a week already?

It has already been a week since my last update?? Oops... I guess I have been working too hard or something. Since I know the answer to that question falls into the "or something" category, I will go ahead and give you a few details.

Thursday night, as you know, the guys left. We hit up a diner in anchorage while Sydney finished taking her written test. She passed with a 73!! We are all really proud of her for that. I started having a conversation with Dwayne about what life after college looks like for me. I need to finish that conversation, but it did get me thinking and looking into a few more options.

In addition to dropping the boys off, we picked up Emma from the airport. She is in her 40s, single, from the church Dwayne worked with in Russia. She works at a crisis pregnancy center there in far east Russia. I have really enjoyed talking to her some (she is working on her english). I love having the Russians around; I have been learning a few words in Russian, and hope to learn more.

We didn't get back from the airport until after midnight, so it was a very late night. I stayed awake to help keep the driver awake as well as aide in the moose hunt. Bonus points if you spot the moose before we hit it.

Friday I started to not feel well, but it didn't hit me hard until Saturday. I went to bed really early, and stayed in bed for over 12 hours. On Saturday, we had a short wing Piper fly in. Only two planes showed up in addition to the guy who organized it, but it was fun to see their planes. For those of you non-pilot types (I didn't know till i asked either!) all Pipers are short-winged. I am not sure on the line between short and long wings, but apparently Piper fits in the short side.
The rest of Saturday and Sunday were pretty miserable. It turns out that about 4 of us picked up some food poisoning from the diner on Thursday. Two of those guys had a 7 hour flight, too. I felt bad for Phil, who was dealing with it on the plane. No fun at all. Mark showed up I think Saturday evening.

Sunday morning, Dwayne went in to pick up Kostya, the last of the Russians coming. I don't know all the details about him, but what I gather from Dwayne is that they (Russia) want him to help start an aviation program at the University of Moscow. This is a HUGE step to opening up general aviation in Russia. But again, this is all what I get from Dwayne, so I don't know how accurate it is. Kostya is currently working on his instrument rating.

On Monday, a new couple showed up. They are with a group that is coming in September. I guess they are here to prepare for that group. They helped build Hodge Podge Lodge on past trips here. They stayed in the guy's old cabin Monday night, but moved in to Hodge Podge Tuesday after lunch. Which means the girls got displaced... We moved into the room downstairs in the hangar. It is really nice to be close; to not have a long walk up to breakfast. There are other complaints, but I will leave them be.

The rest of the week has gone all right. I have started feeling better. We are working on Hal's plane, trying to get that gear box in. It is in now, so all we have to do is torque it down, and rivet everything closed. We will probably get the riveting done tomorrow, and might get the gear in on Saturday. Mark has been a big help on it. I taught him how to rivet, so I don't have to do it :) I will still be doing some of it, but he is doing the easy riveting.

The people across the runway (dwayne's son's (David) business) got the helicopter working last night, and have been flying it to prepare for the film crew that is coming next week. They are filming something about "experience Alaska." I think it is a discovery channel program. This film crew has filmed things like Survivor.

Today Syd, Lydia, and I are headed to victory Bible camp to learn some ballooning and mime stuff for camp. I have done some of it before, but it will be good to learn a few new skits and get my hands on some balloons again.

Well, thats about it, thanks for checking in!

goodbye

Today I fare the boys well. This marks the end of the class and the start of my time flying and stuff. Unfortunately, they didn't get everything done, so they left me a few projects in the hangar. Including the gearbox for Hal's plane. That is going to be a joy... Well, we are headed out to anchorage, so I am going to leave this off here.

Seward, and Fairbanks

Days are blending into each other. The schedule is settled in, and mealtimes are landmarks, bringing light to each day. Not as much time is available for hanging out online, hence the delay and lack of detail in the daily recordings. Any time that is available for internet is time that could be spent wandering the wilds of Alaska, an undertaking to which not all are privileged.

The days of working in the hangar are drawing to a close. The LeTourneau guys are leaving tomorrow evening, so this is their last full day here. I am really going to miss them, but I am excited that the time is moving on. I will still work in the hangar after they are gone, but it won’t be as intensive as before. At least I hope not, because I still have no idea what I am doing without a little guidance.

Some of the adventures of the past…

The look out is great. I went up there alone last Wednesday. It is somewhere between 500 and 1000 ft up from the ranch. There is a path on the other side of the road that takes you straight up there. It’s a little bit of a climb in places, but it is totally worth it. You get an incredible view of the ranch, the river, and the mountains behind it. I think the wind blows strong there, creating a micro climate where the trees don’t grow. The vegetation is all very tundra-esque, and the few trees there are really short. But further up the hill, the trees are bigger again. So that gives me the impression that the wind blows enough at that spot to keep it colder. Honestly I have no idea, but that is my guess.

Thursday I attempted to get in bed as soon as possible. Not that it really happened, but that was the plan. We headed to Seward on Friday, and had to leave at 5 am. So I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. It didn’t turn out that way.

I ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep, so I took my pillow with me on the way to Seward. We were going on the Kenai Fjords glacier tour. It is a 9 hour boat ride that explores the coasts the of the Kenai national park. We saw tons of wildlife, and got to watch a glacier flow into the water.

Amongst the wildlife seen were puffins, bald eagles, seals, sea lions, porpoises, sea otters, and whales. The sea otters were as cute as always. As we pulled away from one of them, he waved to us. We also saw several mothers with their pups. The porpoises were really playful. They would swim right up next to the boat, poking their dorsal fin out of the water before splashing back down. The puffins were really amusing. Instead of flying out of the way, most of the time they would just dive down below the surface. The few that did try flying never got their bellies out of the water. We decided that the puffins were comparable to the 150s attempting to take off.

We got to the glacier after lunch. It was incredible… just like I had imagined. I have seen pictures of glaciers, but I never stopped to consider the audible effects. As the ice moves, incredible cracks are heard. It roars as loud as thunder, yet sounds so much more powerful. The captain shut the engine off for a while as we watched and listened.

All in all, it was a great day.

Saturday we were working in the hangar to make up for the day we missed going to the glacier. Earlier in the week, Dwayne asked me to fly with him to Fairbanks. He thought it would be a good experience for me, flying in the mountains and stuff, so I was invited to come along. We left around 3:30.

Before leaving, we had to do weight and balance. At Letourneau, we carefully calculate the center of gravity, and figure out how that fits into the range given by the manufacturer. Let’s just say things aren’t quite as detailed here. We loaded in the luggage, and started loading in passengers. As the last few people crawled in, the plane tipped on its tail. So we unloaded a few people, moved the baggage to the nose compartment, and reloaded. We succeeded at not tipping over, so we were within limitations, according to Dwayne.

It was a great flight. The weather wasn’t excellent, so Dwayne was able to show me how to navigate to the good weather in the mountains. We used the updrafts off mountains to gain free altitude. He showed me how to read lakes for wind information, how to find the smoothest ride, and how to follow the rivers. We looked for bears, but didn’t see any until the trip home. On the way home, we saw 5 black bears, several moose, and Ruthann saw a grizzly. We finished the evening with chocolate milkshakes at Dwayne’s house.

ok, i know it has been a while, but it is 11 pm and i have to get up in the morning... so i will make this fast. Will add details later!

Went to Seward on Friday for a glacier tour of the Kenai national park, through some of the fjords. BEAUTIFUL!! Saw a ton of wildlife, plus got to see an incredible glacier.

Saturday we got up to work, but I didn't do too much work. Before you accuse me of being a slacker, I will inform you of why. Dwayne asked me to fly with him to Fairbanks. He had to speak at church this morning, so he wanted to get me the experience on the way. So I flew us all to Fairbanks, and Phil flew back today. Dwayne's wife Carolyn, his secretary Ruth Ann, and Anatoly all went. I will tell you more about that, including weight and balance calculations, in the future!!

Warm Alaskan summer

I thought Monday was cold. Then it became Tuesday. “Cold as a mother in law’s heart” as Scroggins would call it. I think it got up to 45 degrees… maybe. It definitely made working in the hangar sorta miserable. It is hard to find motivation to turn wrenches when you can hardly grab them with your hands so cold you really can’t feel the tools. At one point, the clouds were so low that all I could see of the mountains across the river was a thin layer of green trees before it turned into the drab grey cloud cover. It was really cool, but a little scary. I mean, if I was flying, I would have no idea that the mountains would be there. We got both the main wheels off the colonel’s plane, and discovered 3 of the 4 bearings were bad. Good thing we had a plane coming through Palmer to pick up parts…

My favorite part about yesterday was having Anatoly around. He is a Russian friend of Dwayne, just got in Monday night. He built an airplane out of used helicopter parts back In Russia. The only plans he had for this plane was pictures. It flew, but when he took it flying, he didn’t have the whole landing thing worked out. So now he has come to Dwayne to learn how to fly. We are sending a 170 or 175 back with him in a crate. He is not yet a believer, so please be praying for that. We had really good dialogue at devos about it. He doesn’t understand why we give up our time to go to all these people, why should we bother them? They are perfectly happy as they are. Tom made this point: Why would you wake up a man who is sleeping in a burning building? He is perfectly happy in his sleep. Anatoly told us that he thinks what we are doing is right. But I don’t think he fully understands it yet.

Last night, as we were coming back from the hangar, there was a moose grazing on the airstrip. There were some weeds growing on the side, and she decided to help herself to them. After a while, she made her way toward Hodge Podge. Syd, Lydia, and I watched her from the cabin. She was rubbing her head on the electric box. It was pretty funny to watch, and she was enjoying herself quite a bit. I got to bed entirely too late, do to roommates who were incredibly hyper and not wanting to sleep…

another day...

Yesterday was cold and rainy. Dwayne headed to Anchorage early in the morning to pick up Anatoly, so we didn’t have devos with the main group. We ended up having them with just our group at Hodge Podge. Because of the cold, we were a little slow getting into the shop and working. We got a 182 in for an annual. It belongs to an air force colonel. So we call it the colonel’s plane. It is a really nice plane, 1967, but he takes really good care of it. So we will be doing an annual on that the next couple of days. We also worked some on the 150 rebuild, but didn’t get very far with that. Pieces aren’t matching up, and things aren’t fitting the way they are supposed to be. Its really frustrating, but I guess that is how rebuilds go… Other than that, it was a quiet day.

Lake Clark

So it has been a while, and for that I apologize. After this trip, the gaps will probably get much longer! We had our test on Thursday, then headed to Lake Clark on Friday morning. Well, we went to Anchorage to catch the flight to Lake Clark. Before going to Lake Clark, Dan Swenson, a letu alum, bought us Subway for lunch. Obviously he is doing well enough, if he is willing to buy 8 of us lunch. We headed to Merrill field, checked in to our flight and got on our way. It was an hour and a half flight in the 207. The Walshes were there to greet us when we arrived. They have run the Tenalian Bible Camp for the past 18 years, located there on Tenalian point. I ran across the runway to see Miranda, a really good friend from home. She and her brother have spent a few summers up there, so I was excited to see them. We settled in, and decided to head for the falls. The mosquitoes were EVERYWHERE! I acquired over 30 bites over the weekend. Luckily, I don’t react to them as bad as the ones in Texas. The falls were gorgeous. The water was crystal clear, and tasted amazing. I didn’t take any pictures, because everyone else was taking plenty of pictures. We headed up to the lake, where the source was. Overall, the hike was about 6 miles long, up and down a few hills, not too bad. After dinner, a few of us helped with dishes. I haven’t used one of those commercial dish washers since high school, working at Papas… It definitely brought back some memories. After dinner, I hopped in the plane Daniel (the oldest Walsh) was flying. We flew over the falls we hiked to earlier, and saw some wildlife. This included a bald eagle nest (2 of them in it) and two black bears. It was really cool to see them from a safe distance. When I headed toward bed, I discovered the house I was staying in was full of high school girls. They were having a party in the living room, so I joined them for a while. I met a girl named Angel, who immediately made me feel like her best friend. I really enjoyed connecting with her. I went to bed around 12:30, which was early compared to the rest of them.

After breakfast the next day, Mark, a Letu alum, and I helped put a new stainless drawer in the kitchen. Because I am the structures lab assistant, it apparently makes me a sheet metal guru. I discovered that stainless is a little tougher than aluminum, but it turned out really well. The guys decided to head up the mountain after lunch, and I thought it would be best to let them have time being boys. So I stayed back with Mr. and Mrs. Scroggins. It turned out a good idea to stay behind, but I will let you ask Owen about that…

The Scroggins and I headed for the obstacle course. Mr. Scroggins gave an incredible demonstration of the rope swing, complete with monkey noises. If you don’t know him, they are very common from him, especially if he gets to put a hole in your lab project.

That night, I sat out on the dock with a friend and we talked for a couple hours. It was a good chance to reflect. And I hung my feet in the freezing cold water, which reminded me of sitting at the beach at home!

The weekend wrapped up after church, and we headed back to anchorage. I said goodbye to Miranda and Micah, as well as Angel. The trip home wasn’t entirely eventful. After catching up on emails for the weekend, I called a friend. As I was walking and talking to her, I looked up and saw a moose. My heart stopped for a second as I wondered where her baby was. I saw him up on the hill on the other side, so I was safe. She walked away from me, but I backed up the trail just to be safe. That’s the events for the weekend!

nothing too exciting...

Nothing terribly exciting happened yesterday… I wasn’t feeling well, so it made the day sort of drag. We got the wheels all back on 200SD, and got a few more rivets in the tail of the tail we are working on. I was really tired, so I didn’t go out for any adventures last night… which is ok. I needed a little time to rest J It has been interesting having Lydia around, cause she is 15. She is really mature for her age, but still is a teenage American girl. It reminds me of how old I am… really weird feeling!! She and Sydney were busy talking about boys and stuff last night. I decided to go to bed a little earlier than normal.

I hate mondays...

Now that everyone has a good idea of what day to day life looks like around here, I will skip over the boring stuff and just share the fun stuff J

Yesterday during lunch, I was sitting there, minding my own business, and I look up to see a mother moose and her baby wandering down the path we walk every day. They walked around our cabin to the woods behind it. But she decided to stop and pose for Mr. Scroggins, who was taking opportunity for the photo op. I didn’t have my camera, so I didn’t get any shots. But that made for an exciting lunch.

Erik and I started on the wheels and brakes of 200SD, the little 150 on which we are performing an annual. Using a highly technical jack (3 guys lifting the wing) we pulled the tire off and inspected it. We had to replace the tire, due to significant weather cracking. I cleaned and repacked the bearings, and erik put new brake pads on.

My new roommate got here around 6, so we took her down to put her stuff away before dinner. Her name is Lydia. She is 15, from New York, and going to learn how to fly. After dinner, we all went for a hike. All the LeTourneau guys, me and the two girls (syd and Lydia) headed down to the river. The guys took part in the usual throwing rocks in the river, seeing how far they can throw, and that sort of thing. I enjoyed egging the guys egos on by saying things such as “Phil, Owen doesn’t think he can skip this rock. Can you?” It was awesome. Phil and Owen then decided to build a dam to get to a sandbar in the middle. It was altogether amusing to watch them pretend to be manlier than each other, throwing big rocks, etc.

Whle they were working on that, Syd and I were running around out on a sand bar, and I stumbled, causing me to halfway fall in. Only one leg got significantly wet, and the jacket that was in my hand. It ended up being nice for the trip home, because it was nice and cool while hauling up the hill.