first day

I didn’t sleep well last night. A combination of thin mats on a hard wooden bunk and the crazy hours of sunshine kept me from getting a good night’s sleep. Nevertheless, I roused and headed for breakfast with Sydney. As we were walking up to the hangar, we spotted 2 moose, a mother and her calf. They walked right across the runway, no big deal. Craziness!! I guess the guys were a few minutes later, so all they saw were the tracks left by the beasts.

Breakfast was awesome. The food was good, but the company was amazing. It felt sort of like a family reunion. First there is John, one of the flight instructors. He will talk about anything airplanes, and was excited to hear about my multi experience. Even though he has years of experience, he has never done anything multi. Then there is John. He is from Vancouver. We talked a little bit of home, favorite college teams, that sort of stuff. I heard there is another John, but I didn’t meet him.

The clouds were still low in the sky. We knew there were mountains lurking out there, but their majesty was effectively cloaked by the heavy layer of clouds. We spent the morning wandering around the ranch, looking for stuff to do. We finally settled into the classroom, deciding to sit through 3 hours of torment. I was alternately not paying too much attention and trying not to fall asleep.

The afternoon brought sunshine. As the sun burned off the clouds, we were able to see some of the mountains peeking out. We eagerly started plotting which ones we will climb first. We found a little work to do in the hangar, usually interrupted when an airplane came in to land, or one of David’s helicopters.

Me, being the structures lab assistant, was assigned to the sheet metal project, with the help of Erik. That was a frustrating project… I wont completely bore you with all the details, but I will tell you what we did. We had to remove a small bulkhead out of a tail section of a crashed 152. We were putting it on another 152. Fun times… it proved to be more difficult than it looks. We are putting it on a different 152 that is being re-skinned.

That was about it for the day… the mountains were fully displaying their power as we walked by, in awe of their wonderful power.

Arrival

It was a long trip. We went from the 90s and turbulence (indicative of thunderstorms and humidity) in Houston to a chilly overcast 50 degrees in Anchorage. We arrived around 10 PM, with the sun still shining. We loaded up the van and made our way north on highway 1. Gas prices are in the 4.29 range for the cheapest unleaded. Highway 1 quickly transformed from a 4 lane with median to 2 lane mountain road just outside of Anchorage. It took about a half hour to get to Palmer, then another 45 minutes beyond that. Palmer is the closest grocery store, so it is a weekly run. We passed through Chickaloon before arriving at the Last Frontier Ranch, around 12:15, with the sky still a cerulean blue. It wouldn’t get much darker than that. I am in the cottage, in a small room with 4 beds (2 bunks). Our kitchen is there as well. I met Sydney, a 17 year old from North Carolina who is also here. She showed me around before I passed out.

SHV

Hello from Shreveport, LA! We have wireless here, so I am taking a minute quick to get on and say hi. I thought when we crossed the border into LA on the bus I was done with Texas for 2 months, but I have to go back. We are flying to Houston before the trip northward. So i still have a little more texas. But I can deal with it, since I am going to Alaska.

Yes, little sleep is bad for the Liz. Thanks for noticing.

anointed

I know they don’t plan church services specifically for one audience member, but that is really what I felt this morning. The first song we sang really means a lot to me. It is called Lead of Love by Caedmon’s call. The chorus is this:

Looking back You know You had to bring me through
All that I was so afraid of
Though I questioned the sky, now I see why
Had to walk the rocks to see the mountain view
Looking back I see the lead of love

What it means to me…

I first heard this song about a year and a half ago. I talked to Dwayne about flying in Alaska and into Russia, and it felt like a dream come true. Here is a guy who spent his entire life doing that which I could only dream. God whispered that those dreams were only a glimpse of what could come of my life. But I would have to walk the rocks. The next 4 months were filled with boulders. I fell hard. But that’s another story…

The rocks continued to be rough for another year, but I learned something when I fell. I learned I needed to let God lead me. He knew He would be the one bringing me through. I needed, and still need, the lead of love.

So this morning at church, the service opened with this same song. I am so excited to see the mountain view.

Then we took communion this morning. Now, unlike some churches, we only take communion about 4 times a year. So this is slightly more rare, and really a special time. I was reminded of the one whom I serve. He gave his all—his body was broken, his blood was spilled, so I could be here today. So I could go on this adventure to Alaska. I have so much faith in Him right now. I can see the rocks I had to walk through. I can see Him reaching out, asking me to trust Him to bring me through. And I am so thankful that God has enough faith in me to send me on this adventure.

God gave me an incredible morning, and I really felt like it was a modern day anointing. He reminded me of where I had been, the journey on which I have traveled thus far, and the whole reason I would even consider doing any of this.

Well, I think I will try to get a little sleep before this thing starts.

So it has been a little while... things got a little hectic with classes. What am I saying? I had plenty of time. I was just too lazy to write. Maybe nothing was coming to mind. Anyways, I am a mere 2 days from Alaska. I just got my Itinerary, so i thought I would put it up here. I will try to write frequently, but probably not every day like Owen is doing :p

Monday, June 23,2008

Travel from Longview to Anchorage

11:00 am Depart LeTourneau for SHV on an LETU Bus

1:45 pm Depart Shreveport, Arrive at Houston, 2:50 pm

5:25 pm Depart Houston; Arrive at Anchorage, 9:42pm

Van ride to King Ranch.

Tuesday June 24 – July 17 2008 (except as noted)

Inspections Class and Lab at King Ranch in Palmer, AK – More like Chickaloon, AK....

Friday July 4^th – Sunday July 6^th

Travel Via chartered Aircraft (Lake Clark Air) to Port Alsworth, AK at Lake Clark.

Friday, July 11

Travel via van (leave about 0500am) to Seward AK, for a Prince William Sound excursion with Kenai Fjords Tours. 10:00am Boat Departure.

Thursday, July 17

Everyone else leaves back to Longview. Then the real adventure begins...

Most of this time will be involved with the Bible camp up north of the arctic circle. I am not sure the specific dates, those are kind of up in the air right now. I will let you know as further details come.

Travel from Anchorage to Longview

Tuesday Aug 19, 2008

9:10 pm Depart ANK on Continental Flight 781; Arrive at HOU 07:00 am

08:40 am Depart HOU on Continental Flight 9522; Arrive at SHV 09:45 am (July 18^th)

10:00am Meet Transport to LETU

of transmogrifier discoveries and experimentation

Summer officially began for me on Wednesday, April 30^th, around 4 in the afternoon when I walked out of my last final. Since summer began, several things took place. Firstly, I saw Iron man on Friday. Secondly, a ton of people graduated Saturday morning. Sunday, I moved almost all that I own into a dorm room in Davis hall. Throughout those days and the next few days, most of the people I had spent the past 4 months with slowly trickled away, on to bigger and better summer adventures.

As I settled into my new dwelling, I looked out the window. At this point, I realized what an incredible adventure this would be. In addition to a striking view of south Longview, I also have a prime view of the dumpster. Lovely. So today, with my window open, admiring the beautiful weather and awesome view *cough* I noticed a treasure in the dumpster. A genuine, full sized, transmogrifier. Originally, this exquisite contraption housed a craftsman tool chest. Filled with curiosity, I hurried down the stairs to further investigate this newly discovered treasure.

I rounded the corner and peered over the edge of the dumpster. I was vastly disappointed to discover trash in the transmogrifier. Trash!! Who would put garbage in such an incredible contraption? Then I realized what had happened. This transmogrifier has a trash setting. Imagine it! Some poor, unsuspecting victim crawls in the device, thinking what a great new plaything he has discovered, and ZAP! He is now garbage. “Not so bad,” you say. “Just transmogrify him back.” Hello, clueless, we don’t know what he was to begin with!! Ok, so transmogrify him into something that can talk. Bad idea! What if he has violent tendencies? What if I couldn’t convince him to go back in the transmogrifier? And this brings up another question… Does the transmogrifier take age into account? So if we transmogrified a really old dog into a human, would it be a really old human? What if this thing I transmogrified was too young to talk? Then the whole purpose of transmogrifying it would be completely defeated. Transmogrification is always an incredibly risky business. Sadly, I walked away from the transmogrifier. I didn’t know what to do! The trash was intent on remaining inside, and any further transmogrification could result in disaster.

Yes, this summer brings two things into my life: a) lack of sufficient people around to keep me sane and b) lack of things to do to keep me sane. Therefore, the imagination takes over, and things like commonplace dumpster items become something extraordinary. Oh wait, the extraordinary one is me.

summer symphony

So I confess it has been awhile. If you haven’t noticed, you probably aren’t paying all that close attention.

So the semester ended, and I now find myself in the throes of summer school. Huzzah. For me, that means lab from 7:30 in the morning until 11:30, then class from 1-3 in the afternoon. All in all, it isn’t bad. I am just so burnt out on school right now that I think I am going insane. For those of you who know me, you would argue that a) it’s a really short trip for me, or b) I arrived there a long time ago. Plus campus is extremely dead. Like, no one around, nothing to do, dead. Enough about life though…

So it is TSRA right now. With a temperature of 75, it is an anomaly I never experienced growing up. Warm rain? Weird. But I love it. One of the few things to love about Texas is the weather. So, being crazy, I am sitting here on my bed, window open, observing the storm. The only thing that would make this better is if I had a view of something other than the Davis dumpster. And yes, I am being a pilot nerd and watching the storm on the radar.

I close my eyes and listen. A continuous, deep roll of thunder takes the bass line of this summer symphony. The gentle patter of raindrops fill in the underlying countermelody. The constant drone of the big metal thing with fans on top reminds me that I am not out in the middle of nowhere. Occasionally, a sharp crack of thunder provides accent to the unfolding harmony, reminding the other elements they are not chief. The deep thunder continues to roll; its crescendo reminds the sharp cracks of lightening who is providing the foundation and rhythm. It is a summer symphony, but where is the melody? My eyes fly open as a sharp flash of lightening draw their attention. More rolling thunder. Rain patter persists. Suddenly, an accelerando! The intensity of the rain increases as the sky darkens. My eyes dart back and forth, scanning the sky for electric trails. This is my symphony, of which I am the melody.