a neat, tidy downtown.
As we left the town of Canistota, we took a bunch of farming photos; mom had remembered that this month's Firehouse gallary show has to do with farming.

Then, we went towards Mitchell, SD. There, we visited the corn palace (everything it promises to be!). Lunch was next door at the Stadium. The waitress there was in the peace corps in some eastern European country I'd never heard of, but then she returned. After lunch, we wandered a couple doors down for a cup of joe and some internet time. Again, I ended up talking to the people in there about Alaska and volcanoes. In exchange, I was let in on a sad story about a child, a rock, and a goldfish. Meanwhile, the internet wasn't working, and they couldn't get it to work. Roughing it :)

The badlands were calling, so we bade Mitchell goodbye and headed back onto the interstate to continue our westerning. Just before the Missouri river, we checked out a visitor center/overlook. They had a great display of Louis and Clark stuff. Loved their spellings. What a cool scientist, too. We'd finally reached, by the appearances of vegetation, some juniper land. We're definitely getting further west!

We arrived in the badlands in the early evening, with plenty of time to do a small hike to the window overview. Pretty! We found a nearby campground, then zipped down the park road to get some more sunset photos in.

Camp was a nice affair with my humongous tent finally winning my approval. The thing is BIG, 6 people big, and not meant for wind. Original misgivings were tossed aside as I got used to the luxury of not stepping on anyone, or anything, and being able to stand up inside.

Dinner was almost at the nearby trading post. Then almost at the park entrance. Then almost in the nearby town of interior. In the end, it turned out to be a Turkey Tetrazzini backpacker dinner. Tasty!

BTW, Not sure if I mentioned it in my previous post. I'm still beating myself up for not pulling over and taking a photo of the 60' Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN that we passed on I-90.

Onward to South Dakota!

2008-08-18T14:58:00.005-08:00

Day 3 : Sunday, August 17, 2008 (written morning of 18th)

Yesterday was another long, long day. We started off in Wisconsin, not too far from the border of Illinois, in the town of Milton. Inspired, we opted to go to Heidi's pancake house for breakfast, rather than wander next door to the Cracker Barrel.

We took some back roads to get to Heidi's, which was also near the interstate, though a couple exits north. When we arrived at the place, it was no longer Heidi's. It was a cheese shop. Nice, but not what I was looking for. We went back down the road a small ways to eat at "Emmiline's Roadhouse" instead Emiline's is "Almost on the water", being a block away from the river. There, it was Sunday brunch with stroghannof, french toast, etc.

Then, we hopped back on the interstate, staying on it 'till we checked out a cheese shop in Mouscaton. The lady running the shop had the perfect prairie home companion accent. While there, I saw in the local tourist rag that there was the Corn and Tater festival in nearby Grand Marsh. Why not? So, we headed out to the festival.

Grand marsh was a tiny town, but there were hundreds and hundreds of vehicles parked around. Apparently, the tater festival was a HUGE deal. There were all sorts of games that reminded me of the sorts of things I'd dream up as a child. People were betting on which square a chicken would poop, there were minnow races, photos, horseshoes, a mechanical bull that children were riding, a wagon shuttle to the parking lot, lots of food (taters, corn, BBQ beef, and a cookie), kiddie tractor pulls, some crafts. All in all, quite an event. Mom and I ate some food and talked about our travels to a pair of interested folk sitting next to us.

After that, we took local roads west (21) 'till we hit I90 again. Headed West. Stopped at a DQ just before getting back on the road. Dinner was unimpressive, if not friendly. "The Ranch", in Fairmont, MN.

The rest of the journey was pretty much a blur 'till we stopped, again around midnight local time, at a Best Western in Canitosta. ("can-of-soda?"), just west of Sioux Falls. The hotel, though was 4 miles this way, 4 blocks that way, 4 more blocks the other way. Man was I tired. I'm still tired. The guy at the desk told us, before we asked "why is the hotel so far from the interstate?" Apparently there's a chiropractor clinic nearby that's all the rage.

Cheapest gas: 1.52 in Fairmont. also got gas in Wisconsin.
Mileage: 539

Rock and roll is here to stay

2008-08-17T04:06:00.004-08:00

Cleveland Rocks!
Well, at least, there's the Rock and Roll hall of fame there. We started from Barkeyville, OH (not Sharon, as I'd previously thought. Sharon was where the local newspaper was from). We started from Barkeyville at around 10am, crossed into Ohio by 1030, and passed our first automobile plant at 1100.
We had our first breakfast at the hotel (OK, but it was all baked stuff), so second breakfast was on the turnpike, where we watched a little cat work over the visitors for food. Actually, she looked like she had quite the setup, with a great little nest in the bushes, and plenty of visitors to offer food.
While at the rest stop, mom picked up a brochure for the R&RHofF... so we went. It was OK. I really enjoyed seeing Janice's car and seeing some original manuscripts with cross outs of various artist's songs. Some of the guitars were pretty neat, as were George Clinton's dog shoes. Other random things that I was particularly impressed with: Michael Jackson's zombie jacket, ZZ-top's junkyard-style metal guitars, and John Lennon's guitar that had its paint stripped and had a couple carvings of him & Yoko etched into it in pen.

I had a small conversation about volcanoes with the coat-check girl as I picked up my camera (no photos, check all cameras, please). She saw my regatta shirt, and asked me if I was really from up there. Yep. "Do you know about the volcano that's erupting up there?" "(sigh) yeah." The license plate is still getting double takes, and as mom puts it "we're making kids very happy who are counting license plates from different states".

All in all, it was a day of tolls and toll booths. Indiana was ugh. Illinois was filled with tolls and construction. I'm still not down with "Those damn I-states", and made a point to drive to Wisconsin before stopping.

Mileage: 570, total: 1012 (442 yesterday, revisionist)
Meals: Hotel for breakfast, Turnpike for breakfast II, Hamburgers at the R&RHoF for lunch, Fazoli's (Turnpike) for the most nutritious meal of our trip (dinner), and later a shake & fries to keep me going 'till after midnight Central Time.

Gas: ~4.00 /gal along the way

On the road again!

2008-08-16T05:07:00.004-08:00

Well, The summer's been great, but it's time to mosey. Yesterday's trip started after lunch, which was later than I'd hoped, but earlier than I expected. The high volume of traffic turned out to be a perfect sendoff from the east-coast. It took forever to cross the Tappan Zee and make it on up to Hwy 84. Rain accented the red tail-lights of the endless stream of cars. While frustrated at the slow start to the trip, I'm thrilled by the thought that -- once I make it past Chicago-- I won't have to deal with traffic any more!
Meanwhile, Harry Potter was playing on the MP3 player. Since the player works through the car audio, every now and again, a radio station would stamp out the story, and the station would have to be changed. It is only then that we realized (over and over) that the radio was on full blast.
We made it through Norbert before reaching the end of consciousness, and pulling over in Sharon, PA.

Today, I'm hoping we'll make it into Minnesota. The day is gorgeous, and I'm ready to get going.

So far, Since leaving Saratoga, I've had at least 4 conversations about being from Alaska, along with 3 (so I could tell) times overhearing people mentioning it after seeing my vehicle.

Food:Breakfast- last of the duck eggs w/bacon. Lunch:Some sandwiches by the Milford PO, then Arby's for dinner. This morning was the food buffet with a side of internet (free wireless, but the computer needed to be plugged into the wall).

Gas: Filled up once in Scranton $3.59/gal

Lodging: Comfort Inn, Sharon PA. midnight.
Next Time: Check out the anthrocite museum and coal mine tour near Scranton, PA.

Travellin'

2008-05-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

Ah, the Alaska State Ferry. Gotta say, the marine highway is a great way to move through Canada; It's very much a cruise, and you still get to feel good about not being on a floating hotel with the, and I'm quoting someone here: "Nearlydeads, Newlyweds, and overfeds". Stopping in Juneau, with 3 docked cruiseships, I was forced to laugh at the --politically incorrect, to be sure-- not-entirely-inaccurate description of the population segment. For several bocks, the town was filled with jewelry and fur shops. Where, I have to ask, does Alaska fit in?

Those cruise ships are HUGE, and I prefer to not bring a city with me when I travel. Tent, yes. Quil-lo, yep. and maybe ONE traveling companion -- not 3000.

Anyway, there was no shuffleboard aboard, but they had a decent cafeteria (good breakfast), microwaves for warming your own meal (Thai), and a bar. If you want to camp, you can set up a tent on the deck, though I can't really picture pitching around in a tent; must be a really wierd experience. Also, there plenty of places to sit and watch the world float by. Works for me!

The ferry also stops in Petersburg, which, after a rainy quarter-mile walk past crabbing pots and liqueur store, you find a lovely Norwegian bakery. That's more like the Alaska *I* know and love.

Working in the Kids Park at the Ice Park

2008-02-20T14:31:00.004-09:00

At it again! This year, we're helping out at the Kid's park, creating an immersive photo opportunity. "Arctic Research".

The construction is created from 4 blocks of ice, each approximately 2'x4'x6'.

Here's the album with more photos of the construction
http://picasaweb.google.com/celsoborealis/IceAlaskaKidSPark2008

The "Sick Bomb" drops

2008-01-31T14:57:00.000-09:00

Wow. The halls are empty. A tumbleweed slowly staggers its way down the hall.
Just last week, AVO had its coordination meeting, where we discuss what we've been doing, and where the organization is heading. This year, it was held in Fairbanks, with people coming up from affiliate organizations in Anchorage, California, Washington, and Virginia. Perfect venue for exchanging both ideas and germs. (Sorry!)

Now, several of us have been out for roughly a week (last count was like 14 down...) . Symptoms? Cough, aches, fevers, more coughs... Thank goodness I've had Harry Potter on CD, 'cause it's been a struggle to even work the computer.

Winter snows

2008-01-18T14:52:00.000-09:00

You might think that living in Alaska means that you have to contend with copious amounts of snow.
You're wrong...
and right...

Surprisingly, Fairbanks only gets a total of about 12 inches of precipitation per year; much of which seems to come in the form of snow which sticks around for months and months. However, we only get a more or less constant dribble of snow: an inch here, a centimeter there, 3 inches elsewhere. The effect, though, is a long, white winter.

However, we got 10 inches of snow yesterday within 12 hours. Mind you, it's possible that with our dry, perfectly crystalline snow that 10 inches can be represented by only a couple hundred snowflakes... In any case, it's the largest snowfall we've had in years, and the newspapers are making a minor fuss. I'm just glad (and so are the mushers) that there's enough snow for proper skiing and stuff.

I've scraped off my driveway, piling it all in one lump that will either be an 8-foot tall Godzilla, or, if I'm feeling uninspired, an 8-foot tall volcano.

Meanwhile, work starts this weekend on Ice Alaska's Kids Park at the Ice championship grounds. If the weather stays warm (it's unseasonably above zero), carving should be uncharacteristically non perilous.

Let the winter games begin!

The end is near!

2006-12-07T16:22:00.000-09:00

Holy-moley . Is it December already? Can't be. (sigh)
This is why I shouldn't bother blogging and exactly why I should. Time gets away so quickly. So quickly, in fact, that this will be a very quick rant.

Just took my Yoga final today ("Final" is a strong word... we just showed up and went through self-paced yoga poses). Tomorrow, I deliver a stunning presentation, then turn in bunches of homework (that I haven't done yet) for a mechanics class, then start writing a paper. But the end *is* in sight. :)

Next term: NO CLASSES (I hope). My research is totally suffering, and I want to make good and graduate like a nice little PhD student.

Sunday Art

2006-11-12T21:53:00.000-09:00

Took a real neat glass-blowing class at Expressions in Glass this morning. The link leads off to my online photo album of the event...

2006 Glass Blowing Class

On Pavlof

2006-07-27T23:13:00.000-08:00

First day out. Visited BLHA on the North side of this area. Handle was very rusted, so we had to pry it open with an iron pipe. All the guy wires were loose, so I tightened them. Also, we reburied seismometer cable with rocks. The whole while, I took lots of photos of the station and surrounding area.

From there, we tried to get to PN7A, but were thwarted by winds. the collective was at 100% just to stay level. So, we backed off and went to PV6.

At PV6, we replaced a broken solar panel, tightened guy wires, and did general electronic testing. Once again, we had to "break" into the hut, because the handle was so rusted. Along side the hut were a compliment of used (and chomped-on) aircells which we transported out of there. While Ed worked the panels with Tim (the pilot), I replaced the fuse in the powerswitcher and changed the dip-switches to tell the McVCO to do calibrations every 12 hrs instead of 48. Turns out, though, that I forgot to reset the McVCO afterwards, and another visit was required (that, and I needed to replace the spare fuse, rather than change the fuse). Many more photos, and then we were on our way again.

HAG was up in the clouds, so we didn't even get near it. Actually, the weather in general got so bad, that we had to park the helicopter over by the airport, because we couldn't navigate the pass to King Cove. Called the police department to get Guy to come get us.

Getting it all together

2006-07-26T23:11:00.000-08:00

Lots of work in the Conex... we removed batteries from the pallate to FP, and are sending off the soaker hose and a bunch of solar panel frames.

The helicopter arrived today... Children came out of the woodworks to watch. Gotta say, I like Tim the pilot -- he's heavy into movie making as well as the mp3 thing. This should be pretty good.

Lots of struggling to get the waypoints, but now I do. Tomorow I'll print the map. Tomorrow, also, we'll hopefully hit up PV1A.

LUNCH: Sandwiches. Dinner: Tacos. Bought ammo & breakfast.

Back into the void

2006-07-25T23:08:00.000-08:00

After much fussing about and getting ready (including 3am runs to the grocery store, library, and bank), we set off for Cold Bay.

Flight to Anchorage uneventful. I sat next to a person in the dental profession, but couldn't hold a conversation on 2.5 hrs of sleep. The only thing that sticks out in my mind is that she was sort of rude towards the stewardess, making the comment that her hair looked like it had been stuck in a propeller. (She was right, though) she even took a photo.

In anchorage, I grabbed luggage and re-checked in at pen-air. I've got 3 peices of luggage (I had to pay $50 for the extra)

The Place Where You Go To Listen

2006-03-21T20:00:00.000-09:00

Speaking of the Museum of the North....
There's a new permanent exhibit there, created by John Luther Adams, with lots of help from my friend Jim Altieri and others. It's amazing! -- if not in a slightly unconventional way.

They've taken the rhythms of Nature (Sun and Moon cycles, Earthquakes, The earth's magnetosphere, and more) and turned them on your ear. There's a new acoustic space in the museum, where the typically inaudable data streams from alaska are changed into sound and light.

While sitting in the room, you'll hear what may be considered a constant drone; but just wait! For, as constant as the sound may seem at first, it is constantly shifting -- in real time-- to reflect what's happening in Alaska right now. Day or night, if the aurora should dance in the sky, it will dance about aurally in the room. Earthquakes provide a somewhat arrhythmic heartbeat, as information is passed from stations throughout the interior.

It's quite a sensation; but not really an in-and-out sort of exhibit. Stop. Sit. Stare. Meditate. Pick a sound and try to follow it. Fascinating and immersive!

Adventures in Ice Carving

2006-03-19T16:09:00.000-09:00

Keeping Cool!

Each March, the World Ice Art Championships are held up here in Fairbanks. People come from all over and create intricate works of art from blocks of ice. No, I'm not talking about those little sculptures that crop up on tables at weddings... We're talking BIG -- and fancy. mostly.

I took some photos in 2003 and 2004 , but have always wanted to try my hand at it. This year, Katie and I took a 2-hour ice carving class from the Museum of the North (a great museum on campus), where we tried our hand on a 2x2x2 carving. (Shown below)

What started as a little cartoon penguin ended up as a really awsome little cartoon duck. While we were carving, it snowed probably about 5".

We were both amazed at how simple it was! Perhaps we've found a new hobby: There's only one way to find out, though -- Try it again!

SOOoooo, we each bought a 3-pack of woodworking chisels, plunked down the entry fee, and entered the Amateur Open

The block we carved was about 5'x3'x3'. Man, what a lot of ice : 2700 lbs worth (according to the Ice Alaska website). I figure that we must have carved off at least 1000 lbs.

It took two full days, (and more) to get our penguins into shape, while visitors strolled around and took photos of us working. At one point, I was focused on using a dremel to carve into a tight spot. I turned my head and nearly poked my eye out on this guy's camcorder. He'd just creeped up and was filming over my shoulder at a distance of, oh, maybe 3 inches. Yipes.

(This photo is of a not-quite-finished product. The final product can be seen at the world ice champtionships website)

Is it Spring Yet? Signs say it's getting closer

2006-03-05T17:09:00.000-09:00

Nenana Ice Classic -- Tripod Days

(photo courtesy of Miss Alaska 2005, Rebecca Hayes)

Spring is just around the corner, and now we all get to participate in the great Alaskan tradition of waiting for breakup.... Oh, and that other great tradition of betting on when breakup will actually happen.

Luckily for all of us up here, the days of standing on the river and waiting to head out to sea are behind us. Instead of sacrificing some poor soul to spring, the town of Nenana sacrifices a hugantic tripod each year. (even though the "tripod" has four sides, we still call it a tripod)

Each year a hearty group of alaskans venture out onto the river and help hoist the tripod into position. Once errected on the ice, the tripod is connected to a clocktower via ropes and such.

Now, instead of waiting around for the ice to break, we all place bets on the exactitudes of when the tripod will move which will stop the clock and signify that, yes, Virginia, there really is a spring up here in the far north.

After the tripod raising, we let ourselves be dragged around the downtown streets of Nenana by the locals...

Then, went looking for pop culture

And finally stocked up on Beer for the rest of Winter

Galapagos photos online (finally)

2006-02-13T22:02:00.000-09:00

Wow.. That trip went quickly. I didn't even get a chance to write little notes to myself about all that I saw and did. After the previous post, we went to the Cloud Forest, where we spent a lovely day and evening. Marco, the owner of the El Alito lodge, gave us both a nighttime and daytime tour of his local cloud forest. Very beautiful area, and much more temporate than the Rainforest.
One neat thing was that he had bats in the roof, so we could hear them squeaking around as we hung out on his porch drinking wine.

After the Cloud forest, we raced off to see the Galapagos. 8 days, 7 nights aboard the Yate Angelito with 15 fellow Geologists. It was wonderful! I've posted the photos to my website using Google's Picassa program. My gripe is that I can't quite seem to get the videos to work, but maybe you'll have more luck. You can get to the Galapagos from my TRAVELS page.

Here's a smattering of what we saw:

Blue Footed Boobies

Giant Land Turtles

Baby Sea Lions

Beautiful Crabs

And the omnipresent marine Iguannas

In the Amazon

2006-01-13T08:09:00.000-09:00

Hi,
Well, We´re in Tena, Ecuador right now after spending a few beautiful days at the Arajuno Jungle Lodge. We arrived in Ecuador on the morning of the 10th, and this is the first moment I´ve had to post anything.

http://www.ecuapymes.com/arajunojunglelodge/
(Above link updated March 2006)

We had a fantastic time there... we got off the bus at a bridge somewhere in the jungle, though we were uncertain that we were in the right place. Holmes, a local there, met us and then ferried us up the river to the lodge, where we unwound and then started to explore. We toured primary and secondary rainforests, with vines and bugs and trees... we chased an iguana, ate local fruits, kayaked down the rio, learned about local medicine... it was amazing! And the food was fantastic too. The owner, Tom, was great and took us around on the tours himself; actually, we had the whole place to ourselves :)

Now, we're in Tena on our way to the cloudforest.

Alaskanization

2005-12-01T19:16:00.000-09:00

It struck me very strange today, as I drove in to school. I didn't look at the weather. I didn't check out the thermometer.

When I first arrived in Alaska, as winter encroached, I would check with the weather almost every day. I was eager to know if it was going to get to be negative such-and-such, since negative such-and-such was bound to be a new personal record. I'd find a way to sneak "Oh, it's -23 out today" into just about every conversation. I used to swing past a couple different temperature signs, wondering which would register the lowest.

But today... today, I drove past the temperature sign and didn't even look at it. No, that didn't surprise me... what surprised me is that --when I stopped and pondered my emotions on the subject-- I didn't care. It was cold, yeah, but not eyeball-twisting cold.

(Here's a movie I did last winter, to the tune of one of those weather reports I like so much..)

ps. the photo is from last Jan -- you can tell by the gas price :)

Win some, loose some

2005-11-27T19:22:00.000-09:00

Ugh. Last night the Nanooks took a beating. (The 'nooks are UAF's hockey team.)

I first started heading to the games when I moved up here, 'cause it seemed like a "community" thing. Boy, was I right. Everyone shows up to the games... I mean, The population of the town of fairbanks (excluding outlying areas) is suppsedly something like 40000. Well, on a good night, such as our games agains Michigan, or --even better-- against Anchorage, we have a sellout crowd of 4500. That's more than 10% of the population showing up for the games.

When I moved to Alaska, one of my first purchases, aside from thermal underwear, was a pair of hockey skates. The people I worked with (at that point, volunteered with) got together once a week to play a friendly game of pick-up hockey. We played in the neighboring town of Esther, next door to a fire-department that would spray down an outdoor basketball court. Temperatures being as they are here, it only takes a few layers of water before you've got instant hockey rink.

Back then, I'd only been on skates once before-- at someones birthday party, I'm sure. It was difficult to see anything as we skated around at minus such-and-such, with eyelashes knitted together. Mostly, I just did small circles in the center of the rink, as people better (and faster) than I whizzed about in every which direction; occasionally, during the persuit of a rogue puck, they'd plow into a snowbank. Skating too close to anyone was a sure-fire way to drop them to the ice.

As the years (oh my, it's been more than two point five years, now!) progressed, the game has gotten a little more sophisticated. The transistion wasn't without growing pains. Pretty soon, the whole afair was moved indoors, to the Patty Center skating rink. Well, soon after that, it became apparent that 25 people all on the ice at the same time was an awfully rough way to try to run a game. Luckilly, collisions were still happening at slow speeds.

Soon, the field of players whittled down to teams of 6 or 7, with subbing for effect. When we decided to play intramurals, we even introduced the concept of off-sides into our "practices". Intramurals helped us with any self-esteem issues we may have had... yep, all delusions of grandure were stripped away as our 7-point handicaps were whittled away at the rate of a goal every minute or two. Invariably, the tete-a-tete became a shuffling of both-teams players as we salvaged the rest of our alloted time-slot.

These days, we're renting a bigger and better rink -- the Big Dipper. With it's luxurious lockerrooms and great ice, it's easy to be a little spoiled. The speed of the game has increased tremendously, and now, in full padding, our crashes tend to send people, pads, and sticks in every which direction. As march starts to creep up on us, the idea of intramurals is also seeping into the back of our conciousness... and this time, I look on it with interest; we just might be able to hold our own (a little) out there.

Ah, but this started with me talking about the 'nooks. They kicked butt on friday, a really fun game against Northern Michigan. But Saturday was a little painful..

Radio

2005-11-20T10:24:00.000-09:00

Wow! I'm listening to the AK program about volcanoes right now. It was almost like a reunion-- Several cohorts from the Western Aleutian trip were interviewed. Gabriel did a great job of sifting through my interview and keeping the coherent bits :)

I've backloaded my logs from the Western Aleutian trip. Photos are still being added to them, slowly.

Listen up

2005-11-16T20:05:00.000-09:00

Well, here's my first blog post. Finally, I've decided to join the legions of bloggers out here, 'cause I'm just too lazy to keep up with my regular website, yet, I still have this burning desire to post photos and stuff up at a whim.

Today was interesting; it started with an interview at a radio station, where I talked about the sound of seismic signals. A snippet or two just might make its way onto the airwaves on AK, a show that is hosted by Gabriel Spitzer on Alaska Public Radio Network at 10am on Sundays. It looks like the volcano show might be on this weekend! Anyway, I think the interview went over pretty well, but talking to yourself in a padded room is always just a little unnerving ;)

Anyway, I'll be backposting some photos soon (hopefully).

The grand ball!

2005-11-12T20:01:00.000-09:00

Who says we don't have culture in Fairbanks? There was a grande masquerade ball at belfair, complete with a quartet and a live performance from The Phantom of the Opera. A lovely time was had by all... Thanks Sharon & Lars!!!

On the ride home

2005-10-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

Sitting on the plane in King Salmon. This 737-200 is about 1/2 cargo and 1/2 people....

Interesting to note: I can see a King-Salmon wireless network from the airplane! That is just another sign of how connected the world is. Right now, the sun is about to set, and the sky and colors are absolutely beautiful... well, if it weren't for the fact that almost everything is brown, it would be.

Weather in Adak: Rain, wind. surprise.

Also of note, someone cruised the Adak class website and found my volcano sounds. It's great to get feedback...

Visiting class

2005-10-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

Adak time is rushing past! I didn't sleep too well last night, tossing and turning without much comfort or warmth. I was listening to my music all night on headphones, but feel like I had a grand total of maybe 2 hrs. Oh well.

This morning, I fixed a quick breakfast burrito, and then marched on over to the school with Jess, Michelle, Tina, and Ed. Jessica gave the preliminary talk on Volcanoes and volcano monitoring. I chimed in, as did Michelle and Tina. Then, I talked a little about earthquakes (Apparently, according to Tina, I have excellent body language when I convey the idea of wave motion ?!?) and played some volcano sounds. It was about this point that I learned the school has an internet connection, which I proceeded to take great advantage of.

I showed some photos of the station installation, and then Guy showed up with an old, dug-up seismometer which he hooked to his computer and gave a demonstration. I was impressed with how well Guy explains this stuff to the children. By the end of the two hour session, we had the children in 3-4 groups and were answering questions and demonstrating stuff.

It turns out that both the helicopter (Bill & Anthony) and the Maid left today, with only Cyrus stopping by to say G'bye.

I spent the afternoon checking email and deleting spam. Had a talk with a couple locals, including the husband of Blue (The lower-grade teacher) who set up the wireless connection, and Allan, a very talkative guy. I was saved from the conversation by Pizza for dinner (being carried out by Jess & Tina). At home, a quick call from Katie, a half-game of scrabble, and then a couple movies : "Crash" and "The life and death of Peter Cellars"

Looking forward to getting home, though.

spitting in the wind

2005-10-04T21:59:00.000-08:00

Friggin' windy today. Today was spent making the CD for Gerry, and starting the video for Eich, as well as packing up for the coming trip.

Early evening, we explored the White Alice station, along with the 60+kt winds. Also, we explored some of the old ghost town, which was just begging for further exploration with a flashlight. The town is better stripped than the FWS office, but the sudden emptiness is a bit spooky.

Evening brought about a great enchilada dinner, cooked by the ladies. Then, a bit of heavy getting-ready for an upcoming chat with the school children of Adak (tomorrow 10-12)

BackinAdak

2005-10-03T23:34:00.000-08:00

We've been at dock for an hour. I've been spending my time with the final packing. No one is rushing to get off the boat, except perhaps Anthony and Josh.

organizing

2005-10-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

Today, I mostly spent organizing photos to return to Gerry. We're staying in the bunkhouse, a safe-haven for FWS people.

From Easternmost point in the US to the Westernmost in a wink

2005-10-02T22:52:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe it's done. We're currently in the pass, heading back to Adak and points beyond. The day started with a trip up the hill on the 4-wheeler, where Jess and I were to help Cy and John with the final breakdown of camp. For lunch, I'd packed a couple slices of pizza (George cooked it last night... mmm) and a soda. Of course, the soda was crushed and soaked my pizza...

Anyway, we helped break down tents and set up sling loads as well as started the great bonfire used for burning all the trash in camp. Then, before we knew it, it was 4pm and we were leaving the bay.

Today, I finally got to watch dolphins playing in the wake of the boat. They stayed a bit astern, though a couple times they came within maybe 20 feet of the boat. This was around sunset, and lasted probably 5 minutes... I didn't bother to collect my camera and take a shot, instead I just watched... their smooth movements and blows brought to mind sentient waves, rather than sea creatures.

Prepping to pull out

2005-10-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

Forecast is looking terrible. Today, it is foggy out, but the bay is like cellophane. Tuesday, there's supposed to be a really large blow -- 55mph or so. Not the time to be at sea, so we'd very much like to be in Adak before then.

Today, Jerry and Max went up the hill to help Cyrus and John with the camp stuff. Meanwhile, I stayed with everyone else on the boat and cleaned out the storage hatch. Ed cleaned out the lab, as did Tina.

Eventually, the helicopter came with two loads of stuff from camp. I, with much help from Michelle, stuffed just about everything, excluding action packers and geophysical stuff into the hold below (starboard side). The stuff there includes two bikes, cement stuff, GPS units, john's weather port, batteries, and misc large boxes from camp. All the action packers are still topside, awaiting their final packing.

A couple scrabble games ensued, as did a screening of "You only live twice"; thus far, my least favorite bond movie.

Finishing up Little Sitkin

2005-10-01T00:04:00.000-08:00

Today was a day of lounging, mostly. The morning was taken up with discussions of yesterday and such. First thing on the agenda was to see if Anthony could fix the helicopter. Thank goodness, he did.

Next, the helicopter flew Guy to LS to finish work on the stations. He finished SE, then NW, but didn't get a chance to work on SA. Now, we have 4 working, even though NW can't work without the repeater.

The boat was going to meet them, but the water was too rough. We went just outside the harbor, got tossed around a little, and dropped fishing lines. We all caught something, with me catching a pacific cod -- it only took as long as dropping the line to catch it!

First thing tomorrow, the Papa Pilgrim will be removed from semi.. Then, Guy will fly out with Tina.

On my own

2005-09-29T20:06:00.000-08:00

How it all ends with a whisper!
I had a hard time sleeping last night. I was a little preoccupied with having everything I needed; also, I was overheating in my room. When I finally awoke at 7:40, I ate breakfast, and then raced around making final adjustments to the stuff I was bringing along.

Overnight, the helicopter got its 100hr once-over, thanks to Anthony and his little helper, Josh. They worked on it on the shore of Kiska harbor by lamplight.

I left with my survival pack, a tub for mixing cement, tools that Ed had packed for me, water, a pick, and yesterday's sandwich. We flew from the boat (still parked in the harbor) and had an uneventful flight to the volcano. We circled the crater a bit, so I took a bunch of photos. All in all, it was a pretty foggy day, so I ended up at LSNW instead of either of the other sites (LSKO, or LSPA).

First, though, I stopped on shore to remove cement from all the huts. I also grabbed a Hoe. I piled cement in the chopper with me, and then proceeded to the site. I was under the impression that we'd get to the shovels that were at LSPA. Wrong. The terrain I was digging in was heavily rocky, along with lots of soil. It would have been very beneficial to have that shovel! Instead, I was groping around with the hoe, and using my hands.

Bill showed up with the hut before I had fully prepared the site, and so we left the hut a bit askew, as I continued to chip away at the area with my meager tools. By the time I had finally placed the hut, Bill showed up with a shovel. Next, I drilled holes for the J-bolts and cemented down the hut. While given 5 bags, I used 4 1/2 bags of concrete, since two bags of cement were all but solid rocks.

Afterwards, I started digging a hole for the seismometer -- no luck. Too shallow rocks. Then I started a second hole.
As I nearly finished this one, Guy showed up (with Bill, of course) with the batteries, and news that I was going to be flown to the boat. Something was wrong with the helicopter's electrical system, so our mission has been scrubbed.

With that and a "hook up the batteries", he was off.

With a little radio help from guy, I got the batteries all connected. The air cells were activated and wired in series. The gel cells were wired parallel in threes, with the middle batteries connecting to the power switcher.

I could hear a little chatter. Apparently, guy was up somewhere in the fog and was slowly making his way down to the helicopter. Eventually, the helicopter just came to get me, and went back for guy, who was still off in the fog. I jumped out and hiked up to guy to give him a hand, and vroom! We were off to the boat.

Right now, there is a hut sitting on the beach that has no weight in it. Just air-cells and a solar panel. oh, and an antenna, hut kit, and seismometer cable. It won't likely be there when we return in 2-3 years.

Bill has flown with Ed back to the dock at Amchitka. We'll be spending the night there -- in Constantine harbor, again. The weather is supposed to be really crappy. soon. A storm with 55kt winds and high seas will be here on, I think it was Sunday. We need to be gone before that. And so... the great western Aleutian field excursion has just come to a grinding halt. 4 huts are in the ground on LS, which is amazing, considering that we didn't expect ANY. Two seismometers, I believe, are working there. All 6 at Semi are up and running. All together, pretty successful. Despite the weather.

commuters

2005-09-28T23:19:00.000-08:00

Today was also a bit frustrating. Tina and Michelle headed out to the island with the morning flight. The rest of us took the boat over. Once somewhere near LS, Guy and Ed flew out to go finish their sites. Then, Max and 6 batteries went out to the beach. Next, Me and 6 batteries.

We dropped off the batteries, and then Bill took me up to LSPA, where I was to prep the hut. With me, I brought the 3D seismometer, the electronics, and a little water.

By this time, it was already something like 2, and the boat wanted to leave by 4:30. Well, the weather wasn't looking promising, so my hut was scrubbed for the day. I did wander around a little, decided it was a nice site, then hopped back in the copter for a trip back to the boat.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be on the first helicopter out with Jessica. If all goes well, I'll do LSPA. If it goes even better, then I'll do LSKO (which is on top of a hill, and usually inaccessible). If it doesn't look good at either of those two sites, I'm going to find and dig out LSNW, which Guy has spotted today.

The weather was still pretty darn nice, and for that I am very grateful... even if I didn't personally get anything done today.

Onward to Little Sitkin

2005-09-28T00:09:00.000-08:00

Wow. Today (yesterday, as of this writing) we made an attack on Little Sitkin (LS). The boat left Paskie and Cyrus up on the hill, and ed on the dock. Meanwhile, the helicopter flew Guy to LS to start prepping sites. Then, it picked up Ed to do the same. Between Guy and Ed, Four sites have been prepped.

Back on the boat, we had a beautiful crossing, though I saw no whales. A rainbow watched us leave Amchitka's Constantine harbor. The crossing took only a few hours, and by the time we reached LS, we could also see Segula beautifully, and Davidoff Island, too. I helped prep the huts, which were then either slung to the locations or to the beach.

Also, en route, I grilled Tina about volcanology and her history.

Each hut has: 5 concrete bags, 4 1/2 air cell batteries, a power switcher, solar panels, mast, hut kit (with Jbolts and other connectors), several gallons of H2O (for concrete), a hoe, an LB connector (Elbow, used to run wires into the hut), an Antenna (with attachments) and a Seismometer cable. Separately, 6 Gel Cell batteries, Shovel, pick, toolkits (electrical, hard-tools, Goop Kit, Drill, (soldering iron?), Seismometer, and McVCO. The repeater station also required an additional antenna and a RF filter.

I helped get the huts ashore, then flew off to help guy. I mixed concrete and dug trench while he attached solar panels (Problems: my radio antenna broke, No green goop in goop kit, and no RF filter)

Just down from us at LSSA (Little Sitkin Saddle) were hot springs that bill reported were hot and or cold, but not just right.
The boat had to leave early, 'cause it was dancing about the various islands with no place to anchor. We then, with an hour left of work, took off in the helicopter to Kiska..

En route, I took pictures of Segula volcano -- a beautiful stratovolcano with snow just barely visible at the top. Also, on Kiska, there was the remains of an old Japanese sub base (complete with sub), and several large cannons. We poked around the cannons while waiting for the boat to show.

We then moved down to the beach, and watched the stars come out. The milky way was prominant, and you could see alllthe stars wonderfully. In the water, you could make out a sparkle of bioluminescence now and then. Sometimes waves would wash a bioluminescent spec on shore... which I then picked up and inspected. under a light I couldn't make out anything.

A luxurious walk

2005-09-26T19:16:00.000-08:00

Wow! Today's been beautiful! Guy flew over to Semi with Tina, while Cy and John headed up the hill. Ed and I reorganized the huts, and then joined Max for a long excursion down the beach. Plenty of photos today!

Guy was successful in putting in the station (with help from Jess), so Semisopochnoi is officially DONE!!!! Bill returned everyone from Semi; Now we get to set sights on Little Sitkin.

Working on the Earth Station (again)

2005-09-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

Today finally had a little upturn.

The day started off pretty crappy. The weather was socked in, and it was raining. I had no chance to do any real work at a volcano, and resigned myself to another day on this irradiated hellhole of an island. Yes, my attitude had finally sunk to a new low. Here I sit, when I could be doing anything else at all... maybe, dare I say it, Working on my thesis? Yes, I've been starting to realize that I haven't learned a damn thing other than (and I already knew this) the fact that Aleutian weather is unpredictable. Actually, it is pretty predictable. "Crappy".

Today, any work at semi was out of the question. Instead, five huts and accompanying equipment were brought on board, and the trash was sent to shore to be burned. Meanwhile, I went up the hill with max and Cyrus. The weather was shitty. really blowing, this time from the north, with rain.

We dug holes for the hut, just to the er.. north of the existing structure. Also, we banded the flex-conduit together for the solar panel wiring. Mostly, though, we sat around in the weather port bitching about the weather.

Then, at the end of the day, we (Cyrus, Me, Max as trailer bitch) took a little 4-wheeler trip, and the outlook improved dramatically. We wandered down this-road and that-road in search of a nice beach on the pacific side of the island. After several wrong turns, we found a little collapsed cabin by a lake (more accurately, IN a lake). After exploring the ruins a bit, we made for the beach again. This time, it only took a few minutes and we found ourselves at the top of a cliff. Birds were flying in every which direction ... There were a couple Bald Eagles, and several seagulls. The surf lapped on rocky beaches; the rocks were nice and rounded, of various sizes, and included corals. A fish skull lay there, among much seaweed and other flotsam. A couple plastic bottles lay there, and a great number of old-looking ammunition casings. There were plenty of rock formations between the beach and an island, with the tides playing in and amongst them.
Pretty soon, I noticed that the brown boulders on the next island over were moving -- In fact, they were a whole bunch of sea lions that had hauled out of the water.
I played around here and there, looking at life in the tidal pools (all the while paying very careful attention to my camera...) until we decided it was time to head back to the dock. As we came to the top of our little bluff, an immature bald soared right past, low & slow.
Then we looked out, and noticed seagulls molesting a sea otter. I suppose they were trying to get at it's food. Yeah, it was a really great 30 minutes. Amchitka isn't a hell-hole after all. But I still would like a sunny day with no wind. Is that too much to ask???

unravelling (slightly)

2005-09-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

What to say about today? It was a boat ride The seas were rough, but not as rough as they had been. We arrived at Semi by around 2pm, but were unable to do anything, as the ceiling was low, the ship was rocking, and the pilot was tired. Basically, we took the trip over to just refuel the helicopter once. What a waste.

I can feel my own nerves beginning to fray as time just keeps slipping past up here. I could be doing so much more, but when the boat moves, I'm unable to do anything. For the trip back home (home meaning Amchitka), I had to drug myself up with Dramamine. Now I've been utterly useless. Did watch a couple bond flicks, though: On her Majesty's Secret Service, and just now, Dr. No.

Breakfast, as always, was eggs, pancakes, taters, sausage, and bacon. Getting a bit bored of that, and am beginning to even mentally drift wistfully to breakfast in Koyasan. I ended up with a single pancake, two sausages, and a half-bowl of peaches.

Today, rumor is that the cook finally broke down. Don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. We really, really need a nice break to stall our downward spiral. It looks like Tina may go with Guy over to Semi in the helicopter; that way, if they set up the hut, great. If not, then she can take gas samples. Wish I were there doing that. Instead, I guess I'll head up the hill and patrol for rats or something.

these are the times that try men's souls

2005-09-24T20:48:00.000-08:00

8:48 AM 9/24/2005
Breakfast at 8am, and now we're going to head over in the boat to Semi. The weather outlook is as bleak as ever; yesterday, Tina called Murray to get a bigger weather picture. Apparently, there's a bunch of lows that are forming and just sort of follow each other in a parade through here.

Been having trouble getting up in the morning, and have found my schedule sliding each day a little more into the night. Last night, I went to bed around 2am.

Paskievitch has requested one of the huts that remain here for use with the earth station -- without actually inquiring; we all assume it's to replace the tough-box as a battery storage locker.

Being out here is beginning to sand the edges of people a little. We had a scrabble game wherein the dark side of the trip came out. Many short, dark words made their way onto the board, like "vomit" and such.

plans

2005-09-23T18:07:00.000-08:00

6:07 PM 9/23/2005
Plans change. We got a call today, suggesting it would be nice if we could head on out to Semisopochnoi and refuel the helicopter. So, we recalled Max and Jerry and Tina, hauled in the skiff, stowed all the stuff, and headed out.

lots of discussion this evening, where we tried to make a solid plan.

We'll keep trying for Semi, with an eye to MAYBE doing LS. Continue helicopter ops across the ocean with limited flying over there. Apparently, bill is pretty worn out -- the flying has been quite demanding. At one point, Guy related a story where Bill had pulled down entirely on the collective, (reducing the pitch of the rotor blades to where they're not providing lift), yet the helicopter was still flying straight -- severe updraft.

boat bound

2005-09-23T09:21:00.000-08:00

9:21 AM 9/23/2005 - Friday
I forgot to mention how confused I've been with regard to the days here. I thought for sure that yesterday was Thursday... that's after thinking that it was Tuesday in the AM.

Today I'll be hanging out on the boat, since Jerry's heading up to help on the station and Ed/Guy are going out to try to install the last of the Semi stations. If they do then we'll be able to finally start looking at Semisopochnoi. The weather is also looking like, after a couple 40kt days, it'll settle down a bit.

I'm thinking about fishing, but the idea of catching a 180 lb halibut and then having to deal with it is actually a bit unappetizing.

Last night, another boat showed up in our harbor. It was a bit larger than us, but was the first boat I've seen around since we left Adak (oh, except for a few we've seen from the Earth Station that were cruising far out in the pacific ocean)

blah

2005-09-22T23:52:00.000-08:00

Today was a busier day. The sun peeked out of the clouds early, portending a possibly beautiful day contrasted with the forecast of typical gloom-doom and wind. Jessica and Michelle were flown over to Semi early today. They'll be camping there for a few days while they finish up the geology.
I headed up the hill to help with stuff up there. I put conduit on solar panels, cut wires, did some soldering, worked on the vault, and such miscellaneous stuff. Meanwhile, Guy and Tina flew to semi and installed CETU (yay!)
Dinner was a great halibut soup, though it's official name was something I'd never heard before. I also got to talk to Katie on the sat phone. She informed me of some of the outside world's goings-on. Hurricane Rita is threatening to squish Houston, which in turn causes speculation that gas prices may go up to $5 per gallon.
We chatted for nearly a half hour ($$$, glad it's not mine; but I don't feel bad, 'cause I haven't talked to anyone hardly)
Not much else to report. The days are really beginning to merge and blur.

Holey Mackrel

2005-09-21T19:43:00.000-08:00

I walked outside to find a 71" halibut sitting on the deck. Apparently, Max finally caught a fish worth talking about. I'm looking forward to fresh fish for the next few days... (it came in at 179 lbs according to the chart)

Lucy, I'm HO-ome.

2005-09-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

3:30 PM 9/21/2005 - Wednesday
Bill has arrived, back from Adak. His precious cargo: 4-5 day old newspapers, a replacement GPS receiver, and --most importantly -- a replacement pump.

Within moments of his arrival, Jerry was down the hatch replacing the water pump while the rest of us were scavenging newspapers. Gloom. Doom. Sigh. I'm not entirely sure why I was eager to get my hands on the news. The only good thing I read was that the auroras have been fantastic. Not that I've been able to see any from here, especially with the cloud cover we've almost always got.

Today has been rainy and windy. Ed has gone up on the hill with Cy and John. They even brought Josh along to help.

The score

2005-09-20T07:44:00.000-08:00

7:44 AM 9/20/2005 - Tuesday
We've been rolling around a little overnight. The door to our stateroom wasn't closed completely, so it's been softly slamming every minute or less. I finally got up to close it, and now am up. I've gotten a lot of sleep yesterday, with the Dramamine knocking me out cold for three hours or so.

Yesterday, we must have played 4 games of scrabble, and --surprisingly-- no backgammon. The scoring is taking place under the pseudonyms which are becoming a little more commonly used. At least it's easier to differentiate "Antonio" from Cyrus than "Celso" from "Cyrus"... Whenever we're on the radio, and a call comes in for me, the name usually uttered first is Cyrus. After no response, an additional, corrected call, comes in for Me. We have several celebrity mags on board, and peruse them for stories on each other.

Recap of names:
Bill Springer -Harrison Ford
Celso Reyes - Antonio Banderas
Guy Tytgat - Steve Martin
Jessica Larson - Demi Moore (pronounced Deh-MI')
John Paskievitch - George Clooney (called Clooney, so as to not to confuse with the Skipper)
Michelle Coombs - Sandra Bullock
Tina Neal- Holly Hunter

When playing scrabble with this rabble, you've got to really keep a close eye on Clooney—I won't say publiclyhat he cheats, but -- at the minimum-- he tries to get by with 40% bluffing. Sandy is a word-master.

Some observations about the helicopter operations. I pretty much have been taking the helicopter for granted. No longer am I oohing and ahhing about working with the helicopter like I did in Okmok. However, when you think about it, it is still intense: flying from a bobbing ship.

Every time the helicopter lands onboard, Anthony has to rush out and attach a ratchet-strap-ring to the helicopter's hook. Josh, then cranks down on it to secure it to the boat. Whenever the helicopter takes off, it has to be just about ready to launch before Bill releases the hook.

When airlifting stuff off of the boat, Anthony gets under the helicopter *as it is hovering* and attaches the load underneath it: there is no room for the helicopter to land with the load also on the landing pad. And when the helicopter is swing loading stuff TO the ship, well... There's wind; the ship is bobbing, and there's not an insignificant mast not terribly far from the helipad. When the load is finally dropped on board, then people scramble to secure it before it slides off the helipad.

On land, these operations are much simpler. the helicopter would land near the load, and then the cable would be attached. Dropping the load involves only adjusting for the wind.

I'm still having trouble with working the silly door on the helicopter. It always takes me a while to get the thing shut.

Disappointment

2005-09-19T16:26:00.000-08:00

4:06 PM 9/19/2005
What an anticlimax. I can't complain, but the crossing was as smooth as anyone could hope for. While this was great on the stomach, it leaves you with questions... Could we have stayed longer? Would we have been in danger where we were? Will we be able to get back to the island to finish our job?

The general mood here is disappointment; disappointment at not being able to finish installing stations and disappointment with not getting as much geology done as may have been possible. I, for one, am also disappointed that I've wasted a Dramamine and am therefore in a somewhat drugged stupor.

So, here we are in Amchitka's Constantine harbor. Again. The helicopter should return sometime today /tomorrow with the part we need for repairing the fresh-water maker. (My very last item on the agenda before we left the last harbor was to *finally* take a shower. It'd been a little more than a week since we had news that it was broken, and that we were going on water restrictions.

I can't wait to do laundry!

It's just another Monday

2005-09-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

10:28 AM 9/19/2005 - Monday
"I'm going to start throwing up now, and beat the rush" - Ed
Well, Tuman was fogged in, and the weather we were going to avoid has started to creep around to our little island paradise. The boat, still at anchor, has swung around with the wind and is now facing the mouth of our bight. That doesn't bode too well, since with the wind comes the waves.

This morning, (A second red-sky morning), found the boat rocking a little more than usual from side to side. The plan? Drop the geologists off on the far side of the island, get a weather report for CETU, and then create two stations... hopefully before 1 or so.

Well, now it's not even eleven... the beach has been cleaned up, with everything being left here that was required. Everything else has been picked up, except (as of this typing) the geologists. The hatches are all being battened down, and the ship is being made wave-worthy again. Forecast is for winds out of the south, turning to 35 - 40 tonight.... waves in the 10' range. We'll be running against the wind, which means we'll be battered about a bit.

Shore leave

2005-09-19T00:20:00.000-08:00

Sometime around 1pm yesterday (today) I was picked up to fly with Guy to Tuman Head, where we were going to set up the repeater site. However, it was totally in the fog, so no-go. We did fly counterclockwise around the perimeter of this island, though and saw what looked like town sites (no photos), and a crashed WWII bomber. Anvil peak was out and clear, and the shoreline around the island is beautiful. The large boulders must give the island a reefish appearance. Supposedly there's a sea lion pull-out, also.... though I didn't see any.

We ended up at CERB and dropped off guy. My help wasn't really needed, so Bill let me off by the cache. I grabbed my lunch and waded through very heavy tussocks towards the beach. By very heavy, I mean knee-high tussocks with grass to the waist. Absolutely terrible walking.

I poked around beachside for a couple hours. There were several gulls that hung out nearby-- they didn't even bother me for scraps of lunch! Plenty of driftwood, and bits of rope that washed ashore. It's always fascinating how mankind's junk can arrive absolutely everywhere; There's not an Island in the Aleutians that doesn't have buoys or plastic garbage of one sort or another.

The waves were breaking beautifully along shore, so I just sort of sat there and watched them for a while. Gull prints were everywhere, but overall life appeared scarce. The only shell I found was a single limpet. There was also a single dead fish. But all else was black-sand. I was very entertained by watching the waves rework and smooth out the sandy beach, erasing gull prints and leaving a fine rim at the edge of its length.

Guy worked a little more on CERB with Max and Ed, while Cyrus and John finished CESW. The location fogged out, so they ended up staying there a while. I could tell that bill was getting tired of running about like an errand-boy with the helicopter... no, today wasn't all that much more organized than yesterday...

Tomorrow, I think I'm going out with Guy to finish CERB and /or install CETU. Ed & Max will install the broken ridge site, maybe. After those two are done, we've got it all...

Tina found a warm-spring today, and will be hopefully taking measurements (and maybe a dip? doubtful) tomorrow. The evening's meal was spaghetti, Scrabble was cutthroat with a very narrow score, and Cyrus is continuing his winning steak at Backgammon. Now, he's only down by 4 games. The movie was It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad world, which Max seems to like as much as I do...

Practical jokes are being played a little more frequently, now. People were messing with Max's line as he was fishing, making him think he'd caught one. Josh crumpled crackers into Anthony's gloves, and apparently the duo did something or other to the chief.

Possibly, John and Cyrus will be flying back to Amchitka tomorrow. Also, tomorrow, I'm taking a shower; ready or not.

G'night.

The Red-headed stepchild

2005-09-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

That's what I'm being called today. There's a lot of movement out and about in the caldera, but I'm just sitting here waiting. Forgotten.

Well, not really... Max and Ed went to shore to inventory, and set up a different gig. John is off finishing our site (CEPR). Guy and Cyrus are out finishing CERB. If CESW opens up, then I'll be out there with John. We'll see if that happens.

The weather has given the boat a reprieve. We were going to take off this evening, but the real bad stuff has been delayed a day. We'll be able to work on the island again tomorrow, too. I can just imagine our crossing though -- yuck.

CEPR - Cerberus - Perret Ridge

2005-09-17T23:11:00.000-08:00

11:11 PM 9/17/2005
Man, am I bushed. Shortly after my last post, I got called away to help Paskie with a different site: CEPR (Cerberus - Perret Ridge). We (Bill and I) picked him up from the staging area up on the beach.

We set up CEPR while dancing in and out of fog. It was still nice enough that Bill slung our hut up to us. Poor guy was run absolutely ragged today; he slung 3 huts to the three groups of us (Guy & Max, near Cerberus; Ed & Cyrus in the NE corner CEAP - Cerberus-Anvil Peak; and Paski & I). Also crawling about the caldera were the geology crew, each in a different spot. Not only did Bill have to get all of us out there and sling huts, but there were other loads of goods that needed to go out also; batteries & cement & solar panels, for example. Then, to top it off, each of us had forgotten something or other and he had to haul it all back to whomever it was. Paskie & I forgot water; Guy didn't have a drill or a VCO, Ed needed solar panels... )

The site setup went pretty well; the hut is facing mostly south, with the antenna shooting the signal just under the solar panels. I spent all my time digging holes for the hut's j-bolts and for the seismometer. Then I mixed and poured the cement for each of the huts corners.... Getting the right consistency was a challenge.

Another challenge was finding the proper place for the seismometer. The digging was great, but my first hole (3' deep) was about 3 feet too far from the hut: the cable wouldn't reach. The next hole was better. I learned that when you bury a seismometer, leave a coil in the cable, just below the sod level. Don't pack the instrument itself at first, rather pack the soil gently around it. John did the wiring of stuff. We had a small glitch in the water (already mentioned) but also with the nuts for the J-bolts; they were just a tiny bit too small. We used nuts from the eye-bolts instead and siliconed the hole.

Cyrus caught a tiny halibut (don't mention it to him...), and then played me some more backgammon. He finally won one, after a 7-game loosing streak; now I'm up only by 6...
Went out to look at the moon this evening. It is beautiful and bright and full. The sea is looking inky black, yet still reflects the moonlight in a ghostly, yet pretty, manner.

Tomorrow, were going back to finish the site (30 mins tops... I need to finish burying the cable, and John needs to change out the voltage controller. Then, weather permitting, we'll head over to CESW and install a hut there.

The rest of the crew will scatter around the island installing the rest of the sites, while the geologists do a mad scramble for their last bit of information.

Weather looks like it'll be getting worse, so we're planning on pulling up anchor at 7pm tomorrow, and skidattling back to Amchitka. Hopefully we can do it before the seas get too rough. Bill will, meanwhile, fly to Adak and get the replacement pump for the boat. Looks like a long day for all of us. G'night.

Site CESW (Cerberus-Southwest)

2005-09-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable. The sunrise this morning was beautiful, and the weather very nice. I went up with Paskie to the CESW site (Cerberus-Southwest) to prep for the hut. Unfortunately, it was too foggy to sling, but at least the site is now set up. Meanwhile, Ed and Cy are setting up a hut in the NW that will need to be repeated before reaching Amchitka.

Prepping the site involves locating the general place for the hut, then determining if you can "see" the place you're transmitting to, and also determining which direction the signal will need to travel. For us, there's a beacon transmitting from the Amchitka site that we use to determine if a site is able to communicate.

First, John pulled out a thing that detected the beacon. It was behaving as though it had a loose wire, but was able to detect the signal fine. Next, he pulled out the GPS and calibrated it... He had Amchitka programmed in, so he knew exactly which direction to point stuff.

Afterwards, there was nothing to do but dig. We removed sod over an area about 6' square, where the hut was to be placed. Next, we dug holes in each of the four corners (for cement) and dug a larger hole for where the wires and stuff will be leaving the hut.

The fog didn't seem to have any intentions of clearing, so we hopped in the chopper and headed back to the boat (after a brief detour to some junk that was in the caldera.)

Transferring ashore in Semisopochnoi

2005-09-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

OK, it has finally happened! I was seriously beginning to doubt the possibility .... We're sitting in salt-and-pepper bight, off the east coast of Semisopochnoi. Earlier today (maybe around 5:30pm?) we offloaded six huts, 30 batteries, a crate of solar panels, cement, and other various implements of desctruction.

The day started with a fast and furious 4-wheeler ride up to Amchitka's site, where I was to help Paski and Cyrus bolt down solar panels into the solar panel farm. Almost as soon as we got there, the pilot radioed in that the crossing was calm. At that point, I continued to try to bolt down the crossmembers for the farm, while Paskie and Cy gathered their stuff. The new plan?

All hands down to the boat. We're going to get to Semi, and then offload absolutely everything that's required for the island, while there's good weather. The crossing was unevenful; the sun was shining, and I was even able to hang out on deck behind the wheelhouse and catch some sun. Of course, the wind was very cold, so I did so in my mustang survival suit. Less chance of skin cancer that way, anyway.

The process of offloading went fantastically well. It only took us about an hour and 15 to shuttle off something like 12 loads. The wind in the bay was (is) still whipping through at a respectable speed, but Bill made it look like sling-loading was effortless. Anthony was in charge of hooking up the loads to the helicopter, while chief operated the sling, and the rest of us rigged huts and put batteries/cement into bags.

Tomorrow morning, we'll break into perhaps three groups to set up sites. Guy has already reconnaissanced one site, which John and I will travel to in the morning. He'll be doing more reconnaissance while everyone else digs/pours/wires/drills the other sites. I wonder, if the weather is nice to us, will we be able to do almost all of Semi tomorrow? Dare to dream...

Oh, and today we finally got a little recreation in. Several fishinglines were dropped from the boat, though only Max cought something -- only to loose it. (100 lbs?) Crab pot is still on the boat waiting for launch.

thesis work

2005-09-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

Today, I just hung around on the boat trying to get some of my thesis work done. If it weren't for the wind, today would have actually been a fantastic day; I sat on the stern of the boat and read my statistics book. Then, I settled down to do a little computing.

For lunch, I finished up the sushi, and had a keilbasa sandwich. Dinner was a fantastic porkloin with some sort of orange-zest sauce and then wonderful chocolate brownie for dessert. Mmmm...

Most of the day was spent inside the galley on the computer. In the evening, we popped in Groundhog day (how appropriate), and powowed on the future plans. It's likely that tomorrow will be too rough to leave, but the skipper will check at 8am.

Guy beat me at backgammon, but I'm now 10-8 with Cyrus. Oh yeah, the entire crew has come off the island (amchitka) temporarily and is on board for the night. Thought it would be funny if we pulled anchor at 4am and dragged everyone, including John, out for a joy-ride on the swells.

Weather report

2005-09-15T09:09:00.000-08:00

Weather promises to be not-so-great again... here's an example of the typical forcast...

AREA 175 ADAK- KISKA
GALE WARNING
TODAY W35 13' (ex. winds out of the west at 35knots, seas 13 feet)
TONITE SW30 down to W20 11'
FRI NW 20 up to W30 12'
FRI NITE W35 13'
SAT W25 11'
SUN+MON SW20 8'

Usually, the last day has a nicer forcast than the previous. However, as the date draws closer, it always evaporates.

Looks like the pump won't be here 'till Monday earliest.

Semi-working

2005-09-14T23:50:00.000-08:00

The word for today was wind. We waited for chocolate chip cookies to come out of the oven, and then hopped in the helicopter for a ride up to the earth station work site (Jess, Ed, Myself). Guy was going to fly to semi to scout out the station locations when the copter returned. Well, the fog came down, and we only were flown most of the way there... we landed at the end of the runway, and then hopped in the back of the four-wheeler for the rest of the trip.

We mixed some cement for the bottom portion of the solar panel frame. By the time we were done with that, the weather started to sour. After lunch, a pelting mist had appeared, with winds gusting to probably 65mph. We couldn't accomplish anything, so we took shelter in the storm port and just hung out for hours. eventually, max took us back to the docks, though not before I was able to check e-mail. Mostly junk. blech.

Steaks for dinner along with a conversation about casting this trip. I (fortunately) got Antonio Banderas to play me. Steve Martin was guy, Demi played Jess, Harrison Ford played Bill, and the rest escape me right now.

The night ended with a great scrabble game (played in teams of 2 with me and Jess on the winning team) and Backgammon (I lost to Guy).

Water restrictions

2005-09-14T09:04:00.000-08:00

Still full from last night's dinner. Can't do laundry today, and there's no shower... We're under water restrictions because the water pump bit the dust. That is, the ship has the capability of desalinating seawater in order to create fresh water for use; the pump that does so is what crapped out. We're waiting for a replacement to be shipped to Adak. Once there, our helicopter pilot will retrieve it.

Mission accomplished! (not)

2005-09-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

Well, today's weather was absolutely beautiful. We sailed out and got three stations in the ground... and then I woke up.

Actually, today, the weather got progressively worse. Rather than sit around and twiddle my thumbs / play computer / beat my head against the wall thanks to my thesis, I went up to the earth station (with Ed) to help with the installation. We arrived at around 11am, and then put jumpers on a great many batteries. This is so that we can connect them up in parallel.
After that task, we put the frames on 20 solar panels. By then, the wind was howling and the rain (and sometimes sleet) was coming down pretty hard at us. Meanwhile, John and Cyrus monkeyed with the base of the solar panel array.

Riding back to the docks in the back of the four-wheeler was a bit wet, though I was wearing my mustang suit, which protected me pretty well. The skiff ride was a bit rough; the skiff was being pounded about by the surf, making it very difficult to board at the docks... There were enough hands at the boat to make departing O.K., though.

Upon arrival at the boat, we were greeted with platters of sushi, rolled up by the captain. MMmmm... I ate about a half a a plate by myself. And the food just kept on coming... Nachos, Salad, Shrimp Alfredo, and -- after several games of backgammon with Guy and a neandratholic scrabble game with Michelle, Jess, and Guy -- Chocolate chip cookies. mmmm...

I also called mom to say I was alive, and called Katie to take care of the Galapagos trip. I ended up giving her my credit card to deal with it, while she wrote a check for her own part.

Oddly enough, I just realized... I'm in the eastern most part of the United states! Weird.

Grog

2005-09-13T07:16:00.000-08:00

7:16 AM 9/13/2005
I wanted to write in my log last night,but couldn't bring myself to do it. I'd been lying in bed listening to podcasts (including Mugglenet's podcast) for about an hour and a half... The whole time the boat is violently pitching back and forth in a fairly good imitation of that very first night at sea. Actually, it was miserable. Other than sticking my head up into the wheelhouse earlier, I never even got a look at Semi. At the time, the mountain was pretty socked in, so there wasn't all that much to see.

After that visit, I headed to bed, and rolled around there 'till the motion finally started to get to me. I headed up to the wheelhouse at 19:00 hoping to get my mitts on some chewable (fast acting, hopefully) Dramamine as well as get a good look at the horizonline. Noone on the boat was having much fun... When it was all over, and we were back in harbor, Jessica had this unbelieving look on her face, and could pretty much only bring herself to say one small word repeatedly while slowly moving her head from side to side.

I should make point to explain the effects of rough sea travel. You can't get anything done. You can't read. You can't write. You can't stand. You can't really think. You're afraid to get out of bed, 'cause you're pretty sure you'll be flung into a wall, or pole, or ceiling, or collapse on the floor. The best place to be is somewhere in the center of the boat, but that's on deck, and that's being pounded repeatedly by waves.

Once the abuse is over, you're thouroghly exhausted. You're not really in the mood to talk much and now you're too beat up to read/work/whatever. And if you've drugged yourself up with seasick meds, you're doubly so. I managed to just grab some food (I was starved, we got in to anchorage back at Constantine at 22:00) and come back to collapse in bed. Didn't close the door. Didn't turn off the light. Didn't undress. Somewhere around midnight I awoke to the inevitable flash of a camera and sill, I couldn't do anything. Next, I awoke at 3am, in the same state, but with the door closed.

Strange dreams swam through my brain last night, putting me a bit off this morning. Some involved past relationships, while others involved moving and appraisals, or native locations where I was until recently unwelcome, or movie houses with some sort movie playing... and pretty much any word spoken or story told in the wheelhouse incorporated itself into my dreams last night. Right now, I'm writing this and still trying to shake it all off.

Yestermorn, I came across a book of Robert Service poems. Wow. Despite being a bit long-winded, he's damn good. Some of them felt like they fit a little too well, though in the end, most turned somewhat sour. "The man who didn't fit in" was one that hit pretty close to the mark.

Anyway, back to describing the day... As soon as we set anchor, we sent a skiff out to retrieve Tina and Michelle - both were lucky enough to fly past our boat as it was struggling to return to Amchitka and both were very happy not to be on the boat. As the helicopter passed us, the captain radioed them "Wish you were here". Bill, the pilot, radioed back "I don't".

Guess I'm about ready for breakfast now, though I'm still groggy...

Crossing and retreat

2005-09-12T16:11:00.000-08:00

If you put mirrors on the walls, you'd have a pretty good (or violent) funhouse. We're currently retreating from the bight (er, half-formed bay) on the NE side of Semisopochnoi. The crossing wasn't too bad, having taken us something like 3-4 hours. However, as soon as we entered the bight -- our supposed safe-spot--, we got our a** handed to us. We're rolling in ways that I didn't know possible. I can feel my eyeballs pushing in and out of my skull as they try to work free.
A couple minutes ago, I tried to leave the main area of the boat -- I wanted to head aft to sit, have a soda, and watch the sea move about. I didn't make it out the door. Upon opening the hatchway, we rolled one way and another, and the sea reclaimed the deck. No, I didn't get wet, but I took the hint and came back inside. (It was very hard to control the door enough to close it) Upon reentry, the crew (all taking refuge in the galley) just sorta looked at me. Apparently the deck hand had tried to leave earlier with similar success.

Every time I turn around, it seems that I've screwed myself in some other way with my okmok stuff. I was going to look at some days of data, but I'm missing my tremorindex information. Then, I decided to look at other data -- the pseudoplots for each station... but they're in .ps format, which isn't read by anything known to my computer. What's worse, I don't seem to be improving with Spider Solitaire.... (I don't expect anyone to understand the details of the last paragraph, but the general frustration should be easy to grasp)

Anyway, we're looking for refuge on a different part of the Isle. If that doesn't work out, then we'll have to motor on back to Constantine Harbor in Amchitka. That's more than just a little frustrating -- I want to start working!!!

I tried to call (anyone) on the sat-phone, but couldn't get the system up and working just right. I'll try again when we're at anchor.

I also learned that a survival bag was left for me by Ryan (yeay!) as was the orange flightsuit by Ray. So, at least all that stuff is in order!

Work. Wow. I can actually do work!

2005-09-12T00:40:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday was 9-11. I'm glad I wasn't around normal civilization to hear politicians harp on it. Here on Amchitka we worked on the earth-station. Max was putting in GPS stuff while Ed & Guy cut tubes and Cyrus and I dug holes. It was good work, and I finally feel like I'm doing something. A lot of discussion went into how we were going to get the frame for the solar-panel farm streight. We wanted to build it in one peice, and then set it in place, while john suggests we just build it in place. I think that may be harder, but it won't matter to me soon... we're going to (hopefully) go to Semi tomorrow morning. Max stayed on the island to finish up, though I suspect he was pretty happy to stay off the boat.

The cook seemed like he was in a mood this afternoon. (Lunch: Hamburgers, Dinner: Corned beef & cabbage.) He proudly displays an I'm-never-ever-going-to-work-on-a-boat-again attitude. I'll just continue to smile and play by his rules.

After lunch, Cyrus and I played backgammon on the helicopter deck. What a beautiful day!
Today, I finished our rounds of backgammon up 8-7. Speaking of helicopter deck, today is the first time (on our trip) that the helicopter has parked on the ship.

Oh, and finally... the earth station is up and running enough to get internet. Only John has done so, though. From this island, now that things have cleared up a bit, you can see all the way over to Semisopochnoi.

rumblings

2005-09-11T11:33:00.000-08:00

Breakfast was the same as always... I'm beginning to long for something else... french toast, croissants, yogurt, hell... even rice. Mikey doesn't do croissants, or at least, won't do croissants without more practice.

We fueled the helicopter, and now Jessica and Michelle are heading over to Semi to do their rock thing. Tina is wandering around the Island. Guy is bs'ing with the skipper, but will be doing electronic work. Cyrus is delivering a barrel of fuel up to the campsite. I'm on radio watch. The weather outside the bay is supposed to be extremely rough, so we're not going to stick our nose out 'till tomorrow.

Hooking up to the dock was uneventful, but getting us secure took lots of engineering. The bumpers don't reach the waterline during low tide, so our ropes get fouled. Last night we broke two lines and had to leave.

Taking the load off

2005-09-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

I've just finished a pork-chop dinner poolside. Ok, well, there's no pool, but I ate on our newly cleared Helicopter deck. Get this -- in the sunshine!

We're docked up against Amchitka Island in Constantine Harbor. The waves are breaking hard on the little islands that somewhat protect the harbor. The sun is out. The wind is blowing cold, across the nuclear island, and over our little boat. I can't help but wonder just what radiation still exists on this little Island...

This morning, I awoke to gentle and persistant rocking, as the boat -- steered by the wind -- sat perpendicular to the swell. Earlier today, we pulled up to the dock, where Cyrus and I disembarked to walk to the earthstation site in order to retrieve the four-wheeler. This boat and this dock don't get along very well. You can hear the ropes complain as the boat bounces off of the dock with horrible grinding noises.

Cyrus and I had an uneventful hike up to the runway -- Amchitka has a huge runway designed for B-29's and such. Along the way there were a great many little mounds, which was explained to me were fossilized bird terds. yeah right. Anwyay, these mounds are all over, and there's occasional signs of human habitation; signs other than the excellent road we're walking, that is.

We found the bike with no problems, after a little over an hours hike. Then we briefly visited the earth site, to find out that everything was in order. There's a beautiful hut which is more reminescent of a pyramid, as well as a large satellite dish and several tents filled with stuff. No rats, thank goodness.

Upon the return trip to the boat, we crossed paths with Jessica, Michelle, and Tina who were making their way up to find tephra sites. At the docks, we found Jerry and Josh, who were loading the dinghy with tires and wood to create bumpers for the boat. We helped and then ferried out in the skiff to the boat, which was now anchored offshore.

Bumpers were fashioned, and lunch was served -- grilled chicken sandwiches with tomato soup. Armed with the bumpers, we tried once again to lash on to the dock. It took several approaches, and a ropeburn (as I tried to attach a line to the cleat, only to have it rip through my hands... apparently I'm not quite strong enough to hold a many-ton boat in place. hmph.) before we could get the maid seated nicely next to shore. Our new bumpers were groaning, but we were held fast. Next, we proceeded to offload 6 of the huts, as well as 40 cement bags and various GPS sundries. This took most of the afternoon, and involved an inordinate number of shackles and half-hitches. Boy, am I impressed with the rope-work on this boat....

By 6pm, the loading had finished, John and Bill had completed their helicopter trip to Amchitka, and the ladies had all returned.

One other item of note: Ed came up with a great stunt to pull on Cyrus. Cyrus brought along a little stunt kayak to use here & there.... Max attached his fishing line to the kayak, and let it drift nonshalantly away from the boat during our unloading procedure. Everyone freaked, and I had to whisper "it's ok" to each person that tried to dive past me to the skiff. I think that Jerry was even more concerned than Cy.

The evening was spent playing Backgammon (5-4, so far my lead) and Speed-scrabble.

Horrrible....

2005-09-10T00:24:00.000-08:00

I suppose I should make it clear that we never actually change the date, even if we do cross the date line -- The Aleutian Islands are all kept back in time. Actually, I understand that Technically Alaska is in 5 time zones, though we only celebrate two of them.
Dinner is over, a quick barrel full of Parmesiagn Noodles to go with the medicines. Today was a horrible day at sea. The Crossing from Gareloi to Amchitka is 70+ miles of open ocean... Pacific fighting the Bering sea for control of the area. Add to that the high winds, and you get very rough waters. If that weren't enough, there's some remnants of a typhoon that's working its way into the area over the next few days.

I've been in the Galley most of the day. Actually, this is no different than most days... I try to do a little work, but usually end up playing games or sifting through my music. It is horribly difficult to keep a coherent thought while being pitched about. Today's waves were up to about 20', and just rocked the boat heartily. Water poured over the sides of the boat, causing geysers between the floorboards as it sloshed back and forth. The Galley window was underwater many times thorugh the day -- trading the greys of the arial world for the aquamarine of the water and the white of the foam. While it was entertaining at first, it got old quickly. I was still laughing to myself in general when Anthony repeatedly admonished me that I'd never been in a real survival situation. I have; only I usually never realize it 'till it is all over -- and that's fine with me.

Right now we're at anchor in Constantine Bay, a somewhat protected area of Amchitka Island. Arrival was just after sunset. The wind was blowing against the docks, so we're hanging out at anchor. This is also good for one other reason: Rats. Apparently, the Island is absolutely overrun with rats. The foxes were exterminated (after having been introduced), but the introduced rats remained and grew strong. We'll have to be careful to not let any on board, 'cause it would be devistating to birdlife if we accidentally introduce them to Semisepochnoi.

Another item of note: birds land on the boat each night. One of them, the storm petral, is a cute little thing, with a funny nose (normal beak, but nose comes off & up at an angle in some sort of cone structure) is a mild mannered bird... The ship is periodically swept, and all birds are tossed overboard (set free, that is). Otherwise, they crawl into the cracks-crannies, and get squished or trapped or whatever, and die.

The others are doing fairly well. Hardly a peep was heard from most, as the bunks were the popular hangout spot of the day. Feeling headachy, and tired of the rocking, I passed out this afternoon for a few hours, too.

Movie: Red Dragon.
Breakfast will be served at 9am. See ya there.

Waiting for my noon-time dramamine to kick in

2005-09-09T14:55:00.000-08:00

The whole ships being massively rolled around. About an hour ago, Guy and Cyrus had to go up top to secure the huts which were shifting about 6 inches or so (frighting to see); Chief tossed his cookies; every little while the galley window is nearly submerged (or is partially submerged). This is truly navigating the aleutians. Speaking of navigating, we've just crossed the 180 date line and none of the navigation equipment really likes that. (So, technically, it's 9/10/2005, I suppose)

Unfortunately, I have no photos to add on this ugly topic, though videos may find their way to my regular website...

No one is to be seen; they're all clinging to their bunks, most likely. I've been occupying myself with cleaning out my computer's music files.

out and about again

2005-09-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

We've been under weigh since midnight. The fish & chips weighed on me heavily, so I lay in bed wondering where I stashed my dramamine. I never looked for it, I'm happy to say. The seas were rough, and I was wondering when we'd turn back; though I now know we didn't. Josh reports good time (11 knots), so we just might be in Amchitka by midnight.

Yesterday, we found a backgammon game. Horray!

VFW

2005-09-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

Just came back from the VFW in town. We ate some fish & chips and played a little pool. Being the garbage-disposal that I am, I plowed through my meal; others snubbed the fish -- apparently it wasn't that great.

The plan now? Midnight departure: weather depending.

venturing forth

2005-09-08T15:40:00.000-08:00

(time adjusted to Aleutian / Hawaii time)
Well, we just made our first attempt to leave Adak; and have just turned the boat around to return to dock. Seas are probably 25' up ahead. Now absolutely everyone has had the pleasure of experiencing the joys of seasickness. Somewhat amusing, but not very. The smell of vomit is now begining to seep throuout the boat. blech.

Maybe we'll try later, but my guess is that we're in Adak one more night.

Adak

2005-09-08T00:32:00.000-08:00

Actually, it is 11:32 9/7/2005, Aleutian Time. We changed our clocks this morning. Sometime really early this morning, I awoke to the blatantly obvious lack of rocking, as well as a relatively quiet engine. The reason? As surmised, we were approaching Adak.

We arrived into port around 7:30am, and ate breakfast with John Paskie, who came on down to the boat. Cyrus' idea of waking him up to a full-moon didn't quite come through; instead he just called John on the sat-phone and informed him of our arrival.

Adak harbor is pretty, with very few ships (5) and a sparkling clear bay. Plenty of Sea anemonies are attached to the piers, and lots of jellyfish flop about in the waters here.

The town of Adak is pretty interesting. It used to be populated by about 7000 navy personnel when there was a base here. The Skipper tells of how he'd been here in the 80's, when it was really hopping. He was offered a job making pizza. He also told an interesting story of an engineer who made good with the wife of the captain in charge of something or other. The guy ended up buying the gun of the captain, for self-preservation reasons, as much as anything.

In 1996, the base pulled out. Now only about 70 people live here. Only, there's still a huge modern town here. The suburbian buildings are in pretty good shape for having been left here 10 years. Slight signs of decay are around... cars are all dented... There's a health-trail whos equipment is rusted and signs are ripped... Lawns are completely overgrown with weeds... very few people walk the streets. All in all, it is a very interesting ghost town.

The old Fish and wildlife house is a good example of this decay. Some while ago, they pulled out of a large building. Now, it's a mostly-unfurnished building. Mustang suits still hang in neat rows... displays at the visitor center are still halfway assembled. The list of local animals remainswritten in chalk in the lecture hall. It is in this building where our communication hub lies.

Several times over the course of the day, I --in various combinations with others-- logged on in there to access the internet. Among the news items: More info was needed for my Chile registration. Also, Steve sent in an abstract for me.

There's a bunkhouse with a really nice kitchen where the others stayed. Today we caught up with Max, Ed, Guy, Michelle, Jessica, and Tina. They'll be coming on board tomorrow morning for our trip to Amchitka. Yes, the weather outlook is still bleak... We all hung out and had Pizza for dinner.

I've moved into a different cabin for the duration of our trip. There are still 3 bunks, but they're staggered,so I can actually sit up and type.